The heck with the current, what about the fog!!

After a sleepless night worrying about our departure from the St. Johns Yacht Harbor with the fast current, it turned out to be a non-event. There was no wind and the current was not as fast as the day before. We got off the dock easily with the assistance of the helpful dockhands and started our way up the ICW. It was quite foggy, so we proceeded slowly. We had to transit the concerning Elliot Cut and navigate under a couple of bridges. It was a little tricky since we could only see about 75 yards. The cut is a narrow channel with homes on both sides and a swift running current. We were following a sailing catamaran that moved ahead and disappeared in the fog. They showed up  a few minutes later right in front of us. they had turned around since they had to wait for one of the bridges that would not be opening until later. It was very eery and the fog messes with your sense of direction. We entered Charleston Harbor and had to stop for about 45 minutes to wait for the fog to lift. We kept a lookout for other boats and heard the alerts from ship captains on the radio. We decided it was best to wait rather than take a chance of running into large commercial vessels.

Once the fog lifted, we made our way through the harbor, past tugs, barges, ships ,  Coast Guard boats, and of course Fort Sumter. We also enjoyed some of the beautiful Charleston homes.

Once we passed the urban area around Charleston, we got out into the open areas and made good time to Georgetown. We stopped here on the way down in November and really enjoyed the town. We are staying two nights and will spend some time exploring tomorrow. The town is an interesting mix of commercial fishing, other industry and tourism. Of course Martha enjoys the flowers. We had a great meal at the restaurant Roots tonight with plenty of leftovers for another meal.

We have met many people during this journey. Many from the Chesapeake Bay, some that live on their boats full time and some that are doing the Great Loop. Frequently we end up seeing the same boats at multiple marinas. There are two boats here that were next to us in Beaufort, "Joint Venture" and "Magic." We have passed Magic on the water at least three times starting back at Hilton Head and now docked with them twice. That's a normal occurence when traveling the ICW. We may even see them again in the future.

A cold front with strong storms is expected tonight which will cause the temperature to drop significantly. They are calling for frost warnings tomorrow and the winds are supposed to become very strong. Not a good time to be on the water. We will stay at least one extra day to wait out the weather. Not sure where we are going next. It will be a surprise.