Things to Do on the Water

A view from the Cooper River along Waterfront Park shows part of Charleston's historic district and one of the church spires that gives the city its distinctive skyline.

It's hard to know where to begin here. While the harbor itself is relatively small (less than two miles wide by three miles long), it is fed by three large rivers that can each be cruised for many miles upstream, and the surrounding waterways feature many more miles of creeks and swamps that can be easily navigated in a trailerable boat. Within the harbor, you are in the shadow of a large city and major commercial port but, if you travel just a few miles up the ICW to the northeast or down the Stono River to the southwest, you will find yourself floating in wild marshland as far as the eye can see. Throw the sailing and fishing opportunities of the Atlantic Ocean into the mix and, if you find yourself getting bored on a boat in the Charleston area, you probably just aren't cut out to be a boater.

You can cruise up the Wando River for many miles, enjoying the scenic beauty with plenty of depth on all sides of you. Not far past the I-526 bridge, you can detour several miles up Nowell Creek for some quiet gunkholing or a peaceful overnight anchorage. Other creeks can be found nearby offering additional anchorage opportunities. Near the mouth of the Wando is Hobcaw Point, where you can follow Hobcaw Creek past the small private marina at the first bend to a number of excellent anchorages upstream. Nearby is a container ship loading facility where you can drift offshore and watch these giant vessels being loaded, one container at a time, by crane.

Round the corner near Drum Island and head up the Cooper River to see the working heart of the seaport. Here you will pass dock after dock of large commercial ships of every description until finally coming to another container ship facility at the port terminal. As always in areas trafficked by large commercial vessels, be prepared to move just outside of the shipping channel to allow them to pass unhindered. Once past the terminal, the shoreside will become less populated until you are once again in wild marshland with ample gunkholing and nature watching opportunities. You can travel many miles up the Cooper before meeting your first low bridge.

While we're on the subject of the Cooper River, Sabrina from Charleston Pirate Tours tells me that it is an excellent place to dive for fossils and pre-Columbian artifacts. The river is murky with limited visibility but, even so, Sabrina says she rarely comes back from a dive empty-handed. Scuba gear is a must for this type of diving and, if you don't carry your own tanks, there are several dive shops in the area that can help you find a charter. Sabrina recommends Charleston Scuba as a good local resource for equipment and information.

The Ashley River is more problematic, as it begins with a pair of very low (18- and 14-foot clearance respectively) bascule bridges at its mouth. I honestly can't say that I found anything on the Ashley River to be worthy of dealing with the hassle of crossing the bridges for a sailboat, but powerboats are free to motor on through and enjoy the river sights as far as they care to travel. At the base of the bridges you will find a mooring field and anchorage that is popular for larger boats. The anchorage is, however, exposed to river currents and wakes and any boat with a shallow enough keel to fit on a trailer can find better options just a few miles away.

Near the mouth of the Ashley River, you can pick up the Intracoastal Waterway at Wappoo creek. Once you safely navigate the 33-foot bascule bridge, it's clear sailing through the short Elliott Cut at the western end and on into the beautiful Stono River. You can continue straight from the Elliott Cut and travel up the ICW for as far as you'd care to go, but I'd recommend turning south and enjoying the scenic river passage and its many navigable creeks until just before the Stono kisses the Atlantic at Bird Key. To the west of the Stono River, the Kiawah River offers some excellent anchorage opportunities. The way east up the Folly River is blocked by a low fixed bridge, making it the end of the road for sailboats not willing to drop their masts but, before you reach it, there is a long network of navigable creeks to the north, making the area a gunkholer's paradise.

Once you return to Charleston Harbor (either by use of the Wappoo River or a fair-weather offshore passage from the Stono Inlet), you will find the northern end of the ICW behind Sullivans Island, just opposite Fort Sumter. Again, progress may be complicated by another bridge with a 31-foot clearance. Unlike the Ashley River, the road serviced by the bridge is not nearly as heavily trafficked as those in the city, making for a (hopefully) speedy opening. Beyond the bridge lie more wild wetlands, quiet anchorages, and the beautiful beaches of the Isle of Palms.

Morris Island, at the mouth of Charleston Harbor, is accessible only by private boat, making it as quiet and pristine of a place as you are likely to find. You can reach the island by working your way carefully southeast of Fort Sumter, staying nearer to Morris Island itself until you are in the shallow harbor behind the island. Keep an eye on your depth sounder at all times and do not attempt this excursion if the seastate in the harbor mouth is unsettled. Once you are safely behind the island, you can beach your boat or anchor close by (calculating the effects of the tide in advance, of course) and enjoy your own private island. Remnants of a Civil War Fort can still be found on the island as well as a pristine natural beach. Just offshore, at the southern tip, is the abandoned Old Charleston Lighthouse, which was well inland when originally constructed in 1876.

Finally, let's take a minute to discuss Fort Sumter. The fort is located at the mouth of the harbor entrance and is surrounded by water. The National Park Service claims that it can be visited by private boat and there is, in fact, a large T-shaped dock jutting out from the fort that is used by the frequent tour boats that shuttle tourists to and from the mainland. During my pre-cruise research, I contacted the park office and inquired as to how one would visit this man-made island by private boat and was told that you could tie up to the "second dock" (their words) and climb a ladder up to the fort. Upon my arrival, I found that there was no second dock at the fort, but it looks like you could tie a boat up inside the long pier of the single main dock safely out of way of the large tour boats. I would, however, not recommend this for any boat, much less a small trailerable one. There are often rough waves in this part of the harbor and the dock is completely unprotected from them. Using this dock risks damage to your boat and injury to you in trying to get ashore, as they were completely accurate in the claim that climbing a ladder from the water is necessary to get yourself to dock level. If Fort Sumter is on your vacation itinerary, the only practical way to get there is to purchase a boat ticket at one of the two docks running ferry service to the fort.

Launching <-Previous |  Next-> Facilities for Boaters