I Hit A Dead Zone!

SHIP'S LOG:

Wednesday's Location"Walburg Island 31'40.331N/ 081'09.621W

Hey the move to the Dulpin River was a great move. According to the GPS I swung in a complete circle last night with the wind and tide and river current. I am not sure if staying in Frederica would have been all that smart. It was worth the trip in the rain.

I headed off for St. Catherine Sound and Walburg Island Creek. It is a good spot and plenty wide and more than deep enough. The problem with Georgia, as I said before, is the tides which average 7 feet. Now there are plenty of places where the tides are greater. Some places on the Cape can get over 10 feet and way up in the Bay of Fundy, they have 17 feet tides. I think there is some place in Alaska where there are over 25 feet. But back to Georgia. The problem here, when you are traveling on the ICW is finding a spot where you can be safely anchored and not go aground. A drop of 7feet. or a rise for that matter, bespeaks a serious current and add to that "some" wind, and you need to be carefully anchor so that you will still be in the morning where you were the evening before. For me that means there has to be at least 13 feet AT HIGH TIDE or else I am going aground at or before low! It seems however that the creeks here in Georgia, and there are more per mile than any other state on the ICW, come in four types 1.) Deep enough but too narrow - no swing room to deal with tidal shift; 2.) Wide enough but too shallow - even if you get in you will either ground when swinging or when the tide goes out; 3.) Too Deep but narrow - to put out enough rode to have a decent hold against the current, you run the risk of grounding when you swing and if you don't put out enough rode, the current may move you some place you would rather not be; 4.) Deep enough and wide enough - these are the ones that are few and far between. One other factor that needs to be considered is that the mud in Georgia is not the greatest holding bottom . . . except when you run aground in it. Then it is tenacious! So you pays your money and you takes your chance.

Another problem in Georgia, where they have the least money for, and spend the least money on the ICW, is the bird crap. Lots of the area around the ICW is tidal marsh and filled with tidal marsh water flow who, on occasion, like to perch some place dry. The buoys and markers along the channel of the ICW are perfect for them. What make it difficult for us cruisers is that most of the birds seem to want to, as we sailors say - "drop some ballast" - before returning to the skies. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long before the numbers on the markers and buoys are obliterated! I have seen markers so "covered" that you could not tell their color and only knew what they were by their shape! Not a good way to try and navigate in the thin ICW channels.

Believe it or not, I met another mini-liner from American Cruise Lines. This one, The Independence, was maneuvering down a section that had me nervous about going aground. There were several sharp turns in this section, some almost 180 degrees - the ICW in Georgia is famous for this - and even at a slow speed, he would come out of the turn and still keep going sideways. I do not know what those mini-ocean liners draw, but he MUST be bumping bottom quite regularly.

You can't depend entirely on maps and the GPS for navigation. You have to keep your head out of the cockpit most of the time. The reason for this is you are sailing in reality and the best charts and GPS don't always jibe with reality. Navigating by depth sounder and the marks I could see, I successfully followed the channel though my GPS had me several hundred yards into the shore. It is easy to follow the GPS like it is a computer game but if you do, it will put you aground. It doesn't help that the marks seem to be magnetic too. In New England, we often sail from one mark to another. Along the ICW you most often have to pass the marks square(perpendicular) and well off. But after sailing so long in New England, when you stare at a mark you seem to instinctively turn to it and I am forever correcting the tendency. I have to be very conscious to pass the marks correctly. And you thought all of this was easy. HA!

No Internet access Wednesday night. Walburg Island Creek is a DEAD ZONE!!!!!!

Thursday: Isle Of Hope Marina: 31'58.752N/ 081'03.347W

The gnat problem in Walburg Creek is serious! I wonder how the little bastards can find me that far away. I literally had to hide from them inside the boat to have breakfast. I was covered with OFF and Nonatz but while they didn't land, they were so think I was literally breathing them in! Sorry, that was too much and it was clearly time to go. I realized that I didn't have this bug problems there last time because the last time the temp was in the 30's!

I literally flew out of Walburg Island Creek as the tide was running down and out of St. Catherines Sound. I hit 8 knots at 1000rpms most of which disappeared in a couple of miles when, in the middle of the St. Catherines Sound, I had to turn into the tide and the speed got cut in half! Bad tidal timing, but if it was a choice between breathing gnats or a slow passage, well I'll take the passage.

This trip also marked my passage through the 2nd of the the THREE "Hell Gate"'s that exist on the ICW. The first in in the East River in New York City. The third is in the St. Lucie River on the Okeechobee Water Way in Stuart,Florida, and Number Two the connection between the OGEECHEE River and the LITTLE OGEECHEE River. Needless to say, since you are reading this, nothing untoward happened. If fact, I was out of it before I realized it. 'Tain't no big thang!