2020: Duck Creek to Dewees Creek Anchorage SC

 28 October 2020

Depart: Duck Creek Anchorage 9:40

Arrive: Dewees Creek Anchorage 2:05

Distance: 35.1 nm

Conditions: Cool breeze, Sunny, Morning Cloud Cover

Clark was up early and captured today's sunrise at the Duck Creek anchorage.

Sunrise at Duck Creek Anchorage SC

Reflections on a beautiful autumn morning in SC

We are having an increasing list of concerns on this trip. Our refrigerator seems to run almost constantly. Clark thinks we might need to replace the thermostat. Meanwhile, the fridge is eating up battery power like crazy. With short trips, the engines do not have sufficient time to recharge the batteries, so we have resorted to running the generator to make up some of the difference. 

The charger was configured to limit the charge rate, so Clark had to connect up the computer to change some of the parameters to get a faster recharge. Unfortunately, the interface module would not cooperate.  Clark gave up in disgust and we got underway on today's voyage.

Besides the fridge and the battery issue, a very observant Clark noticed that the anchor shank has a bend to it. So far it seems to be holding, but the anchor shackles are coming up twisted, so Clark has to rotate the anchor by hand to untwist them when he brings the anchor up.

As we started today's trip, I noticed that we had quite a cloud cover and the sun was working hard to break through.

The other thing I noticed when I went out to take pictures were the dead bugs covering the back deck.

Many dead, winged bugs on boat this morning

As we approached McClellanville on our way down the ICW, we saw more dredging operations like those we passed yesterday. The sailboat ahead of us called the dredge to ask which side of the operation he should pass on. The dredge replied "pass us on your starboard". The captain of the sailboat replied that he thought he might be required to pass on the "skinny" side due to the ball-and-diamond-shape markings at the dredge site appearing to be reversed from what would be expected. The dredge replied, "Yeah, we turned the rig around and haven't had a chance to climb up and switch the markings." The two diamond shapes should have been on the wide side and the two balls on the skinny side. 

Dredge vessel "Excel"
(ball and diamond markings shown here)

Dredge vessel "Spunkie"

A number of sailboats traveled down the ICW with us. Since we move at a faster speed, we ended up passing each one.

3 Sailboats ahead of us on ICW

We passed these two and then one passed the other!

We listened to some of their chatter regarding the depths through these infamous waters leading up to and passing through McClellanville. Three of them planned to anchor near McClellanville for the night and had to adjust their plans when they found the water too skinny for them to get to the anchorage.

Most of our scenery today was more of what we saw yesterday - marshes!

"Cat" in the trees

typical scenery

We passed through the Santee Coastal Reserve, formerly owned by the Santee Gun Club in McClellanville. The reserve provides trails for biking and hiking through fresh water swamp land. It is accessible only by boat. The reserve includes approximately 24,000 acres of land and remnants of rice fields from the past are still visible though I could not discern that from our boat. From what I read on the area, many birds, some endangered species, and a multitude of alligators live in the area.

2 Boats rafted together at Santee Reserve dock

Look pretty barren; very buggy in summer

Scenery in SC Low Country

We passed docks with no houses and houses with no docks. Any houses we did see with a dock yielded a long walk to the water over the marshes.

Dock but where's the house

House but where's the dock

Chunks of broken up cement forming a wall
along the waterway

Nature's artwork

Long walk to the dock

Entering McClellanville

Real long walk to the dock from the house

Passing through McClellanville about two hours before low tide, we got to see some mud flats along the edges of the waterway. We passed a dock with a sign that read - "Slow, you are responsible for your wake". Clark did not slow down (see picture).

Pointless sign at low tide

We passed more docks that would probably also be high and dry when low tide finally arrived.

Skinny water at docks near McClellanville SC

More scenes from today's trip ...

Eagle soaring overhead

Longest dock yet -
private dock with locked gate near water end

Sandy scenery

Lone clump of trees

House in the marshes with a long dock, but
how does one get to the house?? or the dock??

I called this sandbar "Bird Island" 
for obvious reasons

View of tonight's anchorage from ICW

Even though we traveled past our originally proposed anchorage for today (Clark did not want to stop at 11:30 when we got to that spot), we still dropped anchor fairly early. Given his earlier battery charging frustration, Clark called a representative at Mastervolt who told him to unplug everything to reboot the device. After that, Clark got the computer connection working and could make his adjustments to configure the higher charge rate he wanted.

While he was busy with the battery charging issue, I snuck out back to the cockpit and read my latest novel in the shade with a cool breeze blowing. Delicious!

This anchorage yielded an even better sunset than last nights. Gorgeous!