Day 17

Hi F&F ,
This is the end of  our first stage south!
Woke up to the unpleasant perfume of the nearby paper mill! Obviously the wind direction had changed! We decided to forgo the wonderful 3 egg fluffy omelettes at the Good Break Cafe  in Georgetown this morning and headed off around 9 am.
I forgot to mention yesterday a funny situation.Just after we got on the ICW from Grande Dunes Marina I suddenly spied on the edge of the bank a small low lying boat completely camouflaged in green and brown colors.Around it were several floating plastic ducks! We were going about 12 knots so I called  to Graeme to slow down! I am known as the anti wake police on our boat! There was a guy inside the boat also in his camouflaged gear! Well he got quite a rock and roll from our wake ,but all was ok. We truly did not see him til the last moment! No doubt he is hoping the live ducks will not either!
Back to today,We had a great run to Charleston.The canal was straight for the most part, wide and smooth and the vistas wonderful. Lots of low lying marshes, birds everywhere and dolphins accompanying us every now and again. We passed Slow Dancing a boat from Mobile Alabama once again and also Rosie a sailboat from Philadelphia .Its funny how you see the same boats over and over again on a journey like this. We passed the Charleston City Marina full of boats or should I say in some cases ,ships. Saw some beautiful big sailboats parked on the outside docks. Had another 15 ft bridge to negotiate once again just before our Marina  , but fortunately the tides are bigger the further south you go ,so we were able to get under with a good foot or so to spare.
We will keep our boat here for the next 2weeks as we will drive north to join family and friends for Christmas.
I will resume the blog after the 1st January 2013.
I will leave you with this saying on a small plaque which sits on the boat.
" Every day is a gift,that's why they call it the present!" We hope you to can value each day and we wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Over and Out,
Erica and Graeme.