The AICW follows the narrow, man-made canal known as Hell Gate between the Vernon and Ogeechee Rivers. These waters have been an “AICW Problem Stretch” for years.

Captains Glen and Jill Moore provide an excellent picture of and approach to this long-time trouble spot where depths can change quickly due to the narrow channel. And we heartily agree that these miles of undeveloped and unspoiled Waterway in Georgia are well worth the necessary planning and navigational care.

We traveled through Hell Gate on 11/9/12. The shallowest spot observed on our path was 8′ MLW south of floating R90. Using the large Georgia tides to your advantage, Hell Gate depths provide a good margin of error on your course through this narrow stretch of the ICW.
Some cruisers avoid the Georgia ICW due to stories of shallow water. They miss one of the best cruising areas of the southeast coast. Those on a delivery schedule, just trying to get south or north as quickly as possible, can save much time by going outside. It is about 115 sm from Hilton Head, SC to the St. Marys River entrance at the Florida line, while traveling between the same destinations following the ICW is a curving course of 150 sm. But, for cruisers searching for memorable experiences, it is 150 miles of natural beauty, 100’s of anchorages, and many interesting places to visit.
The term ‘Problem Stretches’ may be part of the problem, adding to a level of fear causing cruisers to avoid Georgia. Yes, there are areas that require attention and planning, all of which are documented on the Salty Southeast Cruisers’ Net website. So, there should be no surprises. The site’s new feature of recently sounded and recorded depths by ARGUS research vessels, detailed directly on NOAA charts, provides accurate and easy-to-understand information on depths. Spending a little time researching the waterway on SSECN, annotating information directly on your charts, will provide a valuable guide to safely cruising Georgia’s section of the AICW. Navigation of these waters is a bit more challenging, but the challenge of navigation should be one of the experiences enjoyed in cruising ‘” a n endeavor rewarded by the outstanding cruising experiences these waters can provide.
The narrow, and sometimes shallow, Georgia passages should be viewed as `Areas of Concern,’ requiring increased levels of attention and planning. Often in life, the greatest of rewards require higher effort to achieve.
PBS created a documentary of the Georgia barrier islands which provides a visual and narrative description of the history and beauty of one aspect of this area: http://www.gpb.org/secretseashore#
Glen and Jill Moore
DeFever 40 Last Dance

Very good to hear positive comments about the Georgia ICW.
Sonny

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s “AICW Problem Stretches” Listing For Hell Gate

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The AICW follows the narrow, man-made canal known as Hell Gate between the Vernon and Ogeechee Rivers. These waters have been an “AICW Problem Stretch” for years. Fortunately, dredging during the summer of 2009 had kept depths decent until December of 2010 when reports of new shoaling began. Looks like the surrounding shallows are once again beginning to creep into the channel. Effective immediately, cautious captains should begin to time their traversal of Hell Gate for mid to high tide.

Entered Hells Gate, abeam of “92” at 1348, about 1 hour after low tide. Strayed a little to far to the red side at the edge of the channel and got as low as 7.5′-corrected to center channel and saw from 8′ to 14′ to “87” at 1355, where it dropped off to 10-12′. There is a nun “90” in the cut that may not appear on some charts. Passage should not be a problem, even at low tide.
Michael J. Horowitz aboard ALTAIR

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s “AICW Problem Stretches” Listing For Hell Gate

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The dredging of 2009 is slowly being overcome by shoaling through this perennial problem stretch, making Hell Gate another section that requires mid-to-high tide passage for vessels carrying 4ft or more draft. With his 6.25ft draft, Capt. Pascal is very alert to depth changes and his is the kind of vessel you would hope to be following through these trouble spots!

Definitely more shallow, by a couple of feet, again on the same lines I usually run thru there.
MM602, Hell Gate, 8′ to 9′ MLW thru most of the cut but some readings as low as 5′ to 6′ MLW around R90 and G89. Had 8′ of tides so I tried poking around for better readings, no luck. I usually pass about 40′ from R90, and about 30′ from G89; this time around it s definitely shallower by about 2 to 2.5′ compared to earlier this year.
Capt. Pascal Gademer

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s “AICW Problem Stretches” Listing For Hell Gate

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Sanctuary and crew transited Hell Gate at 1500 yesterday, 4/20/2011. We are three days past full moon on celestial high and low tides. At our transit time, our chartplotter tide table showed us with plus 0.8 ft of tide, headed to negative 1.1 ft. The tidal range was greater than 9′.
In the Hell Gate channel, we saw 5.6 ft of water in the green quarter at G “90,” which is at the slight bend at mid-cut. Due to the current in that area, we were slightly east of the centerline, but only slightly. Don’t know if Red quarter would have been better, but where we were, at -1.1 ft, we’d only have had 3.5′ of water; not enough for us.
On Tuesday, the weather offshore was good, so we went out at St. Simons and back in at Doboy Sound, to overnight at the Duplin River. That avoids Altamaha Sound and the Little Mud on a falling/low tide. From Doboy Sound, we went out again on Wednesday, headed for Tybee, but had to come back in at Sapelo because of SE short-period waves, which were on our beam and made the ride uncomfy.
Interesting, from Tybee to Jax, there are inlets every 15 miles that allow for safe exits if the weather deteriorates. Doboy and Sapelo are well marked. Don’t know about the others. Because of the tidal ranges in GA, though, and shallow offshore depths (40 ft at 6 miles) the tidal ebb and flood currents are strong. Plan accordingly. Also, running in 15 ft of water nearer shore can result in experiencing lesser wave size, but dodging shoals for some may increase anxiety. A personal trade-off. As the water depth on the ICW continues to deteriorate and dredging declines, these offshore runs may become more and more necessary.
When crossing the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas, I’ve usually heard advice that winds with a “North” component are to be avoided. Yesterday, I learned that for offshore travel along the GA, SC coast, waves directions/short period swells with an “East” component are to be respected/perhaps avoided.
Peg and Jim Healy aboard Sanctuary, Monk 36 Hull #132

Went through Hell Gate going north at 1 hour after low tide on Monday May 2nd, 2011. Entrance was skinny. I recorded 5.9 feet which left me with about 1 foot of clearance. Once I got through the opening, the water deepened quickly but I took it slow and watched my depth and channel all the way through.
Captain David

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s “AICW Problem Stretches” Listing For Hell Gate

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To This AICW Problem Stretch