Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
30 April 2013 | It's William's Birthday
Battery Creek to Ashepoo River - 23 miles
The Maritime Defence League were on manoeuvres in Battery Creek this morning with hundreds of yards of orange tubing snaked between two boats - possibly some kind of recovery system for floating debris or spills.
It was time to move and although the sky was overcast there was hardly a zephyr of wind and sails remained tightly furled.
Our first bridge of the day had no tidal board - a worry, as it's high tide - some speedy online research via our Active Captain website gave us some 'do it yourself' info posted by the bridge contractor i.e. ' if the water level is below the 4th board there is at least 65ft clearance' - fair enough - under we go with room to spare. Another mile on is Ladies Island Swing Bridge on a half-hourly opening schedule but no worries here as we join another yacht waiting to pass.
We wend our way through remote open saltmarshes - Brickyard Creek, into the Coosaw River then into the Ashepoo river and our anchorage for the evening. We saw no-one underway but two boats are already in this isolated spot when we arrive.
Today is William's birthday - he's had a few e-cards and greetings from friends which arrived first thing and tonight's champagne has been cooling for several hours.
As we drink a toast to another great year the evening birdsong begins and the noisy chorus of marsh frogs, small and well hidden in the wetlands, continues long into the evening.
I am now below deck preparing the feast when a hushed call from William has me creeping up the stairway into the cockpit. There, just off the stern of Alexia, is a baby alligator floating, staring at us.
I grab the camera taking a snap just before he glides away - without a ripple he disappears into the tall grasses edging the bank. Unfortunately, my light setting was wrong but you can see his eye highlighted by the flash.