2025 May: South of Charleston SC

 3 May 2025
Depart: St. Catherine's Inlet / Walburg Creek anchorage GA 7:05
Arrive: Battery Creek anchorage near Port Royal, SC 2:45
Distance: ~ 63 nm

Sunrise in Walburg Creek, SC

We were up early and on our way just after 7:00. Clark said that we had to be heading out into the ocean before 8:00 to catch the outgoing tide. We woke around 6:30 and jumped to it! We saw 9 knots mostly going out the inlet where we saw no more than 7 coming in yesterday evening against the tide!

Heading southeast to the non-existent marker, we had a bouncy ride into wind and waves. We had waves breaking over the bow and water splashing as high as where we sat in the pilot house 15 feet above the waterline. 

I did not realize it when it happened, but at some point the waves knocked open the starboard gate to the cockpit. This is the gate that had the latch damaged when we banged into our friend's dock when docking in Vero Beach. Simply screwing the screws back in was insufficient to hold the door closed against the wave action. 

I noticed the gate open and swinging back and forth when I made one of my many trips down to the galley. I told Clark that I had latched the gate in the open state just to have it secured. He immediately gave me the helm and went down to screw the screws back in to keep the gate closed until a better, more permanent remedy could be applied after we anchored for the day.

We traveled about 4 to 5 miles offshore. Starlink sometimes does not work too far from the coast, so we lost the NPR program we were listening to. Surprisingly, we had cell service and picked up the signal that way. When we passed Ossabaw Sound, we could see at least 7 fishing trawlers trawling for fish. We saw no pleasure craft. 

Fishing trawler off in the distance
one of at least 7 boats

As we approached a red buoy marking the entrance to an inlet channel, Clark took a picture. As it rocked in the sun, he said it looked like it had two eyes peering up at the sky.

At 1:30, we exited the ocean to enter Port Royal Sound. Having looked at our anchoring options, he decided on Battery Creek near Port Royal, SC. We had the anchor down before 3:00. 

I took some pictures as we approached the anchorage and then again after we had the anchor down.  The terrain was mostly marshes and not super interesting.

Bridge at Port Royal, SC

Boats anchored nearby

Highway over the marshes

True to his word, as soon as we had the anchor down and settled in, Clark was in the cockpit with tools in hand to address the gate issue. He applied a clear epoxy to the problem. Rainy weather was threatened. Luckily it held off and let him complete the job. Later, in the evening, I reminded him to bring in what was left outside in case it rained over night. It did rain a tad during the night, so at least the cardboard was not left out to become a soggy mess.

Clark working on the gate problem

With time on my hands this evening, I decided to pull out my pencils and do some drawing. I have a drawing pad where I do my sketching.

4 May 2025 (Star War fans - "May the forth (force) be with you!")
Depart: Port Royal SC anchorage 8:00
Arrive: Shady Bay anchorage south of Charleston, SC 3:50
Distance: ~ 60 nm

Once again we were up and ready to pull up anchor early. I took a couple of early morning pictures before we got underway.

As we rejoined the ICW, I spied a small cruise ship from the American Cruise Line. According to AIS data, the ship is 243' in length, 56' beam, and since it is a catamaran only needs 7 feet of water. Googling the ship revealed that this cruise ship carries 100 passengers for inland exploration of New England, the Chesapeake, and the Southeast. For about $12,000, we could be traveling the ICW northward in luxury on this ship instead of piloting our own boat. Clark would never go for it!

Nearby I spied a lookout tower and took a picture of a man taking a picture of us!

Next, looking on Google Maps, I saw we were passing the Fort Frederick Preserve.

The water tower read "U. S. Navy". 

As we passed under a bridge, I took a second picture of the water tower. I could not decided which of the two pictures I liked best, so I posted them both.

Bridge abutment view

A while later we passed by the Beaufort hospital. Interestingly, it has a heliport and a dock for boaters' use.

Beaufort, SC Hospital

Orange wind sock at heliport is hanging limply

Boat dock with "H"s on poles at either end

After that we traveled for miles through marshes that kept us entertained for hours swatting at the huge, biting flies that swarmed the boat. Sadly, quite a few found their way down the stairs into the salon. I had 10 or 12 on the windows on either side of the salon. 

They were all trying to get out the window with a glass pane that does not open. No amount of shooing would get them to give up their mission, so they had to die. I had bodies galore after the slaughter!

As we neared Charleston to look for Clark's selected anchoring spot, we saw some folks taking advantage of the 80+ degree weather on a Sunday. 

Some kids were jumping off the dock into the water. One of them tried to convince us to blow our horn with hand signals and then by yelling at us. Of course, Clark would not do that as it is not a toy.

Later, we saw another set of folks, this time swimming off the back of small boats.

We saw a bunch of trailers parked at the launch ramp and a boat either coming in or going out.

In the distance I could see a number of trucks with trailers parked along the roadside - no boats on the trailers!

One of many boaters out having fun in the sun

I am not sure how they deal with the biting flies as the boaters tuck themselves in near the marshes.

Boat pulled up to shore

We passed a Rack and Stack which explains where the boats reside when not on the water.

Rack 'em and Stack 'em - small boat storage

We saw what looked like a setting for a wedding reception at "The Island House" venue.

Wedding reception?  No people though.
Coming up? or Finished?

No matter how many times we pass through South Carolina, I cannot get over the length of the docks. The walk from the house to the boat must be a real killer if you forget something!

House back there in the trees somewhere!

Long walk from house to boat!

We dropped anchor in the Stono River near Elliot's Cut in an anchorage referred to as "Shady Bay". Clark said we could stop before Charleston or after Charleston for tonight. He decided he wanted to take a look at our port side prop and needed daylight to do so. 

I mentioned to him a couple of days ago that it was making a clickety-clack noise. He speculated that it was the cutters and not a serious issue, but today he thought, since it was relatively warm out, that he should dive in and take a look to be sure.

He got some tools out to be handy "just in case".

We put a fender out as a float due to the strong current. He wanted something to grab should he start to float away.

Before going in the water, he went into the engine room to rotate the prop. We both listened intently - him in the engine room, me in the cockpit standing over the propeller - to see if we could hear the noise before he dove in. We heard no sound from the prop regardless of which way he turned it.

Then, the brave man psyched himself up to jump into the 70-something degree water.

He dove under the boat several times to check things out. He came away with the conclusion that his first guess was the right one. Some plastic damping padding on the Spurs that stops the clickety-clack from happening has disappeared. The starboard side appears to have at least some of the cushioning in place, so we hear no noise from that side.

As he rinsed off in the cockpit, he told me I needed to kill the fly in the shower. He said he had closed the shower door to trap it in, and he needed me to get rid of it before he could go in. I guess he did not feel like sharing the shower! 

I did as told so he could take his shower in peace. Then, while he showered, I washed his goggles and soaked the lines used for the float in fresh water to remove some of the saltwater before letting them hang to dry. My duties done, I decided to work on this blog update. 

We are targeting Winyah Bay, still in SC, for tomorrow night's anchorage. Then the next night we should be in North Carolina. Going in the ocean a couple of times has certainly helped us get a good jump on our travels north.