Ok.......
Continuing to catch up on blog posts, now cruising on our own!

We were up with the sun, enjoyed breakfast & headed southward, traveling alone, on our own for the first time! We left Winyah bay and entered the ICW as the weather window had closed for an outside hop. Our trip started out uneventful and we enjoyed a fantastic trip down the ICW all the way to McClellanville SC. McClellanville is an area that was notorious for shoaling and as it was low tide we were in skinny waters! We navigated 3/4 of the way past McClellanville with no problems, then....we ran aground! We backed off the shoal and continued, warily watching our depth instruments, picking our way through many shoaled areas. As we draw 6' and our instruments were showing 4.5'-5' foot depths we knew we were plowing our way through silt, luckily the tide had changed and was now rising. We continued "bumping" and progressing our way through numerous shallow areas for the next several miles and finally anchored at Whiteside Creek.
NOTE TO SELF: Plan hops so as not to travel through skinny waters!
NOAA weather was predicting high winds from the SE for the next 12 hrs so to prepare for the predicted high winds that night as I anchored I deployed an extra 50' of anchor rhode. Whiteside creek was not a perfect anchorage and offered little to protect us from the SE. We made the best of it and settled in, enjoying cocktails, dinner, and a beautiful sunset. As navigating through skinny waters today was very intense we were both exhausted! We checked our charts, plotted tomorrows route, checked the weather and then turned in for the night. That night as predicted the winds kicked up to 30 to 40 knts, making for a rough night for us both! We were up all night verifying our location, and checking that our anchor did not drag. Finally at 04:00 hrs, unable to sleep, totally exhausted and yet full of energy we decided to cook breakfast and prepare for the days trip to Charleston SC.

Our 2nd day traveling alone promised to be as interesting as our first!
After finishing breakfast, we prepared to set out, reviewed charts, weather and performed daily engine checks & maintenance. Finally the winds died down some, but were still 15-20 knts. We had the anchor up at first light and we were on our way facing our 2nd day alone as cruisers! We continued down the ICW missing the scheduled opening time of the Ben Sawyer bridge by 2-3 minutes, not a good start! The operator would not open until the next scheduled opening as we were the only boat requesting an opening! We waited doing the bridge dance and avoiding the many shoals which were along both sides.
After hanging out waiting for the bridge to open we continued on out into Charleston bay which by this time was like a washing machine, the wind was blowing against the tide. We entered the bay with waves breaking over the bow & into the cockpit! After turning to adjust our point of approach to the waves we continued on into the South Channel and into Wappo Creek. Luckily for us the bridge operator there must have been having a good day as she opened the the bridge for us as we approached!
We passed Wappo Creek Bridge, bid the operator good day and entered Elliott Cut where the tide was really ripping threatening to push us into the rocks along the shore! Transiting this short stretch of water with the conditions we encountered was really a challenge, WOW what an exciting transit, no place for a slow moving keel-boat! Not looking forward to doing that again!
NOTE TO SELF: plan Elliott Cut to be with the tide on trip north! Again, today after our passage through the two bridges, Charleston Bay and Elliot Cut we were both totally exhausted and just wanted to stop and decompress.
As the tide was now against us, we decided to stay overnight at St. Johns Marina. The marina was just past Elliott's Cut on the Stono River. Taking a slip turned out to be a good choice as I had revved up the engine to very high rpm's to maintain steerage through Elliott cut which exacerbated our rear transmission seal leak. Captain Muttley also agreed and promptly made the best of his shore leave even before we had finished tying up to our slip!
We docked next to an Australian couple traveling in a 44' Lagoon cat & enjoyed some nice company for the evening!