Beaufort South Carolina

Our next destination was Beaufort, South Carolina. Tides and thunderstorms could challenge our goal of getting there. We spent a quiet day on the ICW until we got to Bogue Sound on the south end of Hilton Head which is a busy boating area. We dodged ferries, power boats and jet skis, taking in all the sights and sounds as we passed by. Daufuskie Island looked to be a great place to visit. The dockside restaurants were all full!

 

Porpoise swimming with Mystic

Daufuskie Island House With Coordinates

Daufuskie Island Ferries

Para-sailing at Hilton Head

Harbour Town Yacht Basin Hilton Head

Busy Bogue Sound at bottom left

As soon as we got to the open water of the Port Royal Sound the wind picked up and gave us a taste of the power and personality of these waters. We were being hit on the starboard nose with 4-5 foot waves in 20 mph winds. Mystic handled this well! We, on the other hand, put our harnesses on immediately; there will be no leaving anyone behind!

The strong current slowed our progress to about 4 mph. We painstakingly moved across the open water, hoping to find a little shelter from the land jutting out on the northeast side of the sound. Once we passed the entrance marker for the Beaufort River, the waves hit us on the stern and we surf down them, a much easier ride for us. To the southwest, we saw a huge line of nasty black thunderclouds. The weather forecast told us that these strong cells would remain inland. We kept an eye on them anyway, hoping this to be true!

Port Royal Sound Crossing

Aerial view of  Port Royal Sound leading to Beaufort River

We hadn't seen Delphinea all day but heard Debbie hail the Beaufort City Marina. We already had a reservation to stop at the dock for one night. We were delighted for the opportunity to see our friends again. We arrived at the marina five minutes before closing with barely enough time to tie up and pay for dockage. Delphinea was nowhere to be seen.

We settled Mystic on the face dock and prepared soup for dinner, exhausted from the long day which ended with the crossing of Port Royal sound. After eating, we went for a walk through old downtown. There are beautiful buildings, restaurants and cafes. Horse drawn buggies take visitors on tours. The lively waterfront park is well cared for and popular. We visited the National Cemetery and other historic landmarks. The architecture in Beaufort is amazing; the locals are all friendly.

Beaufort horse and buggy

City Garden Artwork

Mooring field view under the live oak

Cool Gas Lanterns by the front door

Cutest little puppy greets us

Beaufort National Cemetary

National Cemetary ~ Somber Place of Rest

Dave in the park

Signs of War

Gorgeous Southern Architecture

Historic Robert Smalls House

1st African Baptist Church Prayer House

1863 1st African Baptist Church Prayer House

We slept well with cool temps overnight; something we haven't experienced since April. We showered in a relatively nice bath house if you ignored the crabs crawling around the basin at your feet. Luckily, they were more afraid of us than we were of them. We met the owner of the trawler docked next to us who told us we should stay a couple more days due to a storm moving in. Bad weather could make our journey miserable if we chose to continue. It is something that we must consider. We ran into Steve, Debbie and their pup, Libby, waiting for a horse and buggy ride. They mentioned the weather issues ahead of us and encouraged us to stay longer as well. They are on a mooring ball which is why we did not see them when we arrived. It didn't take much for us to realize that traveling during the fowl weather would be dangerous and uncomfortable. We decided to stay but we would move Mystic to the mooring field, two balls behind Delphinea.

Once the storm arrived, it rained and rained. The clouds finally cleared just a enough for us to go on deck to check the sky. We noticed a catamaran heading to the mooring ball between us and Delphinea. Suddenly, the boat began drifting back into Mystic. A woman raced to the bow and dropped anchor, then began screaming. She'd cut her hand on a metal tie. The captain made sure he wasn't going to hit us then explained that they had lost one of their engines coming into the mooring field. As they passed us the other engine failed. They were able to launch their dinghy, carry a long line from their bow to the mooring ball then back to their bow and pull the cat up onto the mooring. Luckily, the gals injury was not severe.

Debbie and Steve were taking Libby ashore and stopped by to see if we'd like to join them. We declined but told them to stop by for dessert on their way back. I'd made black bean brownies. We had a nice visit and enjoyed the first baked treat I've made since our return in April.

We expected rain all night again. At around midnight a bolt of lightening exploded right above Mystic. I jumped out of my skin and screamed out loud, waking Dave. The storm was relentless. Beaufort got about 8" of rain overnight. Unfortunately, this caused sewers to back up and many of the downtown businesses were forced to close their doors until the plumbing issues could be addressed. We'd hoped to stop in for a beer at Hemingways Speak East but it was closed.

Our unexpected layover in Beaufort was coming to an end. We walked down the docks with a cold Spiked Spritzer and saw Don't Think Twice, the looper boat we met in Kilkenny Creek. After chatting with them, we returned to our mooring and prepared Mystic for the next leg of our journey. We are glad that we decided to stay during the stormy weather.