Friday, April 9, 2021.
Weather: Temp: 73/60, Humidity: 97/67%, Top Wind: SW10 mph, Precip: some rain, Miles Traveled: 30
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What a beautiful morning! We weren’t in a big hurry since we knew that Mark the harbor/lock master wouldn’t be in until 8:00. So we had a leisurely time getting ready to go. And our journey was only about 30 miles today. We decided to have Mark come and pump out our black water tank since it was right here at the dock, and we’re the only ones here. Then we tossed our lines and out the lock we went. This was our beautiful morning view of the clubhouse. Too bad the pool was closed due to the electrical issues – it would have been so swanky to spend some time over there!
We asked Mark about how the water is maintained at this level in the community. It does not fluctuate with the tide, since they have the lock. We came in at a pretty low tide, but apparently this basin is maintained at about the 7’ high tide level. So at high tide, he can open the lock doors and let water in. And there is a outlet at the main gate, way out by the road, where excess water can flow. That way, the water doesn’t sit stagnant, but is flushed regularly. Sure enough, when we went through the lock, the outside water was within an inch of the inside water. The channel out of here looked way better at high tide! This is looking back at the lock.
…And looking forward at the channel. When we came in, we could see rock piles on both sides of the channel. One thing about low tide is that it reveals what is out there. Higher water hides what lurks below just waiting to take a bite out of our props. 😳
Dick told us about this house. An elderly man lived in the house on the right, and didn’t want anyone to build next to him, so he built an additional wing with a courtyard in between. And then he purchased the empty lot next to the wing on the left.
It was a pretty uneventful day on the water. We crossed the Port Royal Sound, and took the opportunity to crank up the engines for about 15 minutes. (That’s the red, white, and yellow lines). We were cruising along at our normal 9mph rpm when we got to the sound, but picked up speed with the out going tide and we were going about 11mph. When we turned to go up the river after going fast and brought the engines back down to normal 9mph rpm speed, we slowed down to about 7.5mph. Darn current.
As we were making our way up the Beaufort River, we were trying to find the green markers. Hmmmm….🤔 there appeared to be white markers where maybe the green ones should be? Well, yes – there was a hint of green under all of the bird white-wash!
We passed Parris Island, which is a U.S. Marine Corp Recruit Depot. They had a water tower that said “We Make Marines”, but my picture turned out blurry.
We made it to Beaufort, and went on past the town marina where we stayed last time. We decided to stay across the river at Lady’s Island.
So under the bridge and around the bend, we followed the pink line. We’ve been to Beaufort by car and by boat, and have enjoyed the town. One time when we were here by car, we happened upon a bar & grill here on the Lady’s Island side that had “Steak Night” on Friday night. We’re going to be here on a Friday night, so we decided to just stay in the marina right by the bar!
So here we are! I like their “Moor Better” motto. 😉
Guess where Island Girl is? Look for the girl with the brown mustache. 🥸
The Fillin Station bar & grill is right here. We decided to go for an early dinner, so we headed up there around 5:00.
It is an interesting place. Inside is a dark and dreary bar with a pool table and not much seating other than the bar. Outside is a good size deck with an order window. It’s a self serve kind of place – order your drinks and food at the window, throw all your own stuff away. But there is a fella that comes around and wipes down the tables. So Kenny went to the window to order a couple of drinks. They have a full bar, but I don’t think any beer on tap – all I saw was bottles of beer. I saw a man standing over by the BBQs, and went and asked him about steak night. I remembered from before that they grill them here outside, and we got a Rib-eye steak, baked tater and salad for $12 each. Nope- he said they aren’t doing it every week, because one- they don’t make any money on it and he has a staff to pay, and two-they like to have live music on Friday night, and when they do steak night at the same time, it is crazy busy until 7:30, then everybody leaves. Darn! We had our one drink, then headed back to the boat, and I fixed us some sketti, french bread, and salad. That was alright, since I had food that we either needed to eat soon or throw out.
Once the band started playing, we could hear the music loud and clear, and they weren’t bad! We struggled with the marina wifi to get Amazon Prime to stream on the TV, and we talked about where we’re headed in the next few weeks. We were thinking that we’d be able to put Mr Stuart Peezee in the water and tootle him over to Beaufort town tomorrow, and belly up to the dinghy dock. But – it looks like it might get a bit sporty out there for the lil fella with some wind. We could get the bikes down, but maybe I will see what there is to do on this side of the bridge, since I’m not the best bike rider across tall bridges in big wind. 😉🌬