April 24, 2018 - April 27, 2018
We left Beaufort at 10:00 am so we would hit the trouble spots of the day at mid or rising tide. It was chilly but sunny and the trip was going so well that we decided to continue past our original planned anchorage and stopped in Charleston Harbor at about 7:30 pm (another very long day). Along the way we noticed that some friends of ours, Prue and Bert on s/v Exuberant, were behind us. We chatted a bit over the radio and wound up in the same anchorage for the night.
We left Charleston at 7:30 am and were pushed along so swiftly by the incoming tide that we made it to the Ben Sawyer Bridge 45 minutes before its opening at 9:00 am. Bob just circled around in front of the bridge until it opened. Just below Isle of Palms there is an ocean inlet north of Sullivan’s Island that caused shoaling well into the ICW channel. Without any beeping of the depth sounder we hit the sandbar hard and were aground there for almost three hours waiting for the tide to come in. We had lunch while waiting and were on our way again by 12:30. This interruption in the schedule caused us to alter our plan for the day. Bob took 10 miles off the trip and we anchored at about 7:30 just before sunset. It was another long day. My new found skill at making various types of fruit daiquiris came in handy to take the edge off our stress. Just saying - I think I like our Bahamian lifestyle better than traveling the ICW.
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| Which do you prefer? This... |
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| ...or this? |
On Thursday we left our peaceful anchorage at sunrise headed for Barefoot landing Marina in the middle of the rock pile (a section of the ICW in order to form the channel it had to be blasted out due to the solid rock bottom). One unexpected treat of the day was witnessing a Blue Angels air show as we traveled. Boy those planes are loud! We passed a section of palatial waterfront homes in Myrtle Beach and were amazed at the size of the homes and the splendor of the terracing, landscaping, and infinity pools.
After 10.5 hours of motoring we docked at 5:30 pm and I fixed a delicious stir fry type meal using our available meat and veggies. Sometimes you have to be creative with the provisions you have when on a journey like this.
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| One of the houses we passed |
After 10.5 hours of motoring we docked at 5:30 pm and I fixed a delicious stir fry type meal using our available meat and veggies. Sometimes you have to be creative with the provisions you have when on a journey like this.
On Friday we waited until 10:00 am to leave the marina to take advantage of high tides in some trouble spots ahead. We docked at Ocean Isle Marina just below the most treacherous inlets in North Carolina in the early afternoon. Bob’s thinking was that we could pass by the inlets at high tide and be fresh for facing the challenge. During Friday's trip the auto pilot decided to not work. Hopefully, Bob can trouble shoot and fix the problem. Hand steering all the way home will be difficult.
I’ll let you know in my next blog how that goes.
Thank you for reading my blog.
