Navigating Georgia

Posted: November 10, 8:50 am | (permalink) | (0 comments)

Navigating through Georgia is like a math problem. Tides can be 8 feet or more. There are some stretches of the waterway that are very shallow, or nearly dry at low tide. The Army Corps of Engineers, who maintains the waterway for navigation, doesn’t dredge those areas; they just tell you to coordinate your travel times carefully with the tide, to arrive at those areas at or near high tide so there is enough water depth to cross them. Nothing in the Chesapeake has prepared us for this – we only have tides of about a foot near Annapolis – negligible. In addition to timing the tides, we also need to think about current and predicted weather and the travel speed of our boat, and choosing a good anchorage … and, oh, yeah, “good” includes shelter from the winds, and depth, this is a pleasure trip so scenery is nice if we can arrange it, and one more thing -- it would be convenient to reach the anchorage before midnight. So let me revise my opening statement: Navigating through Georgia is like a math problem in simultaneous equations with multiple variables. More than a bit daunting at first. I remember following friend James’ lead the first time we navigated this area 2 years ago, wondering if we’d ever be able to figure this out for ourselves. Now I find it just a rather fun brain-teaser puzzle. Okay, maybe you don’t agree with my idea of “fun” but I minored in math in college, so it’s fun for me!