September 9-15 Charleston to Thunderbolt

October 9, 2016 
Returned to the boat yesterday.  Couldn't enter the city for a few hours until the state troopers started letting everyone passed their checkpoint.  The city was dark, no power.   Only a few streets were littered with debris,  The marina was also without power but that didn't deter many boat owners from returning early.  Armed with flashlights, everyone around the docks was quite jovial , relieved it was all over.  

Our boat fared well.  So far the only broken thing I can find is the wifi booster which limits our internet capability until I can order another.   We lost a kayak paddle which ended up on the dock.  The heavy rains did a far better job than Mary or I would have achieved if we'd tried to wash the outdoor carpets and decks.  It all sparkles even the sundeck couch which, oddly enough, was almost dry last night..

So all is well.   

Ready to leave Charleston, we were up early in anticipation of slack water which was, depending on source, at 9:04.  Luckily though we were in a moon phase which made the tidal current transition very mild.  In some cases the current can pause for literally a few minutes before swinging the other way with an unsettling acceleration of current speed.

There was a sail maker on a sailboat a few slips from us who graciously agreed to help with our lines but he had another appointment so we had to leave about 8:30.  Current was not strong but it, and the stronger wind conspired to push us towards Ron's boat next to us.  It’s a 1988 Sea Ray 40 foot sedan bridge aft stateroom cruiser.  He and Meg got married the day before and left for the southwest on a trip.

Anyway we didn’t hit them but I had to play the shifters to jockey the boat around as the sail maker slowly, really slowly, took off our lines.

Once out of the slip we zipped around Charleston through Elliot Cut cut fighting the incoming current.   Elliot Cut is a narrow channel between Charleston Harbor along Wappoo Creek to the Stono River.  The narrow confines of the cut act to accelerate the current and so we found ourselves skating along at 4.5 mph.

Once in the Stono River we had a push from the current for a few miles until it switched back pushing against us and dropping our speed but not nearly as dramatic as Elliot Cuts.  But no worries since we had plenty of time to reach an anchorage beyond Fenwick Cut which is the last of the notorious shoal areas.

Winding our way along the ICW it began to heat up.  Another 90+ degree day.  We went through Watts Cut with no issues since it was high tide.  And then further down stream we sailed through the narrow and short Fenwick Cut which is another one of those areas best down at higher tide levels.  

Anchoring in the Ashepoo River

A few miles up the Ashepoo River is a wide spot in the river near Mosquito Creek.  And that's where we anchored.  This spot was only a few miles from  B&B Sea Food docks up the creek

The B&B Seafood docks are reported to be a little rough, but the people there are fine with cruisers like us using the dock to take pets to shore.

Grounds at B&B

Walking the dog down what is main street.  The only street

B&B Sea Food Company grounds

Tiny dot in the distance is us anchored

We took the dinghy down and put a perplexed dog in with Mary and then rode the mile into Mosquito Creek and the dock at B&B.

B&B docks

The dock is, well, a dock-of-sorts.  It's in pretty rough shape but stable.  The people there were all hanging around a pickup truck drinking beer.  A lady who evidently is the store person came over asking if we wanted to buy shrimp.  I said yes, but tomorrow morning.  But I went in the store anyway.  It's like a little fish market with a few other items including beer and candy.

The store

Mary in the meantime had started down the road being pulled along by the dog who's  intrigued with all the new aromas (shrimp, fish and other rich sources of smells).   It was a good 30 minutes before they returned to B&B, Mary carrying the dog half way back.

By then the beer crowd had doubled.  I joshed around with them for a few minutes, declined the offers for beer (Bud Light) and then we headed back to the boat.  Mosquito Creek is aptly named.

It was quite windy so embarking before and debarking after was a thrill ride.  Bubbie seemed unappreciative being tossed around and handled back and forth.  But she survived.

B&B as I said has a bit of a crumbling dock but they sell fuel and until recently would let boats tie up for the night.  There is one shrimper boat and next to the dock is a boat ramp.   All this is located basically in the middle of nowhere with only a few houses and a volunteer fire house.  Nice folks though.

Once back on the boat we hauled the dingy up after I got the generator started.  The generator start  battery is really getting weak and it takes several tried to crank it over.  We would normally just tie the dinghy to the boat overnight but the current was so strong through here it figured it would be better to have it on board.

I started the water make and the A/C units.  It was still near 90 outside at 7:30.  Hot!

I let the water maker run awhile before sampling the output and it stunk.  Even Mary could smell it.  So we let it run another 20 minutes and the smell slowly dissipated so I flipped the lever and it starting filling out tanks.  The odor was probably from the membranes which had sat for several weeks without being back flushed.  But the water in the tanks seems just fine.

It only took 2 hours to fill the tanks, about 140 gallons.  The boat sort of cooled off but once I shut everything down the soothing air conditioned air seemed to evaporate and it was humid and in the mid 80’s inside the boat within a half hour.

Not good sleeping so I ran fans and tried to sleep on the couch where it was cooler.  The dog, a smart one, stayed with me so I had a nice little furnace to keep me sweating.

After awhile I went to our stateroom, 85 degrees so I kicked the fan in high gear and had a fitful nights sleep.  Mary can sleep through anything.  So can the dog.

We sort of woke up this morning around 9AM.   82 degrees.  Ugh …  I think I'm obsessing about the heat.

I ran the generator for about an hour to top off the batteries and lower the dinghy.  Made coffe and then after I shut it we all climbed aboard the dinghy and went back up Mosquito Creek to the B&B Sea Food docks.  While Mary and Bubbie set off I went into the “store” to buy shrimp.  2 pounds for $14.   They even packed it in ice for me in a really nice plastic bag.

As I was walking back to the dinghy I met a South Carolina DNR cop-like guy who was about 6’7”.  They were just getting in their duck boat.  He was really a big old boy with this almost child-like sweet disposition.  Probably not someone to annoy though.

Also met “Tough”, an old black lab who walks with a sort of limp.  My guess is hip dysplasia.  He wanders around the property and then barks to get inside the store and the cool air.  

In the store there was a little container for donations to a lady who worked at B&B but who was burned pretty badly and is currently unable to work.   So they were soliciting donations.  I added some and then went walking to find the poop expedition.

I didn’t see them until I turned back towards the store.   The expedition failed but we at least got fresh shrimp.

We hung around on the boat until noon when we hauled anchor after rigging the dinghy for towing.

The Ashepoo and Coosaw cutoffs are waterways that we have to travel through and are notoriously shallow.    We normally take a different route which adds about 5 miles, but in this case we were so close to the cutoffs it made more sense to just wait for high tide and go through.

Boats do go aground here often.  Running through at high tide reduces that risk substantially.  So we went through at high tide.  We had plenty of time to make it to Beaufort about 25 miles away.

Entering the Cutoff ... guided by Bubbie the navigator

Staying in the visual center of the cutoff and not cutting the corners worked fine for us.  Lowest depths I noted were in the low 6 foot range which provided us with about 1.5 feet under the keel.

Looking towards the City through the mooring field from our anchorage spot

We arrived in Beaufort after a few hours and noted that the mooring field has been doubled in size.  Nice for bigger boats like ours because they’ve finally added  balls large enough to handle boats our size.

But we chose to anchor (its free) and went to the far western end of the field and anchored.  We put out 125 feet of chain because the depth was 23 feet and adding our bow height over the water gave us an effective depth of 33 feet.  125 feet was an about 3:1 or 4:1 scope with the tides.  In essence we weren’t going to be moving anywhere.

Wedding guest in the blue shirt.  Our dinghy is 3rd one from left

We fed Bubbie and then took her into the public landing dock where we squeezed in behind a guy going to a birthday party.  Funny man!

We are anchored in the distance beyond the mooring field

The river front here is very ice, with a dog park, swinging benches and playgrounds all in the back of many shops and restaurants located on the main street.

Mary took Bubbie over to the dog park and dropped the leash so she could sniff butts with the other dogs.  Evidently she's a bit more demure that most, and immediately rolled on her back and started wiggling around, scratching her back and ignoring her brethern.  Then suddenly she sprang up and took off running, knowing full well no one could catch her.

Savvy Mary though, enlisted the assistance of bystanders who leaped up and helped corral  Bubbie until Mary could grab the leash again.

We stopped for an ice cream and strolled back to the dinghy amidst a sea of evening strollers, many with dogs and children.  Quite the family town,  Bueaufort.

Ice cream for some, not everyone.  Right.  Like the dog didn't get a taste

Back at the boat we grilled some of the tasty shrimp we had bought this morning and than watched Donna Reed.  It would have been a Fraizer night but we only have a marginal internet connection to the free Beaufort waterfront wifi. 

We shut the AC off with the generator at 10:15 and I was able to enjoy a few minutes of coolness before the heat built up again.  Did I say it was in the mid 90’s here again?

Beastly hot last night.  We all tossed and turned and complained until about 4AM when the boat finally started to cool down. 

 If the sun is out the boat becomes a oven and the solar panels do a superb job of charging the batteries.  If the sun is obscured by clouds then the boat is cooler but the solar panels don’t put out as much power.  Catch 22

River walk with Ladies Bridge in the distance.  .

Disrupting restaurant traffic

We dinghied to the free dinghy dock again (sans  dog) and went to Q on the Bay, a bar with TV’s so Mary could watch the Packers (they won in a cliff hanger).  Met a Joe and Courtney from Pewaukee, Wisconsin of all places.   She is a vascular PA working at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee and she knows Dana.  Small world.  Especially so when you consider she lived in Green Bay for many years.  And yes.  Another rabid packer fan.

Back at the boat the winds kicked up quite a bit from the south, south west.  We are rocking pretty good but non of us, including the dog, mind the motion.

I wanted to see how much Beaufort charged for the mooring balls so I checked on their web site.  $20 for a mooring ball.  $1.95 per foot in the marina.  $0.00 for anchoring.

I made a reservation at  Isle of Hope Marina to ride out some weather forecast to be blowing through Wednesday and Thursday.  We are staying at Thunderbolt marina tomorrow and the next day but Hal the dock master there isn't too keen on us remaining past that time.

The forecast had been laying out how it wasn't going to rain until Monday.  Well, its Sunday afternoon and severe weather warnings are all around us.  So far tonight the most severe storms tend to be skittering by Beaufort to the north or dissipating before the reach our area.

Storms all around but not on us

 But I can see a large line of thunderstorms out to our northwest sort of making their way towards us.  I expect the really severe stuff will bypass us, but we’ll for sure get some rain.

Its only 85 outside at 10pm.  At least it isn't still in the 90's.  My obsession with heat continues...

We were up early in anticipation of the rain that was forecast to arrive around 8AM.  It didn’t.  But we took Bubbie in to shore anyway.  She did her thing rather quickly.  The water front was almost deserted which was perplexing at first until I realized it had to be a week day and everyone was at work.  I knew this becasue the day before we watched a Packer game.  Memory aids take many forms.

 A quick ride back to the boat and once we were all aboard and had the dinghy hoisting harness attached, I started up the engines and then hauled the dinghy back aboard.

As we made our way out of Beaufort I was watching another boat about a mile ahead of us, John William according to how he talked on the radio.  It appeared to be a Pilgrim 40 Tug which made us think of Dave and Joanne who now own one.

We had the current pushing us along at almost 9mph so we had time to burn since we didn't want to  go through Fields Cut before 2:30pm because of the tides.  So what the heck, we decided to abandon the normal ICW route we always take and go out Calibogue Sound and back in to the Savannah River at Tybee Roads.  This is the big ship channel leading into Savannah which intersects the ICW after a few miles.

Passing by Harbor Town Marina where we were going to meet Greg and Laura

This route is a little longer but avoids Fields Cut which for us means having to through at  high tide.  And it was different.  We've been through here half a dozen times now and it's a nice change to have some new scenery.

The detour was uneventful except for the large freighter which was barreling out to sea as we came into Tybee Roads.  We slowed and slid along its side which minimized the wake effect it had on us.  Otherwise, it was rather easy and more enjoyable because the channel is large and I can let the auto pilot steer the boat.

We pulled into Thunderblolt's face dock, and recognized Josh, one of the dock master from past visits.  And he instantly recognized us.

Tied up at Thunderbolt next to a 60 foot Hatteras 

After we tied up and talked with Josh it seems the has changed their policy and now wont let anyone stay past 2 nights?  Weird.  We'll have to check with Hal, the venerable head dock master who has been here for 15 years and has an astounding store of knowledge about the area.  

On the plus side, there are plenty of big mega yachts to salivate over.  The weather is supposed to be nasty.  Maybe and tomorrow and Wednesday, the day we slated to leave.  Maybe even Thursday depending on which forecast you read.

In any event I made a reservation at Isle of Hope marina just a few miles down the Skidaway River to spend Wednesday and Thursday which, averaging all the weather site predictions, are the high probability storm days.  Besides, we can have the AC on which Mary and I may desire, but Bubbie the dog seems to need.  She doesn’t do well in hot and humid.

We stayed aboard tonight and didn't walk to one of the three restaurants within a mile here.  Mary caught upon Laundry and I on some record keeping so I know when to change filters etc.   Then I washed off the bow where some alien flying creature left alarmingly large stains.  Same for the solar panels. 

After dinner we took Bubbie for a walk.

Obeying the law

At least she didn't befoul the pretty landscaping around the sign

This is really a mega yacht boatyard … eye candy for me, plethora of new and exiting smells for the dog.   Free donuts aside, not much for Mary here.  Not even a good selection of dead things collect! 

Watching the radar, the rain seems to swirl all around us but never on us.  It's like there is a god of umbrellas who chose us for some reason.

A splattering of rain this morning woke me up at 7AM while the AC was humming away enveloping us in cool and less humid air.  Wonderful!  Mary, covered up in a blanket along with the dog.  And me splayed out uncovered and luxuriating on the cool air.  We all slept soundly for the first time in several days.

The usual form here at Thunderbolt Marina is to deliver ½ dozen Krispy Kreme donuts to every boat on the docks..  But it wasn’t honored this morning.  Mary who got up 10AM along with the dog who also has a penchant for sleeping late, hurried me out the door to speak with at Josh at the marina office about the missing donuts.

He had them but didn’t want to leave them on the boat due to the rain.  Chuckling, he whispered to me that Mary, when she was paying the bill yesterday, started poking around the front desk.  Josh asked what she needed and Mary, not batting an eye said, “donuts.  Any old donuts back there?”.

Mary brought the dog up to the office and we took her for a walk and then collected the donuts.   We
brought them back and needless to say, the ½ dozen barely survived being taken on board after the dog walk.  I turned down Josh's kind offer earlier, to take along another box, something Mary doesn't need to know. 

We hung around the boat as the clouds thickened again.  I wanted to get to River Supply, a West Marine type store just up the road for some cleaning stuff.

River Supply

They are reasonably priced unlike West Marine which is the place most of us have to go for marine supplies all the while choking on the price markups.    All 4 of the items I purchased here, were $1 to $2 cheaper here than at West Marine.  And all I bought were cleaners, waterproofing spray and some wax stuff.  Nice folks there too.

I made it back before it began to rain and we spent most of the day inside exploring various places to anchor down the way and trying to correlate those places with the weather which is just basically horrible.

A Tropical Storm, (Julia) is expected to form over Florida tonight and then track over Jacksonville and up the coast before veering out to sea near Savannah.    We do like our storms.   I think we are approaching the point where they should at least name one after one of us.  Hurricane Bubbie?

Mary wasn’t feeling well and headed for a 3 hour nap.  The dog, apparently trying to show her support, waddled down to the stateroom with her so I was pretty much alone the whole afternoon.

I did some navigational work and finished up a lingering blog posts and started another.  I’m at least into June now, translating my notes and pictures into something close to readable.  Hunched over a computer though is disturbingly familiar.  I must have done a lot of this in a former life.

We needed a few things from the store so I rode to the BiLo a few miles from here.

Grocery store

And I also stopped in at Home Depot to buy some 5 micron water filters for the primary water maker filters.   We need to make water one more time before we get to Brunswick where I'll pickle the membranes since we wont be using it for several months.

Later we took Bubbie for a walk and I ran into a guy who was walking this impeccably trained Aussie shepherding dog.  Turns out Scot is a professional animal trainer and behaviorist and regaled me with tales of his academic travails (he has two master degrees)  with his thesis research up in Denali.  Interesting guy.  And the dog, was incredible.  Meanwhile Mary and Bubbie had wandered off ack towards the boat.

When I returned we were able to watch some Fraziers and then went to bed.  Rain was on and off. 

Earlier this afternoon I talked with Hal, the head dock master here.  Interesting guy who knows all this history of the Thunderbolt marine from the large mega yachts that arrive here for refurbishment to the little mini dredges they have in the basin complete with a permanent pipe for spoil.  The pipe goes under the river over to the other bank which is their spoil area.  Very interesting.

Eye candy and interesting stories

He told me he has a Master degree in History from somewhere and derives great enjoyment amassing facts about the area.  Did you know there was a fort right on the spot where Thunderbolt Marine is situated?  And there was a Civil War battle here?   The things you learn ...

Anyway I asked about staying here and he said sure but  two big (86 foot) yachts were arriving later. He said were good for tomorrow and I told him we’d talk in the morning.

He normally gets here before six with a stash of donuts.  Every morning.  We define morning as sometime after 9AM.  But  he knows us and so we’ll be fine when we stagger in at 9:30 asking if we  can stay another day.

I really like this place even though its really just a boat yard.

After a short stroll through the yard (love these towering mega yachts) we went to bed.  Bubbie though seems to prefer the dinette cushions at least until I’m in bed with my computer.  Then she’ll saunter on down and hop into bed, or wait for me to pick her up and put her in bed.  

We all woke up this morning.  At 9:15.  Donuts were at the door.   After we returned I had to snatch the 3 remaining ones away and dispose of them lest they be consumed making a breakfast of a half dozen Krispy Kremes.

Those Krispy Kremes are lethal.  The things are laced with sugar and fats.  300 calories per innocent little donut.  I'm told, in no uncertain terms, that they are simply divine.  I cant eat them.  Nor should the dog but I suspect complicity here because the dog gets excited now when that little box appears.

We walked up to the office with Bubbie in light rain and spoke with Hal who was fine with us staying another night or even two!  

While Bubbie and Mary dodged rain drops on a walk, I called Isle of Hope marina and changed our reservation from today to tomorrow.  I’d rather just stay here because of the scenery (mega yachts) and I can talk with Hal for hours about the facility and the large boats stay here for refits etc.  Interesting stuff to me.  

Tropical storm Julia is now a real Tropical Storm.  Its currently raining hard and blowing hard too.  The track is still up the coast but now looks like it will just hug the coast all the way through South Carolina.  For us that means lost of rain and some troublesome gusty winds.

We could leave and go anchor at Walburg Creek to ride out the weather, but the lack of sun and difficulty going anywhere in the dinghy for Bubbie to do her thing would be an un-fun experience.  How do I know this?  I’ve been through it numerous times. 

In a marina we have power and water and internet so there is entertainment available to take the edge off the crappy weather.   At anchor we would have to limit the satellite use since the batteries power everything and the solar panels wont come close to keeping up with the power consumption with the overcast skies.

Like I said earlier, we are getting soft.  In the old days we’d tough it out.  Those good old days in 2012 and 2013 …

They love their oak trees down here

We went to eat out at Tortugas Island Grille down the street.  We walked there since it was a little less than a mile.  The river front street is scenic.

Tortugas Island Grille 

Tortugas is touted as a really good place.  Those touting must have exceedingly low expectations.  Or maybe we’ve become too hoydee-toydee?   The food was marginal, the price high and the place was in sort of a strip mall but actually comfortably decorated.  Only beer and wine though.

Looking at the ever changing weather I think we will be staying here yet another night to let the winds settle and then leave Friday morning.  Seas are forecast to be 2 feet so it’s the ocean for us.  Maybe we can make it into Brunswick Landing Marina Saturday night.  But for sure Sunday.

Taking the ocean route avoids Hells Gate and the Little Mud River,  shallow areas that are best navigated at higher tide levels.  It makes timing a challenge.

The ocean route out the Wilmington River is deep and wide and is right in front of us.  Easy passage if the ocean cooperates.

Weather is looking good Friday.   Thunderbolt marina here let us stay another night so we will be cancelling the Isle of Hope reservation and leaving from here Friday morning for Walburg Creek.

Ugh ... The marine forecast changed.  We wont be taking the ocean unless there is yet another drastic forecast change.  The ocean was forecast with 2 foot swells.  Now they are calling for 3-4 swells.

The ICW (non-ocean route) takes us through a place called Hells Gate, a short and narrow little cut that is impassable at low tide.  So we have to leave the dock by 7AM to make it through there and also Little Mud River, another shallow stretch, a few miles further down.

Today I helped a shrimp boat off the dock.  Brians Crew was the name of the boat and Brian is the captain.   A bit of  controversy.  Yesterday they came in.  The story goes that Hal took a radio call from a “trawler” which he inferred was a pleasure boat.  It wasn’t.  Brian came in being towed by another shrimp boat.  They stopped near the dock and the let the tidal current nudge them against the pier right behind us.

Brian wanted to be hauled to fix a rudder problem.  Wayne and his boss from the boat yard refused.  Stalemate.

Seems Brian is not much liked by the yard guys here.  Wayne the yard manager refused to lift the boat out of the water because, as he told us, they’d probably end up breaking the thing because Brian was looking to get rid of it.

Brians Crew being towed by Norma Jean

When I returned from the store again there were Chatham County police on the dock.  One,of the group of 4, was Brian’s cousin so Brian tells me.  While the police were talking with the marina management, Brian was just finishing up arrangements to be towed by Norma Jean II, another shrimp boat.  They were headed up to another facility to be hauled out.  Brian's boat lost its rudder so he couldn't steer.

Everyone eventually left and I was out on the back deck as they were getting ready to leave so I went out to see if they needed help with their lines.   I got an earful from Brian about Thunderbolt’s lack of consideration towards commercial fisherman and eventually, as he was winding down, Norma Jean pulled up and got a few lines tied to Brian's boat.   And they just let the tidal current gently nudge them off the dock.  I took off the lines as they slackened up. 

So next time we are through here we will have to look him up an buy shrimp.  His brother was also with him and serves as the front office guy.  Brian is the shrimp boat (he has 3) captain.

A rather weird experience.

This morning Josh left 6 more donuts and Mary got to them first before I could get them away.    Not sure how the dog fared.

A Fleming 55 pulled in here in the evening right behind us.  They are on their way to Ft. Lauderdale and are leaving before 6AM.  We’re planning on a 6:30AM departure because of the tide levels in Hells Gate.  They are from Boston and immediately fawned over Bubbie, a Boston Terrier.

Had another nice conversation with Hal.  He’s bringing donuts again before we leave tomorrow morning.  Maybe ...