Day Five

Monday, day five.  We left St John's at 7:30 and made 73 miles to Beaufort, SC.  We navigated through some really low areas where we had to keep a close eye on the depth. According to our ICW Guide, this area was one of the "trickiest and most shallow on the ICW".   The full moon last night is helping with the level of water, but at some points we almost got to 5 feet and when your draft is 3.7, that is pretty nerve wrecking!  Nevertheless, Capt Gene persevered and we made it through with no issues.  Poor guy just fell asleep on the settee at 8 p.m. due to the hard day.  We got to Beaufort early enough that we were able to take on more fuel ($4.34 per gallon!...sailboaters, keep your sailboats!) borrow the marina car and tour some antebellum homes and then reprovision at the local "Publix" grocery store.  Capt Gene bought some Reefs so he will now be able to open his Heineken with his shoes...amazing!  Gene and Maggie treated me to a great dinner at the Marina restaurant and, yes, he got his beef!  He ate what the menu touted as the "Best Burger in South Carolina"; a claim he disputes after eating it, but he sure didn't seem to let it slow him down. 

Anchorages

Beaufort has been active in the Hollywood scene.  The Big Chill was filmed here (one of the antebellum houses featured in the pictures below), Forest Gump Vietnam scenes were filmed here and Prince of Tides (Mike Conroy's) story was filmed here with Nick Nolte as the actor playing Mike.  Parris Island (Marine training base) is also here.  We saw lots of soldiers.   Capt Maggie continues to be the ship's photographer so any pictures you see are courtesy of her diligence.  Only  had to delete two photos today due to her accidentally shooting a picture of her feet and then swinging the camera around trying to catch her errant sun visor which alas, we had to leave behind.   Tenacious is still with us although getting more deflated by the day...we'll keep her with us as long as we can.  I just looked out my window and the full moon is just beneath the bridge lighting up the night like a Christmas tree with all the red and green lights on the bridge...

Antebellum home

Good news on the boat performance...after filling up with diesel today, and calculating the performance, we discovered she seems to burning a LOT less fuel than originally anticipated.  Great for the pocketbook.

Still having a wonderful time...will write more tomorrow.

Antebellum Tree

Captains in front of Highbrow Eyebrow Inn

Cruiseline out of Beaufort

Dolphin Video

Downtown Beaufort

More antebellum

Naptime

Plane flying overhead

Provisioning Time

Tourists in SC

Very Shallow