On Down the Line a Bit

It's New Year's Eve in Beaufort, South Carolina. As it is elsewhere. But with the anchor down in Factory Creek and the nice folks at Lady's Island Marina letting us tie up the dinghy to provision, and a restaurant next door, there's not a lot else we need to do but catch up on the reporting.
A week and a day ago we left Wrightsville with spotty rain forecast and made it to the Cape Fear River before it hit us. The radar and chartplotter were a helpful combination as we picked out the line of markers leading down the river and as the tidal flow built we logged 9-1/2+ knots driving into the incoming breeze. That's a 3.5 kt boost. Or bust if one is going the other way. Better check that next time, we just got lucky. Back into the ICW at Southport and against the current once more.

There is a long stretch between there and Myrtle beach with little opportunity to anchor. Apparently many folks stop at Southport and make a long leg through there. With only half the day gone by I planned on using a marina once again in that stretch just to keep our 50 mile per day pace within reach. I placed several calls to the facility during the afternoon and tried the radio as we passed in front as sundown approached. A TowboatUS captain replied to my call to say that the place was closed for a month. And with that news we pulled up to the outside of their dock and tied up. Oh well, they couldn't even change their answering machine message, and regular folks were obviously still using their boats daily. I guess it was just the office staff that couldn't be bothered with doing any business this month. No guilt on our part. Didn't plug in or use a drop of water, gone by 0730.

So now we were motoring along on Christmas Eve, hoping to make Georgetown, SC for Christmas morning, but it's a long haul. Ran the few miles that have rocky banks on a narrow stretch, passed Myrtle Beach and a couple of swing bridges and we were back in a river system that became the Waccamaw. Another tide boost finally caught us up and it seemed like we could make G'town a little after 5pm and sunset. That tide boost was the ebb of a very high tide that had flushed out a lot of debris and mats of floating plants. We saw at least two dead-head log snags with their gnarly ends pointed upstream at us and the other end down in the mud. The darker it got the less important waking up in the harbor seemed to be and as a marina dock came around a bend, out came the phone. Of course, at 4:40 on Christmas Eve what right minded individual is sitting at a desk in an off-season marina office? Alas, we became pier pirates once again, and skulked off into the fog in the morning. Actually we waited until 10 o'clock because of the fog and when it broke up some we departed.

It was only another 8 miles to Georgetown but their harbor channel was still socked in thickly. We circled out and did a slow loop up the river and back to try again as it cleared in about an hour.
We dropped anchor in the harbor and had a surreal walk around town with nothing open and no more than half a dozen humans to be seen in several hours. But it was warm and sunny! Come to think of it, I haven't had long pants on since. We took a berth in a marina the next day for laundry, showers and a walk to the Piggly-Wiggly Market. where we called a cab to haul the load back. Our driver seemed a bit indifferent at first and I thought there might be a little socio-economic rub with the boat tourist vs. workaday folks but when I asked about the closed steel mill he turned out to be the Sage of Georgetown. Opining on economics and universal truths of the cosmos as we know it. $5 for the ride. Free lecture and entertainment. Actually, we agreed on most everything, so that's even better.

The next few days were Low Country scenic. Salt marshes with  surprising numbers Porpoises working the inside channels. We recognize a few boats here and there that leapfrog with us. The new anchor is working like a charm in these reversing current channels. I had rigged a retrieval line with a crab float on a stick to adjust the line length and learned that I need to leave 6-8 feet more than the depth of the water because the anchor will dive so deep in the muddy spots that it sucks the float down too. It just keeps going until it finds firm ground. One time I believe I dropped it into soft mud upside down and didn't pull hard enough to right it. It is important to be moving just a bit as it goes down. Doesn't matter much what direction, just as long as it gets laid out a bit. I haven't seen many other Vulcan pattern Rocnas out here yet, but I'm gaining confidence in it.

We made Charleston at midday and looking at the open water anchorages with a fair bit of traffic, we took a tie up at the 'Megadock', Charleston City Marina's big floating pier. It was convenient and nicely serviced, but made for a long squeaky night as the southwesterly breeze pushed a little harbor chop up against us. Had a long walk around the old town with some grand style houses and plenty to do if you want to take the time. There are a lot of Mid-Atlantic boats wintering there; far enough to be mild and not too damn far to drive the boat each year, and a Southwest Air connection back to BWI multiple times a day.

Another two days to Beaufort (Bew, not Bow) with a pretty and quiet night on the hook in between. The dawn to dusk lifestyle takes over pretty quickly while cruising. Especially when trying to keep the mile count up and make a destination. We've mostly pushed to outrun weather, but after 8-9 hours at the helm, a meal and a cold beverage induce sleep promptly. What I'm saying is I'm not sure how in the heck we'll ever make it til midnight on this 12/31.

Enjoy