I stepped onto the public dock on Bull Island at 8:30, briefly talking to Wayne Tucker. He had spent the past two days working on the island, and was waiting for his boat ride back to the mainland and out of the cold. My relative warmth was a function of what awaited me on the […]
The closing of businesses resulting from the pandemic included the Audubon Center at Beidler Forest in Harleyville, SC. The 1,763-acre virgin swamp forest is part of Four Holes Swamp. After it’s reopening In October, I made the drive up I-26 for a visit.
I had last sailed out to Bull Island the day after the equinox, March 20, an astronomical event overshadowed by the onset of the U.S. pandemic. Several surprises had greeted me before I set foot on the island: a surfaced cormorant gripping an eel in its beak at the Shark Hole, and the news at
The sail out Andersonville Creek was into a moderate ENE breeze, and without other boat traffic. It was pleasant sailing, continuing downwind to the SW after bearing off toward the ferry route. My thoughts turned to my last sail,
A sail into solitude Read More »
It would be a day of heat; any wind would do. There seemed to be a light west wind most favorable for my sail to the Northeast Point of Bull Island. I had imagined
I regretfully admit that Kingfisher was my second choice craft to venture out on the waters of Cape Romain.
On our passage to Bull Island, we swept through the marshes at thirty knots. Our craft was my friend Brantley’s Pathfinder 22. It was an exhilarating ride on a crisp and clear morning,
Wildlife at the apex Read More »
There was a name for it – the rapidly developing snowstorm that brought the southeast a rare winter event, one more common for the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. My family and friends to the north
Nor’easter of another name Read More »
Kingfisher had been neglected for several months, displaced from her protected shelter under my house by a mitering workstation, and ignored by the arbitrary demands of home improvement. Plans for a sail were disrupted
I had been speaking the previous day at a party about the assets of my chosen sailing craft, the Sunfish. Simplicity and stability were at the top of the list. In preparing for the sail out to the Northeast Point of Bull Island, I was aware of the long interlude
Prior to leaving Garris Landing via ferry for the auto tour on Bull Island during the fourth annual Bulls Bay Nature Festival, I had been alerted by the volunteer coordinator, Jennifer Heisler, about one of the participants I would be guiding. The girl, a pre-teen, had been talking with Jennifer about fiddler crabs
A youthful request Read More »
I took a break from construction, the building of roof trusses, to go for a sail. It was a change in task, environment,
