Several people have asked why we prefer to run offshore rather than coming up the ICW.
The best way to explain it is that the ICW is like taking the local train versus the high speed rail (offshore). It’s scenic but it’s slow and crowded, especially on the weekends. Sometimes the weather dictates the local route as the only option tho unless Isabella and I want to be really sick.
Another issue is that although the channel is supposed to be dredged to 10 feet in depth at low tide we’ve run into problems the last two days with shoaling and less than 5 feet of depth. As our draft is 5.5 ft this presents a problem. We are picking our way thru and paying close attention to the tides. We’ve still managed to bump the bottom a few times.
During a particularly dicey section we came upon a boat about our size grounded in the mud waiting for a tow boat. In addition to our garmin maps we also have something called “active captain” on the ipad that allows comments from other boats that have traversed this way, saving us a few times.
We’re going to go as far as Jekyll Island and stop for a couple days for a window to go back offshore. There are sections of the Georgia ICW we just won’t even attempt with this boat.