Bahamas | Take 3 | December 18, 2024

Charleston, SC, to Edisto Beach, SC

KORKZcrew is the blue dot on the map

Charleston must've realized my blog posts were in desperate need of some color, as she delivered a bit of drama this morning in the form of dense fog that threw our electronics into mass protest. But only after we'd left the safe harbor of Safe Harbor Marina. Of course. We set out at 7:30 am with the radar on and charts in full cooperation, and they conspired to fool us just long enough to get us across the Ashley River and then drop us like a hot potato.

It was pretty disconcerting (and eerie!) to be in the middle of a fog-occluded harbor without charts, but Ron and Skeet managed to get us to a perfect spot just outside of the channel to wait for the visibility to improve.

I think the scientific term for these conditions is pea soup, and it is NO joke. I'm pretty sure we would've waited to leave the marina if we'd realized just how poor the visibility was the farther we got from the dock, but what fun is that, plus, how many chances do you get to photograph Steve in the fog in Charleston Harbor? Priorities, people!

So what else do you do with 2.5 hours to kill than notice things like spiderwebs and a fog rainbow (also known as a fogbow according to resident meteorologist, Ron Hesmer), and then drone on about it on your blog post?! (When you can't find your backup storage bags, it's a slow day for vacuum sealing.)

So finally, around 10:00 am, things started to look up (and we were actually able to look OUT), and it was time to recalibrate the GPS. We don't know if the fog threw it off or if it was just an unexpected glitch, but wouldn't you know the only "fix" was to basically do donuts in the Charleston Harbor until our compass realized that up was actually down, north was actually south, and left was actually right. I would've loved to have been a fly on the wall of the banks of the Battery if any tourists happened to have been around at the time. It must've been quite the spectacle to see this little trawler going around in circles as if it had no idea where it was going or what it was doing. Which sadly wasn't too far from the truth 🫣.

Captain Donut and his sidekick Skeet. You can kind of see the donut-like curve of our path.

After such an exhilarating start to the day things calmed down pretty dramatically, and we were back to poking along on our journey southward.

The scenery did not let us down along the way. I loved how the water became a literal mirror for the sky.

We passed the Links At Stono Ferry golf course and saw a tee box that was right on the waterway. So picturesque! It's hard to tell from the photograph, but the part that juts out with the palm tree at the end is its own little peninsula.

One thing I've noticed on this trip that I've never seen before is the use of coyote decoys on docks. I first saw several of them being used at the marina in Charleston, and got this explanation from the Googles 😜: "Coyote decoys are used to scare away birds and other pests from open areas. They work because coyotes are natural predators of many animals, so seeing a coyote decoy can frighten them away." I saw one again on a dock on the waterway just south of Charleston. Pretty smart idea.

Another surprise sighting along the ICW was this vessel we had to look at several times to determine what it was. Had to ask Google about this one too, and found a fascinating story. Believe it or not, this was a floating concert shell for a symphony orchestra that traveled all over the United States as well as internationally. How cool is that?! This is my photograph below. The ones I've added came from various websites that tell the barge's incredible story.

The side of the vessel reads "American Waterways Wind Orchestra"

From Hidden Architecture:

"Point Counterpoint II, a music performance barge designed by Louis Kahn for Robert Boudreau and his American Wind Symphony Orchestra, was launched in 1976 as a bicentennial project. For over 40 years the 196-foot vessel, designed with references to a flute and sporting a hydraulic steel clamshell that lifted to reveal the performance space, plied coasts and waterways across the country—and abroad—presenting shoreside concerts."

Photos from the Hidden Architecture Website

Unfortunately I wasn't able to learn of its ultimate fate; only that in 2020 it had been saved from the scrap heap and was on its way to a permanent location in Louis Kahn's home city of Philadelphia. This article details more of the vessel's fascinating history, and mentions its location in South Carolina, but it makes me wonder if it will ultimately make it to Pennsylvania as planned. I sure hope so.

After a full day of fog, coyotes, and crazy music barges, Steve led us to our evening anchorage near Edisto Beach around 5:00 pm.

KORKZcrew's shadow on the marsh grass

Night night KORKZcrew!

6 hours underway; approx. 40 nautical miles traveled

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