June 2, 2026 Leaving Charleston behind

 Tuesday June 2, 2026  Toogoodoo Creek to Duck Creek  80 miles and 9.2 hours

Weather forecast is finally improving - sort of.   Cloudy morning making way to a sunny afternoon.  Rain has been chased out by a front.  That front is bringing cooler weather, and strong E and NE winds.  Pretty sustained at 15mph, with gusts to 25.  Wind expected to continue through Wednesday.  Not much of an issue for us as we'll be cruising on mostly protected ICW waters. Crossing Charleston Harbor being the exception.

Dawn breaks with the promise of potential sunshine

Anchor up again at 7AM. Sort of becoming our routine as we try for these longer cruising days.  Uneventful cruise around Wadmalaw and Johns Island.   Normal landmarks slip on by.  Stephens Towing complex is servicing bigger and bigger commercial vessels.   Coast Guard Cutter Brnard Webber is tied to the docks today.   Then pass Ross Marine where their new boat storage rack is completely filled with center consoles.  Apparently a good and profitable business decision.  Catch almost slack tide as we enter Elliotts Cut.  Can be treacherous is you catch it at full current but drama free going for us today.  

USCG Cutter Brnard Webber at Stephens Boatyard

View from astern as we make our way out of Elliots Cut

Under the Wappoo Creek Bridge and we're done with the cut

Then out into Charleston Harbor.  Check out the mega yachts tied up along the mega dock and then pass by the historic houses fronting the battery.  Time to cross the harbor. Waves are starting to build but not too bad as we're primarily heading into them. But the wind driven spray keeps the windshield wipers busy and puts a nice covering of salt over the entire boat. Now off the harbor and tucked in the protection behind Isle of Palms. Water levels are good as they've done some dredging since our last time through. Then just a few hours of cruising through SC saltmarsh. 

Mega yachts lined up. Impressive eye candy.

A few houses on The Battery

Corp of Engineers survey boat crossing our path while collecting data 

Sunshine finally showed up 

Original plan was to use the anchorage at Awendaw Creek.  Used it in the past. Last decent anchorage before the shallow waters around McClellanville.  However, as we were approaching, we had several shrimp boats pass us southbound.  They obviously had made it thru the shallows, so we decided to give it a go. 

Southbound shrimping trawler Lady Barbara and her captain 

Going through about 2 hours before low tide which put about an extra foot and a half of added water above low tide.   Eased our way through the 4 stretches of skinniest water.  Depth sounder alarm letting us know repeatedly we had less than 3' under the keel. Never made it to my personal pucker factor of showing less than 2' and dropping! Got through it and were able to make a few more miles today.   On a past trip we had anchored in Minim Creek.  A good anchorage but a bit exposed.   Found one nearby called Duck Creek which reviews said offered good protection from north winds due to a nice tree line. Got the anchor set at 4:30 which allowed time to relax a bit and cook a real meal.  Sautéed chicken and mushrooms in an alfredo sauce over pasta.   A nice change from the last 2 nights of sandwiches.  Looking forward to a good night's sleep with cooler temperatures and a nice breeze.

Sunset from Duck Creek anchorage

Journey for June 2, 2026