We left Hilton Head yesterday and made the decision to continue along the intercoastal thru Georgia rather than make an overnight hop to southern Georgia in the Ocean. We really wanted to skip most of Georgia due to the fact that poor funding has left most of the intercoastal undredged with shallow areas. But due to cold temperatures at night (which would be even colder out on the ocean with a nice steady breeze) and poor forecast for most of the week (rain, high winds, thunderstorms) we thought it best to save our first ocean passage for more favorable conditions.
Our days of travel are fairly short, we can only pass most places at mid-tide rising or higher. One such location we passed thru today, hell's gate. Our charts and books all tell us that parts of Hell's Gate have 1' of water at the average low tide (MLW). Obviously this is problematic with a 6' draft on our boat (Mom, that means at 6' of water we'll be touching bottom). We traversed Hell's Gate at 1.5 hours before high tide and had no problems getting through, although we did see 8' of water at one point.
With that behind us we'll make as many miles as we can today, enjoy the dolphins, and see what treats lay in store for us tomorrow.
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