We had planned to leave at 7:30 this morning but luckily Bob was checking bridge openings and saw that the first swing bridge today, which is only about 4nm away does not open between 7am & 9 am. We ended up following a large tug down the river and as we were in the usual holding pattern before the bridge swung open, this motor catamaran we’d seen before came up beside us and then “budded in” so it was behind the tug going through. There seems to be this unwritten protocol when a bunch of boats are waiting for a bridge swing that you go through in the order you arrived at the holding area.
There is no question this Cat was much faster than we were, it had passed us the day before, but I think he was really rude, he would have to wait just a few minutes and then could have passed both us and the tug once he was through.
The tug driver was great. Once we got into a wider area, he called us on VHF – there were three boats behind him – to say this was a good place to pass and that he’d slow down for us to make it easy. Bob said, “I wish slow transport drivers in the passing lane would do the same”.
The weather today was not great, it was overcast when we left and the forecast was for rain in the afternoon. We passed Charleston harbour about an hour after the bridge and saw a lot of boats at anchor and in the marina but with the weather, we were glad we had decided not to stop. We have been to Charleston in our car.
There was a Scottish most for most of the day and it did rain for a while.
The most interesting scene of the day was a small sailboatb towing a kayak and another small boat. When we arrived at the anchorage we meandered a fair way down and back the creek before deciding where to throw the hook. I had seen a dolphin when we first pulled into the creek but in this weather I was not going to huddle in the cockpit hoping for another sighting.