Carolina Beach, North Carolina

 I left off my last entry with us anchored in the Waccamaw river in South Carolina. We had a very quiet night other than a boat coming by just after dark with their music turned WAY up. Oh well, we just laughed about it. 

We were up and moving just after daylight the next morning, June 6th. We were not sure where we would stay that evening. We were just motoring along the ICW through Myrtle Beach. I had an anchorage picked out, but you never know if that will work. 

We saw many huge homes as we passed through Myrtle Beach, SC.

When we arrived at our anchorage that I had selected at Calabash, we did not like what we saw. The anchorage was off to the side of a very busy inlet to a river up to the town of Calabash. It was still early in the day, so we decided to keep going. Just as we came out of the anchorage, we were passed by another sailboat. "Sweet Karma" is a Maryland boat that we would see many more times on the trip. I made a quick call to the St. James Plantation Marina. They had space for us for the evening, so that became our destination. We arrived right at 5 pm, but could not reach any marina staff, so we had to find our slip and get in to it unassisted. It was a very tight space, but we got it done. It is a very protected marina. It was cool, so we did not need electricity, so our fee for the night was only $57. We had traveled 53.4 nautical miles in 10.5 hours. We saw Sweet Karma at the marina, but did not meet them yet.  That long day set us up for an easy one the next day. 

We took our time getting out of St. James. We motored down the ICW about 5 miles to the Cape Fear Inlet. The Cape fear river is very wide and we had wind from the right direction, so we decided to sail up the river. We were able to shut the engine off for about 2 hours as we slowly moved up the river. It felt great!

Sweet Karma passing us as we slowly sail up the Cape Fear River

Sailing is so much better than motoring.

We then came to the New River, which is the continuation of the ICW heading north. A short distance later through some pretty strong current against us, we were at Carolina Beach. We pulled in and attached to an unoccupied mooring ball. There are a total of 9 balls that you reserve on-line. They were never all used in the 5 nights that we stayed there. The moorings are in excellent shape, which gives us confidence that we can weather a storm. 

The first order of business when we go to a place that has "Beach" in the name is taking Kim to the beach.

Carolina Beach is a beautiful and clean beach. We even went swimming in the strong surf. We walked on the beach every day we were at Carolina Beach. This picture was the only day that the beach felt busy. The weather turned a bit cooler and the beach was empty.

A shot of the mooring field at Carolina Beach. This could be our favorite place we have visited.

 Carolina Beach did have some significance to us. This was our planned destination when we left Marathon on April 30th. We were planning it to take 3 days of sailing in the gulf stream to arrive here. Well, it too only a month and a week. That's OK, we have really enjoyed all of the places we have visited. 

When we arrived in the mooring field, we knew almost every boat there. Some from Marathon, and others that we had met along our travel north. We did finally meet Jim and Kris on Sweet Karma. It was amazing, but they knew our neighbors for the first couple of months that we were in Marathon. Both are from Maryland. 

Carolina Beach is not far from Camp LeJeune, the large Marine base. We saw many Helicopters fly over. We even saw a Osprey tilt rotor. Kim's father worked on this ship late in his career at Bell Helicopter.

V-22 Tilt rotor

We had access to two different dinghy docks. One was very close by that had access to a restroom with outdoor shower and a short walk to the beach. The second one was about a mile away, but got us right in the middle of town with a short walk to attractions like the boardwalk and many restaurants. There was a Publics grocery store about a mile and a half away. We made the walk to get some provisions for the rest of the trip. 

The boardwalk complete with a carnival at the center of Carolina Beach.

We had some beautiful sunsets while we were in Carolina Beach.

The City did fireworks shows a couple of nights each week. Kim loves fireworks, so I had a happy crew.

We really enjoyed our time in Carolina Beach. The combination of the beach and the availability of a city made it a great stop. While we were there we met a young couple, Sklyer and Miranda on "Shoot the Breeze". Their boat is an Island Packet 350, just a bit newer than our 35. Miranda and I met first as we talked about our boats from one mooring to another. She told me about a great marina up in the Chesapeake Bay. She then said that her husband, would drop by a boat card later. He did, but also brought a plate of fresh homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies. Wow, were they good. Sklyer and I talked a bit more about this marina called Southall Landings Marina in Hampton, VA. That brief conversation changed our path. I did some checking on line and it looked like exactly what we were looking for. I called and they had space for us. At $310/month for a 45 foot slip the price was right and we decided that was our destination.

After 5 days in Carolina Beach, we were ready to move on and to spend more time away from the hustle and noise of a city. We had a lot of ground to cover to get to the Chesapeake Bay. I will tell you what we did next, in my next entry. 

Video Updates from Hilton Head to Georgetown, SC

 Click on the link below to see and hear the video updates from our trip from Hilton Head to Georgetown, South Carolina. HHISC to Georgetown

Georgetown, South Carolina

 We arrived in Georgetown, SC on June 2nd after a 43.5 nm trip from Whiteside Creek. We had a couple things on our minds. The big one was a storm that was approaching Florida and expected to cross right over as a weak tropical storm and then get stronger as it entered the Atlantic ocean. Some models had it moving up the east coast and some said it would head out into the open Atlantic, maybe hitting Bermuda. I wanted to get as far inland as possible and in a protected area from strong winds. Our anchorage in Georgetown was exactly that. We came in the main channel and stopped at a marina to get fuel, water and a pump out. We were now ready to stay as long as we needed. We went past the waterfront boardwalk and into a small basin right by a steel plant. I don't think they use the docks anymore, so this area is safe from larger ships. 

We anchored right by this steel plant. It did run 24 hours a day, but is fairly quiet.

We had a few boats come and go while we were there.

This is our view of the downtown Georgetown area. It was a short dinghy ride to a free city dock. 

Our first order of business was to go get a prescription refill at a local Walgreens. We took the dinghy to town and then set out on our 1.8 mile walk to the store. It was pretty hot and humid, but we made it and also made a quick stop at a few stores, but we had to carry everything we bought, so we had to keep it light. 

There is a very nice boardwalk along the waterfront. It is backed with a number of restaurants and other business looking over the water and boats.

This is a view of the main street in downtown. Yes, we did get goodies at the Indigo bakery.

There are lots of historic buildings in Georgetown. The is a free maritime museum and a visitor center. They furnished maps and histories of many of the old homes in town. Many of the homes dated back to the 1700's. 

We took a walking tour of the homes and really enjoyed seeing them and reading the history of each one. We decided to head to a grocery store to pick up some fresh produce, but we came upon a local farmers stand along the way and he had almost everything we wanted. We would certainly like to buy local, so we loaded up on peaches, corn on the cob, cantaloupe and squash. It was so hot, that we went to a local library to cool off and relax. 

We do enjoy looking at historic homes along with the beautiful old live oak trees

Kim with some pretty flowers

 As you read this you know that the storm headed to Bermuda. It built into a tropical storm and became Alex. It hit Bermuda with 50 to 60 knot winds, but no major damage. We only experienced some 20 knot winds from the outer bands of the storm, so after the weather cleared it was time to get moving again. We ended up spending 3 nights in Georgetown, and can't wait to come back. It is a very boater friendly city. 

Now we were ready to move further north. We had a destination in mind. We had heard good things about Carolina Beach. It was 100 nm from Georgetown, so we decided to break it up into three travel days. The first day was 28 miles up the Waccamaw river. When we first left the protection of the channel at Georgetown, I thought we had made a mistake. The wind was blowing over 20 knots right on the nose. It was a fairly uncomfortable ride and we had some current against us. I was expecting the current to switch and it did after about an hour. It was also then that we got up into the river and the protection of the beautiful old cypress trees. It was Sunday, so we had lots of boat traffic, but it turned into a nice trip. We settled into an anchorage called the Enterprise Creek Oxbow. We were joined by 4 other boats that used the anchorage that night. 

The Waccamaw river was busy on this Sunday with families enjoying the water.

Beautiful old Cypress trees

After the sun went down the sound of the croaking frogs was amazing. It was so loud that we had to raise our voices to talk to each other inside the boat. As the evening cooled they quieted down and we had a great night of sleep.

We now had two more days of travel to make it to Carolina Beach. I will write about that part of the trip and our favorite stop so far, in my next entry. 

 

Long Weekend at Hilton Head and Moving North

 We arrived at Hilton Head on May 26th after our overnight sail from St. Augustine. As we approached Hilton Head, I called Skull Creek Marina to see if they had space available for us for two nights. When they confirmed our spot, I was excited to be on a dock for the first time since mid December. 

We had many reasons to get in a marina. We had friends we wanted to see and doing that from a marina is much easier. The other reasons were mainly some much needed TLC for SHIFT. We were (OK Kim was) really looking forward to access to an unlimited supply of water. Most people take that for granted, but if you live on a boat that stays at anchor or on a mooring ball, water is a real luxury. My dear wife was really looking forward to giving SHIFT a good bath. We had many other projects that we wanted to complete also. 

We had an excellent night of sleep after our long sail until we were awoken by howling winds at 6am. I got out of bed to see some gusts over 30 knots, but it died down quickly and I returned to bed. I was a bit surprised to find out later that some other boaters out on the end of the T docks saw gusts approaching 50 knots. The storm passed quickly and I did not see any damage. The boat got a good rinse, but that was just the beginning of it's spa day. 

Kim got out the scrub brushes and got right into scrubbing the boat down from bowsprit to stern. I worked on other projects including engine maintenance and refueling. The days got hot and humid, so we opened the through hull for the air conditioner and ran it for the first time in over 6 months. We slept great in the cool dry air. 

The next project was to reapply Teak Guard to our teak wood work. We have been using this product for a couple of years and it does need to be reapplied every 6 months or so. It had been close to 8 months and it showed. Kim did most of the work and it turned out great. 

I wish I had a before and this after picture. You could see the great improvement. 

We do have a lot of teak on this boat. The entire project takes about 10 man hours to complete

We asked the marina if they had room for us over the long Memorial Day weekend. They said they had space. The holiday weekends are crazy on the water. We decided to stay put and maybe do some sight seeing on Hilton Head. 

I had received a note from a close friend that they were in St. Augustine and were heading back to their home in South Carolina. I asked if they could make time to swing by Hilton Head and were delighted when they said they could. That gave us another reason to stay. 

My good friend and former boss from my working days, Tony and his awesome wife Debbie. It was so great to see you both. And, Thanks for Lunch! Notice a pattern here...

One of the best parts of traveling is making new friends and catching up with people that we haven't seen in years. It was so great to have both Mark, Tony and Debbie make time to see us. 

We tried to find a way to get around Hilton Head to see some sites and go to the beach. They have a trolly system, but it did not go to the area of the island that we were in. We would have had to take an Uber or walk about 5 miles. Kim was motivated to work on the boat and really was fine with staying in the marina. 

I saw a couple of things that were within walking distance, so I decided to take a long walk. First up was a Civil War Fort called Fort Mitchell. It is just some old earth works that was done to emplace some cannon to defend the island and put fire on Skull Creek if the confederates wanted to move war ships or goods to the north. Did you know that the Union took Hilton Head Island in 1862 and held it for the rest of the war. This allowed them to limit much of the goods coming into Savannah. 

Not much to see here except some old cannon, but plenty to read on the many interpretive signs. 

Some of the earth works including a moat.

I walked on from there to see a large oak tree. That turned out to be less than impressive, but I enjoyed the much needed walk.

I saw this little guy as I walked along a golf course

That is the big Oak tree. It is big, but not that big. 

The tides at Hilton Head rise and fall over 7 feet. You had to time your trip to the bathhouse or you had to climb a very steep ramp up from the dock.

This shot is at low tide. The water will be up to the trees on the right at high tide. 

Kim decided it was time to get her sewing machine out and try to fix the dodger. Once she got started, she fixed the sail cover also. She did a great job and now the boat is looking great.

The patch job looked great. She used some sail tape underneath the outer patch. 

Here is the repair from on top. 

We will need to replace all of our canvas in the not too distant future, but this job should buy us some more time. We have a number of other expensive projects that we need to do this next year. Boat maintenance is never ending. 

After spending 5 days in Hilton Head, we were ready to get moving. Our next objective was Georgetown, SC. There is a very protected harbor there and is also a bit more inland. We had been watching a hurricane hit Mexico and then what was left move into the gulf of Mexico. We were seeing some models show it forming into a tropical storm and then crossing Florida and then moving up the east coast. We had three days of travel along the ICW to get to Georgetown. 

Our first day (May 31) was a planned to be a short one. We had calm winds and fair skies.

Nice start to the trip.

That changed later in the day, when a thunderstorm formed behind us. The good news is that it never caught us.

We arrived at our anchorage and it did not look good, we also had a strong current behind us, so we continued on for anther 15 miles to a wide spot in the Edisto River at a place called Laurel Hill. It was a beautiful anchorage that we had all to ourselves. I was watching my AIS and saw two boats pull into an anchorage just across from us. One was our neighbor at Hilton Head and the other was our neighbor from Marathon. That is amazing, but seems to be normal in this lifestyle. 

Cool old home at the Laurel Hill anchorage

Wide open view forward

The next day we were up early and underway at sunrise. We had a big day. We were going to travel through Charleston, SC. We tried to find a marina there, but nothing was available. I did not want to anchor with he possibility of a storm coming, so we just cruised right through. This area of the ICW is a series of cuts that jump from one river to another. The currents are difficult to follow because you will be going down river on one section and then jump over to another river flowing with the tide in a different direction. As it turned out, we did well and made good time with the current with us most of the day. Just before you get to Charleston there is Elliot cut. It has very strong currents and a bridge that we have to open in the middle. We approached with about 3 knots of current with us pushing us into the bridge. We had to wait about 20 minutes for the next opening. I had to make circles in a tight space to burn time. Just as we were waiting "Speranza" showed up. They were moored right next to us in Marathon. We said hi to them, but never really met them. We waived and went through the bridge just after them. We followed them all the way through Charleston harbor and then opened another bridge together on the far side. It was only when we turned off for our anchorage that we left them. 

Views of Charleston as we exited Elliot cut

The Bridge across the harbor in Charleston, SC

Fort Sumter in the distance

 We cruised along the low country and then hit an area that was very congested called Palm Island. Lots of boats and docks along both sides of the waterway. We were happy to see in jut a few miles we were back to the quiet of the estuaries of the low country. We turned off into Whiteside Creek. It is a beautiful place. I was watching the radar and the sky when this monster showed up:

It finally came over us and gave us a nice deck wash, but thankfully no strong wind or lightning.

The rest of the evening was quiet and we had a nice night. 

We got up early the next morning and got moving. It was a nice ride along the SC low country. We went in and out of some pine trees along the coast. This was a big day for me. I was looking forward to getting to Buck Hall, SC. 

This is a picture of life in this area. You have a house up in the pine trees and a very long dock out to a boat house. The tides are still pretty significant, so you need the long dock to get the boat to the water at low tide. 

Buck Hall, SC is a place that has special significance for me. We visited this part of SC back in 2017. We had been traveling in the RV for over 4 years and I was not sure how much longer I wanted to do it. We stopped at this little campground along the ICW. I was sitting on the dock fishing when I saw a sailboat come motoring by. I looked at the transom of the boat and it said it was from some town in Maine. That really intrigued me. Could you really travel that far on a boat? That stated me researching and study the concept that led us to this point. It all started right here:

That is the Buck Hall Campground

That is the dock I was fishing off of on that fateful day. 

Later that day, we made it to Georgetown, SC. We stopped and got fuel, filled up with water and emptied our waste tank. We got the anchor down and set up to stay a while.

This is a shot of the waterfront of Georgetown, SC from our anchorage. 

This looks like a very nice place, but the main thing on my mind was what was going on with that storm down in the Gulf of Mexico. In my next entry, I will write about our time in Georgetown and the approaching storm.