Chapter 47: Hiton Head to Charleston

Log 47
Hilton Head to Charleston

6:45 AM
Saturday, May 20, 2000
City Marina
Charleston, SC.

Day 48

I got an e-mail from a couple of you to let me know that a couple of the e-mails were messed up, so I resent them. I hope they came out ok this time.

The trip up from Hilton Head to Charleston was great. The weather was near perfect. A little windy, but other than that, it was excellent. We got out right on time, about 6:45. As soon as we got back on the waterway the terrain looked familiar. Boring, winding marshes. Even the flies came back. But in a short amount of time, things began to change, and it was hillier, and much prettier. We all commented that this trip was much nicer than the day before.
When we were about half way to Charleston I heard a sailboat call on the radio “Do you have any idea how much of a wake you cause when 8 boats pass you the way you do?” I looked back and couldn’t see anyone, but I had an idea what happened. Later I heard another boater on the radio “hey, do you guys have any consideration for your wake? I figured there must be a group of people traveling together. About 15 miles from Charleston I heard a boat that I had met earlier (he was heading south, and I was heading north) call out “If I was the leader of your group, I’d show you how to meet another boater without such a huge wake”. So now I knew there must be a group traveling together, and they were much closer to me now. About 10 miles from Charleston we had to stop for a railroad bridge, and while we waited for them to open, we looked behind us, and they were coming on strong. I decided by the way they were moving I did not want to be a part of this group, so I told the lead boat to tell his group to pass me, and I would follow. While we waited for all of them to get through the bridge I mentioned to Darrell, “I sure glad I’m not with them”. It didn’t take very long to be glad I wasn’t, because in a few minutes you heard on the radio “YOU IDIOT! DON’T YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR WAKE DOES? DON’T YOU KNOW YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR WAKE? YOU HAVE CAUSED DAMAGE TO THE INSIDE OF MY BOAT.” I’m not sure if this lead boat was not on the radio, or didn’t care, because he did not return the message, and seemed to pay no attention, because the person he “waked” kept hollering, and the armada evidently kept going. The thing that the convoy didn’t know is that they had just waked the wrong boater. He started calling the Coast Guard, and they responded. Darrell and I were listening to the whole thing, and when we came around the bend to Charleston Harbor here was the Coast Guard, blue lights flashing, with all the boats around them. Very interesting.
We arrived Charleston about 2:30. It was pretty windy, and made the docking, against the wind, very interesting. It ended up being no problem, and as soon as we tied up we got some fuel ($1.19), and cleaned up the boat. (I don’t know if the boat has ever looked better)
We decided we would get ready, and head into downtown, but we ended up sitting on the bridge, and enjoying a beer while we watched all of the traffic go by. (The boat is docked on an inside wall right next to the Intracoastal, the harbor, and the fuel dock, so it is very busy) As it turned out we didn’t leave the boat until about 5:30, so our tour of Charleston consisted of about 15 minutes of walking the streets, and then paying two college kids $20 to ride in the back of their “rickshaws” and take us to the Boathouse for dinner. Except for them overcooking my steak, (we were on the east coast, I should have had sea food anyway) we had a great meal, and took a taxi back to the boat, and we were back before dark. To say the least, we are not party animals.

Today…

Sad day. Darrell and Donna are getting ready to leave as I type this. In fact as I look out at the back deck, their bags are lined up, and ready to go. It’s only 7:35, so maybe they want to be out before I ask them to help with some boat maintainance.
Speaking of maintainance, that is how I’m going to spend my day. Nothing major, but I need to clean the A/C filters, check the water in the batteries, and clean all of the fresh water strainers. I also need to check out the vent to the holding tank. It seems to be clogged. (That sounds like fun doesn’t it?) Deb said she would spend most of here day doing laundry, (she is already at the laundry mat as we speak) and cleaning the inside of the boat.
By the time we get that all done, Steve, and Chris will be here. Their flight gets in at 4:15, so they should be here by dinnertime.

Before I end this log I thought I’d add a couple of highlights of the week:
Great weather every day
2 great days on the Atlantic
We saw 2 submarines
Touched a manatee
No mechanical problems
600 miles of cruising
Great crew!

It’s been a very good week.

BK.