Today's leg of our journey took us through perhaps the two toughest parts of the ICW, Hell Gate and Jekyll Creek, Georgia. After leaving last night's anchorage on the Vernon River, we luckily reached Hell Gate at high tide. The small cut links two huge sounds right by the ocean, and the water is only five feet deep in places. To avoid the shoaling on either side of the narrow cut, you have to zigzag and squeeze between several markers while staying at a relatively low speed, since a boat draws less water when going slow. At the same time though, you have to maintain a fast enough speed to fight the currents. After we passed through with some difficulty, we noticed how appropriately named Hell Gate was.
We then safely passed through most of the major sounds of Georgia, including St. Catherines Sound, Sepolo Sound, Altamaha Sound, Saint Simons, and Jekyll Sound. Before Jekyll Sound though, we came to sneaky little Jekyll Creek at low tide. the water was never deeper than 13 feet, and the creek itself was never wider than probably 100 feet as we navigated down it.
Just before Saint Simons Sound, two dolphins came and swam beside our boat. We've been trying to get good pictures of at least a few dolphins, but this close and long encounter gave us the chance to take a video. If I don't post it today I will tomorrow.
So in all today we cruised from 8:15 am to 6 pm, covering about 85 miles. Tomorrow we'll be entering Florida, which is about 30 miles away. At this rate we should be in Miami in about five days. From there we will cross over to The Bahamas as soon the weather permits.
Here are some photos from the past few days. All are by Captain Ken except the pelican.
A southern mansion in Isle of Hope, GA. Captain Ken photos
Osprey on Port Royal, SC Bridge 4/14
Chillin' after 85 mile, 10 hour trek 4/15
American Cruise Lines' American Star anchored in central Georgia marshes 4/15. We've been playing tag with her down the coast since she left from Charleston, SC.
Docks at Isle of Hope
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