Passage - Buckhead Creek 31°49.16N 81°08.96W to Daufuskie Public Dock, Daufuskie, SC
8:53 AM Underway
2:25 PM Docked Port Side to Daufuskie Public Dock, Daufuskie, SC
7.3 engine hours 39 miles

Sometimes you don’t get where you are going. We had planned on staying at Isle Of Hope Marina near Savannah, but they were full. Marinas are usually not full. Exception was Florida where the bad weather kept many boats from going to the Bahamas. At this time of year, maybe, just as we are headed north, so are many other cruisers. Anyhow, Isle Of Hope was full and we continued northward. Of course we had timed everything with low tides in Georgia. We negotiated the famous Hell Gate without bumping ground. I was showing only two feet under the keel in places. I did bump somewhere else in the middle of the channel where a sand bar had built up. Eleven feet to no feet, as we slid across the sand bar and back to 11 feet. There was no warning other than the water boiling in front on me in a line. However, with all the brown roiling water from the strong tidal currents, and the 6’ and 7’ tide swings, it’s not possible to read the water like the clear Florida Keys waters. I wondered why there were no “notices to mariners” or active captain reports of the sand bar. We came across another (sail)boat that had run aground hard and was waiting for the 6’ tide to raise him up. He had gone on the wrong side of a temporary marker that appeared to be off station. It WAS in the correct place. I was in 19 feet of water and could have thrown him the Gray Poupon. He called me on the radio and said he was fine but couldn’t believe the temporary marker because it was so close to shore.

We crossed the Savannah River and were in South Carolina! Daufuskie Island has a popular restaurant and a public dock for diners and others arriving by boat. We tied up and in about one hour the sailboat that had gotten stuck came by us and waved. We took a walk to stretch our legs and found the restaurant was closed on Monday’s. So, we decided to stay at the dock for the night.

Today’s picture is some Daufuskie property we are considering.