We awoke to fair skies and lots of excitement to start our 9 day, 361 mile journey to Daytona Beach, FL. We were anticipating some rain, thanks to Tropical Storm Alberto, but we were hoping it wouldn’t be a washout. Even though we left later than we hoped, we were excited for the day’s run to Beaufort, SC. There are many little cuts, dredged channels connecting two waterways, on the trip to Beaufort. We quickly came to the first cut at Wappoo Creek, where we put the boat in the water earlier in the week. The next cut, Elliott Cut, is known for its swift current, especially during ebb tide. We traversed both cuts easily this time, thanks to slack tide. We then passed a house from a famous movie that I was sad to have missed on our last trip. It was a bit hard to see because of the trees, but it was definitely the house that Noah built for Allie in The Notebook. I love a good love story!! It is a private residence, however, so this was as close as I figured I would ever get.
We made it through 3 of the 4 cuts without trouble, on the 4th we came upon a dredging operation that looked like it was taking up the entire channel. I had just read in my Waterway Guide that this particular cut was known for constant shoaling, so while it was good to see a dredger, we had no idea what to do. We slowed to idle to assess the situation.
To make matters worse, we were in horse fly country. These awful, aggressive horse flies, that have a mean bite, started attacking us. I’m sure the dredge operators got a great laugh watching us dance and swat at the bugs while trying to figure out how we were going to get around them. The dredge is usually on a barge with a tug boat with many buoys surrounding it to support pipes and equipment used for excavation. In this case, the buoys appeared to take up all of the channel, except for about 10 feet right on shore.
After many bites, a few unsuccessful VHF hails, and much frustration, we decided to slowly approach and see if we could pass to the west. Thankful it was a rising tide, we went for it. You may not be able to tell in the picture but we kicked up some mud from the bottom. Welcome to the Lowcountry! Lets hope we don’t encounter another one soon. Just after we exited the cut we passed a north bound tug pulling what appeared to be very long pipes up the channel. He appeared to be headed in the direction of the dredger and I would have loved to have been a biting horse fly on the wall to see how he made it past!
After all our successful cuts, we crossed St. Helena Sound and entered the Coosaw River. We made our way towards Morgan Island, also known as Monkey Island, that I have written about previously. With more time and a dinghy, I was anxious to get closer to see some monkeys! We left the magenta line and traveled down a smaller river towards where I was hoping a monkey spotting would occur. Unfortunately, with a rain storm quickly approaching, we decided we shouldn’t travel any further down the creek. We quickly resumed our trip to Beaufort, hoping not to dock in the rain.
We made it to The Downtown Marina of Beaufort, missing the storm, and settled into our slip for the night. We grabbed showers at the marina before heading to dinner. With the Gullah Festival going on, there was no shortage of food choices. We opted to go to Plums, a restaurant along the beautiful waterfront with outdoor seating and good seafood. (All my requirements when eating in a coastal town). We took Peyton to the park and walked along the waterfront before heading back to the boat for planning and limin’.