August 12: Charleston

 I overslept. It was 5:50 AM when I sprang out of bed. We have 67 miles to cover to get to Charleston. Debbie said I didn’t have to hurry but we still managed to leave the dock by 6:15.

There must be a bass tournament nearby because more than a dozen souped up bass boats passed us as we lumbered along.

The wind was already pretty strong out of the southwest as we entered Winyah Bay. That was also the name of the brewery we patronized last night in Georgetown. It is housed inside a cute bar called Buzz’s Roost where we enjoyed ahi tuna, crab balls and split a burger. I was surprised that the crab balls were the size of conch fritters! No WONDER crabs walk sideways!

Then we were treated to a huge flock of spoonbills. They must be eating a lot of shrimp because they were hot pink! These are Debbie’s favorite birds.

We turned down a narrow canal with a barge that functions as a floating bridge.

When a car comes, they push the barge into the gap and the car drives across.

As the boat traffic thinned out, we began to realize the cut is LOADED with alligators. Big ones, little ones. But do you think I could get one damn picture?! No!

Then it was my shift. I set off the shallow water alarm. Twice. And I was in the channel! Full low tide has followed us virtually the whole way. And I STILL had to do a second shift!

Now we are in a mess of boats as we approach Charleston.

We made it to the Mega Dock in Charleston around 2 PM. We took on some fuel, tied up to a slip and then rinsed the salt off of the boat from the passing boats. 

Then we hailed an Uber and went to the Rusty Bull, the nearest brewery. We met the most fabulous people! We may have met our favorite hazy, the Juice, Juice.

Tomorrow we are heading to Hilton Head. It’ll be an extremely long, long day because we cannot go offshore! But we are eager to get home… even more now that there may be a storm on the horizon. Hope to see you soon!