mvalwayshome

We were up at first light.  This might look like yesterday’s sunrise, but it truly is today’s.  Another gorgeous day for boating!

 

The three Looper crews we met were off the dock ahead of us at first light.  Today is a 70 mile day from Beaufort, SC to Charleston, SC.  At least 7 – 8 hours on the water way.  We were primed and ready to go!

 

First view from Always Home this morning is the tree lined waterway.  I almost didn’t see the tree for all the spanish moss hanging down from it.  Wow.  Can the moss kill the tree?? I don’t see much green.

 

Ladys Island Swing Bridge was open for the sail boat going south.  We took the opportunity to go through it at the same time.  We didn’t need to since it has a 30ft clearance.  We just enjoy watching the mechanics of these pivoting bridges.

 

 

Clear skies in the forecast.  Beautiful!  We had to get our sunglasses on for the glare it was so bright!  After that rough first night of ‘bouncy-bouncy’ we have had smooth water.

 

Looks like an Osprey nest on this ICW marker.  The marker doesn’t move and a safe place to raise a few young ones.  We didn’t see anyone around.  OR they were ducking down?!  Actually, I am surprised I haven’t seen more wild life along the way.  (psst…if you look forward to the left you will see one of the boats we are following today..)

 

We do have a several challenges today.  Again, scary sounding in that the we were forewarned to take these challenges at mid-tide or better.  We are going to take these two challenges on a rising tide.  We are learning to read the tide tables and determine the best times for our transits.  Never a dull moment when moving a boat along the ICW!

You see the orange markers?  That is where the shoaling hazards have been indicated.  During low tide or very low water there is an opportunity to scrape the gunk off the bottom of your boat.  We just had our bottom cleaned so we didn’t really need to test the depth.

Here is what I saw as Wayne was ready to pass Green marker 85 down our starboard side.  Going a bit wide of the green marker since it was a bit shallow for the boat up ahead.  Doesn’t look that scary, does it?  It is far more narrow than the water we just left.  Fingers crossed and we won’t see less than 6 ft of water!!

As always, I stand behind Wayne reading out the depths from our depth finder as he expertly drives the boat trying to both maintain depth, follow the magenta line or not, and keep the boat midpoint between both shores.  No pictures… I was busy.  😉   The Loopers ahead were communicating on the VHF radio their depths and warnings as they guided us through these narrow parts.

The next challenge doesn’t look too bad.

 

As we turn the corner, you can see the Fenwick Cut on the left.

You can see all the way across the cut!  It isn’t that long.  Aren’t humans marvelous to put a bi-pass here so we don’t have to travel around this area.  Marvelous.

 

Our third challenge is Watts Cut:

 

You can see the boats ahead that we were following.  Wonderful crews.  Helping newbies like us.

 

We made it through, no problems.  Or not that I can remember.  hahaha  Stress makes the memory disappear when everything calms down.  I was able to relax and enjoy a bit of lunch.  Yes.  I did give Wayne a break.  He rested his eyes as I drove the boat through deep wide waters.  I think I took these next few photos while I was driving.  Don’t tell Wayne.  Our view as we were motoring up the North Edisto River.

 

 

More views of the homes along the river.  Can’t see them?  We can’t either in some cases.  Their docks are jutted out from the mainland quite a distance.  I bet they don’t come out to the end often.  Looks like almost a 1/2 mile long!

 

Looks like a busy marina or boat works.  Looks like a barge or two stopping in for work.

 

The last challenge for the day is going through Elliot Cut on the outside of Charleston Harbor.  Of course, we found lots of boaters on the water.  It was Sunday, after all.  We had to slow down to a crawl so that we wouldn’t rock these folks out of their dinghies.

 

The challenge to Elliot Cut is the current.  All that water from Stono River on the ICW running through the narrow channel to Ashley River in Charleston Harbor.

The unexpectant challenge was all the extra boaters in the water!

 

We didn’t see more than than 3 boats ahead all day.  Now there are people, boats, and more boats everywhere!!

Into Ashley River and finding our way to the marina.  I am busy with the binoculars scouting for boating traffic, commercial traffic, and more humans!

 

We are docked on the inside of the long dock.

 

Opposite us is the “Research Vessel” Dan Moore.  Some of you were wondering why I label our blog MVAlwaysHome.  MV = Motor Vessel.  SV = Sailing Vessel and now I have shown you a RV = Research Vessel.  Not to be confused with Recreational Vehicle.

Apparently, it is no longer a “research vessel”.  It was purchased last year from Cape Fear Community College and is now a salvage vessel and treasure hunter.  We didn’t see any gold doubloons hanging around on the deck.  Maybe next time.

By the time we were settled, we indeed had a 8.5 hour day.  The Docks Master’s check-in location is a small building at the end of the dock. We didn’t need to walk far to just check in.  It is again some distance to land.  We saw several folks with bicycles going from land to their boat.  The marina is that big.  Wow!!

Tomorrow morning the wind should be less than 5mph.  Should be an easy departure.  We are exhausted.  Time for a quick dinner and bed.  I think we were in bed before sunset.

We woke up to a grand morning!!  Sunshine and cool breezes.

When you are out on the outside dock, you can get some great views.  A beautiful sunrise.

 

We borrowed the marina courtesy car and did a quick trip to the local Publix to stock up on the perishables.  Turns out they have more than one courtesy vehicle.  Ours was a dodge truck.  Worked like a charm!!  Then we drove around the neighborhood with historical houses.  I did get a brief picture as we rolled by.  The historical houses are mixed in with not-so-historical everyday abodes.  Fascinating.

I will not swear that any of these are “THE” historical houses mentioned in the brochures.  There is no signage out front.

BUT, I love the colors.  If any of you readers are from Arizona, you know that shades of brown are almost always required in most subdivisions in the Phoenix area.  To see color is a joy.  Really.  Just a little thing.

The marina has some gorgeous old trees in front of their building.

 

An interesting marina aspect is the floating small boat platforms.  That makes sense since the tides go up and down over 5 feet at least twice a day.  This has to be cheaper than building a structure to lift the boats up over the tides.  This is the first time we have seen these.  It looks like there is a winch in the front which must aid the boater in pulling their boat up onto the platform.

 

We had made a reservation to stay here because they had the 3 for 2 deal.  Stay 2 nights and get the 3rd night free.  The weather was gorgeous.  Why not?

Then we happened to meet up with the Loopers again.  They mentioned, again, that we need to be moving north to make it to Norfolk in a timely manner.  Why waste a perfectly gorgeous day on the water sitting around at the marina?   They are so correct!  So, we are off in the morning.

 

Red sky in the morning means??  I don’t think so.  Not today, sailor!!  We are on our way to Port Royal Landing Marina in Beaufort, SC.  The rain has passed and it is time to go.

 

We said our goodbyes and thanks for the donuts!  We even got them this morning just as we were getting the boat ready to travel.  How awesome is that?

From the waterway you can see Bonaventure Cemetery… noted for historical significance and the trees.  Yes, a movie or two have been shot at the cemetery.  A few famous people have been buried there.  No one I know.   It is the TREES that capture most people’s eye.  It is over 150 acres and you can still petition to be buried there.  The trees are wonderful!

The boat ahead of us on the end of the dock is headed in our direction!  They mentioned they were going to have to wait for the swing bridge.  What swing bridge??  I hadn’t read anything about a bridge that we had to wait for.  Oh…they have tall antennas and needed more than 30 ft.  This swing bridge has a height of 21 feet.  We can get under that!  No need for us to wait.  Besides, the signage said no opening between 7am – 9am for rush hour traffic.  Hmmm…. it is opening at the half hour?  Hmmmm what day is today?  Ahhhh.  Sunday!!  No wonder it is opening.  No rush hour!  haha  I really need to look at a calendar more often than I do.

 

We decided to follow the boat through Field’s Cut.  The challenge for the day.  It seems there are at least one challenge per day.  Sometimes two.  Today, should be ok.  All the reports mention to sail through this cut at high tide or better.  Some folks have found less than 3.5 ft.  That just wouldn’t do for us with a draft of 4.5 ft.   High tide was just at 7:30am.  We were right on time!!

Part of the challenge is that you are leaving deep wide rivers for small man-made looking canals.  These canals or cuts fill with sediment rather easily from the larger rivers.  These areas are considered “known” hazardous areas to the local folk.  Unaware transient boaters sometimes get caught and hit bottom.  The good news is that the bottom is sandy and if they wait long enough the tide will change and help them lift the boat off the bottom.

There were a couple of shallow spots but with me reading out the depths to Wayne so he could concentrate on driving the boat, we had plenty of water.

Nice looking houses along the water front.  The grasses and marsh area in front of the house really gives it character.

 

Just how long were we in Georgia?  Where is that calendar?  We crossed over into South Carolina in the early morning.  Right around here…

 

We motored through winding rivers.  I got a picture of us following this trawler.

Same trawler….flatter land… more marsh…  You can see that the waterway is winding around.  It looks a lot closer than it is, water-wise.

 

Approaching Hilton Head Island meant finding more boats in the water.  Lots of little sail boats playing in the wind.  A few “go fast boats” to keep our eye on as they zipped past us far too fast.

 

And you did see that bridge in the picture?  People are always near bridges as I have noted.

On the other side of this bridge are what my Father used to call “Land Gobblers”.  Where ever you see these huge electrical towers, the land around them is cut away, cleaned out, grabbed by the monster!!  They grab the land and sea, apparently!!  Notice this gobbling the next road trip you take.  You’ll see.

 

As we rounded the bend or two from Hilton Head, I noticed this land of small buildings.  It looked unusual.  Maybe a prison?  A housing development.  Single level buildings surrounded by trees.   Maybe a college.  Just a different sort of groupings of buildings that I have seen before.

 

I got out the binoculars…. zero’d in on the tower.  It is labeled “We Make Marines”.  Parris Island.  The land of the Marine Builders!!   Now it makes sense!!

 

Easy day, relatively.   The wind kicked up a bit, but Wayne was able to get the boat fueled and docked with minimal problems.  We were put w-a-y out there on the end of the pier.  On the outside which meant we felt a bit more waves than anyone on the “inside”.  Our boat bounced up and down at least 2-3 ft for several hours until the wind died down and the boat traffic eased.  We even had a couple of fellow Loopers stop by and remark…. “Yep, the wind should die down soon!  Yep, about 7:30pm.  Too bad you couldn’t get an inside slip.”

Night fell to a calm sea and fast asleep.

We arrived at Thunderbolt with gray skies.  We expected rain all day Wednesday, April 29th.  And it was.  A perfect day to cover up with our warm blankets, read a book and take a nap.

Thunderbolt is known for delivering

To your boat every morning!!  For the last 40 years!!!   I was expecting a box of 4.  I was surprised with a box of 6 donuts!!

The simple joys in life are made with sugar!!

In between the grey skies and wetness, we were able to walk down the street and eat at the local bar & grill.  We read they had great hamburgers as well as the normal fair of seafood. This little guy looks like he is getting ready for the season at a local fishing dock.

 

Of course, next door to Thunderbolt Marina is “The Thunderbolt Marine”.

Look at the boats they haul out and work on!!

We were awestruck at the size of these guys.  We watched the red bottom one get moved to a side slip for another large boat to takes it place.  This is the place to get “hauled out” for sure!!  They can handle most anything, it appears.

Nothing else but rain drops and watching boats get moved around like they are play toys.  Fascinating.

We were up at first light.  Beautiful sunrise!!  Red sky in morning – sailors warning?  What is there for purple skies?

 

Since the dock master had us pretty close to one another, we didn’t have enough room to get out until the boat in front us left the dock.  Everyone helped push the first trawler away from the dock and into the current.  We were next to leave the dock.  A bit of help from fellow boaters and we made a clean departure.  We decided that for today’s challenge we would follow “Smiles”  since they have loads of experience going through the shallow waters ahead.

 

Cloudy all day with chance of showers in the later afternoon.  Today’s journey is only 33miles.  A perfect distance to find the marina and get settled before the cold front moves in.

Our challenges for today is to go through “Hell Gate” and “Skidaway Narrows”.  Again, everything we read told us to take “Hell Gate” at mid-tide or better.  The high tide for today was at 5:30am.  We were calculating that by the time we left the Kilkenny and get to “Hell Gate” it would be at mid-tide… a falling tide… but still at mid-tide.   You can see the water depth before and after “Hell Gate” is 10 -20 feet.  But within “Hell Gate” it was to drop to 6 – 7 ft at mid-tide or better.  At low tide, folks have reported less than 3 ft in some places.

 

I stood behind Wayne watching our depth finder and recited the depths as we followed the trawler ahead of us.  Taking it slow, we saw 7-8 ft water and had no problem traversing this area.  Thanks to all the folks who warned us about this area!

Skidaway Narrows wasn’t as daunting, just lots of curves.  As you can imagine, around every curve is a potential shoaling area where the water isn’t as deep.  Again, I stood behind Wayne and recited the depths so we wouldn’t get grounded.

 

Lots of low grass and marsh seen today.

 

 

Welcome to Thunderbolt Marina where we will be for 3 nights…