Fogged In!

We had a nice night in Deweese creek. No one else joined us. We are apparently out of sync with the rest of the cruisers. Big group in front of us and a big group behind us with a mob of trawler types consuming all the marina facilities.

We left early like just as it was enough light to discern the banks and pulled anchor and left. The wet enclosure made visibility poor. We hit the ICW before 7:30am and ran it towards the Ben Sawyer Swing bridge. We hopped to make the 9am opening. On Weekends it only opens on the hour from 9am - 6pm. Well surprisingly I had a lot of current with me. It was nearly high tide and we "flew" towards the bridge and saw no skinny water. I arrived at 8:20am and they opened for me. Great we are way ahead of schedule!!

Now as we approached the bridge we had seen whiffs of fog but didn't think much of it. Then 1/2 a mile from the bridge and just before entering Charleston Harbor -- WHAM BANG -- pea soup thick fog enveloped us. GREAT!! I was at a wide spot in the ICW so we just circled till the fog cleared. It took a good 45 minutes. I did this because I didn't want to cross the ships channel with no visibility. Given the electronic charts I could have but if suddenly a huge container ship looms out of the fog -- who's fault is it??

Well we finally arrived at the Charleston City Marina and checked on wait listed reservation -- still no opening. I asked to dock for fuel and still no room -- I would have to wait. Well I was tired of circling and waiting so we anchored to await the ebb tide to slacken through Elliots cut. I've got more than enough fuel to make Beaufort SC so we waited the 2.5 hours and then left.

It wasn't quite slack tide when we hit Elliots cut but I got through there doing about 3 knots.

We had the current against us so we made slow like 4.7 - 5.5 kts to Church creek 18 miles distant. About 7 miles out we were running along at near low tide for this area. Now the tidal range here i 7.6'! The shore looked scary with dry mud everywhere and just a ribbon of water to follow. However that ribbon made it easy in that if you stayed centered you had 15' of water but stray 50 feet and you were aground. Ohh and now as we approached the shallow water the current changed and we were running at near 8kts. Run aground and we were really going to STICK.

We arrived about 4:00pm and dropped the hook. This is a nice anchorage and no one here at 6pm. All to ourselves again.

Tomorrow is a L O N G Day -- 48 miles from here to Beaufort, SC. On the plus side we have reservations there at the Lady ISland marina for 3 nights. Now we can provision, eat out, laundry, and fuss, and clean the boat. We have been traveling a week and we are ready to stay put for a few days and Beaufort, SC is a great place to visit.

Lots of skinny water today

We left the anchorage in South Santee river at first light -- 7:15am We headed to McClellenvile about 10 miles further. We arrived at 9AM and started our passage through the worst shoaling water on the ICW. We were just 1.5 hours past high tide and found for the most part water at 9' or better however just before R38 I hit a patch of 6.2' That was deep enough but still you clinch up. You need to know that along this stretch of the ICW the tide is nearly 6' thus at low tide you would see around 4' through here and I draw 5.2'!

We had to pass several other areas that had shoaling but made it through uneventful.

We decided to anchor in Deweese Creek in Jim Thompson's favorite spot and made that with out too much difficulty seeing how at that time we were just about low tide for this area.

We need to wait till tomorrow morning high tide to traverse another horribly shoaled area just before you enter Charleston harbor.

We tried to make reservations in Charleston for the weekend but they are full already. We will just stop for fuel and water and then move on to Beaufort, SC. We have reservation for the Lady Island marina for a few days. We have been travelling everyday since Sunday and are ready for some provisioning and laundry and REST.

We be Mud Crawlers -- again

We had a real nice evening on anchor out behind the Georgetown Light house. Got an early start at 7:15am and still the last boat to leave. It was 5 miles to the Sea Buoy but with a favorable tide it went well. We got out in the ocean and just light breeze and a 2 foot ocean swell from the East. Well after 20 minutes of rolling in the swell we decided it wasn't worth it and turned around. Back in was a S L O W process since that "favorable" current was now against us.

We approached the infamous R2 marking the entrance to the Estherville Minim Creek Canal and reading the cautions about entry tried to split the distance between R2 and shore. Ahhh this must be accurate when you are at low tide because at 2 hours off high tide we went aground in 4.8' of water. I need 5.2'.
Well the bottom is soft mud so I plowed towards R2 and about 100' off I found 9.5'. Yippee floating again.

The trip to South Santee River was filled with shallow water spots but nothing below 7.5' and the tide was falling. We made it to anchorage by noon and felt as if we had spent a whole day traveling. The anchorage is fine and at 4pm only one trawler shares it with us. Maybe more coming tonight. Plenty of room though.

We stopped here because 10 miles down the stream and at low tide we would have passed through McClellanville which has the shallowest water for a couple miles. Reports are that a low tide it is only 4 feet deep. By stopping here we will hit that area about 1.5 hours after high tide.

Gosh I wished could have made that offshore leg to Charleston today but then again we are PLEASURE boaters and if it ain't a pleasure we don't do it.

New Adventure -- Georgetown Lighthouse

We had a very nice evening in Georgetown. Nick showed up for a few hours and we had a fine dinner at the River Room. He took off and we relaxed on the boat until it was Farkle Time.. Gosh we play almost every night and it is vicious but we enjoy it. I might add that lately I'm winning most of the games.

Karen got to sleep in this morning and make one of her complicated breakfasts. Glad she enjoyed it because no such luxury tomorrow. Leaving at first light.

The forecast has changed and it looks to be very mild weather tomorrow so we decided to try an out front trip from Winyah Bay here to Charleston. Buoy to Buoy it is 43 miles. Long inlets though so to shorten the trip we came out Winyah Bay today and anchored behind the Georgetown Lighthouse at the entrance to Winyah Bay. We only have to go 5 miles in the morning to the Sea Buoy then on to Charleston. If we don't like conditions we can come back in and continue with our slog down the ICW and make Charleston in 3 days rather than 8 hours if we can go out front in the ocean. Wish us luck.

This little anchorage behind Georgetown Light is very nice. AS we approached the entrance we had an ocean swell come in but once we turned into the anchorage it was gone -- just lots of current.

This is a great place to wait to go out or if you are making a hop from Cape Fear or Little River it would be a nice place to overnight.

We were first here around 1pm -- had a favorable current all the way here. Now at 4:30pm we have been joined by a large pleasure trawler and a sailboat, and we see 2 more sailboats and a trawler coming. They will most likely anchor here too so it will be a nice crowd leaving in the morning. A cold front comes in Friday morning so I expect we will all be going in to Charleston.

We are really in the midst of the mass migration south so competition for marina resources is fierce. We tried to make reservations for the weekend in Charleston but they are full. We will have to move on.

Wish us luck and hopeful the next post will be from Charleston -- on anchor since no room at marina.

The new face of Georgetown

Well we got off with a scary start to the day. I was in the cockpit waiting on Karen to fix and eat her breakfast before we left and I see this very large and jagged tree stump coming towards us. First it looks like it will pass close then directly on us. I yelled to Karen we had to go NOW!.. I started to pull the anchor and then it shifted just enough to miss the boat. I wasn't so worried about it hitting us but I was concerned that the jagged roots might get caught on a propeller or keel or rudder.

We finally did leave after breakfast and had a very nice run into Georgetown's harbor. The marks are confusing but we found the channel. The harbor looked almost deserted compared to years past. I guess the hurricane two weeks ago cleared out most the derelict boats that were here. Hopefully they are not just sunk. We found a nice spot behind the clock tower/rice museum and surprisingly the Rocna held on the first attempt. The anchoring here is notorious because of all the soft mud but if you let the anchor work its way down it will find hard sand.

Nick came by today for a little visit and brought our Absentee Ballots that arrived too late for us to use at home. Looks like we do get to vote in this HORRIBLE election of 2016.

Only one other sailboat and a trawler came to anchor this afternoon but then it is still only 4:30pm.

We will stay tomorrow too for the low tide cycle to get further down the road so we can navigate the shoal waters around McClellanville on Thursday hopefully not running aground. More ICW misery.

Georgetown is just such a picturesque town. Lots of small businesses. I bought fresh shrimp from the shrimp dock here which is independently owned and thew shrimp don't get any fresher.

Socastee area -- so sad-- and pins and needles trip

We left Barefoot Landing at 8:30am hoping to hit the Socastee Bridge around 11:30am or low tide. The ride was slow with the current against us -- SOG was about 4.4kts, but we were on schedule to hit the bridge at low tide. About 10 miles from the bridge we came across a flashing blue light Wildlife boat just poking in the same direction. Well it is decreed that from Barefoot Landing to the Bucksport Marina was a no wake zone. Well what is no wake -- kind of subjective. If a boat moves through the water it makes a disturbance. The bigger the disturbance the bigger the wave coming off. At hull speed most sail boats generate a wave no greater than 3 inches.

We slowed down and eventually passed the enforcement boat and they gave us a friendly wave. We got to the Socastee bridge and passed through and a Sheriff Boat held up a thumb and finger showing we had cleared by mere inches, then we met a Coast Guard boat and they ordered us to slow down -- we were now doing 3.2 kts or less than turtle speed. We maintained this slow pace to Bucksport where when we passed the current finally changed with us and we set s speed record on Temptation. There where times we did 9.3kts. It was great. Our expected ETA at the anchorege behind Butler Island was 5pm but with the speed increase we made it at 3:30pm for a much deserved rest.

Around the Socastee Bridge there are numerous homes just 50 75 yds back from the water edge. Many had a water line up to 3 feet on their walls. Some houses were still standing in water. Most docks were damaged. It was really sad. I got to the point where I just stopped looking at the houses. Just so sad.

Oh the Socastee bridge only had about 6 feet of clearance under it and this was low tide. It is supposed to have a minimum of 11 feet at high tide.

The high rise just passed it showed just less than 61 feet clearance. It was apparenty correct because I need 57 feet for my mast and 3 feet for the VHR whip antenna. That antenna just tickled the bottom of the bridge when we passed through.

We are just out of sync with the tides for a few days and offshore doesn't look comfortable so we will stay in Georgetown, SC for a few days beginning tomorrow. Ummmmm -- going to get some fresh shrimp!

Navigating in the fourth dimension

Yep that is what we did today. Not only do we have to worry about the 2 dimensional track on a chart but we have to consider both the depth of the water and the clearance under the bridges. Normal the high rise bridges guarantee at least 65' clearance no mater the tide condition but couple in the flood waters here and that clearance is less. So as we approach bridges we have to read the clearance boards and decide to pass or not. All of these conditions are dependent on the tide which follows the time of day -- thus the fourth dimension.

We did well today and passed several very troublesome areas -- the worst being Lockwood Folly Inlet and Shalotte inlet and even Little river inlet was cause for concern. We timed our trip to pass each of these on rising mid time or later, and in the case of the infamous Rock Pile through Myrtle Beach we transited at high tide.

No magic to the procedure. Just time passage to mid tide or later and follow the set navigation marks that you see and not the magenta line on the chart. Now the toll -- I'm whipped tonight after this 45 mile trip today.

Tomorrow we head to Georgetown, SC. Probably anchor behind Butlers Island then decide what to do. The tide timing will be TERRIBLE for the next few days. Low is 11:30am tomorrow and 12:30am the n ext day - etc -- moves about an hour a day. For the next areas after Georgetown we need the high/rising tide to traverse several areas. With the low in mid day that cancels movement for 2 hours either side or just real short travel days.

It's only 43 miles between entrance to Georgetown's Winyah bay and Charleston so we could do that in daylight hours Wednesday if out front conditions will be mild -- will see otherwise we will have to do something else which might mean to just stay put for a few days.

We are tied up to the Barefoot Marina at BArefoot landing. It is nice but very large. We are on an outside dock which is a quarter mile to the bathroom showers and the internet does not work out here. Bummer...

They had plenty of room here tonight because a huge group of boats left today once the Socastee Bridge opened yesterday. They said they had been completely full for 5 days until today.

It's off to Georgetown for us tomorrow. The tide will not be an issue on this leg as long as we get past the Socastee bridge at less than mid tide. The high rise bridge after it had 56' clearance yesterday and 59 today. I need 57.

Boy I'm going to sleep good tonight.