Isle of Palms, marina

Despite some windy weather, leaving, traveling, and docking all went textbook. No issues whatsoever. A bit of shoaling on the route, but we had no problems. For the most part, depth was fine.

If you recall from yesterday we were going to stay in Georgetown for a couple of nights to do laundry and shopping. Well, boaters always have a plan B and plan C because you just can't count on plan A. We have goals, not agendas.

Due to the time change we set our alarm clock 30 minutes earlier than we normally get up, which meant we slept in by 30 minutes. We are so clever. Anyway, up early I quickly started the laundry. The day was warm, the sun was out...and where was all the predicted bad weather? A quick look on the weather maps showed that tomorrow (Monday) would be the not great day to travel, and today pretty nice. So, as soon as the clothes were washed (NOT dried) we brought them back on the boat and headed south. 

Clear in the morning...

Plan A was to get to McClennanville, which we'd been to before, but it was only 30 miles away. Having had a bad experience in Charleston proper -- and a bad wind storm coming -- we didn't want to stay there. Going farther was an even longer day. So we picked Isle of Palms, right off the ICW. 

The first thing I did when we got here was the drying part of the laundry, but it turns out Sunday night is a really big laundry day. Thankfully, we have a dryer on board. While small, making me work in batches, I'm finishing up the chore now.

...rainy in the afternoon.

Another advantage of this marina is the shopping, which we did not get done at Georgetown. The nearest grocery there was a Piggly Wiggly, which we have never been fond of, and it was a 20 minute bike ride. The grocery here is a Harris Teeter (more like a Whole Foods but less pricey) and a 10 minute bike ride on small backroads. So, a big win.

We will play it by ear. Our challenge will be crossing the Charleston Bay, which is a big (and can be unkind) piece of water. Even though we think we'll stay in IOP 2 nights, if the weather changes its plans, so will we.

Moonset in the morning

Fun story: While traveling today Russ took over piloting. Due to the shoaling we'd been following the Bob423 route more closely than our Navionics route, traveling over his track. This means we're looking at one particular tablet, more or less ignoring the other one. Russ realized, at some point, that the Navionics no longer had a route. He handed me the tablet and I poked around a bit only to discovered that Navionics had routed us to go outside; leaving the ICW at some inlet to return through Charleston Bay. If we hadn't noticed that, if we hadn't been following Bob's route, we may have done what it suggested. Right now there are small craft advisories and terrible winds on the Atlantic. We would have turned around once we realized the problem, but what a ridiculous route for the Navionics to have plotted. And the real kicker? Once we put in the ICW route, the trip was shortened... by 30 minutes. Boaters! Check your routes!