May 10, 2024 Church Creek to North Santee River 72 miles 8.3 hours
Decided for another early start as the weather is looking unpredictable for the day. More storms passing through. Some possibly as early as 10AM. We should be across Charleston Harbor by then. Operate boat from pilothouse all day. Nice reprieve from the bugs.
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| New monstrosity of a boat storage rack at Ross Marine can't help but catch your eye. |
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| Fellow Loopers sent this nice picture of As You Wish as we passed their anchorage |
With the balance of Johns Island behind us we're ready to tackle Elliots Cut. It connects Charleston Harbor and the Stono River which are on different tide schedules - meaning water rushes through. We briefly fight the swirling 2 kt current but power through. Some of the most severe shoaling on the ICW currently is at the Ben Sawyer bridge passing Isle of Palms. Thankfully we are up 4.5' on a still rising tide. The depth alarm is blaring and showing less than 2' under our keel. Slight pucker factor. The VHF radio continues to announce severe weather alerts. We manage to stay in between the main isolated cells with just occasional light rain but it remains a gloomy day.
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| Heading into Elliot Cut |
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| Charleston waterfront as we prep to cross the harbor |
Pass McClellanville on a low tide. This area was dredged just a few years ago but is already shoaling. We manage it for now but will need to consider tide timing in the future. Not much traffic out today so it's an enjoyable cruise in the SC coastal low country marshes. Had intended to anchor in Minim Creek but input wrong end point as North Santee River on autoroute. Thought something was wrong since depths weren't matching what I remembered from anchoring there on a trip south last November. Finally figured it out and all worked out okay with Santee anchorage. Still good depths and wide open. Strong wind after dark as last of the cold front passed but we were spared the lightning and rain we could see around us. Boat moved back and forth with the tide overnight, but anchor held steady despite some aggressive tugs from wind gusts. Good overall day for dolphin watching with multiple pods riding our surf.
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| Dolphins enjoying the wake on our side |
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| Journey for May 10, 2024 |
May 11, 2024 North Santee River to Osprey Marina 45 miles 5.1 hours
Beautiful sunny and cooler morning to start the day. Looks like we've got 2-3 days of nice weather ahead. Early start again as we're not sure where we'll wind up for the night. At 8 am as soon as the office is open, we call our friends at Osprey Marina to see if they have an available transient slip. They do, so a short day. This is always an interesting transitional section of ICW. We start in low country marshland, then move into open Winyah Bay, then move past abandoned rice fields before entering the wooded swamplands of the Waccamaw River. Four completely different ecosystems just miles apart.
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| Beautiful weather day as we wind our way up the Waccamaw River |
We're happy with calling it a short day before the weekend parade of jet skiers, pontoon party barges and wannabe fishermen in center consoles begin cruising up and down the river. Martha does a lot of driving today and even takes charge of both docking and undocking as we stop at Wacca Wache Marina for fuel and a pumpout. Took on 200 gallons after covering about 335 miles. So, averaging almost 1.7 mpg while cruising in our 13-1400 rpm sweet spot. I can make the numbers MUCH worse punching the throttles - which we did for a short time crossing Winyah bay. Clean bottom still gets to 2900 rpm WOT and 23+ mph. Always good to be back at Osprey Marina and seeing the staff. We've had several extended stays here and they always treat us well. Big bonus was getting a visit from my brother Paul who was vacationing at Garden City beach.
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| Brother Paul joins us for a late afternoon visit |
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| Journey for May 11, 2023 |
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