We are a little over 125 statute miles into the ICW (and just past the halfway point from home to Florida), sitting at anchor just south of the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal, in North Carolina. The ICW is measured in statute, as opposed to nautical miles, as its maintenance is the charge of the US Army Corps of Engineers.
The vegetation has changed considerably in the last 200 miles, and the shores and banks of the canals and sounds we have transitted are home to tall grasses, swamplands, and there have been areas with lots of trees that have died either from the effects of the waterway construction, or from forest fires long ago. The water is quite brown, and impossible to see into more than a few inches. Outside the dredged areas of the waterway, the bottom shoals to just a few feet, so one is careful to remain in the centre of the channel. With southwesterly winds the last two days, there haven't been many opportunities to crack a sail, but we did have one enjoyable stretch yesterday when we led a procession of seven sailboats; when we finally decided to unfurl the genoa, so did each boat behind us in succession, until we had a lovely formation of sail astern of us. It compensated for some of the yahoos in powerboats who think they are driving down a highway with little regard for their wake. VHF Channel 16 is not the quiet reserve of calling and distress that we are used to back home. Down here it is used to communicate everything from passing intentions between overtaking and overtaken vessels to grocery orders, and it is not uncommon to hear a number of upbraidings being addressed to boats that failed to slow and spare others a good roll-about in their wakes. Add in some of the local accent, CB-radio terminology ("10-4, good buddy" has been heard more than a few times, grating on my naval-ingrained radio voice procedure sensibilities just a tad...) and some creative cussing, and Channel 16 can make for some good entertainment at times.

Passing under the bridges can be a little tense. Most fixed bridges along the ICW have a minimum vertical clearance of sixty-five feet, and we measured (three times, to be certain) our mast in Hampton VA a few days ago to be absolutely certain that we would be able to pass under them. Our measurements came in at 62'6", and so we looked forward to our first bridge passing with something between nervous confidence and dread. The first one is maybe the worst. When you're looking up to the top of your near-63' stick, and there is less than two feet of clearance between it and the bottom of the bridge, it really does look like you're going to hit. Seeing the marks where other rigs struck the span didn't provide any reassurance, either...
Just when we thought we were getting used to these near scrapes and could relax a bit, we did touch at Wilkerson, albeit just the tip of the VHF antenna...apparently the bridge has sunk a foot over the past year or so, and the pucker factor went up sharply as we heard the faint scrape of wire on concrete, which to us sound every bit as bad as nails scraping down a blackboard (remember blackboards?).