Got that old sweet song, keeps Georgia on my mind. Once you are south of Charleston, the marshes become the typical scenery as you wind your way along the ICW.  High tide can be as much as 9ft more than low and in some places many boats need as much of that as possible. Traveling through Georgia means being mindful of the tides.

Along the way, helper cutoffs were created so that you can travel more in a straight path rather than wind around all over the place. But the downside is that they tend to shoal in, especially at the entrance/exits. Reading the comments in the ActiveCaptain hazard marks can drive you batty and we only focus on multiple reports of very low depths if we will be going through near or at low tide (but we avoid low as you might guess). Yes, these sections could be dredged but that takes money. As long as the commercial guys- tugs, ferries and such can get through there’s no urgent need to dredge.

Then there’s Hell Gate; worse than the Hell Gate of the North (in New York’s East River) this one doesn’t have a current issue, but a depth one. Multiple reports of 3.7ft in spots at MLW, with much of the stretch close to 5ft.  As with many of these knuckle-biter stretches (this one is very short) a tug can come through at low and push the sand/mud one way and now you have more water in one spot and less in another. We usually find more water than expected (we did this time) but I’m sure that the one time we plan on that it won’t happen.

Before Hell Gate shenanigans though we stopped for a few nights at Isle of Hope Marina on the very southern edge of Savannah. The marina’s courtesy cars (yep they have two) are available for two hours once per day per boat. We- oh you won’t believe this- found a bakery with a huge selection of donuts!! Imagine that. 🙂 Stocked up on $1 cans of coconut water at Dollar Tree- sing with me now… Gin and Coconut water :-), hit Walgreens for some sale items and to use up my points before I forgot and then our first Publix of this trip. (I mailed a postcard here too 🙂 )  Uber is the easiest and fastest way to get into Savannah and we had our first woman Uber driver.

The day before we came into Isle of Hope marina- which is really more like you scooch off the ICW’s magenta line and slide up to the long floating dock which wisely sits parallel to the current. Ok, here’s the story:  The CG announced that a car had gone into the water in the Skidaway River near some boat ramp and one person was unaccounted for. Uh oh, that’s near our marina destination. We learned a car of four, all under 25yrs old, had gone into the water and three made it out. How does this happen? Ok, so it’s 1am and maybe drinking and/or drugs involved, but the launching ramp has a large parking lot. Word is they got confused. So sad. Of course, the story made the evening news.

Savannah is so lovely and we didn’t do it justice but we did stroll around, popped into a few shops and delighted in fabulous homemade ice cream at Leopolds.

The next Georgia mindful hurdle is Little Mud River, where it’s mostly Ok but a few extra-shallow spots can ruin your day so you plan around those. The tide would be falling after 7am so we chose a creek anchorage immediately before the Little Mud River. Our sonar chart setting on the Raymarine has become our friend as it shows more up-to-date depths in greater detail than the Garmin.

A new stop for us was Brunswick Landing Marina where the fuel prices are worth a stop. We spent three nights. Laundry is free 🙂

 

Our final Georgia anchorage was the Brickhill River which meets up with the ICW in two places, meaning you can use it as an alternate route, with one caveat. Be very mindful of the shoal at the southern end and strongly hug the north shore or you will find a hump with barely three feet of water at low tide.

This spot is called Plum Orchard and is one of two anchorages on Cumberland Island; the southern one, Dungeness, being larger and more popular. Matthew did a number on the new dock and going ashore was not permitted right now. But Plum Orchard was open and we could walk the 2 mile trail across the island.

 

We’d always read that others encountered armadillos here but never did we see them. Imagine our surprise to run across one after another; some we saw, others we heard and only caught a glimpse. Must have snapped a dozen shots of this guy before he lifted his head even this much. They spend a lot of time foraging for food!

A bit further in a wide open space we came upon this one.

 

 

 

Lest you think we only search for doughnut shops, I want to assure you breakfast isn’t the only meal we adore; happy hour rules the day on Twins. 🙂

Sometimes we have to be creative and go to great lengths to end up at a distillery. Charleston Distillery was easy, but Firefly is on Wadmalaw Island nestled just south of John’s Island. St John’s Yacht Harbor on the Stono River is our usual stop where we take the courtesy car for groceries and a visit to Firefly. Thanks to hurricane Matthew they lost 18 slips but are otherwise up and running. They offered all their guest services to boats anchored out. The typical anchorage near the marina has poor holding (as we discovered a few years ago (click here)), so we anchored across from the marina where the holding is excellent. Go figure.

Firefly is closed Sunday and Monday so we had a day to kill before we could go on Tuesday. “Oh let’s dinghy down the Stono River to the mouth and land the dinghy on the beach at low tide!” Uhhh, sure, let’s dinghy a greater distance than we ever have before and hope we have enough outboard gas. So we did. Eight miles!! Give or take- one way. Would have been a shame to waste a lovely day.

We found it!- Pig Beach of the southern U.S.

Low tide made landing the dinghy a small challenge but we got it to shore, set the anchor well and headed for a rather long walk down the beach. The shot below is looking back from the direction we came.

The beach continued even further than we had time to walk. This view is looking out toward the Stono inlet.

Firefly is an easy drive and we made a quick stop. No,we don’t need a tasting (have the double shot glasses, nothing new to taste), we’ll just clean the shelves of Southern Lemonade Vodka thank you. Hey, it’s only 60 proof, with a mild tartness. Perfect in iced tea, a lemon drop martini or concoct your own libation.  Oh and you can only purchase it at the distillery due to its shelf life.

We departed our Stono River anchorage Wed Nov 2 bound for Morgan Island, aka Monkey Island. Given that our trip has been a tad on the boring side the Captain has a few off-the beaten-path ideas and today would be one.

We’d head the story from Mike & Ann on m/v Traveling Soul, and no doubt it was preceded by alcohol in some form; but we checked it out and ‘lo and behold, true that. The funny thing was we’d gone right past Morgan on our way to Dataw Island last May. Heading south on the Coosaw River, hang a left into Parrot Creek and continue around until you see the beach. If you keep going, St Helena Sound will greet you.

In the old days of the 1970s, rhesus monkeys were uprooted from their native lands and deposited on Morgan Island to be raised for research (off-island). The colony is 1,500 strong now; we’re not sure if that’s strictly native or if the colony routinely gets new blood. Most of the reviews indicated that no monkeys were seen, but hey you never know. Read more here.

As we prepared to anchor about 200ft off the beach, a man stood at the edge of the tree line in a bitch-wing stance. Uh what’s that you say? Ok, stand up tall and place your hands on your hips. Yep that’s it. And no matter how you feel when you do that, it clearly comes across as intimidating. He disappeared, we didn’t.

We took turns with the binoculars, hoping dusk would reward us. No such luck, but twice, strange sounds emanated from the trees that didn’t sound like any birds we’d ever heard, so let the record indicate, “monkey noises.”

The beach sign warns you not to harass, disturb or approach the inhabitants.

Sunrise- so beautiful the following morning. Definitely happy the clocks hadn’t gone back one hour yet.

We remained on high alert, catching sight of bald eagles and herd of deer frolicking on the beach.

After our no monkey business, Beaufort, SC was our stop for two nights at the Downtown Marina. Beaufort is one of South Carolina’s oldest and most beautiful cities, which helps you remember how to pronounce it (beautiful Beaufort). Again, no donuts, but we did enjoy two meals at Low Country Produce and strolling along Bay Street a few times.

Our dock neighbor was a full time single-hander on what looked similar to a 34ft SeaRay. He asked if we were leaving in the morning because he wanted someone to follow. He’d left Barefoot Marina in N Myrtle Beach (summer home) headed for Jacksonville, FL (winter home). I’m thinking he’s worried about debris? Zooming along at 17mph. Doesn’t have a chartplotter? Nah that’d be crazy. But  nooooooooo..get this; he’s worried about pot floats and wants another boat to dodge them first!  Yes, moving along faster means you have really keep your eyes peeled, but we hadn’t seen that many and almost none actually in the channel. At 8kts we’d be too slow for him anyway.

Our maybe three night stay in Beaufort ended at two nights so we could spend quality time on Daufuskie Island, home of the world-famous Marshside Mama’s, and since 2014 The Daufuskie Island Rum Distillery! Mama’s is closed Sunday and Monday, so Saturday was it or bust. More like brrrrrrrrrr.  A mild cold front swept through on Friday; Saturday’s high temp was 65- just about right for bundled up outdoor dining.

Since our last visit the sign below was erected near the pier/launching ramp/docks. The island is flat and easy to walk. Next stop (a warmer one for sure!) we would like to see some of the historical places.

The walk from the dinghy dock to the distillery is at most one mile, on a flat road. Golf carts are common (my kind of place) but the huge FEMA trucks carting hurricane debris (bushes, branches, leaves, etc) to the island dump confirmed what Tony told us at the distillery; Daufuskie suffered extensive damage. What we saw was so cleaned up that you’d never know a storm had blown through four weeks prior.

 

 

The distillery uses a reservation service and being a Saturday we figured just to be sure we’d use it and take the day’s last tour-4:30. They may have hosted 11,000 visitors since early  2014 but today we had our own short and sweet private tour.

 

Our walk back to the dock and Marshside Mama’s produced a dose of southern hospitality in the form of a ride – in the back of a golf cart.  Our new friend was Sallie Ann Robinson: cookbook author, private chef, CNA, caregiver, mother, grandmother, and recently returned to her home, Daufuskie Island, after raising her children.

Such a lively lady. She gave us her card (I mean I’m about to move to this island) and while she searched to find one for us I should have snapped a picture-sorry. You can read about her here. With three fishing rods next to her, she was headed to the pier to catch something fresh for dinner. I’m sure success met her there.

When we stopped in May 2013 the place was jumping but now on a chilly November Saturday night, the action was happening inside but more at the bar than the dining tables. Next to no breeze was a huge plus. Speaking of huge- our portions- more than either could consume- made for an easy and tasty dinner the next night.

Read the cool back story on Marshside Mama’s here.  Be sure the read the lengthy process the bartender endures to bring the beer/wine/hard liquor to the restaurant.  I think Pete’s Pub has it easy in comparison!

Next stop- Savannah and then maybe another new island stop.