It’s Sunday morning and the temperature went down into the 30s last night so we left the heater running all night. That worked out pretty well. Glad that we have it. It is supposed to get warmer in the next few days but these cold fronts are wreaking havoc on the weather here. I had feared that we would encounter pretty cold weather by being this far north so early. No disappointment on that score, unfortunately.
Anyway, cold or not, we are anchored just outside of Charleston in a very narrow section of the ICW, Elliott’s Cut. The current runs like mad through this narrow cut with currents on some points of the tide at around 4kts. The cruising guide suggests transiting it with the tide. Good thought. I’ll keep that in mind.
Speaking of tides and currents, our lives since entering GA waters days ago have been governed by the tides. Actually, it’s all about not running aground as there are many areas of the ICW that are very shallow due to major cuts in the Army Corps dredging budget over the last few years.
Today, for example, here near Charleston NC, we have to stay put until we can time our transit of a particularly shallow part of the ICW to be sure that we hit it on a rising tide. With our draft of just under 6’ we are on the upper limit of water depth, about 2′ too deep at low tide, in a particularly nasty section of about 8 miles that we have to get over today. However, with a tide range here of nearly 6′ we can time our transit to get “over the humps”. Fingers crossed…
Ever since entering GA it’s been tough with so many shallow sections. However, with a tidal range of 7-9’ it’s not too difficult to make transit as long as you are willing to leave with the tide. Sounds easy and it is. However, sometimes it means that we have to wait till mid-morning to leave which severely limits the miles we can go before evening puts an end to the day. The worst part that we have to transit today is just north of Charleston and low tide is at 10:30 which means that we really can’t leave here until shortly before that time.
Our next stop is Georgetown SC, a spot that we have heard is quite nice and quaint. Given our “tide inflicted” late start today, I doubt that we will make it all the way there today.
Shoaling and cold besides, we have enjoyed our run over the last few days. In particular, we had a nice time in Beaufort, SC where we stopped for a visit. We had spent time there a few years ago when we last came through and it was nice to be back. I wrote about that visit in this post.
I won’t repeat that here except to say that it’s still lovely. While we were in town a strong front came through and dumped loads of rain. The sky looked particularly ominous as it approached. 
One great thing about changing weather is that it made for a great sunset just in time for cocktails.
So, cold or not, I guess that I had better get on with it. Hope we don’t run around too many times today and let’s hope that spring catches up with us soon. Burrrr…