From the feedback I've gotten from comments and emails about our blog, people seem to enjoy our posts that contain a lot of photos. I guess it's true that one photo is worth a thousand words. If that's the case, here's 32,000 words for you about our trip from Georgetown to Charleston, South Carolina. Just to set the scene, we left at 7:30 AM, very early for us. We had 57 nautical miles (66 statute miles) to get to Charleston, and that's a long day on Drift Away. I didn't know if our dog's bladders could do it.
The daymarker in the pic below marks the entrance to the Estherville Minim Creek Canal portion of the ICW where we would hang a right. For my landlubber friends, the day mark is a channel mark that is on a pole stuck in the mud. That means it's pretty shallow so we'd give the mark a wide berth. We could see what we thought was fog in the entrance. I turned on the radar, just in case visibility was poor.
That's smoke in the pic above and below, not fog. It seems there are a lot of grass and forest fires here.
We never tire of dolphins. They swim in our bow wave or our wake simply for the fun of it, hamming it up and rolling on their sides to get a better look at us, and the dogs.
Sadly for them, though, we were near the end of the "mega dock". You can see how long this dock is by the vanishing point off in the distance. While I secured the boat, Pam took the dogs for a looooong walk to grass. Just go down the dock to the end of infinity, take a right, hike another loooong trek and you're there. Pack a lunch.
The "Catalina Kids", Rod and Patti, are still here. We visited them a few days ago with Al and Yolanda They thought about leaving today (Thursday) for points south on their Mason 43 "Second Chance" but decided to play tourist with us here in Charleston. Bwaa Ha Haaa.... pretty soon, I'll convince them to sell their sailboat and buy a trawler.
The daymarker in the pic below marks the entrance to the Estherville Minim Creek Canal portion of the ICW where we would hang a right. For my landlubber friends, the day mark is a channel mark that is on a pole stuck in the mud. That means it's pretty shallow so we'd give the mark a wide berth. We could see what we thought was fog in the entrance. I turned on the radar, just in case visibility was poor.
That's smoke in the pic above and below, not fog. It seems there are a lot of grass and forest fires here.
I love this pic below and the way the clouds mirror the land.
Dolphins!
We never tire of dolphins. They swim in our bow wave or our wake simply for the fun of it, hamming it up and rolling on their sides to get a better look at us, and the dogs.
Much of the trip was spent going at a low wake speed because of all the docks lining the ICW, as shown in the pic below. The trip north in the Spring may be even slower because these docks will have boats on them and we'll travel at a no wake speed.
More dolphins!
The dolphins roll over on their side to get a better look at us, as in the pic below.
This is Isle of Palms, just north of Charleston. On the other side of the ICW is Goat Island, which didn't fare too well during Hurricane Irene,
Many wrecked homes and boats on Goat Island. Ironically, a sign just to the right of this stranded houseboat is www.goatislandparadise.com.
The sign nailed to the palm tree below reads "no trespassing, no hunting, security cameras". Translation- "Stay out. I'm growing weed."
The photo below is Fort Sumter. Charleston is just across the bay.
We arrived at 3:49 PM, a run of 8 hours. The dogs were happy to finally be here and were frantic to get off the boat.
Sadly for them, though, we were near the end of the "mega dock". You can see how long this dock is by the vanishing point off in the distance. While I secured the boat, Pam took the dogs for a looooong walk to grass. Just go down the dock to the end of infinity, take a right, hike another loooong trek and you're there. Pack a lunch.
The "Catalina Kids", Rod and Patti, are still here. We visited them a few days ago with Al and Yolanda They thought about leaving today (Thursday) for points south on their Mason 43 "Second Chance" but decided to play tourist with us here in Charleston. Bwaa Ha Haaa.... pretty soon, I'll convince them to sell their sailboat and buy a trawler.
Charlston S.C. Very cool - congrats except for the looooong walk down the docks! The dogs must have had some dirty looks for you LOL. Well your getting closer to Amelia Island FLA. Almost bought a home their. As I said almost. Very nice place and if you want to see our dining recomendations for the island you can always check out my blog entry http://mvautumndream.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/dining-in-amelia/. I would have my mother-in law (who lives there full time)come down and meet you when your their but I could not do that to you:-) Great Photos!!!
ReplyDeleteFunny... Pamela now manages a horse ranch on Amelia Island and does horseback rides on the beach.
DeleteI swear in that picture with Chevy, Gertie is smiling!!!
ReplyDeleteI never tire of dolphins, either. They are wicked cool. On my bucket list is to go to one of those places where you get to swim with dolphins.