Monday April 30, 2018 - S. Charleston to S. Cape Island

I know, who ever heard of Cape Island.  I never did.  And it's not even a "Cape".   More on that later.

I was up and impatient to go this morning but I had decided I would leave at 7:40am in order to get to Elliot's Cut at 9am.  Nine am was just after slack current and I wanted to have just a little current with me.  I had about 10 miles to go to get to the cut.  Shortly after leaving my anchorage, a large sailing catamaran passed me.  Then about an hour later, two trollers passed me.  When they approached the cut, the began talking on the radio about their strategies for entering the cut.  One of them confirmed that slack was at 8:45am.  As they went through, I monitored their AIS signals and it appeared they were maintaining their speed - great.  I was about 5 minutes behind the cat when I entered the cut (at exactly 9am).  Remember, there was supposed to be a little current WITH me.  If I had gotten there any later, the current would still have been WITH me but stronger.  So what happened?  The current was 2 knots - AGAINST ME!

It was a little upsetting but at least True Blue can handle a 2 knot head current.  I just gave it a little more gas and motored through going 4 knots. 

After that, it was waiting 15 minutes for the Wapoo bridge to open and in another 20 minutes, I was in Charleston Harbor.   Charleston is a really pretty city from the water.  I thought about stopping but I've been there with Joan and didn't feel any real need to go again by myself.  It took about an hour to cross the harbor.  At noon, I stopped for fuel about 10 miles north at the Isle of Palms Marina - it was very convenient.  I continued another 10 miles into a shoaly area and started hearing reports of boats running aground.  I decided to take a break and pulled off and anchored from 2pm till 4pm.  Then I continued another 10 miles to where I am now.  It was only a 40 mile day but I'm only a day away from Georgetown NC.