Passage Sea Pines - Port Royal Landing Marina
25 SM 4.4 Engine Hours
8:40 AM Underway
12:33 PM Docked port side face dock

And, as I call Port Royal Landing Marina for docking instructions I also hear a call from a boat named Grey Ghost. That boat is friends that we met in 2009 very soon after we bought our boat. Charlie and Mary Beth were just starting out on their first cruise after retirement and pulled into Deltaville Marina, where we kept Liquid Therapy. The last time we saw them was 2015 at PORT ROYAL MARINA. How weird is that that we would show up at the same marina together 3 years later? We got together for dinner at the back Porch Restaurant at the marina where we also had eaten with them those years ago.

The next day, Thursday, we both pulled out for a common anchorage.
Thursday, April 11, 2018
Passage Port Royal Landing Marina - Church Creek Anchorage
50 SM 8.3 Engine Hours
8:01 AM Underway
3:03 PM Anchored 32º42.53’N 80º10.92’W

We didn’t dingy over to each others boat as neither of us wanted to go through the trouble of launching our respective dinghy.

This morning, Friday, Grey Ghost left the anchorage before we did.
Friday, April 123, 2018
Passage Church Creek Anchorage - Santee South River
69 SM 10.9 Engine Hours
8:04 AM Underway
5:19 PM Anchored 33º09.33’N 79º19.94’W

We passed them about 3PM. They anchored early. We continued on to Santee River South for our anchorage. Charleston Harbor was overload with ships, and 264 sailboats in a race.

Friday the 13th, supposedly a bad luck day. And, I’m sure that’s why we ran aground today. First time I’ve gotten stuck and couldn’t get unstuck this entire trip. We have lightly touched a few times when I was suspecting we would. But today I got surprised. Very low tides and a boat wanted to pass. I pulled over to the right a bit for him to pass my port side. I had 3’ of water under the boat. Not much, but I only had about 5-6’ in the middle of the channel. The McClellanville area of the ICW is famous for having almost no water in the channel at low tide. We had scrapped bottom coming through here headed south at low tide. But at least today the tide was off low about two feet more than last time we came through. So, the guy going by me calls me on the radio to tell me he was from Virginia. That was enough of a distraction for me to venture too far to the right and RUN AGROUND. And, I couldn’t back off. The boat was pretty much parallel to the shoreline. My boat backs to starboard because propeller torque. So, reverse would have the effect of pulling my stern even further ashore. I tried various tricks but it looks Like we would be here until the tide would lift us free. At least the wind was trying to blow us into deeper water. A boat came by and his wake rocked to boat. That was a good sign. We were floating somewhat. The tides at 6 to 8’ along here. So, it would not take a very long time for the boat to rise out of the mud. The mud can cause another problem. If can block the water flow needed to cool the engine and exhaust. I kept the motor running and checked the exhaust flow. Everything was fine. The water pickup is high on the hull, so I didn’t feel we were gong to need to shut the motor down. A brief time later a trawler came by and his wake was enough to lift us off the mud briefly for the propeller to bite and get us moving again. YEA, we are back underway. I ran the engine back up to normal speed and check the temperature gauge to see if there is going to be an overheating issue. The temperature is good and I check the outflow of the exhaust and that is good as well. All is well as they say. We only lost 14 minutes. Pretty good for a grounding.

We are anchored in a very pretty river with nice grasslands all around. Headed to Georgetown, SC for Saturday and Sunday.

Today’s picture is a few of the sailboats in the race.