Timing is everything

Timing is everything

Sunday 29 November 2020

We were up by 5.30 am and ready to go by 6.00 am but it was just too dark. Our chart plotter is great but the charts of the Intra Coastal Waterways are far from perfect and you couldn’t use them on their own to navigate at night. Even the paper charts aren’t always correct because the channels change with constant shoaling and you really need to be able to see the navigation markers. So we left as soon as we could, shortly after 6.30 am. As outlined in previous blogs we are trying to use the extra depth from high tide to help our passage through some very shallow sections. Todays trip to Beaufort, SC had two skinny sections, firstly along the Dawho river and then through the Ashepo – Coosaw river cut. According to the latest hydrographic charts both of these sections have depths as low as three feet. We figured if we could cover the first 22 miles before 10 am then we would have enough depth to get through the shallow sections safely and the remaining 18 miles would be relatively straightforward. I’m happy to report that this is exactly how it worked out! The currents were fairly strong – sometimes with us and sometimes against us depending on whether we were going up or down a particular river. We drove the engine a little harder than normal to compensate for adverse current and made good speed. So the timing worked out well. Perhaps the most fortunate timing was our arrival, because when we got to Beaufort we were able to pick up a mooring at the town marina (for $25 a night, which is a good price) and five minutes after we had tied up it started to pour down.

We are happy to be on a mooring as the weather is predicted to be bad over the next day or so with strong winds and occasional thunderstorms. The current also rips through here and the mooring field covers much of the best anchoring space, so all in all it works out for the best just to take a mooring. Now we can also use the marina facilities (showers, laundry etc).

We saw many more dolphins today – it seems strange to see them in these muddy rivers. We also saw a lot of birds (gulls, terns, loons, herons, ducks, bald eagle).

Cell phone reception is good so I’m envisaging watching some football this evening!

p.s. We noticed "Bees Knees" (see comments and photo from Nov 23 blog) here in the mooring field and had a chance to chat to her Captain. It's fun bumping into familiar boats again. It turns out "Bees Knees" had drive shaft problems on the day we saw her previously which was why she was going slow. Her captain dived on the propellor a couple of days later to remove a line that was wrapped around - now that's a scary and unpleasant job! 

Mike

32 25.749 N, 80 40.818 W

Beaufort mooring field on this wet and grey afternoon. Lady Island swing bridge is in the background

Looking south down the Beaufort River towards Port Royal