We now fully understand the appeal of the Intra Coastal Waterway as a cruising environment. It is quicker, and weather permitting, easier to go outside along the East Coast of the US . But if you are cruising the Waterway, as opposed to passing through on the way elsewhere, it has a unique appeal.

Here is a track of our progress between Beaufort and Charleston. As you can see, the ICW is well protected, if a bit convoluted.

Even on days with flat light, as when these photos were taken, there is beauty everywhere you turn.

And the wildlife, especially the birds, are extraordinary.

There are a few shallow spots, particularly in this section where we needed a third of the tide, mean low water appearing to be about three feet (one meter), for our five foot (1.5m) draft to clear, but in general, we have seen eight feet (2.4m) or more.

Nav aids are not always where they should be, or are occasionally missing.

But even with muddy water there are signs of unmarked shallows, as with this current shear line.

We have been pleasantly surprised by the etiquette on display by almost all the high speed fizzboats. Good form dictates that you hail the boat ahead, confirm the passing side, and slow down so your wake doesn’t rock the overtaken vessel. In our case, we like the wakes, a chance to surf, so we encourage high speed passes.

There is less traffic than expected, and just a single commercial vessel. This is probably due to being late in the season.

The miltary have large tracts of land for training, a side benefit of which is lack of development.

Perhaps a coincidence, but with two years of trying for a decent in flight photo of a vulture, success finally arrived off a Marine base.

Our wake stirs up bait fish, and the locals are happy to imbibe.

Meanwhile, others are fishing from the beach,

or docks which line the waterway.

Not so fortunate is the commercial fishing fleet. These shrimpers cannot earn enough to pay their fuel bill, and are tied up awaiting better prices for their catch.

Speaking of fuel, Brunswick, Georgia, has the best fuel prices we have seen in this part of the world, US $3.55 per gallon including taxes. This is 20%+ less than anything we found at a fuel dock in Florida.

We are told that it is unseasonably warm and have adapted, as long as there is a breeze and we are head to wind. But when it glasses off, the genset runs and the air conditioning gets its chance to shine. The past few days temperatures have been in the 90s (34C) with 70%+ humidity, and we are thinking of a cooler region.

Beaufort, South Carolina, has entranced us with its charms.

There are lovely residential areas,

with wonderful gardens,

Giant oaks hung with garlands of spanish moss abound.

And historic landmarks are everywhere you look.

Our visit coincided with a blue grass music concert in the local park.

Followed by the first decent photo of a new moon from an anchored Wind Horse.

Speaking of which, we had been advised to expect poor holding a portion of the Waterway. However, our big ROCNA anchor seems to approve of these mud bottoms as it has dug in and held better than anywhere else we have used it the last 50,000+ miles. It takes a substantial tug on the windlass to break it free.

New and full moons bring the highest tides, and you do not want to run aground at high water or you could wait weeks to get off.

We are seeing a few yachts that are optimized for this protected, shallow environment.

Both for living aboard and just having fun on the weekends.

We now understand the appeal of the Intra Coastal Waterway as a cruising destination, and how some folks can cruise here for years. We are definitely going to give it another pass.

Our next stop is Charleston, where we last visited in 1966. We were racing our Shark catamaran in the National Championships, and enjoyed the the city and its inhabitants. This will be a work stop. Then it is time to look for a cooler neighborhood.

If you would like to see a high definition slide show of the area we just covered click here.