We Really Like Oriental North Carolina

From Carolina Beach, our next stop would be Mile Hammock Bay. Mile Hammock is another one of our frequent stops because it's one of the few anchorages in the Swan Point area, plus it's well protected and offers good holding. This is right in the Camp Lejeune Marine Base and although you can't go ashore, it's a beautiful anchorage. We're often treated to the Marines doing all sorts of maneuvers in all manner of vessels and even some helicopter exercises. It can get noisy, but it sure is fun to watch. The total distance from Carolina Beach to Mile Hammock is 58 miles. We left Carolina Beach at 8:00 AM and had the anchor down in Mile Hammock at 3:25 PM. By the time we arrived, the winds had picked up to 15 to 25 with gusts to 28. It was good to be settled in. We hadn't seen very many cruising boats in weeks, but as it got later in the afternoon, we had about a dozen boats keeping us company. We wondered where they all came from. The winds blew steadily all night and the rains finally caught up with us. The anchorage was snug and secure.

From Mile Hammock, we first planned to stop in Beaufort/Morehead City, but as we got closer and looked at the weather that was chasing us all day, Beach House pushed on to our next regular stop in Cedar Creek off Adams Creek, about 15 miles past Morehead City. Secure in Cedar Creek, we sat out the next two windy, rainy days doing boat chores and Susan worked on the Bahamas Edition of the anchorage book. We have transited this section of the ICW so many times we have lost count and have bypassed Oriental, North Carolina for years. We don't really know why. This time we promised ourselves we would visit Oriental and spend some time. We have heard from many boaters how friendly and hospitable Oriental is to boaters. It's only a few miles across the Neuse River, but the winds were up, it was raining, and boats were reporting to us on the radio that it was, "not bad, but pretty rolly and a few waves were breaking over the bow." In boat speak, that means it's pretty lousy. That's why we hung out in Cedar Creek another day.

After 2 days, we woke up to flat seas, still overcast and drizzling, but we headed across the river anyway. Our plan was to tie up at the town dock if space was available. The dock is free for 48 hours but only has room for two boats. As we entered the harbor, we saw immediately that the dock was full and the harbor was crowded, too. The harbor is small and a few boats have taken up residence with multiple anchors spread out over the anchorage. This doesn't leave much room for anyone else. It's unfortunate and we have seen this happening all along the waterway. We tied to a commercial shrimpers dock for a few minutes to regroup and decide what we would do. There are a couple of anchorages farther up the two creeks that are beyond the highrise bridge, but we didn't want to be that far away. The two boats on the town dock were leaving the next day so we wanted to be close in order to get in to the dock after they left. Cruising around the harbor, we finally squeezed in just outside the channel and next to another trawler that had moved off the dock and anchored that day. The weather was still lousy and it rained off and on all day. The winds picked up to over 20 knots, but since we were anchored behind the breakwater in the harbor, it was breezy but flat.

Early the next morning one of the boats pulled away from the town dock and we pulled in. The other boat that was still tied to the dock was a couple we had seen in the Bahamas, but had never met so we got acquainted. They also pulled off the dock and we found ourselves alone for a while. The sun came out for a short period and the small boats started coming in and filling the dock. It stayed fairly busy until the rains started again. While we were at anchor, Ben Matthews, a frequent visitor on our blog and Facebook Page, paddleboarded over to the boat, from the marina across the creek where he keeps his boat, to say hi and introduce himself. We had a short visit and planned to get together again after we tied up at the town dock. Sure enough, shortly after we were in and tied up, Ben and his wife Debbie showed up on their paddleboards for coffee at The Bean, the coffee house right in front of the town dock. Great coffee by the way. We had a nice visit and the sun stayed out long enough for coffee on the flybridge. Later, Ben and Debbie were kind enough to drive over from their marina to take us to the local grocery store and to give us a tour of the town. The rest of the day it rained off and on, so we took a short walk and had dinner at one of the local restaurants. We would soon see just how hospitable Oriental can be to boaters. But there are some underlying problems that may have an impact on future visitors.

Oriental, like many waterfront communities in the south, is finding itself having to deal with the question of what to do with boaters that overstay their visits and take up permanent residence in the harbor. They are also finding boat owners using the harbor for free storage of boats and leaving them unattended at anchor. The city is considering a few different options to deal with these issues, including the possibility of adding a mooring field or setting a time limit on how long a boat can stay anchored in the harbor. It's unfortunate that the actions of a few will change things for the rest of us. The city is trying to find the best solution without seeming to be over restrictive or unfriendly to boaters. There are plans in the future to build at least one more free town dock and possibly a visitor center at the new dock with restrooms for boaters and land visitors. The town dock does not have electric or water and has a 48-hour time limit. Trash and recycling bins are right next to the dock. Space is on a first come, first served basis.

We really enjoyed our time here and are sorry we missed this stop over the years. The townsfolk are very friendly and welcome transient boaters. The Inland Waterway Provision Company, a marine supply store 1/2 block from the town dock, offers complimentary bicycles to boaters and also rents kayaks. Across the street from the town dock is The Bean, an excellent coffee shop that also sells bagels, muffins and other goodies, including ice cream. And we do like our ice cream. The Oriental Marina and Inn is next door to the town dock and for a fee will allow boaters to use their restrooms, showers and laundry facilities. The marina sells fuel, and if you rent one of their slips, you have access to the pool and all of the hotel facilities. They have an excellent restaurant and tiki bar for dining and refreshments. We also found a very good restaurant with great food at good prices called M&M's Cafe just a few blocks from the waterfront. The grocery store is about a mile and a half away, but it's just a short bike ride or a good walk. There is also a well stocked hardware store near the grocery and a small West Marine just a little farther down the street. It's a small, compact town with everything a boater could need or want and many of the locals stopped by the boat for a chat. They were all curious as to where we came from and where we were going. This is just a really neat town and now on our "don't miss" list.

The weather has not been cooperating at all. It has rained every day, most of the day and the wind has stayed in the 10- to 15-knot range with higher gusts out of the southwest. These are the winds that will lower the water levels in this area, since there are no real tides. The forecast is more of the same every day with winds to increase to 15 to 20 and then 20 to 25 in the next few days. This is NOT the weather that anyone wants to travel on the Neuse River or Pamlico Sound. It can get very, very nasty and uncomfortable. We wanted to go up the Neuse to New Bern, but it is looking more and more like that isn't going to happen anytime soon. We also had another engine issue to deal with. Over the last week, we discovered that the fresh water side of the engine coolant was adding water to the system. This wasn't a good sign and we quickly diagnosed the problem as a failed heat exchanger. A quick call to American Diesel and Brian Smith had a new heat exchanger on the way to us. We really didn't want to do the repairs at anchor in case we needed to get to a store for parts or there was a problem. Add the building winds and our need to get off the town dock after 48 hours and we decided to move into a slip at Oriental Harbor Marina. It was time to do laundry and top off the water tanks so a marina stop was due anyway.

What our next move will be is up in the air. It's going to have to be a day to day decision and we will have to get up in the morning, look at the current conditions, get the latest guess from the weather service and decide what we will do. It's all part of the adventure. We will get to the Chesapeake eventually, but in the meantime, we still have a lot of exploration to do and new places to see. This week we may be weathered in at a marina or sitting in an anchorage somewhere relaxing and doing chores. The heat exchanger was an all day job; the old one came out, the new one went in, the cooling system was drained, flushed with clean water and new coolant and water added. The boat is ready to travel again and we'll see what tomorrow brings. The horizon at sunset did not look promising. We will let you know, so be sure and stop back from time to time. We hope everyone is enjoying traveling along with us. I know we enjoy your company.

You can read out report and Claiborne Young's editorial on Oriental Harbor by visiting Cruiser's Net here.

Rolling on the River

The weather turned out to be another non-event. It sure would be nice if the National Weather Service could get it right, good or bad. Usually we wouldn't head out in winds forecast to be 20 knots, but since the forecasts have not even been close lately, and the conditions were light in the morning, we planned to leave, so off the docks we went. North of Georgetown, SC is the Waccamaw River. Every time we transit the Waccamaw, we remark how it has an almost primeval feel to it. You can imagine that it looked the same hundreds of years ago when the first explorers poked into the many tributaries and creeks that branch off the main river. This has to be one of our favorite stretches of the waterway. Just past Georgetown at the northern end of Winyah Bay, the 65-foot bridge that crosses the southern end of the Wacammaw begins the most spectacular section of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The waters of the Waccamaw are a dark coffee color due to the tannins leached from vegetation. To us, this adds to the beauty of the area.

The river is wide and deep, and depending on wind direction, there are many places where a boat can pull off to the side and anchor for the evening, or a day or two. In addition, there are many smaller creeks, rivers and "oxbows" that are deep enough for almost any craft to drop the hook and spend as much time as you would like. Our preferred anchorage after Georgetown is behind a small island near Enterprise Landing, but this evening we planned to anchor either in Enterprise Creek or the turn that continues the Waccamaw leading to Conway (page 21, The Great Book of Anchorages, Norfolk to Key West). In the end, we chose the anchorage off the ICW in the river. There can be some small boat traffic here, but after the sun goes down, it gets quiet and peaceful. We shared the anchorage with a pair of osprey who had a nest full of young ones. You may also see bald eagles and even bears along the river.

Anchoring along the river can offer some challenges. The banks are lined with beautiful cypress and oak trees. Visible along the banks are many very large tree stumps, both above and below the water surface. It's not unusual to see entire massive trees floating down stream in the currents all the way to lower Winyah Bay. It is possible to get your anchor snared by one of these stumps or trees, making retrieval impossible without a trip over the side and into the water. Many advocate the use of a trip line and float that allows the anchor to be pulled up backward and hopefully pulled loose from whatever has it entrapped. This will usually work, but there is a downside to using these lines and floats. Quite often the winds and currents will be opposed, and the boat will find itself sitting directly over the anchor. If a line and float are attached, they can become fouled in the propeller, rudder, keel or stabilizer fins if the boat is outfitted with them. This can be a serious problem if the entangled line pulls the anchor loose. Now you have no anchor and the whole mess has to be corrected quickly before the boat drifts into shallows and the entanglement gets worse. You get the picture. We avoid using a trip line by NOT anchoring close to the banks, anchoring in areas we know well and avoiding the small, shallow oxbows. Even then there are no guarantees. We haven't had this problem...so far.

We hate to have a schedule since it makes us do things that we might not want to. But we did have friends to meet in Myrtle Beach, so we passed on the opportunity to visit Conway and left the anchorage the next morning. A fuel stop at Osprey Marina delayed us for a couple of hours. The marina doesn't open until 8:00 AM and when we arrived, there was an 80-foot power boat at the fuel dock filling up. Osprey usually has the best fuel prices in the area and we were getting low. The next fuel docks farther north were considerably more, and filling up with 200 or more gallons can be expensive. We use both Marinalife and Cruisers Net fuel price pages to find the best deals on diesel. The information from both sites seem to be the most up-to-date. After fueling, we began the trek to Myrtle Beach. One thing we try to do, but often don't, is to stay put on weekends, especially when traveling through tourist areas. This was a Saturday and the tourists were out on the water en masse. The hoards of jet skis and rental boats almost drove us nuts, but we made the marina where we planned to meet our friends by just after 1:00 PM. We tied up at the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club for a couple of days while we visited MV "Diamond Girl" and also celebrated our own anniversary. The visit went very well and the marina even became a new vendor for our anchorage books.

The visit went well and we had a delicious anniversary dinner at the Officer's Club. Boating is a weather driven lifestyle. The day we departed from the marina was forecast to be a little breezy with a slight chance of rain, but the wind and rain would pick up overnight and into the next day. Our plan was to make some distance and try to get up the Cape Fear River before the winds increased and while we would have a favorable current with wind and current from the same direction. Two inlets north of Myrtle Beach that are always problem spots are Shallotte Inlet and Lockwoods Folly. Shallow water and strong currents make these inlets challenging to say the least. At Shallotte Inlet, we found one area that was 8.5 feet deep. In Lockwoods Folly, the lowest depth we saw was 6.5 feet deep. Both inlets were transited near low tide. It is very important to stay in the marked channel, especially in the areas where floating buoys are constantly being moved to show the shifting channel, so we don't blindly follow the chartplotter. It's easy to get swept out of the channel in the strong currents at the inlets. Keep an eye out fore and aft to make sure you are still the channel.

The Cape Fear can be a very slow and very, very uncomfortable ride in the wrong conditions. We have made some sloppy transits in the past and wrote about it in a previous post. Other than a couple of rude and inconsiderate boaters that even the commercial barges were complaining about, this may have been one of our easiest passages on the Cape Fear. We had a quick ride in the northbound incoming tide, and the southwest winds on the stern made the afternoon comfortable and kept the seas flat. There is always a lot of activity on the Cape Fear--tugs and tows, ferries, large ships and pleasure craft--coming and going continuously. A sharp lookout is needed at all times. We generally run just outside the ship channel buoys to stay away from the larger vessels while staying in deep water. Going up river, we stay just outside of the red buoys. Turning off the Cape Fear and heading up the channel to Snows Cut requires paying close attention to the cross current and not getting swept out of the channel. The depths out of the channel are very shallow, and the range markers that helped keep boaters in the channel are long gone. You will have to spend as much time looking behind the boat as looking forward to judge the boats position in the well-marked channel. The cross current is the strongest at the entrance to Snows Cut. Once in the cut, the going will either be very fast or very slow depending on whether the tides are incoming or outgoing from Carolina Beach Inlet.

Shortly after passing under the 65-foot bridge that crosses Snows Cut, the entrance to Carolina Beach is to starboard. The city of Carolina Beach has installed moorings in the area where we usually anchor. The moorings are $20.00 per night and since we only planned to anchor overnight and leave very early, we didn't see the sense in paying for a mooring. Once inside the harbor, we found there was still plenty of room to anchor. To port, there is a small island covered with saw grass. North of the small island the charts show 30 feet of water, but about halfway in, the depths are actually about 10 to 12 feet. It does shoal up quicky close to shore on the eastern side. We found a spot in about 11 feet and dropped the anchor near the small island. The holding is very good here. The island gave us perfect protection from the building southwest winds. Carolina Beach is a busy beach resort town with all of the attractions and boating activity that come along with that. There is a public dinghy dock for boats using the moorings or at anchor, but it's a long ride to the head of the harbor from the anchorage or moorings. We have heard that the city plans to build another dinghy dock near the moorings. This location would be very near the beach. The winds did pick up overnight, but the rains passed to the north and south of us, so we were spared. The next morning we would head out for Mile Hammock Bay, about 65 miles up the ICW.

Coast Guard Rescues Four Off The Coast Of Charleston.

Reported at www.postandcourier.com...

Four men on a disabled sailboat trapped in Tropical Storm Andrea were plucked from the ocean 65 miles offshore from Charleston on Friday morning.

“We spent all night just getting pummeled by the storm,” said Joel Kreider, 55, of Pittsburgh, the captain of the vessel.

The U.S. Coast Guard dispatched two helicopters carrying rescue swimmers. The crews hoisted to safety Kreider; Daniel Kelley, 23, of Huntsville, Ala.; and Clay Stevens, 25, and Josh Straitiff, 19, of Buffalo, N.Y.

They were delivering a 35-foot sailboat from the British Virgin Islands to Norfolk, Va., when the storm hit.

“Some of the swells were huge,” Kelley said. Kreider said one thing after another went wrong on the trip that began May 27. Drained batteries and a lifeless engine were the most serious problems. They could sail, but at night they were without lights, even for a compass.

“We were really in an unsafe situation where no one could see us,” he said. “Finally, Andrea hit us and that was the last straw. We were dead in the water against the wind and waves.” The storm shredded sails, leaving the vessel helpless against 20-foot swells and winds up to 50 knots. An anchor was deployed but the storm ripped it away, he said.

“Last night was brutal. You are doing a whole lot of bobbing,” Stevens said. The vessel contacted the Coast Guard using a satellite phone charged by a wind generator, he said. An Elizabeth City, N.C.,-based HC-130 Hercules plane spotted the disabled vessel. The Charleston-based Coast Guard Cutter Yellowfin arrived on the scene. Helicopter crews from Air Station Savannah were dispatched.

One-by-one, the men jumped from the sailboat into the churning seas. Rescue swimmers guided them into a basket that was hoisted aboard a helicopter. They arrived at about 5:15 p.m. Friday at Charleston Executive Airport on Johns Island.

“We’re no longer shark bait!” one of the men shouted after climbing from a chopper. The sailors gratefully shook hands with the Coast Guard crews who had pulled them to safety. They posed for a photo with their rescuers in front of a helicopter.

The sailboat crew first contacted the Coast Guard at about 6:22 p.m. Thursday. The Yellowfin was dispatched from Charleston at about 8:20 p.m. and reached the boat at midday Friday, officials said.

The rescue effort was slowed by a combination of the weather and the distance from shore, officials said.

None of the men were injured. Kreider said the sailboat was still afloat and would be salvaged.

Carolina On My Mind

Beaufort, South Carolina is one of those don't miss stops along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and I don't think we have ever missed it. Our stay at Lady's Island Marina gave us a chance to sit out bad weather, catch up with old friends, help out old friends and renew our acquaintance with this wonderful town. But after nine days, we had the itch to move on to points north. The Chesapeake is calling and the summer is upon us. The currents in Factory Creek run pretty strong and although we could have gotten out of the slip, as we did it often when we lived here, it is still less stressful to pull out at slack water. On the day we left, slack water occurred at about 11:30 AM, so the late start and the early afternoon thunderstorms would make for an short day. Once in the Beaufort River, the incoming tides gave us a favorable current and a few extra miles per hour without burning additional fuel.

 

The currents along the ICW can be a big help or a big hindrance. Many boaters try and use the tide and current predictions to help make distance each day. But we can tell everyone that trying to play the currents is a complete waste of time. On this day, they worked for us almost all day, but we have learned over the many years that this is just a crap shoot at best. Sometimes, like this transit, the currents will provide us with a boost all day, and other times they will work against us. We have learned that you get up, get underway, and take whatever you get. Usually, the currents will switch back and forth several times during the course of the day. This occurs most often near inlets. If the tides are outgoing, as we approach an inlet, the current is running in our favor. As we cross the inlet and head away from it, the currents will be against us. Every once in a while we get an outgoing tide and hit the inlet at slack water. The tides reverse and we get the benefit of the incoming tide as we pass the inlet. This doesn't happen too often, but it does happen. The currents can add or subtract as much as 2 to 3 miles per hour to our speed. The reason we use miles per hour instead of knots when transiting the ICW is because the distance along the entire ICW is measured in statute miles so we don't have to do any conversions.

Our destination for the evening was Toogoodoo Creek (page 32, The Great Book of Anchorages, Norfolk to Key West), about 43 miles up the waterway from Beaufort at statute mile 495. We left Beaufort at slack low water and headed north on a rising tide. Two hours north of Beaufort is the Ashepoo-Coosaw Cutoff and one of the very shallow spots in the waterway. With a 2-hour rise on the 7-foot tides, the shallow entrance to the cut off the Coosaw River was plenty deep enough for us. At low tides, the depths would have been less than our 4-foot draft. The rest of the day was uneventful and we made good time in the favorable currents. We reach the Toogoodoo at around 4:30 PM and the clouds were starting to build from the west. That meant thunderstorms were coming. Anchoring in most of the rivers in the Carolinas also means taking tides and current into consideration. We drop the anchor with the boat pointed into the current and let the current drop us back on the anchor. We arrived at low tide so were confident in the water depths where we anchored, but we had to allow for the 7-foot rise in the tides to determine how much anchor rode we put out. The depths when we arrived and dropped the hook were 8 feet at the spot in the river we chose, but the 7-foot tides meant we would be in 15 feet of water at high tide. Our typical anchoring scope is 7-to-1, and given the fact that the bow of our boat is 4 feet off the water and the depths would be 15 feet at low tide, we adjusted scope for 19 feet. That means close to 140 feet of anchor rode for us to feel secure overnight. It also gives us some security when the thunderstorms roll through and can have potential wind gust up to 50 knots or more. The currents will also reverse a couple of times overnight as the tide switches, but our Manson Supreme anchor has done a good job of resetting in the reversing currents. Otherwise, we might have to lay out 2 anchors, fore and aft, and we really don't like to do that. By morning, the anchor rodes will be all twisted.

The thunderstorms rolled in at about 8:00 PM, but fortunately they only contained rain and some lightning, but no wind. Sitting in these narrow rivers with strong winds against the currents can be very uncomfortable and the boat does some very strange things. In a couple of hours, the storms were gone and the rest of the night was very peaceful. The next morning we were underway early with plans to anchor at South Santee River. During the day, the forecast changed and the reports were for 15 to 25 knots of wind overnight and thunderstorms. We switched plans and headed for McClellanville to tie up at Leland Oil Company Marina. We had had reports that they now have new docks. On our last stay there, the docks were in pretty bad shape. We were pleasantly surprised to find a new floating aluminum dock on concrete pilings with new power and water posts. At 3:45 PM, we were tied up and secure to wait out weather. Surprise, surprise, the winds were calm all night and not a drop of rain fell. You gotta love our weather service. Their employees are the only people in any industry that can be consistently wrong, never loose their jobs and get paid very well for it.

We watched a strong weather front progress toward the east coast with very severe weather and knew that it would be necessary to get secured the next day when even folks like us, uneducated in meteorology, could tell it wasn't going to be fun for the next day or so. Winds to 25 knots and severe weather was approaching. We shoved off as soon as the tide came in enough for us to get off the docks and get the boat turned around in the river. A quick 3 hours would get us to Georgetown, another one of our favorite waterway stops. By 10:40 AM, Beach House was secured to the dock in Georgetown. The heat had been really brutal for the last two days. The heat index had reach 105 to 110 degrees by afternoon and even on this day, the temps had reached 85 degrees by 10:00 AM. It would be good to be tied to a dock with power so we could run the air conditioner as much as we needed. Now it was a matter of waiting to see what the weather would bring. We'll let you know how things turned out.

For many more photos, visit our Facebook Page.

Current Navigation Notices

I just wanted to remind all of our boating friends that you can get the most current navigation information on problems and changes along the waterways by clicking here. I post these notices as the information comes in to me from the U.S. Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers, New York State Canal System and a large variety of reliable sources, including you. Send me a note any time you find any irregularities out there on the water and I will be sure and pass them on to other boaters. If we share the information we help everyone. In addition to getting the latest notices, you can see the actual locations using our online Chartviewer. You can also sign up for free email alerts and get the latest important notices sent right to your inbox. I hope you find this resource useful.

New Website Additions

We are very happy to announce two new additions to our website for The Great Book of Anchorages. We have added a new photo gallery for many anchorages in the Bahamas that can be viewed here, and if you would like to put a location to the photo, try our interactive map here. Remember, you can send along your favorite photos and we will add them to the gallery and map and give you full credit. Include details as to where and when they were taken. The new Bahamas edition of The Great Book of Anchorages is coming along nicely and is on schedule to be available by September 2013. The addition of Wavey Line Charts to the book makes this a great resource for any boater planning a trip to the Bahamas. For many more great photos, you can visit our Facebook Page and don't forget to like us and share our page with other boaters if you like what you see. Be sure and come back here or our Facebook Page for continued updates.

NTSB Safety Alert

June 9, 2013

Good preparation and proper use of safety equipment is key.
 
Although this safety alert stems from and relates to a commercial vessel its recommendations are very important to the broad spectrum of commercial, deep sea, recreational boating, and other types of seagoing and coastal water operations.

 The problem
The NTSB recently investigated an accident that required the crew to abandon a weather-damaged liftboat in near-hurricane-force conditions.1 Several problems leading up to and during the vessel abandonment negatively impacted the 10 crewmembers’ probability of survival once they were in the water, and four of them died as a result:

• The company hurricane plan did not account for rapidly and locally developing low pressure weather systems. This reduced the crewmembers’ ability to properly plan for the developing storm and to make an early decision to leave the vessel through routine means before the onset of the storm.

• The vessel had recently been equipped with two new inflatable throw-over-type liferafts. However, the liferafts were inflated on deck instead of in the water when the crew prepared to abandon the vessel. This led to the liferafts blowing away from the vessel and vanishing in the high winds and seas. The crewmembers ended up clinging to a lifefloat, which, unlike the liferafts, did not provide out-of-water flotation, shelter from the elements, and nonperishable food anddrinking water.

• Although the crewmembers had gathered additional food, drinking water, and other supplies while preparing to evacuate, they failed to take these with them.

• The vessel was equipped with an emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB), which if activated would have quickly alerted authorities and narrowed the search area. However, the crewmembers did not take the EPIRB with them 1 Personnel Abandonment of Weather-Damaged US Liftboat Trinity II, with Loss of Life, Bay of Campeche, Gulf of Mexico, September 8, 2011. The report is available at www.ntsb.gov, under report number NTSB/MAR-13/01. when they abandoned the vessel. As a result, they spent 3 days in the water before search and rescue assets were able to locate them.

What can mariners do?
• Develop and execute a thorough weather preparedness plan. Ensure that your plan takes into account surface low pressure systems, nontropical storms, and other weather systems that may form rapidly and locally. (For example, not all hurricanes approach from the east.)

• Ensure you know how to use safety equipment. Don’t wait until a real emergency to find out whether you know how to properly use lifesaving equipment. Instead, include in your regular weekly or monthly drills a thorough step-by-step assessment of all such equipment, especially liferafts, which can’t actually be deployed during drills.

• Plan before evacuating. Before an emergency, ensure you know your assigned duties and responsibilities?such as who’s bringing what supplies?and ensure the responsible person is aware of the location of those items.

• Drill as if it is a real emergency. Conducting realistic drills gets the attention of crewmembers, builds their confidence and proficiency in emergency response procedures, and reinforces a strong safety culture. Review drill performance with crew to identify areas for improvement.

• Even in coastal waters, plan for the worst. Despite being close to shore and/or in a normally high-traffic waterway, don’t assume that others will be able to come to your immediate aid, especially if your location changes. Be physically and mentally prepared for the possibility of a prolonged exposure situation.

• Follow your plan. In emergency situations involving high stress and exhaustion, ensure all aspects are covered by running through step-by-step emergency procedures in accordance with established checklists. Use shoreside support resources to assist you with this.

• Don’t forget the EPIRB. The EPIRB is a vital piece of equipment that can significantly shorten the time necessary to locate and rescue you. Take it with you! In addition, carry a personal locator beacon (PLB); it is an inexpensive and effective device.

• Stay together in the water. Search and rescue personnel will more easily spot a group of people in the water than dispersed swimmers.

Should You Avoid The Georgia ICW?

The Georgia section of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway has a terrible reputation among regular boaters that make the annual trek from the north to their winter cruising destinations or returning from their southern destinations to points north. In some respects, that reputation is deserved, but it may also be a bit exaggerated. The ICW in Georgia has been neglected for a very long time. There have been no funds for dredging for many years and there is no immediate relief in sight. But funding is not the only issue. If the Corps of Engineers were to get all of the money they need for dredging, they still couldn't get the job done. The biggest roadblock is the logistics of removing and disposing of the dredged material. There are no locations on the water where the materials can be relocated, and removing the materials and putting them elsewhere is a logistical and financial nightmare. But the news isn't all bad.

In fact, the Georgia ICW is one of our our favorite sections of the waterway. In our opinion, the sheer beauty of the winding rivers, creeks and bays, and the many anchorages in the marsh grasses, make for a wonderful trip over the 90+ miles. There are very few stretches of the ICW where so many anchorages can be found just around the next bend. A days run can be as short as an hour or two or as long as you like. When you're tired, there will be a place to drop the hook and relax for the evening. Very little of the waterway is as developed as one finds in Florida or the Carolinas. It's this remoteness that we like the best. But navigating these waters does offer some challenges. But the challeges are not any more insurmountable than many places in Florida, South Carolina or Virginia.

Despite the Georgia ICW's reputation for shoaling, the problem areas are only in a few spots. Of course, deep-draft boats will have more of an issue than shallow drafts like Beach House. On our sailboat Sea Trek with a 6-foot draft, we were constantly concerned with water depths. The 4-foot draft of Beach House makes even the shallow spots at low tide nothing more than a nuisance. We have transited many of the reported very shallow stretches at dead low tide and not found the shallow depths that others have reported. There may be a couple of reasons for this. Number one may be that it is sometimes difficult in the winding channels to tell if the boat has gotten out of the channel on one side or another, and strong currents can quickly push the boat into skinny water. Another problem occurs when running the boat close to the channel markers instead of staying in the center of the channel. In many cases, the markers are sitting in a foot or two of water and the center channel will have plenty of depths. That isn't to say that water depths don't vary from one side of the channel or the other. Some good sources to find the most current information on problem spots along the Georgia ICW are our own Navigation Notices at Marinalife, and our good friend Claiborne Young's website, Cruiser's Net.

Keep in mind that the tides along the Georgia ICW can average 7 to 8 feet. This means that even the shallowest spots can easily be transited by almost any boat at high tide. It has been our experience that the high tides most often occur at times that make transiting at high tide not very practical. But with the right timing or the patience to wait, there is no reason that a boat with even up to 7 or 8 feet can't do the transit and enjoy it as much as we do. Let's consider a few of those problem areas and how the trip can easily be done. One major problem is not so much shoaling, but too many Skippers blindly following their chartplotter. Cumberland Dividings, which is just north of the Kings Bay Submarine Base, is deep and well-marked. But the chartplotters will show the magenta line along the ICW and if followed closely, will put the boat hard aground. If the channel markers are followed, the boat will always be in deep water and there will be no problems.

There are several narrow cuts along the Georgia ICW and one that has been a problem for boaters is appropriately named Hells Gate. To navigate these cuts, try not to turn directly into the cut from the river. Instead, stand well off the cut and turn toward it, adjusting for the set of the strong currents. This will allow for adjusting the steerage to account for the current and not get swept into shallow waters by the current. Take these cuts down the center and look behind the boat to see the effects of the currents. Our transit at low tide found the least depths to be 6 1/2 feet. Another problem area is the Little Mud River. This stretch is notorious for shoaling, but the reality is that there are only a few spots with very shallow water. One of those spots is only about 4.9 feet at low tide. If you draft is deeper than this, then a transit at mid to high tide will be required. If northbound, anchorages can be found along Buttermilk Sound or the South Altamaha River to wait for the higher tides. If southbound, there are many options on the Rockdedundy, Darien, South or North Rivers. For deeper-draft vessels, waiting for the right tide is a good tactic and will result in a stress free passage. Crossing the Savannah River is always fun for us. Maximum ebb or flood can produce currents of 3 to 4 knots and we often find the boat pointing either up or down river as we "crab" sideways to reach the ICW channel on the opposite shore. Fields Cut, just on the north side of the river, is another shallow spot with depths at low tide of just over 6 feet. The deeper water can be found on the east side near pilings from an old dock that is now gone and only the pilings remain. The rest of Fields Cut has plenty of water with the exception of the very northern portion where depth again drop to 6 feet briefly.

There are several Sounds to transit that can be uncomfortable and challenging if the conditions are not right. Jekyll, St. Simons, Altamaha, Doboy, Sopelo and St. Catherines Sounds all bring the boat out near the open waters of the Atlantic. Even a moderate breeze that opposes the incoming or outgoing tides can result in some nasty seas and a very uncomfortable ride when the boat needs to be turned beam to the seas. The good news is that these transits are short and if the seas and swells are uncomfortable, it will only be for a short period of time. But it is necessary to make sure all items inside the boat are secured and can't be tossed around in the rough waters. If possible, try and transit the Sounds either during slack water or while the wind and current are coming from the same direction. Despite the challenges, the Georgia Intracoastal Waterway is still some of our favorite stretches of the ICW. It's all part of the adventure and once you have done it, you realize just how beautiful it is and how exaggerated the problems really are. Now on to the Carolinas.