Whiteside Creek Anchorage to Charleston

Day 42, Tuesday, November 8, 2016

You can monitor my trip at the link: Second Winds Progress Live

I am in Charleston, SC.  I had an interesting night.  I went to bed and sleep as usual but at around 12:00, I awoke to a slightly different sound that the boat was making. I got out of bed, looked out and found that the wind had shifted and the stern of the boat had moved away from the boat next to me causing the bow of out vessels to bump.  We had finders between us but not

Sun setting through the smoke from a huge fire

at the bow.  I pulled on some pants and climbed onto the deck of Mauna Kea and using my stern line, I pulled the boats back into line. I talked to Ken in the morning and they were not aware that I have been on their boat.

I decided to take the Dink over to Sweet Pea to find out their plans.  I had left the motor on the dinghy so I got in, pulled on the starter rope and it would not budge.  This is

The smoke

a 4 cycle engine and they are designed to lay on one side if not sitting vertically on the transom of the boat.  If they lay on the wrong side, oil from the crank case leaks into the cylinder and will lock the engine if left that way too long.  I had been pulling the dinghy behind Second Wind for two days with the motor in the raised position and the bouncing of the waves had caused it to swing onto its side with the wrong side down.  The cylinder was filled with oil.  I pulled the spark plug out, pulled on the rope and a big belch of oil squirted out.  I heated the

The Anchorage

spark plug tip on the stove to burn the oil out of it, put it back in the motor and it started up like a champ.  It put out a lot of blue smoke but it ran. By that time, I saw Sweet Pea’s mast heading out of the cove. 

The trip to Charleston was relatively uneventful.  The current was behind me so I made good time.  As I moved into the main shipping lane going into Charleston Harbor, a huge

Lone homestead out in the salt marsh

cargo ship came up alongside of me.  According to my AIS system, he was moving over 14 knots to my 4 knots.  As he passed me, I realized that he was throwing a really big wake so I spun Second Wind around in a 270 degree circle and met the wave head on.  It was obviously the biggest wave I have ever encountered.  The bow of the boat

Winging along

went up real high and the over what looked to be a cliff.  It hit the bottom with a crash and then dove into the other side of the wake pouring water over the deck. 

I arrived at the Charleston Harbor Marina.  We had been advised that the current could be quite strong inside of the marina and that we should wait until slack water to try to make the entry.  By that time, I had caught up to Sam and Phil so we contemplated going in even though it was not slack water.  Sam called them on the radio and they said that there was a bit of

Pelican swallowing a fish it just dove for.  I caught the dive but it was blurry

current but they would be there to help us if need be.  Being the gentleman that I am, I allowed her to go in first.  It also gave me a chance to chicken out if it didn’t go well for her.  She did well and I followed and had no problem making a smooth slide into my slip.

A week or so ago, when I shipped my camera accessories back to Scott, I inadvertently sent the battery charger for his camera back to him as well.  The battery on the camera died today so I spent the early part of the afternoon trying to find one to buy.  In a last ditch effort, I called Walmart and the guy said that they had a universal one that would work.  So, I

And then there are these

contacted Uber for a ride to the Walmart that I had talked to. On the way, he told me that there was a closer on so I agreed to head to that one.

That Walmart was out of that charger so back to Uber.  The original store that I was going to was all of the way on the other side of Charleston.  They did indeed have a gadget that the box said would work on our battery.  I again called upon Uber this time to carry me back to the marina. This turned out to be a very expensive battery charger.  But it worked.

Murray (Sonny) and Donna Tanner

I have a cousin who lives in the Charleston area.  His wife was a playmate of mine in the little town of Gray Summit MO where I started my life. I hadn’t seen them for years except for a brief time last summer at family reunion.  I called them and they picked me up for a trip to the Water’s Edge restaurant where I enjoyed a wonderful sea bass meal. We had a great time reminiscing events of our youth and getting caught up of kids, grand-kids, and their case great grand-kids. It was a great evening.

I got back to the boat around 8:00 and read for a while before fading off before 9:00.  It will be cheerios tomorrow morning.  (I always eat them after a big meal in an attempt to neutralize the caloric intake.