Nov. 11

The morning was still and relatively calm as we headed to Factory Creek swing bridge. I had misread the notes and thought he would open his last time at 7:00am. It turned out the bridge was closed from 7:00am to 9am, and would only open at 10:00 and 11:00. We had gotten an early start and were able to get an opening at 6:40 am. I am glad we started out a little early.

I looked at the chart plotter without my eyeglasses and thought I could shortcut the ICW by going around an island on the inside of the turn. It turned out that the water for the most part was deep enough but there were shallows for about 1 yards that were only 4 foot deep. Fortunately I caught the mistake before we were hard aground and learned a lesson that it is always better to follow the waterway.

We passed Parris Island at about 8:30 on our way to Port Royal sound and the weather was sunny and winds were light.

As we left the protection of the land out the channel the wind started to pipe up and blow fairly strongly out of the North at around 20 knots. Since this put the wind on our stern quarter the seas were rolling us a little.

We passed Savannah inlet at 12:00 and the ship traffic was light and we had no problems making our way through. It was a relief to get through this area with so little ducking and dodging of container ships.

We approached the St. Mary's inlet at 11:30 pm having covered out 119 miles from Beaufort while it would have been about 300 miles down the ICW from Georgia. The trip wasn't too arduous and we saved about 5 days. So here we are in Fernandina were we will sit for a day or two before continuing our trek south to the Bahamas.












Parris Island









Container ship outside Savannah















Fernandina Mooring Field

Nov. 9

Nov. 9

Today's run to Beaufort, SC (pronounced bohfurt ) was a quick hop. We left South Edisto at 7:00am and were at anchor in Factory Creek in Beaufort by noon. We will stay here today and tomorrow and leave Thursday for Fernandina Beach weather permitting.

Nov. 10

Today we launched the dingy and rowed over to the public launch ramp. From there Kathleen and I walked ½ mile to Publix to pick up a few provisions and haul them back to the boat. The weather today was mild and Factory Creek is well protected from the wind.

I was able to get on the Internet and was able to get the offshore forecast for tomorrow. It looks like wind out of the North at 15 to 20 and seas 3 to five feet. The weather forecast looks good and we will be leaving tomorrow morning

Factory Island Swing Bridge

Nov. 8

It seems a lot of people here had the same idea this morning as about 15 boats all headed for the Wappoo Creek swing bridge on the migration south. The bridge's first opening is at 9:00 PM and nobody wanted to be forced to wait another hour for the next opening. We slowly worked our way to the front of the pack and turned to face the upstream to the current and come to almost a complete stop in front of the bridge.
After we were through I throttled back to 2200 rpm and moved along at between 5 and 8 m/h on our way to South Edisto anchorage. It was only 30 miles from Charleston and I was in no hurry to get there.
The days run was uneventful as we were chasing high tide most of the way. The main ICW trouble spots were no problem as due to the tide we had plenty of water. The weather seems to be co-operating and the sun felt good after 4 days of cold weather.
As we came out of the last cut we swung North around the bend and anchored in a beautiful spot. We got the anchor down and set by 2:30

Nov. 6
It was very cold this morning. Kathleen made a quiche in the oven and it helped to warm things up in the salon and made it a little easier to get underway. After clearing the dew off the dodger and raising the anchor we were underway.
Last year as we came through this stretch of the ICW the water was barely 5.4 feet deep. Today , as it was high tide when we left the water was at least 9.0 feet
At Ben Sawyer bridge we ended up waiting an hour for the bridge opening and as we entered Charleston Harbor the wind piped up to 25 knot and there was a regatta taking place in the harbor so we had to dodge sail boat of all sizes and types as we made our way Through to the Ashley River anchorage.
As we were laying the anchor there was a guy 100 feet away who objected to where we were anchoring so we upped anchor and moved about 300 feet more and dropped the anchor in 15 feet of water. The holding was good and we plan to stay here over the weekend and leave Monday morning.














Charleston Bridge












Another Snowbird Entering the Harbor













Part of the Regatta













Fort Sumpter

Nov. 5
We left Bucksport and headed south. The morning was cold and the windshield had fogged over. As we came down the River the ICW was in shadow from the trees on the east side. The Waccamaw River is a wildlife preserve and it is nice to have a river that is a mile wide and 30 feet deep in most spots. The only problem on the day was all the stink-potter gin palaces that wanted to pass on a plane and wake the hell out of us.
Georgetown South Carolina stunk as usual, I don't know what they make there but the factory stinks. We ran to the cut with a group of 5 boats as the day turned windier and colder.
We were planning on staying on South Edisto River but we pressed on and made Five fathom Creek just off the ICW south of Mcllellanville. We had the anchor down by 4:00 and settled down for a cold night. In the morning we plan to make Charleston and stay over through the weekend before moving on.

Nov. 4

The weather was somewhat calmer and it was slack high tide when we left the dock today at Southport and headed out. For most of the morning there was sun and the wind had calmed down to make the traveling pleasant. ( It turned out to be the calm before the storm.

We had timed our arrival at the Sunset Bridge Pontoon bridge for the hourly opening when the heavens opened and it started to rain buckets. Just at 3 minutes before the scheduled opening there was an emergency and the bridge was held for ½ hour. With a blinding rain falling and fifteen to twenty boats both power and sail trying to keep from going aground or hitting each other it made for a tense situation.

The pontoon bridge is the last of its kind in the state ( and maybe the nation) and will be replaced by a high rise bridge that is scheduled to open in a few weeks. The bridge is floated on pontoons and a cable is used to move a portion of the bridge out of the way so boats can pass through.

It continued to rain and at times we had very high winds as we continued on the ICW ( The decision to continue on the ICW as opposed to the Atlantic was looking better and better)

At about 4:00 PM the rain stopped but the wind was still out of the north and very cold as we entered a section of the ICW known as the Rockpile because there are large rocks lining the waterway and you have to be very careful to stay in the center of the channel. As we came around a bend there was a 45 foot catamaran with each side on top of a rock hard aground just 15 feet out of the channel. The good news for him was that his boat wasn't holed and it was low tide so he will probably be able to float off at high tide.

Just at 5:30 PM we got through the Socastee bridge and were able to make our anchorage just north of Bucksport , South Carolina with only about 15 minutes of daylight left to get the hook down and settle in for the night.Tomorrow we hope to reach McClellanville and anchor just off the ICW

.

Wednesday Nov. 3
We were the first out this morning from the anchorage. The sky was overcast all day and the wind was cold out of the North. I think there were about 10 sailboats as well as 5 power boats moving along with us.

One of the big aggravations of the ICW are the swing and bascule bridges. Some only open on the hour and some open on the hour and half hour but it seems that at each bridge there a group of boats waiting for the opening with wind and current contriving to make each minute a hair raising, white knuckle event.

On today's leg there were 4 bridges and at the last ( Wrightsville) there must have been 12 or 13 boats all crammed into a 1/2 mile by 300 yard area waiting for the bridge to open.

Once past Wrightsville the current was favorable and we made good time to Snow's Cut which connects the New River to the Cape Fear River. The current thorough the cut gaves us a good push until we were on the Cape Fear were we encountered a 2.5 knot current against us. The river was fairly choppy and a strong wind was still blowing out of the north.

We finally arrived at Southport at 5:15PM and are now tied up at a marina for the night.

The plan is to continue on the ICW as the weather outlook for the next 4 days doesn't look good. We will continue to the Waccamaw, Edisto Rivers and then to Charleston, and finally Beufort, S.C. where we plan to anchor as we wait for a weather window to go out on the Atlantic to Fernandina.

































ICW Rush Hour

Tuesday, November 2

We got up this morning at 6:00 am to discover that it is still dark. We were able to up anchor at 6:45 AM and start down Adams Creek.

Boy was it cold! The temperature was in the low 50's with 15 to 20 knots of wind out of the North. We were somewhat protected form the wind until we got Moorehead City on the Bogue sound and we were getting the full flow of the wind right in the face.

We planned a stop at Dudley's marina in Swansboro and were within 10 feet of their fuel dock when we went aground in 5.0 feet of water. After a fruitless ½ hour we decided to continue on toward Mile Hammock Bay which is part of Camp Lejeune. We arrived here at 3:30 and had the anchor down by 3:45. The holding is good and there is plenty of room for boats to anchor. They allow cruisers to anchor here but we are not allowed to go to shore. Right now Sea Horse helicopters are flying about but I expect most of it will die down this evening.

We plan to leave at first light tomorrow morning and plan to make Southport by the end of the day.Hopefully we will be able to stay warm tonight and have warmer weather tomorrow.

Nov

We're off. We finally got all our errands done today, I got a prop zinc and two shaft zincs, filled up the dingy tanks as well as the tanks for the generator, topped up the propane, Kathleen got the shot and health records for Uraine, as well as some last minute provisions.

It was good that we waited until today as Sunday the wind was out of the south and the water at the dock was only 5 feet 4 inches, Today, with the wind out of the North the water was up to 6 feet ( all depths referenced to my depth sounder). It was a piece of cake getting out of the harbor and channel as the lowest depth we saw was 5' 9” ( we draw 5' 2”)

1st Night's anchorage

We decided to cross the Neuse and drop anchor in Jonaquin creek, just off the ICW. The wind was pretty stiff on the river but the anchorage is fairly well protected and there is very little chop. We are anchored in 7 feet of water with a heavy clay bottom so we are snug at anchor here. In the morning we just have to raise anchor to be on our way at first light with tomorrow's destination Mile Hammock Bay.














Looking North












Other Boats in the anchorage