Charleston and Beyond

Yesterday started out with more rain, so much in fact that we could barely see where we were going.  Never a good thing!  We touched bottom once, which means less than 4 feet of water under us, but made it through without grounding.

I think we're going to have to replace those curtains....unless we can get mother nature to quit with the rain!





They whizzed by just before the rain really started to come down and before we got to the shallow spot.  We expected to hear them calling Sea Tow, but nada.  Guess it was their
"Guardian Monkey".....  Don't we think the name should be Monkey Girl??  I shouldn't make fun though..."Bob" won't like it.  :-)

Not so lucky were quite a few boaters ahead of us, north of Charleston  at low tide in the skinny ICW canal that runs by Sullivan's and Isle of Palms Islands.  After the first grounding everyone was chattering to each other about depths and sitting and waiting for the tide to come in.  Low tide was at 11 and we went through that cut at 3pm.  It was still pretty shallow but not a problem.
I guess when your boat goes aground here at low tide you just sit and wait for the tide to rise and off you go....  Of course in a perfect world you wait until mid tide to go anywhere...that's why having a "schedule" doesn't work on a boat!!!


                                               Fort Sumter ...Charleston Harbor

One of the "Battery" beauties in Charleston..definitely a place to visit if you haven't.  

                                                 We'll stop again in the fall .

Anyhow.....we found a fabulous place to anchor last night.  Toomor Creek, which opens into the Atlantic.  There was very little boat traffic at 6pm and it was a calm quiet night with our own white noise surf in the background.  PERFECT.
This morning we decided to take the dink to the beach which was just a stones throw away.  The tide was going out again and since we were on the north end of Isle Of Palms where it is a bird refuge we had it to ourselves.
I collected Sand Dollars and a lot of little shells to (hopefully) add to my baskets.

North End Isle of Palms

This Horseshoe Crab was trying to bury itself in the sand until the tide came back in.  
                               He had about 7 hours to go...hope he made it.

            This one...not so lucky..it was going around in circles...you can see the tracks.

Today's stretch of the ICW  was a different story.  We spent most of the day in Marsh Fly Hell!!!  Gary is worn out from swatting them.  I mean REALLY...couldn't they go find a cow to bother or something!

Darn it!!   I wanted to capture the moment on this.  He was in a fly swatting frenzy and  he wasn't winning!!

So tonight we anchored out in the bay which again leads to the ocean.  It's a little bumpy right now, but the breeze is enough now that we are out of the marsh that we don't have to stay inside the boat to escape "THE FLY"!

Tomorrow is 2 nights in the marina at Georgetown to shop, launder and get ready for the next jaunt up the coast.  We're hoping to get to the outer banks this time but as always plans are weather dependent.

          Anchored here tonight...tomorrow up to Georgetown in the upper left corner.

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