Brrr

Location: Tom Point Creek, SC
Position: N32 38.987 W080 17.730

We left Charleston a little before noon yesterday. What with timing the tides for the currents and shallow bits, we only made just over 20 nautical miles. We dropped anchor at about 3:00pm in a lovely spot, Tom Point Creek off the Wadmalaw River. We were looking for a protected spot as the wind was supposed to pick up and be pretty gusty today.

Many times finding a protected spot is not too easy on the ICW; in some areas anchorages can be pretty exposed – fine if the weather is settled, but not somewhere you’d like hang out with the forecast calling for gusts to 30 mph. We chose carefully, however, and this anchorage is perfect. It’s a winding creek with trees on either side, offering great protection from the wind.

We spent the better part of the day doing a few little jobs. Then we took a dinghy ride up the creek where we saw dolphins, cranes, hawks and osprey. We also went and visited another sailboat that followed us in here yesterday and met a lovely couple who are also heading south. They’re in a steel boat they built themselves in just under 8 years - talk about a labour of love!

Last night got a bit chilly, dipping into the 30s. Tonight’s low is also expected to get into the 30s and the high tomorrow is only supposed to get up to the low 50s – that’s pretty chilly in an exposed cockpit in the wind. To keep it in perspective, though, we try not to feel too badly as it’s apparently snowing in Blacksburg today. So we’re pretty sure that we won’t get much pity for our chilly night from the folks back home. The up side, however, is that after tomorrow we’re expecting light winds and temperatures in the 70s at least through the weekend. Ahhh…

Still heading south