04/26/21 – Safe Harbor Beaufort Marina in Beaufort, SC, to St. John’s Yacht Harbor in Charleston, SC

Day 228

We left our wall tie-up at Safe Harbor Beaufort Marina in Beaufort, SC, on Monday, 04/26/21, at 8:00 am. Water was mirror-smooth, with 100% clear blue skies, and only a slight breeze. We traveled north on the Beaufort River on this gorgeous day, passing Merritt Field, which is the Marine Corp Air Station, to our west. That’s where all those Blue Angel jets had been coming from. Not surprisingly, we were still surrounded by marsh, marsh and more marsh! Eventually, we transitioned onto the Coosaw River (yet another, big wide river), heading eastward, north of St. Helena Island.

The waters couldn’t have been more smooth!
An occasional house appeared here and there. This part of the journey was pretty isolated.

Around 9:45 am, we found ourselves cruising through a very narrow and shallow cut connecting Coosaw River to Rock Creek. Steve already knew about the shallowness here, but was still a bit anxious and steering by hand to avoid running aground. Depths were only 7-feet or less underneath our keel. We found ourselves with more seagull groupies trailing behind us as we stirred up the fish in these shallow waters. The weather was just perfect so that we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise, especially once we got back into deeper waters.

Seagull entourage.
Marshlands continue to abound.

Soon, we were back in another shallow waterway called Walls Cut. In addition to skinny waters, we encountered some current, which slowed us from traveling almost 9 knots an hour down to under 7 knots an hour. Our path continued on the Ashepoo River, to the South Edisto River, to the ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge on northern Edisto Island. This is an extremely isolated area with only a handful of houses in the middle of nowhere. Further north, we cruised on the Wadmalaw River, north of Wadmalaw Island, which is north of Seabrook and Kiawah Islands, SC. The Wadmalaw River gets really wide in places and looks more like a lake.

Around one bend, we encountered this fire boat funneling water through its system…(?) Cleaning itself out, maybe?
This was one of our odder sightings on this journey. I never knew the American Waterways Wind Orchestra even existed until we saw this floating orchestral stage right there with us on the river system. The American Waterways Wind Orchestra barge is the only vessel of its kind in the world, boasting a 75-foot wide stage with a retractable acoustical shell that rises on hydraulic lifts for performances. The American Wind Symphony Orchestra has been making cultural waves on the waterways of the US, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean, and northern Europe for 58 years. In the late 50s and 60s, their floating concert stage was not self-propelled, and had to be towed from tour city to tour city.

The closer we moved to Charleston, the waterfront homes increased in number and in size. The houses are set way back from the river, behind great swaths of marshland. Passing south of the Links of Stono Ferry golf course and homes, Wadmalaw Island to our south becomes John’s Island, and the river narrows considerably. The Stono River runs eastward, along the north side of John’s Island, which is west of Charleston, and boasts an eclectic mix of waterfront homes. The marshy areas here were filled with large, bright white egrets, fishing. As we cruised, I surmised that the Stono River looks like a river should (other than being flanked on both sides by so much marshland) – not too narrow, but also not too wide.

Waterfront homes outside of Charleston, SC.
Everyone needs a pink waterfront house, I think.

We arrived at St. John’s Yacht Harbor, just south of Charleston, at 3:00 pm that afternoon, and were assigned to slip number C17. The tie-up was a little challenging, since the dock finger was too short for our boat and was missing cleats, but we prevailed, and Legacy stayed safely put.

St. John’s Yacht Harbor Marina.
View from St. John’s Yacht Harbor Marina of the Stono River Bridge over the Stono River.
Legacy safely tied-up in slip C17 at St. John’s Yacht Harbor Marina, south of Charleston, SC. She needs that mustache cleaned off!

Position: N 32° 45.285, W 80° 00.715

Distance traveled:  64 SM

Total distance traveled: 3253 SM

Total marina nights: 205

Total nights at anchor: 22

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27