Georgetown at Georgetown Landing Marina - at a dock

Not all bridges are raised, this one is floated across

We left at not one of Ann's favorite times, before 7:00 in order to beat the 7:00 to 9:00 am closing of the Ben Sawyer bridge. However it did result in a good headstart on getting through the shallows. The major obstacle of the Isle of Palm ICW just north of the bridge has been solved, it's been dredged to at least 10 ft at MLW. Unfortunately, the rest of the shallows on the way to Georgetown have not been dredged. To compensate for that we timed our passage at near high tide today. Nevertheless, by following the magenta line (ICW centerline) as shown on Garmin charts, we never saw the depth dip below 6.0 MLW. We could have made it through even at low tide with our 4 ft 9 in draft.

It's a nice marina, great fishing fleet but a long walk to our docks

In the area around Georgetown we do not anchor out, there are alligators around. We took a dock at one nearby marina and the dockmaster said do you allow your dog to swim? We replied that we do not and he said it was a good thing and proceeded to show us all the photos of alligators he shot in his marina. He said to give him a call if one climb up on the swim platform. They usually left when sprayed with a hose! Later on we were sitting on the back of our boat and spied something in the water and then it became apparent that it was an alligator returning "home" after a day in the bay. We kept Hoolie on a short leash and we've never been back to that marina since. Now we take a slip closer to Georgetown.

There's a lot of current in this river and it's one reason the rice plantations were so abundant in the early years. Even with the tides, it was always fresh water and they used dikes to alternately flood and drain the rice fields with the 4 ft tidal range. It was a very rich area in the 1800's. It took a toll on those working the fields with all the snakes, alligators and mosquitoes.

On Tuesday we have reservations at Barefoot Landing Marina for three days to enjoy the area and east out one night at Greg Norman's Australian Grill. They have the best steaks on the ICW and the shopping area there is great fun.