It’s finally starting to get warm… 54 degrees when we left this morning… much better than temps in the 30’s. Pulled anchor and were underway at about 0730 and headed out finding we had the current against us making about 5.5 knots for the first hour of the day.
But it was not long before we had current with us and pushing us over 9 knots.

This is how the entire day went… 8 - 9 knots then 4.5 - 5.5 knots and then there were areas that were so shallow we had to slow to an idle to make it through… The first 2 miles of the Dawho River we had just over 5 feet of water… then Watts Cut we had 6-7 feet through most of it… of course we were transiting these areas at low tide.

There were several areas of shoaling… none that we were surprised by but you had to be very cautious in these areas… running aground is never a good experience.

Had several of the same boas pass us again that have been passing us the last few days… a 36 foot Monk named “Elizabeth” from Belhaven, NC has been very friendly… as he passed today he hailed on the VHF… see you tomorrow about the same time… he has been passing us each morning around 0930. Some of the boats that passed us were pretty big… I know pone was at least 100 feet long… not sure how he was getting through these shallow areas without grounding.

We arrived to our destination for the night… Beaufort, SC and planne don anchoring since it was late afternoon… there is a FREE dock here that we always hope to get but the last three times here it has been full… it’s a 100 to 120 foot floating dock just to the west of the Beaufort Downtown marina. Much to our surprise as we were heading into the anchorage area we found this dock totally open… so we made a quick change in plans and… no anchoring this time… FREE dock. No power or water but it’s much easier with Beecha when we are tied to a dock.

We were securely docked at about 1600… our location: N32°25.845’, W080°40.524’.

We traveled today for 8 hours and 30 minutes covering 55.12 nautical miles averaging 6.48 knots.

Today we cruised to Charleston, SC…. Actually just past Charleston to the Stono River.

We departed from Georgetown earlier than we have been leaving at 0630 and headed out to the ICW. The current in this area is like a yo-yo… with you for a few miles and then it switches against you.

There was a lot of boat traffic today… several boats cruising south that we have seen a couple of times before today and some new ones. Being Saturday the local boaters were also out in large numbers.

Was quite chilly when we left… 34 degrees but as the day proceeded it turned out to be quite nice… think it made it to 70 degrees and low tonight only 54 degrees.

We arrived to Charleston area earlier than expected… do we anchor now or continue to our next good anchorage. Checking the logs and guides next dog friendly location was 24 miles further… that would be an hour or so after sunset and over 12 hours total for the day… Nope… let’s anchor now and continue tomorrow.

We exited Elliott’s Cut with current boosting our speed to 9.5 knots… we should of been making 6.5 knots so we had a 3 knot current pushing us… glad it was pushing us and not against us. We turned to the south and headed out the Stono River towards the St. Johns Yacht Harbor and dropped the hook just NE of the marina at approximately 1555. Location: N32°45.411’, W080°00.651’.

We traveled today for 9 hours and 15 minutes covering 61.18 nautical miles averaging 6.61 knots.

Today we had the option of cruising a long day to Charleston, SC or a short day to Georgetown, SC… we chose the short day.

We departed from Opsrey Marina at approximately 0750… 30 degrees outside and frost and ice on most everything. Absolutely no wind and the ICW was like glass mirroring the cypress trees in the water… it was beautiful!

We had the current with us and a very swift one… I throttle back to 2000 rpm and we flew down the waterway at over 7 knots… hitting 8 knots a few times… Great speed and saving fuel.

We arrived to Georgetown, SC at approximately 1200 and docked at the Georgetown Public Dock… Location: N33°21.894’, W079°16.970’.

We traveled today for 4 hours and 10 minutes covering 28.07 nautical miles averaging 6.74 knots.