We left Charleston yesterday and wound our way down the ICW, along rivers and cuts (literally a canal 'cut' between rivers to link them up) with names such as South Edisto, Ashepoo, Stono, and Dawho. Beautiful cruising through this area, grassy marshlands and stands of cedar, cypress and palm trees, dotted here and there by huge mansions with boardwalks that sometimes stretch out hundreds of yards to the river banks to lead to their boat houses on stilts.

We have just arrived in Beaufort (pronounced BYEW-ferd), another historic city with plenty to see.

Our friends in Fiere Allure have now joined the "Muddy Bottom" Club, having touched bottom earlier today, ironically just after passing us some navigational information about the channel ahead, which they then apparently declined to follow themselves...we gave them a good teasing about it... No damage done. The locals call these "skinny waters"....