Charleston!

October 30, 31

After an uneventful...no make that very pleasant...Thursday night at anchor we raised anchor at 8:15. That time was chosen to enable us to pass the reported shallow areas on a rising tide (so that if we did go aground, the rising tide would soon lift us off) and to get to the Ben Sawyer swing bridge near high tide. 

it worked perfectly!

We had plenty of water under the keel the entire way.

We arrived at the Ben Sawyer Swing Bridge at high tide, requested an opening, and the nice lady bridge tender quickly opened the bridge for us

Arriving at the Ben Sawyer Swing Bridge, in company with several other boats

It swings open on request (earning us the ill wishes of many drivers forced to wait as we meandered through)

That was the last hurdle before Charleston and within minutes we were in the Charleston Harbor, heading for the Charleston Maritime Marina

Charleston, a city without any building taller than 26 stories so its not an imposing skyline

We tied up without event and began a few days of touring and dining.

The marina...Priority is tied up on the right

Looking east, from whence we came in the morning.

Molli and I first went to the UPS office nearby to send some of her stuff home so there would be less for her to carry through the airport. 

Then we wandered through the Market, filled with lots of shops selling crafts and clothings and objets d'art...we resisted temptation and didn't buy anything....excepting lunch

That eveening we went with Hayden and Radeen to the Oak Steakhouse and had a wonderful meal of steak and some wine to celebrate a wonderful voyage. 

On Saturday, after changing the oil and oil filter (this time without mishap) we toured Charleston by horse drawn carriage

Our Driver/Guide on the carriage

We wandered through the historic district. Charleston has a long history, stretching back to the early 1700's and its inhabitants seemed to have figured out how to make lots of money and spend it on beautiful houses...wonderful to see

We left Baltimore on October 11 and arrived in Charleston 19 days later. We had a few long days, a fe cold days, a few windy, bumpy nights...but all in all it was a great trip

I'm glad Molli was able to make it, and I think she's glad too.

On Monday Molli flies back to Baltimore, On monday afternoon Robert Brown comes aboard and on Tuesday we head out to the ocean, aiming for Miami. 

Last anchor out

The part of the ICW from Georgetown to Charleston is famous and feared for its several very shallow parts, caused mostly by shoaling from water running in and out of inlets. States are responsible for maintainng minimal depths, but given budgetary constraints the work always falls behind.

Some people avoid this stretch altogether, heading outside (i.e. out into the ocean) at the Nynya Bay inlet from Georgetown and then, about 8 hours later, back in at the Charleston Inlet. We did this last year.

We decided to brave the shoals and go inside this year, but we had a plan...we would leave early to  catch the first of the shallow regions (near McClennanville) near high tide, and then we would anchor just about 10 miles shy of Charleston so that the next morning we would catch the remaining shallow regions on a rising tide, with the added benefit that it would bring us to our slip at the Charleston Maritime Center near slack tide (i.e. when there is no current to contend with as we maneuver into our slip).

So we cast off from the dock at Harborwalk Marina in Georgetown at 7:30 and motored out into a beautiful sunrise, in the company of about 20 other boats with the same idea. Some heading towards the  ocean, some towards the ICW.

Boats heading  out of Georgetown

This stretch of the ICW is nearly as beautiful as the Waccamaw river valley, tree lined in places, marshland in places, the occasional dolphin jumping alongside the boat...nice. 

Looking forward down the ICW

Looking back along the ICW

As it turned out the current was against us most of the way, so we were a little delayed getting to McClennanville. High tide was at 10:30 and we didn't get there till noon, but the tide had only dropped a foot by then, so we made it through without any problems

There were a few areas that were a bit shallow,,in a few spots there was as little as 1.5 feet under the keel, but that was more than enough to keep us from running aground. It did make me appreciate the fact that Priority has a relatively shallow draft of 4.5 feet..it would have been challenging with a 6 foot or deeper keel!

We arrived at our anchorage - Long Creek - aat 3:30, set the anchor and just sat and admired the surroundings. It's fairly flat, with tall grass and few trees in all directions. Off to the west you can just about make out Charleston. The problem with Charleston in this regard however is that it has no tall buildings so its not very dramatic from 10 miles out. 

Setting the anchor. I'm at the Bow, Molli at the helm

Looking South

Looking East, with Island Spirit anchored near by

Looking North

Looking West, towards Charleston

Some views of Priority, courtesy of Hayden, taken as the sun was setting.

This was a nice way to end a nice day on the water, and a great place for our last anchoring out - for this trip!

Tomorrow, on to Charleston

Georgetown

October 27-28

First, before anything, I have to urge you to take a look at Hayden Cochran's blog <IslandSpirit35.blogspot.com>. Hayden is a talented photographer and he was able to capture the beauty of the Waccamaw river valley remarkably well...you owe it to yourself to take a peek.

Our night at anchor in Cow House Creek was, to say the least, interesting. In the first place a reasonbly strong current runs through the creek. When we came in to anchor it was flowing against us and we lined up along the axis of the creek. Several hours later it turned, and so did we...and again several hours (about 6) it turned again. But there was also wind (even though the anchorage was reported to be "protected". There was a constant interplay through the night between the current and the wind. The result was that we rotated around the anchor, sometimes facing north, sometimes east, sometimes west and of course sometimes south. With each turning of the boat the chain would clunk up against the keel..the upshot was there was much rocking and rolling and clunking all through the night. Oh yes, did I mentioned it rained...sheets of wind driven rained banged up against the deck most of the night, adding to the clunking and the howl of the wind.

But the anchor held perfectly, we never went aground, and all was well (excelping we didn't get as much sleep as we would have liked.

We raised anchor at 8:15 and headed towards Georgetown. 

The river was just as beautiful in the morning as it had been the previous afternoon but soon we came to the Laffeyette bridge that marked the end of  the Waccamaw river, where it joined with the Great Pee Dee river and then merged with the mighty Nynah to take us into Georgetown. 

As we approached the bridge we saw a catamaran right next to the bridge, and looking closer we saw someone at the very top of the mast...This catamaran had a very tall mast, the river was high, with all the rain we'd been having, and the crew of that boat was worried they wouldnt fit under the bridge...They drew close to the bridge, and sure enough the man at the top was higher than the bridge. Hopefully they'll make it through at low tide, but with all the rain even low tide isn't all that low.

We arrived at Georgetown in a downpour but nicely made it to our slip, only 3 and 1/2 hour after raising anchor. 

Priority in her slip (in the background) at Harborwalk marina in Georgetown

view from the dock

After tidying up the boat we went for a brief walk about town, but the rains came back and we went back to the boat. 

Hayden and Radeen invited us to dinner on their boat...it was wonderful.

The next day (today, Wednesday, started out rainy but by noon the rains had eased and we ventured back into town.

Part of the main street (Front Street) in Georgetown were flooded

But the rest of Georgetown was dry

Downtown Georgetown is about 4 blocks long qwith several restaurnat, clothing stores, candy and ice cream stores,  a department store, a general store a maritime museum and a rice museum. 

We visited the Rice museum  and got a wonderful history of Georgetown, which at one time - before the Civil war - was the rice captial of the worlk...they shipped more rice than any port in the world. But that industry was built on slave labor and with the civil war, and the emancipation proclamation, the rice industry in Georgetown collapsed. They still talk about that "damned Lincoln" in Georgetown.

In between touring the town and avoiding the rain, we refueled the boat and refilled the water tank. 

This evening we had a fantastic dinner at the TownHouse restaurant which far exceeded expectations. We insisted on having the chef come out so we could thank him and praise his abililties. He was surprisingly very modest. 

Tomorrow we head towards Charleston, but will anchor just short of that, so we can cross a shallow area on a rising tide Friday morning. 

Waccamaw River Valley

We had a wonderful dinner last evening in an Italian Steakhouse in the Outlet mall. The restaurant appeared to be thriving (a testament to the good food) but sadly it seems the rest of the mall is falling on hard times. Many stores were shuttered and the only ones with any semblance of a crowd were some restaurants and ice cream parlors...ah well.

We were only going about 28 miles  today, aiming for an anchorage in the Waccamaw river valley, and so we didn't cast off till 11am...

The trip was interesting. At the beginning we went through some fairly built up areas, with fine homes 

Two of the many nice houses we passed. This last one has a lifelike statue on the water's edge

(and some not so fine homes.

One notable feature was passing through a golf course which used cable cars to connect one hole with another...weird to use the ICW as a water hazard!

Cable cars carry golfers over the waterway

But after a few hours we left civilization (if that's what you want to call the Myrtle Beach area) behind and entered the Waccamaw River Valley...a truly beautiful nature preserve, with a largish (300 feet across) tree lined (mostly cypress), winding river with many creeks feeding into it. There are also many "oxbows" which is the term for a small branch of the river which winds around a small island and returns to the river. For most of the trip it was only Island Spirit and us meandering down this wonderful piece of nature.

I include some pictures that don't do justice at all to the beauty of what we could see as we wound our way down river.

After about 5 hours we came to an oxbow called "Cow House Creek" (if you zoom up the map in the link at the upper right of this blog you can see it). It is protected from the wind by  the trees lining each side and the current we saw in the river is a little reduced in the creek. The creek is about 100 feet wide and only one other boat is anchored (boats anchor in a line in this creek).  Later, around 6:30 just before it began to get dark, three other boats came in, for a total of 6 boats in the creek.

I include some pictures looking around the compass.

a

Looking North..Island Spirit and another boat infront of me in the creek

Looking East

Looking West

Looking South (behind us)

Excepting for the wind in the trees (and there isn't much wind..it is protected) and a few birds it is very quiet.

I'm writing this while sitting in the cockpit, very much enjoying the scenery before the sun goes down. Molli is reading a book on her kindle....just fantastic!

Later, after sundown, we'll go below and have a nice dinner (and maybe a bit of wine), read some more, and turn in ready to do it again tomorrow...on to Georgetown

Barefoot Landing Marina at Myrtle Beach

Around 3:30 this morning Molli shook me awake and told me the boat was tilted and must be aground!  She demonstrated the tilt by putting something on the floor and watched it roll away.

I staggered awake and up and outside. I looked at the depth meter and it claimed there was 4 feet under the keel...we weren't aground, but we were indeed tilted, about 10 degrees.

I looked around the boat and found that one of the lines looped around a piling (meant to keep us close to the dock) had gotten pinched at dock level and as the tide came in, raising the boat, it trapped the port side of the boat and wouldn't let it rise...hence the tilt.

I clambered off the boat (I was still in my underwear, but was pretty sure no one would be awake to notice) and unsnagged the line....the boat literally popped up! Happily nothing was damaged (Molli had noticed the tilt before the forces got too large for the cleats and line to handle) and we went back to sleep

We cast off our lines at 7:25 and headed west and south to our next destination....Barefoot landing marina which is actually at an outlet mall at Myrtle Beach.

It was, as always, an interesting journey

The sun was just rising and Hayden took a great picture of Prioirity as we followed him down the ICW.

Again we saw lots of interesting houses on the waterway, some large and elegant

some painted all different colors (there was blue, yellow, lots of different shades of brown and green and one painted an amazing shade of fuschia

We passed some interesting boats

A shrimp boat heading towards an inlet and out to see

A Casino boat, doing the same

Another boat that was having a bad day

One interesting part of the waterway today was a two mile stretch called "the Rock Pile". Its a part that was blasted out the the army engineer orps(who maintains most of the ICW) but they must have run out of funding because the channel they blasted  was narrow and they left many boulders and rock ledges in the waterway

As you enter this stretch a sign warns you of what is to come

I was too busy steering and avoidng rocks to take any pictures, but you can imagine the channel lined with sharp rocks just waiting to rip a hole in the side of the boat.

In about 20 minutes we came to an interesting structure off to the port side called the Vortec. I have no idea what it is, but imagine it is some sort of communications or radar system. Its about 100 feet across and fenced off. 

This marked the end of the rock pile and in a few more minutes we were at the marina. 

Priority (foreground) and Island Packet at the dock

The Outlet Center, across a small man-made lake as seen from the promenade adjacent to the dock

To Southport

We cast off from the dock at SeaPath at 8:45am, headed down towards the anchorage and met up with Island Spirit. We got back on the ICW and headed south. 

We had several possibilities for places to put in this evening.

The first choice was Carolina Beach State Park, a Nature preserve with several docks just 12 miles south of Wrightsville Beach, but when we talked to the Dockmaster the marina is too small to handle our boats (both about 40 feet long)...there simply wouldn't be room to turn around, so we might be able to get in, but we wouldn't be able to get out!

We had several other possibilities.

One was a restaurant in Southport (the Provisioning Company) that has several docks which are free if you eat dinner at the restaurant, but they don't take reservations and it is first come, first serve.

The second option was a marina in Southport, but on calling them we found they had no room

The third option was a marina a little further (about 5 miles) south called St. James Plantation which by report is very nice. They had plenty of room so we kept that as backup.

The cruise this morning took us down the iCW past some interesting houses

A geodesic dome house

One of the many really large houses, this one with palm trees and a large dock

and some nice beaches.

A bunch of 4 wheel drive cars and jeeps and pickups on the beach, probably fishing early on a Saturday morning

We passed through Snow's Cut which led us to the Nature Preserve, and on looking in we confirmed we wouldn't fit so it was on to Southport.

We went down the Cape Fear river (a remarkably wide and fast flowing river) that quickly led us down to the next part of the ICW and soon into Southport at around noontime.

Lo and Behold...there were two slips in front of the restaurant beckoning us in!

The slips are narrow, with a high fixed dock on one side and a low floating dock on the other, with pilings on both sides of the slip. I just barrolled in, making sure to come to a stop before we the restaurant. ..People - lots of people - wiere busy eating and drinking at the open deck of the restaurant and took no notice of our arrival (the food is really good, so its understandable). One nice guy came out to try to help....he didn't know much about tying up a boat, but its the thought that counts (I redid all his lines). Once I was in I helped Hayden and Radeen tie up.

Island Spirit on the left, Priority on the right, and some tourists on the dock admiring the boats

Priority on the right, Island spirit on the left

After tidying up we went into the restaurant for a great lunch. 

The Provision company restaurant as seen from Priority's cockpit...what could be better

After lunch we wandered about 20 paces to a wonderful ice cream shop, where Hayden and I enjoyed ourselves (we both love ice cream and look for a parlor wherever we travel)

We then walked into town, stopping at a neat toy/candy store (Bull Frog corner) and then walked towards the maritime museum. Along the way we came across some "Facebook" friends of Hayden and Radeen who are musicians (guitar and banjo) who were just setting up to play. We sat and enjoyed some wonderful songs, mostly shanty's and I bought their CD so we could enjoy the songs even more later. 

We then walked down to the Maritime Museum, which was mostly about the history of Southport (initially called Smithville) which was founded areound 1706. As was the case with most eartly settlements in North Carolina it didn't do well in the early years, but started to come into its own after the civil war. Its history is tied up with the sea...shiping, sailing, ship pilots and such.

Its a neat, very small, town in a beautiful setting

As required, as a condition of our free dockage we went for dinner at the restaurant (which we would have gone to even if we weren't docked there. It was a fine evening to end a wonderful day

Dressed for dinner, waiting for Hayden and Radeen to walk down the dock to the restaurant

The Sailors

Sunset as seen from the restaurant

A fine way to end the evening