Making Time

We've been out of internet range so we haven't posted in a while.

We walked to a grocery story in Beaufort on a Sunday morning and left there around 2 p.m., immediately going under a notoriously cantankerous swinging bridge.

 

 

We motored long way, along the way seeing this shrimp boat coming in.   

We planned to go out the North Edisto River inlet to the Atlantic the next day to sail the 21 miles up to Charleston.    It was past dark when we arrived at an anchorage handy to the mouth of the river.   We had some exciting time, using our chart plotter to take us over the mouth of the small river where we anchored and then to anchor in the complete dark, successfully!

We did get out on the ocean, and we did sail, sometimes as fast as 7.8 knots (motoring we often go slower, according to whether the currents are with us our not.)   Neither of us got sea sick, but neither of us wanted anything to eat, but cold bagels and iced tea.   The winds started out mildly, but by the time we arrived at the Charleston entrance, they were up to 18, a little higher than we're comfortable with out there, with the waves swelling around us.   We had a hard time taking down the sails and hav vowed not to sail outside 'til we get more practice on inland waters.

We were happy to see this big red buoy with a loud bell, telling us we were on the way in.   It's a major shipping channel so we had to steer clear of any bigger boats, such as those below.

We didn't stop in Charleston because we'd driven down the week before and seen a bit of it and because we are anxious to get farther north, both to find a stopping place for a while and maybe cooler air (or a dock with AC for a while.)

As we headed up the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) again, people behind us were just floating along behind a boat.

After finding a simple quiet anchorage for the night, we left early so we could stop at Capers Island Natural Center for an  hour or two.  We needed the walking break and we needed to kill a little time so we could arrive at a very shallow part of the ICW at high tide that afternoon.   We anchored and dinghied over to a dock to walk the nature trail over to the beach.  Along the way, we think we saw at least one alligator, but he didn't pay much attention to us.

 

Tom made us some snacks because we expected to get in late.

 

 

We did get over the treacherous part, with no mishap and anchored again, 12 miles south of Georgetown.

Along the way, we saw hardly any evidence of humans on land or on the waterway.   It is very unspoiled for a long stretch through here.

 

We swam in the lovely cool water.   We were so far away from the ocean at that point that the water didn't taste salty - it was mostly fresh.  (It's been hot and humid.  Without out our little DC fans we would not be cool enough to sleep at night.) 

When I discovered how peaceful and cool it felt to sit on the front deck of the boat, we decided to have dinner out there.  It was wonderful.  See the sunset.

Today, we traveled the 12 miles in to Georgetown, stopped at a marina for fuel, water and to dump waste.  Then we walked up and down the main street, looking at restaurants, finally selecting a "Georgetown Bistro" where we got beautiful salads with fresh local ingredients topped with a meat and then split a desert.    The place inspired us to start keeping salad ingredients and meats on board so we could have a "composed" salad of the day for dinner.  (We're having such trouble thinking of something good to eat from the few ingredients we keep on the boat. And we sure don't feel like cooking much when it's warm.)

Anyway, back to Georgetown.   A very fun little town, not too touristy, but full of people and bustling.   We'd like to spend more time there another time.