Nov. 4

The weather was somewhat calmer and it was slack high tide when we left the dock today at Southport and headed out. For most of the morning there was sun and the wind had calmed down to make the traveling pleasant. ( It turned out to be the calm before the storm.

We had timed our arrival at the Sunset Bridge Pontoon bridge for the hourly opening when the heavens opened and it started to rain buckets. Just at 3 minutes before the scheduled opening there was an emergency and the bridge was held for ½ hour. With a blinding rain falling and fifteen to twenty boats both power and sail trying to keep from going aground or hitting each other it made for a tense situation.

The pontoon bridge is the last of its kind in the state ( and maybe the nation) and will be replaced by a high rise bridge that is scheduled to open in a few weeks. The bridge is floated on pontoons and a cable is used to move a portion of the bridge out of the way so boats can pass through.

It continued to rain and at times we had very high winds as we continued on the ICW ( The decision to continue on the ICW as opposed to the Atlantic was looking better and better)

At about 4:00 PM the rain stopped but the wind was still out of the north and very cold as we entered a section of the ICW known as the Rockpile because there are large rocks lining the waterway and you have to be very careful to stay in the center of the channel. As we came around a bend there was a 45 foot catamaran with each side on top of a rock hard aground just 15 feet out of the channel. The good news for him was that his boat wasn't holed and it was low tide so he will probably be able to float off at high tide.

Just at 5:30 PM we got through the Socastee bridge and were able to make our anchorage just north of Bucksport , South Carolina with only about 15 minutes of daylight left to get the hook down and settle in for the night.Tomorrow we hope to reach McClellanville and anchor just off the ICW

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