As we begin a new adventure, we feel confident that the first leg, from Charleston to Ft. Lauderdale will be easier the second time around.  We will stop at the same anchorages and marinas, the waypoints are already in our chart plotter, and other than watching weather conditions, we have been this way before.  However.......if the first part of this leg is any indication, things will not be quite that easy.

The photo above is the Author Ravenel Bridge in Charleston, the longest cable supported bridge in the United States. It was taken from our marina.  This was our view for the last three months. There are two rivers which meet in Charleston Harbor, the Ashley and the Cooper.  We were at a marina in the Cooper River and drove our car over this bridge to get to Mt. Pleasant and the Isle of Palms, our favorite ocean beach in the area.

We left the Charleston Maritime Center Wednesday at 5:24 pm.  This was after a very busy day.  I left Minnesota Monday morning on a flight to Chicago with a connection to Charleston.  Due to “mechanical problems” the connecting flight out of Chicago was cancelled.  I spent the night in a hotel and flew into Charleston Tuesday.  I rode a city bus from the airport to downtown Charleston, which took an hour, and walked from the bus terminal to the marina, about a mile.  Mark had the boat ready to go, but we needed to get some groceries and do a little laundry.  We will be following the same route we took coming north in July.  The days are shorter, but we hope that we can make about the same speed.  Our first goal is to reach Ft. Lauderdale by the end of the month so we can attend the boat show.

As we left the marina, we noticed that the motors were not giving us the speed they usually do.  However, there was a very strong current going against us in the Cooper River.  When we entered the nearby commercial channel out to the Atlantic, we were met by a HUGE car-carrying vessel, pictured above.  We’ve seen them frequently over the three months we were in Charleston, as they dock right next to the marina and load up with cars brought in by trains.  The small red boat in the foreground of the photo is a Coast Guard boat with a machine gun on the front pointed at us.  The other small boat is a pilot boat.   Later, while still in the commercial channel, we were called on the radio by the Coast Guard, asking how much longer we’d be in the channel and what our “intentions” were.  We gave them our boat’s name and our intentions - to sail overnight to Hilton Head.  They said a container ship was going to be entering the channel from Charleston soon.  They wanted us to be aware of it, but also wanted us out of the channel as quickly as possible.  These large vessels travel VERY fast compared to us.  

Daisy assumed her position to say goodbye to Charleston.  I wonder if she realized she won’t see any of her dog park friends for many months.  Then, she huddled down at the helm to endure the trip.   As it turned out, she missed her evening, morning and afternoon walks as the trip lasted twice as long as expected.

When we were twelve miles out, we headed south.  We had to go this far to avoid the shallow water near the coast.  With both sails up, we were still only making about 4 kts.  We had following seas and single digit wind speeds from the north.   In similar conditions in the past, we could easily go 6 kts. or more.  This trip is 90 miles, as we go out 12 miles to avoid shoals and then back in 12 miles at Hilton Head.  It is actually 66 miles from Charleston to Hilton Head, and boats who can go under bridges on the ICW have 24 fewer miles to travel.  When we came north in July, we left Hilton Head at 6 pm and arrived in Charleston at 7 am.   Therefore, we figured it would take close to this amount of time. 

It didn’t happen that way.  We motorsailed for  23 hours, not 13.  Part of the reason was the lack of wind, but a larger part is that something is wrong with our propulsion system.    At times it seemed like we were almost going backwards and definitely not moving forward very quickly.  The rain started after midnight.   As we got close to land, several small birds caught a ride with us and ate some of the moths who had also joined Seas the Day.  

We arrived at the Broad Creek anchorage area at 4:30 pm and anchored at the edge of the field.  Some boats are on mooring balls, but it isn’t a mooring field.  They are permanent residents who put out their own mooring balls.  There is a marina near us where we’ll get fuel and water before we leave.

In the meantime, Mark is researching what needs to be done to get full power to the motors.  We can’t leave here until this is  fixed.