May 18th- Turner Creek, GA to Downtown Beaufort, SC

We got an early start out of Turner Creek as we had a long day ahead of us. At times we were traveling at 6 1/2 knots. Other times, 3 knots. With the 7 to 8 foot tides around here there is always lots of water moving around. Sometimes it’s with you. Sometimes not. You just have to have a sense of Zen. It all evens out.

Schooner sporting some colorful sails in Turner Creek.

Good name.

For example. We had to head up Port Royal sound. The wind was directly ahead of us and the tidal current against us. Our speed was around 3 knots. Waves breaking on the bow and spray flying. We did this for a couple of hours. We then rounded the buoy at Paris Island to head up the Beaufort River. The same tidal current pushed us along and we were able to sail with the wind behind us now. The next hour or so was fun and we covered a lot of distance.

Paris Island Marine Base.

We decided to end the day in the river by Downtown Beaufort. The Lady’s Island swing bridge wasn’t going to open again until after 6:00 due to evening commuter traffic. We’ll save that bridge for tomorrow morning.

May 19th- Beaufort River to Factory Creek (Beaufort, SC)

Coffee, eggs, bacon, and potatoes. Get Ollie in for a quick walk. Get Catalpa moving. Through the swing bridge. An hour after eating breakfast we were done for the day and anchored off of Lady’s Island Marina, our real goal in Beaufort. We stopped here on the way down and really enjoyed our stay. There is a nearby hardware store, grocery, meat market, and package store. We like the marina and the whole vibe. They’ll loan us a car for our provisioning run. It’s time for an oil change on the diesel and I have a broken fresh water pump to contend with. Maintenance must continue! We plan on staying here until next week.

Lady’s Island Marina. Docks are full. We are anchored a short dinghy ride away. Ollie has a few doggy friends here.

View off of the back porch. The tide goes out and we are below the marsh. It comes in and we are on top.