April 11-13, 2021 Cruising to Charleston.

 Sunday, April 11, 2021. Day 126

It was overcast in Port Royal when I awakened. I ran 3 miles around the local area. As was usual when I run in the morning, it was quiet, peaceful and there was almost no one around.

At 10:30am, we undocked on our own from Port Royal and began our cruise on the Beaufort River, passing Beaufort, 

and the Beaufort Memorial Hospital which had a dock on the water for boats to drop off patients (new for me). Thinking about yesterday and the time we spent with Vicki and Mack, I was regretting that we didn’t take a picture of the four of us.

At 11am we passed under the Lady Island swing bridge which was 30 feet high so no request was necessary (Magic Moments is 25 feet).

I enjoyed seeing the antebellum mansions from the water. The area is very marshy (it IS called the low country). We passed big southern live oaks with incredible trunks and lots of Spanish moss like those we had seen on our walking tour of Beaufort with Vicki and Mack. 

 The weather was very nice, the shore was lush, and due to the marsh, the docks at the homes we passed were extremely long. We traveled on the Coosaw River, which is mostly wilderness, and at 2:48pm, reached our anchorage in the South Edisto River in the ACE National Wildlife Refuge.

It was pretty remote. The day was intense and difficult for the captain. The river was windy and very narrow in places, there were cross currents and lots of shoals. Steering was a challenge, but of course, the captain did a great job and deserved a well earned beer, after we anchored.

We relaxed in our anchorage for about two hours at which time Captain Roland got concerned. For the first time in 4.5 months, the anchor wasn’t holding. The wind and current were both strong and in conflict. He quickly pulled up the anchor and we moved up river to a better, more protected, anchorage from the expected wind direction, a little west of the first location. At 5:18pm, the captain announced that the new anchorage was working. We were at Sampson Island, the wind and the current were in the same direction, so it was much calmer, the fetch shorter so the waves were muted; we were both much happier.

Unfortunately however we were inundated with bugs, bugs and more bugs. Mostly no-see-ums. As you can guess from the name, they are very teeny and can get through our screens. Ugh!

Checking the weather (which we have to do frequently...or all the time....), we learned that the weather in south Florida was really bad, and had we not taken advantage of the weather window by leaving St. Augustine when we did, we probably would have lost a week.

Monday, April 12, 2021. Day 127.

The morning was busy. I worked out, stretched, made an omelette, and did the dishes, showered and started my various telephone calls and meetings, and attended a TCPW internet conference. But most importantly, I started cleaning out the den to make room for our additional crew we are picking up in Charleston, South Carolina, in a few days.

The anchorage was beautiful and peaceful, we were the only boat there for the entire time; again the only: issue bugs.

It was an early night because Captain Roland wanted to leave the anchorage at 9 am the next day with the tide. The current was really strong so I will be at the helm following his directions, as he pulls up and cleans the anchor.

Tuesday, April 13, 2021. Day 128.

I was up at 6:30am so that I could stretch and have breakfast before we were ready to leave at 9am. I knew I would miss the peace and beauty of this anchorage, but not miss the bugs. During the entire trip, I enjoyed amazing scenery, sunsets and sunrises, the glint of the sun on the water, the peace, the birds and the dolphins, the fresh air and the variety of colors of the water.

The wind was on our nose, but less than 10 knots, so it did not slow us down all that much. We entered the North Edisto River at approximately 10:20 am, on our way to anchor in Church Creek, near West Ashley, South Carolina. We passed the first fishing boat in several days; back to civilization.

The estates on the water were beautiful along the Wadmalaw River. We passed Metal Trades, Inc., a shipyard for the repair and construction of metal ships, which contained a very interesting assortment of vessels. At 11:30am, we anchored in Church Creek near Charleston.

Again ,it was beautiful and quiet and I was hoping that because it was windy, the bugs would not be around. Wishful thinking; the bugs (no-see-ums), were all over the boat and us by the millions. In swarms, we could see them just fine! Otherwise, it was lovely and peaceful. Later in the day we were joined in the anchorage buy a trawler and two sailboats. Among my 3 zooms, I did yoga on youtube, and had dinner. I was not able to fall asleep for quite a while; there was ambient light...... we were near civilization.

Tomorrow we cruise to Charleston to start the penultimate segment of our journey.

April 8-9, 2021 Off shore St Augustine to Beaufort SC

 Thursday, April 8, 2021. Day 123.

At 1:30pm, we entered the ocean from the St. Augustine inlet, and cruised about 9 miles offshore on our way to Beaufort, South Carolina.

The day time offshore was OK, not necessarily fun, but OK. I was able to edit my blog for about an hour without any motion sickness. Off shore segments are long and to me, rather boring, but they have a purpose. Ocean passages eliminate several long days of intense steering in narrow ICW channels which is very wearing on the captain ( I’m not crazy about them either ). So, the ocean it was.

I was patched and “wristed”, and, actually was able to sleep well between my watches. On this trip, unfortunately, Captain Roland did not sleep very much or very well. He had to make a couple of course adjustments during my watch (I hated to awaken him, but no real choice), to avoid freighters, especially near Savannah (which had been the case going south so no surprise ). When I was on watch through the day and night, I listen to books and played solitaire on the phone and checked the radar and our speed and a few other dials. I was sorry to miss both the sunset and sunrise, both on Roland's watch, but happy to get some sleep.

Captains note: this is one of my favorite sunset photos. it has not been altered or enhanced at all, this was the actual colors, was amazing..

The crossing was calm (for the ocean); the wind maybe 10 to 15 knots

Friday, April 9, 2021. Day 124.

When I awakened, we were in Port Royal Sound on the way to Port Royal Island which is surrounded by the Broad River and the Coosa River. Beaufort is on the Beaufort River which winds through the penninsula. At 10:18am, we were back on the ICW. It was interesting in the morning to pass Hilton Head, and Parris Island. I’ve never been to Hilton Head nor Parris Island, (unlikely I will ever go to Parris Island).

It was not easy getting a slip in Beaufort but we did manage to get one at Safety Harbor in Port Royal. We had preferred the Beaufort marina but they were booked solid until September 2021!

Kadey Krogen owners have a group of current and former boaters who volunteer to be harbor hosts. They offer to help with information and, in some cases, even transportation in their areas. They invite Kadey Krogen owners and other boaters to reach out to them when the boaters are visiting their location. I reached out to the Harbor Hosts in Beaufort, South Carolina and in Charleston, South Carolina. This was the first time I tried reaching out to a Harbor Host and I didn’t know what to expect for sure. Vicki and Mac, from Beaufort responded and we discussed getting together. Mac has been fully vaccinated and Vicki was getting her second vaccination in a couple of days. We all agreed to wear masks and to keep the windows open in the car. They had a giant four person pick up truck.

We docked at Port Royal Marina at 11:45am and I was thrilled that the overnight was behind us. I showered and dressed and went for a walk and hoped to have lunch at the marina restaurant “Mark 244”. We heard they were serving soft shells, and we love soft shell crabs. The area in which the marina and the restaurant are located it is very cute; small neat homes, beautiful foliage, very cool but casual and accessible and very natural. When we approached Marker 244, we were told it was an hour wait and by the way they were out of soft shells. We made a reservation for 6pm (they said they were getting another three crates of soft shells for dinner) and we went back to the boat and had leftovers for lunch.

The restaurant was obviously a lunch place, there was an hour wait an it was packed at lunch. At dinner, not so much. We were one of the few occupied tables and learned that they serve soft shells, one way only: fried and on a bun – we had waited all this time for a sandwich! It was however the biggest soft shell Roland had ever seen. We had our traditional rose wine (the prices, interestingly enough, are high for a glass but quite reasonable for the whole bottle), so of course, we drank the whole bottle.

Dinner was a bit early so we walked to the supermarket about a mile away and bought a few things back to the boat. I confirmed arrangements for tomorrow with Vicki and Mac. They offered to pick us up at 9:30am to go to the local farmers market, take us to a supermarket or other stores for any provisioning and then, to tour Beaufort. They had recently sold their Kadey Krogen 39, “Confetti“, and bought a house. Keeping in touch with the Kadey Krogen family was important to them, and they knew our PO's (prior owners), and our boat. All of us were looking forward to Saturday, and our first Harbor Host experience.