ditch running:Beaufort to Mile Hammock

This portion of the intracoastal waterway is fairly rural, and on a windy day can be challenging. So, up for a challenge, we shoved off from Beaufort a little early to make the run into the wilds of US Marine training Camp LeJune. Basically the course is a straight line, and one navigates by depth sounder, not chart plotter. At each opening to the ocean, the boat is blown inshore, and one must compensate at the helm. All was going along fine, until TowboatUS passed us, enroute to a rescue. Way up ahead we watched as a big wooden ketch, INDIA, was towed off a shoal, and she was free by the time we got close enough to see the area. Believing the markers and charts, we started over this path, and promptly ran BRILLIANT hard aground. "Well", said Susan,"Henry Plummer always said 'go off as you came on'...so we hit reverse and promptly backed off into deeper water. Then, with the help of a little local knowledge (the towboat operator) we finally found the deep water and proceeded into Marine Country. Now, this day at Camp Swampy was helicopter training day. There were the big "egg beater"troop transports, attack types, Vietnam era types, the new movable wing combination types, all out for a windy afternoon ride over the boats anchored in their training pond. Anchor down by sunset, holding well into the night, as we turned in for a needed rest.