Georgia’s ICW has a mixed reputation that often puts cruisers off. Join us as we explore beaches, sandbars, quiet anchorages, and stunning natural areas.
Falling in Love with Cruising Georgia’s ICW
For years, we avoided traveling the ICW through Georgia.
“They” said Georgia was riddled with shoals, bugs, and lacked cell coverage and land access for dog walks.
“They” said we’d be driven mad by moseying along the turning rivers and fighting the 2-knot current and 6-foot tides.
So we simply made the offshore jump from Charleston, SC to St. Mary’s Inlet on the Florida / Georgia border. This is an easy 24-hour trip, makes a great overnight, skips Georgia’s ICW, and got us to Florida in record time. What’s not to love?
After many years of lucking out with good offshore weather, we got unlucky with offshore weather and decided to brave the winding rivers, tidal range, currents, and unknowns of Georgia.
But we were in for a pleasant surprise.
Instead of finding all of those advertised horrors, we discovered that we really liked cruising Georgia.
#1 Exploring Cumberland Island, Georgia
Cumberland Island is not just the jewel of Georgia’s ICW, but a highlight of the entire trip.
This National Seashore features wildlife, mansions, ruins, live oaks, stunning beaches, and millennia of history. Cumberland Island is only accessible by boat, so its a quiet sanctuary.
There are two anchorages and several park dinghy docks for boaters to use. Take your bike, walk the trails, or visit the deserted beach.
#2 Dredged ICW Channels
The area around Jekyll Island is still pretty dodgy and we waited for a higher tide to transit. During low tide, depths are as little as 4.5 feet. We draw 5 feet and need a rising tide to keep the boat floating through this spot. But with a 6-foot tidal range, you can have 10.5 feet at high tide – what a difference!
Back in the day, there were several more challenging spots to watch the tides for.
Waiting for tides while organizing full-time jobs and wanting to avoid motoring against currents is a bit of a pain in the neck.
The good news is, most of Georgia’s ICW has been recently dredged. So, we didn’t have to worry about running aground in the ominously named “Hell’s Gate”. It’s names like that that really put people off!
#3 Relishing Quiet Anchorages along Georgia’s ICW
There’s something incredibly remote and quiet about Georgia’s ICW.
We found many beautiful anchorages, all to ourselves. We tucked into a river to visit Fort Frederica, and loved our sandbar anchorage so much we stayed an extra few days.
Finally, we spent a magical night at St. Catherine’s Island, watching dolphins and walking the deserted beach.
#4 Super-Fast Internet Along the ICW
We both work full-time and need to connect to cell data to access the internet.
I was pretty nervous that these deserted anchorages would be too deserted, but we had super-fast internet the whole journey.
Part of this was thanks to our excellent mast-mounted cellular booster, but it was also partly due to it just not being as bad as some people said. Both Verizon and AT&T seemed to have very good coverage. Zoom-zoom!
#5 Sandbars and Beaches
Since Georgia has a reputation for impenetrable grassy marshes, we were overjoyed to find beaches and sandbars to walk on. Heaven!
Wildlife along Georgia’s ICW
Rural coastal Georgia is dramatically different from busy, built-up Florida. Outside of St. Simon’s, Jekyll Island, and Savannah, you simply won’t see any land-side structures. No towering condos, no mega-mansions, and no glitzy waterfront shopping centers.
Instead, the stars of the show are the wildlife. We had dolphins join us in each anchorage and even saw a manatee moseying along.
#7 Sweet Georgia Waterfront Towns
We were enjoying the peace and quiet on journeys through Georgia, but if you want coffee shops and restaurants, you can break up the trip in several spots. You’ll find shops and restaurants in St. Simon’s, Brunswick, Jekyll Island, and historic Savannah.
Georgia’s On My Mind
In Spring 2020, we traveled every mile of GA’s coast. Our last 2021 Georgia stop was St Catherine’s Island. Offshore weather was favorable, and we made the jump from St. Catherine’s to Winyah Bay, SC. But Georgia is still on my mind.
Check out my article about cruising the ICW for more inspiration.
Is cruising Georgia’s ICW really that bad? Check out Abroad Reach Travel’s take.
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