11/6/14
Isle of Palms SC, ICW
Position: 32 48.381N, 79 45.592W
Posted by Bill

So the funding to dredge the ICW has dried up at the federal level, and the states have had to be very selective about their investment, so parts of the waterway have shoaled over. Today we traveled some troublesome spots at low tide…a super low tide courtesy of a full moon tomorrow. We had a heads up from the excellent ICW briefing we attended at Southport Marina and several boats (including Paperbird) helped us as they were ahead of us.

The first hour of the trip was awesome due to the dolphins that joined us (Tricia did a great job of posting about it). We bumped the bottom several times due to the tide and the full moon that is due tomorrow, but we made it to Isle of Palms Marina. We have visited Isle of Palms several times via car and really like this place, so it was a treat to glide in via the water. We also have friends, Terry and Cassandra, that live here and got to hook up with them. Painkillers on the boat, lobster for dinner, and good conversation with friends….a good night!

We will spend another night here to catch the high tide and the Ben Sawyer Bridge opening at the right time, which is better on Saturday than tomorrow. The state of the ICW and the tides create a complicated passage calculation.

Isle of Palms Marina: