A Grounding a Day ......

Charleston to Beaufort: 17-21 Aug 09

Thankfully not us...

Reluctantly, we left Charleston and headed north on the ditch again.  Two reasons – Hurricane Bill was heading north and although not predicted to come our way, it would push off some weather in our direction, mostly rain, wind, storms and wildly fluctuating tides.  Secondly, we were to meet Boy Wonder in Beaufort and looked forward to having some extra crew.

Not far along we managed our second grounding at Price Creek.  After assistance from friendly locals, WJ3 refused to budge so we simply put out the anchor (mid channel!!), made a coffee in our new coffee pot and waited for the tide to come in!  We had a third (disputed) grounding at Crow Island in the Santee Swamp.  Our trusty Cap’n said it was actually a near miss!  Of course it was! (chuckle chuckle!)

Beached not grounded

Gradually the scenery changed from palms to pines and lots of reeds or marshlands.  Crab pots were everywhere and whilst many consider them a nuisance (ropes tend to get caught in props) we found that they obligingly defined our narrow channel and thus deep water.  Much of this area is quite isolated and it was a nice change to observe lots of bird life and dolphins, although we never saw any more gators.  They must be human-shy!  Hardly surprising since many menus offered gator tail – fried of course!

We anchored out in Winyah Bay, on the river not too far south of Georgetown, another historical city.  It was buggy but calm considering the wide expanse of water and closeness to the sea.  The next day our Cap’n steered us up the Waccamaw River, said to have the best scenery along the ICW.  The river was lined with swamp cedars, a number of old plantations and more than a few fabulous old houses.  Very beautiful!

WJ3 at Bucksport Marina

WJ3’s engine was missing a few beats, so we turned in early to Bucksport Marina, enabling us to catch up on essentials.  Our obliging host, Richard helped us settle in.  We refueled, gave ourselves, WJ3 and our clothes a good scrub and then sat back to a nice dinner (also cooked by Richard).  Over a glass of wine on the verandah overlooking a cypress swamp (bears, deer and gators) we even managed to get an internet connection.  Best of all, we had aircon to sweeten our dreams.  Can we stay for a bit longer???  We left the next morning with a fridge full of ice, America’s best sausages, and a few frozen beers.

Yes, that's two stuck on the mud...

A grounding a day?  Yes, we reconnected with mother mud again!  This time at Corking Neck, Little River, not far from the South/North Carolina border.  Yes, it was low tide, yes we were in the channel and yes, we had lots of offers of assistance.  After swinging free, we motored on to our next challenge.  A Coast Guard report advised that the Sunset Beach Bridge was closed.  How can they do this to us, we wondered?  After all there was no suitable ocean channel nearby to get around it.  Would we have to retreat back to Charleston (and meet those two speed bumps again)?  Interestingly, the bridge looked like a rusty old barge and part of engineering bits and bobs necessary when building new bridges.  In fact it was an historic pontoon & cable bridge that locals are seeking to preserve.  It closes during low tide (because of the underwater cable) but kindly, they opened for us.  We imaged the dangers of catching a cable in WJ3’s keel & rudder but made it through without incident! 

Waccamaw River

The Motley’s anchored for the night in Pipeline Canal (south of Southport) and had a peaceful night even though the tide dropped over 6 feet to 6 feet – at least we were still floating – just!  We negotiated our way north passing many inlets, over many speed bumps, and given many shoal warnings!  At New River we had a near miss and at Bear Creek Inlet, our wake made a definite W as we searched for deeper water!  Deep water to us now meant anything over 5 feet…..  At Mile Hammock Bay, we anchored near a boat called “Wombat”.  Of course it was the only other boat in the anchorage and yes, Barry was an Aussie!  Mile Hammock is on Marine property and we spent an eerie evening in a thrilling scene from “Apocalypse Now” as training was conducted around and above us. 

Finally, we had Beaufort in our sights.  As we entered the deep shipping channel near Morehead, a fellow cruiser, heading south on a sailboat, hailed us.  “Are we on the Intracoastal?” they asked, “We’re headed for Charleston”.  We wondered how they could do this chartless and took bets on how long it would be before they went aground.  Stunned, we simply radioed back..... “yes”

From: Charleston, SC Lat/Long: 32 47N 79 57W  Date/Time: 17/8/09: 0730

To: Beaufort, NC  Lat/Long: 34 42N  76 39W Date/Time: 21/8/09: 1330

Time Taken: 265nm (45hrs)  Distance (this year): 2491nm (472hrs)

Distance Total (since 2008): 3340nm  (650hrs)   Fastest Speed: 5.5kts**

Weather: A mixed bag of hot sunny weather; high humidity, mild breezes and thankfully cooler evenings. The swamps were oppressive. GS imagined herself as an extra in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”

(** Back to Mr Engine)