John's Island to Charleston

Sunday & Monday, May 3 & 4 

Those early morning starts were getting to be a habit because we were off before sunrise on Sunday to leave Port Royal. Again, the Captains wanted to be in a couple of shallow channels when it would be close to high tide and as a result an early start was needed.  However getting to our destination by afternoon is quite nice. 

Sunrise as we are leaving Port Royal

Early morning sun on a house at The Point in Beaufort, SC

When we got to our destination, St. Johns Island Yacht Club, we were met by our Gold Looper friends, Glenn and Brenda, who were very generous in offering their car if we needed it. They also drove us over to our other Gold Looper friends, Burke and Stel, where we had been invited for a low country shrimp boil. Just as a reminder: a Looper gets to fly a gold burgee after they have completed their great circle trip. We are still flying our white burgee because we have a little way to go until we get back to the Champlain Canal.

John and a friend of a friend at the shrimp boil on Johns Island

 

Kathy and Becky on a patio swing at Glenn and Brenda's house

We spent two nights at St John's Yacht Club and went to Glenn and Brenda’s home the second evening for a cookout. We are being treated like royalty by our Looper friends!

Captain’s Log May 3, 2015

Departed: Port Royal Landing, SC  6:25 a.m.
Engine hours: 8.4 hrs. – 657.1 total for trip
Actual hours: 8 hrs
Miles covered 66.05 - Total for trip: 4638
Arrived: St John’s Yacht Marina, John’s Island, SC 2:25 p.m.
Very nice early departure. Skies clear and winds calm. Cool temps but gradually warmed up. Wind picked up a bit as we arrived at destination. Traveled with Fruitcakes and Mara Beel.

Tuesday, May 5 to ??? To be determined due to tropical storm Ana
It was a very short ride up the channel and into Charleston where we had reservation at the Charleston Maritime Center. The wind had started to blow and there was a bit of a current, but the marina staff was very professional in handling our lines and got us secured in no time.
Everyone was watching the weather to see what the tropical depression developing off the coast of Florida was going to do and where it would go because it would influence our weather for the next few days. Meanwhile, in spite of the high winds it was sunny and warm and the next day we took a carriage ride through the historic section of Charleston.

John and Mark met "Bones" who managed one of the carriage barns



Sometimes the alleyways were the prettiest spots

A backyard garden

An elegant entry - many homes are raised in case of flooding
and they have these round wrought iron vents underneath

Just a sample of the many window boxes

We have had only one really rainy day so far but the tropical low developed into a named storm, Ana, and it is headed in the same direction that we are so we may have to extend our stay through the weekend. This is not a bad place to be and we are with friends on two other Looper boats, Becky and Mark on Mara Beel and Roger and Mary on TA TA .
Meanwhile our docking spot is not that protected from wind and waves so things were a bit noisy on the boat. John deployed our homemade Mainship anti-slapping kit (MASK) - a series of swim noodles strung on a floating rope. The rope is tied to the bow and stern allowing the noodles to run along the side of the boat. Then the rope is tightened which snugs the noodles into the chine on the boat eliminating the water slap. We also lowered the Bimini to protect it in case the winds come up.

John prepared the boat for high winds with some swim noodles

 Captain’ Log May 5, 2013

Departed: St John’s Yacht Marina, SC at 8:45 am
Engine hours: 1.3 hrs /total on trip 658.4
Actual Hours: 1 hr 15 minutes
Miles covered: 8.2 total for trip 4646
Arrived: Charleston Maritime Center, SC
Very short cruise to move to CHS. Weather good and tides were correct for departure and arrival.  No issues. Short and sweet. We left alone due to our slip at destination available while Mara Beel had to delay an hour for theirs.