South Carolina

Since our last blog we have travelled into Georgia and covered about 140 miles. We change constantly from creek to river to sound to cuts (large drains really). There are many shrimp boats and little river towns supporting these fleets. We have anchored up a few creeks; marinas are becoming less common & we need to be "communing with nature "- it also costs less. Not only are there a variety of rivers creeks, sounds, tributaries, cuts & canals but they are all affected by the current which can increase or decrease our speed by up to 3 knots and this changes each time you enter or exit a new river or creek usually every 6 - 7 miles. Some have huge volumes some are merely dribbles. The tides are affected by the direction of the river flow -  one day we were on half tide heights for most of the day. This is tricky in shoaling areas - is it OK to proceed or so shallow that we have to anchor up & wait. (One was called Hell Gate). We have had to do a bit of timing with tides to negotiate a couple of very shallow and badly shoaling areas and also a couple of times to anchor up before the late afternoon storms. We sat up one night until 11pm watching the electrical storm, wind & tide change of 8ft around us in a very small creek called Bryan Creek.
We passed Moon River the one made famous by Andy Williams.  Also passed a city called Thunderbolt City named by the Indians after a lightning strike many years ago.
The major recruiting school for Marines was on  Parris Island  & a large US Marine Corps Air Station at Brickyard Creek where we noted the regular presence of military planes, (as the radio announcer commented "that noise is your freedom").
These waters ways are full of dolphins & pelicans but we have also seen tennis ball like jelly fish and turtles.
We stopped at Beaufort (pronounced Bewfort) Marina another historic town set out in squares like Savannah & Charleston with lovely old mansions & live oak trees covered in Spanish moss. We plan to reach Charleston tomorrow.