Survived Matthews Cut Mudflats to Georgetown (#112)

We started off early for our trip to Georgetown, SC.  Travels in South Carolina are not easy, and it's probably good that we are more experienced at the end of the trip to take on thes challenges. More and more, we are looking forward to the familiarity of traveling on the Chesapeake and the Potomac.

To travel in the Atlantic ICW, Bob's Tracks and the heat maps generated by the Army Corps of Engineers has been invaluable. EXCEPT - on this trip through the mudflats. We were told that this area could be 4.5 feet at low tide. We tried to get there as close to mid-tide as possible.

Bob takes you to the left and then immediately to the right. We had current coming in. If you don't get over fast enough from this detour, you will be grounded. We saw 0 and felt a little stuck, but then the current pushed us and we were back in 3ft of water under our boat.

When we arrived at the Harborwalk marina, we shared our harrowing experience only to find out others with deeper draft ran aground following Bob's tracks at low tide and had to wait 1.5 hours before the tide rose to be able to move forward.

Within 20 minutes of surviving the mudflats we saw this boat coming at us on plane. They got off plane, turned on their blue lights, and did a u-turn to follow us. We had company! Our first Coast Guard boarding. We had a 2024 inspection which allowed them to finish much quicker. With the USCG, was a Customs & Border Patrol agent who also came aboard.

Laura gave them a card with all the information to our website which also tracks us, and they seemed satisfied that we are not a threat. They also said we did not get a ticket because we are in compliance. What a day!

We had a four night stay at the Harborwalk Marina Georgetown. We needed the break after our trip through the mud-flats. And we absolutely loved this stop!

We enjoyed music from our boat.

We had a fabulous meal at the Alfresco Italian Bistro.

We learned about a famous boat that was built by EF Huttons wife and then used by the Coast Guard and now is available in Germany for excursions.

Our daughter's name is Grayce, and this is such a famous song. The history of it's origins from a preacher who was haunted by his time as a captain of a slave-trading vessel.

This was an interesting graphic of all the most recent hurricanes.

We came back to the Georgetown Corner Tavern many times during our stay.

Stay: 4 nights

Harborwalk Marina

Georgetown, SC

Pros: Protected spot within the basin, Great location, Great bathroom & laundry, small marina, great staff, walkable, history on every street

Cons: Can be hard to dock with current, traveling through the mudflats to get there

5 stars (We didn't want to leave!)