Bumpy Ride up the ICW

We left at 8a and spent 9 hours motoring up the Intracoastal Waterway. It was so very cold in Thunderbolt this morning. In the 40s with a strong wind blowing. Here we are backing out of the face dock....thank goodness yesterday the marina moved that little boat that was behind us!

Notice the flag over the marina is standing straight out.

No one was there to help us depart so we looped the bow & stern lines on the dock cleats, brought them back to the boat & tied them on the deck cleats. I couldn't remove those two lines until the Captain had the boat moving as we were being blown off the dock & toward the boats directly across from us. Then when he was ready I had to set us free from the dock quickly....bow line first then running back to the stern line. During this time I somehow sliced the top of my hand! Don't know what the wind chill factor was but my hands were so numb I never notice the cut until I saw blood dripping on the deck! Brrrr! It was a many layer/long underwear day.

We weren't going out in the ocean as the waves there were about 8ft but in the ICW we had 4 ft waves at one time when we crossed the Point Royal Sound...an inlet is there and the wind was blowing against the direction of the current....which makes for bigger waves. It was a bucking bronco ride and if moving about the boat you had to hold on tight. In this photo we only had 2 to 3 foot waves.

We always have the chirping noisy sea gulls behind the boat searching for fish that our props might stir up.

Some of the photos have a refection in them as it was just too cold to go out on deck to take most of these...like this one of a service boat that passed us.

A small tour boat.

We got to watch the Coast Guard practicing sea rescue.

This was a pretty place, Windmill Harbor.

Hilton Head Harbor marina.

A Great Harbor boat...one of our favorites.

Around Hilton Head there were some very large homes.

This buoy shows the strong current and wind today.

A small cruise ship that we thought was too big to be in the waterway as we had passed some shallow places later in the channel at low tide...however, this ship did dock back a ways and probably only leaves on high tides.

After this bridge and we passed Beaufort, SC.

City Dock at Beaufort.

Our anchorage tonight at Raccoon Island...notice the crab pots!

We are concerned about the shaft on the port engine....it is bent slightly & seems to be vibrating more. The possibility of hauling the boat to check this before we get home could delay us again....... Looking forward to a couple of days in Charleston, SC starting tomorrow...rain's acomin' again.