May 22- May 23, 2014 to Charleston, SC

May 22 Isle of Hope to May River Hilton Head

Isle of Hope Marina office

We left Isle of hope around 8am and headed up the river on a rising tide.  We slid past Turner Creek where  we spent a miserable stormy night last year, and cruised by Thunderbolt Marina  where we had wanted to stay these past few days.  And they were, from what could see, full up.  Oh well.

Savannah Harbor (sorry about the quality)

We couldn't see much of Savannah from where we are on the ICW but we did cross the Savannah river so that's something I guess.  On one of these treks up and down the water way, we will have to head in the city with the boat and stay a few nights in the middle of town.  Although I've been told its not all that pleasant because of the constant commercial traffic and buffeting by wakes.  But we'll see how true that is one of these years.

Hard to see, but the shrimper is taking up most of the channel

We did have an encounter a shrimp boat southbound through the Elba Cut with all his nets hanging out on either side of the boat in this very narrow portion of the ICW.  It was so narrow in the cut the likelihood of us passing one another wasn't looking to promising.  But before we got to that critical meeting point it veered off suddenly into what is charted as shoal water.  Guess his local knowledge trumps the charts.

Fields Cut, another semi problematic area, was fine except at north end with 5 foot depths in places.  The tide was coming up though, so I think that helped.   Stay near the green side is what we were told and so we did.  Green side means stay closer to the green buoys.  Hope I remember all these little nuances when we have to head back down this same route in the fall.   

We cruised by one of the anchorages we could have used near Daufuskie Island which reputedly has a great little ma and pa restaurant, Marshside Mamas.  Its possible to anchor in New River which is very close by, or even use the islands free dock for a few hours.  The dock is very near the restaurant.  Alas, I was informed that the place is closed on Sundays.   But maybe in the fall on our way back south.

Habour Town Light (crappy picture, sorry, but its all I have)

We came out into Calibogue Sound where Hilton Head is located.  We could see the Harbour Town Light marking Harbour Town and the marina.  But we were turning up upstream towards the May river which lies a few miles north.  While Harbour Town is bustling with activity and things to do, its really pricey and we were looking for cheap and quiet.

Anchored in May River

May river is a very broad and open river but about a mile up from the mouth is a large bank of trees which affords some wind protection and that where we anchored.  The wind and current were making it a little bouncy but all that settled down after a few hours when the winds and tide ceased battling for supremacy.

The water is pretty deep here.  We anchored in 27 feet.  And it was a toasty 81 degrees so we did a little chunky-dunking before it got too dark.  Most of the boat traffic stayed well away, perhaps forewarned from others that this is a favorite chunky-dunking spot for cruisers. :-)

Nice sunset on May River

Tomorrow we try for the Stono River which is a whopping 80+ miles away.  At 7 miles per hour, that can take a lot of time.  We'll see how that goes!

May 23 May River to Stono River Charleston

We managed to leave May River before 8 to play the tides.  I think this may be a contributing factor to Mary's emerging distaste for the ICW.  This getting up at day break to go slow for many hours only to get the next day and repeat the whole thing again. It can be wearing! 

Marine Base at Beaufort

We made it into Port Royal Sound from Skull Creek in about two hours and cruised through Beaufort SC again.  We haven't stopped here yet maybe in the fall we might linger for a few days.  There are several reports of the fabulous donuts they have there in town.





We came out into the Coosaw River and decided to simply by-pass the Ashepoo-Coosaw cut which is difficult unless its high tide and even then it can be problematic.  It would add about 3.5 miles for us but makes the journey much more enjoyable not having to plow through mud in a shallow waterway.  Friends of ours earlier in month couldn't get through here due to the shallow, (3.5 feet) water and followed the same route up the South branch of the Edisto River we're taking.  More miles, more time, far less stress.

And as another option, we could take the North Branch of the Edisto River and by-pass another trouble spot, Fields Cut.   But this cut is passable even at low tides levels if you follow the prescribed path so adding those extra miles and minutes doesn't seem necessary.  The extra miles amount to almost 5 which for us is almost another hour of running time.  

It was beginning to get dark as the sun began setting.  We passed a few spots where we could anchor but we less than 20 miles away.  And, luckily we were getting a big boost form the tidal current, almost a full 2 miles per hour.  Scoffing at the idea of using a calculator mentally calculated we would be anchoring in the waning light of a sun past setting.   So off we set, hurling down the ICW at a brisk 9.2 mph racing the sun.

The  remain segment of the trip consisted of  winding through salt marshes and swampy lowlands.  I must remember to come back this way on at high or on a rising tides since the charted depths were quite low.

Lots of room in the anchorage

We burst upon the Stono River in the receding light and found, much to my relief, the anchorage occupied by only a few boats.  We picked a spot near the St. Johns Yacht Harbor and, in the rushing tidal current, set the anchor.  It held immediately.  We ran out about 100 feet attached the snubber and hit the hay.  It was after 9pm, so we were running for about 12 hours.  Odd how just sitting in a chair and pushing a few buttons on the auto-pilot can be so exhausting.  Who knew!

For those of you who have posed questions about the ICW, this is a general Map of the Atlantic portion.  There are a few nuggets of information here at the Atlantic Sailors web site which describes the Intracoastal-Waterway