A 350 Mile Week

After leaving Myrtle Beach on Sunday we have travelled over 300 miles in 5 - 10 hour days. Our best day was 84 miles. Remember we are at the mercy of the tides and wind and mostly they have been on our side.

We stopped in Charleston for an hour to get groceries (seems like that is a necessity that is a real pain in the you know what when you do not have a vehicle) so we must do it where it is most convenient. We left there just as the tide was turning and ended up on a real joy ride through Elliott Cut into the Stono River. We started through at 3.8 mph and ended up going 10.4 mph through what could be described as a 'rip current'! Fast and furious through a very narrow channel.....whew, that was a real trip.

We anchored in a beautiful, peaceful anchorage every night. We appear to be one of a very few cruising boats on the waters. Whether it is the economy or time of year I don't know. We have passed maybe a total of 12 boats headed North and only 3 or 4 going south. This does allow us our choice of prime anchoring space though, so every down has an up! We've had great weather this week, 10-15 mph winds which have kept the bugs away....no green headed biting flies thus far....and cool air at night, it has been ideal so far.

From Beaufort (that is Bew-fort) S.C. to Savannah and on to Hilton Head the houses were really something. Therefore I was shutter happy and there are lots of pictures of houses we saw that were just so graciously beautiful. After Beaufort we were headed for Port Royal Sound and had to wait out some weather across from Paris Island Marine Base with their "Go Marines" water tower. After the weather moved ashore and we headed out into the sound we saw this futuristic looking thing headed for us in the distance....a shrimper in full "shrimp mode"....another cool photo op. The next night a shrimp boat chugged by us with its accompanying sea gulls and dropped the hook for the night. We saw juvenile dolphins frolicking in the water near us rolling and tossing each other and splashing up a storm....The next morning after these visual treats was the most beautiful sunrise we have seen! You can see by the photos..the progression is the beauty...not always "the moment".

So to sum it up, it has been a week of intense travel, and intense beauty. I am especially in love with the marshes of Georgia. I could look at them forever. They are just so ZEN. The birds the scenery change with the tide, the wild horses of Cumberland Island grazing in the marsh bogs. The smell of the pluff mud at low tide, blue skies, white puffy clouds. Travel Heaven!!!