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We
left Savanna (or rather Thunderbolt) about 8 in the morning. We neglected
to consider that there was a bridge a few miles away that did not open until 9
so when we reached the bridge we had to wait until opening time which would be
about a 30 minute wait. The current was running and it required quite a
bit of manipulating keeping the boat within the center of the channel. We
had to turn the wing engine on to allow us to operate the bow thrusters and
after a few minutes I noticed that the air conditioning went out. We
decided we’d better go back to the marina and sort out the problem before we got
farther north without the resources to have something fixed like that. We can
not take this weather without air conditioning especially in the state room
because the air flow is not the greatest.
As we headed back, we were wondering what the
problem was. We thought it might be the that the sea strainers were full and
not allowing enough water to come into the sea chest to cool the hydraulic
system. Maybe we were running too many things and it overheated? When we got
back to the dock, Larry pulled the sea strainers and they were loaded with
crap. He quickly emptied them and hosed them out. It fixed the problem and off
we went again just in time to catch the 10:00 opening for the bridge. So now
Larry has another thing to add to his maintenance list. We’ll need to remember
to check the sea strainers more frequently in these river areas.
It was a very easy day. Crossing
the Savanna River is impressive and busy with commercial traffic. Once you
cross the river you are immediately in the marsh lands again. The scenery
was still amazingly beautiful as meandering through the marsh lands backed by
woods or hummocks. Many of the woods are moss covered oaks. We were
accompanied many times by playful porpoises along the river. The water is
not clear but a murky green brown and we were surprised to see so many porpoises
in this kind of water. We passed a few sparsely populated areas.
We then entered the Calibogue Sound Area. It was a heavily populated area and once we reached the sound near Hilton Head the water was filled with recreational boaters. It was crazy busy with speed boats and other personal water craft buzzing about. Many were oblivious to others on the water and it was a strain just watching out for them. Larry even honked at one to get his attention. I think that was the first time I ever heard the horn on the boat. Ziggy and I about jumped out of our skin. There was so much going on it was like a circus. The bay was filled with people water skiing, small sail boats racing about, jet skis roaring around in erratic patterns, and even above head people were para-sailing. It was unbelievable. We could see in the distance, the busy entrance to Hilton Head marked by the small candy cane stripped light house and were grateful we were passing this hectic place and heading on up the river.
As we headed up the ICW a little farther, Larry perked up as we were passing Parris Island, the Marine training camp. He said that’s a tough place to train. We watched the many brick buildings that housed the marines and wondered what it was like training in the nearby swamps in this heat. They must be really tough to with stand this weather. BEAUFORT (byoo-fert), SC
We arrived in Beaufort about 4:00. Joann and Steve, on the Ocean Bear, had already been here for a day. We saw them anchored out in a nice protected area near the salt marshes. We opted for the dock with the Ziggy factor. It’s much easier to take Ziggy out if we are at dock. We also like to plug in and not have to run the generator to keep the air conditioning on. In cooler locations, that may become a different option but now we like the flexibility of docking.
The city dock put us on the long outside dock
where they put all the transients. They come and go each day like clockwork,
all departure times dependent upon the opening and closing schedule of the
nearby swing bridge.
The next day, it was beastly hot again. We got up and decided to walk around town and find a place for coffee and breakfast. We found a small place on an outside patio and the only other people were two women who were there so they could smoke. We literally had perspiration running down our faces, inside our shirts and it was really hot and sticky. What we will do for this dog. We had a typical southern breakfast with country ham and eggs and a side of grits!
We were lucky that our visit coincided with Beaufort’s weekly farmer’s market on the waterfront. We bumped into Joann and Steve at the market. They were on their way to take a carriage tour. Steve was showing Larry his great purchase at the market which was not vegetables but a hand made marshmallow gun. It was a little wooden gun that shot mini sized marshmallows. Larry then had to buy two of them.
Joann and Steve also bought Ziggy a present from the market. It was a plastic bottle of water that you could hook on your belt. It had a small dish attached that when you sat it on the ground it filled with water and was like a water dish for the dog. When the dog was done, you tilted it up and it filled the bottle back up with the unused water. It was a great gift in this hot weather. We also bought a lot of great looking fresh produce and some big green healthy looking okra the Gullah ladies. I asked them how to cook the fresh okra and they all chimed in fighting over each other’s recipe and their favorite way of cooking it. It was fun to see their excitement in telling a stranger how to prepare the okra! We passed on the collard greens, and mustard greens that were HUGE and would’ve filled my refrigerator although I was tempted.
WATER WARRIORS
When we came back to the boat we
After watching them for awhile, we came to the
conclusion that they weren’t renting these things. We realized that these were
all personal water craft owned by individuals traveling in a large group down
the ICW. They each had storage compartments with their luggage or duffle bags
and etc. stashed inside. We finally asked what was going on and they replied it
was an outing, much like motorcycle clubs do. They were all from a town 100
miles north of Charleston and had come to Beaufort for the three day weekend.
They had completely rented out all the inns in town! It was a real mix of
people: men, women, and kids, fat, skinny, tall, short, all types. We’d never
seen anything li
A CHARMING PLACE
The Lewis Reeve Sams House, with its white
pillars, over looks the river and served at one time as a hospital for the Union
troops during the Civil War.
That evening we met up with Joann and Steve again for another fun dinner and all decided we would leave together and head on up to Charleston in the morning.
Georgia, Georgia, the whole day through Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind Georgia, Georgia, a song of you Comes as sweet and clear as moonlight through the pines. Some sweet day when blossoms fall And all the world’s a song I’ll go back to Georgia “Cause that’s where I belong
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Sometimes we would pass nothing more than just a private dock with strict NO
WAKE zones. Again we had to be very careful to find the deep part of the
channel. Some areas were shallow even in the center but we’ve learned now
to slow our speed down in those areas and feel our way along. If we bump
the soft bottom we back up and go around. Many storms have created new
shoals that aren’t marked. You have to develop a feel for the movement of
the river and how it flows at turns and inlets to develop an understanding of
how the bottom may have shifted. Larry was developing a second sense and
becoming very expert at moving left or right around turns knowing where they
were probably building up.
The
scenery was as beautiful as what we
experienced passing Cumberland Island except slightly different and this area
wasn’t quite as remote. We passed another beautiful island that I’d like to
some day to come back and see. It was called Daufuskie Island. It’s at the
confluence of Calibogue Sound and the Cooper River. It has all the natural
characteristics of Cumberland and has an interesting history. It was mostly
populated by slaves brought over by early settlers. They have lived for many
generations in isolation here. The name originated from these early settlers and
was interestingly called “Da Fus Key” (the first key) and later evolved into
Daufuskie. Southern author Pat Conroy wrote The River Is Wide, a
book about his life here as a school teacher. A movie was based on the book but
filmed on St. Simmons Island. The island is only accessible by boat which makes
it intriguing for me. We passed the island’s only dock and it looked very
inviting. The island has a new resort and a few residences are cropping up so
it will be changing.
We called Joann and Steve when we arrived and invited them
to the boat for a drink and to go out to dinner. We had a nice first evening
together. We had a great meal at a small restaurant overlooking the park on the
waterfront called “Plums”. They are great company.
were
amazed at all the people buzzing around the docks on jet skis. When we
docked we had noticed a long line of jet skis taking up the whole opposite side
of the dock. At first we thought the city dock must have a big business
renting out the jet skis to have so many. There must have been 50 or more
all lined up nice and neat. Today, there were so many people on jet skis,
we just couldn’t believe. They were whizzing all around the boat and dock
and in the channel, barely missing running into each. We just couldn’t get
over it. 
ke it. We found out that the reason they were all buzzing
around was because many of them were going down river Hilton Head for the day
and would be back late afternoon. It was an amazing site as they all left
together in mass heading down the river. I can equate it to the movie with Mel
Gibson called the Road Warrior. We never knew there were clubs
like this. We found out from fellow that this was a minor trip that many jet
skiers have taken much longer trips. He said there are several people that will
do the trip from Key West to New York and back! We got to know several of them
as their jet skis were right next to us and they were a friendly nice bunch of
people.
Later in the afternoon we opted to bike around
town and see the town. Beaufort is pronounced byoo-fert as
opposed to North Carolina’s Beaufort which is pronounced bow-fort.
We had to make an effort to keep these straight because you will get corrected
if you say them wrong when you are in either town. Beaufort is a wonderful
small town nestled on the curve of Beaufort River right at Lady’s Swing Bridge.
The town is a great stop between Savanna and Charleston. It’s slow and easy
going. You can see everything by foot or bike if you can deal with the heat and
humidity. There are some wonderful antebellum homes to see nestled on the small
little streets under the shade of wonderful evergreen oaks draped in Spanish
moss. The neighborhood with the biggest homes is called the “old point”.
This little neighborhood was the height of fashion during the cotton boom.
These magnificent old homes are all pointed south to catch a breath of the ocean
breeze and built upon raised basements in case of flooding. They have wonderful
wide porches that wrap around the houses and you can easily imagine sitting
under their shade in a rocking chair. The homes are lovingly cared for and a
site to behold.
Another smaller house on a side street nearby
still has small slits in the basement to put muskets through to fight off Indian
attacks. As you wander the neighborhood you’ll see styles from Barbados
plantation style to Adams to Italianate, all in one short pleasant walk. The
small streets are arched over with age old trees providing much needed shade
from the heat. They are all covered with Spanish moss hanging gracefully down.
In this neighborhood is the house where they filmed The Big Chill.
The movie, The Prince of Tides, was also filmed and story written
and based here by Pat Conroy as are several others.