Day 23 April 24. On to Edisto Island. 28.9nm Total 676 miles

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 missionaries came in the mid 1500’s and then the British settled in the area, eventually rice and sea cotton plantations sprang up. There are several plantation buildings from Middleton and Beckett plantations still on the island. Today Edisto Island is a popular beach resort.

We pulled up anchor and re entered the Intracoastal Waterway through another narrow channel called Watts Cut. As we are going thru at high tide, we had plenty of water. No holding our breath this time. But we did have bit of fog!!

As we left the cut, we turned south into the South Edisto River to travel to Bohicket Creek Marina. We will stay here for three days visiting my sister, Kathy and husband Dick, and also my cousin, David.

April 26

We enjoyed visiting with my relations, with a wonderful food and company. Kathy surprised us by inviting our son to join us. What a wonderful reunion! We all took a short boat trip up the South Edisto River between Edisto and St Johns Island just south of Charleston.

Plus another great sunset!

A side note, Bill entertained us by pulling on his wet suit to check the bottom of the boat. A sight to behold!

June 4-5. Day 63-64. On to Cape May New Jersey. 53.4nm. Total 1534 miles.

Left Delaware City at 5:35am to be able to take advantage of the strong currents going with us while traversing Delaware River and Delaware Bay. The Delaware River goes south about 15 miles and flows into the Delaware Bay. As we travel south, New Jersey is to the east and Delaware is to our west. We are traveling just outside the shipping channel and are really moving at 10.9 knots. That is three knots faster than we normally travel, as the outgoing tides are pushing us along. Nice to have Mother Nature helps us save on fuel. The Delaware River is about 8 miles wide so there is plenty of room for the freighters and the pleasure boats. So far, we have not encountered any commercial traffic, but there is a large freighter behind us that will eventually pass us as they travel at 14 knots. The Delaware Bay proper varies from 23-29 miles wide and 26 miles long. There are five lighthouses on the Delaware marking the shipping channel. We went by Ship J...

Reflections on the Bahamas

Reflections on the Bahamas Over the past 10 weeks, we have traveled through Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma Islands and enjoyed the hospitality of the Bahamian people. We have learned all about the islands, its unique geography - limestone, caves, blue holes and chalk cliffs; and colorful history-pirates and rum running, salt ponds and cotton plantations, boat building and wrecking/salvage. Traveling over 1300 miles through narrow cuts and wide bays to vast depths of ocean, we negotiated the islands and found safe harbors, calm coves for anchoring, bays filled with moorings and marinas large and small. This trip required us to pay close attention to the weather, the tides and currents as we traveled between and through the islands. The Bahamian people are warm and friendly, willing to give us rides, advice and directions, as well as some secret recipes!! We enjoyed hiking trails, walking the beaches, snorkeling the coral rocks and reefs, discovering ruins and ol...

Day 64-65. May 25-26. On to Peck Lake, Jupiter, FL and then on to Indiantown/ Okeechobee Waterway. Miles 63.5/ 29.1 Total Miles 1122.1/1142.0

Day 64 We started early to get ahead of the holiday boat traffic. Weighing anchor at Lake Sylvia in Fort Lauderdale, we traveled on the Intracoastal Waterway past the iconic Pier 66 Tower and Bahia Mar Marina. We then turned north and passed the older sections of the city - Las Olas( older homes), Galt Ocean Mile (one mile of condominiums on the beach), and the famous miles of beaches on the Atlantic. I used to live here in the early 70's and the biggest change I see is the older smaller homes on the water are being replaced with larger versions and a few more condo towers have been built. As we go further north towards Commercial Blvd, North Fort Lauderdale, and Pompano Beach and its Lighthouse at the cut, there is less reconstruction. The next town we traveled through was Boca Raton with its Spanish architecture, Camino Real and its landmark tower. The sand bar at the cut was just beginning to fill up with Memorial Day revelers as we went by. Next were t...

Crustacean Travels

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