The Second Half of South Carolina
After waiting out Tropical Storm “Sandy” at the Isle of Palms Marina for a week, we again headed south on the Intra-Coastal Waterway (ICW). We stayed a couple days longer at the Isle of Palms Marina as the winds remained elevated (about 25 to 30 knots) even after “Sandy” had passed. We are one of those sailboats that do not like to go out if it is too windy.
The ICW coming into The Isle of Palms Marina
What did we do for a week at the Isle of Palms Marina? One day we did some boat maintenance projects. Another day we did some provisioning. We took long walks everyday on the lovely beach here. The last day we took a bus to downtown Charleston to take a self-guided tour of the historic area. Charleston, SC is a very nice town that is worth a longer visit. We will certainly be back.
The Battery Area in Historic Charleston, SC
Since we lost so much time waiting out the storm, we have spent the past few days trying to make as many miles each day as possible. We passed up a couple of good towns that we normally would have stopped such as Beaufort (pronounced Bewford), SC and Isle of Hope, SC.
This leg of our trip took us to the following stops:
Mile 456.5 to Mile 495.7 (39.1 miles): We fueled up and departed the Isle of Palms Marina at 0830 hours and anchored out in a very nice spot called Tom Point Creek about 30 miles past Charleston. There were 4 other boats anchored out in this creek with us. The nighttime temperature was a little chilly (high 40s). Our vessel does not have any heat, but we had several blankets and were fine. This creek was very different from most other creeks in this area. Usually the creeks are very wide, but much of it is too shallow for a sailboat. Tom Point Creek is very thin (about 150 feet wide) but very deep (about 25 feet); and the depth carries all the way from shore to shore. The current was pretty strong here (the tidal change is 7.5 feet), but we had our “Sentinel Line” attached to the anchor line to be sure we would have no anchor problems.
Anchored in Tom Point Creek at ICW Mile 495.7
Mile 495.7 to Mile 535.9 (40.2 miles): We left Tom Point Creek at 0820 hours and motored the whole day. In South Carolina there are many large islands separated by large creeks and rivers. The ICW route goes through many of these creeks and rivers. As such there are many outlets to the ocean. This means that every few miles the current direction changes. At slack water our vessel travels about 5.5 knots. When the current is at our back, we travel about 7 knots. When the current is against us, we travel about 4 knots. These currents determine how far we get each day. Generally, we try to make 40 Statute Miles each day.
On this day we did not make the last opening at the bridge just before Beaufort, SC, so we stayed at Lady’s Island marina just before the bridge ($1.50 per foot including electric). This marina was located such that we could walk about one-half mile to a grocery store to pick up a few items.
Mile 535.9 to Mile 583.2 (47.3 miles): At 0830 hours we departed the Lady’s Island Marina. On the weekends many of the bridges in this area open upon request, so we did not have to time our departure to pass through the downtown Beaufort, SC bridge on the fixed schedule that exists on weekdays. We just radioed the bridge tender as we were leaving the marina dock and the bridge was open when we arrived allowing us to pass without any delay. This easy bridge passing and the fact that much of the current was at our back this day allowed us to travel further than usual.
Pelicans on a Buoy in SC
In case anyone is wondering how fast 5 knots is there is a way you can try it out yourself. Sometime go to a mall parking lot on a Sunday morning before the mall opens. Stop your car, put your car in “Drive” and then take your foot off the brake pedal. Your car’s idle speed is about how fast our boat travels.
This evening we wanted to watch the Alabama-LSU football game so we took a slip at the Thunderbolt Marina ($1.75 per foot plus electric). This marina was more expensive than we had been paying, but we chose it because they had a sports bar two blocks away.
This marina had more large mega-yachts than I have ever seen in one place. And when I say mega-yachts, I mean 200-foot yachts which we were told cost over $30 million. The marina squeezed us in between two of the smaller yachts in the marina. They were only 70 feet long. Since it was available, we topped off our fuel tank at this stop.
On this day we passed over the Savannah River which is the border between South Carolina and Georgia. So this was our first stop in Georgia.
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