fogged in

Hey everyone!

We made it to Beaufort SC & met some really nice people on the free dock they have in town. Actually we met 6 people on 3 boats about the same age as us doing the same thing. Funny! There were two Canadian guys who are 20 & 21!!!!!, a couple who are 24 & 25, and a couple who are 28 & 30. Nuts! We didn't think we'd run into so may people our age, or actually younger than us out here. Especially in one place!! They all said the same thing.

Anyway, we invited some of our new friends on the boat & ended up adding more & more. We had 16-18 people on our boat at one point. We had so much fun! There were two guitars being played,a violin, a harmonica, some little drums, and an accordion. (not all at once) and three singers! Everyone was awesome!!

The next day we headed into town & got a coffee (which is really really good here! Finally!)then checked on some parts we were looking for for the dink. (It still doesn't run) And made it to Bull creek. We actually ended up anchoring next to the Canadian boys & the younger couple Holly & Justin from Beaufort & had dinner no their boat.

We left the next morning, but not too early, because we were waiting on the fog to lift. We only made it 8 miles, which is a record low for us. I love our chart plotter!!!! We hit a huge bank of fog about a mile out of our anchorage & couldn't see 50 feet in any direction. I'm not sure if anyone's ever been in fog that thick, but not seeing the sky or the water, or the banks was really disorienting. It felt like you were sure you should be going one way, but the GPS was telling you that you were supposed to be going the complete opposite way. (we followed the GPS obviously) and I stood on the bow with my fog horn kept an eye out & listened for oncoming vessels & Ben was at the helm unable to look up from the chart plotter.

The cool thing about it was the dolphins. I almost screamed the first time one came up to the boat in the fog. You can't see beyond the bow & all of a sudden out of the silence a huge dolphin jumps up right

next to the boat and sprays out of his blow hole. Freaky, but really cool!

You never knew when they were coming or where they were going to pop up next.

*Here are some pictures of Ben up on the bow preparing to raise our radar reflector up high, so big boats will see us! As you can see it's pretty foggy.

We ended up anchoring at the first safe spot we came to & called our friends to advise them to stay put. It was nice to have an excuse to sit & work on the boat, then relax for the afternoon. We couldn't do anything else! We ended up using our fog horn a lot towards the end. I may have overused it a bit, but it made me feel better to have anyone who might be out there know where we were. We met some barges & small ferries along the way & a small fishing boat tied up to a green marker, because they couldn't see where they were going. They would blow their whistle whenever someone sounded a horn. They directed us into the anchorage actually

No incidents at all. We were fine, just couldn't see!!! There were plenty of other boats still trying to make their way south, but we felt safer just staying there in our safe spot. We kept the radio on & every 15 minutes or so we would here a boat call out that he was near our anchorage & was looking for other vessels he might run into. Then other boats would call in & say "we're there too where are you!?!" and then horns would start. They were close enough that we could hear their engines, but we couldn't see anyone.

Ben fixed the broken autopilot belt & I baked bread & worked on some other small stuff. * Here he is taking the steering wheel off.

We used it today & the autopilot works great!!!! YAY!!!

The fog has gone away and it's clear as a bell!! We can see for days! The sun is shining & Ben is crazy enough to be out on deck in board shorts & a t-shirt. ( I'm still in a heavy sweatshirt & Jeans.

* Here is a picture of the fog breaking at our anchorage. The sun was slowly making it's way through.

We should make it to about mile marker 585.5 tonight. We were told there is a good place to anchor & there is a town where we can provision up & take showers & stuff. I'm very very excited!! We will fill up on water & fuel also. We are at MM580 currently, so only a few more miles to go!! It's about noon here. I'm looking forward to seeing our new friends again. I think they will anchor in the same place.

We miss you guy sat home soooooo much & are extremely excited to get to Florida & receive our packages!!! Thank you sooo much!! I hope you all got yours by now!! Let us know. Please remember to check the labels, because you are supposed to open some early. They are supposed to get you into the Holiday spirit & if you open until Christmas you won' really get to enjoy them as much. Mom, please give the Madsen's their early gift for us! Thank you!!!

*The picture at the top & the one to the right were taken about 15 minutes ago. It's weird how it can be foggy one minute then perfectly clear the next.

Write us & let us know you are there!We miss you all a lot!!

Kristen, Ben, & Skippy.