Impulse Cruising Again

The day started early as we woke to an alarm and left the dock to pass through Ladies Island Bridge at 6:45 (see photo). Some bridges have restricted hours, which means that although they “open on demand,” at other times, they are closed for two hours at a time for commuter traffic. So, we needed to get through this one before it was closed for two hours at 7 am. (This gets to be a big problem a bit further north, so keep reading!) The winds were lower than the past few days which made this long and at times laborious passage doable. Not much to see besides marsh along the way. In several spots Bill had to slow to a crawl as I read the depths and he navigated across very “skinny” water. We had leftover shrimp salad and cole slaw for lunch and as it was good as is everything you eat on a boat - kind of like camping! As the afternoon wore on our surroundings were more and more “civilized” – houses, docks, and bridges to check out. We finally reached St. Johns Yacht Harbor at 4:15 and fueled up and pumped out before taking a slip. Bill maneuvered expertly (as usual) and we tied up. Molly and Nancy were ready to “jump ship,” so we carried their bags up to the office as we registered. (I don’t think they were anxious to leave, but they were packed up when we docked!) One of the dockhands gave us a lift on the golf cart there which is needed since the little bridge that makes access to the parking lot easy has been out of commission for two years. Carl and Nikki arrived with two cars, and we packed one up and sent them off as Bill and I headed back to shut down nav instruments and clean ourselves up. (Docking always drops one’s hygiene down a peg!) We headed for Carl and Nikki’s house after cleaning up and had a relaxing wine time and wonderful take out Chinese dinner. Some after dinner drinks, and we were all good. Time to head back to the boat in Nancy’s car. It was wonderful having Nancy and Molly on the boat - hope they enjoyed it as well! We will all get together tomorrow afternoon before we depart to head northward on Tuesday.