Nov 11 & 12

The motor from Beaufort to Savannah was uneventful.

We found that we now also had to contend with idle speed only zones. These can really slow you down so we cheated a little. At 5 knots, we leave absolutely no wake. Even at full speed, we leave no more wake than a big planing power boat at idle. The fine in Beaufort for going to fast, however, can be over $1000.00, so you don’t want to get dinged.

This whole area is flat, with a lot of swampy grasslands. The birds make good use of the navigational markers, perching and often building nests on top. I found the whole area quite beautiful but a little boring for lack of variety. Dolphin sightings were becoming remarkably common. Unfortunately, they are almost impossible to photograph with a digital camera. The time delay between pushing the shutter release and the snap of the photograph is simply too long.

Multihulls were becoming very common. We tried to raise the Canadian trimaran, Sulis, by radio, but to no avail.

Beverley beat some of the boredom by practicing her artwork.

When we headed up the Savannah River, the current was at its maximum ebb. It took us an hour and a half to cover 8 miles. The next day, coming back down at the same time of day, it would take us little more than 30 minutes.

Crossing the state line into Georgia felt like a real milestone. We felt we were now in the deep South.

There are no anchorages at Savannah so we had planned to stay at the town dock. Unfortunately, that being a Sunday afternoon, the dock was full of runabouts. We bit the bullet and went to the Hyatt next door. At $3 per foot, I would not want to do this often. Of course, within a few hours, there was lots of space at the town dock at $1 per foot. I must admit, however, that it was nice to have access to the Hyatt, their gym and showers.

The next day, we went grocery shopping and then did the trolley tour.

The waterfront is beautifully restored and vibrant. Savannah seems to be immensely proud of their heritage and is determined to conserve it. They have a large number of “squares” or small parks. Often, these have magnificent oaks, hundreds of years old, adorned with hanging air plants.

We were a bit surprised to discover that they were celebrating Remembrance Day on Nov 12, calling it Veterans Day. The parade almost sidetracked our grocery shopping. Fortunately for us, it was still forming, so we were able to cross. Otherwise, we would have had a long wait.

Our friends on Joanne-Marie in the trawler had caught up by now, so we left Savannah about 2 PM to meet with them at an anchorage in the middle of nowhere, the Vernon River.

It was almost completely dark by the time we arrived (about 6 PM). I would not have attempted the last mile or so if we did not have out trusted Fugawi software/GPS combination working as a chart plotter.

It was good to be reunited for cocktails with our friends Herb, Joanne and Lee.
I think they were as glad to see us as we were them.
Joanne had taken pictures the second day of our underwear hanging on the lifelines. Thanks Dorothy(mother Davidge) for the small portable washer, it has been wonderful! There certainly is a shortage of Laundromats on this route. Bev

Nov 10

Our departure from Charleston was rather rushed. Notwithstanding that there was little wind, when I woke I thought we were dragging our anchor, and quickly. When I looked out the window, I saw the catamaran that used to be behind us slightly ahead and to the side. Not only that, but we were sideways to him and moving fast. I wondered if our anchor rode had been cut.

I dressed quickly, lowered the outboard, started it and raised anchor as quickly as I could. It was only then that I realized that the catamaran we had “drifted past” was not the catamaran that was behind us, but the catamaran that was beside us. The tide was in the process of changing, the wind was light and boats were drifting in all directions at the same time. Our anchor was well planted in the mud.

Again, the channel was narrow and winding. It was also shallow in spots. We saw one channel marker that was high and dry at low tide. I was very glad we were not in a deep draft sailboat as we would have been aground a number of times.

Beaufort turned out to be a very pretty town that is friendly to boaters. We did the evening tour, buying chocolates from the chocolate factory and going to a wine tasting. Some of the older properties are magnificent with huge oaks and other types of trees growing right over the roadway. Some of the artwork is playful. In one of the pictures, you see Beverley posing with her “sister”, the mermaid.

It was sunset before we returned to the boat.

We had planned to spend a few days in Beaufort, but the whole town is closed on Sundays. So we left.

Nov 9

An early morning exit from Georgetown turned to be more like exodus. There were many other boats of all sizes and shapes leaving from Georgetown and surrounding anchorages at the same time, In the more open river near Georgetown, I found we were able to overtake many vessels by taking advantage of our shallow draft and sticking to the side where the current was considerably weaker. Although moving at roughly the same speed through the water, we probably travelled 40% faster over the land.

The little tri with its mast lashed to its deck just seemed to fly. I think it was still under construction inside as it floated quite high on its water marks.

It turned out to be a motor job all the way to Charleston through mostly narrow, winding channels. Beverley used the time to do some sewing on her new machine. On the way into the city, you pass Fort Sumter where I gather the Civil War started. I believe you can land there, but we did not.

We had originally talked about spending some time in Charleston but decided to head on. The sunset from the anchorage was beautiful,

Nov 7 and 8

We motored all the way from St James to Georgetown. Again, bridge schedules and tides proved to be a challenge.

One of the bridges was quite unusual. It floated. Apparently, it is the last of its kind.

On the 7th, we left just before sunrise and anchored in Prince Creek on the Waccamaw River.

There is a 26 mile land cut that you must travel through to reach the Waccamaw. It is probably the worst section of the Intercoastal. Tides are strong and there is limited room to manoeuvre. Fortunately, most power boat operators are extremely considerate, radioing and then slowing down before making a pass. There is one section, however, that is so narrow that there is not room for a boat and a barge to pass. You must radio ahead before entering to ensure that it is safe. The area is called the Rock Pile. There are numerous rocks projecting from the edge of the river. We passed through at low tide. At high tide, they would be hidden and if you strayed out of the channel, you could be in very serious trouble in a real hurry.

While traversing this cut, you do get to see a lot of beautiful houses and golf courses.(including a gondola across the waterway), floating gambling casinos and even an outlet shopping mall at Conway.

The Waccamaw, by contrast, is undeveloped swamp land. The trees, hanging moss and vines look like something out of a movie. Absolutely beautiful! At one point, we had a real scare. There were all these weeds sticking out of the water. This usually means it is pretty shallow. The sun was low and shining off the water in a way that we could not see if there were any buoys. The GPS and Fugawi chart plotter program showed that we were on course but we came to a complete stop while we figured it out. It turned out to be a lot of debris that we could simply motor through.

In spite of the bridges and currents, we still managed to do about 75 miles on the 7th. This left us with only 20 odd miles to do on the 8th in order to spend the day in Georgetown.

The harbour is crowded (but not impossibly so), so it pays to arrive early. There are lots of restaurants and most stores are not too far away. They even had a piper on the boardwalk to serenade us as we had a final beer with newly found boating friends and before heading back to our boats. This was after Bev had made friends with 3 Torontonians at lunch who then offered to drive her to Walmart.where she got more material to make cushions for boat and work on project for Maggie(her granddaughter).

See, I told you it pays to marry someone who charms absolutely everyone!

Nov 5 & 6

Topsail Sound to St James Plantation Marina, Southport, North Carolina

Bev seemed to really be getting into this voyaging by boat.

Southport is at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. And I thought that Cape Fear was an invention of Steven King! St James Plantation is 15 miles West.

Bev had phoned our friends on the Great Catsby. We knew they were staying at St James Marina (a relative bargain at $1.05 per foot after the 25% Boat US discount), so we decided to join them. Fuel was also relatively inexpensive. The marina is the focal point of a gated city. Can you imagine? This concept is totally foreign to me but it certainly is nice. This community has something like 81 holes of golf, no stores (except for the one in the marina), no schools and houses start at something like half a million.

Unfortunately, our friends had already made dinner plans. So that left us at loose ends – but not for long. As we were walking our dogs, another couple (David and Judy), wine glasses in hand, stopped to talk with us. Their dog was the same cross of breeds as Tuck. And here I thought he was unique! After 5 minutes, Bev invited them to the boat for drinks. They countered by inviting us for dinner. Dinner turned out to be a feast of shrimp, hors d’ouvres and salad. The dogs seemed to appreciate the opportunity to play more with a new friend and our new friends turned out to be exceptional dog lovers.

After some internal debate, we decided to spend a second night at the marina. I used the opportunity to fix the outboard (dirt in the carburettor), break the outboard (fried the impellor since it was not quite underwater in the bucket when I was testing it) and sorted out a few other issues.

Bev got to go shopping and have lunch with the girl.

We also met a couple from Newfoundland the boat Intuition also going to Bahamas: Wayne and Geraldine.

That second evening, we were able to join our friends at a country club where weeks old friendships were rekindled and newer ones were made. Went back to a HOUSE for dessert. Thanks Rich and Carol (The Great Catsby) for having such great friends.

Nov 4

We had a cool but absolutely beautiful day for leaving Beaufort.

There were two things which we tended to hold us up in our travels: tidal currents and bridges. The bridge schedules were sometimes pretty restrictive. Some would open on the hour only and some on the hour and the half hour. Anyone boating through should call 910 686 2018.before approaching the Figure 8 bridge and the Wrightsville bridge to confirm the schedule

It can be a real pain circling for significant periods in a strong current, in a narrow channel. The next day, after waiting for almost 30 minutes for the Figure 8 bridge to open near Wrightsville, we went aground just as the bridge was about to open and with a strong current pushing us further aground. Only quick action, turning the outboard to wiggle our keels allowed us to back free. Right after, a helpful soul in a small fishing boat came over to advise us that we were in dangerous grounds.

Maybe we were too distracted by the artificial palm tree on the artificial island. Who says that governments cannot be just as tacky as individuals?

After a long day, we stopped at an anchorage in Topsail Sound, North Carolina. Three monohulls followed us in. I think they were hoping that we would sound out the waters as the anchorage was unmarked. On the way in, we spied an old Piver plywood trimaran. Bob Williams, eat your heart out (not)!

Nov 2 and 3

The wind was not as strong as predicted but it was still pretty gusty. The storm which created the winds had turned into a hurricane but was held out at sea by a cold front which passed through during the night. It is better to be prepared for some really significant weather and have it turn out to be a false alarm than the other way around.

On the 2nd our “new” dingy motor refused to work after being fine the night before. We did not dare try to row anywhere. Even motoring in a small dingy might have been risky notwithstanding the lack of waves.

On the 3rd, we were liberated. We charged up the trolling motor battery and got it up and running again. We were mobile! The dogs were most appreciative.

Beaufort is a lovely little town with great restaurants, a fairly large maritime museum, a nice bar with internet access where you can update a blog over a beer and the normal selection of stores. Morehead City is right across the river, has many more stores but is much more industrial in nature.