May 17 left Cumberland Island for Duplin Creek.
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| Our last night at Cumberland with a full moon! |
We were up and ready to go by Left 7:15 this morning in order to play the tides so that when we
approached the ICW trouble (very shallow) spots we would do so at high, or rising tide
levels. Better to get up early then go
a-ground I always say.
Last year we literally plowed through the mud at Jekyll
creek when we went through at low tide.
This year we went through on a rising tide and had no troubles. After last year this was almost a disappointing experience just gliding through without a worry. Still though, I like gliding rather than plowing.
Little Mud
River has really a very shallow
spot entering the cut from either end so its best to do this at high tide. We saw 5 feet at the entrance going in and it was at near
high tide. I cant imagine how anyone could get through here at low tide.
Finally after getting through all of these shallow areas we
were at the
Duplin River in DeBoy sound. It's a nice broad river and the times we have been here, rarely occupied by more than a few boats. Same situation tonight with only 2 other
boats anchored with us. It was a very calm night. Peaceful and quite.
Tomorrow we're planning heading out to the ocean for the trip to St. Catherine Sound and one of our favorite anchorages, Walburg Creek!
May 18 left Duplin River for Walburg Creek.
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| Leaving Deboy Sound for the ocean |
We were up at a leisurely 8:30 and left the Duplin River out
the Deboy Sound to the by 9:15. There were
only 2-3 foot swells, basically a calm day with mild temperatures and mostly sunny
skies.
We were the only boat out there about 5 miles off shore. It was a wonderful, gently swaying in the mild swells. And it was warm but the cool ocean breeze kept it comfortable.
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| St. Catherine sound and two other boats |
We were cruising at a leisurely 7mph so it took us about 7 hours in the ocean before we were seeing the markers for
St. Catherine Sound. We were joined by two other boats bound for the sound as well. They came in from further out to sea so we didn't see them until; we were close to the inlet buoys.
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| Trespassers on Cleo's beach |
We came into St. Catherine sound without any problems. Walburg Creek is about
a mile up from the inlet where there is a long stretch of beach curving around
the island. This is the beach where Cleo frolicked last year. At that time it was
essentially deserted. Not so today.
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| Anchored in Walburg Creek looking back to the Sound |
We anchored about midway up the very broad and deep creek
along with 4 other boats. It was a calm,
enjoyable evening as we stayed on the boat since we were leaving early the next
day for Isle of Hope near
Savannah.
May 19 left Walburg Creek for Isle of Hope
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| Hells Gate entrance to the left |
We left Walburg Creek moderately early so we could time our arrival at Hells
Gate to correspond to high tide. And we got it pretty much right on. There was only 5 feet
at the entrance to the cut and given the tidal ranges there are can be up to 3
feet in can reach a stage where its impassable until the tide rises. And that can be several hours.
Hells Gate is little ½ mile cut on the ICW that is incredibly shallow if you go through it at anything but high or near high tide. We arrived there at almost high tide and on entering we did see a short stretch of 5 foot depths before the depths started getting deeper readings.
We had no trouble running up the next 10 miles to
Isle of Hope Marina. The stretch of the ICW
about 5 miles south of
Isle of Hope is another area where transiting at high
tide is the prudent thing to do and since its not that far from Hells Gate we had no issues.
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| Great spot on the face dock |
We arrived at near slack water and the
Marina
assigned us a spot on the face dock right at the end. So leaving the dock would be easy. The current and wind pretty much just eased us
into the dock.
Nice people. The
place is "older" but quite nice.
They have two courtesy cars but only one bath/shower for each
gender. But they were nice!
The parrot is the spitting image of Mary Ann from Destin.
Next morning we cleaned a bit and did some minor repairs around
the boat. And laundry. Don and Linda with Danielle and Mike her new
husband stopped over later for drinks in the late afternoon and then we went out to
dinner. We all fit in Danielle's car for the mile drive to a surprisingly good Mexican restaurant nearby. And I forgot to take pictures. Sorry!! But it was great to see them all!
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| One of the boulevards |
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| River front road |
We took one of the cars the following morning and drove about 5 miles to a Publix
to stock up since the nearby Walmart was somewhat deficient in their grocery selections. And as an added bonus a nice ice cream shop was next door to Publix so really, was there any reason not to go there?
I took a long walk around Isle of Hope later in the afternoon. Its a very quaint place with interesting homes and byways with very large trees forming a canopy of sorts shading out the hot sun. Very nice!
And everyone I met stopped to say hello and chat for a few minutes. Very friendly folks!
The streets aren't laid out in any discernible grid pattern so I pretty much wandered around crossing back on places I had already passed. Still a worthy and interesting time.
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| The marina |
We are planning on leaving here on the 22 for the Stono River anchorage near Charleston and spending 4 or 5 days there. Anchoring costs us maybe $4 in generator fuel versus at least $100 a night if we stayed in a marina. So we like to anchor out a lot!
Finally after getting through all of these shallow areas we
were at the 
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