Eager to get a good day of travel we set the alarm clock for 0600 hours... alarm clock goes off as set at 0600 and you can hear the rain pouring down outside... shut the alarm off and went back to sleep... no need to get up and try to get underway with this down pour of rain... of course once you're awake and anxious to get going... going back to sleep did was not really an option... so we got up and started the day... the rain stopped at about 0630 hours and we were able to walk Beecha... put the bikes back on the boat and we cast off the liens and departed the docks at 0730 hours... destination Charleston, SC.

It had stopped raining but the skies were gray and the wind was blowing... forecast was for 15-20 knot winds with gusts to 25 knots and it was everything that was forecast. We had intermittent rain most of the morning but nothing very heavy... winds were the biggest thing... the 25 knot gusts were over 30 knots most of the time and winds increased to a steady 25 knots all day long. The sun did come out mid afternoon and was a beautiful day excluding the wind. The ICW through this area is well protected from the wind and we did not have any issues with waves.

We did have quite a time with low water... several stretches where we had to slow to idle with less than 6 feet of water in the channel... it was low tide but I think the high winds were making it extremely low... all the docks along the waterway were high and dry with the boats sitting on the bottom.

We got to Charleston Harbor about 1530 hours and the wind and current opposing each other it was very choppy... 2-4 foot waves... but as we crossed they decreased to almost nothing once we got in the lee of Charleston waterfront. We passed the Charleston City Marina and there were a few mega yachts docked but nothing Elliott's Cut... we had a flood current so we were zooming through the cut... I had slowed down to 1600 rpm and we were still moving at 8 knots... love the boost from the current. We exited the Cut and turned to starboard out of the ICW and headed down the Stono River towards St. John's Yacht Harbor... at approximately 1700 hours we were securely docked.

We traveled today for 9 hours and 30 minutes covering 61.3 nautical miles and averaging 6.45 knots.

Trip totals to date:

Distance: 1007.41 nautical miles
Hours: 160 hours 56 minutes
Avg Spd: 6.26 knots
Days not moving: 12