Over the Bounding Main

Our goal today was to travel from Georgetown to Charleston, a distance of about 68 miles (about 10-11 hours by boat). The problem is that there are several shallow areas along the ICW in this region and these must be passed at or near high tide. At low tide you'll simply go aground and have to wait for the rising tide to lift you out...which will take several hours. Ifyou get stuck on a falling tide you'll have to wait many hours for the tide to fall and rise again...shooting the entire day.

Someone suggested that perhaps we should go "outside", which means out the Georgetown inlet to the ocean, head south till the Charleston inlet and then back in again...we looked at the charts and even with the extra distance of going in and out the inlets it's still 68 miles (a direct path rather than winding rivers)

So we did

We cast off at 6am - dawn - about 45 minutes before sunrise but enough light to see well.

Leaving Georgetown at dawn

heading out towards the inlet, following Island Spirit

 While in  the inlet we passed two ocean going tugs moving a large barge (they said to Connecticut)

Ocean going tugs. Moon Dance and Chris-Lea (Rich Fieldhouse's boat) getting ready to pass

We were going along pretty good down the inlet, the current was with us at 3 knots, giving us a speed of nearly 9 knots over the ground and we were feeling good till we hit the ocean..then we encountered a 15 knot breeze going the opposite direction of the 3 knot current which set up impressive waves...We were tossed and turned, bucked up and down but the boats just kept going and all I could do was hang on and steer..we couldn't turn around cause we might capsize in these waves...the only thing to do is face them head on...so we did for about 1/2 hour, with waves crashing over the deck, the boat dropping from one wave onto another,  till we passed a jetty that was a wall along one side of the inlet and could turn south  and away from the inlet current..it immediately calmed down

There was still an ocean current (about 1-2 knots) so we were going nearly 7 knots over the ground which is quite good..we were about 3 miles out and had an enjoyable ride down the coast. The wind was in the same direction as the current so there were only the usual ocean swells.

As we neared Charleston a pod of Dolphins came near out boats but they were feeding and weren't interested in us. I tried to get some photos, but they came out poorly

you can almost make out some dolphins near the top of the photo

We arrived at the Charleston inlet at3 pm, 9 hours after setting out but the harbor is so large it took us another hour to get to the marina which is near downtown.

Approaching Charleston, Island Spirit leading the way

A vising aircraft carrier in the harbor

The marina (Charleston Maritime Center) is very nice with very helpful staff (4 people helped me get in and tied up). I hosed down the boat to get some of the salt off and then we all gathered on Hayden and Radeen's boat to celebrate my successful single-handing trip from Baltimore to Charleston. 607 miles, 100 hours of engine time (need to change the oil tomorrow)..all safe and sound and most enjoyable.

My flotilla partners, Hayden and Radeen on Island Spirit and Bob and Nina on Moondance, are great teacher, but in what they did and how they did it and with the advice they were very free with...I learned a lot

But perhaps the most important thing I learned that it is the voyage, and not the destination that is important. They taught me not to rush through the trip, hurrying from one point to another, but to stop and enjoy the towns, the people, the anchorages, everything..great lesson...enjoy and value the voyage!

I'll spend a few days here in Charleston, attending to some tasks on the boat, touring a bit, enjoying some dinners, and then I'll fly home to baltimore for the weekend and for Ben's evening at the Enoch Pratt Library which promises to be great fun, made even better because Ben and Tonya and Arya and Asher will be in baltimore for the weekend as well!

Then I"ll fly back to Charleston onTuesday to continue the trip to Miami. Bruce Gregory (and perhaps a friend of his) will join me and we'll leave either Tuesday evening or Wednesday for a 4 day ocean voyage to Coconut Grove, Miami, where a slip awaits for the winter..