Charleston to Awendaw Creek | 5 Hours | 30 Miles
With so much to see and do in Charleston, it was difficult to leave. Our time was up, however, as the MegaDock was booked up and unable to extend our stay. My morning began by watching the sunrise from the pilot house. I did my stretches and prepared the boat for departure. The early arrival of American Cruise Lines' Independence gave us all a bit of a show. While it is small for a cruise ship (51 rooms/100 passengers), it is large for the MegaDock. It settled into the large vacant stretch of dock, two boat lengths behind us. Jaxon and Cooper took me for a nice long walk before our departure. We will be at anchor for the next few days and all of us wanted to stretch our legs while we waited on a slack current. The marina staff has been working hard for two days to create enough room for Independence. Some of that space came at the expense of open area between boats. We were packed in like sardines and a combination of wind and current made for a challenging exit. Once out, both us and the Paradigm Shift crew breathed a sigh of relief. We worked our way to the entrance of the ICW, but saw a multitude of sails billowing between us and our waypoint. Today was the start of the 26th annual Charleston Race Week, marketed as "A Regatta Unlike Any Other."
Three separate courses were set up and hundreds of boats were taking advantage of a nice breeze. We found an opening and darted over to the ICW. We passed Charleston Light on Sullivan's Island. Completed in 1962, it is the last major lighthouse built in the United States. It is a triangular structure, with steel girders and aluminum siding. It has an elevator and a light that can be seen 27 miles offshore. In my book it and North Carolina's Oak Island Light battle for the title of ugliest lighthouse ever built. Our little Selene parade passed under the Ben Sawyer Bridge and looked forward to a short run to our anchorage.
We hit this stretch of the ICW on a falling tide and the water was extremely shallow. We require at least five feet of water and Paradigm Shift needs six feet just to stay afloat. This afternoon, our margin of error was sometimes in inches and we were forever looking for the "deep" water channel. A new moon contributed to a super low tide. Mudflats were the sight of the day here in South Carolina's Low Country. The shorebirds were plentiful and enjoying good fishing in the shallows. A bald eagle kept watch over all the activity, in a scene from Birdwatching 101. We bumped bottom and churned up a lot of mud on this passage, and nerves were frazzled. This was the most stressful 30 miles we've done in a long time. Our anchorage was a pleasant surprise. It is large and deep. Our two Selenes joined two other boats in the middle of a Low Country marsh. Cheers were in order for having our anchor down.
From the flybridge I watched the pelicans put on an aerobatics display and caught one of the many dive and splash sequences taking place around us. The sun set to our stern, centered between Paradigm Shift and our flag. We will be here a few days as we await dock space to open in Georgetown.
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