CURRENT LOCATION: Anchored off the Downtown Waterfront, Beaufort, SC
32 25.668' N, 080 40.954' W

Yes, the title reads correctly, we did opt to spend some time motoring the ICW. In our defense, there was only one opening bridge in both directions, so we figured we may as well try a new inlet to go back offshore. We are currently anchored off of downtown Beaufort (pronounced Bee-Yew-Fort, as opposed to our North Carolina town by the same spelling which is pronounced Bow-Fort), staging to go out Port Royal Inlet.

The distance as a crow flies between here and our previous anchorage is 47 statute miles (not the nautical kind). Of course, Prudence is not a crow and cannot fly. And, due to the long and winding nature of the ICW here in South Carolina, we had to travel over 66 statute miles. (I use statute miles because that is how the ICW is marked). With switching tidal currents and an opening bridge at the end of the journey which has its last daylight opening at 4PM, we knew that we were going to have to split the trip into two days and anchor somewhere in the middle. Fortunately, this section of the ICW has abundant anchorage opportunities, so we would have our pick.

On day one, were up before the dawn and were in the process of picking up our two anchors in the early dawn light. The weighing of the anchors went without incident (although it is at least three times as much work to undo a Bahamian moor as it is to deal with a single anchor, because one has to let out enough rode on one to pick up the other, then pull it all back in). Sheryl and I worked as a team and got the job done, while the boat in front and the boat behind us were engaged in lifting their anchors as well. It looked like 3 boats doing some sort of dance on the still morning water.

The ICW in this section has good depths, but the channels are narrow. A little gun-shy from going aground this summer, Sheryl and I play the 'Pilot' and 'Navigator' roles (with both of us on deck) in any of the tricky spots, or when other boat traffic is around. And there was a lot of other boat traffic. A parade of cruisers, all going south, move along the narrow, winding ribbon of water at slightly different speeds, jockeying for position in a slow motion race. True speed is only achieved by the power boats which can get up on a plane, and they require special handling. When we see such a power boat, whichever one of us is playing Navigator tells the Pilot as soon as the boat has come down off its plane (near our stern). The Pilot slows our sailboat to idle speed and lets the power boat pass slowly without generating undo wake. So far, this process works well for us, and we seem to be able to communicate this 'slow pass' procedure with the power boats (most times) without even resorting to the radio. (Most of the radio communication on channel 16 deals with boats trying to coordinate this maneuver...or a slow boat owner venting his frustration with a power boater who did not slow down at all and, consequently, tossed him about with a big wake)

We covered just a little over half of the distance to Beaufort and decided to drop the anchor in the South Edisto River. It was only 2PM and we were riding a good tidal current, but about 5 miles ahead we would encounter a spot which is reported to be shallow. Since we were headed into low tide (which was just after dark), we decided it would be better to put this section off until tomorrow and pass through going into high tide. In that case, if we did go aground, we would only have to wait a few hours to be floated off (Note: tidal ranges here are around 7 feet!) It was nice to anchor in the early afternoon with plenty of time to relax. After we put out our second Bahamian mooring (practice makes perfect) in a huge anchorage where we were the first to arrive, we enjoyed a little sunshine and I even took a nap.

Day two found us up before the dawn, once again, this time with both anchors on the bow roller just as the pre-dawn light was sufficient to see the ICW markers. We did not want to waste a minute of daylight, because the weather was predicted to deteriorate over the course of the day (due to a strong cold front passing through). We navigated through the tricky shallow cuts (with a few close calls ~6 feet of water for our 5'3" draft), but made it to a wide section (the Coosaw River) without touching bottom. We had to travel about 10 miles up this wide expanse of water, with depths between 15-30 feet. Knowing what the Neuse can do in 20-knot winds, I was a little concerned about what we might find here. Fortunately, we had experienced much worse on the Neuse River in the past. Even though we were headed directly into the wind, being carried on an opposing current no less, the conditions were not bad at all. The threat of rain (and a few brief sprinkles) had us running for our foul weather gear, and it served to keep us warm on this overcast morning.

We arrived at the Lady's Island Swing Bridge in plenty of time for their 11AM opening, and after passing through, spied a number of boats at anchor in front of downtown Beaufort. Our plan was to go around the corner a few more miles and anchor in Battery Creek; however, some ominous-looking clouds on the horizon made us both quickly agree that this may be a better place to spend the night. We first tried a spot in the middle of the mass of boats, but when we indicated that we planned to put out two anchors, the boat next to ours shouted over that they were on only one (guess that must have been his snubber line I saw extending from the bow with the chain). Since the first boats to arrive dictate how others will anchor around them, we had no choice but to follow suit.

We pulled up the one anchor we had already dropped and decided that we would head to the far reaches of the anchorage. There we could put out one anchor, plenty of scope, and hope for the best in the tidal shifts (fewer boats to bounce off of if things didn't go well). As we finished setting our big CQR, a gentleman named Andy from the neighboring boat, S/V Saniti came over in his dinghy to ask a favor. He had just finished anchoring and wanted to take his kids and wife to shore in the dinghy. "The young ones really need time off the boat," he indicated. Would we keep an eye on his boat to make certain that it doesn't start floating away? We said, "Sure, but the best we can do is give you a call if it starts dragging because we don't plan to inflate our dinghy tonight." After we wrote down his cell phone number, conversation turned to our anchoring conditions, and he, too, expressed the desire to put out two anchors. But, alas, we cannot buck the trend with all these single anchor swingers around us. Let's just hope that everybody stays put when the winds pick up later tonight.

That selective memory I spoke of several postings ago must be kicking in, because Sheryl and I are actually looking forward to going offshore again. No crowded anchorages, no opening bridges, and no shallow water out there. If the weather is kind to us, we may just write the next blog entry anchored somewhere in the state of Florida. Stay tuned to find out, dear Reader.