Plotting our route

Stay on the Intracoastal Waterway sounds like easy enough direction. That is until you take a look at the nautical charts of this waterway, which meanders through shallow marshes, crosses massive sounds and has rock piles and shoals all along its banks. On the other hand, the ICW is the most popular way to cruise up and down the East Coast. 

So how hard could it be? Well, Uncle Ken and I say better safe than sorry. The most difficult part of plotting our route is the fact that every guide we use seems to offer different information, and only after careful study do we notice how they all work in sync. Dozier's Waterway Guide, Open CPN, and Active Captain are the three guides we're using now, pre-departure. Once we're ready to leave we'll also use our GPS, sonar, radar, and Spot system, which allows people to track our journey via email. But for now all we have are charts and written descriptions of our route, which could paint the wrong picture if you're not careful.

After debating whether we should take Avalon out for another test run, we decided the winds, gusting over 35 mph, were too strong today. So we drove down to Georgetown, SC instead to get a real-life visual of our first stop. It was about an hour drive, and about 50 nautical miles on the ICW. The small town has a narrow but manageable inlet off the Sampit River, which is very broad and wide. Driving over the river I felt a sense of motivation thinking that we'll be navigating that majestic body of water in just a few days.

Sampit River, SC. Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org

From Georgetown, our next stop would be Charleston, SC, a distance of about 56 miles taking the inside route of the ICW. From Charleston we'd follow the Stono River to the Wadmalaw River, and from there we'll pick up the Coosaw River, and eventually end up in Beufort, SC, which may be our anchorage on our third day out. These details may not mean much to you, but sharing them with you is like sharing a revelation because it took Uncle Ken and I hours to find our way through the ICW maze on the charts we're following. 

A picture of the nautical chart of Charleston, SC. Photo courtesy of www.nauticalcharts.com

We're still searching for a good anchorage for our fourth day. Maybe Brunswick, GA, 130 miles? We'll keep you posted. Much of it depends on the weather. If it's fair, we could be going out on the ocean for the entire length of Georgia. Yeah buddy!