Day 6...Herb River to Battery Creek

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2012

     As I read about what we’re doing I’m sure it seems very dull.  Anchor up, drive, stop, anchor down, eat, read and relax.  Then do the same thing the next day.  We promise you we will get off the boat soon.  We plan to spend a few days each in Beaufort (pronounced Bewfort) and Charleston, South Carolina. 

     Sometimes boring isn’t too bad when it comes to trips.  No excitement like the time you were aground for 10 hours, or the time the macerator quit on the way to the Exumas or the time when the seas were so lumpy that almost everyone onboard was sick.  See what I mean.  Sometimes boring can be good.

    Well I typed this before we left this morning and boy was I wrong.  Get ready for an exciting day.

     The day started as usual.  We pulled anchor at about 7:30 a.m. after a very restful night with NO BUGS.  It was a nice quiet anchorage.  Everything was pretty uneventful with the tide against us again about 50% of the day.

     We crossed the Savannah River and entered South Carolina at 8:54 a.m.  We saw the cruiser Independence again. It was coming from Savannah and going north ahead of us in the Intracoastal.

     Almost immediately we began to notice that this part of South Carolina is much more populated than the part of Georgia we just left.  We passed Daufuskie Island on our starboard (right) side.  Since there is no bridge to the island, I imagine personal boats and ferries are the way to travel.  I took the picture below to show you how the tide is here. 

     

     As we entered Calibogue Sound headed to Hilton Head, we couldn’t believe our eyes.  Remember we have only been seeing one or two boats at the time since we left Fernandina.  We thought we were in a traffic jam crossing the sound.  There were sightseeing boats, ferryboats, ski boats, parasailing boats, sailboats and a few other trawlers.  A sailboat in front of us looked gorgeous with its sails full catching the afternoon breeze.  Independence was already there of course anchored off Hilton Head Island.  It was only a little rollie on the water mostly from the other boats’ wakes. 

Kayaks 

Two

No three parasailers

Sailing at its best

     At the head of Calibogue Sound, we saw an eagle diving for fish.  He caught one too before he flew away for dinner.

Ready, set, go!

Home for dinner.

     

     We crossed Port Royal Sound on our way to Parris Island.  These pictures of Parris Island should bring back memories for our sons-in-law since both of them were Marines.

     We decided to stop just short of Beaufort and go in at slack tide in the morning.  We anchored near a fleet of docked shrimp boats.  As we were sitting in our anchorage several (or the same one several times) C-130s flew directly over our boat.  Gary said he was glad this wasn’t the sailboat or they (it) might’ve taken a couple of feet off of the mast.   Gosh, I guess we survived the excitement.  

The view from our anchorage.