12/4 Monday was still cold in the morning, but at least it was sunny. We cruised past Charleston Harbor and headed to Beaufort, SC. There is a Beaufort, SC and a Beaufort, NC. Beaufort, SC is pronounced Bewfort; while Beaufort, NC is pronounced Bowfort. Add in my Boston accent just for grins. This area of SC is called the Low Country. As in the picture below, there are lots of marshes and the land never gets very high.
12/5 Tuesday was beautiful as we left Beaufort just after sunrise. This sailboat left just ahead of us.
There are some areas known for having very low water and we wanted to get through those areas before low tide in the afternoon. No problem, beautiful day, right? WRONG!! We passed Parris Island, where they make Marines, but as we crossed Port Royal Inlet, the fog rolled in big time. Thankfully, we have radar. These pictures will give you some idea of how thick the fog got.
We used our horn to send out fog warnings every 2 minutes. Boats were good about being on the radio and telling their location. Here is a marker and how we could see it in the fog and then as we got closer.
As we came past Hilton Head Harbor Marina, we saw that their fuel dock was free. They agreed to have us on the inside of the fuel dock to wait out the fog. We were glad for the respite after the hours of fog. The opportunity to get fuel was taken. Eventually, the fog started to lift and we headed south again. We still used the radar some though but made it through the area where there was low water before low tide. The Savannah River was crossed. Our destination was Thunderbolt Marina in Thunderbolt, GA, just south of Savannah. It is a very huge marina where they work on all sorts of boats including boats that do Atlantic Ocean crossings. This boat, Maverick, from London fueled up shortly after we pulled in.
Tomorrow, we hope for less fog. The weather promises to turn cold and rainy for 3 days. We plan to anchor out for the next few nights.
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