The time change has certainly brightened things up in the morning. Diana and I started laundry at 0800 this morning before leaving Georgetown. The morning was cool and a bit overcast.

We managed to weigh anchor shortly after 1100. The skies darkened and we had some rain travelling Winyah Bay outside of Georgetown. The current was against us at about 0.5 kt for an hour but then turned in our favour. Yeah, yesterday's calculations were right on! We motor sailed and highest speed was 8.8 kt SOG. The rain stopped after about an hour but remained overcast until we got to our anchorage, then the skies cleared. Because of the wind strength and direction, the first two choices of anchorages were ruled out. The third seemed to be better but it was tricky getting through the channel to the creek we wanted to anchor in (low tide). We set anchor at 1530 but reanchored at 1600, tide variation was 5 feet here and we decided to err on the side of safety.

The tide is out.

 

And Jorge said he would never be caught dead in a baseball cap! And on backwards at that!

Diana and Gilbert joined us for happy hour during which time the winds and currents were battling each other and CS'ta Time was caught in the middle. There were some strange movements of the boat as Mother Nature raged war outside. We were anchored in a marsh area with not much protection from the winds which are supposed to gust to 15 to 20 kt. At least if we drag anchor we will only end up in the mud against the weeds!

The first meal of scampi was on the menu tonight with the fresh shrimp from the boat in Georgetown.

We are beginning to adjust to the cruisers' time, 2000 is our midnight!

We awoke to a cool but wonderful day. We visited a fresh seafood market this morning. How fresh? Right off the boat fresh! And bought 2 pounds of shrimp. I have a deadly recipe for scampi so we'll get our share of cholesterol in the next couple of days.

Sign on boardwalk in Georgetown, S.C.

We picked Diana and Gilbert up in the early afternoon and headed into town. The Rice Museum was on the list of things to do today. I had no idea South Carolina was a great grower and exporter of rice in the 1800's.

Skeleton of 50' boat in museum, S.C.

Model of the 50' boat (sorry about the flash.)

Old cash register in museum.

Town clock in historic building housing the Rice Museum.

 

Historic building housing the 50' boat and artifacts from the rice plantations.

 

After the museum we found a bakery that served coffee and sweets and enjoyed them on an outdoor patio, albeit we had to move to keep in the sun and be warm. Temp was only low teens but it was sunny.

Afternoon "tea" on outdoor patio.

"Generations" scuplture - male side.

 

"Generations" sculpture - female side.

 

During the trip back to the boats after the museum and bakery, we noticed Kind of Magic from our home port of HYC was anchored in the Georgetown harbour.

We had supper with Diana and Gilbert at a restaurant of Diana's choice, she was the birthday girl! Over supper we marveled at how fortunate we were to be where we were at this stage in life. (That was a mouthful.) We discussed travelling plans for tomorrow and then headed back to the boats. The current is going to be against us until at least 1100 so it will be a late start.

Diana's birthday dinner.

 

The dinghy ride after supper was cool to say the least, glad I had my winter coat on. Decided to turn the furnace on for a bit before bed to take the chill off things.

We had a great time with Diana and Gilbert last night aboard CS'ta Time and I guess I had too much wine because I really didn't want to get out of bed this morning. Thank goodness for daylight savings time and putting the clock back an hour, it made sleeping in not so bad!

We spent most of the morning exploring getting back to Barrie options (driving vs flying), estimating where we will be in a week's time, calling marinas to check on availability and prices, etc. and still haven't come to any hard conclusions.

The walk to the grocery store in the early afternoon, (Piggly Wiggly) was enjoyable. It wasn't too far but discovered they do not offer their shuttle service back to the docks anymore and it seems the taxis don't operate on Sundays! Good thing we didn't buy too much and what we did buy wasn't too heavy. I forgot to take the camera with me so no pictures today.

We had a quiet afternoon and evening - only happy hour with ourselves. The temp today was quiet pleasant, high teens and sunny. Tonight the temp is supposed to go down to only 5C, time to pull out the woolies!

We are going to stay here in Georgetown one more day and night and hopefully do some sightseeing, visit the museum, etc. Winds and waves in the ocean are supposed to be high all week but hopefully the ICW will be fine when we are ready to move again.

Last night was a good night. The winds did blow as predicted, but we were really sheltered, and it did rain pretty hard. This morning was very overcast but we had clearing by the time we reached Georgetown.

We left the anchorage around 1000 with a 1 kt current against us. Diana and Gilbert followed shortly after. As predicted, the current changed to slack around 1130 and then we had a 1.5 to 2 kt current behind us all the way to Georgetown. What a difference it makes travelling with the current! SOG up to 7.6 kt while water speed was 5.8 kt.

Bird's next on channel marker.

Georgetown anchorage.

Dinner aboard CS'ta Time, Diana, Gilbert and Kim.

October 31, 2013

Jorge and I had decided to weigh anchor at 0800 rather than 0900. We had a stop to make along the way and needed an extra hour. Diana and Gilbert stuck with the original plan of leaving at 0900.

The morning temp was very comfortable and the forecast for travelling was good. During this stretch of the ICW the current was a mixed bag as two inlets were merging causing the water disturbance. On some stretches we had the current going with us, on other stretches the current was against us.

We were advised by another boat of shoaling at a couple of spots in the channel along the way so we stayed close to the markers hoping to avoid the areas. Unfortunately the ICW was not kind to us today and we ran aground! Really good this time. So good that Jorge was not able to get us off with just the engine. A guy in a small fishing boat took our anchor and dropped it in deeper waters and Jorge successfully winched us off the sandbar using the windlass. TowBoat US you owe us again! We lost close to an hour in doing this so we were behind the 8-ball the rest of the trip.

We got to the marina where we needed to stop at 1600. An exhibitor at the Annapolis boat show had a great deal on the newest handheld ICOM VHF radios and was honouring the price for us, so we stopped to pick one up. Jorge did the walk to the store while I stayed at the marina and took a real shower. We topped up with fuel and water and then were on our way.

We got to the anchorage shortly after 1830, (just inside the South Carolina border - another state behind us) good thing because it is getting dark earlier and earlier now. We anchored, had dinner and then were in bed early. We were hoping to be sheltered from the wind because the forecast was for 20 knot winds gusting to 25. (It was a long day and I didn't have it in me to blog last night.)

They get big tides here.

Along the way.

Another boat which has seen better days.

Same boat, different angle.

 

November 1, 2013

 

The wind did pick up last night as predicted and unfortunately the direction changed so we were not as sheltered as hoped. Jorge was up a couple of times during the night and things were not pretty. We had swung closer to shore than we would have liked (due to the change in wind direction) but the anchor was holding well and we came out smelling like a rose. The winds were supposed to increase today and tonight and come from the same direction so we decided that the anchorage was not good to wait out the weather. We were on the move again. Diana and Gilbert thought the same and left shortly before us. Our plan was to travel 13 miles and hopefully get to a free dock just north of Myrtle Beach.

 

Ok so we got to the free dock which wasn't free anymore and since it was just 1300 and the travelling had been relatively good, we decided to push on. A bit later, the going wasn't as good, we were battling both a good head wind and current making the going slow. Oh well.

 

We set anchor around 1700 at our new destination point. Diana and Gilbert anchored shortly before us. The anchorage, again, has us sheltered from the wind predicted, let's hope the wind direction doesn't change overnight again! Diana and Gilbert joined us for happy hour and tonight it really was only happy "hour".

 

Jorge has been troubleshooting a battery charging issue and thinks he might have it solved. My McIver!

 

Waiting for a bridge to open.

 

Bridge open.

South Carolina vegetation along the ICW.

Gnarly tree in our anchorage, South Carolina.

 

Spanish moss on tree in anchorage.

South Carolina temperature 27C on Nov 1!

 

We had a great sleep last night and woke to a gorgeous day. Did a few chores onboard and then our water taxi arrived (Gilbert and Diana in their dinghy) to take us ashore. We walked and walked to the grocery store and West Marine (as well as a few other shops) and then had lunch outside in our shorts and T-shirts at a pizza joint.

The boats at anchorage in Wrightsville, N.C.

Jorge carrying the important stuff (beer).

Jorge, Gilbert and Diana.

Jorge, Kim and Gilbert.

 

We got back to the boats late afternoon, put the groceries away and then our water taxi picked us up again and off we went to the beach. Gorgeous, simply gorgeous and warm - mid to high 20s. I think we are already south!

Wrightsville Beach, N.C.

Jorge trying to be funny.

Surfer dudes.

Studying the ocean.

Sandpiper.

Hoping to catch supper.

Kim and Diana walking Wrightsville Beach, N.C.

Jorge's foot beside a jellyfish which washed up on shore.

 

Diana and Gilbert had happy hour with us after the beach and we planned our day tomorrow, leaving at 0900 and doing the inside route on this stretch of the ICW. It is much shorter inside as there is a huge shoal we would have to go around if we went outside, inside route 21 miles vs. 50 miles outside. Then we want to do another 20 miles or so after that for a total of some 40+ miles.

Today was a perfect day (although it did start early at 0430). We weighed anchor in the dark at 0500 and boy was it dark! Serenada and CS'ta Time stole quietly away however shortly after leaving the anchorage in Taylor Creek, Beaufort, N.C., we realized we were not alone. A very large and I mean very large, pleasure yacht was leaving at the same time. We moved to starboard to allow him to pass and as he was thanking us for doing so, he informed us that he had night vision (by instrument) and we could follow him out of Beaufort Inlet. As our night vision (by human) was far inferior, we gladly accepted. It was like having a personal pilot, certainly lessened my stress level.

After about an hour we were out of the inlet and into the Atlantic Ocean. Hard to believe the ocean was going to be less stressful than doing the secure route of the ICW. Out there we had no depth issues, no buoys and the sky was the limit for our masts. We had an awesome sunrise at 0730. Pictures do not do it justice.

Sunrise outside of Beaufort, N.C.

Shortly after breakfast we discovered we had further help in going south. A pod of dolphins decided to give us an escort. They danced and played around the boat (really liking the bow area) for about half an hour. Jorge got some great videos.

Dolphins on the way to Masonboro Inlet, N.C.

Later in the morning we heard Warship 94 on the radio. They were conducting "live ammunition gunnery practices". Oh how charming! Luckily for us they were aiming at the beach, unfortunately for ICW travellers, it was shut down for a period of time. If it's not crab pots we have to watch for it's warships!

The rest of the day was uneventful. The trip was wonderful. We had blue skies instead of overcast, warm temperatures, light winds, 2 foot waves and maybe 2 foot swells. We were able to motor sail until lunch time but then the wind really died and what was left came directly over the stern. One could not have asked for a better day. The guide book said the outside route was 73 nm while the inside route was 70 nm. We had the anchor set by 1650 in Masonboro Inlet, N.C.

We hosted happy hour shortly afterwards on CS'ta Time. Diana and Gilbert joined us as did Michel and Caroline (a French-Canadian couple who we first met in Elizabeth City) who also set sail offshore from Beaufort today. Vince and Marianne (the power boat people) were also in the anchorage, unfortunately they had a previously scheduled engagement so were unable to join us for happy hour.

It is going to be an early night, pooped from getting up so early but thrilled with our second Atlantic experience. Not sure exactly what we'll do tomorrow other than sleep in!