Day 216: Monday, April 8, 2013
Port to Port: Big Tom Creek to Bull Creek
Underway: 8:00 am Motor Off: 5:45 pm Miles Traveled: 52 Stayed At: Anchor
First Things First: First time sailing in South Carolina (3:23 pm); first time passing a Coast Guard inflatable boat with a machine gun on the bow (I decided not to take a picture of it – why test fate).
Mile 613 to Mile 565: Today was pretty much like yesterday. We went a little slower on average but we motorsailed all day. The wind was steady from the east. The sun was shining. And we kept going past where we had originally planned stay. We couldn’t stop when we were going 7.2 mph.
At this point we don’t have a specific plan in mind – we are just trying to travel when the conditions are nice and make decent headway north. We want to be in Norfolk Virginia – Mile 0 – around May 1 but this isn’t set in stone. We cruised through Georgia because there wasn’t much to see or do – we couldn’t even get to shore easily because of the tides and mud flats everywhere. We’ll see what South Carolina has to offer but we have noticed more houses, docks, marinas and a few more boats (although the waterway has been surprisingly quiet – just the way we like it).
The tides here are amazing. The water goes up and down 8+ feet on each tidal cycle. If you anchor in 10 feet of water at high tide, at low tide you may be in only 2’ of water. When it goes out or comes in, it travels fast – in some places 2-3 knots – which kills your forward progress if it is against you. Where different speed flows meet, large eddy’s and swirling currents can make steering a straight line exciting. It makes you dizzy just looking at it speed by your boat when you are at anchor. If you fell in, you would have a hard time swimming back to the boat.
Tomorrow looks like another good travel day – sunny, warm and south breezes. High wind and some rain is forecast for later this week but maybe we can outrun it or miss it if we get farther north.
In Passing: Daufuskie Island, Ramshorn Creek, Savannah River, Bird Island, Thunderbolt, Skidaway River, Isle of Hope, Moon River, Pigeon Island, Hammock Island, Cane Patch Creek, St Mary’s Island