2022: Charleston SC to Jacksonville FL

2 November 2022

Depart: Dewees Creek anchorage SC 8:15

Arrive: Bull River Junction anchorage SC 3:45

Distance: 58 nm

Sunrise on Dewees Creek, SC

Big boats traveling along at fast or even not-so-fast speeds can generate large wakes. I saw the guys below and initially thought they were standing on shore. No they were standing on their boat. 

Poling through the mud flats of SC

Our route today took us through Elliot Cut just south of Charleston, South Carolina.

Elliot's Cut, SC

Conditions vary as we travel south depending on whether we hit high tides or low tides. We got to see the mud flats in South Carolina today as we passed through on a lower tide.

With mud all the way up to the dock and beyond, some must go boating only on mid-tide rising to high.

a lot of mud between the waterway and this dock!

Can't get to this dock either

This "floating" dock is sitting on the mud.

so is this one

We found nothing new to look at today, other than the mud, until sunset.

3 November 2022

Depart: Bull River Junction anchorage 9:15

Arrive: Port Royale Landing Marina near Beaufort, SC 12:15

Distance: 16 nm

We have been anchoring out with no stops at marinas the whole way from home. Two times we stopped and were able to get off the boat, the rest of the time has been on the water. I told Clark that he had to find me a marina as my chore list was getting out of control. We planned yesterday's anchorage and today's stop to allow for time at a marina to "take care of business".

Normally, we need an opening when we pass through a swing bridge, but the one below had a 30' clearance when closed, so we did not have to wait. Others had gone through just in front of us, but Clark told the bridge tender we did not need it open, so it closed as we approached.

We decided to stop at Port Royale Marina where we have stopped previously and know our way around. When Clark called for a reservation, he asked if their waste pump-out station worked and they said no, so we had to make an alternate plan for that task. 

Clark got confirmation from the Beaufort town dock that their pump out worked, so we stopped there before going into Port Royale Marina. Our list of chores included: fill water tank, do laundry, buy groceries (bread mostly), hit the hardware store for sink parts, vacuum the boat, and bake applesauce cake for Clark's nightly desserts. 

We managed to do everything on the list except run the vacuum and bake the cake before 5:00 when we walked up to the marina restaurant, Marker 244, to grab dinner. I was ready to eat almost anything as long as I did not have to cook it. Clark chose a fried fish dinner and I got a burger. 

Marker 244 Bar and Grill

We sat at their covered dining area with a view of the boats in the marina and the local marshes.

After dinner, I baked Clark's applesauce cake which he eats almost daily for a midnight snack before going to bed. As the cake was baking, I ran the vacuum and drew a line through the last item on the list.

With all the chores completed, we were ready for an early start the next day for an ocean voyage to Georgia.

4 November 2022

Depart: Port Royale Landing Marina SC  8:15

Arrive: Johnson Marsh anchorage, GA 4:30

Distance: 71 nm

Clark did his research and analysis and decided that today would be a good day for ocean travel to get away from areas with shallow depths to worry about.  We got up in time to see a beautiful sunrise complete with sailboat passing by. 

Both Clark and I took sunrise pictures this morning. We both liked the sailboat. I did not know it, but he used my phone. I was a bit surprised when I saw more pictures on my phone than I remembered taking!

Clark knew he would go out in the ocean via the nearby Port Royale Sound inlet. What he did not know was which of the inlets further south provided safe passage for coming back in again. He called Sea Tow for local knowledge on Doboy Inlet, Sapelo Inlet, and St. Catherine's Inlet. He talked to two people who both told him that St. Catherine's was the only viable choice. We have come in Doboy in the past but that was before Hurricane Ian came by. We chose to play it safe and come in St. Catheine's. The blue dot shows us exiting at Port Royale and the red tear drop shows St. Catherine's Island.

We bypassed Savannah and the twisty turny waterway
in northern Georgia

The skies were hazy on the horizon. We could see on the chart plotter numerous boats that were anchored offshore most likely waiting to go up the Savannah River. Clark checked out the stats on one that said it was over 1200 feet long. 

Try as we might, we could not see a one of them with either the naked eye or with binoculars.

Numerous boats on AIS

Couldn't see one of them!

We had 3 to 4 foot seas on the ocean. Once we turned in a more southerly direction, the waves were coming on the stern and helped give us a push. Most of the day we had a good push from current and winds to help us on our way out of the Port Royale inlet, then south, and then in St. Catherine's inlet. 

With hazy skies, we had nothing much to look at for our trip other than ocean water. Clark told me to look for Right Whales, but we did not find any.

Coming in St. Catherine's inlet, we had a bit of excitement as some of the markers are missing. Fortunately, we found good water the whole way in with no difficulties.

Afterwards, we were chased by the disappointed seagulls who thought we had been fishing offshore.

We anchored in the marshes near St. Catherine's Island. I thought about the blog, but cell service was poor at best.

Sunset in the marshes
near St. Catherine's Island, GA

5 November 2022

Depart: Johnson Marsh anchorage, GA 9:15

Arrive: Cumberland Island anchorage, GA 6:25

Distance: 71 nm

It became windy during the night, and early in the morning we heard rain. We did not see the sunrise this morning.

As we traveled along, we saw a black cloud off the port side. Shortly afterwards we had a brief rain shower

followed by a faint rainbow.

People say "it's a small world". The boating world is even smaller. The other day we passed friends on a boat we met in Marathon Clark waved to them. (I was below and missed the event). Recently, we passed by a boat named "Blue Moon" docked at a marina. Clark saw the owners and waved (Once again, I was below and missed the event). "Blue Moon" is a trawler of the same make and model as ours. 

Today, we received a call on the VHF radio from a boating friend we met while doing the loop. Their boat was called "Island Office". Mark is now a delivery captain and was piloting a boat to be delivered in Florida. He called us on the radio to say hello - his boat was directly behind us on the waterway! (I did not miss this event.)

"Aria" passing by
with Mark onboard as delivery captain

A fellow boater recently posted a "Quiz" on Facebook related to the photo below ... "Who knows what this is?"   This structure is located at Kings Bay Base near Cumberland Island in Georgia.

It is located at the end of a long pier. 

Kings Bay Base is a naval submarine base.

The structure is a degaussing station where an electrical current is used to cancel out a ship's magnetic field.

We dropped anchor in the now very familiar anchorage at Cumberland Island. As per usual, a number of boats were there before us.  We headed off to one side to drop anchor and found a large number of dolphins circling the area. Based on what I could see of the fins, one looked like a mama with her baby. They never quite came out of the water far enough to get a good view.

Glad these were dolphins and not sharks circling!

We had plenty of interesting clouds to look at as we anchored.

Since it was so close to sunset as we anchored, we got to see the sun setting and the moon overhead simultaneously.

Moon over the docks at Cumberland Island

Moon over an anchored sailboat

Sun going down at Cumberland Island ...

6 November 2022

Depart: Cumberland Island anchorage, GA 9:10

Arrive: Sister's Creek Free Dock, Jacksonville, FL 12:30

Distance: 26 nm

We went to bed with dark clouds in the sky and woke up to more of the same this morning. Last night Clark told me the plan for today was to wait until 11:00 to leave the anchorage to avoid fighting current for ages along our route. As I leisurely ate my breakfast, he asked how soon I would be ready to leave because he was ready to get underway. 

Huh? I guess we had a change of plans while I was sleeping. The new plan he told me was to leave now and stop at the free dock at Sister's Creek to have lunch and then continue on our way when the current was more favorable. Good thing I did not make any big plans for my free time this morning. 

As we traveled towards Jacksonville, we had clouds mixed with sun and occasional rain showers. 

We passed by the plant shown below through a "no wake zone". I asked Clark if they were manufacturing sawdust because that is what I could smell in the air.

Big pile of sawdust?

We did not have rain here but we could see it raining up ahead.

Clark gets excited when he sees railroad bridges. He wants to try to take a photograph looking down the tracks. Mostly he misses one way or the other. He was motoring towards the bridge and fighting the swirling eddies when he realized he could get a railroad tracks shot. I said go for it and took the helm while he ran with the camera to try his luck!

Clark got the shot as he hit the tracks dead on!

Clark said we should eat lunch when we got to Sister's Creek. At 11:30 (12:30 DST) my stomach said it could not wait. I checked the map and saw we had a long way to go to get to Sister's Creek, so I fed us! We finally got to Sister's Creek dock at 12:30! Glad we ate when we did!

Clark figured we should hang out at the free dock for about two hours and then continue on our way. I suggested that we stay put. As we sat at the dock, other boats came in, and Clark ran to help them tie up. One couple stopped just to walk their dog. When they left, they told him they were headed up the St. John's River, so Clark asked them to give him a call to let him know what the current was like. 

We planned to prepare to leave at 2:30, but when they called and said they had 3 knots of current against them, Clark thought about the timing and decided we should just stay at the free dock and leave early in the morning. With that wonderful news, I decided to take time to work on the blog which took the rest of the afternoon to complete.

Tomorrow we head to Ortega to stay in the Jacksonville area for a period of time before we continue our travels towards the Florida Keys.