Thursday June 9, 2016
We woke to another gorgeous day, and we were underway by 6:40am. We thought that maybe we would be able to get to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina for the night. We were in an area with 6 foot tides, and that makes a huge difference in our speed. At times we would be flying along at 7-8 knots, at other times we were huffing and puffing at 4 knots. It was all about the current, the tide, and the wind. We loved seeing houses, marinas, and other signs of life after the marshes of Georgia!
I love my I-phone! I can check the weather, look for anchorages and marinas, see what’s happening on Facebook, work on my blog, take photos, call my kids, and check my e- mail while steering the boat, sitting on my cushioned cooler.
I emailed an old family friend as we motored along the ICW. Where was he? Was anyone in residence at the family plantation near Beaufort, South Carolina? Mark e-mailed me back. Yes! His mother and siblings were at Coosaw Plantation. They would love to see us! Go!
We have a Garmin chartplotter. We plugged in our destination, the plantation. At first it said we would arrive at 7pm. I was dubious. We had lots of twists and turns on our route. And the Garmin does not know what is going on with the tides. We’d turn a corner, and our projected arrival time would jump to 10pm. We had a great sail past Hilton Head Island. Perfect wind!
We were doing really well, we thought we would arrive at our friend’s home before dark, but then we encountered the Beaufort, SC swing bridge. Missed the opening by a few minutes, so we had to kill time for 30 minutes until the next opening. Agh! We had a ways to go after the bridge. We were playing “Beat the sunset”!
I called Sarah, Mark’s sister. Where exactly was their dock? Sarah sent her husband out in their power boat to guide us in, while the glorious sunset faded into darkness. We followed Bill, past the shoals, around toward the marsh, and along the shoreline. I had my eye on the depth meter. We draw 4.5 feet. It was shallow, then shallower, then the shallow water alarm went off as we ran aground. Backed off, and tried a different direction. We signaled Bill. This was not working for us. It was now dark, and it was too shallow. We would retrace our route to deeper water, and anchor there. Bill, or should I say Saint Bill, stood by while we anchored the boat. He then motored us to the house for dinner, them back for the night, then picked us up in the morning for breakfast, and then delivered us back to our boat again. Definitely up for sainthood!
We had two lovely visits with the family, both at dinner and breakfast!
Night at anchor off Coosaw Plantation, South Carolina after an astounding 77 nautical mile day!