We had a nice ride from Georgetown to St James Marina....timing was perfect through McClellanville as we hit it at high tide....never saw less than 11 feet...with a 6 ft tide that means 5 feet at low! We hit the Ben Sawyer Bridge section with about 5 ft of tide which is good because at low tide it would have been around 4.5 ft....We're getting good at this thing after 6 trips down and back! Even crossing Charleston Bay proved uneventful except a massive wake from a sportfish reminding us why we dislike them so much! No wind and no waves made for a nice ride across the harbor, except for previous mentioned sportfish! We skipped staying in Charleston proper because it is always crowded and hard to find a slip, plus the current roars through there and you have to get there around slack tide. We headed up through Elliot Cut fighting a 5 kt current for a quarter of a mile! It's much better when the current is with you through here! Our destination for the night was St Johns Yacht Club about 2 miles from Charleston just off the ICW. We hadnt stayed there since Hurricane Matthew came through 2 years ago and trashed the place. Its all better now with new mega pilings and new t head docks. The current can be tricky but we got in with no problem. We had dinner on board as someone had taken the courtesy car for the evening! Hey, we're saving money! We left the Marina at 8:30 to time the low spots between Charleston and Beaufort. Fenwick cut is a notorious low spot but once again, we hit with high tide....an extra 7 ft here! All the sounds were very flat with no wind or waves and we actually got a pretty good tidal push all day! Sometimes you get lucky! It is so hard to plan for current and tide because of all the many cuts that take you from one river to the next. Each river can be running in opposite directions for current! Like I said, sometimes you get lucky. Brian on Mar A Lago used to laugh at me for all my wrong current predictions as we travelled together! I'm getting better at it Brian! We pulled into Ladys Island Marina, one of our favs, with Dockmaster Mary. She always has a spot for us even if she has turned others away. This is what happens at most marinas that we have stayed at over the years...they know we are good folks and like to keep us happy! The marina is just outside downtown Beaufort with a courtesy car and conveniently located near a Publix and a short drive to Walmart. Donna enjoys walking in to town...about a mile. We are here for 3 days because we like it, and some bad weather coming today Friday. I have been dealing with a bad depth finder problem which is not good in the shallow parts of the ICW. I've done some things to fix it but we shall see as we move on tomorrow. In fact, I found a used replacement plotter on EBAY which should help I think. We wont get it until St Augustine in a week. Fingers crossed for now. Wed night when we got here, we went to the Fillin' Station next door for $4.00 hamburger night! Somehow Donna confused the guy and we ended up with 3 plates of a hamburget, hotdog, baked beans and potato salad! You dont complain to the cook...hes like the soup Nazi on Seinfeld! You get what you get, when you get it....all cooked well done! We love it. The Fillin' Station is a classic Dive bar but very fun. A lot of Marina folks go every Wed.. Tonight is steak night...$12.00 for a huge steak with all the trimmins! Made it an easy choice to stay Friday. Last night they had a customer appreciation night at the very cool Grayco Hardware store nearby. Free beer, wine and sandwiches....another free night of food! We kinda stumbled in to it on our car trip to Walmart for groceries with the razy courtesy car. Lets just say you need you use your arm for turn signals among other idiosyncrasies! These courtesy cars always have a story! Lol. Today we are getting our botton cleaned by a diver to make sure bottom growth is not a problem for our sonar. Also if we need zincs changed, he will do that too. Just part of the maintenance protical as we travel. Donna is off to shop downtown while I watch the diver. Tomorrow we are off to Isle of Hope and Geaorgia. Our tour through the Georgia grasslands begins! Lastly, Ive caught a cold! Boo! Until next time! One of the pictures is Marys dog Squimo, dressed as a UPS driver! Too funny.

Fair winds and Calm Seas