Slipped our lines at 10:40 AM (Charleston's absolute low tide.) Winds were northwest at 20 knots, so the thirty minute ride across the harbor's wide-open seafront was bouncy. We headed north past Georgetown, for the Waccamaw River and the nice little marina in the middle of nowhere with an odd name. It is a first-class operation and should be a stop for all ICW cruisers.
Trying to ride incoming tidal flow, we waited until mid-morning in Charleston to get underway. BIG MISTAKE! What we really did was to ride contrary currents uphill and follow low tides for nearly fifty miles. Twice today, we touched bottom. Once was a Garmin magenta line mis-plot. The other was when kathy said that there was a shoal ahead with birds walking on it. She directed me closer to the green marker, when we should have been wider on that mark. Depths went past negative zero but, thanks to our keel's prop-protection, we slid through the mud into better water.
We arrived in Wacca-Wachee at 4:30PM. Grilled steaks for supper tonight - boy are we ready!
Ebb Tide II underway
