Awendaw Creek - At anchor

Imagine meeting this behemoth in a 40 ft wide channel!

The stretch of the ICW from Charleston to Awendaw Creek is narrow and shallow with many 6 ft spots but the real challenge is staying in the channel. If you wander outside just a little, you quickly see the bottom come up to meet you. I was in a line of sailboats headed north that were going a little slower than I want to so I pulled over to pass. One of the boats got over too far to port and suddenly stopped. I hadn't asked him to get over that far and it didn't appear it was all that far but it was far enough for this stretch. He eventually got off and continued on his way and we all paid even more attention to staying in the middle, the mantra of sailors along here.

Reaching the anchorage, we found it all to ourselves and anchored in the middle. Unfortunately, it was also near high tide so the nearby marshes offered no solid ground. Hoolie and I piled into the dinghy and headed for the entrance where we noticed an oyster shell pile that appeared to be above high water. We found it and Hoolie had his fun. When just Hoolie and I go it's a fast trip since we can get up on plane but if Ann comes too we can't.

Looking out at the ICW from our boat we saw an amazing sight, a huge barge going down the same ICW that we just negotiated where we were nervous about it being so narrow. Here's this barge making all sorts of wide turns going down the same path. I felt sorry for any sailboats going in the opposite direction!

After the sunset, the stars are coming out - dead calm

It is now as calm as a lake, there's no wind and no lights with no moon. We'll enjoy the solitude tonight after Charleston. Sunday it's on to Georgetown.