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.