During late October Wrightsville Beach, NC provided good anchorage, free dinghy docks, showers at beach accesses and miles of Atlantic beach roaming. Fishing piers were appealing but that wooden structure at Surf City is still in first place. Later, in Calabash Creek, big shrimp boats rumbled close by into the night. In Prince Creek, off the Waccamaw River, SC, our spot was deep and quiet. Georgetown, SC, was a good spot for meeting other cruisers, ice cream and walking in the historic neighborhoods.
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| Sun City, NC from the pier |
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| Sun City, NC from the pier |
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| Surf City Pier |
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| yet another sunset |
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| another sunset |
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| the rock Pile, a blasted path through a granite slab that is many miles long and wishes to tear your boat asunder |
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| a swing bridge |
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| ICW water color |
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| Prince Creek off the Waccamaw River in SC |
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| Prince Creek off the Waccamaw River in SC |
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| our anchorage in Prince Creek off the Waccamaw River in SC |
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| the school bus on the Waccamaw River SC |
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| Georgetown SC at sunset |
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| the Georgetown SC anchorage can be crowded, but has a solid bottom with good holding |
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| the Ben Swayer Bridge north of Charleston SC |
Finally, Charleston’s Ashley River Marina appeared! We enjoyed five days of touring that beautiful city and visiting with friends. Dietrich’s sister, Nellie, drove from Michigan to experience on board life for seven days. It was a lively and welcome change of routine! We visited my high school friend, Floy, met her daughter, Tess, and admired their screened porch overlooking the wild marsh of Johns Is. The art galleries in Charleston were refreshingly varied and full of talented work. We had no bad food in that city! Hushpuppies, cheesy grits, juicy fresh shrimp, BBQ delights and quirky venues were all on the menu. (One Broad for Halloween breakfast, La Farfatelle, Poogan’s Porch and S.N.O.B. for late lunches and dinners, and the cheese monger, goat. sheep. cow.)
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| One Broad, a cafe with humor |
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| Ashley Marina piling growth |
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| Dietrich with Nellie |
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| if you do not have room for six outboards |
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| a meeting on samadhi |
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| Mike and daughter Maggie Sutherland |
Traverse City residents, Mike Sutherland and Johnny Vegas, traveled with us for the next five days. (sailing vessel Samadhi, a Spindrift 43) The entertainment scale was high. After a quiet anchorage in the S. Edisto River, we all met in Beaufort, SC. It is another charming town with good food, friendly locals (Dietrich had a reunion with Kevin Spicer, a former colleague at Olofsson Corp. in Lansing, forty-one years ago) and walking adventures through live oak and Spanish moss laden historic neighborhoods. We were joined there by friends of Mike’s, Tim and Ramie, on their 29’ Ranger tug, Miss Norma. Ringo, their dog, was a bonus! Google Miss Norma, they have quite a story.
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| underway with Samadhi in company |
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| in Beaufort, SC |
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| Georgia grassland |
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| Georgia grassland with birds |
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| ICW wakes |
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| ICW wakes |
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| the final sunset with rising waxing moon |
Three boats with Traverse City connections had a good day on the water as we traveled to Shelter Cove on Hilton Head Island. Miss Norma and crew will live there for about five months. Samadhi and crew will be there until sometime in December. Our last evening with those friends, new and old, was such fun, filled with more oysters, shrimp, scallops, and Low Country fixings than we thought we could eat, along with so many stories about our lives. Our departure was bittersweet.
We motored back to our Broad Creek anchorage where Nellie experienced her first driving rain and twenty-eight knot winds throughout the night. Dietrich and I spent some of that time adjusting pots under a few leaks, but later wishing we had noticed the one that soaked our bed in the V berth. The next day in Savannah, we left Nellie with friends. It was a fine reunion for all of us, with Ann and Fred Berry, formerly from Grand Ledge and Traverse City, Mi. After another meal of Low Country goodies we anchored in the Herb River near Thunderbolt Marina in Savannah. The current and winds headed in opposite directions while Calliope danced broadside over bumpy waves. Kudos to our big Rocna anchor, 135 ‘ of 5/16” chain and 85’ of 5/8” 8-plait rope. The Anchor Drag alarm app on the phone was comforting, as well. A screen shot of our dancing path through the night is below.
We wiggled south along Georgia’s ICW (Intra Coastal Waterway), through marshes following the Skidaway and Ogeechee Rivers. We enjoyed more frequent sightings of Great Egrets, Brown Pelicans, and playful dolphins. Today, November 10th, we are anchored near Shellbluff Creek where we bought shrimp fresh off the boat in 2008. We are hoping for a repeat experience as soon as that dock opens tomorrow! Now, we are in the eight to nine foot tidal range and the dinghy is ready for a sunset float through the marshes.
