Its Too Darned Hot

South Carolina ICW
32 30.51 N 080 37.70 W

One hour after sunset last night it was 78F (26C) in the cabin. We couldn't open the windows because of a swarm of no-see-ums outside. "It's too darned hot," I said, "Maybe we should go north again." Just kidding. But what a remarkable change of climate. We have arrived at warmward.

My plan for our offshore passage was to arrive at Steamboat Creek to anchor before sunset. We dropped anchor just 4 minutes before sunset. Don't misunderstand me, our punctual arrival was not the result of skill in planning or execution. It was just a coincidence. When sailing a passage like that with the vagarities of wind and current, arrival plus or minus half a day is as accurate as we get.

The passage down was mostly uneventful. No ships tried to run us down. One exception. In mid afternoon as Libby napped, I was scared out of my socks by a terrifically loud BANG BANG. What the heck? Were we in the middle of a Navy live fire zone? I looked all around us and saw nothing. After a while, I understood. It was a sonic boom, probably from a F18 because F18s make two shock waves when they fly supersonically, hence BANG BANG rather than just BANG. I wonder how close to us he was.

This section of South Carolina is particularly beautiful. It is an area of salt marshes, seemingly endless twisty little creeks, wooded islands, prolific dolphins, pelicans, and egrets, not to mention the fish. It's pretty flat though so it defies my attempts to capture its beauty with my camera. Libby says, "This area allows us to see the beauty of the Georgia salt marshes without ever really going there." True.

This morning I gave Libby the helm while I relax on the forward deck just watching the scenery, sipping my third cup of coffee and reading the Wall Street Journal. Wait a minute? How did the WSJ get out here? That sounds incongruent. A while back I got an offer from Delta Airlines. My flyer points were about to expire, would I like an alternate gift. I chose 39 weeks of the WSJ as my gift. They go to Jenny in Burlington. Once a month or so she gathers them with other mail and forwards a package to us. Right now, I'm up to mid September in my WSJ reading.

Why read old papers? I love the WSJ, not for its news of the day or its stock quotes but for its wonderful in-depth feature stories, and columns and letters, and editorials. It is one of the few remaining sources of quality journalism.

Tonight we'll be in Beaufort, SC.