The Mud River & prepare to be boarded

We have for the past several years avoided the Mud River in southern Ga, arguably the worst spot on the ICW. It is not uncommon to hear others say noooo! only on a mid tide or higher. In the past we wrestled with this question and for good or bad have been able to make a longer offshore run either north or south bound, usually an overnighter. Thus missing all of Ga., in fact, we have not been through the Ga. ICW in a very long time.

This is one of those spots where we can never time it well. It seems the tide here always works against us with a low on the Mud River occurring  at a particularly bad time. Yesterday the offshore weather forecast had a "back door" cold front coming through with 25kt winds from the NE and 4-6 ' seas with 6-8sec pd, rather snotty in our view; we have done it but why bounce around if you do not need to. Our experience has been if they call for 4-6' waves count on something worse. Seabright runs like a champ in these waters but riding up and down short tall and steep waves when you do not need to is something else. It is the wave period that is the issue, sometimes you are not out of one before into the next. In deep blue water ocean 6-8' rollers are not uncommon but close in like this is not a fun ride.

We departed Isle of Hope Marina at 6:30am to make the 7am bridge opening at Skidaway Bridge, which has a rush hour opening restriction. We typically snake along the ICW very slowly with our spot light on in the predawn inky darkness. Amazingly as we passed a couple of anchorages most of the boats did not have on anchor lights. One had a solar powered light that you can buy at Walmart for $4, that you can see only when very close. I would have missed it all together if not by a fluke and figured out what it is.  These are unsafe but not uncommon practices.

Concerning navigating the Mud River we look at Active Captain as well as other sites;
https://www.activecaptain.com/X.php

Little Mud River, MM655, the straight section between R192 and G193 has about 8' to 9' MLW on ICW line, except for a slight hump to 6 to 7' off Crooked Creek.  Approaching the bend, southbound, it shoals up a little to around 6' MLW then back to 7' MLW in the bend, slightly on the green side (outside), then 8' off R194 (100' away).On the south end of Little Mud River, aim at a point exactly in the middle between G195 and the range marker.  Then make a sharp turn on the range.  This should give about 7.5 to 8' MLW off G195 then increasing to 12' on the range.  Splitting in the middle of the G and range markers, then getting on the range without cutting or overshooting the corner seems to be the best option.

A recent remark;


Date: 2011-01-24
Captain: Capt Keylime, Oriental, NC (125)

Passed through here mid-January 2011 at low tide.  Good thing we only draw 3 ft on our 36 ft sportfisher because there was only 4 ft beneath our transducer for most of the length of Little Mud River.
To that we added;

We normally go "outside" to avoid this part of the waterway but it was so snotty we opted to travel the ICW. We came through 1.5hrs after a low tide with an incoming current and 20+ kt winds from the NE. We draw 5ft (truthfully more with extra stuff on board) and 65 ft length. Instructions given earlier are generally good especially and the southern end.Would add go slow and do not squat your stern. There are multiple range markers, line up carefully and stay lined up. Stray outside the ranges and your are aground.Tugs drawing 8 ft go through here all the time and in speaking with one he was adamant about the ranges. On the north entry, southbound, generally favors the west side of the channel and the last third on the southern end favors the eastern side of the channel. Check the winds before going,  you can have a situation where a strong wind and outgoing tide can push more water out and giving you less depth than normal, which was the case the day before we went through.

The water was skinny but we did fine. After going through and running in deeper water getting closer to our days' final destination we were hailed by a CG vessel who very politely asked to board for a "courtesy examination". Two CG officers, armed, came aboard while we kept our  headway at 5kts and in about 15 min completed a safety examination which we passed with flying colors.

It was a chilly day but we did see some signs of early spring;

 The first Osprey nest we have seen this season. These guys are getting a chilly jump on things. Happily we also heard the sounds of a lawn mower while sitting at the dock in IOH. Soon very soon the jackets are coming off and the shorts and flip flops on. 

We have not seen many white pelicans yet and this was one of the larger flocks. This is along Mud River, you can see the exposed shore line which is always impressive with a 7' tide.

The ICW all the way, yikes!

We had a fairly short trip today of 56sm. Our timing had us traveling through a low tide and a few shallow spots particularly at the south side of Ramshorn Creek, took a bit of hunting for "good water". Otherwise we had, for the most part, a favorable current which increased our speed by 1.5mph.
Traveling along the ICW I keep our chart plotter on "statute miles" instead of "nautical miles because that is how the ICW is measured. Easier to keep track of things; otherwise we use nautical miles.

Ever different, on this trip we have been surprised by the number of bald eagles we have seen. Four yesterday, of which one few close enough to touch, unfortunately could not get to the camera in time.

We found this one sitting on a shore line of drift wood.

A group of pelicans watching the boats go by

Not something you see everyday. Looks like a European canal barge boat.



Today is our decision day. Which way to go. Our options include a brief outside run to St. Simons Island or an inside run in the ICW. Either way it would be a long day of about 87nm and the need to time a bridge near the Isle of Hope Marina were we are for tonight's stay. The complicating factors are both weather and tides. Unfortunately there is a front coming through and the waves will kick up offshore making that option unattractive. Doable but not fun.

The inside run includes the notorious Mud River which is one of the worst spots, if not the worst spot on the waterway. There is a 7 foot tidal swing and the typical recommendation is to travel only on a mid-to-high tide. There are sections at low tide that are reported to be 4 ft or less. On some ICW blogs others report depths ok often giving conflicting advice on how to navigate to find good water.
Last year we opted to go off shore around this spot when going south and when going north we have gone offshore. The wind and waves make this less appealing and we have decided to go the ICW all the way.
The Mud River is 68sm from the marina we are staying in and the low tide is predicted to be at 12:28pm. Given the tidal range we would like to hit this area no sooner than 3pm. That adds about 3ft of tide to the overall depth and we think we can skirt through ok?
We plan on leaving the Isle of Hope Marina at 6:30 am, a slack current at high tide and go through the Skidway Bridge at 7am thus avoiding rush hour restrictions in effect until 9am. From there we will go slow to time our arrival and once through will kick up our speed to get to the nights' stop at St. Simons Island.
We could anchor for the night at one of several good anchorages and time our arrival to a high tide, but honestly I have some reservations about our anchor (that is story for another day).
If we can eek our way through Mud River that is our preference. If we have reservations, we will drop anchor in Tea Kettle Creek?

He may have dressed a fool?

He may have dressed a fool but could he dock a boat?

Saturday morning before we left Charleston we had surprise visitors show up on the dock. It was a Mardi Gras in Charleston with a boat parade. One of the staging points was the City Marina!

One boat came with it's own jazz band which was quite good!

Alas we will never know if he could dock the boat but he could handle the lines well. He did ask how should he pose, after I asked if I could take his picture. Hmm... several answers came to mind but none of them I will repeat here. But he said he's the fool and any way he wants.

We are sitting comfortably in Beaufort SC after an uneventful run . (Other than the fact that we had a bald eagle cross our bow 3 feet in front of our pilothouse windows!) plus 2 more for a total of 3 sightings today.............
We are thinking about dinner, carry out and opting for mussels, bacon wrapped shrimp (appetizers) and pizza.
Go figure...

Very Beautiful Carolina Low Country as we made our way south today.
Tomorrow, Isle of Hope Ga.

To Beaufort SC

After a fun but quick round trip trip back home and a visit to see Johnny in a production in Washington & Lee, we are departing Charleston SC. Having decided to run inside our first stop is Beaufort SC.

You can follow our track on Spot; http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0YbgAe68AMPZoLxpBHQYaVI86IlerZvb3

Change we can believe in, me hearties, argh

We learned in January that Outer Reef is having a rendezvous in early March in Key West. The last one had been in Block Island RI., in August 2009 which we boated to.  Our original plan had been to stay in Charleston until the end of March and boat back home. We decided upon an abbreviated winter boating season driven in large measure by thought it might be important to be closer to home for our daughter's wedding in May, in our back yard, which might require us to be home for some chores. Also our youngest son Johnny a acting/theater major and graduating senior at Washington & Lee  has several productions he will be in and we want to attend.

That was then and this is now. We find we are not needed for any particular chores due to Katie's good planning and we can get to Johnny's productions from multiple locations and I find I am allergic to winter or more specifically cold weather. While it is warmer in Charleston than home it is still chilly and the warm winds of the FL keys are calling to us. It is quite hard on your toes wearing flips flops on the dock when it is 38 degrees. Argh.

Our plans now are changed to leave Charleston on February 13th. We are feeling much better since the cold/flu has run it's course and with a deadline to leave we are a busy seeing and doing things about town. Prior to leaving we need to get our car back to Kilmarnock go see Johnny in Lexington and the opening of a play he is in, and then drive back to Charleston and go!

Navigation Talk;
We hope to go "outside" in the ocean for a run to Fernandina Beach. An approximate trip of 160nm (note a nautical mile is equal to 1.15 statue miles) will take approximately 18 hrs. We need to time our arrival so we do not show up when the marina is closed in the dead of night. Leaving about 1-2 pm gets us there in the 8-9 am time frame on the 14th. This is all weather conditions contingent. We do not want to go when one of these Nor' Easters that have been hammering the east coast every other week it seems. The sea conditions would be decidedly unpleasant if not unsafe, so a good weather window is important.

Our second option is to travel down the inside, the ICW. It would take longer but it is sheltered and less subject to wind and wave. There are a few problems with shallow spots particularly in GA. It becomes a game of traveling on the mid to high tides which here are in the 5-7 ft range. One spot in particular is the Mud River which we can only go through at a mid or high tide. We can never time this well as the day we would go thorough the low tide is 1:30pm which is almost precisely when we would arrive:  errr. Our options this way would be drop anchor spend the night on a nearby creek and catch the high tide the next early am or some variation on that theme.

Our preference is just to skip around all this stuff but plan for the ICW in the event of. 

We are planning to meet up with another OR 65 in Jacksonville "Risky Business"; cruising down south with Barry and Alice would add some fun and further adventure in buddy boating.
We hope to arrive in Key West on March 3rd, stay for the event then head back north. Details are yet in the making, but we are focused on the navigation and boat systems for the initial 725nm mile trip.
I have a long list of routine maintenance items that need to be attended to before we leave and will need to devote some time to getting these done. Beginning with polishing (cleaning and filtering) about 1600 gal of diesel fuel.

Warm sunshine is quite the motivator.

Today it should be very nice with a high of "70" in Charleston so we are going to hoof it and take a self guided walking tour. Last night we went to a great jazz concert and had a blast.
Remembering it is still winter and the weather takes a turn for the worse again, chilly temps and rain on the way but for today we are planning on a serious walk and a good meal somewhere.
Charleston is after all one of our all time favorite cities.

 Seabright sitting on the inside of the Charleston City Mega Dock.

We rig for heavy winds on a side tie and double up the lines so to spread the stresses. So far it has worked like a charm. Heaviest winds have been in the mid 30'skts. We average a 1.5kts current at ebb.

 A view from the boat deck

Starting maintenance, replacing our forward navigation light.

Please do not call the fashion police, warmer weather and I shed the white socks and pants for shorts and flip flops. Well maybe an alert is fine; yesh!

 Sometimes we are hard on plant,s this one was suffering after neglect during the time we were away. We have been nursing this back to health and yesterday it flowered!

Two blooms with more on the way.

Ya gotta love Grits

Now that we are back to the land of the living we have started to do what we had hoped to do several weeks ago and do a bit of exploring. Since we are in Charleston SC, there is a decided food theme that needs constant attention.

Grits you really gotta love them, but  most of my adult like I viewed them in large containers as lumpy tasteless blobs of well, yuk.   There was a snobby, nose in the air, attitude of, that is so beneath me as a connoisseur of the finer foods such as fish tacos, chili dogs and sushi. Tut tut you say as a narrow minded food snob, then again you may not have partaken in the finer Charleston creamy shrimp and grits opportunities. Diligently we have explored the many options as well as a few tasty treats made aboard Seabright and, converted we are, to the many splendid varieties of taste and recipes for grits. Oh what we have been missing all these years.

This" near passion" took us yesterday ( our real first trip out since feeling better ) to Edisto Island and the Geechie Boy Mill. Here they mill both white and yellow corn to make fine grits, fresh and no additives. Is this grits nirvana, we certainly hope so. http://www.geechieboymill.com/geechieboymill/Welcome.html

They are a small young family farming and grist  mill. They found and restored a vintage mill and work to supply the family store as well as a few restaurants in the area. Every bag of grits (he buys his corn from a farmer in Ky.) is hand bagged and very fresh. You can see him collecting the grits while we waited. In the growing season they harvest vegetables in the field out side the mill.  Very nice family and very entrepreneurial.
We walked away with 4 of lbs of grits, grinning all the way back to the boat. Along the way we stopped at a small sea food shop and "got us some" fresh wild caught shrimp. Tonight it is shrimp and grits aboard Seabright, yum!

A"little" millers humor, but then I am partial to John Deere's too!

Out side the mill a bit of " Edith Ann" photo opportunity. The only way Jeannie would let me take this picture was to promise I would sit in the chair and let her take mine. %$#@%!

I guess we are feeling better after all














Next up; "A change of Plans"

And slowly they emerge

We have been "off line" for the past two weeks with a cold or flu which made it's appearance two weeks ago. We used to claim that we rarely got sick but cannot do that anymore and it is unusual for us to be sick at the same time and never for such a long time I mean 2 weeks, really.
We are still sputtering and need Kleenex handy but we are getting out and doing things again. This weekend in Charleston is forecasted  to have highs in the 60's, so maybe a bike ride might be in order.

Like much of the east coast we have had some chilly and wet weather. Walking down the long Mega Dock is sometimes a real adventure with temps in the 30's a bit of rain, sleet or snow. After all I get to wear my spiffy foul weather gear.

Back in Charleston

After a bit over three weeks home we are back in Charleston and aboard Seabright. Can not say happy things about the weather. Cold with freezing rain but better than the mess in the NE. Should be in the 50's this Sunday.
We are busy getting resettled and everything up to speed. The boat did great and we are mostly focused on inside cleaning and maintenance items.