On To North Carolina

Friday, 26 April – Johns Island to Georgetown, SC – 70 mi.

Cloudy, 62 degrees, strong tidal currant up river. Didn’t take long to get to Charleston Harbor, guarded by Fort Sumter at the entrance.

Then, tucked in a corner is a narrow channel where the ICW goes north. In fact, most of the ICW here is a series of narrow channels connecting inlets that go out to the ocean.  The Georgetown marinas are on a small loop of the Sampit River, near the confluence of the Pee Dee and Waccamaw Rivers that flow into Winyah Bay then out to the Atlantic. Georgetown is South Carolina’s third oldest city (founded in 1729). In 1840, this area produced half of the rice consumed in the US, and Georgetown was the hub of carrying plantation produce to market. We docked at the Harborwalk Marina, since it was closest to the restaurants in old town. We biked around a bit.
We met a talking parrot – a white parrot in a cage on the sidewalk that not only repeated whatever we said, but laughed everytime we did.
We enjoyed dinner at the River Room, recommended by our harbormaster.


Saturday, 27 April – Georgetown to Myrtle Beach, SC – 49 mi.

Cloudy, calm, 62 degrees. This stretch of the ICW has several narrow sections. They are quite nice, though, with lots of trees, unlike the barren stretches through Georgia. We were surprised to see a tugboat pushing a huge barge up the channel. He had to have some forward-looking sonar to tell him where the ditch was, in order to navigate the barge up the winding river.

We encountered two sailboats, anchored and waiting for the tide to drop a foot, so that they could pass under a fixed 64 foot bridge.
There was a festival at the Socastee swing bridge, just celebrating its existence – people will party for any reason (God bless them).

We followed a boat called After 4 into the Barefoot Landings Marina, tying up to the floating dock just behind it. Turns out that After 4 has nothing to do with happy hour. Bob and Pam Haigh bought the boat after they raised four children.  And when we went up to the flybridge for a glass of wine, we found we were docked right next to a restaurant. We met Dan and Cindy having wine and
cheese at eye level not 10 ft away.  Our friends Hans and Audrey Polzer have a place in Myrtle Beach, so we texted them to say we were here, thinking of them while they were out of town. But it turns out they were in town at the golf course. They suggested
meeting for dinner at Greg Norman’s Australian Grille. Do you believe we were docked at that very restaurant! It was truly a pleasure to see them – unexpected pleasure – and our conversation was so involved, we forgot to take their picture. Nice end to a nice day.

Sunday, 28 April – Myrtle Beach to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina – 70 mi.

Cloudy, 62 degrees. We pulled off the dock early, figuring we would get to Southport and Bald Head Island in time to ride our bikes and

explore the island and lighthouse. After 4 pulled out just ahead of us,
and we went through the first of several swing bridges together.
 Soon we were on the Little River. Couldn’t resist playing the Little River Band album on the stereo.  The river was a busy thoroughfare, with recreational boaters, fishing trawlers, gambling cruise ships, and tugs pushing barges.  An updated weather forecast predicted heavy

rains tomorrow. Not wanting to pilot the boat in such conditions, we realized we would lose a day to weather. To keep on our schedule to
make the AGLCA rendezvous, we decided to leapfrog over Bald Head Island (yes, we missed the lighthouse) and forge ahead to Wrightsville Beach, following our new-found friends on After 4.  That took us up the Cape Fear River, a major port entrance with huge tankers, then up a narrow channel to Myrtle Grove Sound, eventually to Wrightsville. We docked at the Seapath Yacht Club and watched the sunset over wine and cheese with Bob and Pam.

Monday, 29 April – Seapath Yacht Club, Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina

It rained all morning. We slept in. Bloody Marys, leisurely breakfast, nice hot showers. Then it stopped raining.  We met a family from

Vancouver who were sailing to Ireland by way of Bermuda and the Azores. And we thought we were on an adventure… Anticipating rain off and on all day, we did some chores. I blew up the fenders, since they were a little low on air. I superglued a dowel rod that came loose from a shelf (you know, big stuff). Charli did some laundry (the washer and dryer were in the ladies room).  The marina has a courtesy car available, so we borrowed it to run some errands – I got a haircut, Charli got a pedicure, and we went to the Harris Teeter for groceries (kind of a cross between a Publix and a Whole Foods). I said groceries, but I meant water, beer, wine, cheese, pistachios, and bread – the important stuff for happy hour which was approaching quickly. And we enjoyed the fruits of our labor.

To Charleston

Friday, 19 April – Hilton Head to Dataw Island – 38 mi.

Cloudy, breezy, 72 degrees. We left early in order to be at our next marina before encountering the thunderstorms predicted for this afternoon. Turns out the afternoon was beautifully sunny.  We borrowed bikes from the marina and rode around the island.
Dawtaw Island was a pleasant surprise. It is a planned residential community that surrounds a golf course, reminiscent of Toftrees in State College, PA.  Tremendous, windy thunderstorm hit just as we walked to the Sweet Grass restaurant for dinner. We may have looked like drowned rats, but they welcomed us, and we really enjoyed the food. Free bottle of wine with purchase of two entrees. Can’t beat that!

Saturday, 20 April – Dataw Island to John’s Island – 54 mi.

Cloudy, breezy, 58 degrees. We enjoyed breakfast at the Outpost – a small grocery and coffee shop next to the Sweet Grass restaurant. The trip up the ICW, however, was upwind and upstream through uninteresting and uninhabited territory in unseasonably and unwelcome cold and windy conditions. Did I say it was unpleasant? What happened to global warming? I want it back!  But even a bad day on the water would be better than a good day at work – and I loved my job.
As we got closer to Charleston, we saw a wedding tent on shore. It was spring, but everyone looked cold. We also saw a cruise ship going south from Charleston.
Pretty big boat for the ICW.  We docked at the St. John’s Yacht Harbor marina. We chose it because it was the closest deep water marina to Folly Beach where we expect my daughter and her family from Vermont to vacation for their Spring break this week. And they gave us a $20 discount for being BoatUS members. Nice people, nice showers, nice little bar with interesting signage.

Sunday, 21 April – St Johns Yacht Harbor to Folly Beach
Sunday was sunny for a change, but quite windy.  We spent the day at the marina, since much stronger winds were predicted. And strong they were – up to 30 mph. I added extra lines to secure the boat to the floating dock. The northeast winds blew us toward the dock, so we put all the fenders we had between the boat and the dock.  And the water got pretty rough.  Spent some time fixing a few minor things, ordering parts from the internet, and meeting our neighbors who lived on their boats in the marina. The winds got increasingly worse. Our daughter picked us up and took us to their Folly Beach rental – a beautiful 4BR home, steps to the beach.  We had a delicious dinner at the Taco Boy. 

Monday - Thursday – Folly Beach, South Carolina

It was really nice to spend some time with family - and in such spacious quarters for a change. Plenty of room for the seven of us – Charli and I, Pam and Andy, Sam and Chloe, and Chapin, their white lab.  It was a great location.  We walked to coffee shops and restaurants. We played on the beach across the street, still unspoiled by high rise hotels and condos. And it was only a 15 min. drive to Charleston, with its historic center, shops and restaurants, universities, and the top-notch Medical University of South Carolina. We relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Who knew that Folly Beach was one of the “10 best things to do in Charleston”?

The Adventure Starts

Thursday, 11 April – Darien to Thunderbolt – 78 mi.

Cloudy, foggy, 69 degrees. Got an early start, since we were planning a longer run today. We found this section of the ICW to be less interesting. We meandered from one river to the next between flat, grassy, uninhabited islands.  We wondered how people did this without chart plotters guiding the way.  Things got a little more exciting soon. I noticed a little water on the port side of the engine room. I suspected the propeller shaft seal might be leaking, but I could not see any water dripping from it. Later in the day, the middle bilge pump came on (there is an indicator light at the helm when a bilge pump comes on). With Charli at the helm, I went down into the engine room. Now there was a lot more water in the bilge. I still could not see where the water was coming from, but I still suspected the shaft seal. I started making phone calls, first to the Landings where we were planning to stay.  Got the name of a mechanic who works on boats there. He could not service our boat at his facility, but recommended Thunderbolt Marine about 40 miles up the ICW from where we were. That was about 15 miles further than we planned to go, and we were getting a little low on fuel. We called Thunderbolt, told them we were taking on water, but the bilge pump was intermittently running, meaning that it was handling the water flow. Since they said they were a full service facility and could help us, we cancelled all other arrangements and headed to Thunderbolt.  We got there just before closing (and with 8% fuel remaining) and were greeted by Ernie, the service manager. He examined the shaft seal, saw no evidence that it was the culprit, but said he would send someone over first thing in the morning to find the problem. Ernie gave us a tour of the facility in his golf cart.

Huge boats were being repaired, painted, modified, and cleaned. They have very large buildings with temperature and humidity controls for painting and repairing boats. One was getting a new helicopter deck. A huge sailboat had a telescoping mast,

so it could go under the bridges on the East River. I had a shop vac on board, so I sucked out 25 galllons of water out of the bilges. I wanted it to make sure no water was coming in while docked. It wasn’t.

12 April – 17 April – Thunderbolt Marine

Friday - Ed hopped on board early in the morning. We took a short cruise up river, slowly past the marinas for about a mile, then at higher speed after the docks. Ed crawled into every space on both sides of the boat looking for leaks.  Finally, he said “Turn around, let’s go back.”  Rather than the shaft seal, he found that the port exhaust hose had a hole near the engine, and it was squirting water up to the deck and over the engine, which is why we found water in the strangest places.  Since the exhaust is at or below water line, we had to haul the boat out of the water for the repairs. I gave Ernie a list of issues to work on while the boat was high and dry. Ernie ordered parts, Murphy fixed the bow thruster switch, and Charli and I biked to the local library to get high speed internet access, so we could pay bills and upload photos.

Saturday – The staff does not work on weekends, so we had a couple of days to ourselves.  We were able to stay in the boat while hauled out. They set us up with water, electricity, and a staircase to access the stern platform, and we still had a water view.  We cleaned the boat, did laundry, biked to a river marine store nearby for boat parts, then to the Piggly Wiggly for the makings of a delicious salmon dinner.

Sunday – We prepared for the repair crew coming Monday. I vacuumed about 7 gallons of water out of the bilge that we took on during Friday’s test cruise. We moved things and emptied the areas where they needed access. Charli’s sister Jeannie and her husband Alan drove from Atlanta to visit us. Being retired military, Alan booked a room the Hunter Army Airfield for a few days. They picked us up for dinner at Tubby’s Tank House. Turns out that Tubby’s is rated in the top ten seafood restaurants in Savannah, and it’s all of a half mile from our boat!

Monday – Jason came to remove the old exhaust pipe and raw water valves.
Jeannie and Alan picked us up for breakfast. We went to the Hinckley Marina nearby to buy some river charts and an extension cord from Phil, doing the loop on Loopy Kiwi. Phil is from New Zealand, bought his boat and started the loop in the Great Lakes. Unfortunately, his wife had a heart attack and was no longer able to complete the loop, so they were returning to New Zealand. We picked up some inner tubes at a bike shop – I found a flat tire on my bike this morning. We picked up a flag pole at West Marine to display our AGLCA burghee. The highlight of the day was a trip to Savannah’s River Street. We had a drink at Wet Willies,

oysters at Bernie’s oyster house, car bombs, baby Guinness, and Irish whiskey at Kevin Barry’s Pub, then dinner at the Cotton Exchange,

all while watching the boat traffic on the Savannah river.

Tuesday – While the guys were installing our exhaust system, we learned that we were dry docked just across Alan Jackson’s old  boat – the Neon Rainbow.

 Jeannie and Alan picked us up for lunch at Zunzi’s, a tiny Italian restaurant that served one of America’s best sandwiches (as seen on TV) – the chicken conquistador. Then we went to Tybee Island for some beach time, strolling through the shops, and maybe a bar or two.

Wednesday – Repairs were completed by noon. They hoisted us up,

pressure washed the bottom, and launched us for a sea trial. Jason, our mechanic, and Jeannie and Alan joined us for the ride. All was well. We fueled up, pumped out, and docked for the night behind Christie Lee and Blue Moon (198 ft!), some of the bigger boats in the marina. We will head for Hilton Head in the morning. By the way, Basil’s Pizza is really good.

Thursday, 18 April – Thunderbolt, GA to Hilton Head, SC – 27 mi.
Blue sky, 81 degrees, slight breeze. Charli took the helm while Al checked for leaks or other issues. All was well. There was an old sailing vessel that looked like a pirate ship. It was flying both US and German flags. And there was a guy on the top mast - guess he was not afraid of heights.

We docked at the Hilton Head Harbor Marina. They also had an RV resort, a time share (thought that was just for condos). Jeannie andAlan picked us up and took us to Harbour Town where the RBC Heritage golf tournament was underway. Lots of folks were partying in the harbor, on huge boats, in the restaurants and bars, and strolling through the shops. They had a pretty good band playing on stage. We had wine and appetizers at the Topside Grill - a great restaurant with a good view of the harbor and the 18th hole's grandstand. We got back to the boat in time to watch the sunset from the upper bridge. Jeannie and Alan went back to Thunderbolt on their way home. We were so glad to see them and have them join us for our unexpected Georgian adventure.