Opinions?

Hey Bradford sorry just saw your post. I've ran the GA portion of the ICW from Sapelo to Cumberland but that's the only experience I have with it. Only place that really sucks in by Jekyll. It's super shallow by the wharf. You have to keep fairly close to the docks at low tide. Otherwise Army Corps and USCG do a pretty good job of maintenance on that run through GA
 
We made it! Boat, wifey and myself, all did great, really proud of my wife. I'll give a more detailed account later, but was well worth it.
 
Was a great trip, took us 4 days watching and running the tides. Left New Smyrna Beach at 1030am Tuesday morning and made it to St Augustine by 730pm and tied to a mooring in the city mooring field. Most of the Florida run was pretty straight forward, easy to navigate, well marked channels with plenty of depth. Left the Wed morning at 7 am and ran up to the back side of Cumberland Island and anchored in Brickhill River at 730pm. We were the only boat around for miles, awesome sunset and cloud formations, cooked burgers on the grill. Set the alarm for 1230am to see how she handled the tide shift, did fine. Left at 7am again to make it through St Andrews sound before the tide shifted. Was a little hairy with a strong east wind and you have to go out to the mouth of the sound to avoid some huge sandbars with names like "The Coffin" and "The Bulkhead". Went up behind Jekyll Island and sure enough was shallow, especially halfway through just past the wharf. Wait N Sea draws +/- 4 ft 2 in and we saw 4.5 going just above idle. Got out of there and was glad to see St. Simons sound, bought fuel at Golden Isles Marina, Super nice people, ask for Joseph. Took on 160 gallons of diesel. Mackay River was deep and wide. Approaching Altamaha Sound things got skinny and shallow, least favorite part of the trip. Enter Little Mud River on mid tide rising and saw 4.5 feet again at the entrance, though the rest of the stretch was good, the bad part that I was worried about was 14 feet deep. Front River and Creighton Narrows was actually really beautiful and pleasant cruising. Doboy Sound was easy, Little teakettle creek was nice, Sapelo sound is no joke though, big wide, deep and goes on forever, not to mention we were the only boat out there, I'm talking no sign of anybody for hours. Approaching the mouth of Sapelo we find red number 138 to be missing and some pretty big ocean swell coming in with the steady east wind. Channel markers in this sound are just far enough apart to still be able to see them with binoculars. A little bewildered and tired from no sleep we find Johnson creek to be smooth and scenic, St Catherines sound to be not so bad and bear river to Killkinny to be nice. Tied up at Killkinny Creek marina to spend the night and absolutely crashed out and slept. Slept in some the next morning and left on the low slack tide to take our time going through Florida Passage allowing the tide to come up to about half before passing through Hell Gate. Skinny channel with tidal current and again a strong east wind. Made it through unscathed although was constantly on the helm and watching the sounder, saw 6.5 feet through there on mid tide. By that time we were home free in home waters and cruise through Vernon river, Skidaway Narrows, Isle of Hope and finally in our home port of Turner's Creek on Wilmington Island. Was nerve racking doing it the first time alone with only my wife on a boat I just got that I had experienced docking one time when I pulled up to let the seller off before departing New Smyrna. Would DEFINANTLY do it all over again, but would allow some more time to sit back and take in the sights. Would never run some of those Sounds or stretches in bad weather, with approaching nightfall, or without good recent charts, gps, and a good sounder. Was an awesome experience though for both of us and I feel like people really can't appreciate it unless they've been there themselves. If anyone else makes this run, I'm glad to give advice about different areas.
 
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