Finally crossed the border to South Carolina. Bridges were on demand, so no pressure trying to arrive at top or bottom of the hour. We did go through the area referred to as the Rock Pile in Myrtle Beach. This is a 3 mile stretch on the ICW with rock ledges on either side of the channel and at times very narrow. It's prudent to call out a Securite before entering the Rock Pile since passing is not an easy maneuver once in transit. We had a couple of boats ahead of us also going southbound but nothing coming north and no one behind us, so no problem. We stayed at Osprey Marina, tucked away in the woods off the ICW in Myrtle Beach. We stopped at the fuel dock before going into our slip since they have the best price for diesel in the Carolina's at $2.36/gal. We met up with Patty & Jack on Nearly Perfect, we just met them in New Bern and we just happen to be stopping in the same locations. We did our usual happy hour and then went with them and Tricia & Rob on Linda Jean to dinner at Socastee Station. Great local, no frills, restaurant with meals under $10.00. Lots of fun and it brought back memories of the Great Loop when we would fit more people into the car than it was designated to hold.
A stellar day cruising the Waccamaw River into Georgetown, SC. The river is a bit wider than the Dismal Swamp but just as beautiful with plenty of depth and not too much boat traffic. We finally had a more favorable current and were going between 9.3 and 9.9 knots at our usual 1500 RPMs, about a 2 knot push. It's always nice to get a little help now and then. We anchored just off the main downtown area of Georgetown. Lots of shops, restaurants, a Maritime museum and a Rice Museum. We traveled with Nearly Perfect and Linda Jean and we all anchored together off of Georgetown. We walked all over town and then had dinner together on Nearly Perfect since they have a big Hatteras with plenty of room for the 6 of us. Patty made Tortilla Soup and I made Bread Pudding with homemade whipped cream, everything was delicious. The best part was our new friend Jack, Jack Daniels that is, and his Tennessee Honey. It's just yummy! Luckily we found our way back to our own boat anchored a short distance away. We had light and variable winds, the water glassy and the moon shining brightly.
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| Dinner aboard Nearly Perfect |
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A very long day and somewhat stressful going through skinny waters of SC in a few known places. We did time our transit around high tide or mid tide but nonetheless it was shallow in spots getting down to 5'. We let the big boats go ahead of us then listen to them on the radio as they navigated through these areas. We passed a parade of tugs and barges today with dredging equipment headed for NC. It's too bad they can't dredge as they go and make it easier on us cruisers. We saw lots of dolphins swimming in our bow wake and some in shallow water messing about or doing some kind of mating dance. Also, we are seeing lots of Monarch Butterflies heading south. With the warm weather lingering up north they are very late on their migration to Mexico. They were fluttering like crazy around the boat, I was hoping they might hop on for a wee rest before continuing on.
We decided to skip Charleston this trip so we are anchored just beyond. We had a magnificent sunset and moon rise, life is very good!
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| Dolphins playing in our bow wake |
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Dredging tow headed our way
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We docked at Distant Island Yacht Club in Beaufort, SC and have been very busy since arriving. Our hosts at DIYC, Chuck and Claria (we met them in 2007 on the Cumberland River), were most gracious. After a lovely dinner Sunday, we went to the USCB (Univ South Carolina Beaufort) Chamber Music first concert of their 38th season featuring cello, flute and piano by Edward Arron, Tara Helen O'Connor and Phillip Bush. The music was that of J.S. Bach, Arvo Part, Philippe Gaubert, Claude Debussy and Carl Maria von Weber. All pieces were amazing but our favorite was Frates for cello and piano (1977) by Arvo Part.
It's a good thing we didn't have to go anywhere the next day, the fog lingered until at least noon. DIYC also has a FROG where fellow boaters Pam & Jim on Silver Boots (who arrived by land yacht) wee staying for a few nights. We hadn't seen them since 2007 when we did the Great Loop, so it was really nice to get acquainted again. Happy hour and dinner together was just wonderful, Claria is a terrific cook and shared some of her recipes, and short cuts in the galley. Our thanks to Chuck and Claria for their hospitality.
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| It's fall at DIYC |
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| Magnificent sunset at DIYC |
An overcast day on the ICW but it was made so much brighter with all the dolphins we spotted. They would wait ahead of us in the channel and as soon as we caught up to them they would ride our bow wake for 5-10 minutes. The more we encouraged them, the more dolphins would join in and the more they would play. On one occasion there were 5 very large dolphins swimming side by side. Not much boat traffic, we passed 2 sailboats and saw a few small local boats out shrimping or crabbing. We transited Hell Gate crossing Ossabaw Sound which can be a problem but we went through on a rising tide. We anchored on the Duplin River just off of Sapelo Island. There was no one else there and the clouds were blocking any moonlight, but it was very peaceful.
Our favorite 3 words: Southern Soul Barbeque
One word follow-up to Southern Soul Barbeque - DELICIOUS!
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| Ready for lunch! |
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| SSB has taken over the bldg next door |
Before casting off from Golden Isle Marina, they dock master delivered a local newspaper and 2 muffins. We encountered more areas with skinny water but we were on a rising tide, so we didn't feel at risk. We just took our time remembering the mantra of fellow boater, Jim Healy on Sanctuary. "Never approach anything faster than you'd want to hit it". We would have stopped at Fernandina Municipal Marina but they suffered sever damage in hurricane Matthew. Checking it out with binoculars we could see steel rods sticking out from the floating docks, electrical posts down, marina office boarded up and can just imagine how much more structural damage they received. They are however open with just a few inside slips and hope to be fully operational in a year. Bids and getting a contractor lined up are just a few of the obstacles they face. As we approached Amelia Island Marina we heard a sailboat calling TowBoat, they had just run aground ahead of us. There was a dredge working and the sailboat went too far out of the channel to avoid, the tow boat said they saw them going aground. We called the tow and asked for advise to pass, which we did with no problem. We tucked into a marina for a couple of days waiting for gusting winds to quiet down.
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| Dredging operation off Fernandina |
10 hours on the water, it was a very long day. We are stayed at the home of MTOA President, Peter Colket. Peter and Nancy invited us to stay on their dock since they recently sold their boat. We had happy hour with another boating friend and then went out for Italian food.
The winds continued to blow for quite a few days but we keep pushing south to position ourselves to cross to the Bahamas for the next weather window. We originally planned to stop at New Smyrna but arrived there too early so we decided to push on to an anchorage in Mosquito Lagoon. Well that was a very bad plan since winds were out of the NE at 15-20 and there were 1-2' waves with whitecaps, it would not have been a pleasant night on the hook. Plan C was to anchor south of JayJay RR Bridge getting protection from the NE wind. We pushed on arriving at 5:30 just at sunset and settled in for the night. We found a weather station nearby confirming winds in high teens with gusts over 25 mph.
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| Our swing during the overnight (we moved a lot but didn't go too far) |
72 miles on the Indian River with winds still blowing 15-20 out of the northeast. Very happy winds were behind us, but it was still pretty choppy. We picked up a mooring for the night at Vero Beach Municipal and rafted to Compass Rose, a Mainship 400. The rain held off but of course the wind seemed to pick up just as we arrived. We were able to raft with a boat where someone was actually aboard to assist with the process. The next day we moved to a slip for a couple of days, rented a car and completed provisioning for winter in the Bahamas.
We need a vacation after running around crazy for 2 days doing a final provision for the Bahamas. Food - check, wine - check, beer - check, spare boat parts - check, top off with fuel - check, Brownie's Hookah - check, everything else - check. Not really sure where everything stowed ,but the boat was still floating, so that was a good thing. During our stop in Vero, we even got to see Scott's Aunt Margie and cousin Jacque for dinner and had a really nice visit.
Anchored at Peck Lake which is quite beautiful, despite a few boat wakes that find their way in. A small craft advisory had been issued and we could hear the surf crashing in on the other side of the trees. We explored the beach the next morning.
Traveling the ICW between Jupiter and West Palm on a beautiful Saturday was crazy, there were so many boats on the water. If we weren't trying to cross to West End the next day, we would have had a different plan. M/V Duetto and S/V Valarie Arden, also RMHYC members, were ready for the crossing too on 19-Nov-2017.
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| Good bye Lake Worth Inlet - see you in the Spring |
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