Our Patience Is Rewarded

Beaufort to Charleston  |  32.7 Hours  |  227 Miles   

The day had come, and we were more than ready to wake up before sunrise. With five layers on top, and two on the bottom (snow pants for extra credit) I was on deck at 7:20 to begin the process of removing our power cord and web of dock lines. The morning was beautiful as the sun shone its warm first light on the bridge. The seemingly ever-present Beaufort wind was noticeably absent. Portions of the river were smooth as glass. As Barry eased us off the dock, the friendly cormorant claimed a spot on our bow rail and made the turn with us. 

We passed the bright red fishing boats docked in Morehead City as I stowed the fenders and coiled the lines. By the time we advanced to Beaufort Inlet, I had peeled down to one layer. The waves were calm as we made the turn south in the Atlantic. We had an almost straight path to Charleston. The "almost" exception being that we had to avoid the tip of Frying Pan Shoal. We set a waypoint just east of the shoal then sat back and enjoyed the smooth ride. Barry commented that this was, "better than the ICW any day" as we enjoyed breakfast in the pilothouse. The miles and hours both ticked away. A following sea with long period was accompanied by a slight breeze that clocked from our starboard beam at 8:00 to port bow by 4:00. Dolphins frequently jumped into our path. We even had a stink bug emerge from wherever it was hiding to soak up some warm rays. (He was caught and released outside.) As our path took us away from shore, we lost our internet connection. The rolling waves diminished in the late afternoon. Really our only complaint was about the two hours moving directly into the path of the setting sun. There were no clouds in the sky to diffuse the brightness or enhance the sunset.

I walked the deck to find an interesting shot of the sunset and found one of its refection in Crossroads' window. The orange shades stayed for a while, and we enjoyed lasagna as light transitioned to darkness. Our navigation instruments were progressively set to night mode. The repaired navigation light was glowing green. It was only 6:30, but it felt like midnight. 

We arrived at our Frying Pan Shoal waypoint around 8:00. Once clear of the shallows that extend from the North Carolina barrier islands, a slight course adjustment was made to the mouth of Charleston Harbor. We also slowed down a bit to make our arrival coincide with slack current. Internet returned for about five minutes and we happily checked the texts and emails that loaded. The moon remained bright and was with us most of the night, thankfully lighting up a horizon. We marveled at the brightness of Venus and Saturn in front of us. Ship traffic was minimal so we tracked our progress by the passing of lights on shore. The wind and waves built for a few hours making for a choppy and wet ride. Daybreak arrived with a monochrome gray-up. The waves calmed and multiple showers crossed the area. 

We arrived at the entrance to Charleston Harbor early and had to kill two hours before making our way to the dock. The goal was to arrive at slack current. These were definitely the longest two hours of the our trip. Several small squalls passed over us and the wind gusted to 30 knots, piling up short choppy waves. We didn't like it, but we had to wait.  

Finally 1:00 arrived and we made the turn into Charleston, a journey that takes three hours. Along the way we encountered dozens of dolphins feeding, jumping, and playing in our bow wave. Departing Charleston and passing on our port was the Hong Kong-flagged Zim Spinel. This cargo ship, which is about three football fields long, is a year old and traveling to Boston at only 87% capacity. At 2:30 we moved inside the breakwater and the waves disappeared. By our 4:00 arrival at Safe Harbor Charleston City Marina, the once-strong current had also disappeared. We eased alongside the new section of the Mega Dock and had a textbook tie up. Our patience out in the Atlantic paid off with a stress-free end to our journey. Thanks to the rain, I was able to give Crossroads a good wipe-down. The clouds parted just enough to provide an interesting sunset. Tonight we're excited to be further south than we made it all of last year. We still have, however, many miles to go. We'll stay here in Charleston for a few days to take care of a few maintenance issues and sit through the big cold spell that will roll in after tomorrow's pleasantly warm day.