Days 19 and 20 - Charleston, SC to Beaufort, SC

I was all ready to post a bunch of pictures today, but my computer went down again. It's having the exact same problem. We are thinking about renting a car tomorrow and going back to Charleston, because that's the only Apple Store until Miami, and we're not planning on going that far. If nothing else, I can return the $100 battery, since that obviously did not fix the problem.

Heard back on the engine - the lower unit is ok, but there were several problems with the rest of the engine which Yamaha will cover. Once the parts get to Southport, it will be about a day and a half to fix, and then we'll have to find a place for them to ship it to where we can have it installed. 

We are really missing that other motor. Two nights ago we anchored for the first time on our trip. It's been pretty cold at night, and without being docked and plugged in, we don't have heat. Since it was supposed to be was one of the first warm nights, we found a spot in the guidebooks and decided to spend the night on the hook. Things were going well until the tide changed and the current switched directions. In theory you are supposed to "swing" on your anchor, and all should be fine. Unfortunately, when we swung, all was not fine.

At about 8 pm it sounded like we had run aground, but we had swung over the anchor rode, and it was hitting something under the boat (the bumper keel, rudder, or hull). It was difficult to free ourselves because we were very worried about fouling the rode in our one good engine, and because only having one engine we were very limited in what directions we could move. We finally were able to straighten out, and rigged a second rope to create an anchor bridle, which is supposed to even out the pressure so that the boat swings better. 

All was well until about 4 am when the currents switched again. Ben was in and out of bed between 4 and 6, so at 6:30 I joined him on deck. At that point, the anchor looked correct. Ben had lost the bridle, but the anchor was centered. When I started to raise the anchor it was stuck on something and the boat swung back over it. Ben and I aren't exactly sure what happened over the course of the next two hours, but it wasn't pretty and we were getting scared. Finally, at about 8:30, Will and Renaldo from South Carolina Fish and Wildlife drove by and pulled over to ask if we needed any help. We weren't sure if Will and Renaldo would be able to help us, and more importantly would be able to help us safely - without putting themselves in danger, or damaging their boat. At that point we had let go of the original anchor, with a float tied to the bitter end of the anchor rode and Ben had deployed our back up anchor, however, it seemed like in relation to the current and the winds we should have been resting in the opposite direction. So, we were still stuck on some part of our primary anchor rode. Will insisted that if there was anything they could safely do to help, they would and we were grateful. We were able to talk through a plan (adjusting as things didn't work or results were different than expected). By 9:30, Ben was in his wetsuit hanging off the transom cutting the primary anchor's trip line from around one of the ruder posts with my rigging knife.  Before cutting the trip line, Ben was able to lift a few feet of the taught line out of the water and hold it up so Renaldo could grab it from the bow of their boat.  When Ben did cut the line,  they were able to pull up (and save) our anchor. In fact, they recovered both our anchors, and in the end all we lost was a CO₂ cartridge on one of the lifejackets which fired when Ben was laying down in the dingy. The next time the boat is hauled (or when we get to the clear waters of the Bahamas), we'll find out if there was any additional damage to anything under the water. 

Last night we docked in Beaufort, SC. Not to be confused with Beaufort, NC. The pronunciation is completely different! It should have been an uneventful night, and we were hoping to catch up on some sleep but the wind was howling all night and the tide race made for some choppy seas. We both got up at different times to check the dock lines. We are looking forward to a few slower days coming up, and are even planning on taking "a day off" soon to explore, we're just not sure the best town to explore (Hilton Head, Savannah, or a Georgia Island). And we will be sure to pick up a book about anchoring.