Hilton Head to St Augustine - Offshore newbie questions

ZZ13

ZZ13

Well-Known Member
Nov 25, 2009
5,328
Lady's Island, SC
Boat Info
2001 400 Sedan Bridge
Engines
Cummins 450 Diamond
I am planning to make my first ever offshore cruise in late December, going from Hilton Head to St. Augustine (got nothing but bad reviews from local boaters about the ICW through Georgia). Should I take a route where I daisy-chain the red/white safe water markers at all the inlets along the way? My thought was I could do this in case I wanted to duck back into the ICW due to weather/waves. Or should I just take the point to point straight line from the Hilton Head marker to the St. Augustine marker to make for the shortest trip? Looks like the only routes for this on Active Captain are the straight line run.

Also, what is the best way for me to get accurate sea states so that I can pick the best day for the ride? Is there a preferred app for this? Thanks.
 
ON the trip South with Capt. Higgins and the 650FLY, we went from Charleston Direct to the St. Augustine sea bouy. Following the coast would have added too much time to do that run in a day. But, there were 2 of us on the boat who could run the boat and navigate and the boat was very capable. Hilton Head is much close so your run wouldn't be as far off the coast in case you had to run for cover. My view would be to pick your days and make the run off shore.

As far as the sea state is concerned, watch the marine weather and use their info as a guide only. If the wind has any easterly component, you are likely to find bigger seas than forecast. How to be sure......you can call for any station off shore on the VHF and hope you get some response, but the only way is to run thru the inlet and turn south and see if you can handle it, if not, do a 180 and re-think your route for the day when you get back inside.
 
Bill, it's really a risk tolerance question. Will you have another person aboard that is capable of assisting? Personally, on my runs I ran point to point.

I did get beat up a bit from Jacksonville to Hilton Head taking 4'-6' on the nose. The forecast predicted 2'. But, I was running north. If I was running south it would have been fine.

Keep an eye on the forecast.

I can tell you when I went from Cape Fear to Charleston I was fighting a bit of current on my point to point line. Another vessel made pretty good time, even though the route was a little longer, hugging the coast more because he wasn't fighting the current. It wasn't as quick as my point to point, but it wasn't as much of a loss as I expected.

What are your thoughts?
 
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Made the trip a few weeks ago. Had spent the night at Harbor Town marina on the south side of Hilton Head, left went out to Calibogue Sound, then set a course for St. Augustine.

Couple of notes: Going out of Harbor Town through Calibogue sound, was very glad I had solicited local knowledge. When you are cutting across the sound, there is a marker you want to be very close to and at the same time be in alignment between a fore and aft landmark (would have to go back to notes on the specifics). I had come in through Port Royal and around the back side of Hilton Head because research had shown that first time entering on the south side was much more difficult.

Not sure if you have been to St Augustine - that inlet is interesting. No permanent markers so nothing will be on your charts (although I did hear a rumor that certain individuals might have access to latest Navionics chips that do show the temp markers). I would still do some more work, talking with the marina they said those temp buoys are getting moved around every few months.

I called TowBoat US, when I got near the outer marker, they gave me the phone number of the tow captain on duty for the inlet that day. He walked me through over the phone the issues. Marker spotting was 100% visual coming in, nothing on the plotter to help.

After I was docked at City Marina, they gave me a map of the temp buoy's for use on the way out. Unfortunately, it is on the boat in FL, so I cant email it to you. But I bet if you called them they could email you the file.

Weather I used the PassageMaker weather every day before going outside. For the few days I was using it, it proved to be a pretty good indication of wave direction, height, and wind. Of course the local mariners forecast.

I am thinking we left Hilton Head, was in St. Augustine in a pretty easy day. I do not think we would have made it in a day inside.

Let me know if I can help in any way.
 
Thanks all. I'll be leaving out Port Royal Sound and am very familiar with that channel. I just came back from St Augustine by car and checked out the marina and the bridge. Can I get under the bridge without it opening? I need 18 feet of clearance.
 
FootballFan said:
Made the trip a few weeks ago. Had spent the night at Harbor Town marina on the south side of Hilton Head, left went out to Calibogue Sound, then set a course for St. Augustine.

Couple of notes: Going out of Harbor Town through Calibogue sound, was very glad I had solicited local knowledge. When you are cutting across the sound, there is a marker you want to be very close to and at the same time be in alignment between a fore and aft landmark (would have to go back to notes on the specifics).
Click to expand...

Do you happen to know what marker number. According to the chart depths, it appears there is plenty of water. I'll be go thru that area in about 2 weeks.
 
cod, everything FF says rings true.... I also got BoatUs local knowledge before coming into Hilton Head. I believe the landmark is the lighthouse. But just call the local BoatUs and they will tell you.

BoatUS can help with St. Augustine inlet too. They actually emailed me a map representation on the inlet and how to proceed. BoatUS is right near Comachee Cove in St. Augustine.
 
My notes are on the boat down in Florida. Call harbor town marina, ask for the dock master, very nice lady. there is a marker to go for, and most important opposing shore landmarks to line up on.
 
ZZ13 said:
I am planning to make my first ever offshore cruise in late December, going from Hilton Head to St. Augustine (got nothing but bad reviews from local boaters about the ICW through Georgia). Should I take a route where I daisy-chain the red/white safe water markers at all the inlets along the way? My thought was I could do this in case I wanted to duck back into the ICW due to weather/waves. Or should I just take the point to point straight line from the Hilton Head marker to the St. Augustine marker to make for the shortest trip? Looks like the only routes for this on Active Captain are the straight line run.

Also, what is the best way for me to get accurate sea states so that I can pick the best day for the ride? Is there a preferred app for this? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Bill,

The reviews on GA AICW are consistent. For the most part it's best to avoid it, but some people say you should do it at least once (if you have the time or forced by the weather). You have learn about all trouble spots and plan accordingly (time the tides). For this reason most people take the straight run (point to point) to FL (St. Marys, Jax or St. Augustine).

When traveling in new waterways, I take conservative approach and stay as close to sea buoys as possible, unless I see good depths and no hazards closer to the next set of markers.

As for the sea state, you want to monitor the weather few days in advance (few days before your trip) to understand the pattern of the wind/seas speed and direction. Use multiple sources for the forecast, but for the most part between NOAA, Passageweather, WX on VHF, weatherundeground, etc. you should have very good idea on what to expect. Checking current sea buoy station is also good idea.

Latest report on St. Augustine inlet, the markers are in place, there's some shoaling on the south side, so hug the RED markers.
 
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Thanks Alex.

I charted the routes. Its 177 miles from my marina if I go direct from Port Royal sea buoy to St. Augustine sea buoy. Its 186 miles if I hug the coast going from sea buoy to sea buoy. So for only 9 miles difference I think I'll hug the coastline.
 
I was at the St Augustine Municipal Marina a few years back for a couple days, got to watch people trying to dock during the mid tide range, that water runs fast, saw 1 boat pushed against the finger docks, he could not get turned to back into the slip, the water will be broadside when trying to line up with the slip. I feel sure you can handle it, just thought I would let you know what to watch for.
 
midway said:
I was at the St Augustine Municipal Marina a few years back for a couple days, got to watch people trying to dock during the mid tide range, that water runs fast, saw 1 boat pushed against the finger docks, he could not get turned to back into the slip, the water will be broadside when trying to line up with the slip. I feel sure you can handle it, just thought I would let you know what to watch for.
Click to expand...
I ain't skerd...
 
How is planning going?

Are you getting close to the time for the trip? Keep us posted..
 
midway said:
I was at the St Augustine Municipal Marina a few years back for a couple days, got to watch people trying to dock during the mid tide range, that water runs fast, saw 1 boat pushed against the finger docks, he could not get turned to back into the slip, the water will be broadside when trying to line up with the slip. I feel sure you can handle it, just thought I would let you know what to watch for.
Click to expand...

There is a new seawall / dock on the north side of the marina that for the most part eliminates the issues you speak of here. In times of past, it was tough on max flow tide, but much better now.

Any charts that 'marks' the floating buoys should be thrown away and not used. These buoys are constantly moving and no chart program or paper can keep up with the amount of movements, unless of course they are the temporary type of charts which the marina will have that was spoke about above, they should be pretty close. This is a tricky inlet when rough. Be wary of north/northeast winds, they will churn up the stream much more than any other wind direction. East is not great but not nearly as bad as N/NE winds. N/NE above 10knot winds will churn it up, East winds above maybe 15knots will churn it up good enough to stay home. Of course, take this with a grain of salt as we fish in some nasty stuff and not great for cruising.

When we fish, we use windfinder.com to check sea states. They seem to be the best from what we have found in south FL anyway, not sure how accurate they are in St Augustine but give it a shot. NOAA is horribly wrong approx. 90% of the time. Give or take 10%.
 
FootballFan said:
How is planning going?

Are you getting close to the time for the trip? Keep us posted..
Click to expand...
Planning is good. Yes, getting close. Provisioning is almost complete. Did the last pre-trip shakedown cruise this morning after replacing both seawater pumps with SMX 1730 from Seaboard Marine. Topped off the tanks. 168 gallons of diesel at $2.84 a gallon. Bottom gets a good cleaning next week. Heading out between the 28th-31st depending on weather. Still got two nagging minor issues that I don't think I'll get to before the trip. Slight weeping of oil out of the oil supply flare fitting on top of the port turbo. And slight weeping of coolant out of the banjo fitting on the bottom of the starboard turbo.
 
Keep us posted, we are watching the weather as well during that time period.

Good luck on the prep and the trip.
 
Left at 0800 this morning. Offshore all the way to St Mary's inlet, then cut in and staying at Fernandina Harbor Marina for the night. Going to do the ICW in FL tomorrow through Jacksonville to St Augustine.
 
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