Day 12 – N 32° 01.002’ W 81° 01.939’ Herb River, GA

Déjà vu, all over again. 

Based on forecast N winds at 10 to 15 mph and seas 2 feet or less, we decided to go out to sea again today and set a course directly for Port Royal, SC, where we want to see our friends Bill and Cheryl Mote.  We knew that even if the winds turned out to be a little NE, we could motor into the small seas and still arrive before sunset.  Up before sunrise, we had the anchor up just as the sun was rising and noted that the wind was also doing the same, after a perfectly calm night at anchor.  By the time we got to the end of the sea channel, the wind was quite strong, more like 15 to 20 mph, and the seas had kicked up to 3 to 5 feet.  We set our course for Port Royal, and just as it did yesterday, the wind started clocking around to the east, so we were not able to hold our course.  But because the seas were running so high, we weren’t able to make any headway motoring directly into them either.  After an hour of crashing up and down the waves and making only 4 to 5 knots, Peter decided to tack in toward the coast and enter Ossabaw Sound and join the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). 

Osprey on ICW day marker "48"

The ICW winds through the tidal rivers that form the barrier islands of coastal GA, SC and NC.  There is lots of wildlife in the many waterfront ecosystems along this 1000 mile system of rivers and canals.  Some birds, like ospreys, take advantage of the man-made amenities that are part of the ICW infrastructure and put it to their own uses.

We checked the tides, and of course the high tide was just happening in Ossabaw, so we would be fighting an outgoing current as we were entering this long sound.  Three hours after entering Ossabaw Sound, we reached the ICW, a mere 11 miles distant.  We had no hope of making Port Royal before sundown, so we started looking for a suitable anchorage in the Savannah, GA area.  Skipper Bob’s publication directed us to a little river branching off the ICW as a suitable anchorage and here we are now in Herb River, just outside of Savannah.  It is calm and well protected, but seems to be in the landing pattern for Savannah airport.  We are now committed to the ICW for the rest of our trip to Port Royal, but it should be one more day before we arrive there.