FOG!

Weather: We awoke to FOG! It foiled our plans for an 0700 departure, timed to ride the flooding current at Winyah Bay. Wake up temperature was 53o. It made 79o in the bubble, but only the high 60’s outside. Since it was only 53o in the bubble, we fired up the heater to take the chill off. Winds were out of the northeast less than 10 knots. The waterway was flat, including Winyah Bay. After three hours, the fog lifted to present a gray sky. By noon, we were motoring in sunshine, although the day would be classified as partly sunny.

Comment: The fog foiled our plan to leave at 0700. We finally hauled the anchor at 0810 and motor out of our anchorage in the South Santee River (west side) with one hundred yards of visibility in the fog. It was not poor enough to obscure the ten foot long alligator that swam across the waterway directly in front of us. I had to swerve to avoid hitting it. When we were abeam, the gator gave a big swish of its tail and dove below the surface.

We arrived at Winyah Bay about one hour after the flood current began. Our speed did not drop below 7 mph for the rest of the day. In fact, we traveled at 8 mph for much of the time. We finished the day with an average speed of 6.9 mph, going 52.3 miles in 7.58 hours. A fair current makes all the difference in the world. The miles passed quickly and we enjoyed our time traveling in the Wacamaw River, which winds through a huge Cypress Swamp. In the past few days, we have enjoyed traveling through the savannahs of Georgia and the low country of South Carolina. The Cypress Swamp is a welcomed change and most enjoyabe.

In Winyah Bay, we passed this small sailboat made to appear as a pirate ship.

Sandi, Josh and Rose met us at Hague Marina (Sunshine is docked there because Osprey Marina has no space for us until Monday, when we’ll move the boat there). Hague Marina’s docks are in very poor condition and one of the buildings just burned down (this past Saturday). There are no bathrooms of showers). That's OK for us because we’ll be staying at Sandi’s house while we’re in town.

Back at the house, Josh challenged me to some video games on the Wii. We’re in for a fun visit!

We also have some work to do. My computer was delivered to Sandi’s house as was the water heater. I’ll have to transfer my files to the computer and we’ll have to install the water heater before we leave.

Both motors seem to be running roughly so I plan to change the spark plugs and the fuel filters. I’m also going to see if I can stop the leak in the hydraulic steering. Even with these minor issues, the boat has been performing very well during the trip.