The forecast for the day Friday was thunderstorms in the PM with some possibly strong. I checked the weather radar first thing in the morning and the weather front was 300 miles west so we left. It was a great ride along the ICW with no issues.
We passed Hilton Head Island and saw the lighthouse at the Hilton Head Marina. The PGA is playing the Heritage Open there this week at the Harbor Town Golf Links. We were less than a mile from the lighthouse but the clouds were heavy and the visibility was not great but we have a few pictures.
A nice resort area along the way with many nice homes along the ICW. Lenore was able to get some good pictures as the visibility improved later in the morning. Most of this area is known as low country and many marshes in the area. Large areas look like islands but really are just marsh grass areas that the land is water covered during high tides and mud during low tides.
The winds started getting stronger as the morning went on and the weather front got closer. By the time we arrived at the Beaufort SC Downtown Marina the winds must have been blowing 25 to 30 mph. My first attempt at docking did not go well and we then tried at another dock a little further into the marina. The second time was a charm and the dock master has two of the regular boaters to help and everything went well. The rains arrived about 6:30 and we had quite a storm with lots of rain throughout the night. The weather on Saturday was cloudy and cold to start but improved as the day went along.
The Beaufort SC waterfront is very nice with a park all along the seawall and restaurants and clubs on the inside edge. The downtown area has a lot of stores with art galleries, clothing stores, jewelry, and more. Candy and I have walked most of the downtown area and downtown was actually very busy on Saturday afternoon.
The marina does have a courtesy car that can be used for an hour at a time and is 1st come 1st served. This was more than enough time to go to the local grocery store for provisions.
Lenore has a cold so I think we will be staying in Beaufort at least one more day before moving on to Charleston.