"ICW Trip 2001 Leg 18 Beaufort to Thunderbolt" Thunderbolt Travelogue by grandmaR

Edward Scissorhands barge

From Beaufort, we had 47.5 statute miles to go, and I was concerned that the dock master would have gone home by the time we got there as our ETA was about 6 pm. We did get some good wind, and also some good current to help us, (although Bob put out the whisker pole at one point not realizing that we were going to turn pretty soon and had to take it in) and were averaging 6.6 mph.

We saw this barge anchored by the ICW - I took the photo because it had so many daymarks (the black shapes on the top poles) and so many cranes that I thought it looked like Edward Scissorhands.

Egret on back of shrimp boat

We crossed the Savannah River about 4, and came down to Palmer Johnson and got here very close to 5 pm.

Just as we were getting tied up, two rafted shrimp boats came in together to get fuel. One of them was completely out, so the other one was giving him a tow. I actually thought at one point that they would crush us to the dock as they seemed to think that they had the right away over all other traffic.

Our boat at sunset

They took 199.9 gallons. The first time they tried to tie up, they threw the dockmaster a line and neglected to hold onto their end. Oops - then they missed the line he threw back and he had to do it a 2nd time.

At the marina

The restaurant by the marina was closed, so we walked up to Tubby's Tank (has a bathtub on the roof). There are two trees with spanish moss on them and a cross right in the middle of the road at that point. I had an oyster stew which was very much like crab soup except with oysters, and fried asparagus and a chicken salad. This was a shell with a tossed salad and chicken fingers on top.

Bridge south of Thunderbolt

Had a little trouble casting off. This time I got the line off the cleat in a timely manner, but the current pushed us into the dock, and Bob powered forward to get off, and we touched the boat in front of us. We waited while the owner looked, but he couldn't find a mark where we had done it. So we left.

Coming up to the next bascule bridge, a boat named STEELAWAY called us on the radio and asked about our furler.

Passing Isle of Hope

We passed Isle of Hope where we had seen a friend at the marina last year, but there wasn't anyone we knew either at the anchorage or at the marina this year. We are getting into long stretches where we don't see anything but grasses with an occasional tree.

Dredging barge and tug

The gulls sit on the osprey nests or on the solar panels that run the lighted ATONs (Aids TO Navigation).

We were followed by a catamaran named SEA YA that anchored in Moon River. Moon River is too shallow for us.

Next leg Wahoo River to anchor near Wahoo Island