Reaching South Carolina!!

10/15/2012 => Calabash Creek, SC (our first stop in South Caro!)

The gourmet store opened at 0800…Salty and I were ready by 0815!  As Mike showered, I took Salty for her run and then hit up the coffee!  The store clerk fell in love with Salty right off the bat!  And of course, Salty acted like the perfect dog, sitting quietly outside the store windows…enough so, that the clerk (named Stef, originally from CT) commented that she wished her dog would be so good…ha!.  As a treat to Mike for letting me get my good coffee fix, I got him an egg, bacon, sausage, cheese Sammie on a biscuit (I asked if they had croissants, and stef replies “no, sorry.  I asked for that when I moved down there too…but they just replied No.  what you think this is, France?”  ha!)   With a fresh grilled Sammie, 2 huge coffees, and a HUGE bag of free dog treats we set out of the marina for Calabash Creek and South Carolina!

As were turned to enter into the creek we were to anchor that night, we saw a sail stuck on a sandbar:  could hear him talking to SeaTow for assistance.  Mike and I were nervous by seeing this!  We read and reread all the notices about this place on activecaption again just to make sure we didn’t run aground!  As we felt our way in, we saw another boat already at anchor:  Windaway!  We felt more confident when we saw them;  we have the same draft depth.  After we dropped our hook and relaxed a bit, making sure we were set well the stuck boat was pulled into the creek by SeaTow and dropped off:  apparently he too would be anchoring here!

I have to mention this, as its how to explain the next “story”.  When anchoring, there are a number of things you want to make sure you do.  First, is obvious to set the anchor as best as you can.  Second is to take into account where your boat is in relation to the surroundings:  land, sand, channels, other anchored boats, length of line out on anchor, if another anchor is all chain or line, etc.  Each boat will swing a little differently in the tides/currents, depending on their size, draft, and if they have a lot of chain on their anchor line (helps to hold the boat down, but also gets stuck in stuff).  We anchored a respectable distance from WindAway, knowing we would swing the same way/speed, but with lines at different lengths we didn’t want them ontop of us, or vice versa (not to mention if you break anchor, you go right into them!).  The boat towed in anchored on the other side of WindAway, in almost the same distance as us.  We were all happy…until a 38’ Catamaran came in.  Catamarans are the 2 hulled sailboats with the “bridge” in the middle.  They can easily go into 3’ of water and have a much different/heavy swing than single hull boats.  As 3’ was prominent throughout this creek up past where we were anchored, this boat is ideal for these type of creeks.  We had passed this Cat earlier and had an odd exchange with its captain:  a French Canadian man…with odd sea-decorum…  Anyways, we watched him come in, envying his ability to go up stream….and oddly he turns…towards us other anchored boats…in fact, he decided to drop anchor in-between us and WindAway…both Mike and Phil were standing on their respective decks, like “are you f’in kidding me?” looks on their faces.  The cat seemed oblivious to either Mike or Phill’s comments about him swinging differently, etc and just went back below.  Ha!  Mike and I were amazed at the brass on this guy!

Watchful Captain

 

We then blew up the dinghy to go ashore…and by “a shore” I mean the small little stretch of beach/oyster shells exposed at low tide, ha.  Salty seemed to enjoy it though, as she raced up and over the shell hills, over the exposed flats, into the water….best part is when we decided to follow her out to the furthest point.  We both had our flip flops on and quickly discovered walking inland was a mess:  we would follow the dog and walk at the water line.  I went first before Mike and would step fairly quickly, but still sink or slide every once in a while thinking he was watching where to step lightly or quickly;  I should have known better!  I hear him yelp followed by a sink quashing sound:  Mike is stuck in the mud up to his knees.  Of course I laugh, watching him struggle and sink deeper; salty even came to stand right next to him and almost seem to ‘laugh’…After a bit, I took pity and made my way over, careful to not sink in as well.  As he pulled up the first leg, he started to lose his flip flop, but barely managed to wedge it out…the second foot was not so lucky!  As soon as his foot came out, the shoe was covered whole in mud…and btw, this is not normal mud…its tidal mud:  thick, sludgy, black, and stinks to high heaven of sea ass.  As a good wife (and to make up for laughing so hard) I stick my hand into the sludge and dig for the shoe:  eww, serious that is soo gross!  Ahaha!  I rescued it though, I am awesome!

After dinner that night, the wind picked up a lot!  Around 2200, we heard the Cat start her engine:  he was obly about 15’ off our stern and 5’ from WindAway’s anchor line.  When Mike called out are you moving, he replied in a sneer “yes because you are both drifting”…ummm ok, so we check our anchor…nope, we were not drifting!  I think this was his way of acting like our proximity was our fault, not his…whatever.

10/16/2012 => North Myrtle Beach, SC

0830:  We did NOT sleep very well last night!  As the wind picked up, we felt like we were dragging!  I don’t think we did, but was harrowing none the less!  We thought we would stay in Holden Beach for this night, but upon closer inspection, I saw a cheaper marina in N. Myrtle Beach…with a close Super Wal-Mart and Food Lion!!!  We need to do a re-provision badly:  out of water, marine tp, drinks of any kind, meat, bread, etc!

1130:  Doc Holiday’s Marina!  We got diesel first before heading into our slip.  The place is very, very quiet…and even though there are 3 restaurants surrounding the marina, I don’t think they are open.  We talked to the dock master, a very nice middle age man from the area, about getting to the Wal-Mart/food lion and beach, then stowed Salty for a couple hours to do some shopping!  When we finished our shopping, we set off to the beach.  North Myrtle is a little more…run down than Myrtle proper.  Main Street seems to be the center of the beach-type shops, restaurants, bars, etc.  We biked all the way there, about 2 miles.  Mike decided he wanted to get some grub, so after much debate we settled on a 50’s style pop place (they had outdoor seating).  We finally made it to the beach around 1330, and stayed until 1600!  A local bar we had seen earlier was having 1.00 Miller/Cooler bottles, so of course we had to stop there on the way back!

North Myrtle Beach

 

Beer so cheap, even Salty got one!

 

The dock master said he would leave the back porch door unlocked:  we could plug in/wifi there all we wanted.  YEA!  Mike popped our stove popcorn and I set up the comp to watch the first episodes of this seasons Grimm.  Again, very riveting I know, but we decided to use the computer time for pure fun, no emails/facebook/blog etc! 

 

 

 

10/17/2012 => Thorough Faire Creek (Belin), SC

0815:  we set out for a quiet anchorage about 7 hours south.  There are other anchorages closer, however our anchoring guide SkipperBob will list anchorages that are “dog friendly” meaning a place to a least let them out for a little walk, if not a whole town to run in.  This place was rated very highly for the “large sand dune” right next to a scenic and quiet anchor field.  Oh, and mid way through our morning we received a call from the dock master at Doc Holidays!  He just wanted to wish us well, thought that was sweet!

 Thoroughfaire Creek

 

1530:  We arrived at the anchor area, the large sand dune rising steeply out of the water to the left, a marsh bending up river to the right…and cypress trees complete with Spanish moss all around!  The area had a distinct…floral smell to it.  We rowed ashore to the dune and quickly traversed it out of sheer curiosity:  the area behind is actually a state park/reserve!  We ran around exploring deep water filled ravines in the landscape and paths through the cypress trees:  was like a movie set actually! 

Spanish Moss!

Cypress Tree "Where's Waldo?"

Because we were so far away from civilization, the night sky was super illuminated! We could see the stars reflect upon the water, they were that bright!

10/18/2012 =>Georgetown, SC

0800:  We pulled anchor early to a calm and steadily flowing out creek.  It wasn’t long before we rejoined the ICW that we hit its tide…which was against us.  Slow going for the You and I this morn! We arrived at the Georgetown, SC free dock by 1100.  The dock is only for the daylight hours though!  I needed a shower, so unfortunately broke down and paid the local marina for one:  meanwhile Mike went through the fishing section of the town!  When I finished my shower, he brought me to the fresh caught stands:  lots of shrimp, clams, oysters, and random fish I am horrible at identifying all sitting on ice, just brought in that morning!  And the prices were really good!  We bought a pound of large shrimp and 3 dozen clams…for 9.75! hahaha!  My plan was to make a jambalaya that night for dinner!

Georgetown is home of the Wooden Boat festival (set to take place that weekend) and paper milling, among other things throughout history.  We explored some old plantations located within the city..and went in search of our first Piggly Wiggly!!!  We didn’t feel like we made it the south until we went into one!  After the joy of the Pig, we headed back to the boat:  but first, had to stop along the way at the city's boardwalk...Happy Hour specials, for both drinks and ice cream would need to be called upon :)  We moved the boat to the mooring feild:  located about 100 yds from the dock!  My jamba was awesome, btw!  Super proud of myself, as I have limited spices/cooking utensils on board!

Piggly Wiggly excitement!