Day 293: Low Country

Heritage Plantation to Seven Reaches Creek, Charleston County, SC (anchored)

November 6, 2022 (posted 11/7/22)

Tides and currents. Currents and tides.

We left the marina a bit later today so we could take advantage of the slack tide rather than trying to fight the current while we backed out of our slip. Of course, with time change, it’s going to be darker earlier this evening.

The wind has definitely picked up which was noticeable in Winyah Bay (this is the mouth of the Waccamaw). The wind caused a little chop in the water.

We had the sails up for a while but when the wind shifted to hitting us on the nose, we dropped them.

The trip across the bay was short and as soon as we turned into the ICW cut the chop was gone. This is also the area that has a barge that acts as a swing bridge.

Today we hit a spot where it began to feel as if we were in the low country again – something about the geography that feels familiar.

The tides here can be 6-9 feet, meaning that they can go up or down that much. In the Chesapeake, tides are more like 1-2 feet. At low tide here it’s possible to bump the bottom because of shoaling.

We found the closest anchorage north of Charleston and arrived in the falling light.

Seven Reaches Creek is pretty serene although we can see the mast from a sunken sailboat a little further up the creek and we think we see a small sailboat that has been deposited in the marsh grass, too (probably during some sort of flooding). There’s a 6 foot tide range here so we have out plenty of chain. John’s going to hang out on the deck to see how Lailia will swing when the tide changes, just to be sure that we don’t end up too close to the bank.

Tomorrow is the most time-sensitive day we will have: we want to leave this anchorage on a high tide because of reported shoaling just outside the creek. Since the Ben Sawyer Swing Bridge won’t open between 7:00 and 9:00AM we need to get there before 7:00. We’ll be hauling up the anchor in the dark so we can get out by 5:30AM.