2018: Bald Head Island, NC to Georgetown, SC

10/31/2018 Happy Halloween!
Depart: Bald Head Island marina 7:40
Arrive: Winyah Bay (near Georgetown, SC) anchorage 4:30
Distance: 79 nm

Depart: Winyah Bay anchorage 6:35 p.m.
Arrive: Duck Creek Anchorage 7:25 p.m.
Distance: 5 nm

Given the forecast of 1-to-2 foot seas, Clark could not resist the temptation to drive "on the outside", i.e. in the Atlantic Ocean, for our next leg of the journey. He chose last night's stay at BHI with that idea in mind to put us close to the inlet for an easy out into the ocean this morning.

Sunrise at BHI

Sunrise at BHI marina

Clark sure knows how to pick a day on the ocean. The water was nearly as flat as a piece of glass for the whole journey. Having dealt with low water and bridge waits yesterday, the freedom on gliding along on the ocean felt great. Clark had a waypoint set, and we traveled using the auto pilot towards that waypoint for over 6 hours with no need to do anything other than watch the water go by. We tuned the radio to a Myrtle Beach radio station, kicked back, and enjoyed the ride.

For all that time we saw no other vessels on the water with us. Apparently all those 6-foot-draft sailboats we saw yesterday preferred the ICW to the open ocean. Unbelievable! Although we encountered no other boats, at one point we were "attacked" by some dolphins who came shooting across the water in our direction. They opted not to play in our wake however.

Dolphin "attack"!
Note the lack of waves on the ocean!

Besides the dolphins, we saw little other sea life. At one point we saw the water teaming with fish. The area where they jumped looked like the water was being hit with a heavy rainfall. Later, I saw something in the water and could not quite make out what it was. I decided it was a ray until we got closer. Then I saw that it was a turtle. He looked like a cartoon character merrily swimming along. I saw him give us a sidelong look and then dive fast! Clark had just made it to a picture-taking spot on the boat when he disappeared (of course).

We had called a marina to see about a reservation before we left shore. Unfortunately, he had to call us back. About every hour while we were traveling today, Clark checked his phone and found no cellphone coverage for voice or data. Because of the curvature of the land, we found ourselves as much as 20 miles offshore along the way. We had to wait until we were almost back inside to get coverage and call back to check on our potential reservation for tomorrow night.

It was late afternoon as we saw our target inlet coming into view.

Sunlight glistening on the calm ocean water

Lighthouse at Winyah Bay Inlet

Anchorage near Georgetown, SC

We dropped anchor around 4:30 and enjoyed some leisure time on the boat. I put dinner on the table just after 6:00 as we planned to watch the world news at 6:30. In the middle of our dinner, we had a very rude interruption as the anchor alarm went off. Clark checked it out and found our boat dragging its anchor and moving rapidly backwards towards another anchored boat. It was already past sunset, and we had to reset the anchor in the twilight.

Sunset at Winyah Bay anchorage

Clark sure knows how to move fast to get the boat going. He had the top open, the covers ripped off the helm, the engine running, and the anchor on its way up in seconds! I took the helm while he worked the anchor.

While we were anchored, Clark had noted the rapid current in this anchorage even before the anchor dragged. His hearing is quite remarkable, and he heard a strange noise on board. When he checked it out, he found the propellers spinning simply due to the current. Since they are supposed to be lubricated when rotating, as done when underway, he put wrenches in place to stop them from spinning. Of course, when we had to reset our anchor, this was one more thing he had to undo before we could move.

During our leisure time on the boat, Clark had reviewed travel plans for tomorrow. Although he wanted to travel on the outside again, the distance calculations did not add up as favorable for that plan of action. Because of the distance required to travel to get to and from inlets, it would be significantly further to travel on the outside rather than the ICW (just the opposite of today's travel).

Given we had to move the boat to reset the anchor, Clark decided to change anchorages to something with less current. He took off like a bat out of hell at a speed of just over 16 knots. We had about 5 miles to go with rapidly diminishing daylight. Bugs including mosquitoes slapped me in the face as we flew along the water. However, in the twilight in unfamiliar water at (for us) high speed, we needed all four eyes on the water looking for log and fish trap hazards.

We passed two other anchorages where boats were already anchored and dropped our anchor a second time in Duck Creek. No other boats shared this anchorage with us - it was just us and bugs here! We had a lot more protection, a lot less current, and a whole lot more mosquitoes and gnats.

Many of those bugs we passed found their way into the boat. They mostly collected in the pilot house because that was where they found lights. I killed more than I could count and still Clark, with his amazing hearing, could hear them hitting the ceiling. To him it sounded like a light rainfall. He whacked at the ceiling with a flyswatter for several minutes until the "rain" stopped falling. After that he set up the bug light to get any that remained on board the boat.

The good news ... that's five less miles we need to travel tomorrow as this anchorage is that much closer to tomorrow's destination where we did, in fact, get the reservation Clark was concerned about as we crossed the ocean waters.