"April 10-11, 2004 Offshore to Charleston" Top 5 Page for this destination Georgia Travelogue by grandmaR

Range marker in St. Mary's River

We motored out the St. Mary's River. Bob thought the tide would be going out, but it was already low this morning and we have about one knot of current against us and progress is slow. However it looks as though low tide tomorrow in Charleston will be about 0830 and so will be coming in when we get there, which is good.

Smoke from Fernandina Paper Mills

After we get past Fort Clinch and get out into the Atlantic, we pick up speed. We are on a direct course to Charleston (following our computer track from last fall) which takes us out away from the Georgia coast.

Sleeping did not go as well this trip. I went down and had a nap this morning from about 1000 to 1300 and that was really the last good sleep either of us had.

Silhoutted ship exiting St. Mary's River

After lunch, Bob went for a nap at 1345. I'm not sure he really slept though. There is a lot of radio traffic about a boat named WILL FISH which has run out of fuel. Bob came back to the cockpit about 1500. After dinner, I sent Bob down for another nap, but he comes back up in less than a half an hour and says he can't sleep. We are off St. Catherine's Sound (but out of sight of land so there is nothing to take a photo of) when the sun goes down at 1950 (7:50 pm). I go down to sleep about 2100, but I only doze until 2200. This is unusual as I can usually sleep anytime.

Then Bob goes down again at about 2345. I am keeping track of the time but I don't think he is sleeping well, as he goes to the bathroom twice

(He accuses me of checking on him, but it is just that he sleeps in the main saloon and when he turns the light on in the forward head I can see the light coming out the porthole in the dark. Since I sleep in the aft cabin and use the aft head (behind the cockpit) a light - if I turned one on - wouldn't be as visible. Since like most women, I sit to go, I don't really need the light.)

Ship that passed about 1015

He comes back up into the cockpit at 0200. When I try to sleep, it is difficult because of the large swells - they are coming from two directions at once, and the wind has died down so the sail (which we use as an air-keel) doesn't help a lot to keep us steady. I come back up a couple hours later. Bob now says he's tired and thinks he can sleep.

A big ship calls "the sailboat on Ft. Sumter range", and I am so groggy that I don't think of the navigational ranges in Charleston harbor (like the one in the second from the top photo in the St. Mary's River), but instead I think of the Point No Point BOMBING range. So I answer. But I'm still way south of him, and he's talking to another boat and it isn't a bombing range.

I hear the Savannah River pilots saying that the harbor is shut down because of fog. There are 5 ships stacked up out there waiting to enter. I can't see the lights from Charleston in the sky, and I think I should be able to do so.

Sparrow Hawk on jib sheet

At about 0700, the big red sun rises above a sea level fog.

0715 - Bob wakes and looks at his watch and thinks it says 1000, and looks out the port and doesn't see anything (there's no shore visible). He thinks we should be coming in the harbor, so he gets up and shuts off the lights, starts heating water for tea and starts the refrigeration. Then he finds out that it is only 0730. Since Bob says he can't go to sleep, I go lie down, but don't sleep long.

While I am down there, a sparrow hawk tries to land on the boat. First he tries the lifelines, and slips off. Then he tries the solar panel but again there's not anything for him to hold onto. Finally he grabs the jib sheet about 10 feet up from the deck and is slanted.

Solar panel with sparrow hawk

After a rest, he tries again for a good resting place and ends up on the top of the mast. Now the big rollers make the mast move more than any other place on the boat - it is describing a BIG arc back and forth. He's balancing with his tail, but I imagine if bird can get seasick then he's on his way to getting seasick. Finally after a couple more passes on the boat he wedges himself in on the top aft solar panel next to the radar and I see him peeking over the top.

We are approaching the harbor entrance, and we can see the buoys on the radar, but cannot see them in person. We can't see the jetties, or the surf on the jetties. We know they are there, but can't see them. We have to get to within 1/8th of a mile of a buoy before we can see it. I finally have a cell phone signal and call our son at work (he's working 4 am to 4 pm today)

Charleston Harbor marker

Bob goes out to put on the dock lines, and that was too much for the sparrow hawk and he flew off for good. I see a BIG BLACK target on the radar and call to Bob - There's something BIG out there. He comes back to the cockpit and we go just outside the red buoy at the edge of the channel. As he does that, a BIG BLACK container ship (SEALAND MAREK) looms up out of the fog and blows his foghorn. He's not making any wake as he's going very slowly.

We continue slowly in the channel, and I call the marina on the cell phone (we finally have a signal) and ask what the visibility is in there. The dock person says the fog has just lifted. Whew - would not like to navigate through the harbor with no viz.

1030 - Hooray, we can see. We have the current with us. We pass another boat and hear him say after he passes us that he has zero visibility.

Next: Visiting grandchildren from Mt. Pleasant