Monday, November 11, 12013

We both had a decent night’s sleep until….Chuck woke up to see what the tap, tap, tap was.  It turned out to be a fender that fell overboard and was swinging into the hull of the boat due to the current.  Then, I woke up because the anchor alarm was going off.  Thankfully, everything checked out okay!

When it was time to leave(7:30) we discovered that our boat was on top of the anchor chain.  The strong current in South Edisto River swung us around and pushed us over the anchor which made it difficult to lift the chain, even with the windlass.   Once off the hook, we were able to enjoy the beautiful morning motor-sailing while still in the low-country.  We saw an eagle sitting at the top of a dead tree and dolphins were enjoying an early morning swim near our boat.  In fact, we saw many dolphins off and on throughout the day.

 

  Along our way today!




The major trouble spot today is at the north and south end of the Ashapoo-Coosaw Cut.   They say that shoaling has been bad in these two areas and of course we will get there at dead low tide…..not good according to the SeaTow guys!!  He suggested that we wait it out unless we want to take the chance of getting grounded….been there, done that!! Our two boats rafted together and waited for the incoming  tide. After 2 hours, we motored through the cut without any problems until we exited into the Coosaw Creek.  I guess we were a little too close to the red marker and had to plow through the sand for about 30 feet.  The two boats in front of us had no problems!  Maybe it was because Euphoria draws 6 inches less than us or maybe we were just right of the channel….who knows?

We passed right on by Beaufort, SC.

Bulkhead at Beaufort

Marina at City of Beaufort

Beaufort City Anchorage

 

 By the end of the afternoon when we were motoring down the Cooper River toward Hilton Head, the skies clouded over.  It actually seemed as though night were settling in and this stretch of the journey today seemed to take forever!  Once we made it into the back side of Hilton Head Island(4:30), we soon found the Skull Creek Anchorage where we had planned to settle in for the night.  This is a great place to spend a restful night.  Of course the winds are less than 5 kts and there is very little current.  Surprise, surprise….at dusk, sv/Dancing with the Wind pulled in and anchored by us…Kathy and Gord from Canada.

Shore line at Skull Creek, Hilton Head Is.

Right before bed, I checked my email and texts.  I had a message from Craig on mv/Might Fine.  Here they were with Brian and Jane on sv/Mar-a-Lago and docked right next door at the Skull Creek Marina, Hilton Head Island, SC.  If we had only known earlier, we would have taken a dinghy ride over to visit but it was too late at night.  I texted to let them know where we were and they wanted us to join them for the next two nights.  I explained that we already had reservations elsewhere….the Thunderbolt Marina at Savannah, GA.  We reserved 2 docks in anticipation of bad weather predicted for Tuesday night through all  of Wednesday. 

Skull Creek Marina
Hilton Head Is, SC