CODA BAHAMAS BOUND 2024-2025 (41)

CODA : Last anchorage in South Carolina ICW

May Creek Anchorage, Hilton Head Island,  South Carolina   

Quote from Forest Gump (favorite son of Beaufort).

Marc-  The day started off a bit wet with light rain showers.  The marina loaned us the Marina pick-up truck to get to the Publix supermarket only about a mile away.  We were low on food supplies and needed to replenish the supplies a lot so it was great to have the truck.  By the time we returned the light rain had turned into heavy rain.  Luckily we brought our own shopping bags since the paper bags would almost instantly turn to mush.  

We just finished un-packing at 10:45 and the drawbrige opening is at 11:00 so time was of the essence.  Sara took care of the radio communications with the bridge tender while I made way down the creek from the cockpit.  It is essential to steer from the cockpit when doing close maneuvers like docking or undocking (the bow thruster control is in the cockpit and I get to throw lines).  In a matter of minutes Sara had the Bridge tender opening the Ladies Island Bridge (causing about 75 cars to wait).  Right after the bridge came our next docking for fuel and pump out.  Sara called the Beaufort Marina and two able bodied dockhands came out to tie us up even in this heavy rain.  We filled both diesel tanks using a waterproof towel to keep water away from the fuel fill pipe.  Everyone was totally soaked even with rain gear on.  Our next stop was the Beaufort town day dock so we could spend some time visiting this historic and beautiful town while waiting for a tide change before proceeded anywhere else.  Easy peasy as the say tying to the town dock.  

We changed into dry clothes and stepped out on the town.  The town waterfront is a huge linear park and the main street runs parallel to it one block west.  It was time for a pizza at a local brewery (wow did that margharita pizza taste good).  We mailed our post cards at the post office and walked around the shops eventually stopping at the National Park Service Visitors Center.  We learned a lot from the Rangers about Civil War battles near here and how "Reconstruction" was successful here for the former slaves.  Beaufort has a large number of antebellum plantation owners homes that are intact.  The Union forces captured this area early in the war.  The plantation owners had cleared out long before the troops arrived.  The area was run by the US Army during the war.  The former slaves were left behind and now became employed by the US Army or joined the Army itself.  Many homes were seized due to the owners not paying taxes.  These homes were sold at auction and many were bought by former slaves.  Tiltles to these properties were valid and held up after the war was long over.  We toured the various streets seeing these beautifully maintained homes.

Beaufort free day dock.

Ladies Island Bridge (Forest Gump bridge).

A local box turtle resident out for a walk and not mining the heavy rain.

When the current turned and we headed out at 8 plus knots going out the Beaufort River (yes it is still raining and yes we are steering from inside the pilot house) until we reached Hilton Head Island and then cut behind it using Skull Creek.  Our speed was much slower in Skull Creek but we came in to our anchorage at 17:30 not long before the sun set.

Now this looks like a good place to drop the anchor.

Reflections on our Hilton Head Island Anchorage. 

Lou- Hardcore rain today! Dad and I wore our big red raincoats with the hoods up when we went to another marina to fill up on diesel and get a pump out. The guy on the dock ready to take our lines greeted us, "We haven't had any rain in months! You must be bad luck!" with a big smile.

Then, we motored over to the town dock and went exploring.

The history of this area is so charged and fascinating.

It feels weird to admire the beautiful old houses when I think about how they were built by enslaved people for plantation owners. (Although it is cool that some of those same houses were later bought by freed people.)

We had a really great History major/national park ranger tell us all about this. He said how here the freed people who bought those fancy houses were ok because they got the deeds to the houses they bought, but in other places nearby, the government gave freed people plots of land, let them get settled in, plant some crops, and then said, "Oh, sorry. We're actually going to take that back and give it to the people who used to enslave you. It's ok though cuz you can work for them!" These people didn't have deeds, so there was nothing they could do.

One big takeaway from all this for me was that Reconstruction could have been a much more revolutionary thing than it ended up being. President Johnson could have striven to make freed people equals. Instead, he chose to go back to the status quo.

I know I learned all this stuff in school at some point, but it just feels more real now, and not really that long ago. 

On a lighter note, beautiful sunset tonight! Dad found us a great place to anchor at May Creek. Very calm here. And I saw a dolphin! They feel like friendly protectors.

Dad's looking at places we might go tomorrow. One place he's talking about is called Thunderbolt! It's about 3 hours away. It's got a marina. "It would be nice to have air conditioning," Dad says. And he keeps mentioning Krispy Kreme donuts, so I guess they have those there! We shall see!

Hugs!