Our thanks to Jim Healy for this good news report from Ashepoo-Coosaw Problem Stretch which can be a very shallow spot between dredgings. Regarding Jim’s reference to the St Helena Route, see /?p=141157">Good Depths. For more of Jim’s report, see Mt. Pleasant to Beaufort.

The Ashepoo-Coosaw Cutoff is in two halves. Southbound, we entered the northern half at 12h45, with the tide station in that cut showing +6.2. Depths were in the range of 17 feet, so I didn’t pay much attention there. The southern half was dredged in the spring of 2018. There was severe shoaling at the junction of the Cut with the Coosaw River. We cleared that area at 13h00, with the tide at +5.8. We saw 11.9′ depths in the visual center of the entrance between G164 and R185, so the control depth would be (11.9 – 5.8) = 6.1 ft. I guess I would say the spring dredging helped at the junction of the Coosaw river, but did not do much to otherwise deepen the southern half of the Ashepoo-Coosaw Cut. At least most boats don’t have to do the St. Helena Sound route at this time.

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