My observation here is that the section of the ICW we're talking about carries about 7-1/2 to 8' of water at low tide - at least it did in late April, 2014, when we came north - but you MUST manage your route to be generally in the middle. This is not a stretch to be on autopilot and doing email or managing your investments online! You must be managing the boat! That said, it's much easier at low tide to stay in the middle, because it's much easier to see where the deeper water actually is. At high tide, it's deceptively easy to drift into shallower water w/o realizing it. We draw 4+ feet. We do have some ground effect slowing at low tide, but only one or two spots that require unusual diligence, and they are well documented in SSECN and ActiveCaptain.
Northbound, it's advantageous to be in Mt. Pleasant - north of the Ben Sawyer Bridge - for a northbound low tide departure. The two mile section just north of Ben Sawyer is the most shoal section between Charleston and Georgetown, and there are reportedly sections that are 3' and less at low tide. Maybe recently dredged??? Don't recall. Not an issue for us until the fall. If not dredged, this is a mid-tide or better area, minimum! You will know, because cruising boats will all be stacked up, waiting for the tide.
If you're a slow trawler - 7.5 kts - depart Mount Pleasant area (Isle-of-Palms, Inlet Creek, Dewees Creek) at dead low, and you'll have a rising and favorable following tide all the way north through Georgetown and up the Waccamaw River as far as Thoroughfare Creek/Bull Creek.
I grant, this is not an exciting and stunningly scenic area, but to me, going offshore is not all that exciting and scenic either, and it's a lot longer run offshore to get to the rewards of the stunningly scenic Upper Waccamaw! For us, the trip is about the journey, not the destination; we wouldn't miss the Upper Waccamaw!
Jim
Peg and Jim Healy aboard Sanctuary, currently at Rock Creek, Pasadena, MD
http://gilwellbear.wordpress.com
Monk 36 Hull #132
MMSI #367042570
AGLCA #3767
MTOA #3436
My observation here is that the section of the ICW we're talking about carries about 7-1/2 to 8' of water at low tide - at least it did in late April, 2014, when we came north - but you MUST manage your route to be generally in the middle. This is not a stretch to be on autopilot and doing email or managing your investments online! You must be managing the boat! That said, it's much easier at low tide to stay in the middle, because it's much easier to see where the deeper water actually is. At high tide, it's deceptively easy to drift into shallower water w/o realizing it. We draw 4+ feet. We do have some ground effect slowing at low tide, but only one or two spots that require unusual diligence, and they are well documented in SSECN and ActiveCaptain.
Northbound, it's advantageous to be in Mt. Pleasant - north of the Ben Sawyer Bridge - for a northbound low tide departure. The two mile section just north of Ben Sawyer is the most shoal section between Charleston and Georgetown, and there are reportedly sections that are 3' and less at low tide. Maybe recently dredged??? Don't recall. Not an issue for us until the fall. If not dredged, this is a mid-tide or better area, minimum! You will know, because cruising boats will all be stacked up, waiting for the tide.
If you're a slow trawler - 7.5 kts - depart Mount Pleasant area (Isle-of-Palms, Inlet Creek, Dewees Creek) at dead low, and you'll have a rising and favorable following tide all the way north through Georgetown and up the Waccamaw River as far as Thoroughfare Creek/Bull Creek.
I grant, this is not an exciting and stunningly scenic area, but to me, going offshore is not all that exciting and scenic either, and it's a lot longer run offshore to get to the rewards of the stunningly scenic Upper Waccamaw! For us, the trip is about the journey, not the destination; we wouldn't miss the Upper Waccamaw!
Jim
Peg and Jim Healy aboard Sanctuary, currently at Rock Creek, Pasadena, MD
http://gilwellbear.wordpress.com
Monk 36 Hull #132
MMSI #367042570
AGLCA #3767
MTOA #3436
