Depart: Myrtle Beach Yacht Club 8:00
Arrive: Minim Creek #2 Anchorage (Santee Bay) 4:50
Distance: 61 nm
Today was a day for scenery and bridges. We stopped along our way to refuel at Bucksport Plantation Marina and decided on to pumpout the holding tank while we were there. Some places we stop have a fast pump with a fat hose and others have slow pumps that take forever. Thankfully, Bucksport Marina's is one of the fast ones. We had a lovely chat with the staff while we worked on the boats. As only one of the two fuel pumps was in operation, "Home Too" had to wait for us to fuel and then we had to wait for them; otherwise, it was perfect.
We passed through and under a number of bridges today and they came in all assortments. Shortly after leaving the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club, we came to the first of many bridges.
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| Little River Swing Bridge |
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| Barefoot Landing Bridge (bridge tender is in the little house up in the air) |
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| Seaboard Coast Line RR Bridge and Highway 501 Bridge |
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| Looking up at the open RR bridge |
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| Socastee Swing Bridge - opening |
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| Socastee Swing Bridge - open |
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| Caution: Floating Swing Bridge |
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| "Miss Ellie" is the bridge |
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| "Miss Ellie" connects here when closed |
When we weren't checking out the bridges, we watched the scenery go by.
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| Entering "Rock Pile" -- A narrow though deep channel through unforgiving rock! |
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| Recommended to go through at low tide so rocks are visible. We, of course, went through at high tide - no visible rocks! |
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| Man wearing blue t-shirt and white hat is actually a dummy watching the boats pass by. |
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| This must be wear old buoys go to die! Buoy Junkyard |
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| This sign has made the blog before ... but it is a favorite. "Make More Wake Please" |
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| Cypress Trees |
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| Something besides bridges! |
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| We thought this was debris in the water until we looked closer. |
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| These are all weeds living / floating on the water. |
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| Spanish Moss on Tree |
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| Airboat coming out of the marshes |
We passed a few marinas, but the name I liked best was the Waca Wache. I have no idea what it means but it sounds great.
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| Osprey Marina (We've stayed here before.) |
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| Waca Wache Marina (Don't know why I get such a kick out of the name!) |
31 October 2019 - Happy Halloween
Depart: Minim Creek Anchorage 8:45
Arrive: Church Creek #1 (near Georgetown, SC) 5:30
Distance: 63 nm
We planned to get an early start today, but that did not quite happen as planned. Even so, we got to see a beautiful sunrise to start the day.
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| Sunrise at Anchorage |
Our anchorage had strong current to fight with and the windlass on "Home Too" was having none of it. "Sunset Delight" sat on the ICW keeping the boat in place for a quarter hour while we waited for "Home Too" to get their windlass to reset and bring up their anchor.
The tide in South Carolina has up to an 8-foot change from low to high. Passing through some areas can be very challenging at low tide when the water all but disappears in some places. McClellanville has notoriously been one of the worst places to get through. As we passed this area today, we had about 4.5 feet of water under the keel. Crewmen worked on dredging the area as we went by.
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| Raining in the distance over the marshes in SC |
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| Dredging Equipment |
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| Challenging maze of orange markers to guide our path through |
Yesterday was the day of bridges, today was the day of long docks! All I can think when I see the docks at these houses is "... just don't forget something and have to run back for it!"
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| SC - Home of the Long Dock! |
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| Some are none too welcoming. Up hill, down dale - no railings! |
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| At the end of a long dock - whoops! |
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| Dock "for the birds" |
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| And another "for the birds" - not repaired after last hurricane came through |
We talked about stopping in the Charleston area but ultimately decided to keep on chugging.
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| Fort Sumter |
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| Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge - Cooper River |
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| Cruise ship in town today |
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| Homes along the harbor |
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| USCG Vessel at dock |
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| Huge Mooring Fields |
Clark had selected an anchorage near Charleston, but we passed by in the early afternoon and decided we should continue on to give ourselves more time in Beaufort tomorrow. Sometimes we stop at a marina because it is convenient and sometimes because it is a necessity. Clark and I both have prescriptions to be filled and we found a CVS near the Port Royal Landing Marina in Beaufort, so that is tomorrow's destination from necessity.
We got settled into the Church Creek anchorage at 5:30. It took us a couple of tries to get the anchor set where we wanted, i.e. with enough swing room to allow us to move without worrying about a midnight bump with a neighboring boat. The current moved through here rapidly, so before we could get the anchor to catch on the bottom, we had moved a good distance along. We landed off the mark the first time and compensated for the current factor on our second attempt.
Franklin and Cathy on "Home Too" also had difficulties anchoring. Deciding that their first attempt landed them too close to "Sunset Delight", they decided to move. The windlass, once again, decided not to cooperate. Given their inability to get the anchor up to re-position, Clark and I grabbed the kayak off our front deck and dropped it in the water to give Clark a fast way to go over to offer assistance.
By the time Clark came back from helping them get settled - they were successful with his help, he paddled back to "Sunset Delight" in the dark. I worried about him as I sat on "Sunset Delight" with lightening bouncing around the clouds. He made it back safely, we pulled the kayak up on the swim platform for the night, and then he sat down to eat the dinner I made while I waited for him to return.
Video of lightening ...
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