Today we were going to transit Hells Gate - a little cut between the Vernon River and the Ogeechee River. It is reported that at low tide there are spots that are only 2 - 3 feet deep. That's a no go for my 5.2' draft. Just after that is the Florida Passage which is also quite shallow.
We timed our arrival to be about 1 hour before high tide. By that time there would be 7' of tide water over whatever was there. We hit it as planned and fortunately the strong cold front that was supposed to be here this morning had not arrived yet so we got through with some trepidation but no shallow water. Shallowest we saw was 10.2' which would be 3.2' at low tide. The Florida Passage was easy with that 7' tide.
It was a relatively short day of only 30 miles. We anchored in Killkenney Creek around 12:30pm. Tomorrow we have two troublesome areas to transit -- Buttermilk Sound and Little mud River. From here we should reach them about an hour after high tide, then on to Frederica River for a run of 58 miles -- long day.
The cold front has been coming all afternoon with higher wind speeds. Fortunately my wind generator is turning it into useable power. The batteries were pretty low this morning after a short travel day and long time on the anchor back at Herb River.
It started raining here about 4:15pm with some high wind gusts but now 30 minutes later the wind is down, rain has stopped and its just cloudy.
Hopefully all will clear by morning.
Oh it got up to 83 degrees here today but is now down to 70 and dropping. Should be good sleeping tonight.
And once again we traveled alone all day and we are the only vessel anchored here tonight.
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