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Our evening on the hook in Awendaw Creek was peaceful. We lounged
around the boat after enjoying a good meal - small filets and loaded baked
potato we cooked on the gas grill - and then watched a video before retiring.
Things changed right before sunrise. The predicted 20 knot winds from the
south west caused lines on our small mast to vibrate preventing further sleep.
We began the day with coffee and lounged around listening to weather reports
when Rosa captured this beautiful sunrise. The two dense cloud banks in
the distance makes the sun appear as a rectangle.
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| Weather reports were mixed. The high winds were predicted to last most of
the day, but the overcast skies were predicted to clear midday, with a small
chance of showers in the early morning. Essentially the same forecast was
predicted for the next three days, so we chose to travel, deal with the weather
in the canals, and consider stopping along the way if Charleston harbor is too
rough. We considered waiting for higher tide before leaving but once we
saw one of the sailboats - named Phoenix - head south we also prepared to raise
anchor. The tidal range has been increasing as we've traveled south. It
was about 4 ft in Awendaw Creek, and these pictures show the exposed shoreline at low tide. The water was up around the grasses yesterday. With the deep water at the
entrance, sometimes about 30 ft, to the anchorage I was not concerned but I made
sure to keep in the center as we rounded the turn in the creek to enter the main
ICW chanel. We encountered many similar scenes of exposed channel bottom
or exposed shoaling on both sides of the ICW heading south.
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Our cruise through this remote section of the ICW was similar to Sunday.
We saw areas of limited development and some real nice large homes, but mostly
it was wetlands. We crossed several streams that were inlets from
the Atlantic and were often able to cruise at 7 knots. More and more as we
approached the "Isle of Palms" area we saw these two triangular shaped objects
to the south west.
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| By the time this picture was shot we knew they were the main towers for the Charleston's new
Ashley River Bridge, a truely beautiful structure. This shot also captures the marina and aircraft carrier "Yorktown" at
Patriots Point in Mt. Pleasant SC. As you see in these pictures, the skies cleared just before we left the
canals to enter Charleston harbor where the predicted high seas (with small
craft warnings) turned out the be 1 ft. waves.
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We cruised into the SW wind towards the Ashley River to the south of Charleston with a perfect long
distance view of the Charleston skyline. We all
know from history class in school of the major role Charleston played as America
was founded and it's role in the war for independence and the civil war.
Many of the buildings you see along the "Battery" - a seawall that protects this
area of the city - date to those wars.
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We cruised into the Ashley River to the Charleston City Marina where we tied
up inside the "Mega Dock", a 1500+ ft. floating fuel and dockage pier that helps
protect boats from the waves and wakes of the river. It's a rather new
structure this large modern marina added for additional capacity to handle real
large yachts. One 157 ft. beauty named THEMIS is currently tied on the
river side of the pier With the warmer weather - 70+ drgrees - we headed to
the showers and changed into lighter clothes - I choose a shout sleeve golf
shirt to relax for the afternoon waiting on the delivery of a new dinghy.
Before walking to a nearby restaurant for dinner, Rosa captured another
magnificent sunset over the southern shore of the Ashley river.
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