The Lowcountry

 TRAVEL DAY 26 - Charleston to S. Santee River

April 3, 2023

6.73 Hours/49.8 Miles

    We motored out of the Ashley River, past the Battery Wall and into Charleston Harbor. As we past the entrance to the harbor and cruised by Fort Sumter and the location of  "The Shot Heard Around the World" I couldn't help but wonder how many Civil War cannon balls and ship parts were buried in the mud of Charleston Harbor. 

Fort Sumter

    This is a busy seaport and we passed a monstrous freighter anchored in the harbor.  After we left this area, we knew there would be a whole lot of nothing surrounded by more beautiful sweetgrass and rush filled marshes. This meant we would make a long day of it as we aimed for Georgetown, SC and points north.

Empty Freighter in Charleston Harbor

    We intended to stop in McClellanville at a free day dock to stretch our legs before the night's anchorage but when we called they indicated the restaurant was closed so we moved on. 

Isolated fish camp

Every so often we would pass a shack and sometimes larger houses that appeared to be fish camps located on the islands and shores.

Anchorage

S. Santee River

    The Santee River splits and becomes the North Santee and the South Santee as they both head to the Atlantic.  We chose an anchorage marked on the Navionics chart just a few hundred yards off the ICW.  The water was deep and the river was wide here and we were able to drop the hook close to the marshy shoreline and still have plenty of water. 

Hardly a ripple

    Millions of Purple Martins were flying in every direction in hundreds of flocks eating perhaps millions more Mosquitos and insects. They dove and swerved catching their meal without ever crashing into each other or the water.  



    We woke the next morning to a boat covered with insects. Some mosquitos missed by our friends the Purple Martins but mostly Water Boatman, an interesting flying waterbug.

Water Boatman swarm

Charleston to S. Santee River




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