Not too hard to get used to

10/31/08 - Southport, NC to Charleston, SC

Click on pictures to enlarge!

Back in 1984 I made my first trek to the Bahamas in my 20' Pacific Seacraft Flicka. The boat had charts, a compass, a depth sounder and a handheld radio direction finder that I would use for homing in on Bimini. I had the best boat I could buy for the money, 3+ years of reading everything that I could find in print about sailing, navigation, and seamanship and absolutely zero experience. I got my practical experience that year going down the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) before crossing over to the Bahamas.

Since that first trip I've only headed south twice where I predominantly used the ICW. The rest of the trips where made doing offshore hops between Morehead City, Charleston, St. Augustine and Ft. Lauderdale. So doing the ICW again (and very slowly!), due both to guests flying into Charleston and wanting to show Deb some of the more interesting parts, has been a bit of an adjustment for me. I've had to slow myself down, first to cruiser mode, then to really slow cruiser mode.

It hasn't been bad though. I'm getting the chance to see ICW through Debs eyes and therefore with a totally different and fresh perspective. I'm finding it easy and enjoyable to play the role of tour guide. But, I'm digressing... back to the cruise...

We saw a pelican riding on the back of this

fishing boat 2 days in a row. Deb got the

picture, at the last minute, through the

plastic window so it's not great...

Deb caught him eyeing the London Broil on our grill!

After a couple of days in Southport, catching up on emails and publishing the last Web log, we slipped the lines late in the day and took off for Little River and Calabash. We wanted to get to a reasonably sheltered anchorage that night because of a predicted frontal passage with strong winds. I would say that it was an uneventful trip but, the bridge tenders were so darn nice (to the point of opening the bridges before their appointed times) that I have to say that it was positively an eventful day! I think that they're feeling lonely because of the noticeable decrease in south bound boat traffic this year.

By the time we arrived at Little River and the turn off for Calabash I had regaled Deb with the story of stopping there in 1984 to have dinner at one of the renowned family style seafood restaurants. While munching on hot hush puppies waiting for my main course to arrive the middle aged couple seated at the table next to me decided to change their baby's diaper on the table! I was stunned! My mouth hanging open, I looked around and not another sole paid a lick of attention (they looked and shrugged their shoulders). With my mouth still hanging open in shock I signaled the waitress and she looked and shrugged and went on her way. So I shrugged, got up and went on my way... I've been telling that story and laughing about it every time I hear someone talk of "family style restaurants." Anyhow, after the story, Deb decided that she wasn't interested in stopping in Calabash for dinner.

We ended up going on into the land cut (canal) that runs behind Myrtle Beach. Through the "rock pile" and at dusk we stopped at Barefoot Landing. Barefoot Landing is a marina surrounded by a large cluster of shops and restaurants. The pouring rain and wind did nothing to slow down our usual appetizer and beverage round of several of the local restaurants. When we got back to the boat the reverse cycle heat had the boat toasty warm and dry. In the morning the surrounding trees were bare of leaves and the boat looked like camouflaged river boat in the movie Apocalypse Now.

From Barefoot Landing it was less than 20 miles to the northern end of the most beautiful portion of the ICW, the Waccamaw River. Even with all of the construction that has taken place over the last 25 years, the Waccamaw is still mysterious and magical. Anchoring in Prince Creek 25 years ago, I remember looking out over the deep, coal black water into the Cypress swamp and expecting to see a witches coven toiling over a pot of newt eyes... of course I didn't see that then or this time, but it really doesn't take that much imagination. I did a detour through Prince Creek so that Deb could see what I had been talking about and to get some pictures. We then ended the day in Cow Pen Creek, a few miles south. Beautiful!

Sunday morn was warm and sunny so we stayed anchored for the morning catching up on boat chores, phone calls, and just lazing around in the sun. Once again, we only had about 20 miles to our next destination and would have the current with us if we waited till early that afternoon.

Motoring into Georgetown, SC.

Georgetown's waterfront boardwalk.

Georgetown, SC is an interesting little town with very friendly locals, nice waterfront restaurants and interesting boaters. We spent a couple days here going grocery shopping, doing laundry, emails etc.

Monday afternoon we left Georgetown and headed out into the grass swamp islands in the middle of Winyah Bay to ride out the frontal passage. Not a recommended place for the timid because of the lack of protection. We were not in any danger though and it certainly was more adventuresome than heading into a calm marina. Makes one feel alive!

The post frontal waves and foam in Winya Bay...

...have nothing on the whipped cream foam in my morning coffee!

Tuesday we moved to another grass swamp island anchorage on the northern edge of the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge. We were hot to do some shrimping but had to wait for slack tide. While waiting I started writing this portion of the log and Deb baked some bread and 2 hamburger buns for the grilled bacon, (?shrimp?), cheeseburgers that were on the menu for that night. Well, forget the shrimp on the burgers. All we did was freeze our butts off. 52 degrees and 18kts worth of wind made slinging a wet cast net unpleasant to say the least. Oh well, grilled bacon cheeseburgers on fresh baked buns with warm red potato salad will have to suffice... I had one friend (a scrawny, non eating friend whose name I will not mention...) complain that I write too much about food. Sorry, but there's nothing like great food to enhance the overall experience of cruising these wondrous places. Get over it Tim.

Casting for shrimp didn't go well this year but then we didn't bait or use spotlights so...

Fresh shrimp from McClellanville went into my shrimp and stone ground corn grits. If you look closely Tim, you can see bacon crumbles scattered accross the top. Can you say YUM!

The weather improved as the week progressed and by Thursday we had a beautiful warm day to sail into Charleston Harbor and meet up with the infamous Cap'n Ron. Cap'n Ron's longtime interest in the culinary arts has lead him to his most recent of endeavors, producing one of the best Butt Kickin Blacken spice mix I've ever tasted.

The Cap'n had a slip waiting for us at the Ashley Marina Harborage. We were barely tied up when Capt' Ron shanghaied us to a nearby restaurant, where the Cap'n, crew and friends met to do some taste tests and appetizers before heading back to his boat for a tasty grilled dinner. Over the next few days we combined preparing the boat for my nephews arrival with eating at Cap'n Rons. We took some time on Halloween to go downtown and enjoy some of the costumes that people were wearing. A hoot!

Saturday evening, my nephew Michael arrived, beat from a day of flying here from Germany. A sandwich, quick tour of the boat and we were all off to sleep. A frontal passage is making a quick offshore passage to Florida look unlikely. As of the last forecast the winds are all easterly, with bigger waves than I want to abuse Deb and Michael with. So we're off down the waterway again, but hopefully a little bit quicker than the last two weeks.

Michael, happy to be heading to warmer climes.

Breakfast at Jestine's before leaving Charleston.

Fried green tomatoes, grits, gumbo and pecan pie...

Enjoy!

Use your browsers back button or click below to go back to the Logs Page

Southport harbor near the entrance of the Cape Fear River.

Detouring through Prince Creek on the Waccamaw River. Looks a little spookier around dusk, really!

Ditto above...

Anchored for the evening in Cow Pen Creek. just off of the Waccamaw River.

Cow Pen Creek at sundown.

The sounthern most portion of the Waccamaw is surrounded by what was rice paddies years ago.

There are several fun restaurants along the boardwalk.

One of the most interesting home built boats that I've seen in a long time... errr... Ever! This catamaran is around 40' long and 18' tall (no, not including the mast).

The little 43' sailboat is barely 100' from the catamaran. Kinda puts the overall size of the cat into perspective... kinda...

Sunrise in the Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge.

The refuge, nothing but grass, with creeks interspersed, for miles around and out to sea.

McClellanville ...

One of the many old live oaks. That's Deb at the base...

Uhm... OK... so I like the live oaks...

Deb taking a minute to revisit her childhood.

Anchored in another beautiful grass swamp south of McClellanville.

The view of Charlston from the entrance of Charleston Harbor. Ohohhh say can you see...

Captain Ron and friends at Chicos tasting a new menu item... or something like that... I think?