May 6, Day 315 – Thunderbolt, GA to Daufuskie Island, SC

We woke this morning to pea-soup fog. You couldn’t even see across the narrow channel to the other side. Why it was all we could do to see the box of donuts and newspaper that were perched on our deck. Yup, the marina provides a half dozen Krispy Kremes and a USA Today right to your boat. We brewed up a fresh pot of coffee and pigged out on donuts. Think this is probably the first donuts we’ve had all trip.

The fog finally lifted a little and by 9:00 we decided to head out. Within a mile of our departure we passed Hinkley Yacht Services. At that point our boat completed its second Great Loop – not us – just the boat. You see, the boat’s previous owners (Bill and Ruth on Integrity) started and ended their Great Loop at Hinkley in Thunderbolt. Then when we bought the boat from them, they left from Hinkley and delivered it to us in Norfolk – so the boat has now completed the Loop twice!!

We cruised up the ICW arriving in South Carolina at 10:10 a.m. Our stay in Georgia was only 5 days (as opposed to our 5 months in Florida), but we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Our destination today was Daufuskie Island, SC. Some MTOA friends had told us this was a “must stop”. Daufuskie has quite the history – so here’s a very brief history lesson: During the American Revolution many British loyalists lived on the island. This created hostilities with the patriots living on nearby Hilton Head, thus prompting many small battles between the residents of the two islands. Once the war was over, the island was divided into 12 plantations as conditions were excellent for growing cotton. After the civil war, the Island was virtually abandoned and its only inhabitants were the freed blacks. This group of people became known as the Gullah. They continued with the harvesting of cotton and oysters and the island was very prosperous for over a century. However, boll weevil virtually wiped out all of the cotton and pollution from the Savannah River curtailed the oyster harvest and the island was faced with hard times. If anyone is interested, Pat Conroy wrote a book, The Water is Wide, about his experience teaching the black children on Daufuskie Island. It's a very good book.

In the 1980’s much of the land was acquired by a development company and they built resorts, homes, condos, golf course, etc. greatly impacting the landscape of the Island. However, with the worsening economy, much of the development has become bankrupted – including a marina. Although the marina is no longer functioning, it’s still in good shape. You are free to tie up at no charge --- and as one of the locals said “There ain’t no one fussin’ with ya”. There are no services like electric or water, but the location is great. A local company rents golf carts for the day so we gave them a call, they delivered the key, provided us with a brief history and a map of the Island. With Gerry at the wheel and Linda holding on for dear life, off we went. It was a lot of fun exploring the history of the island, meeting local people, eating the yummy food and seeing the beauty of the Island. It was definitely a side trip well worthwhile.

Look what we had for breakfast -- donuts !!!

The bridge and Hinkley Yacht Services. The dock you can see through the bridge span is where the Monk (then still Integrity) started its 2nd Great Loop.

Birds in the fog

Passing through the Walls Cut area. It was still a little foggy and the small islands with only a few trees and very still flat water had a very eerie feeling.

The marsh area by the marina

Monk's Vineyard at the dock of the now-defunct Melrose Landing Marina

Gerry and the golf cart indicating "your chariot awaits"

This was the sign for the Dirt Road Diner

... and this was the Dirt Road Diner. Not much to look at, but the food was absolutely fantastic. Best grouper sandwich I've had the entire trip. Gerry's cheeseburger was also exceptional and we shared an order of yummy sweet potato fries.

Next stop was the Iron Fish

Some of the artwork for sale

I may not have had much luck with my alligator pictures on the St. Johns River, but here I was able to get a picture of an entire alligator family !!!

The porch of the Iron Fish. The artist operates on the honor system. If you see something you like you just take it -- of course leaving behind the proper payment of either cash, slipped through a slot in the door, or credit card information.

This was the view we had as we motored around the Island in our golf cart. Most everyone on the Island uses a golf cart as only contractors or resort personnel have cars.

While in one of the local stores, we picked up a bottle of Daufuskie Survival Spray. It's supposed to be good to help you survive the horse flies, deer flies, mosquitoes and no-see-ums. We'll see.

This is the Silverdew Winery and it's proprietor, Low Country Joe. He does sell wine, but ....

he is really a master wire wrap jeweler. He was one of those people that could talk to you forever about the Island and about his craft. (Deborah, you would have loved talking to this guy.)

This is some of the jewelry made by Low Country Joe. In addition to being a great collector of seaglass, he also makes jewelry from shells, arrowheads and yes, even kryptonite. That's the green stuff you can see in the back. The biggest green piece on the left was used in the Superman movie.

A shot of the beach and Atlantic Ocean -- no one around

This is the Maryfield School. It was built for the black children on the Island in 1933. The author, Pat Conroy taught here in 1969-70 and wrote the book, The Water is Wide, about his teaching experiences.

The First Union Africian Baptist Church

We went to the Daufuskie Museum which had artifacts dating back to the Indian inhabitants through almost present time. Above is the medical supplies used by the midwife, Sarah Grant, during the 1900's. She birthed 132 babies.

Likewise, here are the tools that the local carpenter used to work on many of the buildings and projects throughout the Island.

The Crab Company -- another one of the local eateries

While we were having a cool one sitting under a tree, the local tour boat started pulling out. About that time a man came running by and screaming at the boat. You might say he almost "missed the boat".

The local bus was quite colorful. It reminded us of the buses we saw in Panama.

We looked at the local property for sale -- very nice view and a very nice dock -- but a very high price