I Survived Waterfest

For the second straight weekend I made the trek to Beaufort, S.C., this time to fish but for a variety of reasons not much fishing got done and what did get done was a mixture of large skates, rays and sand sharks. We caught a boatload of bait and thoroughly trashed the boat with dead bait, mud and weeds and cans. A late night Friday in the adirondack chairs looking over the intracoastal turned into Saturday morning and a gaggle of folks gathered at Scott's house trying to bum a ride to the sand bar. The sand bar is located just outside the markers for the intracoastal waterway around the bend and under the bridge from downtown Beaufort, SC. The 8-9 foot diurnal tides fully expose the bar every 12 hours, then the tide turns and it is covered up again. Eight or nine feet of water moving in and out every six hours creates a terrific current and during the time the tide is high and you can't stand on the bottom, it is necessary to hand onto floats, tubes, lifejackets, etc. tied off to the back of the boats with lines and ropes. If you lose your grip you will be swept into the river and have to be "rescued" by folks in jon boats or jet skis.
A day in the sun and water- two-thousand boats or anything that can float and be propelled by engine or paddles tied up in a five acre area, coolers filled to the brim with drinks of all types, sandwich fixins, fried chicken, boiled peanuts and other goodies, improptu volleyball games played on a plough-mud moonscape, and girls wearing swimsuits they have no business wearing and men doing the same. It was fun to sit back and watch the spectacle. It was fun but I'm getting too old for more than one sandbar party per year. Some photos to follow.