Home Again

The boat is safely back at The Ford Plantation. I had considered taking the ocean route home yesterday because of construction at the Causton Bluff Bridge on the Intracoastal Waterway, but it turned out to not be necessary. I called the bridge tender early in the morning and was told it would be open to boat traffic all day. Besides, winds in the ocean were 15 to 20 knots from the east, blowing against the outgoing tide from the Savannah River, meaning it would be a bumpy ride.

I departed Harbourtown Marina at 9:15 as I had currents to fight, and I wanted to get through an area called Field's Cut before the low tide made it impassable for my six-foot draft boat. As a result, I arrived at Causton Bluff Bridge at around 11:30 am when the tide was nearly low, giving me a bridge clearance of 30 feet so that no opening was necessary. By noon I was in Thunderbolt and by 1 pm I was passing Isle of Hope. I was way ahead of schedule as high enough tide to re-enter Ford's marina would not be until near 7 pm. So I idled and dawdled most of the day, drifting in wide spots while I did little projects on the boat. As it turned out, I still arrived at the Ford marina by 6:15. It was a high tide day and I had no trouble at all getting back into the marina.

There are numerous small projects with the boat, so it will be nice having it a block away for the next month or so. I'll be fiddling around on the boat and Mike Lamson's crew will be finishing some waxing and varnish touch up. I've also got a checklist of items needed for the Bahamas such as charts and guidebooks. Our overall game plan is still to depart south right after Christmas and on to the Bahamas from south Florida. 

Alone on the boat

Our original Hilton Head trip was delayed by terrible weather last Saturday. So we started Sunday afternoon and made it to Isle of Hope, and on to Harbourtown at Hilton Head Monday. After a pleasant Monday evening with dinner at CQ's here, and a relaxed morning yesterday, we left the boat here overnight to get back to The Ford Plantation for a meeting for me and work demands for the Lovely Laura Lee. This afternoon I returned to the boat by myself, and I will take it back to Ford tomorrow, weather, bridges, and boat gremlins permitting.

Our only issue coming up here was the Causton Bluff Bridge near Thunderbolt. It is a drawbridge between Thunderbolt and the Savannah River that we can normally go under without a bridge opening except at high tide. The bridge is under construction to be replaced by a high fixed bridge and was closed Monday to all boat traffic because the construction crews were lifting the massive concrete spans for the new higher bridge. We were informed by a marine patrol officer on duty in his boat there that it would be closed all day to traffic. However, he ventured that we could probably pass under one of the side spans not normally used by traffic. He said the depth there was 11 feet (we need six feet) and that the span was 25 feet above the water (we need 23 feet). So we tried it, with Laura Lee standing atop the dinghy on the upper deck and me driving at a pace of about 1/10 of a knot, fully prepared to stop dead if need be. As the man said, we cleared it by about two feet and went on our way.

So if the bridge is open to boat traffic tomorrow, I will be fine getting home. Otherwise, I will need to consider taking the outside route in the ocean from Hilton Head down to the Ossabaw Sound. I called the number listed for the bridge tender tonight and was told "I'm not sure. You'll have to check back first thing in the morning." Bridge tenders are not the most talkative people, but he was polite and really had no information. I do not want to go that route and be stuck, requiring me to turn around and backtrack to a different route, or spend the night anchored in the waterway. 

The forecast for the ocean route tomorrow is "NE winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts to 20 kt. Seas 2 to 3 ft." Acceptable on this boat if not ideal.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Underway Again

After seven weeks in the boatyard, we finally got underway again Friday afternoon. Rather than taking the boat directly to The Ford Plantation, we opted to make a quick run 17 miles north to Hilton Head, where we have spent a quiet weekend at the Harbour Town Yacht Basin. We are directly across from the 18th hole of the Harbour Town Golf Links where they are already constructing the stands for the RBC Heritage tournament that begins here in two weeks.

The boat was quite dirty, as happens in boatyards, so I spent most of Saturday just getting the first layer of grunge off until we can get it back home for a real cleanup. 

We would love to go outside in the Atlantic for most of the trip home today, but alas, the weather doesn't appear to be cooperating. It's not going to be awful, but a cold front passes through during the day, kicking up wind and perhaps some squalls. Going south on the waterway is also a bit challenging because of the timing of tides. An arrival at Ford for the best tides late this afternoon has us crossing some shallow areas up here at low tides. We are thinking we can leave here at about about 1 pm, an hour after low tide, and have rising water as we make our way south. We hope to arrive home around sunset and close to high tide at Ford. 

It's been a great weekend.