April 27, 2024: To Church Creek Anchorage, South Carolina

0630: Outside temp 69 degrees, Water temp 76, Humidity 89.9%, Cloud coverage 21%, Dew point 65 degrees, Wind ENE @ 7 mph. WOBSSRs done. Thru hull open. (Main strainer was full of grass and needed scrubbing).

0700: Engine started. Electrical unhooked. Lines untied. We had a small runabout in front of us, so we left the fenders on and pushed away from the dock. I continued to push on the stern as Lee put the boat in reverse and we swung out into the channel. Lee had plenty of room to swing us around and we left the marina at 0720. We needed to leave early as today would be full of twists and turns and we needed to time things just right to hit the shoaling areas at high or slack tide. Our auto pilot did not cooperate, so we took turns making manual adjustments. (I must admit Lee did most of the work, while I kept busy making the meals and offering support).

We traveled along the Coosaw River until we passed the Coosaw-Ashepoo Cut. Our initial plan was to continue on as the 1.7 mile cut can get very shallow. However, we saw several boats larger than JR enter the cut and we knew we were at the end of a rising tide. We decided to risk it and cut some time off our trip. We saw 12+ feet the whole way.

1100: We entered the Fenwick Cut Turnoff which brought us some beamy seas for a while.

1200: We entered Watt’s Cut at MM 503 and continued to have more than enough water under the keel.

We passed by the American Waterways Wind Orchestra barge.

Louis Kahn’s Music Barge Finds New Home

Gina Pollara wrote an article about the barge in Architecture News in 2020. At that time the barge had been hauled to South Carolina for some hull work. It was scheduled to be brought to Philadelphia and put to full use as a musical barge. We suspect the Pandemic upset those plans as it is still in South Carolina. It has a fascinating history, and hopefully will be able to return to its life as a musical venue.

1420: We dropped our anchor in 10 feet of water at Church Creek (MM 487.8), sent out 100 feet of chain and rode, and took some time to enjoy watching the dolphins playing in a small stream across the way.

We used 12.2 gallons of fuel giving us an average of 4 gallons/hour.

It was another lovely day.