Georgetown to Beaufort SC

—Blogpost written by Bob

Georgetown to Capers Creek

Our travel plan for the day simply stated “Sunday, Nov 10: travel to Whiteside Creek (MM 452) - 50 miles, anchor.”

We departed our slip in Georgetown SC at 7 AM. It was very cool in the morning. (We even wore shoes and socks!) The windows on our cockpit enclosure were fogged up on the way out of Georgetown’s harbor. The bright sunshine made it difficult to see at times but with the aid of our chart plotter, we remained in the channel.  Then we motored south on Winyah Bay.

A shrimp boat motoring north
on Winyah Bay as we
motored south.

We zipped out the front window of our dodger for improved visibility just before turning into Estherville Minim Canal at red day mark #2. It was high tide and we didn’t have to worry much about shallow water. 

This pontoon bridge is used by a farmer
for access to some of his fields.

As we crossed the South Santee River, the tidal flow in the river pushed us slightly off track—we had to counter the current by steering into it a little. After crossing North Santee River and, then, South Santee River we entered Fourmile Creek Canal.  In this area the ICW is surrounded by marsh.  In fact, most of the day we were surrounded by marsh.

This house was constructed on a low-lying island
and was built on stilts.  It appears
to be abandoned at present.

We anchored at 2 PM (which was at low tide) just short of our goal of Whiteside Creek.  We anchored in Capers Creek directly across from red day mark #94 (MM 451) in 10 feet of water.  (We found out that you can't go very far into this creek without running aground.)  We decided to take this anchorage due to the fact that the water was shallower than at Whiteside Creek and we could get by with using less anchor chain and, therefore, hold a tighter anchor radius.  (Whiteside Creek was shown on the charts as having much deeper water, in places up to 38 feet. Later, we found out that there are shallower areas in Whiteside Creek.)  We are completely surrounded by marsh at this anchorage.  There are very few houses within sight and we can see a high bridge in the distance near Isle of Palms.

Our isolated anchorage
on Capers Creek.

Dusk at Capers Creek from inside
our cockpit enclosure.

Capers Creek to Church Creek

I had today’s journey all planned out so that we departed at 9 AM but I couldn’t wait. We actually departed our anchorage at 8:15 AM. As we came by our originally planned Whiteside Creek anchorage, we counted ten boats in the anchorage.

We caught the 10 AM opening of the Ben Sawyer Swing Bridge. There were two other sailboats waiting for the bridge opening by the time we reached the bridge.

From there, we crossed Charleston Harbor. The outgoing tidal current was very strong and it caused us to veer to port—we had to adjust our course to starboard to account for the tidal current. 

Charleston's beautiful waterfront.

This was the first time that we didn't stop in the Charleston area.  Usually we stop at Isle of Palms Marina but they were full this time around and we had already planned a major stop in Beaufort SC.

As we got into Wappoo Creek, we found out that the Wappoo Creek Bascule Bridge opened upon request because today was a holiday (Veterans Day)!  The tidal current in this area is excessive.  As we got closer to Elliott Cut, all the current funnels into a deep but narrow channel with piles of rocks on both sides. I ran the engine at 2500 RPM which usually moves the boat at 6.8 knots.  However, our boat speed was only 2.3 knots which means the tidal current was running against us at 4.5 knots. This was not fun at all!  Needless to say, I didn’t take any photos.

The current was against us well after Elliott Cut until about 1 PM.  We traveled along the Stono River for 16 miles until we came to the day's anchorage at Church Creek.  We anchored at 2:15 PM in 13 feet of water near MM 487.  We anchored about 1/2-mile off the ICW so that we can get right onto the ICW early tomorrow morning.  There were five other boats that anchored in Church Creek.

Today we traveled 36 miles in 6 hours for an average speed of 6 mph.  The two opening bridges (which did not result in too much of a delay), strong tidal flow against us at Elliott Cut, and generally motoring against the tide most of the day accounted for our slower-than-normal average speed.

Another beautiful sunset!

Church Creek to Beaufort SC

We were up and ready to go early but we had to wait for some more daylight before raising our anchor. 

Our Church Creek anchorage
just before sunrise.

We finally got moving at 6:45 AM on Tuesday, November 12, 2019, as the sun peaked through the morning’s cloud cover. Two power boats (a small tug and a motor cat) that were in our anchorage were able to get out of the creek just ahead of us.

We decided to use 1-hour shifts today instead of our normal 2-hour shifts at the helm just to change things up. I always have the first shift and usually the last shift of the day.

We motored down the Wadmalaw River and into the Dawho River. We had the tidal flow against us as we were only able to achieve 5.4 knots at cruising (2250) RPM in the Wadmalaw River but a more favorable tidal current as we entered the Dawho River.

At 8:10 AM, we encountered our first anticipated obstacle of the day (a shallow and narrow channel at MM 497) but fortunately it was nearly high tide and it proved to be no problem with the help of the 7-foot tide. (We’d be totally freaking out if it were low tide!)

A pelican sitting on a green buoy
in the Dawho River.

After a relatively short length of travel in the South Edisto River, we went through Fenwick Cut. (Maggie piloted through Fenwick Cut.) After the cut we turned into the Ashepoo River, immediately bucking the tidal current again—our boat speed dropped to 4.8 knots (from 7.2 knots prior to the cut).

Next up was the Ashepoo-Coosaw Cutoff, our last anticipated obstacle of the day and the tide was still above mid-tide, fortunately. After the cutoff, we entered the Coosaw River for almost the remainder of our travel day—the tidal current was against us.

While on the Coosaw River I transferred the 19 gallons of diesel in our auxiliary fuel tank into the primary fuel tank which was running low. Since the fuel gauge for the primary tank is not very accurate, I don’t like to take the chance of running out of fuel. (I have to add some calibration markings on this gauge!)

We just caught the 2 PM opening (with about 5 minutes to spare) of the Ladies Island Swing Bridge and made it into the Downtown Marina shortly thereafter.  As we were pulling up to the marina a burst of wind came through and it rained liked cats and dogs.  We filled both tanks with diesel fuel (23 gallons) before tying s/v Rainy Days up in her assigned slip.  We were both soaking wet by the time we docked and checked in at the marina office.

Today we traveled 49 miles in 7.5 hours for an average speed of 6.5 mph.  The primary reason for the slower-than-normal average speed was the amount of time we spent bucking the tidal current.  We are now at MM 536, about half way down the ICW to Miami.

Next up, is our stay over in Beaufort SC, one of our favorite stops along the ICW.


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