April 17, 2018 - April 20, 2018
We left St. Augustine at sunrise (the temperature was 52) heading to Fernandina Beach area. We were making good time and decided to continue on into Georgia even though 70+ mile days really wear us down. We anchored near Stafford Island, GA. It took us three days to get through Georgia with its notorious trouble spots- Jekyll Creek, Little Mud River, and Hell Gate. We got through the first two trouble spots only to go aground in a channel that was charted as having a 16 ft. depth. When I first heard the depth sounder beep I let out a colorful phrase (those of Irish heritage would recognize it) and started to keen. Bob’s skill at the helm and me on the bow rocking my weight back and forth got us off the bottom and on our way again. We made it to a desolate anchorage in Supelo Sound and spent a cold rocky night. Our third day started out cold and windy, but warmed up by the afternoon. We crossed the Savannah River and anchored on New River, South Carolina leaving Georgia in our rear view.
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Generally speaking, the Georgia ICW is a desolate place. The scenery is swampy low country with brown spartina grass and scrub pines. At low tide the mud flats give off a less than pleasant odor. No matter how far from land we are the flies find the boat. The wildlife is the most interesting part of this portion of the ICW - sea gulls swoop and caw, brown pelicans fly just above the water and crash dive to seize fish, dolphins play near the boat and sometimes swim along in our wake for a mile or two. These are the only diversions while at the helm for mile after mile.
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| This is the scenery for miles. |
On the ICW Bob and I take two hour shifts at the helm. While at the helm I follow the navigational lines on our chart plotter (it is a red line) and use the auto pilot to adjust our direction as needed. However, I constantly compare what is on the chart plotter to what I see in front of me and what I see on our paper chart. Navigational markers have to match up on all three. So tracking our progress and watching the depth keep me alert and busy.
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| These electronics are a valuable asset to navigation, but we still need to use paper charts and our vision to stay on course. |
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| Paper charts are essential for keeping on course. They give us the big picture of where we are. I keep the chart on my lap while at the helm so I can constantly check our location. Can you see the red line we follow? |
We arrived in Beaufort, SC at 12:30 on Friday, April 20, 2018. I’ll write about our four day stay in Beaufort in my next blog post.
Thank you for reading my blog.
