November 13th, 2020

It was down into the 60s during the day in Wilmington, so I got out all the woolly wear for our off shore passage to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.  Just one night, and nothing compared to going around Cape Hatteras, so stress levels were low.  We timed the trip to leave at the 10AM bridge opening, and the height of the ebb tide.  This was great because we swept down the river with 2 knots of current…. SOG (speed over ground) was 10+ knots for a lot of it.  YAY!  The river is cool, because on one side it’s unspoiled marsh land, and on the other, huge shipping docks with oil tanks and stuff.  You get a totally different impression depending on if you sit on the port or starboard bench.  It was a bit chilly going down the river, but we kept the plastic enclosure closed on 3 sides, and it was good with just a fleece on.  As we entered the ocean, the waves came up, choppy and confused in the river current, breaking over the bow.

Then we turned south and had good wind on the aft quarter,  and sailed too fast.  Strange to say, but we actually had to slow down to avoid arriving at our destination in the dark.  It was a really nice passage.  Warm – it never went below 70, and clear with amazingly bright stars.  We were fine to stay out there longer until the last 3 hours or so, when it got really rolly because of waves on the beam.  We took turns trying to sleep and getting rolled off the settee.  Dawn finally arrived and we made our way to an anchorage on the northeast side of Hilton Head at Dolphin Point.  We saw dolphins right away, so we knew this was a good spot.