FOUL! (Day 172)

From: Skull Creek Anchorage, Hilton Head, SC MM 553.8
To: Church Creek Anchorage (18 miles south of Charleston, SC) MM 488.2
L/L: 32 42 49N 80 10 66W
Distance Traveled: 67.2
Elapsed Time: 12:00
Average Speed: 5.6 mph

Paris Island - Go Marines!


Weather: Bright sun all day, the solar panels set a record 75 amp hours collected; wind 5 to 10 knots clocking from north in the morning to SE in the afternoon; temp range 54 to 81

Comment: FOUL! With the exception of the first and last three hours, we motored into a FOUL current! That’s eight hours of foul current. When I say foul, I mean foul! They ranged from 1.0 to 1.5 knots against us. Needless to say, it was slow going.


Laser Regatta - Beaufort River opposite Port Royal


Speaking of slow, we heard the trawler “Adios” on the radio. From the gist of their conversation with another vessel, we deduced that they were ten miles behind them. We relinquished the “slow boat” award back to them. Recall that as we were on the way to Vero Beach a few days ago, they radioed to tell us that they were surprised to fine a boat traveling slower than they. Well “Adios,” we’re ahead of you… whose feeling slow now?

We saw another bald eagle today. It was perched atop some driftwood on the edge of the Dawhoo River. We are amazed at the number of Bald Eagle sightings we have seen on this trip.

We had a strange encounter with a tug boat today. The tug “Sun Trader” was pushing a barge headed southbound and as you should know, we were northbound. It was a simple port to port passing situation as we entered the Wadmalaw River from the North Edisto River. He of course was doing the opposite. The pass went without a hitch. Seconds later, the tug and barge did a 180 degree turn and followed right behind us.

Passing another one of those ICW cruise ships


I scooted over to the starboard side of the channel and he followed. I moved over to the port side of the channel and he followed again. When he was about two hundred feet astern, Anna Marie radioed the captain to inquire about his intentions. By the time he responded, he was just 100 feet off our stern and closing fast. The captain told Anna Marie that he was going to the depot just around the bend and that we should hold our course. He wouldn’t get any closer.

Suddenly, he veered to port and passed within fifty feet of us. It wasn’t close, but his lack of communication was nerve wracking.


Sunset from Church Creek

After twelve hours, we had the anchor down in Church Creek, about 18 miles south of Charleston, SC, our destination for tomorrow. It’s going to blow 25 to 30 knots on Monday and Tuesday, so we decided to tie up to a dock and wait it out.