Heading down the ICW

magicbus said:

Walking around a marina that's closed for Christmas really lets you poke around. Here's a shot of an N55 for the Nordie folks. Believe it or not it is only an N55. Dave

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Yep Nordhavn's are known for their high bows.

It's been a nice few days. Southport is a beautiful town and this is a great marina. Be warned that there is no food shopping of any sort unless you travel 2+ miles to a Super Walmart or Food Lion.

We have been reading reviews, and instead of heading for Charleston City Marina for 4 days so I can work, we have decided to bypass it and move on towards Savanah. I'll have to take a few days off but it gets us way closer to warm weather.

Dave

This is why we like cruising... Our lonely Anchorage in South Carolina at mm 375.

Dave

magicbus said:

We have a Bruce and a CQR. We usually use the CQR as it holds nicely in muddy bottoms. Each has 200 feet of chain.

Dave

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That is a common combination here, but the Bruce/Claw is used most often used of the two here.

magicbus said:

This is why we like cruising... Our lonely Anchorage in South Carolina at mm 375.

Dave

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Great picture, Dave. Looks like you have made it to the Waccamaw.

Moonstruck said:

Great picture, Dave. Looks like you have made it to the Waccamaw.

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Yes, and boy did we get the tide right going to Georgetown.

Dave

I hope you're planning to take the open ocean between Georgetown and Charleston. I did this run in the open and it was a breeze. However, during the x-mas holidays we took the boat for the ride and wanted to see Isle of Palms by water.

This is where I got stock on a shoal in 2' of water (this is just north of the Ben Sawyer Memorial Bridge):

Latitude: 32°47.239'N
Longitude: 079°48.480'W

I just updated the Active Captain also to help my fellow boaters. I was there during mid tide (traveling northbound toward Isle of Palms). After being warned by other posts in AC I was going slow, but the shoal just popped up very unexpectedly. The depth dropped from 5' to 2' way too fast. I was just shocked sitting on the shoal in the dead center of the channel. I spun the boat around using the bow thruster and port engine (as it was further away from the shoal vs the stbd side) to get me off. I tried heading northbound a little more hugging the red side, but only 100' further my depth alarm went off again showing 2.5'. Since the tide was outgoing there was no way I could continue heading north to the Isle of Palms, so I just turned around and went back.

P.S. my boat draws 4' and I will not go there unless it's a dead high tide.

magicbus said:

We have been reading reviews, and instead of heading for Charleston City Marina for 4 days so I can work, we have decided to bypass it and move on towards Savanah. I'll have to take a few days off but it gets us way closer to warm weather.

Dave

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Dave, I know several considerations enter into this, but thought I would give a little bit of my view. My boat's hailing port is SC in fact Charleston. We spend a lot of time in SC, and I have lived in Savannah. Savannah can be interesting, but with four days I would definitely prefer to stay at Charleston Municipal Marina. Great facility, free shuttle to town, great food, better security. Thurderbolt and Isle of Hope are both OK, but will take a rental car to do much in town. Isle of Hope sometimes has a loaner for short trips. Downtown Savannah can be a bit rolly, and security can be a problem. Just my thoughts.

Thanks for the heads up info. We are inside about halfway to Charleston so we will need to pass Isle of Palms. Maybe we'll hang on the hook until the southbound Defever next to us leaves - I think he draws 6 feet .

Dave

This is becoming my new favorite sport... working our way around parts of the ICW that are essentially closed at low tide. Today's sport was at Alex's spot by Isle of Palms. A known bad spot that we managed to approach directly at low tide. It's an interesting trade-off - do you want to fight a tide all day so that the inlet supplying the tide and associated shoaling is high when you get there, or do you want to coast the outgoing tide all day and end up at the inlet at low tide and shoaling. I hate fighting tides but have gotten pretty good at negotiating shoaling.

Today did cost us close to an hour where we steered with the thrusters and moved forward at about 1.5 knots. At that speed I simply can't steer but the thrusters can point us and I can goose the throttle. We draw 5 '6" and only had to back off once but were down to exactly five-six a half dozen times.

Tonight we're anchored in the beautiful Church Creek in SC. The bay under Charleston was simply ugly, the marina was rolling, and we have been there by land, so we decided to press on. We are starting to smell suntan oil and needing to see a warm beach!

Dave

WOW! I thought they dredge the ICW. I guess going after dark is out of the question....Maybe we don't want a ICW on the west side..

They dredge but the current brings the sand back after a while. It's not as bad as some folks make it out to be, commercial tugs and barges use it all the time. I set my depth alarm for 5 feet and it sounds from time to time. I draw 40".

You can just wait for the tide if you have to.

While we have been having a great cruise with some wonderful stops, nothing beats St Simon's, GA. Not because it is a great marina (it is) but because today we were able to PUT ON FLIP FLOPS. (apologies to those experiencing the arctic blast).

Dave

Were at our one of our keys homes and saw a Selene 53 , at first sight I thought it was you, I was like dang he travels fast! Look at the top left of the pic.:lol:

Not me but a couple of Selene 55's let us know they are right behind us and should catch up. One bound for Ft Lauderdale and one to the Bahamas.

Dave

Oliver, nice photo you posted. I noticed the Sea Ray Sedan Bridge in the far left side of it.

I've been lurking as you've made this trip. I just wanted to jump in here and let everyone know I've enjoyed the postings.

magicbus said:

While we have been having a great cruise with some wonderful stops, nothing beats St Simon's, GA. Not because it is a great marina (it is) but because today we were able to PUT ON FLIP FLOPS. (apologies to those experiencing the arctic blast).

Dave

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yeah thanks...will be sitting in Brunswick landing marina for the 20 degree plummet....flip flops and blue toes...

The good news is the plummet kept my friend in town cause he said it was too cold to go work (paint) at his farm in Tennessee. Small miracles despite the frigid temps....

End of the day in GA. Going to a record low of 22 tomorrow night here. We're staying a few days while I catch up on work.

Dave

Heading for a hard freeze and probably a new record here so we back-drained the outside spigots and filled the water tank in case the dock freezes and breaks.In the 70's by the weekend.

Dave

This thread is great!
I think I'm starting to live for threads like this (lol).

Have fun and try to stay warm...(38 deg. here! )

OD

magicbus said:

This is becoming my new favorite sport... working our way around parts of the ICW that are essentially closed at low tide. Today's sport was at Alex's spot by Isle of Palms. A known bad spot that we managed to approach directly at low tide. It's an interesting trade-off - do you want to fight a tide all day so that the inlet supplying the tide and associated shoaling is high when you get there, or do you want to coast the outgoing tide all day and end up at the inlet at low tide and shoaling. I hate fighting tides but have gotten pretty good at negotiating shoaling.

Today did cost us close to an hour where we steered with the thrusters and moved forward at about 1.5 knots. At that speed I simply can't steer but the thrusters can point us and I can goose the throttle. We draw 5 '6" and only had to back off once but were down to exactly five-six a half dozen times....

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Dave,

You probably have the skill I still need to develop. Can you elaborate on your trick finding the deeper channel when there's minimum water all around?

I only have bow thruster and good half of my props (not to mentioned the rudders) are exposed to the bottom. So, I can't rely just on thrusters and I don't want my props digging any holes either.

Florida at last. Only in the 50's but a nice change from the 22 degrees this morning. We're in Fernandina Beach hanging until Saturday so I can work for 2 days. I mentioned to the dock master yesterday that I'd like to pump out this morning so I was good until Feb. and I could easily slide back on the face dock to the pump out. Who da thought the hose from the dock to wherever pumped out "stuff" goes would be frozen solid!

Warm weather is on the way.

Dave

Alex F said:

Dave,

You probably have the skill I still need to develop. Can you elaborate on your trick finding the deeper channel when there's minimum water all around?

I only have bow thruster and good half of my props (not to mentioned the rudders) are exposed to the bottom. So, I can't rely just on thrusters and I don't want my props digging any holes either.

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It's kind a Zen thing, but my first rule is if I hit bottom immediately back up where we came from to clear water. I hate backing because, while my prop is not exposed, it presents the weakest part of the keel and rudder to the bottom.

When we intentionally nose into shallow water I am running around 2 knots. I go by two standards - if there is no reason for shoaling to occur (no crossing water) the deepest water is in the "visual center" of the channel. By this I mean that typically one side will exhibit a mud flat forming while the other will have a steep edge. Stay in the visual center of where the water hits the flat, not the grass 5 feet above it. I find this gives you the true center.

When water crosses your path you need think about where shoaling will happen because of it. I usually figure it out after I back off the bottom the first time.

Since I have almost no ability to steer at 2 knots I use the front thruster to point the nose where I have learned deeper water should be and then goose the throttle to make headway.

Hope that makes some sense.

Dave

magicbus said:

End of the day in GA. Going to a record low of 22 tomorrow night here. We're staying a few days while I catch up on work.

Dave

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Dave,

You're scaring me. Are you saying that it was 22* in GA? My boat is Charleston with nothing winterized. Based on what I've observed it was only one night of the cold snap. Am I in trouble? Should I worry about anchor and transom wash downs as well as transom shower?

Well... we were at St Simons and the dock worked through the first day/night but last night froze everything. We had back drained our outside spigots and had no issues. The water is 51 so hulls are staying warm but it's the fringe spigots you have to watch.

Dave

magicbus said:

... if there is no reason for shoaling to occur (no crossing water) the deepest water is in the "visual center" of the channel. By this I mean that typically one side will exhibit a mud flat forming while the other will have a steep edge. Stay in the visual center of where the water hits the flat, not the grass 5 feet above it. I find this gives you the true center.

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Thank you that's exactly what I was trying to describe.

Dave

Brunswick, Ga had quite a few broken pipes on both docks and shower rooms over at Brunswick Landing marina (last night and the night before).

magicbus said:

It's kind a Zen thing, but my first rule is if I hit bottom immediately back up where we came from to clear water. I hate backing because, while my prop is not exposed, it presents the weakest part of the keel and rudder to the bottom.

When we intentionally nose into shallow water I am running around 2 knots. I go by two standards - if there is no reason for shoaling to occur (no crossing water) the deepest water is in the "visual center" of the channel. By this I mean that typically one side will exhibit a mud flat forming while the other will have a steep edge. Stay in the visual center of where the water hits the flat, not the grass 5 feet above it. I find this gives you the true center.

When water crosses your path you need think about where shoaling will happen because of it. I usually figure it out after I back off the bottom the first time.

Since I have almost no ability to steer at 2 knots I use the front thruster to point the nose where I have learned deeper water should be and then goose the throttle to make headway.

Hope that makes some sense.

Dave

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Thanks for the explanation, Dave.

I was following similar approach for the exception of the speed. I was doing about 5-6kts in the center of the channel (the center as you described). I'll make sure to go much slower next time.

psneeld said:

Brunswick, Ga had quite a few broken pipes on both docks and shower rooms over at Brunswick Landing marina (last night and the night before).

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Does this mean that I should buy new focets before heading to the boat or do you think there's a chance that mine might have survived the potential freeze?