Nov. 2-5 Into the Beaufort Town Docks, we motored at slack tide because there is alot of current by the docks. Docking is so much easier now and less stressful for me especially. We have been to this marina so many time that we know the dock hands by name and enjoy them. John had a few mechanical issues to deal with and get mechanics lined up so I went ashore and poked around town. It was John’s birthday the next day but our favorite restaurant was closed then so we went our first night. Another funky thing about this marina is their loaner cars which are early 1990’s vintage but they work for errands at the edge of town which is where the grocery stores are located. This year, ours was even adorned with a small rubber frog on the roof above the front windshield! Our last day, we were delayed from leaving by a package we needed. Down the dock came a cruising friend we hadn’t seen since the fall of 2007. At that time, he was building his trawler at the dock by his house in the Chesapeake. Now, he had finished the exterior and was almost finished with the interior. He and his wife were headed for the Bahamas for the winter. I love the kismet of the cruising world. If we had left on time or not been there that day, we would have never known they were on the move.
About 3pm, we left for Charleston, SC. The weather was glorious and the seas low. Overnight, we had a good moon and balmy temperatures which made for a delightful passage. It took all day to get to Charleston but the weather worked for us for once. Coming into Charleston in the main shipping channel any time is entertaining but at night it is more of a white knuckle ordeal. All the lights of the city combined with the aids to navigation take a while to sort out. Our AIS once again proved to be invaluable as many tankers and freighters were coming and going along with us. We felt like a mouse next to all of these lumbering elephants. John was trying to steer while I was trying to pick out the large slow moving objects in the distance from all of the lights. This gauntlet takes more than an hour but we finally pulled off the main channel into our smaller one and anchored across the harbor from the Battery part of Charleston.

Nov. 6-8 We have some friends who live in Charleston and with whom we haven’t connected with the last few visits. Our dinghy is always up on deck for passages so, unless we want to take it down or go into a marina, we don’t go ashore. Our friends came to the rescue and offered us a spot on their yacht club dock. We had the whole place to ourselves and a great view of the harbor to boot. They came for dinner and we all had a jolly evening.
The next morning, we slipped away bright and early because we wanted to get as far down the coast as possible, while we had calm weather. before stopping. It was a great day with even a few dolphins that came over to check us out. Not the large pods we have seen in the past but I’m not fussy! St. Catherine’s Sound, GA was as far as we got and we came in the Sound turned north and anchored off the southern end of Ossabaw Island right next to the ICW (Inter coastal Waterway). The moon was out and the stars in profusion. We made 102NM which was a good long way for us.
Today was sunny but with more wind and confused seas so we were glad we had gone all that way yesterday. As we were leaving the Sound, laughing gulls followed us off our stern thinking we were a fishing boat! They finally figured it out or got tired and left us alone. The channel in to St. Simon’s Island area was very choppy and we were surrounded by shrimp boats dragging their nets. Luckily they stayed out of the channel. It was like coming home pulling into Golden Isles Marina. We had left Windermere 54 here several times while we went home for the holidays. Coming in to the dock with 2 knots of current against us was a new adventure but we landed safely. We will stay here for 2 days because we want to see some old friends from Greenwich here and have them for dinner on board.