Today we passed Mile Marker (MM) 500 and are tied up in a marina at Beaufort, South Carolina (MM 542), so we’re now more than half way down the ICW to Miami. Even harder to believe is that it’s just over 3 weeks since we left Baltimore.
I can’t really say we’ve reached the warm sub tropical weather yet though as we even had ice on our decks and on top of the bimini on Saturday morning!
Lance managed to instal his dinghy davits on Friday and believe it or not I even managed to do some work! These ‘rest’ days pass far too quickly though and it always seems to take twice as long to do anything. Mind you Osprey Marina was very busy with other boats coming in to fuel up all day and then of course the transients arrive from the afternoon onwards. Yes that’s what we’re called here on the ICW! I guess it pretty much means that we’re just passing through. Each boat that comes in brings new people and its very social, so quite a bit of time is spent chatting. 
When we left on Saturday morning we motored out in to a sea of fog. The sun was starting to burn through it though and before long it had cleared up. We did make sure our horn was working and I quickly looked up the rules for the correct sound signals!
CaptionThe moon rising a short while later
CaptionNot even a ripple on the water
CaptionWaterfront houses in Charleston
Our destination for the day was an anchorage in Five Fathom Creek near a very small fishing town called McClellanville. The marked anchorage was just off the ICW, through a bit of a narrow winding channel, and then to the side of the wider channel that the shrimping boats use to go in and out to sea. Well after two attempts we just couldn’t get the anchor to hold there and so we moved across the creek into the wider part and anchored to the one side of the channel. I was a bit nervous about the fishing boats coming past but luckily they didn’t seem bothered by us at all and even when the tide turned we were still off to one side.
Unluckily for one sailboat though who must have got his coloured channel markers confused, he ran aground on the edge of the channel and Boat US had to come a pull him into deeper water. He then anchored not far from us.
Yesterday morning the weather was unbelievable – there was barely a ripple on the water which made for some amazing photos.
We had another long day ending up at anchor just south of Charleston in Church Creek. We were the first boat there and had the real pick of the spot. It was a perfect evening and even I managed a good night’s sleep!
And tonight we’re in Beaufort – the curtesy car was put to immediate use to post off a parcel of pink baby clothes! I’ve booked the car for 8am tomorrow too so that we can get to the grocery store.
Oh yes – did I mention that another sailboat ran aground today just before the swing bridge into Beaufort? Once again Boat US was on the job. The books say that the shoaling in the ICW changes quite quickly as there are big tides here – more of what we’re used to – but the currents are also amazing.
14 November 2011 – More than half way to Miami
Today we passed Mile Marker (MM) 500 and are tied up in a marina at Beaufort, South Carolina (MM 542), so we’re now more than half way down the ICW to Miami. Even harder to believe is that it’s just over 3 weeks since we left Baltimore.
I can’t really say we’ve reached the warm sub tropical weather yet though as we even had ice on our decks and on top of the bimini on Saturday morning!
Lance managed to instal his dinghy davits on Friday and believe it or not I even managed to do some work! These ‘rest’ days pass far too quickly though and it always seems to take twice as long to do anything. Mind you Osprey Marina was very busy with other boats coming in to fuel up all day and then of course the transients arrive from the afternoon onwards. Yes that’s what we’re called here on the ICW! I guess it pretty much means that we’re just passing through. Each boat that comes in brings new people and its very social, so quite a bit of time is spent chatting.
When we left on Saturday morning we motored out in to a sea of fog. The sun was starting to burn through it though and before long it had cleared up. We did make sure our horn was working and I quickly looked up the rules for the correct sound signals!
Our destination for the day was an anchorage in Five Fathom Creek near a very small fishing town called McClellanville. The marked anchorage was just off the ICW, through a bit of a narrow winding channel, and then to the side of the wider channel that the shrimping boats use to go in and out to sea. Well after two attempts we just couldn’t get the anchor to hold there and so we moved across the creek into the wider part and anchored to the one side of the channel. I was a bit nervous about the fishing boats coming past but luckily they didn’t seem bothered by us at all and even when the tide turned we were still off to one side.
Unluckily for one sailboat though who must have got his coloured channel markers confused, he ran aground on the edge of the channel and Boat US had to come a pull him into deeper water. He then anchored not far from us.
Yesterday morning the weather was unbelievable – there was barely a ripple on the water which made for some amazing photos.
We had another long day ending up at anchor just south of Charleston in Church Creek. We were the first boat there and had the real pick of the spot. It was a perfect evening and even I managed a good night’s sleep!
And tonight we’re in Beaufort – the curtesy car was put to immediate use to post off a parcel of pink baby clothes! I’ve booked the car for 8am tomorrow too so that we can get to the grocery store.
Oh yes – did I mention that another sailboat ran aground today just before the swing bridge into Beaufort? Once again Boat US was on the job. The books say that the shoaling in the ICW changes quite quickly as there are big tides here – more of what we’re used to – but the currents are also amazing.