Location: Beaufort, SC
Mile: 536.2
Co-ords: 32 25' 47.7" N
080 40' 28.4" W

Today was one of those days when everything seems to go just right. We were up at 6.00am after a sound night's sleep. We were pulling up the anchor as the sun rose and headed out of the creek, back on to the Coosaw River. It was cool until the sun got high enough to warm us but it was one of those clear, bluebird days. We made slow progress up to the headwaters of the river against the ebb current - but that was OK as we had factored in slower speed than usual. We then headed down Brickyard Creek where the current reversed as we headed into the Beaufort River. At this point our speed doubled and we arrived without incident at the Ladys Island Swing Bridge just in time for the eleven o'clock opening. As soon as we were through we turned to starboard and arrived at the Downtown Marina. The perfect ending to this lovely trip was that we had timed it just right to arrive at slack current so our docking was smooth and stress free! We were tied up by 11.30. We were given a warm welcome at this lovely marina which lies right at the heart of this wonderful town. We were offered the use of the marina's courtesy car so we quickly drove over to the supermarket for a few provisions. This was very timely as I was running dangerously low on Schweppes Tonic for my G & T's! To crown it all, our mail was waiting at the post office - it's always nice when the system works.

Once our few tasks were accomplished we strolled around town - enjoying the sights. Once again this is a beautiful southern town with lovely restored old homes on the waterfront. The streets were lined with huge Live Oaks covered with Spanish Moss. I have finally satisfied my curiosity about the Live Oaks - they are so called because they are evergreen oak trees. As they do not lose their leaves, they appear "live" in the winter. They are quite obviously true oaks as they have lots of acorns all around them on the ground. These acorns are a dark brown, almost ebony, colour. Spanish moss, or Tillandsia usneoides, is a little more complicated. It is not a moss at all but being a bromeliad, is related to the pineapple (isn't the internet amazing?). It is an epiphytic plant and does not harm the trees it grows on, rather it just hangs there and gets all the nutrients it needs from the air. It used to be used to stuff mattresses, hence the origin of the term "don't let the bed-bugs bite" as there would be bugs in it!

We think we may spend another day here before moving on to Hilton Head - it's a tough life!

It's great to see that some fellow Norton's sailors are reading the blog.
Hi Chris and Davina - we think we may be in St Augustine in about 2 - 3 weeks. Are you going there?
Chris, from Beau Jouet - our draft is somewhere between 5'2" and 5'7" - we are not exactly sure as the waterline lowered several inches once we put all our stuff aboard!