We left our Whiteside Creek anchorage on Thursday morning (11/21) a little later than we had planned, because raising the anchor became a very tedious task for Doug. Our windlass decided to quit on us when we dropped anchor Wednesday night, causing us to raise the CQR (65 pound anchor) by hand, running a line up to the winch on the mast and cranking it up using the winch handle. Fortunately, we have two of just about everything on this boat, so we used our 35-pound Bruce anchor instead, though that still requires strenuous effort to raise when it’s stuck into a mud bottom. Consequently, we missed the 9 a.m. opening of the Ben Sawyer Memorial Bridge.

Now 30 minutes behind, with the next bridge (Wappoo Creek) opening on the half-hour, we had to bide our time with three other boats, circling in a narrow spot with high current. This is not the sort of excitement we like.

We continued south and arrived at Raccoon Island/Alligator Creek just before the sun set, which was a beautiful ending to a very long day.

Leaving the next morning as the sun rose, we made it through the Ashepoo Coosaw Cutoff and other shallow spots on a rising tide, with worry-free motoring on to Port Royal Marina, arriving at 11:30 a.m.

We stayed here four years ago on our last trip south, and prior to that 12 years ago when we purchased this boat. Now a Safe Harbor Marina, the staff remains as friendly and helpful as ever, the residential neighborhood surrounding the marina is just as beautiful as ever, and we discovered some upgrades along with a beautiful new restaurant. On Saturday morning, we walked to the Farmer’s Market and found everything on our shopping list and more.

After our tote bags were filled to the top, we stopped at a barbecue booth selling pulled pork and beef brisket sandwiches along with whole roasted chickens – something for everyone and all appetites – after sharing a pulled pork sandwich, we walked back to our boat, with a stop at CVS along the way.

Tonight we’ll have dinner up at the restaurant, then on Monday morning we’ll head to Windmill Harbor Marina on Hilton Head Island, where we’ll spend Thanksgiving week. While we’re there, we will also get some help from a mechanic so we can diagnose the problem with our Windlass and get that repaired.