26 October 2020
Depart: Waccamaw River Enterprise Passage Anchorage 1:00
Arrive: Waccamaw River Butler Island Anchorage 3:45 / 4:20
Distance: 21 nm
Conditions: A.M. Chilly, Cloudy, Damp; P.M. Sunny, mid-60s
Since we had a very short travel day planned, we decided to hang out in the anchorage until the weather improved. The morning was chilly, damp and cloudy, but at 1:00 when we left most of the chill was out of the air and the sun had made an appearance. I spent the morning curled up on the couch with a riveting WW II spy novel. Clark did whatever it is he does on his computer.
What a difference it makes to travel on a weekday versus the weekend! As opposed to our Saturday trip on the waterway, we hardly saw another boat today -- very peaceful. Since we spent today in the bucolic waters of South Carolina, we saw few buildings and many trees.
Curious to know why the river is called Waccamaw, I did a little research on Google. The Waccamaw Indians lived here a long time ago. They named the area Waccamaw which supposedly means "ball knock" because a ball of fire knocked into the earth and created a lake, i.e. Lake Waccamaw. I translated that to mean a meteor fell from the sky.
We passed four marinas today.
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| Bucksport Marina |
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| Island Time Cruise Ship |
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| Sailboat at Bucksport Marina looks ready for an ocean voyage with diesel, gas, and water containers on board. |
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| Wacca Wache Marina (I love saying that name) |
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| Sailboat "Steel Away" moored across from the Wacca Wache Marina |
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| Mostly hidden "Reserve Harbor Yacht Club" |
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| "Heritage Plantation Marina" |
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| Cool Play Area on Dock Equipment includes a trampoline to shoot off into the water! |
We had plenty of current today, and even when we pulled the throttle back, we still moved faster than our normal cruising speed. At 1560 RPM we made over 10 knots. In a slow-speed-no-wake area, Clark throttled back to 1230 RPM and still traveled at around 9.4 knots. Using the engines to charge the boat batteries, we were in no hurry to reach today's anchorage, but the river had different ideas! As we sped downriver, we took pictures of the trees and such along the river's edge.
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| Sun bouncing off the golden tops of the Marsh Grass |
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| Very nice dock to where exactly??? |
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| Clark described this sailboat as "not quite afloat"! |
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| Houses quite far off the River |
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| Some kind of bulkhead along the river |
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| Heritage Plantation Marina ahead - Butler Island anchorage coming up |
Again, in no hurry, Clark decided to go down and around Butler Island before dropping anchor, so basically we made a U-turn in the river.
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| Heading South past Butler Island |
We stayed in the light blue portion of the chart as we made our U-turn to guarantee deep water.
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| Heading North on other side of Butler Island |
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| River View of our U-turn - Butler Island is in middle of picture |
We entered the Butler Island anchorage just after 3:30. With all the current we had on our trip downriver, it all disappeared when we entered the anchorage. With no wind or current, we just sat there with the anchor line hanging straight down. Since, under those conditions, we had trouble deciding if the anchor was holding, we did not declare ourselves satisfied until 4:20. While he was waiting to see if the anchor would grab, Clark pulled out his soldering gun and trimmed some untidy "whiskers" off the anchor rode splice. He said, "At least I got a project completed while I waited!"
As the first arrivals at the anchorage, we had our pick of spots to drop anchor - a real pleasure. Later in the afternoon, some sailboats joined us for the night. It is a huge anchorage, so everyone has plenty of room.
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| "Company" arrived late afternoon |
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| Moon! |
We have used that Anchorage a number of times. Usually very quiet.
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