Triangle Loop – Week 1

April 28 to May 3

Home to Murrells Inlet, SC

Day 1 – Monday, April 28th, 2025 – To Fernandina Beach, FL
Jekyll Island, GA

Click Here to see our Day 1 Post!

Day 2 – Tuesday, April 29th, 2025 – To: Jekyll Island, GA
Jekyll Harbor Marina

• From: Fernandina Beach, FL
• To: Jekyll Island, GA
  Jekyll Harbor Marina
• Start Time: 10:20 am
• Dock Time: 1:20 pm
• Time Underway: 2h 50m
• Miles Traveled: 27.6 NM (32 statute miles)
• Average Speed: 9.5 knots (11 mph)
• Draw Bridges Opened: 0 Locks: 0
• Weather: 75° – Sunny
• Winds: 12 Knots – Waves: Light Chop to 3 ft at Jekyll Sound

Day 2 was a short day, only 30 miles and less than 3 hours to Jekyll Island, one of our favorite stops. The trip was great with just light chop from the 14 mph winds. We went past the Kings Bay Submarine Base with the armed patrol boats making sure we boaters don’t stray off the marked path, then past Cumberland Island with its wild horses. We didn’t see any this trip.

The last three miles, crossing Jekyll Sound, which opens out to the ocean, were a bit bumpy. The wind was coming in off the ocean, and the tide was going out in the opposite direction, causing 3-4 foot waves that were pretty close together. Because we were crossing the sound, the waves were hitting us directly on the side for a bit, which caused some rocking. It was pretty close to high tide, so we cut across a shoal, shortening the distance, and were able to turn early so that the waves were hitting the back of the boat. We’ve had much worse crossings here!

Once we were tied up at Jekyll, we rinsed down the boat to get the salt spray off and relaxed for a bit before walking across the island (about a mile) to “downtown” (4 buildings) to Wee Pub Beach, a cute Irish Pub for dinner. On our way, we passed a Spoon Bill that was looking for tasty bits in the mud.

We had to wait for our table so we walked to the beach to check out how big the waves were. It looked pretty calm! The Wee Pub Beach has a tradition, if you empty a bottle of Jameson’s Irish Whisky, they put your name on it and put it up on shelves that line the entire restaurant! I’ll get mine someday!

On the walk back to the boat, we passed a Magnolia tree that was just starting to bloom. We picked a bud and took it back to the boat.

One of our favorite things about Jekyll is the great sunsets, and we were not disappointed!

Tomorrow we head to a new stop for us, Sunbury Crab Company Restaurant and Dock, in Midway, Georgia.

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Day 3 – Wednesday, April 30th, 2025 – To: Midway, GA
Sunbury Crab Company Restaurant & Dock

• From: Jekyll Island, GA
• To: Midway, GA
  Sunbury Crab Company
• Start Time: 08:45 am
• Dock Time: 1:30 pm
• Time Underway: 4h 45m
• Miles Traveled: 62.4 NM (72 statute miles)
• Average Speed: 12.9 knots (15 mph)
• Draw Bridges Opened: 0 Locks: 0
• Weather: 76° – Sunny
• Winds: 12 Knots – Waves: None

We left Jekyll just before 9:00 to let the tide come up a bit. Jekyll Creek, which connects Jekyll Island with Saint Simmons Sound, is notorious for being very shallow at low tide. We’ve come through with less than 6″ of water under the boat, so waiting for the tide to come up is highly recommended. Just as we were exiting Jekyll Creek, we saw one of the giant car-carrying ships coming into Brunswick. They are always amazing to see because of the sheer size.

We crossed Saint Simmons Sound and entered the Georgia marshlands. Most of the ICW in Georgia is just an interconnected series of creeks and bays, mostly surrounded by miles of open marsh grass. In the spring, the Horse Flies come out of the marsh in force, buzzing around in the 1,000s! They are mostly just annoying, buzzing around your head. They don’t bite often, but when they do, it hurts and leaves a welt!

One of our fellow Loopers suggested putting fake plastic dragonflies around you on the boat. We ordered some before we left and put them up around our flybridge. At first, we thought they were working, but after an hour or so, we had 30-40 horseflies buzzing around us, occasionally landing on us. They didn’t seem to care about our plastic dragonflies. So, I pulled out the flyswatter and started smacking! While taking out three or four flies in a single blow was satisfying, it was a losing battle. The more we swatted, the more seemed to show up! By the time we reached Sunbury Crab Company, our stop for the night, we had a pile of dead flies on the floor, which didn’t count the ones that blew overboard.

Sunbury Crab Company in Midway, Georgia, is an old fishing dock that served fresh boiled crabs on the side. Now, there is no longer a fishing fleet there, and they have turned it into a very popular restaurant. You have to call several days ahead for reservations to get in. It is very rustic and in a quite rural location. We usually stay just a few miles away at Kilkenny Marina, but we have heard so much about Sunbury and how good the food is that we decided to try it. It more than lived up to expectations!

We shared an ahi-tuna appetizer. Then for dinner, Brenda had grilled shrimp and their signature garlic mashed potatoes. I had the seafood boil, a mix of Crab, Oysters, Shrimp, Sausage, and Corn. Both dinners were amazing!

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Day 4 – Thursday, May 1st, 2025 – To: Beaufort, SC
Safe Harbor Beaufort

• From: Midway, GA
• To: Beaufort,SC – Safe Harbor Beaufort
• Start Time: 7:18 am
• Dock Time: 3:00 pm
• Time Underway: 7h 11 m
• Miles Traveled: 79.7 NM (92 statute miles)
• Average Speed: 11.1 knots (12.8 mph)
• Draw Bridges Opened: 0 Locks: 0
• Weather: 64°-75° – Clouds
• Winds: 0-16 mph – Waves: 0-3 ft

Our day on Thursday was a long one with 92 miles to travel. We took off from Sunbury Crab Company just after sunrise. There was still mist on the marshes. On our way out of the channel, our charts said that there was 30 to 35 feet of depth, but about 10 minutes out, our depth alarm went off, and a few seconds later, we felt the boat hit bottom. Fortunately, it was soft mud, and the shoal was not very large, so we pretty much just pushed through it. No damage. I checked, and the last time that channel had been sounded was in 2012! The marina gave us a map with the path marked, and we had strayed from that. Lesson learned! Respect local knowledge!

About 90 minutes out, we reached Hells Gate, a cutoff between two bays that is another notoriously shallow section. We were halfway up the tide, and it had recently been dredged. We didn’t see anything less than 10 feet of water, and it was a smooth passage. We got lucky, and there was another boat just in front of us going through, so we just kept our distance, followed them, and watched for any sudden stops.

Aside from another day of swatting horse flies, it was an uneventful cruise. We stopped in Thunderbolt, Georgia, to take on fuel. Then crossed the Savannah River into South Carolina. After passing Hilton Head, the wind picked up, and our trip up the Beaufort ship channel was a bit bouncy with 3-foot swells. We arrived at Safe Harbor Beaufort at 3:00. The wind was still blowing pretty hard, and the tide was starting to go out, so docking was tricky, but we got tied up safely.

This was our first visit to Beaufort, and the marina is right next to downtown, so once we got settled, we took a walk to check it out. Beaufort is an old seafaring and fishing town, first settled by the Spanish back in the 1600s. It has the largest natural deep-water port south of New York.

Downtown is primarily Bay Street, about four blocks long and lined with buildings from the early 1900s. Most of downtown was burned in a fire in 1907 and was replaced after that. Just off the main drag, there are some older classical southern structures dating back to before the Civil War.

We found the town to be quite beautiful with many shops and restaurants, and most of the waterfront lined with a park and the marina.

We stopped at “Q on Bay”, a BBQ joint and had some excellent Burnt Pork Ends, then walked down the street to Hearth Wood Fired Pizza for dinner. We sat at the “Pizza Bar” right in front of the large wood fired pizza oven and were able to watch the chefs spin the pizzas and bake them in the 900° oven. The pizza was excellent!

After dinner, we walked back to the marina. While we were downtown, the tide had gone out, and we had to hold tightly to the railings as we walked down the very steep ramp.

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Day 5 – Friday, May 2nd, 2025 – St John’s Island, SC (Charleston)
St John’s Yacht Harbor

• From: Beaufort, SC
• To: St John’s Island, SC – St John’s Marina
• Start Time: 8:45 am
• Dock Time: 2:15 pm
• Time Underway: 5 h 26 m
• Miles Traveled: 55.4 NM (64 statute miles)
• Average Speed: 10.2 knots (12 mph)
• Draw Bridges Opened: 0 Locks: 0
• Weather: 73°-78° – Partly Cloudy
• Winds: 4-14 mph – Waves: 0-1 ft, Light Chop

The route on the ICW from Beaufort to Charleston is a mix of long, wide, fairly deep rivers and narrow, tight creeks. We’ve cruised the area between Palm Coast and Murrells Inlet, South Carolina (Myrtle Beach area) many times, so there isn’t much new except for the occasional new stop. Today’s trip from Beaufort to St John’s Island (just south of Charleston) was just us making miles to get to our old home port, Wacca Wache Marina.

When we left Beaufort, both the current and the wind were pushing us hard against the dock. We were in a pretty tight space between two boats, with the boat ahead of us quite large. We had to struggle to get off the dock, and it was very tight getting out past the boat in front of us. We made it with barely an inch to spare. Brenda says she heard a tap on our rail. Too close for comfort!

Once we got into the channel and our heart rates returned to normal, we were able to enjoy a great airshow from the Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station. Several groups of jets were practicing close-quarters flying and practice landings. The ICW goes right past the end of the runway, so we had jets flying right over us. Very Cool!

We passed the Stevens’ Towing Company Ship Yard about halfway to Charleston. This is a large shipyard, and there are always some interesting vessels to see as you cruise past. One of the regular fixtures is the American Waterways Wind Orchestra Barge. The American Wind Symphony Orchestra used this custom-made barge that opened to a performance stage to bring concerts to waterfronts all along the East Coast. It is now mothballed at Steven’s. There were also a tall ship, a paddle steamer, a navy landing craft, and several tugboats in the yard being repaired.

We pulled into St. John’s Yacht Harbor just after 2:00. We like St. John’s because it’s easy to get into (if it is slack tide), and much less expensive than the marinas in downtown Charleston. It’s an easy day from there to Murrells Inlet, our old home. The downside to St John’s is that there is nothing nearby. They do have a courtesy car if you need to do some shopping, but it has to be back by 5:00, so it’s not suitable for going out to eat.

We stayed on the boat and we worked on the blog until 5:00, when we had an HOA video meeting. Then we had some leftover pizza and a salad from last night for dinner.

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Day 6 – Saturday, May 4th, 2025 – Murrells Inlet, SC
Wacca Wache Marina

• From: St Johns Island, SC (Charleston)
• To: Murrells Inlet, SC – Wacca Wache Marina
• Start Time: 8:30 am
• Dock Time: 3:30 pm
• Time Underway: 6 h 26 m
• Miles Traveled: 77 NM (89 statute miles)
• Average Speed: 12.0 knots (13.8 mph)
• Draw Bridges Opened: 0 Locks: 0
• Weather: 73°-75° – Cloudy
• Winds: 7-20 mph – Waves: 0-1 ft

Saturday was another long day with 77 miles to run. The first mile would take us through Elliott Cut, a man-made channel between the Stono River and the Ashley River, which forms Charleston Harbor. It isn’t very long, only about 1/4 mile, but it is quite narrow with rocks on both sides. When the tide changes, the current through the cut reaches up to seven miles per hour, and going through it can be a bit squirrely.

We left right at low tide so there would be no current going through. Just as we exited the cut, a large barge came around the corner toward the cut and surprised us! Usually, the barge captains will make a radio call before entering the cut because there is not enough room for boats to pass. We were lucky we were not in the middle when he arrived! I pulled the boat over to the side of the channel so that he could swing wide to line up with the cut, and we waited until he went past.

After Elliott Cut, we entered Charleston Harbor and had a good four-mile crossing with a view of downtown and the Ravenel Bridge. On the opposite side of the harbor, you re-enter the ICW, which runs up a river between Sullivan Island and Isle of Palms on the East and Goat Island on the West. This area is heavily built up on both sides and is a seven-mile-long “slow zone” that is heavily enforced. It takes about an hour to go through this section, as you can only go about six mph for most of it.

Once past the Isle of Palms, the area along both sides of the ICW is open marsh grass that used to be mostly rice fields before the Civil War. Some of the areas you pass are being re-diked to restore some of the rice fields. You can buy Carolina Rice in many of the local stores.

Being a nice Saturday, boat traffic was heavy both with larger boats traveling North for the summer and the many smaller boats out for the day, so there was a lot of speed-up, slow-down, speed-up, slow-down as we passed other boats.

All in all, we made good time and reached Winyah Bay near Georgetown, SC, around 1:30. As you exit the ICW channel into the Bay, there is the only floating swing bridge on the ICW. It connects the mainland with Yawkey Island (named after the family that formerly owned the Boston Red Sox). It was their summer getaway. However, they donated it to the state, and it is now a protected wildlife sanctuary. There are a few research stations on the island, and they use the bridge to go back and forth.

Winyah Bay is the end of the Waccamaw River and is our old stomping ground, so once we turned into the bay, the boat pretty much knew its way back home! Both the bay and the river are wide and deep, so we were able to run fast for the rest of the way to Wacca Wache Marina in Murrells Inlet, where we used to live before moving to Florida. The only slowdown (aside from a few other boats) was for Sandy Island, a Gullah Geechee community (descendants of freed slaves) that lives on the island in the middle of the Waccamaw River. The community is quite large, and they have South Carolina’s only school boat that brings the kids to school on the other side of the river.

At 2:30 we rounded the final bend, and Wacca Wache was in sight. The staff remembered us and we got a great welcome home. We stopped first at the fuel dock and filled up (Wacca Wache has the lowest fuel prices in North and South Carolina) and emptied our black water tanks. We had a good catch up with the staff before moving the boat into the marina and docking in a slip.

We washed down the boat, which was caked with salt spray, then got cleaned up and went into the restaurant at the marina for a docking beer and a snack, which turned into dinner. In the evening, we stopped by “The Journey” to visit with Martin and Kay, some looper friends who are just starting their first Great Loop adventure.

We will stay in Murrells Inlet until Wednesday to visit with some friends in the area.

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Recap of the week

All in all, it’s been a great first week! We’ve traveled 434 miles in reasonably good weather. The boat has been performing very well, and we’ve only had one minor mechanical issue with our trim tabs. The fix will either be moderately expensive, a $250 controller, or very expensive, $1,000 for a hydraulic ram and a haul-out as the part is underwater. I ordered the controller, which I will put in on Sunday. Then, we will see!

As mentioned, we plan to post about once a week, usually on Monday. Watch for the next update! You can always see where we are in real time on our website KissedSomeFrogs.com by clicking on the “Our LIVE position on NEBO” link, and the “Trip Maps, Logs & Blogs” link where you can see our logbook and trip map.

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Thanks For Visiting! – Tom & Brenda