hazards on the ICW

Friend Barry sent a text asking about hazards on the ICW from Charleston south the the St. Johns River. He clarified in a second text he was asking about issues with tugs/barges and wakes from bigger boats speeding up the ICW.  Below is my reply.

"As for barge, boat traffic, there is not much on the ICW south of Charleston.  I think in my 1 and 1/2 trips down there I have only seen one tug with a barge.  There is a narrow stretch on the Stono River where the piers reach out from shore almost to the marked channel and I have been concerned about crossing paths with a tug there.  But it has not happened.  Almost no snow bird traffic heading north in Feb. or March.  The few boats I see slow down to wave.  I have encountered lots more boats on the ICW on NC trips on the Alligator/Pungo River Canal and the Adams Creek Canal.  I would say 95% slow down as a courtesy (and sometimes out of curiosity).  A few boats blow by but very few and it is no big deal.  Some waterman coming up from the stern will slow down briefly and pull directly in front of me so that I am between the port and starboard wakes and then they resume speed (this was explained to me by one captain as it did it).  So they don’t lose much time with a brief slowdown and can get to where they need to be.  Sailing through downtown Jacksonville on a sunny, pleasant weekend day was interesting as everyone had their boats out and in Florida (by law, I assume) they can only go one speed (full speed).  So lots of wakes and then reflected wakes after they bounce off the concrete wall that lines the St. John’s in Jacksonville.  Not a problem, just a little uncomfortable."

The photo above was on the first night of my first attempt to sail south from Charleston.  I was anchored on Rantowles Creek when I heard the deep throbbing diesel sounds of a tug pushing a barge up the Stono River.  The blue/red/purple glow is the tug, the white horizontal line going to the left is the barge. (I am still impressed by this photo taken in the middle of the night by an iPhone.)  Just to the south on the Stono is where the piers reach out nearly to the marked shipping channel.  

The chart is from Navionics and shows the piers reaching out from the west side of the river.  I recall many more piers on the eastern side of the river than shown here.  I do recall my GPS showing a narrower path than what is on the chart.  In any case this is the one area where I would not want to pass a tug and barge.  It would not be a problem, just a little tight.

The only other hazard I can think of would be the tides rushing through a few (mostly man-made) cuts. This includes Elliott Cut where I launch SPARTINA and it is physically impossible to pass through the cut against a running tide.  The Fenwick Island Cut that connects the South Edisto River to the Ashpoo River can have a good running tide but is still passable.  Just a mile west of that is another cut that connects the Ashpoo to Rock Creek that can be much worse.  In fact on my sail south from Charleston I failed on two attempts to make the cut, shown above, to get through that cut, had to fall back and anchor to wait out the tide.  The peak current running through there was as close as I have seen to whitewater.

Looking over these charts and tracks I realize that I have a decent feel for the path I will be sailing in a few weeks.  I can't wait to get back down there.