Charleston to Beaufort, SC

We left Charleston on Monday morning before we ate too much of the incredible food.  We have a very small boat so we can't afford to be any bigger than we are.  The day was nice and warm and at times it was almost too hot.  We enjoyed having a relaxing day as we were only traveling about 37 miles and at times we had the tide with us for a change.  In the afternoon we had a stowaway.

Kermit the stowaway frog.

We were going to anchor for the night in Toogoodoo Creek because of the cool name, but continued on to Ashepoo Creek and enjoyed a very calm and relaxing night at anchor.

Tuesday was very cold with a north wind.  We ended up wearing everything we owned, foul weather gear, hats and gloves.  I know I sound like Goldilocks - first it was too hot, then it was too cold.  What a whiner. 

About noon time we came into Brickyard Creek. The guidebook directions were to favor the green side of the channel, which we did and promptly ran aground.  A little while later another boat, FLEETWING who apparently has the same book we have ran aground right next to us.  The next boat cleverly followed the middle of the channel where there was 10 feet of water.  Luckily the bottom is all sand and mud and it was calm in the creek so there was no danger and it was about 20 minutes until low tide so it wouldn't be too long of a wait for the 8 foot tide to float us off the mud.  We decided to make the best of the situation by having grilled sandwiches and a relaxing lunch.  When the tide came back the current was trying to push us aground again so Bill used the dinghy as a yawl boat and pushed the bow off while I backed the boat out of the mud bank and we were on our way again. Later in the afternoon we thought we had timed the Lady's Island Bridge perfectly. We motored up at 2:25 for the 2:30 opening. Unfortunately the guide book and the chart were out of date and the bridge didn't open until 3:00. The bridge is right before the anchorage and we were not in any great hurry so it was okay. When we finally did get into the anchorage at Beaufort is was a little crowded. After our third attempt at anchoring we were far enough away from everyone else, not in the channel, and the anchor held. We had a nice walk in town and ran into Lynn and Walt from IOLAR who had passed us while we were aground. They are very kind and were worried about us and had offerred to try to pull us off the mud.

Beaufort is a very beautiful and charming town.  Pictures do not do it justice.