Hell's Gate to the Isle of Hope

Our last stop at The Sunbury Crab Company, really just a few docks behind Miss Elaine's house and restaurant, is up the Medway River. The river is wide, for the most part, and deep (25' to 35') in some places, interspersed with shallow shoals. Lots of creeks flow into the river through the vast marsh. This morning, on the way back down the Medway River to the ICW, I was plotting the way to Isle of Hope and Marvin was heading back to the ICW in St Catherine's Sound. The Garmins and Navionics on our iPad said 14' but it was actually less than 3' (1.5' on the Garmin and 2.9' on the Tridata). We ran aground in soft mud, right after Marker 2 at the turn into St. Catherine's Sound. Fortunately, the tide was coming in. We didn't have to wait long before the current was carrying us. We were floating but it was still too shallow to turn engines on. In about 1/2 hour we were deep enough to power slowly to deeper water and the channel to St. Catherine's Sound.

In about 20 miles we came to the infamous Hell Gate. (Charts don't use possessives) Our sailing friends, Terry and Suzanne had warned us about this hazard, and there was lots of radio chatter nervously reporting depths. It's a short, very shallow area between Ogeechee River and Little Ogeechee River. Books say to layover in nearby marinas or anchorages to approach at high tide. We went through on a rising tide and saw nothing less than 7.8 feet. A small Coast Guard RIB vessel went by us in the narrow channel in the opposite direction. We heard on the radio a guy saying he was aground and called SeaTow. All we saw was a 25 to 28' SeaRay-type boat outside of the channel. In 10 more miles we were at Isle of Hope marina. We had our grounding earlier, so Hell Gate was a non-event.

At the Isle of Hope Marina near Savannah, we had to hold off while two sailboats got fuel. One kept going north, the other (Moonglow) moved down the dock. We got fuel and a pump out and moved down the dock in front of Moonglow. All of the docks here are lay-along docks. It's a nice place, with a loaner car!

We used the car to go to West Marine and ACE Hardware. Then I did laundry while Marvin made dinner on the grill. While I cleaned up, he talked with the guy on Moonglow who is single-handing from the Bahamas. While in The Bahamas, his wife became seriously ill and they returned to Virginia. Now he's bringing the boat back alone - a 38' Panda. It certainly makes one stop and think about contingencies and admire the task of single handing.

We are spending an extra day in Savannah at the Isle of Hope Marina. It is rainy and windy and we did not feel like continuing on. We're concerned about a weather system in the Gulf of Mexico that may make its way to Florida's Panhandle. We want to see what is brewing to make our plans.

Isle of Hope is indeed an island with historic homes and a State Historic Site. 

We enjoyed dinner at Saltwater Grill - a fine restaurant overlooking the Herb River near Isle of Hope. (The mud pie dessert was the best!)

We borrowed the loaner car again and drove around the IOH neighborhood, discovering Wormsloe Plantation. Dating to 1733, it was a land grant from Oglethorpe to a guy to build a fort to keep the Spanish out. We'll learn more tomorrow before we move on to Beaufort SC. We also made it briefly into Savannah. We decided that Savannah is best seen by car after staying a few days in a hotel. So, some day soon, we'll come back and spend more time here.

NOTE: our blog runs a bit behind our actual travel dates.