Georgetown, SC... as opposed to George Town, Great Exuma

We left Charleston Monday morning.  Things started going badly even before the day started.  First, we noticed over the weekend that the refrigeration would not run on batteries alone.  We called the fridge repair guy but of course it was Easter Sunday, so we didn't expect to hear from him until Monday.  We bought some ice to tide us through.  Then as we were getting under way Monday morning the windlass quit working with the anchor chain only part way up, so Richard had to pull it up by hand.  Just after that I overlooked a big tug pulling a long line of pipe.  I thought it was continuing up the river but instead it was turning, and I cut across its path.  Not a safe way to start the morning.  After motoring across Charleston harbor we approached the entrance to the ICW about the time the fridge repair guy called.  Richard indicated that I should circle back into the harbor so as to avoid the narrow entrance and congestion there while he was on the phone but as soon as I turned around we ran aground.  We thought it was very convenient that TowBoat U.S. was there immediately but they were coming for another boat, also aground.  However, we didn't have to wait long for the tide to rise and we were able to power off.  Richard finished talking with the fridge guy, who thought our problem was battery related, since it runs on engine power just fine.  We continued up the ICW after talking with a north bound trawler, who we asked to let us know if he saw any really shallow depths.  They called a couple times to alert us to a few spots.  Our guidebook warned of one spot in particular and said there was more water on the left side of the channel, so when we got there and saw a large power boat coming up behind, Richard started moving left to let him by.  Suddenly we went from 9+ feet of water to 4.9 feet and were hard aground!  I had been standing in front of the companionway looking aft.  We stopped so suddenly that I was thrown backwards, into the open companionway.  We had a screen covering it to keep out the bugs (flying teeth!) and that is all that prevented me from having serious injuries, as it slowed my fall down the steps.  Of course, the wooden slats in it broke and the screen ripped, so I spent the next three hours sewing it back together (have to keep the bugs out or we'll go nuts!).  A local boat which stopped to help said that if we had gone another 50 yards in the ICW we would have missed the shallow ledge which grounded us.  We decided to wait for higher tide to float us off and to give us more water in the channel.  We continued on, stopping early for the night, and continued on to Georgetown, SC the next day.  There we found our friends on Gaia.  They stopped over after they (and we) had run errands in town.  Louis and Richard worked on tracking down our battery/refrigeration problem (nothing conclusive).  Afterward I fixed dinner and we all had a nice meal and conversation.  They departed early so that they could get up early for their planned 50 mile day in the morning.  We never did get to watch Captain Ron with them.  There is a good chance we will not see Nadine and Louis again on this trip.  They are planning longer travel days days in an effort to be back in Quebec by July.  We are doing shorter days, and have people and places yet to see on our return to the Great Lakes.

Richard here.  We were both a little bummed this morning after Louis and Nadine left.  They are the boat that we've seen most often (since the Annapolis boat show in October) and the people that we've spent the most time with both in the Bahamas and now on our return up the east coast.

After lunch and most of the rain showers were finished we walked into town to do laundry and buy a few groceries.  As I was helping fold the laundry I realized that most of our clothes will need to be replaced after this adventure.   Between wearing our clothes just a bit longer than usual between launderings,  sunscreen stains, and bug blood stains most of our clothes are looking a bit ratty.  Of course those of you who know how I dress probably wouldn't notice much of a difference, but Sue will definitely be buying new clothes!

I also noticed that we're both sort of out of the tourist mode at this point in our trip.  We've walked by two or three museums lately without even asking each other if we have any interest in stopping.