Savannah, GA to Downtown Marina of Beaufort, SC, mm 536

July 3, 2016

Our departure at 6 am this morning was very easy since we were on the end of the face dock with our bow facing the direction we wanted to go.  After we cleared the marina area, we revved up the engines to 1100 rpm’s and cruised with the tide at about 10 mph.  When we have the tide against us, it slows us down to 7-8 mph, depending of how strong it is.

Research ship we passed at dock now in the Atlantic Ocean

When we had talked to the 2 guys on the Hatteras the previous evening, we had mentioned that we were thinking of stopping at Beaufort, SC -- pronounced "Bew-fort" -- but we didn’t have a place to stay locked in yet.  They recommended the Downtown Marina of Beaufort, because it has floating docks and is right in the nice downtown waterfront area.  Rob read Active Captain reviews on the Garmin Blue Charts app and made a reservation for the face dock, because reports of large tidal swings of 8-9 ft and strong currents made the mooring field seem less attractive.  The marina was only 53 miles away from Isle of Hope, so we hoped for an easy cruising day and early afternoon docking.

We cruised past Hilton Head Island, a popular tourist destination that I always thought of as pretty ritzy.  While there were some nice homes by the water and a large resort hotel with a large marina, the rest of what I could see looked pretty ordinary.  It may just be that it is fairly remote with limited land access, so goods have to be brought in at a higher cost than other beach resort areas.

Nice homes on the water, Hilton Head Island, SC

RV Park marina, boat ramp, and dock

Large marina at Palmetto Dunes Resort

Hilton Head Island beach on the AICW

We also passed Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot, which is where all male recruits from east of the Mississippi River and all female recruits are sent to receive their initial training.

Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot, SC

The water tower says, "We Make Marines"

Wind indicator...or secret military device of some sort -- maybe our conversation was being monitored to make sure we were what we appeared to be

Because of the potentially strong currents at the Downtown Marina of Beaufort, many of the reviews said to be sure to follow the dockhands’ instructions, because they are very experienced at getting boats in safely under such conditions.  When we hailed the marina on the VHF, we were told to prepare for a port side tie since this would put our bow into the current on our approach.  In addition to the current, there was also a fairly stiff breeze which would be pushing us toward the dock.

Unlike Isle of Hope dockhand, the Beaufort dockhand who brought us in knew exactly what he was doing.  He instructed Rob to throw a bow line first, and he quickly secured it to a cleat so that the current and the wind took care of bringing the stern into the dock.  Easy peasy.

Cool but spooky looking trees.  The trunks had the appearance of driftwood.

After we were all squared away, we took a walk around the downtown area.  In addition to the shops and restaurants, there is a very nice park along the waterfront, so there were quite a few people out walking around and enjoying the evening.  Sasha had to play Frisbee while on her retractable leash, but she didn’t really mind too much since she did get to play.

Sets of these bench swings lined the waterfront so that people could sit and enjoy the view and the breeze