SUMMER BREEZE: 2021 Cruising begins

March 10, 2021

We left at 4:20 pm with a +4.15 tide height and saw no less than 4’ 3” under us at the sandbar. Since it was late in the day we traveled only 1.9 miles up the creek and anchored for the night. We feel a bit rusty and we need to get our sea legs back.

Our anchor spot on the creek.

Before starting off, one of our inverters was not working but Bruce finally got it going and we were comfortable that it was ok. It is always stressful planning to leave on these long trips so I had pre made a Bolognese sauce for spaghetti and a Caesar Salad so dinner was easy and we relaxed in our home creek for the night.

Miles traveled 1.9

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Thursday March 11

We left the Toogoodoo Creek at 8 am on a beautiful morning with lots of dolphins and birds. It was a very calm morning and the cloud reflections in the water made the sky look upside down.

The inverter seems to be just fine so no more problems there. We did have a strange alarm go off while under way which took some time to find. One of the small bilge alarm sensors had fallen down where there was some condensate and set it off. It was like an Easter egg hunt for Bruce to find it below the floor boards. And now we know the bilge alarm works!

We got to the Beaufort area early afternoon so we opted to stop and fuel up. We only needed 160 gallons to top off our saddle (side) tanks of 700 gallons which should hold us for a while. We decided to go to Factory Creek off of Ladies Island this time and we were anchored by 3:30.

We had wanted to to go to Dockside restaurant there but it was very crowded so we went back home and cooked up some salmon. And as things go, we discovered after our showers that the shower sump pump had failed so the bilge was filling with soapy water.

He will work on that tomorrow.

Sunset at Ladies Island

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City of Beaufort night lights

Miles : 41.94

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Friday March 12

Fortunately a new shower sump pump was in our spare part inventory and it took him a couple of hours to replace and hopefully we also have a clean bilge!

We decided that Beaufort and Lady’s Island were a little too crowded for us as our vaccinations are not yet at their potential so we decided to move on. On to Dafuskie Island and we left Factory Creek at 11:30 am.

Bryan always talks about a pipe float (something like that) when he is working so when we passed these guys I sent him a pic to see if these were his buddies and Yes, they are!

We passed by Harbor Town at Hilton Head crossing Calibogue Sound and just behind Dafuskie Island is Bull Creek which has become one our normal stopping places on the ICW.

Anchored at Bull Creek at 3:15.

28.50 miles today.