Intracoastal: Stuart to Jacksonville. How long?

Back in late February I ran from Hilton Head to Stuart. The run from Jacksonville to Stuart is no where near as congested and slow as the run from Palm Beach to Miami. On the run from PB to Miami I resigned myself to slow speed minimum wake. I wonder if that is what your are hearing about. That won’t be the case from Jacksonville to Stuart. Running outside weather permitting I run about 22-23knots. In the ICW I usually average 15 knots. So you could adapt that ratio to your cruise of 28 knots. Between Stuart and mosquito lagoon you will be on plane quite a bit. Just before New Smyrna there is a long no wake zone. New Smyrna to Jacksonville will not be as fast and there is another long no wake zone around Palm City (??). As I have aged I have grown tired of the long 8-12 hour runs but usually it is just me and the wife and I end up getting glued to the flybridge with some breaks but my wife prefers me to be up there. So if you have others who are comfortable and you are comfortable with them running the boat in the ICW then it may not be so taxing for you. After all of the preamble I think in a very long day you could make it with your speed but I would split it up some. Be very careful just before The St. Marys River the marks were not right and the channel was not intuitive. have fun

That is the Palm Valley ditch.

The StMarys inlet and Cumberland Sound can be confusing. You have international markers for the KingsBay Sub base and the US Inland markers overlapping each other a bit and splits near the Sub base.
Your also surrounded by intimidating sand & mud bars.
Dredge equipment & lines are constantly in use and moving about as you could understand for a marsh fed sub base.

If not prepared and ready, you can get confused in a hurry. Then a lil gun boat comes up asking all kinds of questions in lots of different languages.

I was wrong when I said St Marys. I meant St Johns. Sorry about that. To reempasize right before the St Johns heading north was not marked correctly back in February and was not intuitive. I could maybe screen shot a picture if I can figure that out.

During our trips and deliveries up / down FL. We always tried to run straight and offshore.
Turning for 10 kts, it's 21 hours from Sunset Bay to Mayport Morningstar.
Set your AP, Drag a couple of medium spoons off the stern and rotate the watch every 2 - 3 hours.
Overlap your watch crew to make coffee, snacks and chat a bit before retiring the previous watch member.

Dredge ops going on from Mayport to Tallyrand terminals in Jax. Markers are missing, relocated and updated.
I recall a NLM that stated a day board range has been discontinued and AIS targets replacing some of the offshore channel markers also.
As a lifetime of traveling thru there, I would not dare going thru there at night rite now. The scenery changes daily.
At the ICW and the StJohns, What a mess.
ICW north, If you survived the missing river cans or gun boats in front of BAE, there is a new bridge.
ICW south has a new jetty, rip-rap to the west and a channel that changes weekely. Since the USACE has redesigned this area, the currents have been trying to put nature back in charge.
Another day time only passage with depth sounder/scope until the USACE and nature come to some agreement. Day markers here change often here also.

Yes it was a mess. I recommend slow off plane running through there with an eye on the depth finder.

There is good news on the StJohns. The dredge watch will answer all radio calls quickly and kindly.
Easy to understand instructions with a smile.
Just give then a marker number, what you look like and where you want to go.
Very helpful and courteous.

What I have done a couple of times, Just follow one of the ships or tugs.
Without AIS, tell the pilot your following what your doing and where your going, then everybody will know.
Were blessed with a world of cool and helpful professionals up here on the StJohns / Jax area.
Just remember, they can not read your mind.

OP also factor in that in February it was cold when I made that run which kept small boat traffic down. So with it being spring and warmer you may have more boats to slow down for.