4/18/18 St. John's Yacht Harbor...

....which is a little southeast of Elliot Cut which leads into or from Charleston Harbor. Renewed energy and we're making tracks...uh, waves! Long day on the water. Sometimes traveling at a blistering 10 mph, other times at that snail pace of 5 mph, depending upon whether the current was for us or against us.

Said goodbye to Lady's Island Marina at 8:00 a.m. and watched, and heard, jet fighter planes shoot touch-and-goes as we went up the Beaufort River. I assume they were from Parris Island even though the airstrip was just to our port side. Amazing machines and pilots. Amazing amount of money, per machine and per take off and landing. Oh my TAX dollars!!!!

David and I traded helms person duties about every hour or hour and half. We both are really happy to be underway again.Neither we nor Grace missed the oil pressure gauge. We all and each ran very well.

Last night's next door neighbors left about 1/2 hour before us this morning They are here in the same marina tonight and arrived about 1/2 hour before us. It was a glorious day of sun. Winds were fluky and sometimes strong but no problems. Just shut the pilot house door on the side the wind was blowing.  So an energized and gentle day after yesterday's distress and tiredness and just being sunk.

Familiar sights...the long, long piers leading across the low marsh from house to river, houses large or modest partially hidden by large Spanish moss draped trees, well manicured fields which cause me to remember how my dad kept the Farm's fields mowed and watching him do the mowing then taking on that task myself after he was no longer able.


And this always surprising and very large boat repair yard. For miles around the twists and turns of the river we see the top, this yellow head of the crane. It looks like something from Disney land looming over the landscape. A final turn and there it is in its completeness. If you look closely you can see massive yellow cables going from the base of the head down and to the left, long tresses of blond hair? Those connect to strands of black cables that connect to another yellow rigid structure. Totally massive.

I don't know the name of the yard but they work on really big boats. There is a paddlewheel ferry/tour boat here as well as a military landing craft (with its mouth open) and a regular passenger ferry this time.

Navigation here can be confusing as there is a large sandbar in the middle of the river where barges are anchored. It's easy to think you should go on the other side of them rather than between they and land, marine yard.

Another view of the crane but because we are looking through it you still can't see the cantilevered head. This photo sort of looks like a stern (or tired) woman (nun) with arms hanging from her shoulders, holding something with both hands. A divining rod.

We also passed the place where the Coast Guard boarded us 2+ years ago. I'd remembered it was just past a bridge David remembered we continued along a line of those long long piers.

We arrived at the Elliot Cut more quickly than we'd expected, hailed our dock for the night. Beautiful, newish and very well maintained marina. Perhaps the best maintained we've been in. Young people in charge rather than our generation of the next younger one. Thirty somethings if that. Competent. Friendly. Professional and clear Inviting. We got fuel and the staff told us to just stay at the fuel dock rather than going back out and redoing all our fenders and lines to the other side. We were definitely good with that idea.

So here we are. Dinner past. Bob Marley on the CD players, jammin' on a Wednesday night.

An observation: many crab pots in the rivers today some disguised with birds on top making them look like swimming birds.

Last nights sunset looking from our aft deck toward Beaufort, SC. A sliver of moon (about center) and the evening star about 2 o'clock from the moon. The sky tonight is similarly beautiful with the evening star farther toward the horizon.