Friday November 30
We departed Bull Creek early with our much needed rising tide. We were headed for Herb River 18 nm. Another falling tide kept us from going further. Herb River is our "staging" stop for the notoriously shallow cut called "Hell Gate". We could not approach "Hell Gate" with a falling tide, shallow draft Catamarans had been running aground here recently...the VHF radio tells no lies!
Trip planning through southern South Carolina and Georgia is hard work and travel is slow, even more difficult with a deep draft vessel. If planning is careful and deliberate, it is doable. It is not just the tides we have to contend with. There are the swift currents and the lack of daylight. The currents and lack of daylight slow us down. Time, speed and distance calculating is critical. Sometimes we get discouraged at our short distances and slow travel, it is so tempting to keep going, extending our travel time, but we know the risks! We take each day as a great experience regardless of our mileage.
The weather improves as our Latitude descends, and that is spirit healing. There are sunny and warm days and the night "lows" are getting warmer as we move south. Today we crossed the Georgia border!!
Saturday December 1
The Georgian ICW is beautiful. It winds dramatically through marshlands. The beauty is deceiving as it hides the shallows that can leave a boat and it's crew stranded. We approached "Hell Gate" at high tide and cruised through in 14 feet of water. We were happy to have "Hell Gate" done. Still ahead in the next few days are Creighton Narrows, Little Mud River, Buttermilk Sound and Jekyll Creek, all equally challenging as "Hell Gate"."Chasseur" and "Mistress" took slips at Kilkenny Marina for the night Saturday. There was a restaurant next door with it's own shrimp boat docked in front of it. We indulged in a Georgian shrimp dinner. The walk to the restaurant was lined with beautiful, old live oak trees draped in Spanish moss.
Sunday (December 2) we had one "caution" shallow to get through, Creighton Narrows. At low tide it can be 3 feet on one side of the channel. We never saw less than 17 feet depth with the high tide just beginning to ebb. It was a beautiful warm, sunny day. We dropped anchor in New Teakettle Creek. Muriel and Tutty came over to "Chasseur" by dinghy, with a grilled pork tenderloin and green bean casserole for a Sunday afternoon potluck dinner.
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| Bull Creek departure sunrise |
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| Kilkenny live oak trees and Spanish moss |
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| Tutty and Muriel with grilled pork tenderloin delivery |
Nice Blog ! This is dean from the s/v Autumn Borne. We're down in Titusville, FL, waiting for a car rental, the Holidays, and maybe some work on the bottom of Autumn Borne.
ReplyDeleteSorry we couldn't talk at the fuel dock in Great Bridge, at least I think that's where we last saw you guys!... take care... see you down the line.