May 16, 2014

Don’t know why, but I’m up early this AM. It could be the cold air. The temperature plummeted to 54F. It wasn’t any warmer in the boat as we went to bed with all the ports and hatches open. I decided to take another hot shower and then get the boat ready for departure.

After the shower, I return to the boat, make coffee, start prepping the boat and wait for the Krispy Kreme doughnuts to arrive. They plunked down on the deck a little before 0700.  Donna is awake now and we share coffee and the “freebie” doughnuts. Freebies are a big hit with snowbirds.

About 0800 we are ready to shove off. I had setup extra fenders and a long spring line in preparation to back away from the pier, around two boats behind us and out of the marina. When we released the stern line, the boat started swinging away from the pier due to some strange current swirling about the floating dock. I jumped aboard and took advantage of the situation. Who wants to spring-off the dock if you don’t have too? We executed the departure flawlessly. Text book even. No damage to the boat, the dock, or other boats. Film at 11.

Back in the ICW, the current has us moving way to fast. We will arrive at Causton Bluff Bridge before its restricted period ends. We do a long loop back toward the marina to kill time and then proceed back to clear the bridge at 0900.

We reach the Savannah River and cross over in to South Carolina. Two states down, two more before we reach Virginia. We enter and pass through troublesome Fields Cut at high tide and continue on past Daufuskie Island. Brisk and gusty NW winds give us a chance to motor-sail as we enter Calibogue Sound. In fact, we had to reef the jib down and there were some gusts that showed us we needed to reef a little more.

The wind was giving us thoughts of stopping in Hilton Head, but we really wanted to make it to Beaufort. So, we continued on out into an angry Port Royal Sound. It didn’t take long to cross the sound, but it was a bumpy and wet ride. When we reached the Beaufort River it was a long haul northward past Paris Island before we reached calmer waters. Our goal was to reach Lady’s Island Marina. Unfortunately, we were going to be late for the 1600 opening of the Ladies Island Swing Bridge. That meant we would have to wait 2 hours for the next opening. Not wanting to wait, we contacted the Downtown Marina at Beaufort and were able to get a mooring for the evening.

 

 

We arrived at the mooring field, secured a ball, lowered the dinghy, went ashore and registered. Since we were already ashore, we decided to find a restaurant and have dinner. The lady in the marina office recommended we try Emily’s. So off we went, on foot, to find dinner. Turned out Emily’s was only about 2-1/2 blocks away. We split a huge 14oz steak and it was great. Teamed up with a salad, steamed broccoli, roasted potatoes, hot yeast rolls and a couple of brews and we were stuffed.

After dinner, we walked, window shopped the historic district and then headed back to the marina for a quick dinghy ride back to our floating home. All-in-all a very enjoyable day!

Started: 0815

Stopped: 1630
Distance traveled: 41 miles
Location: A mooring at Downtown Marina, Beaufort, SC, MM 536