23 Sep 13

Yes, we actually, finally managed to pull ourselves away from Charleston (it is a hard place to leave). Naturally, the wind was smack on the nose all day: forecast NE 5 - 10, was actually NE 15 - 20 all day. We covered about 19 NM and anchored in Bull Creek, off Price Creek, which is between Capers and Bull Islands; we are the only ones in here. At low water slack (17:20), we took the dinghy over to Bull I. and had a nice stroll along a completely deserted beach; we collected a bunch of shells (most conchs ever), although who knows what we will do with them all. Back to the boat for docktails and BBQ’d pork chops. Nice and cool all day, and a beautiful sunset. Lots of dolphins playing around the anchorage, but no alligators - at least none that we saw.

About 22:00, with 2 kn of current coming from astern, the boat was lying at about 40 deg to the current and the stern was within about 10 feet of the north bank of the creek; I guess I should have rigged a proper yoke to share the load between the starboard and port stern cleats (i.e., my rolling hitch did not hold). I tied a float to the end of the stern anchor line and let it go (I’ll have to retrieve it tomorrow). The boat immediately swung around into the current, with no further problem. HW was at 23:45 and we swung back the other direction with no further problems.

24 Sep 13

The anchor buoy was floating right where I left it last night and I had no trouble retrieving the anchor, which came up completely clean. After I tidied up the anchor and rode, we decided to just sit tight, relax for the day and enjoy our surroundings. We lazed around, played guitar and ukulele and read all day long. It’s a hard life, but someone has to do it. Late in the afternoon, I did bestir myself to clean the scum and a few barnacles off the waterline, particularly on the starboard side. We have already decided to move the waterline (bottom paint) up 3” when we stop and haul the boat in Beaufort, NC.  

When the tide was coming in, with the wind blowing the other direction, the boat sailed back and forth across the creek, with the chain rattling noisily from along the bottom, but the anchor never budged. The wind stayed pretty fresh - NE 10-15 - all night long.