Note – The featured picture for this post was taken from the bow of the boat looking aft in our anchorage for tonight. We are anchored in the South Edisto River just a mile away from Fenwick Island.

Both expected and unexpected challenges today. We timed our departure from Charleston to leave at slack tide, to avoid strong currents within the crowded marina docks, and to get to the Wappoo Creek bascule bridge in time for its 9:30am opening.

Approaching the bridge, the tender acknowledged our hail. However, although the barrier for bridge vehicular traffic went down promptly at 9:30, the bridge failed to open while we jockeyed to remain in one position as the current pushed us towards the bridge.

At 9:38am, the barriers went back up. Tom hailed the bridge tender-she replied “Stand-by, Captain”. The barriers went down, and the two halves of the bridge began to open, then stopped, with the starboard half of the bascule noticeably sagging more than its mate. “Expletive deleted!” we both exclaimed. The bridge then closed again, and finally, slowly, both halves opened. We launched C Ghost thru at top speed, hoping that the bridge wasn’t going to come down on us. Tom thanked the tender, adding, “Sorry that you had some trouble.” She wished us a good day, but no explanation for the unusual bridge behavior was forthcoming.

This was one of several surprises. The Dawho River, not identified as a “trouble spot” in our cruising guide, began to show depths in the 5 and 6 foot range, although our charts indicated C Ghost was mid-channel and should have significantly higher depths, even at low tide. We radioed a large catboat ahead of us, and they confirmed the shallow depths and the chart readings. Their draft was 5’5″ to our 5′, and we crept slowly forward together, using our depth sounders to “feel” our way forward into the areas with best depth. The catboat grounded softly about one third of the way through. We held off while they carefully and skillfully backed off into better water, and then it was our turn to take the lead. It was a tense few miles. Paula piloted and Tom reported from both our Garmin and Navionics charts what the best path looked to be. We radioed back to the catboat where we got into the thinnest water, and where we found improved depths. At one point, our depth-sounder read 4’8″, and Paula could feel the rudder pushing through soft mud. In this fashion, our sailing duo limped through to North Edisto, which opened into a blessedly wide, deep plain. Now we radioed back and forth to our new friends as to travel plans, and thanks for company during an adventure shared. The catboat couple told us that they found this trip more shallow and challenging than the ICW passage they took three years ago.

We said farewell over the VHF as they continued on to their planned anchorage, and we exited into ours. Tonight’s anchorage features good depth (12 feet at low tide, now 17) and the high current typical of South Carolina. The anchor is holding well right now, and several pods of dolphins-these gray, not black- have swum by. The scenery is a mix of woods and salt marsh. Raucous sea birds are screeching, and little gnats have come to greet us by the hundreds. The sounds of distant construction can be faintly heard, but not seen.

Dinner was turkey cutlets picatta and kale with bacon, garlic and onion. Thanks to our Charleston grocery trip, we also have fresh green grapes. Since we arrived around three, Paula had time to cook some side dishes to accompany our next few anchorage meals.

The sun has just set, and we anticipate another great star-gazing night.