Coasting

Ah, St.Augustine. That was while ago. We're in Beaufort, NC right now. In between was a beach day on Cumberland Island, Georgia. With Maritime Forest, dunes and swamps, ruined mansions, and a huge beach that disappears over the horizon. And feral horses for the semi-wild touch.

We recommend a side trip up the Darien River. That 8 miles is enough to filter off some of the commuters and the river runs through a protected area of saltmarsh with oxbow turns and a broad horizon. The free dock makes it easy to drop in and walk the town, as long as you arrive within an hour either side of the tidal slack. We were met by the Habourmasters and chatted about the local scene and history for 20 minutes or so and the current had built to 3 knots or more. It worked out well for a mid-day arrival and an afternoon of walking the town and a Reproduction Pre-Colonial British fort, followed by a stop at an unusual wine bar, a big seafood meal a few doors down, back to the wine bar, and a late morning departure back down river just before high tide. Georgia's virgin Cypress and Yellow Pine forests were in large part floated down river to this town and shipped out. It was all gone by the 1920's and so is the infrastructure. Just a few brick engine or mill supports and some silted in ponds to be seen. The town now hosts a shrimp fleet and just set up a freeze packing system for jellyfish destined for Korean markets. The shrimpers can catch them with the same trawl gear hauled at the surface instead of on the bottom. They ship a million pounds a week. In Beaufort, SC there was quite a bit of self congratulating going on for recently refusing to allow the same sort of operation. Waste water and the Alum used to reduce the water content of the jellyfish flesh is a big sticking point. By-catch is a huge problem with bottom trawling and surface trawling requires turtle exclusion devices, as these creatures feed extensively on the jellyfish.

We did see a big seagoing turtle on our next day out in the ocean. We left a nice anchorage in the Crescent River and as we headed down the Sapelo Sound the weather looked just right for an outside hop. Once we rigged for downwind the wind went down, of course. So the diesel filled in and eventually we picked up enough breeze to hold a nice motor-reach at good speed. So good that we could skip the Savannah River inlet at Tybee Roads and go in at Port Royal just at sunset. It was a 12 hour day, but saved 35 miles of ditchwork. We dropped anchor in the Beaufort River, below the fixed bridge about mile 540. Our turnaround mile was 1021 near West Palm Beach. They do add up, even at 5-8 per hour, every hour, many, many hours. Which brings up another point that has surprised us. Do you think you'll ever need hearing protection on a sailboat? On certain older boats little thought was given to sound damping the engine compartment. It's a diesel Auxiliary after all. In and out of the marina, a few hours from home an afternoon when the wind dies... no problem, right? It's not news that 8 hours in 90 decibels of racket will beat the crap out of your auditory system. We've resorted to earplugs and a pair of my shop muffs that were in the tool kit. You can check the level with an app on your smart phone, you may be surprised.

In Beaufort, SC we finally caught up with friends Roger and Patsy, prepping their recently acquired trawler for the trip back north to the Hudson River Valley. We spent a few days there re-provisioning, laundering, and helping out with some of their projects and then headed out again. The overnight anchorages in Toogoodoo Creek, Dewees Creek and Georgetown harbor were comfy.

Anchored in Dewees Creek, photo taken from the ICW

The ride up the Waccamaw River is a standout favorite. The slack water moment moves up the river and we could keep up using the light tailwind and the headsail rolled out. The anchorage at Enterprise Landing was beautiful on a clear night with a moon just one day shy of full. The whole area is a forest preserve of cypress and live oak, the last wild looking scenery before re-entering the man made canals and Garage-Mahal residences around Myrtle Beach. Thank goodness for three days of a following breeze and roller furling headsails. The current in the ICW that runs through salt marshes close to the coast is variable. You'll have a boost for an hour and a bust for three. Or the other way round. More isolated stretches of ditch can be guessed at by the distance to the closest inlet and the tide state there, but between Myrtle and Beaufort, NC it's pretty interconnected with many small inlets between the big ones. As it was we made it to Southport in one day, 66 statute miles. This was necessitated by the tide in the Cape Fear River. We experienced that on the way down as a sleigh ride and didn't want to fight it on this episode. We were up early and caught the last of the fair current up to the cut over to Carolina Beach, Wrightsville Beach and another few hours to a marina in an excavated basin, in anticipation of some stormy weather. We caught a break again as the front moved through without much more than a shower. Quick fuel top off and another 50 mile day to Spooners Creek, the mudhole surrounded by high priced real estate that gave us an anchoring lesson in December. Forewarned, we left ourselves plenty of room to back down and let the Vulcan muck-dive for solid holding, which it did just fine.


So today we just had a short hop to Beaufort. It's cool and breezy and we're spoiled. A day ashore sounds warmer than bucking a damp breeze. Supposedly, the town has avoided being burned by the Union Army and we went in search of older buildings. St. Augustine was a big disappointment in that regard. The Brits burned it in 1702 and it's gone up in flames a few times since, so almost no 18th century stuff exists except the stone fort. The same is true of Darien, GA. It's the second oldest town in the east at 1736 or so, but the Yankees torched it at the close of the Civil War, leaving one brick warehouse shell from 1813. Beaufort has one house from 1709, a few from the 1780's and plenty of Victorian homes in a mix all through the village. Plenty of tourists on this Easter weekend and the bar music is wafting out over the harbor and our anchorage among the various boats, from pristine to derelict. The Chesapeake is 4-5 days travel away. And spring is traveling with us.

Enjoy