July 25 - Beaufort, NC. Mile 203

Saturday, July 24
We spent Saturday night anchored outside of Swansboro, NC.  It was a sweet little bay, dredged by the Marine Corp to practice amphibious assaults, that had no current or tides.  Which was quite a blessing since the winds were howling at 25 knots -- and all we had to do was drop anchor into the wind and not worry about the tides changing our position every 6 hours. We were the first boat to arrive, and 4 other boats joined us by sunset.

After a tedious day of negotiating 4 bridges, we anchored at around 4:30, totally spent.  These bridges only open on the hour/half-hour, so you have to play this tenuous game of timing the bridges so you aren't too late (because they won't wait for you; they open and then promptly close).  But, if you arrive at the bridge with time to spare, you must engage in the infamous "Bridge Dance" ... that thing you do to kill time while maintaining your position.  Because of the high winds and strong currents today, we really couldn't just "stop the boat" so we were forced to do many small circles, while watching the clock.  Now, this wouldn't be quite so bad, but the channel is narrow, and there is good depth only in the middle, so as you are turning around, you are constantly moving from a safe 12ft of water to a nerve-wracking 6-7 ft of water .... AND, let's not forget all the crazy motor boaters everywhere, who can zoom under the 12ft bridges and who seem to have no realization that our l2-ton tug has limited mobility.  (I don't care if you are waving and taking pictures of our beautiful boat, I hate you!).

Pink House. This one's for you, Michelle!

Lots of people playing on the sandbars.  I'm jealous! With no sunshade, its HOT on the boat.

Sunday, July 25

Today, we arrived at Beaufort, NC, which is a huge milestone for us.  This marks the home stretch of our cruise into Norfolk, VA.  We've traveled 653 miles with 203 to go!

It was a another wildly windy day, so no sunshade but the wind kept us cool.  Unfortunately, the trade-off meant that the wind also made it very difficult to handle the boat, as the wind would push us from the side, moving us away from the middle of the channel where the depths were safe.  Each time Dan would take time to get our position on the cruising charts, we find ourselves in 6ft of water.  I hate 6 feet of water. 

We wanted to anchor at Beaufort, but when we arrived, the anchorage was full and the winds were still blowing strong, so we gladly took a slip at the Beaufort Docks.  Ahhhh, showers and internet and cable TV.

View of Maja from our table at the habor cafe.

The final stretch of the ICW is the most treacherous -- lots of bridges to time and large sounds of water to cross.  It should take us 4 days/3 nites to get to the mouth of the Cheaspeake where we have arranged to stay at Salt Ponds Marina for the month of August, along with good friends from Brunswick.  Then, finally, we can go sailing (or at least that's the plan ... and you know our luck with plans!)

Full moon tonight!

July 23 - Wrightsville Beach, NC

Friday, July 23.
Yah, we are in North Carolina!  It finally feels like we are making progress towards the Chesapeake area.  We are at mile marker 283 (our goal is mm #1 at Norfolk, VA).

We got going early because this was going to be a long day -- 55 miles -- to get to Wrightsville Beach (remember, we average 5 knots, unless the tides and current are giving us a bonus boost).

First stop: a pontoon bridge. It actually rides on the water and swings open. Even the jet skis have to wait!

Capt Dan. It takes concentration to keep in the channel.

Motoring along the ICW can be tedious, and boring, except for the constant excitement of watch the depth.  The depth frequently drops from 15 ft to 7ft in a blink....and you have to weave around in the channel to find a safe depth (we learned that we can run aground a 5.5 ft!)

Now, that depth is more like it!  Too bad it's short-lived, as we crossed a sound.

Barrier Island ... Ocean on other side.

We hit this popular boating town late Friday afternoon, which meant that the traffic on the water was CRAZY and finding a marina with open dock space wasn't easy (so we had to settle for one without a pool).  However, they did have a courtsey car that we could use, so we spent 4 hours driving around this cute beach community ... making all the usual required stops at a grocery store, hardware store and liquor store!

Wrightsville Beach is one of the few places along the East Coast that has easy access to the ocean -- the inlet is 3 miles to the ocean instead of the usual 20 miles -- so we were excited to make the run from Wrightsville Beach to Beaufort, NC, offshore.  It would save us a day on our passage, and we'd get to sail!  Of course, as our plans go, as soon as we made this decision, the weather once again conspired against us.  The mild winds we had been experiencing changed to very high winds ... so instead of 10-15 knots of wind, we were looking at 20-30knots of wind (along with the 4-6ft seas that accompany high winds).  It's a 77mile run, so we decided to stick with the ICW.  However, now the winds were so high that we couldn't put up the sunshade while we traveled, so it ended up being a very long, HOT, uncomfortable day, made all the more difficult with the high winds pushing us around in the channel.

Choppy water = uncomfortable ride.

Beach front property is lovely no matter where you are.

North Carolina has these great sandbars that were all crowded for the weekend. 

Love the tall bridges. No waiting.

At the dock. 

The best part is always the end of the day!

Myrtle Beach, SC - July 20

Tuesday, July 20

Happy Birthday to our favorite daughter, Michelle!

On July 19, we started our journey to Myrtle Beach, SC.  This is where we'll have to part ways with Jim since it's got a bus station for him to use to get back to his car in Brunswick. 

We travelled the Waccamaw River thru SC ... quite a beautiful cruise.  Deep water, no bridges = no worries for the day!  It looks a lot like travelling in the BWCA, except on a more comfortable boat than a canoe!

We had a leisurely breakfast on the boat in Georgetown, plus a long walk to find a liquor store (followed by a cool shower), so we were slow to leave Georgetown.  The Waccamaw River is full of beautiful anchorages, and that had been our plan for the night, but it was soooooo hot that we didn't want to anchor until 8pm in order to avoid baking in the sun on the hook.  However, by then, we were out of the river and approaching a low swing bridge.  When we started calling ahead to marinas, most were closed for the day.  Fortunately, the Osprey Marina was still open, and they were nice enough to say that they would hang around until we arrived to help with our dock lines.  We had already heard such good things about this marina, so we decided to make them our next stop.  Good choice ... beautiful site and great bathrooms.

The Osprey Marina has a very cool channel that you use to enter the marina from the main river.  That gives it a very secluded feeling.  Nice ....

After getting fuel in the morning, we headed out toward Myrtle Beach.  No problems at the swing bridge. We ended up following this sailboat all the way to Myrtle Beach.

This section of the river was full of beautiful southern homes. Since it's a deep water river, the homes are built close to the water (we are now in fresh water). Very different from the quarter-mile docks we had been seeing.

We didn't go far on Tuesday, the 20th ... about 3 hours up the river, we stopped at Marina at Grande Dunes.  They have a pool and access to the ocean.  No clouds today, or much of a breeze, so even 3 hours of travelling on the water made it a long, hot day.  Jim leaves on the 22nd, so we'll stay here for 2 nites ... enjoying the break, the 2 pools, and time to change the oil on Maja. 

We are currently at mile marker 357 on the ICW ... we started at mm 680 in Brunswick, GA ... Norfolk, VA is mm 0 ... so we are halfway there! YaHoo ....

July 18 - Georgetown, SC

Sunday, July 18. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR FAVORITE SON, JAMES!

Up at 7:00 am to make some headway during the cool morning hours, with a destination of the Harborwalk Marina in Georgetown.  This was our first day to see alligators in the water ... kinda unsettling, but they look just like a log floating in the water.  This part of the ICW is very pretty.  It's a fairly straight course with beautiful homes on one side and the outer banks separating the ocean on the other side.

View from the bow.

View to port.

View to starboard.

View to stern.

The day should have been an uneventful transit of about 40 miles; the weather wasn't even too terrible because there was ample cloud cover and a nice breeze.

That was before Nancy drove the boat onto a sandbar.  At about 11:30 our pleasant day came to an end.  As I was watching the depth get shallower, I let the boat slowly drift away from the upcoming turn in the river, figuring that shoaling at the curve was the cause.  Watching the GPS track and the depth sounder and the river conditions meant that somehow I missed keeping an eye on the channel marker, and we went hard aground just 10 feet outside the channel.  Stupid mistake on my part ... always stay in the channel... I knew better ... so hearing that "everyone runs aground in the ICW was little consolation.  We were on a rising tide, so we threw out the anchor and prepared to wait a few hours for the tide to help float us off.

Instead, a good samaritan by the name of Robin Leigh came and helped us out instead.  She was a BIG motor yacht, and instead of speeding by like the other 4-5 boats that passed us, she slowed down to see if we needed help.  Boy, do we need help!  So we dropped the dinghy, and Dan rowed our longest rope over to their boat, and once we were connected, it just took one pull from behind to get us off and free again.

Yah! 

No pictures of this event!  It cost us about an hour of our day, and most of my accumlated confidence, and off we went to Georgetown. 

July 17 - Anchor at Grahmn Creek, McClellanville, SC

Saturday

After getting fuel and a pump out (holding tank) at the marina, we were on way from Charleston in time to catch the first opening of the Wappoo Creek lift bridge at 9am.  But first, we had to negotiate Elliots Cut, a narrow 3 mile cut that runs from one river to the next.  It has a fast flowing current and homes/docks on both sides so timing the bridge is very important b/c there's no room to turn around.

Entering the cut.

Between the bridges, the shallow water, and other boat traffic, cruising on the ICW can be very nerve wracking.  Of course, we knew all this before we started out, but we also knew that the ICW has the distinct advantage of letting you make consistent progress every day towards your destination ... with ample towns and marinas along to way for that dose of creature comforts we've come to depend upon!

We continue to watch the weather offshore because we still long to go sailing!  The ICW has periodic places where you can leave the waterway for the ocean, and Charleston is one of those places.  So, after crossing the Charleston Harbor and getting a close-up view of Fort Sumter, we decided to duck offshore.  The wind was predicted to be SW 10-15 knots, and since we had trouble maintaining a north heading with a SW wind in Florida, we thought it was time to try it again.  Our plan was to exit the harbor, raise sails, try out a few different headings and then return to the ICW ... now this may sound like a lot of work to go basically nowhere, but our rationale (or Dan's rationale, I should clarify) was that since it was noon when we cleared the harbor, it was too late to begin an offshore passage but not too late to return to the ICW and still make our destination (anchor at McClellanville).

Not such a good idea.  For starters, the wind did not cooperate (always the downside of sailing).  It was from the SW, but it was 20-30 knots with 5-7ft swells....instead of the predicted 10-15 knots with 3 ft swells.  An exciting ride is putting it mildly!  As we motored out, we'd rise and fall on the swells as the water crashed over the bow, reaching us back in the cockpit.  Dan and Jim wrestled the sails up and then we could run with the swells from behind, making a much more pleasurable ride.  But since we couldn't continue on this path, we had to turn around and motor back thru the same crashing swells as before.  Yuck!  As the boat would heel over 40degrees, every loose thing in the cabin when crashing to the floor ... even stuff that was secure in a locker came crashing out (think Comet being ejected across the head and bacon grease being tipped over in the locker under the sink) ....

Tell me again why we did this?

Anyway, once back in the ICW, everything was calm and we had a smooth transit to our anchorage on a pristine creek outside McClellanville, SC.  We anchored at 6pm becauce the sky was thundering and threatening rain ... which never materialized, but it allowed us a pleasant evening reading books in the cockpit, under a cool cloudy sky and nice evening breeze.  Not a bad ending.

July 16 -- Charleston, SC

Friday.

Now this is more like it....65 miles on the ICW finally feels like we are making some progress!  We left Beaufort at 6:15, in time to make the bridge opening at 6:30am.

This is definitely the time to travel as the weather was so much cooler in the morning.  We left the sun shade down so we could roll out our head sail when we were running down straight rivers or crossing large sounds, which give us a 1.5 knot boost. 

Interesting ride on the ICW today ... saw LOTS of dolphins, which never fail to fascinate us.  Jim has been trying valiantly to get a picture, while I gave up several months (and 50 attempts ago!).  The waterway is lined with big, beautiful homes with very long docks stretching over the marshland that lines the coast.

Besides the usual assortment of fishing boats and motorheads we seen on the ICW, today we encountered our first large barge that contacted us on the VHF radio to arrange safe passage around us.

and river boat casino...

and navy boats ...

The GPS (mounted at the steering station) is our lifeline to the ICW.  It shows us water depths, tides, compass heading, and speed.  We ordinarily travel at 5 knots, but note our speedily cruising at 7.1 knots, thanks to favorable tides and currents!

We arrived at St Johns Yacht Club, Charleston, at around 5pm.  This is the nicest marina we've been to yet. There is a pool, a nice grill and dining area, outside bar, and fabulous bathrooms/showers.  We definitely could have stayed another day, but cruise on we must! 

July 15 - Beaufort, SC

Thursday ... July 15

This is beginnning to feel like "the big crawl" up the East Coast as we were only able to make 20 miles today.  Considering that we had hoped to knock off 100mi/day by going offshore and sailing overnight, we are definitley not sticking to any type of schedule! Even the 50 mi/day that we thought we'd get on the ICW hasn't materialized due to the stormy weather, extreme heat, and lure of marinas with swimming pools!

We did not leave Hilton Head until 11:00 am today because of concern over Dan's mom's health.  The news has been up and down, and Dan's been worried that she would take a turn for the worst while we are anchored in some marsh in SC. So in addition to watching the weather and plotting routes on the charts, we also want a backup plan in case the worst case scenario actually happens.  Where would we leave the boat?  For how long?  What marinas are hurricane safe? How would we get to Florida?  It is certainly easier said than done to cut ties with our land life and focus just on a cruiser's lifestyle. Family is always foremost in our minds, and it is very disconcerting to be away from shore and cell phone service, especially when things are happening on land that we want to stay connected with.

We had planned to skip Beaufort and make more miles today ... but, here we are, in lovely little Beaufort ... so much for plans!  As Jim keeps reminding us, we're retired, so "the schedule" is just something to discuss over dinner.  And, he's on vacation, so he doesn't mind taking it easy, especially when we are able to pull into a marina with a pool.  No such luck in Beaufort, but that doesn't stop Jim from making a new set of friends each time he hits the dock.

Jim ... the reading machine.  10 books so far!

The marina does have a loaner car which we put to good use, going to the grocery store, liquor store and hardware store ... those have become the center of our world when we are ashore!

Beaufort is having it's big summer festival starting tomorrow, so we'll be leaving before the dock rates triple!  Right away, we have to negotiate a 20ft swing bridge that is closed 7-9am due to rush hour, so our plan is to leave the marina by 6:30.  Of course, you know by now our success rate with "plans"!.

Stay tuned.....

Hilton Head Island - July 14

July 14.

Yah!  We have finally left Georgia ... Welcome to South Carolina!

We left Savannah at 8:30am after filling up on fuel and water.  Our destination was Beaufort, SC, but the heat and humidity got the best of us, and when we passed a marina in Hilton Head that had a pool, we decided to quickly change plans (once again!).

Jim said it best ... "it's hotter than a two peckered billy goat" ... and since this is vacation time, why hurry anywhere?  Plus, we need our daily supply of cold ice!

The nicest part of cruising the ICW is being able to keep the sunshade up!

It may have been a short day of cruising (~5 hrs), but it was a fabulous afternoon at poolside!

We are at Hilton Head Marina, which is primarily an RV resort ... so we caused quite a stir when we landed with our sailboat! We met a number of "land cruisers" who thought it was either extremely cool or odd that we were cruising by boat.

Not much news to report, except that having access to a pool REALLY makes 90-degree weather tolerable.  As usual, the afternoon brought in a series of very dark clouds, and we're waiting to see if the thunder amounts to another ligherning show and rain. 

We will leave early tomorrow to get a jump on the heat of the day.  We had planned to stop at Beaufort, SC because so many people have told us it is such a cute souther town to visit, but since that is only 20 miles away, it's doubtful that we will stop so soon.  After Beaufort, our goal is Charleston, SC ... but that is too far to make in one day, so we'll mostly likely spend tomorrow night on the hook (at anchor).  We'll try not to whine about missing a pool too much!