Punting on the Stono

We decided if we're going to live on the water, we ought to be able to explore our creek a bit more -- so we finally bit the bullet and got Duncan the Port-a-Bote he's been looking at for two years. This is 12.5 feet long and folds up to transport (so we don't need a trailer) and it has its own dolly so we can just wheel it out of the garage and  into the water. Once it's in the water, we take the wheels off and go.

About the time we got it, the temperature went up into the 100s and it just wasn't that enticing to "go boating." Duncan took it out a couple of times, but today was the first time we both went. We caught the rising tide and tooled around our little Jason Creek and out to the Stono River.

Duncan launched right behind our condo. I took this picture from our deck.

Then he picked me up at the end of the boardwalk. The tide was high and it was easy to step in from the platform.

That's our wake!

A quick shout-out to our good friend, Marcus Brown, who has just arrived in Taiwan for a 5-month teaching assignment. Marcus, when you get back, you're going to love this! (For regular readers, this is Fiona's dad -- and Fiona and her Mom are staying here while Marcus is away on this job. So, Duncan and I are even more vigilant as neighborhood grandparents, now.)

We went out of the creek and turned right and rode by Waterway South condos and then turned right again and went down behind the houses in Battery Hague we have walked by so many times.

We've watched this neighborhood being built -- even in this wretched economy. A lot of these lots have docks long before they have houses.

Next, we retraced our steps back out into the Stono and went the other way, past Capri Isle and then turned left into the cut that becomes the Wappoo Cut. This area had a lot of traffic and we were the smallest boat out there, so we found ourselves fighting the wakes from the big boys. We didn't go far enough to even get in sight of the draw bridge on Folly Road. But that's where we were heading.

There were some nice houses along the shoreline.

We weren't quite sure what was going on here. Some kind of homemade seawall effort?

This is a pretty lot with a large older home set way back in the trees. This was coming back out of the Cut going back into the river.

On the way home we got a good look at this guy. He was intent on dinner and paid us no mind.

Back in Jason Creek, home is just ahead. (I really like this picture.)

Home again -- still had gas and still had plenty of tide.