BellaGatto Cruising

The Savanna River is both the dividing line between Georgia and South Carolina, and also a very busy shipping channel for the port of Savanna. Not long after leaving our last anchorage in Georgia we crossed the river, dodging around a huge container ship and some accompanying tugs. After that, the ICW meanders along peacefully through various rivers and sounds much as it does in Georgia. Geographically, the entire area is referred to as the “Lowcountry,” and it is certainly flat and marshy, with mazes of interconnected rivers, creeks and sloughs. Historically, the area has been a favorite with pirates, smugglers, and blockade runners, who found plenty of hiding spots and secret shortcuts to ply their trade.

Blue = anchorage or free dock, Red = marina, Star = high rating
Click for interactive version of map Interactive Map

Passing by the container ship

Our first day in South Carolina took us through Port Royal Sound and past swanky Hilton Head Island and not so swanky Parris Island, to our first stop in Beaufort, SC (be sure to pronounce it BEW-fort here in South Carolina, not to be confused with another nice coastal town in North Carolina that is spelled the same way but pronounced BO-fort). We arrived at Lady’s Island Marina in Beaufort right at slack tide, which made it easier to get docked with our still-hinky starboard engine. There we met up with both Catniss, who we first met at Cumberland Island, and also our old looper friends on Pegasus. Lady’s Island is a nice and reasonably priced little marina, and we did the usual marina stay chores of laundry, boat cleaning and grocery shopping (using the marina’s courtesy car).

The iconic We Make Marines water tower at Parris Island

City of Beaufort swing bridge

Approaching Lady's Island marina

Sunrise at Lady's Island Marina

The next day we made arrangements to go to a little place about halfway to Charleston where we had been before, the S&S Seafood Dock in Green Pond. Not really a marina per se, it is a working fishing boat dock that will allow cruisers to tie up there for just $25 a night, with 15 amp electric included. But when we got there, they were setting up for some kind of big town party, and we were told we couldn’t stay there after all. So we bought a big bag of cheap, fresh, and beautiful shrimp and went on to plan “B” (You always gotta have a plan “B” and maybe “C” when cruising). We checked out a couple of anchorages on farther north, and finally settled on Steamboat Creek, at the north end of Edisto Island. Kind of deep, kind of a lot of current, but a great little spot at a launch ramp to land the dinghy and dog, and very quiet once the sun went down.

There were several fighter jets doing maneuvers as we left Beaufort

Fresh beautiful shrimp from S&S Seafood at only $8.00 per pound. Two pounds please!

BellaGatto peaceful at anchor

No filter, just the pure beauty of mother nature. Thanks to the heron for the cameo

The next day was a Sunday, and we only had maybe 30 miles to go to our marina stop in Charleston. The day started out calm and quiet, but as we neared Charleston, the small boat traffic started to pick up. And up. And up. By the time we got to the little waterway that drops you out in the Ashley River and into Charleston proper, it was CRAZY! Throw in some steep choppy seas rounding Battery Point and some big commercial shipping, and even this South Florida boating traffic veteran was starting to get a bit overwhelmed. But we got into the Charleston Harbor Marina and Resort without killing or being killed and tied up at the fuel dock to pump out while they assigned us a slip. Funny thing about being a catamaran. Even though we have a very modest 15 foot beam and easily fit in most normal slips, when dockmasters see a catamaran they automatically send us over with the giant sailing cats with their 25 foot plus beams. So off we went to dock with the big boys, or as our neighbor said, “welcome to the litter box”! Our slip was certainly nice and roomy, but being way on the outer end of the break wall, it was like a quarter mile walk to the nearest land, which makes taking Bella for a walk a bit of a chore.

A stacked up launch ramp

Chaotic conditions as we enter Charleston Harbour

Charleston waterfront looking toward the MegaDock where we stayed last year

Our slip is practically in the shadow of the USS Yorktown

BellaGatto in the Litter Box 😹

Our big reason for being here was to meet with the service manager for Zimmerman Marine, to try to diagnose our continuing difficulties with the starboard engine (all this docking and maneuvering on mostly one engine was starting to get REALLY old). The next morning, he came down bright and early to start the diagnosis. After listening to and fiddling with things, he was pretty sure the root cause of our problems was not engine or transmission related but was due to severe engine misalignment which was periodically binding the shaft. His recommendation was to first eliminate this issue before going to the dark place of an injector pump problem. To do this the boat needs to come out of the water, so he made arrangements with the Zimmerman yard in Southport, North Carolina to haul the boat for a comprehensive running gear checkup and to take care of a couple of other little nagging problems as well. So we shall see. By that time it was a bit late to get underway that day, so we decided to spend another night there before moving on. And they did move us to a much more convenient slip. We never did see the night life of Charleston – between the Coronavirus outbreak and the curfew from the George Floyd protests, it seemed better to just stay aboard and hunker down.

Sunrise at the marina

Digging into the problem

The next day we left the big city for the quaint and bucolic little town of McClellanville, an easy 35 miles. The ICW here is a notorious shallow spot where most boats have to play the tides to get through, but it is a piece of cake for our less than 3 foot draft, and we pulled in to the Leland Oil Company dock in McClellanville right on schedule. The marina there is pretty basic but very reasonably priced and friendly, and the highlight of the stop for us was going to the Carolina Seafood Company seafood market, which had fresh fish and the best crab dip on the planet. Period. No question. We also enjoyed walking around the town and seeing the well preserved historic houses and a perfectly gigantic live oak tree that is famous for miles around.

Bella is in her glory with a dolphin sighting

A quaint church in McClellanville

The famous Deer Head Oak tree. If you look closely you can see Jonathan and Bella near the trunk. Click the link to see a picture of the whole tree.

BellaGatto at the docks

The shrimp fleet at Carolina Seafood Company in McClellanville

Our next day was a pretty long one, following the ICW north for about 60 miles to Winyah Bay and then up the Waccamaw River to another favorite stop from our great loop trip last year, the Osprey Marina. The stretch of the Waccamaw between Georgetown and Bucksport is one of the prettiest stretches on the ICW, winding through cypress forests with very little civilization. And we had plenty of time to see it all, since just past Georgetown we hit a head current of 2-3 knots, which slows our forward progress down to about 5 miles an hour. Lots of times on the ICW, you hit an adverse tidal current for a while, but before too long it will switch, and you will be getting a boost instead. This was not like that – the head current never slacked – it just kept getting stronger. The heavy rains for an early tropical storm the week before had dropped so much rain on the area the Pee Dee and Waccamaw River basins were above flood stage, and all that water was in a big hurry to get to the ocean. With the high water, we couldn’t even crank the engines up to compensate, because we didn’t want to throw a wake and damage any of the docks and houses along the way that were already on the edge of being flooded. With the slowdown, we got to Osprey about 2 hours later than planned, but still in time to hit the fuel dock. We had not taken on fuel since Stuart, Florida, because I wanted to take advantage of the super cheap prices here. We were not quite sucking fumes, but it was definitely time to fuel. We took on 225 gallons of diesel at the price of $1.44 per gallon (with our 10% Boat/US discount). My inner miser was rubbing his palms together with glee.

The golden hour at Osprey Marina

The high water at the entrance channel to Osprey Marina

I'm sure this design looked good on paper but the high water has risen the floating dock about 10 feet and is about to collide with the shade canopy attached to the adjacent fixed dock.

The next day, we would descend from the pristine wilderness of the Waccamaw to the gaudy over-development of Myrtle Beach. Today, we were going “downhill” with the current, which was now flowing towards the Little River Inlet to get to the ocean. We were again traveling at half throttle or less to not throw any wake and damage anyone’s flooded property, but now with the current at our heels we were still making a solid 7-8 knots. It did not take too long to get to the “Grand Strand” as the resort area around Myrtle Beach is called. Along the way, we would go through another ICW scary spot known as “The Rockpile”. This stretch is not really super shallow, but the channel itself is very narrow, with rock ledges lurking just below the surface on either side. The cruising guides say you do NOT want to meet any large commercial traffic on this stretch and recommend making a “security call” on the VHF to check for any conflicting traffic before transiting. It would sound something like this: “Security, security, security, motor vessel BellaGatto northbound approaching the Rockpile, standing by on 13 and 16 for any concerned traffic”. So we did this, and got no reply. As we near the narrowest, scariest, part of the rockpile, what do I see but a big barge with a backhoe on it pushed by a tug coming right at us. Call on channel 13, no answer. Call on channel 16 (we are now within pistol shot) and raise him and agree to meet port to port. We do not quite swap paint, but it is a very close pass. Good times. Not too long after the Rockpile, we come to our final South Carolina stop, the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club.

High water on Waccamaw River while underway to Myrtle Beach

Passing this barge on the one in the skinniest part of the rock pile.

No securite communication from this guy

Watch out for jet skis and pirates in these here waters!

Leaving the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club for Southport, NC

Georgia is often considered by Intracoastal Waterway cruisers as more of an ordeal to be endured than a treat to be savored. And it does have its challenges – big tides and their accompanying strong tidal currents, muddy marshes with no place to go ashore, difficult anchorages, and carnivorous horseflies. But on the other hand, there is quite a bit of wilderness to be enjoyed along the way.

Click for interactive map

Our first stop in Georgia was an all-time favorite spot, Cumberland Island National Seashore. Just across the St. Mary’s River from Florida, this beautiful coastal island was once the playground of the uber-rich and is mostly unspoiled, with spectacular maritime hammock forests, wild horses, and endless miles of deserted beaches. We spent two nights here anchored off the park service docks at Dungeness and had plenty of time to walk the trails and see the sights.

Heading over the dunes to the beach side

The oak covered drive from the dock at the Ice House museum to the Dungeness ruins

Thousands of fiddler crabs on the mud flats at low tide

These wild horses ran right by us!

The boardwalk section of Dungeness trail

This foal was resting in the field while the other horses were grazing

BellaGatto at anchor near the Sea Camp dock

A bonnet head shark sighting along the shore from the dinghy

From there we had a pretty short day to a marina stop at Jekyll Island. Certainly much more commercialized than Cumberland, it also has a history as a winter getaway for the titans of capitalism, who would gather at the Jekyll Island Club and try to out-rich each other. The Jekyll Island Marina was definitely a bit on the pricy side, but we took advantage of their loaner bicycles and golf carts to explore the island, which has a great network of bicycle trails meandering through the woods.

Bella's first ride in a golf cart

You know you're in the south when you can get a BLT with pimento cheese

Miles of beautiful bike trails

The Jekyll Island Club

The Jekyll Wharf waterfront restaurant

Which way should we go?

After that little civilization break, we were ready to get to get back out on the hook, and our first stop was a spot about 35 miles away on the Duplin River at Sapelo Island. We always pick our anchorages based on the shore access for Bella, and this one was not too bad in that respect. We could land the dinghy at the ferryboat landing and walk along deserted little roads through the woods to Bella’s hearts content. The anchorage itself has a ripping tidal current and we had strong winds that night, but the holding was excellent, and we did just fine.

Rainy day underway as we pass a "sleeping" shrimp boat with the Brunswick bridge in the background

Not a great photo but...ROSIETTES!

Bailing out the dinghy

Approaching the ferry dock in search of the dinghy landing

Found it! We think...

Low tide landing

Lots of hermit crabs on the landing

Great dog walking spot

Iconic salt marsh

The next day we went 40 miles to Kilkenny Creek, bypassing our planned stop at Walburg Creek and also passing up a stop at Sunbury Crab Company. Maybe we will hit those spots another time. Kilkenny Creek is a quiet little spot just off the Intracoastal with a small marina and a nice restaurant that offered spots to land the dog. We anchored just upstream of town and dinghied in for a cocktail and some appetizers at the Marker 107 restaurant, surprisingly sophisticated and upscale for the middle of nowhere. We spent a nice quiet night in the company of one other boat.

BellaGatto at anchor in Kilkenny

Marker 107 restaurant's dinghy dock

Such a surprising find in this otherwise rural town

Dirty martini straight up on Kilkenny time. Socially distancing in a restaurant for the first time in a long time. Very clean and not at all crowded. https://www.marker107.com/

From there our last planned spot in Georgia was Turner Creek, just off Wassau Sound and not too far from Savannah. Here we ran afoul of Georgia’s recently enacted and infamous anchoring law. We had picked a spot in the creek a respectful distance from the nearby marina and had just got the anchor down when a voice over a bullhorn from shore told us we could not anchor there. The voice belonged to a Georgia DNR officer, and when we contacted her by cellphone she explained we could not anchor within 1000 feet of any dock or other structure on the shoreline (we later found out that was incorrect, we only needed to be 300 feet from the marina’s docks). We proceeded upriver and found a spot where we would not offend anyone’s delicate sensibilities and dropped anchor 1200 feet from a launch ramp and park where we could land Bella. So it all worked out, but it left a bad taste in our mouths, and rather than going into town and reprovisioning there, we resolved to vote with our wallets and wait until South Carolina to do our shopping.