We left Toler’s Cove at dead low tide, creeping out through
the shallow channel and barely clearing the bottom, so that we could reach
other downstream shallow areas with better tide. We crossed Charleston Harbor entrance, ran up
the Ashley River past historic downtown, the Coast Guard base, and the massive
Charleston City Marina, and then turned out of the river into the ICW
southbound. Our early start and careful
time and distance calculations allowed us to traverse many of the notoriously
shallow areas of the South Carolina ICW at nearer to high tide. It also allowed favorable tidal currents to
speed us along for the majority of our travels.
South Carolina, for whatever political reasons, has not been allotted
funds for the Army Corps of Engineers to perform dredging work in the ICW in
many years, and this is why it is such a difficult area to traverse. After about nine hours, we arrived in
Beaufort, SC at the Downtown Marina, impressed the dock staff with a backing
maneuver in brisk current, and tied up in the exact same spot we occupied
while traveling north about 18 months ago! We
“ate in” due to the heavy rain just beginning (which lasted all night), and
then the next morning explored the town.
We had really seen Beaufort pretty well on our first stop, but we hiked
up to the post office to mail a birthday card to a friend back home, and then
toured all the shops in the historic downtown area.
After a second night it was time to move on. Kay opted against departing at 0300 and going
offshore to Brunswick (only the one day was forecast to be good weather), so we
left about 0830 and traveled down the ICW, again timing our arrival at some
shallow areas near Savannah to occur nearer to high tide later in the
day. We passed by the Marine Corps
recruit depot at Parris Island, down behind Hilton Head Island, and crossed the
Savannah River into Georgia about 1300.
We then worked our way farther south past Thunderbolt Marina where we
stayed traveling north, and docked at Isle of Hope Marina. There are some beautiful tree- and
moss-enshrouded homes, and we drove around in the loaner car to see the
area. This location gets us an hour
farther south, an advantage tomorrow as we depart at first light to pass a
treacherous shallow spot known as “Hell Gate” as near to high tide as we can
arrive. There was some moderation in the
extreme cold today, and the sun even tried to divulge itself at times. As should be obvious, EVERYTHING related to
travel on a boat revolves around weather, tides, and currents!
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| We Are In Georgia Now! |
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| Isle of Hope, GA |
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| Isle of Hope, GA |
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| Isle of Hope, GA |
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| Isle of Hope, GA |
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| Isle of Hope, GA |
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