Spent Friday night anchored in Beaufort, SC. We then moved to the Downtown  City Marina Saturday morning and the ‘fleet’ arrived shortly after.  BackYakkers Anne and Paul Lambdin drove over from their winter home in Hilton Head to have lunch with us.  We all had a wonderful walk around town taking advantage of their local knowledge.

Beaufort is our favorite stop alone the trip. Each year we are delighted to see how this little town is thriving.  The group enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Panini’s (the old town bank) together.

After much study and discussion about the weather Compass Rose and Fandango left for another day on the ICW.  Made it through Port Royal Sound with very little discomfort; winds were north at a lot and seas maybe 2-3' off the stbd quarter.  No rain all day but did have 15/20 mph winds. We took it very slow exiting Fields Creek to cross the Savannah River as we could see that there were two VERY large ships moving on the river here at high speed crossing just about the same time we would be crossing.  Like the Chesapeake Bay ships, they are moving a lot faster than they look!

We anchored in Herb Creek in 29 ft at high tide but it is rushing out fast.  We put out 150 ft of chain, which equates to about 5-1 scope and, except for our swing with the strong current, we held in place.

Today we did a 9 hour/70 mile day.  Spent the day winding through the Spartina Grasses of Georgia.  Rafted up with Fandango in Queens Creek at high tide.  Colin and Chris served a wonderful Pork Roast dinner on their boat.  When we were leaving we realized that the tide had gone down to dead low; we could smell the muddy marshy banks along the creek.

Tomorrow we will be up early to cruise another 9 hrs to Fernandina Beach...Florida!!

John & Pam