Hell's Gate
04 November 2016
Shortly after our 8:00 a.m. departure this morning we entered Georgia. We thought maybe we would call it an early day, stay in a marina and visit Savannah. Unfortunately, all the marinas were full, it was a combination of their busy time of the year plus the extra work created by hurricane Matthew. This portion of the ICW is very winding, however the channel is deep and the scenery is beautiful. We meandered through the Georgia salt marches all day while keeping our eyes open for a suitable anchorage for the night.
One notorious section we had to traverse was Hell's Gate, a very narrow and shallow pass that is only about a 1/2 km long,but at low tide the water is only 3 ft. deep. Our timing was bang on and we went through just before high tide and never saw less then 9 ft. All the same it certainly made me tighten my grip on the wheel, just like going through Hell's Gate in the Fraser Canyon in a snow storm. Finally after 8 hrs. on the go we found an anchorage in Wahoo Creek behind the only stand of trees for miles. It's very bizarre, we in the middle of no where, there is a small uninhabited island about 200 yards by 1/2 a km. and there is a street light on it.
The attached picture today is a sad reminder of what Matthew left behind.