The poor weather forecaster this last two days! Every time we looked at the forecast it has changed. Rain, clear, thunderstorms, then strong winds; rain, clear, fewer thunderstorms but still strong winds; rain is over - no more forecast until midnight - HA! Did we ever get caught! Overnight the forecast changed every hour or two (yes I wake up that often - checking the anchor, what can I say!) thunderstorms, few thunderstorms, more thunderstorms. So we hunkered down to wait it out.
To backtrack - We left our anchorage at Steamboat Landing early (7:10)
to travel through a "cut" at "slack tide" later in the morning. The cut is a narrow human made passage between two rivers and the water can flow very strongly when the tide is changing, making it harder to make any progress if you're heading into the current. The cut is a popular residential area with some very pretty houses.
The opening to the "Cut"
You must choose the proper material to build your retaining wall - NOT brick!
What a perfect entertaining dock. Notice the "dummy" sitting on the bulkhead.
I think this was the prettiest on the cut
As we got closer to Charleston, the banks became more populated:
Some houses larger than others:
Still can't seem to catch a dolphin on camera - my camera must send out warnings when it's on! Lots of pelicans though. They love to skim just above the surface of the water.
These two are encroaching on the "channel" - the portion of the river that has been dredged.
This is the largest private dock I think we've seen:
We arrived at our anchorage along with the rain, thank goodness the heavy rain held off 'til I got the anchor down. Bob gets to stay in the enclosed fly bridge while I lower the anchor (that's OK - I really don't like steering this behemoth).
The rain cleared, and as I mentioned at the beginning of the post, the forecast stated no more rain until nightfall, so off we went in the dinghy to visit James Island shopping center. We got our hair cut, picked up a few groceries and had a delightful late lunch/dinner at Cory's Grilled Cheese. Bob had a grilled Philly Cheesesteak sandwich and I had grilled brie, mozzarella, fig spread, grilled onions, and granny smith apples. I savored every bite! The shocker came when we left the hair salon to find the rain POURING down! Luckily it slowed to a light rain by the time we walked back to the dinghy. UNLUCKILY, we flunked dinghy docking. We are always so careful when we anchor our boat to check the tides so we have enough chain out on our anchor. We weren't so smart on the dinghy and she was half out of the water by the time we got back to her. We had to lift her off the rocks to get her back in the water. Between the rain and going wading, we were two soaked sailors by the time we got back to the boat.
All good stories must have a good ending. The actual weather last night? NO thunderstorms! The morning was calm and muggy. The wind did pick up this afternoon but not as strong as predicted. I am so thankful!! We dinghied back to James Island this morning (successfully - we do learn from our mistakes) and met with the director of AGLCA (America's Great Loop Cruiser's Association) over coffee (hot chocolate for Bob). What a wonderful lady. She does such an awesome job organizing everything and seems to really enjoy it. Can't wait for rendezvous and meeting up with other Loopers! Back to the boat to wait out the wind and plan to leave tomorrow to continue our way north. We may be playing on the beach at the ocean Sunday!
Stay tuned!
Anchored at Wappoo Creek, James Island
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