Wild To Wonderful

Georgetown to Charleston  |  9.6 Hours  |  63 Miles  

We enjoyed a peaceful evening in our private anchorage behind Butler Island. The current reversed several times overnight, but Crossroads swung easily and held tight. This morning we were pointing 180 degrees different than last night. Once I located the city lights of Georgetown, I knew where I was and all was good. The anchor and chain came up with almost no mud which is always a pleasant surprise anywhere on the ICW.  I did, however, collect a good handful of vegetation. I tossed it back into the water and quickly washed off the deck. We were on our way at 6:45 and watched patiently as the sun finally rose over the stand of trees to our port. A beautiful day was developing as we turned out of Winyah Bay into the Esterville-Minim Creek Canal. 

A short distance into the canal we came to a pontoon swing bridge. The seldom-used bridge rests along the east bank when open, and is pulled across the canal by cable until the free end comes to rest against the west shore. Cars then drive across from one bank to the other. I cannot recall seeing a similar setup anywhere else in our travels. Today, we spotted an interesting sight for the first time, silhouetted in the sun beyond the seagrass. Six miles east of McClellanville stand the twin Cape Romain Lighthouses. We had never seen or heard of them before so we did a little Google research while underway. We learn something new every day. The morning was warming up nicely and by 11:00, I had shed most of my extra cold weather layers. Spirits were high. It was even warm enough to go onto the foredeck and watch the dolphins jumping in our bow wave. 

As we approached Charleston, the seagrass of the Low Country was replaced by luxury houses with elaborate boat docks. There was little human activity on an off-season Monday, so birds took the opportunity to claim every floating dock and piling as their own. The number and density of birds on some docks was staggering. The day was passing quickly and we were on track to arrive at the Charleston MegaDock at slack tide. All of the bridges we encountered today had plenty of vertical clearance to allow us to pass under the span. We were down to one bridge, the Ben Sawyer, and we would be in Charleston Harbor.  

We were so close. I mentioned that we wanted to arrive at slack current -- today would be just after low tide. The recent full moon has also made for a more extreme tidal change. Our water was disappearing and we were struggling to find the five feet required to keep us afloat. We slowed down to near idle and bumped a few times. Then we hit bottom. Dang it. Barry once again cycled the throttle from forward to reverse and worked Crossroads a few feet to starboard and off the shoal. We were on our way again and this time we made it through the bridge and into the deep water of Charleston Harbor.

There we were greeted with the wonderful scenes we have come to love. The Cooper River Bridge served as a backdrop to fishing boats, tankers, cargo ships, schooners, and pleasure craft of all sizes. Fort Sumter was off to our port, still guarding the harbor. Historic houses line the waterfront. The white spire of St. Michael's Church glowed in the setting sun. 

Even with the slight delay, we arrived at the MegaDock at slack tide and eased into our spot along the floating dock. In the orange glow of dusk, we were off to do two loads of laundry. I have found that the machines are almost always available at dinner time and that was the case tonight. The machines are operated by scanning a QR code with a phone app. It is an easy system and eliminates the need for quarters and tokens. On our several walks to and from the laundry room, we spotted birds just hanging out around the marina. A little more "wild" to close out the day.