June 1, 2026 Back in South Carolina

 Monday June 1, 2026   Vernon River to Toogoodoo Creek  109 miles and 11.5 hours

Some rain overnight but mostly just a light breeze coupled with the switching of the tides creating a gentle tug on the anchor line. Made for a decent night's sleep, but up early again for a 7 AM departure.   Left the three sailboats that joined our anchorage last night still on the hook as we motored away.  Overcast and a bit hazy to start.  Forecast was updated overnight and now calls for a mostly cloudy day with possible rain towards evening (which of course would mean while we'll be anchoring).  

Our neighbors at anchor on Vernon River on a hazy morning start

Covered a lot of ground today.  Couple hours to get us around Savannah and across the river into SC.   We were joined by two Looper boats who traveled with us until Beaufort.  One was kind enough to send us a few pictures they took as we passed them. Meander a bit more around Daufuskie Island and then finally work our way past Hilton Head Island. 

Thanks to AVONTUUR for the picture

 

Summer sailing regatta forming as we pass HHI

Cross over Port Royal Sound and on to Beaufort. Then across St. Helena Sound.  We hit the Ashepoo Coosaw Cut at absolute low tide and with the severe shoaling at the entrance it's a no-go for us.  We detour further out the sound and take an alternate route up the Ashepoo River proper alongside Fenwick Island.  Thankfully, the ocean was behaving as we headed well out into it before being able to turn around and head up the river.  Couple more areas with skinny water we still need to navigate.  Fenwick Cut and Watts Cutt require due diligence, but surprisingly the sun actually came out for a bit.  After spending hours traveling, at this point it requires plenty of diligence from both of us.  

A quick glance of sunshine in between the clouds

Dolphins were scattered around today.  Usually just a couple at a time but they seemed pretty intent on surfing out wake waves rather than riding the bow.  Only other big wildlife sighting today was a bald eagle.  Just hanging in a tree on a little island aside the ICW. 

Finally, out of the shallow areas and onto the Edisto River.   Almost home waters for us with Wadmalaw and Johns islands ahead.   We head up the Toogoodoo River to anchor.  Stayed here multiple times on previous transits.  Always a good spot.  Nice and wide with plenty of swing room and depths are reasonable requiring a shorter anchor line scope.   In settled weather like tonight, we anchor near the ICW but if there's strong winds we can head further upstream where the tree lines provide nice protection.  Overall, a long day anchor up at 7 AM and back down at 6:30 PM.                                   Side Note: Today marks 10 years of retirement for John! 

Journey for June 1, 2026