"2000, November 28-29 ICW Dawho River Marshes" Whooping Island by grandmaR

We crossed the 480 mile mark after 15 miles at 11:35. We saw a pier with a fake owl on one post, and all the other posts had cormorants on them. The country changed to salt marsh on one side and big homes with Spanish moss draped live oak trees on the other. Bob saw a grounded sailboat while I was in the head. Saw a moored sailboat, apparently abandoned, with the boom swinging out over the water and the sail like a droopy petticoat.

We passed under the SC 174 highway bridge. At the other end of the SC 174 bridge is Whooping Island. This was as close as I could get to the location of this anchorage. We turned up a small creek at mile 501 and anchored by 3:00 pm after 36.3 miles at 5.9 mph and a total of 577 nautical miles. The Island Packet ISHMAEL which passed us earlier was already there. We were between narrow banks of mud - within 50 yards of the bank in 14 feet of water. The boat swung to the tide and not the wind.

SC 174 Bridge from Fishing Creek at dusk

When the tide changed all the boats swung around 180 degrees.

We ate dinner in the cockpit as the sun was setting over the marsh, and a ketch came into the creek - no name or number on this boat. He went back and forth several times before deciding to anchor around the next bend.

When the tide was going out, I could see ISHMAEL's anchor light by looking out the aft port from bed. When the tide changed and the boat swung around I looked out and saw lights moving across rapidly. I said to Bob - the boat's swinging wildly!! He went out and looked - the creek was mirror calm. I had been looking at the car lights on the highway!!

I could download pocketmail from here pretty well.

After Bob was asleep I tried to plan our route for the next day, and decided to anchor off Port Royal south of Beaufort, and then go to a marina in Savannah. I discovered we didn't have any computer charts for GA or FL.

West end SC 174 Highway Bridge from the Dawho R

Woke early and Bob started the engine about 6:30. Oops - throttle cable broke. He worked on it and finally got it back together about 9:30. In the meantime I called our son and told him where we were and what the problem was. After 9 I also called the computer chart people, and asked them to send Rob the missing charts. We decided to go to Dataw Island Marina about 20 miles away because they have all the facilities and also engine repair people.

Dataw Island

• Pros:Wild and isolated
• Cons:Large tides
• In a nutshell:Marshland