Exploring the Intracoastal Waterway: A Slowboater's Journey from Hilton Head to Charleston
- Chris Leigh-Jones
- May 19
- 4 min read
The Intracoastal Waterway stretches along the Eastern US seaboard from southern Florida to Chesapeake Bay. An alternative to simply steaming up the Atlantic coast, it offers a slower, scenic, and more retrospective route north, protected from the ocean but also bringing its own challenges. Our 30-hour, 96-NM adventure along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway delivered breathtaking vistas and quiet family moments as we piloted Vanguard from Shelter Cove, Hilton Head Island, to Charleston's Seabreeze Marina.

Day One: Hilton Head to Pine Landing
Departing Shelter Cove in the Broad Creek, we faced our first challenge < 1.3-meter clearance under our keel, cutting north of Buck Island, exiting Hilton Head into Calibogue Sound. Shaving an hour off the long way around, Vanguard's depth finder beeped a steady warning across the shallow passage. The Intracoastal is sometimes a challenge to navigate. It demands attention lest you discover the embrace of the ever-present pluff mud or sharper oyster bed. Aiding that, we set up a local tide map to remain visible on both helms within our TZ charting system. Grounding on a rising tide is no particular issue apart from mild embarrassment, but not a falling one.
The waterway opened dramatically as we passed Daufuskie Island to Stbd, revealing vast salt marsh panoramas stretching to the horizon. Unlike roadside views constrained by trees and buildings, these uninterrupted vistas showcased the true majesty of the Low Country ecosystem. Egrets, herons, spoonbills, osprey, and the occasional pelican flew alongside, dotting the spring-green spartina grass like living ornaments under massive 360-degree skies.
Approaching Beaufort, we slowed to navigate the Lady's Island Bridge with just 1.0 meters of air draft remaining unclaimed. We held our breath as our mast barely cleared the structure, then hailed the bridge controller on the VHF that we were clear! The historic waterfront slipped by on our port side—a view of antebellum homes and swaying palmettos accessible only to waterway travelers. Instead of stopping in town, we pushed onward as dolphins surfaced alongside us, seemingly escorting our vessel through the ACE Basin—the pristine confluence of the Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto Rivers. Our quiet but steady 7-knot pace allowed us to fully absorb the untouched beauty of this protected estuary. (Throughout this, the Furuno Autopilot proved to be a Godsend for all save the narrowest channels.)
By evening, we reached Pine Landing west of Edisto Island, anchoring in 3.5 meters to await favorable tides for tomorrow's shallow passage through Watts Cut. The anchor ball and mast light are on; maybe we're a little close to the passage, but in the knowledge that very little dare navigate these waters at night. As darkness fell, the sky erupted in a spectacle impossible to witness from land—an enormous canvas of indigo and purple, with stars reflecting on the still water, creating the illusion of floating in space.
"No televisions, no distractions," my wife whispered, forgetting that we did have a large TV connected to Starlink. I kept quiet as our son pointed excitedly at the shooting stars. It was now just us and "nature's theater."
Day Two: Pine Landing to Charleston
The ground was good holding for our large Rocna anchor but a mess on retrieval, bringing a huge volume of mud to be hosed off as it came up. Dawn found us calculating tides for Watts Cut, a notoriously shallow passage with only 0.9 meters under our keel. The narrow channel wound through marshlands and marine forests bordering west Edisto. We followed a pusher barge for part of the passage, assuming their commercial knowledge of these waters. They could also stir a considerable volume of mud off the sea bed. Eventually, parting company at Yonges Island near Ravanell before following the coast of Wadamalaw Island to the Stono River. (Wadamalaw, Coosaw, Daufuskie, Edisto, Kiawah - some of the many Islands hereabouts but also originally Native American tribal names adopted by the first English settlers for better or worse.)
The day unfolded in a rhythm impossible to experience by road—conversations flowed, and tea was consumed without the constant interruption of traffic lights and vehicles or the draw of an open laptop! Our last son, normally glued to devices, spent hours identifying wildlife or learning the helm. Sebrina photographed the changing landscapes, capturing moments of natural beauty unreachable by automobile.
By afternoon, Charleston's skyline appeared on the horizon with the twin towers of the Ravanel suspension bridge. Passing near our old home on Johns Island, a final challenge awaited: the Wappoo Cut Bridge with just 1.1 meters of clearance. We had timed our approach on a rising tide, heading into a 1KN tidal current, helping maintain steerage at our slow speed and sliding dead center span with a few feet to spare. A quick crash-stop practice beforehand and then a heart-stopping moment that had us all laughing with relief. It's a lifting bridge, but pushing one's luck is an option that's more fun - if you get away with it.
We rounded the Battery on Charleston Peninsula and eased into our slip at Seabreeze Marina as sunset painted the sky. The Intracoastal Waterway offered transportation and 30 hours of family connection amid ever-changing panoramas accessible only through slow travel on the water. While road travelers rushed between destinations, we experienced the quiet, eternal soul of the Low Country—one nautical mile at a time.
Seabreeze Marina - Charleston Harbor
In a happy coincidence, pulling into Seabreeze Marina, we bumped into old friends visiting from Murrells Inlet further up the coast. They brought their own rather different mode of transport: a large power cat with some 800 bhp of outboard on the transom. As God is my witness, I have never been so fast on the water; as the turbochargers spooled up, we hit 70mph in a still harbor traveling towards the container terminal at Wando—ten times our speed for the previous 30 hours.
Chris Leigh-Jones
Finally -
Our past week in Hilton Head was useful in other ways. I'd like to give a shout-out to two particular contractors:
Chris Collins of Carolina Marine and Machine (843-683-1570), Dccollins1@yahoo.com, for eliminating a particularly intractable electrical ground fault causing spurious alarms on our Port Engine.
John Torrens and Kristy Carr of Marine Tech Services, (843 842-2187), taught us to reconfigure the control settings of a Webasto Bluecool HVAC System. They shaved nearly 1.5kW!! off the steady-state power requirement and relieved stressed Victron inverters, all while keeping my wife, Sebrina, as cool as she is.
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