The photo is of a unique downspout on a Savannah home.
From Charleston, we headed down the ICW to Beaufort (pronounced Bew-fort, as opposed to Bow-fort in North Carolina). It was a bit longer than we expected, as we managed to time the tides so that we were fighting the current all day, adding about an hour and a half to our trip. And in these days of short daylight hours, it means getting to your destination early. So we were just setting the anchor in Factory Creek as the sun set. Next day, we decided to make a short day of it, so we took our newly-repaired dinghy for its first spin over to Beaufort. Beaufort S.C. is a beautiful old south town with huge old southern style homes overlooking the river, and streets that are lined with Live Oak draped with Spanish moss. Of course, we forgot the camera! In town, we met some friends who were anchored as well, and discussed plans. With cold weather in the offing, Seabird decided to stay in Beaufort at the marina where they could use their electric heater while Bruce fixed their diesel heater. But Strathspey decided to head out as we did, and we sailed down the Beaufort River and across Port Royal Sound and past Hilton Head Island with its impressive, and sometimes impressively tasteless homes. It is one of South Carolina's first islands to be developed, and it is now fully developed, some would say overly-so. We thought about anchoring close and taking our bikes ashore, but there is no public dock, so unless we stayed at a marina, we could not land. So we carried on to Bull Creek, where we dropped the anchor in seclusion just a few miles from Hilton Head. The forecast was for a windy night, but as far as we could tell, it was flat calm. However, in the morning, the wind did come up to its forecast 20-25 knots, so we raised the anchor and headed in for Savannah, about 20 miles away. This area of the ICW, although protected from high waves, has some "cuts", or man-made connections between rivers. And we are getting into an area where the tides (and currents) are more like PEI, with 7' tides not unusual. While the cuts are usually deep, the strong currents cause shoaling at the entrances and exits, so it can be tricky. But we were fortunate that high tide was in mid-morning, so we were able to transit them with plenty of water. At Savannah, the ICW crosses the Savannah River, which is the route that all shipping takes up to the busy port of Savannah. Although we crossed the river without incident, we were very surprised at how small the river was. It is really very impressive that not only can huge container ships traverse the river, but that they can actually meet and pas in this very narrow river. But we had no problem crossing, until we hit the first ICW marker. According to our electronic charts, we were well below the narrow dredged channel. So we hurriedly decided that we had to go by the marks, so carried on. Then we had a radio message from Strathspey, coming behind us, questioning if we had passed the marks on the correct side. After a few seconds of intense conversation, we were convinced we were right and carried on. And it turns out we were. Both our electronic charts were wrong, but in different ways at exactly the same spot! This reinforces our rule that what your eyes see trumps all. After that, our remaining trip to Thunderball Marina was uneventful. At Thunderball, we tied up at Thunderball Marina, where Palmer Johnson run a boatyard that accommodates yachts up to 300' on their lifts. We saw some huge yachts, both motor and sail, up on the hard for servicing. But they also attend to the likes of us, and deliver a daily paper and 6 "Krispy Kream" donuts to the boat each morning! Arriving at noon, we settled in and headed off on the bikes to the nearest grocery store, a "Piggly Wiggly"... I'm not kidding. That's the name of a major chain of grocery stores here. That having been done, we settled in and spent a quiet night in spite of the 40 knot northerlies howling around us. Next morning (Friday), we got up and met the people on "Were Playing", a Catalina 42' from Midland Ontario. After a short chat, we were offered a drive into Savannah, about 12 miles away (Savannah's waterfront offers no opportunities for small boats like us). In town, we spent the day walking around this historic city. The combination of its association with the cotton trade that created huge wealth to the few plantation owners and cotton traders, and the impact of the Civil War (known in the south, still today, as "The War of Northern Aggression") have created a really unique city. For lunch, we pursued our quest for Shrimp & Grits, this time with "Boiled Collards", kind of like boiled beet greens. SNOB, in Charleston is still the winner. The weather has been cold, another "Cold Front from Canada", but with the Espar, we are fine, but will continue to push south. Back aboard, we tucked in for a cool night, planning our trip to warmer waters ahead. Next stop, Cumberland Island, about 3 days away.