Labor Day Weekend

August 31 -September 2

Port Royal Safe Harbor to Mackay Creek (anchored) to Cowen Creek (anchored) back to the marina

It’s easy to get caught up in the routine – and we have a great weekend routine of going to the beach – but we haven’t taken Lailia out for over a year.

Our generator, which we need to run our air conditioning at night, wouldn’t start.  John has been troubleshooting it without much luck.  What was lucky is someone loaned us a generator!

We left the marina a few minutes after 8 AM.  I had an awful experience on the Port Royal Sound and even though we’ve crossed it several times since then, I’m always thinking about how rough it can get.

Thankfully, it was really flat on Saturday.

No wind meant we had to motor the entire way but it was an easy, short 15 nautical mile, 3.5 hour ride

One of our favorite things about anchoring is watching the sun set.  Once all of the day-boaters left, it was just us, the sky, and peace

Sunday started with a dinghy ride towards the bridge. 

The wind in the video makes it sound as if brakes are screeching.  Dinghy rides are pretty fun but there’s no brakes!

We dinghied to a water access into Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge.  The trails here are only accessible by foot and bicycle; I have wanted to explore this place for a while.  It was really, really hot so we decided we’d like it better in the autumn.  We will be back.

We decided to check out another anchorage closer to our marina.  Staging here on Sunday night meant we wouldn’t need to leave as early Monday morning.

This trip was about 14 miles and took us back across Port Royal Sound.

The wind was perfect for us to turn off Lailia’s engine and sail.

The last time we did this was ages ago.  We definitely need to get back out more often.

Once again, we are the only boat in this peaceful anchorage

We’re close enough to Parris Island to hear Taps being played.  Even cooler is that after the last note, a bunch of coyotes howled for a good 30 seconds.  We weren’t able to capture that on video, but we did capture the peace of this anchorage.

Monday morning was a quick, hour ride back to the marina.

The clouds are building and there’s some drizzle here and there.

Anchoring out is like those good friends that you don’t see enough – the time together is so wonderful and timeless that you wonder what kept you apart for so long.  We know we need to prioritize just taking Lailia out (it’s easier than we make it in our heads).