Church Creek to Dewees Creek 7/23/2012

We were up early as normal and caught a really beautiful sunrise. This is probably the prettiest anchorage we have stayed at so far. We had the anchor up and were underway by 9:00 am.

Plot of today's travels

This is the sunrise in Church Creek anchorage. It is one
of our all time favorites!

Back yard of the house we were anchored behind
for the night

Paula wanted to stop and make an offer for this
one but I thought our boat wouldn't even
make a down payment on the dock!

The house that goes with the sign

Derelict boat, unfortunately every state has this problem

Too nice not to take a picture!

Paula had to take this one for me!

People really enjoy playing in our wake!

Another derelict 

Yard art!

Comfy spot to relax 

South Carolina state flag. We have seen more of their
state flag flying than any other state we have
been in. You will almost always see the
American flag flying right beside it!

The famous Megadock in Charleston, SC. It's the longest
face dock in the south.

Anchorage in Charleston. Notice the masts from a sunken
ketch sticking up in the water

Another  sunken sail boat with a derelict tied to it. 

Yep, that's a  picnic table mounted on float attached to
the back of 2 boats lashed together in the
Charleston anchorage.  

Downtown Charleston, not a very pretty downtown

Fort Sumter, where the civil war began

Charleston Lighthouse

Put your extra boats in the back yard!

I hope you can see the little girl's expression!

Don't have a clue what this is, but we thought it was neat

This was up in the shallows at Dewees Creek where we
anchored for the night

Paula playing in the water at Dewees Creek
The current was so strong that I think we could
have skied off the back. The actual inlet is about
a mile further east from where we anchored. But after such a long hot day we really didn't care how strong the current was!!

Hang on!!!!

Hey, I was thinking we might could afford this waterfront property!!

Sunset at Dewees Creek

Dataw Island Marina to Church Creek 7/22/2012

We spent a very enjoyable three days on Dataw Island. It is beautiful and we will be going back again. We got underway at about 8:30 am, headed for an anchorage we picked out in Church Creek. The creek turned out to be a very pretty spot and we anchored behind a large home. The creek is a little narrower than we really liked and didn't give us a lot of swing room, but the winds were light so we didn't worry about it. The trip to the creek was extremely hot with little air movement all day. As soon as we got the anchor set we jumped in the water for a cool refreshing swim.

Plot of our days travel

Beautiful house in our Church Creek anchorage

Great Egrets in our anchorage

Dock at low tide

Another Egret!

Flock of White Ibis

Dawtaw Island Marina 7/19-21/2012

Dataw Island Marina turned out to be a great find for us. Dataw Island is a gated golf and tennis community. There are about 1,000 homes, 2 golf courses, 8 tennis courts, indoor and outdoor pools, a large community center and beautifully landscaped homes. There is a circle road that has a bike path all around the island.  We walked it and according to our pedometers it is 4.3 miles around. The next day we borrowed a couple of bikes from the marina and rode around it.

 The first thing we saw when we walked out of the marina area, two does and a fawn!

These Barn Swallows came for a visit. 

Blazer found a good place to get outside and out of the sun!

Beautiful water lilles in one of the island ponds

They even have Cat Tails!

The old man rode a bike for the first time in about
50 years!

Paula having a ball, as usual!

Port Royal to Dataw Island Marina 7/19/2012

We had planned to stop at Dataw Island Marina today so we needed to time the tide (plan our arrival for slack tide), which we try to do especially when we are going into a strange marina. We started the engines at 10:52 and had the anchor free at straight up 11:00am.

Paula got a really good shot of a rowing team in a scull and people having fun in small sail boats.

We had a real treat when we went by Beaufort Marine Air Station and saw 4 fully armed F18's landing. Paula got a couple of good shots of them.

Chartplotter of our trip from Battery Creek. We took a
side trip up Bull River checking on an
anchorage for possible future use.

Downtown Beaufort Marina

Rowing team! (I prefer to be higher out of the water!

       Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Having fun!

This guy looks fast even sitting on the ground!

Fully Armed!

Dataw Island Marina

Underway New River to Port Royal SC 7/18/2012

We got up around 6 am and at 8:45 started pulling the anchor up. New River was a nice stop but nothing special. We headed north, planning on stopping at one of several different anchorages that we had picked out around Beaufort, SC. We had a good travel day of about 30 miles and decided to stop in Port Royal. We were just across from Parris Island Marine Corps Training Depot in Battery Creek. As we rounded Parris Island we could not really see very much. But, boy, the next morning we could hear them!! I think every Marine on base was at the firing range with plenty of ammo!

Chart plotter  screen shot

Sunrise on New River

Lots of Pelicans

People playing around Hilton Head Island

There is a subtle difference in the shoreline in South
Carolina, more islands with trees mixed
with the salt marshes

Yep, we're close to a Marine base!

Pigeons? Over the water?

View from where we anchored in Port Royal

Dolphin hunting in the anchorage

Underway IOH to New River anchorage 7/17/2012

Because of the afternoon thunderstorm warnings for the next week we decided to get underway early and anchor early. We planned our travel days to be about 30 miles (3.5 to 4 hours travel time).   Paula and I decided to take a side trip from IOH to downtown Savannah since we had never seen it from the water. Then we would head on to our planned anchorage. Below are several pictures of downtown. Paula did not take a picture of the cop who ran me down because I was going too fast. (I was just too involved in being a water tourist!) 

We will really miss all of our friends in Savannah, but hope to stop in for a day or so as we head back south in October/November.

Screen shot from our Chart Plotter

We dropped the anchor for the night in New River, west of Dufuskie Island. We jumped in for a quick swim and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

Sunrise as we prepared to leave Isle of Hope

Bonaventure Cemetery from the water

Bonaventure Cemetery

Fort Jackson

An old dredge, obviously not being used!

Hmmmm, look who's following us!  And look at the fool in the little boat that crossed in front of him!!

Downtown Savannah

Another little boat

The workhorses of the river