Steamboat Creek Anchorage

At anchor in Steamboat Creek

We had to wait for the tide to start rising before leaving the Maritime Center at Charleston. We only had 4.8 ft in our slip and we draw 5.0 ft! We finally got underway at 11:15 and headed for our encounter with shallow waters on the ICW. However, this part of the ICW must have been dredged, we saw a couple of dredgers along the way and we saw nothing less than 15 ft all the way. Tuesday promises to be a different story however. There are ample reports of very low water in the section we start on in the morning. Now we’re faced with a falling tide as we start out and the specter of traveling part of the course at dead low tide. They claim that the state does not have the funding to keep the ICW dredged and so it’s filling in. We’ll have a personal report on Tuesday.

A nice sunset is always appreciated

The major factor in the selection of our anchorages is the availability of Hoolie relief. Today we anchored where there is a public boat ramp which is ideal for taking a dog ashore. So we had a great dinner and played bridge with Don and Liz tonight, a great rivalry that spans the years we’ve known each other, great fun.

We had a nice sunset and it’s very quiet tonight with no boat traffic, perfect for resting up for Tuesday’s battle with low water!