Crustacean Travels

 We spent April 25-27 in Bohicket Marina on John’s Island with family, getting Bill’s dental work completed, shopping and eating wonderful Southern food in friendly Southern hospitality.  It was hard to leave. But onward we must go!  What made it a bit easier was that our son, Kyle, joined us for the cruise! We left the marina and traveled on the winding Wadmalaw River past Wadmalaw and John’s Island.  The scenery was a mixture of developed areas with large areas of natural growth and tidal marsh. The Wadmalaw River met the Stono River and we continued past the mainland which is largely developed  with homes and docks and the tidal marsh off the northern edge of John’s Island.  We even enjoyed watching a few rounds of golf as two greens in one development were right on the river. Also enjoyed the picnic lunch that my sister, Kathy provided as we traveled to Charleston.  Was delicious just like everything she cooks! Next we had to tackle the strong currents in Elliot Cut.  Bill negotiat

Left the City of Beaufort on a beautiful morning and followed the winding Beaufort River to the Coosaw River. Named after the native Indian tribe that inhabited this area. The river is about one mile wide and flows between the South Carolina mainland and the islands that make up the Beaufort area- St Helena, Pritchard, St Phillips, Fripp and Parris Islands.  We traveled about 10 miles of the river heading east toward the Atlantic Ocean.  Just before the ocean we crossed the river and headed into the Ashepoo Coosaw Cut.  We held our breathe a few times as we came to shallow areas, but we squeaked by and made it safely through the cut.  There are two more cuts through the marsh islands that we took to finally connect with the South Edisto River.  We traveled up the Edisto River to our anchorage behind Sampson Island. Edisto Island has a similar history as the other barrier islands.  It was named for the Oisto Indians, whose mounds can still be found on the island today.  Jesuits missiona

 After the boat got a good rinse, we headed out of Isle of Hope and traveled behind Skidaway and Wilmington Islands a bit south and east of Savannah.  Both are larger barrier islands filled with marinas, homes and some very long docks which span the tidal marsh. G It was interesting how the fancy yachts shared the same dock as the commercial shrimp boats. Old Bonaventure Cemetery is right on the Intracoastal, known for its beautiful gardens and graves of famous Savannah residents and Revolutionary War and Civil War heroes. You can see the grave stones in the cemetery from the water. As we go further north you can see the bridge that spans the Savannah River and the port terminals. As we have visited the city of Savannah many times, we opted to cross the river and enter South Carolina.  Traveling north we saw wide tidal marshes with few oak or pine hammocks.  We then wound past Daufuskie Island, the first real barrier island in South Carolina.  This island is partially developed, with b