The following morning we were off the mooring shortly after 6 and headed to Charleston, SC. It was a wonderful sail for most of the morning before the wind decided to die down. The rest of the trip ended up being a motor sail. We made good time and arrived at the Charleston Ship Channel earlier than I had anticipated, so we decided to keep going and enter the Winyah Bay Inlet at Georgetown, SC.
We arrived at the inlet just in time to take the full brunt of an ebb tide--and it's a loooong inlet. We fought the current all the way to Thoroughfare Creek which is at about mile marker 390 on the ICW. One thing we learned is you need at least 2 crew to enter or exit this inlet in mid May. One to drive the boat and one to kill flies to protect the helmsman.
When we arrived at Thoroughfare Creek we felt way out of place. It was late Sunday afternoon and the creek was full of speed boats with all their water toys. They all stared at us like we were aliens--but then they all went home and it turned out to be a great anchorage. Just don't plan on staying there over a weekend.
Skipper Bob suggested using a trip line on the anchor. I don't like trip lines for several reasons, but we decided to use one in case the anchor got stuck on a submerged log. That evening, 2 ladies in a speedboat thought they found a free fender and they were bound and determined to take it home. When we informed them the fender was ours and attached to our anchor they weren't inclined to believe us and they were not too happy--but they did leave it alone and moved on.
Thouroughfare Creek is quite beautiful.
Lisa had a bit too much time on her hands and after a rereading Skipper Bob's, decided we were not going to do this next section of the ICW. Soooo, we backtracked the 27 nautical miles to the Winyah Bay Inlet--this time with a fair tide, and we killed more flies.
We had a small window to get to Beaufort before the wind would turn NE (on our nose) for several days. So long as we got to Beaufort before late pm the following day all would be well.
It was another beautiful day and we were making great time. Some thunderstorms started to appear when we approached Cape Fear and Frying Pan Shoals around 10 pm. We were able to alter course to avoid one cell, then we had to slow way down to let another cell pass in front of us. So far so good. Later that night the wind and waves prematurely clocked NE right on our nose and increased to 15 - 20 knots. Needless to say, from then on it was a miserable night. And slow.
Last trip north we stopped at Morehead City Yacht Haven in--you guessed it--Morehead City. It is a great marina with nice facilities, but there is not much within walking distance. This time we decided to check out Beaufort.
Plan A was to try and anchor in front of the town docks and plan B was to check into the marina if the anchorage was as bad as the guide books say it is. Well, we chose plan B and checked in at Beaufort Town Docks. The anchorage was very congested, with half the boats anchored in the channel.
The marina has very nice docks but that's about it. The restrooms and showers are serviceable, but sort of campgroundish. For 2.25/ft + 12.50 electric per night, we would expect a little better. But the people are very nice and the dock hands are superb.
This is the first time we have been plugged in to electricity in over a year. How nice to be able to run our air conditioner! We thought about running our vacuum cleaner all night just because we could.
Wooden boat shop.
Wooden boats from the wooden boat shop in the water.
The marina has loaner cars they let you use for an hour at a time to run to the grocery store. We took advantage of that and stocked up with heavy stuff. Then I made the mistake of opening the trunk to put the groceries in. The problem was, it wouldn't shut (it had been backed into in a previous life), so I had to tie it almost shut with a grocery bag.
Docked next to some much bigger friends.
We had a small window to get to Beaufort before the wind would turn NE (on our nose) for several days. So long as we got to Beaufort before late pm the following day all would be well.
It was another beautiful day and we were making great time. Some thunderstorms started to appear when we approached Cape Fear and Frying Pan Shoals around 10 pm. We were able to alter course to avoid one cell, then we had to slow way down to let another cell pass in front of us. So far so good. Later that night the wind and waves prematurely clocked NE right on our nose and increased to 15 - 20 knots. Needless to say, from then on it was a miserable night. And slow.
Last trip north we stopped at Morehead City Yacht Haven in--you guessed it--Morehead City. It is a great marina with nice facilities, but there is not much within walking distance. This time we decided to check out Beaufort.
Plan A was to try and anchor in front of the town docks and plan B was to check into the marina if the anchorage was as bad as the guide books say it is. Well, we chose plan B and checked in at Beaufort Town Docks. The anchorage was very congested, with half the boats anchored in the channel.
The marina has very nice docks but that's about it. The restrooms and showers are serviceable, but sort of campgroundish. For 2.25/ft + 12.50 electric per night, we would expect a little better. But the people are very nice and the dock hands are superb.
This is the first time we have been plugged in to electricity in over a year. How nice to be able to run our air conditioner! We thought about running our vacuum cleaner all night just because we could.
Wooden boat shop.
Wooden boats from the wooden boat shop in the water.
The marina has loaner cars they let you use for an hour at a time to run to the grocery store. We took advantage of that and stocked up with heavy stuff. Then I made the mistake of opening the trunk to put the groceries in. The problem was, it wouldn't shut (it had been backed into in a previous life), so I had to tie it almost shut with a grocery bag.
Docked next to some much bigger friends.
We have enjoyed our stay here, and really enjoyed being tied to a real dock for a couple of days.
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