Georgia to South Carolina

Blue Heaven Rendezvous #34
Coming up the ICW through Georgia we saw this boat aground. No this shrimp boat wasn’t blown ashore during a hurricane or other storm as you might think. According to Al they purposely beached it to work on the bottom. This is called careening. If you take notice on the right side, you will see a small skiff and men underneath working on the bottom. The tides are extremely high in Georgia being eight foot, so they can work on the boat at low tide. This is an interesting way to work on it without having to pay for a haul out. But think about how many days it must take to get the job done, because at high tide this boat would be floating again.

We spent another night in no-see-um territory in Bull Creek, South Carolina, by passing Savannah. We decided to be able to get to Charleston by a set date to visit friends, we needed to keep moving. We would save that wonderful city for our next trip south. We also motored past Beaufort, SC the next day but had visited there in the fall. Once across St. Catharine’s Sound it became more scenic. We anchored in the Edisto River with one other sailboat there. It was Dawn Treader, the owners whom we met at a friend’s party last summer and whom we saw in Oriental on the way south. It was after 5PM when we arrived and were just too tired to put the dinghy all together to go for a visit, so we just talked on the VHF with them, hoping to catch up with them another time in the future.

The next morning it was extremely foggy, so we took our time and had a good breakfast. You can see how foggy it is in the picture. By about 9am we were able to get motoring. We made the first bridge south of Charleston and were glad to get out of the canal because it was Sunday, and all sorts of boaters were out for a good time. We were going north of Charleston to Dewees Creek which would be close to Isle of Palm for the next day where we were to visit friends. We had to go through a swing bridge but unfortunately on the weekend it opens only on the hour, so we had to idle for 50 minutes. Finally the traffic stops, the bridge opens for us, and only us, and the engine would not power up. We decided it was too dangerous and too slow to go through at idle speed so we had to turn around and abort. I can’t imagine what all the passengers and drivers in those cars thought and said when they saw us turn around and go back down the ICW. Luckily, the wind was in the perfect direction for us to pull out the genoa and sail back to Charleston Harbor. We anchored off a sandy beach where one other boat was anchored. With sailing in and dropping the hook, I told Al I did not want to be where a lot of other boats were anchored. Al started diagnosing the problem and after changing all the filters on the fuel tank and engine, he discovered that we had let the fuel tank get to low and sucked in all the “gunk” from the bottom of the tank. He finally got it started and we headed for the bridge again for the 6PM opening. This time we made it through, although the engine still did not seem quite right. We made it to Dewees Creek with the dolphin leading us in. Once again we had a magnificent sunset in the marsh with dolphins surfacing, mesmerized by the beauty of it all.

The next day we got in very early to the Isle of Palm Marina, because they had no one in the slip. Our engine still did not seem quite right so Al worked on it some more while I cleaned up the boat for our friends, Patty and Harold Smith, to come and see us. We eventually went to their lovely home and biked Sullivan Island and came back most of the way by the beach. We had a great dinner and made plans for them to go sailing the next day. We went down to Charleston Harbor and out into the ocean for a sail going through the bridge both times with no problems which made Al feel more confident about his motor job. That evening we went to a terrific Greek restaurant in Mt. Pleasant called Samos Taverna. It did not look like much from the outside, the décor inside was more American than Greek, but the food was as authentic as we have found in the states and delicious.

We were on our own the next day with the use of one of the Smith’s cars. We got our groceries purchased and returned to the boat. Afterwards we drove to Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. Unfortunately, we were about two weeks late for the blooming azaleas that abound on the property and too early for the magnolias to be blooming. Nonetheless, it was beautiful with other flowers in the gardens, the Audubon swamp garden, marsh and pastures where horses grazed. We got to see 10 inch baby alligators and larger ones, as well as wild turkeys walking across our path.

The next day we left the marina and motored the entire day. We saw several alligators along the way, always just floating in the water with their beady eyes just out of the water. We arrived in the middle of no where and anchored in Minim Creek. As usual sipping wine and watching another sunset ended our day.

The next day we were able to sail almost the entire way to Georgetown, SC. The guidebooks say this town has pluses and minuses. The minuses are a steel mill and paper mill. Both which can be unpleasant when the wind blows in the wrong direction in the anchorage. The other minus is the holding isn’t very good and there is not a lot of space to anchor among the moorings. Our first attempt at anchoring failed and so I flagged a gentleman in his dinghy who just came off one of the moored boats. We asked if the moorings were for transients but he said no, they were private. However, he knew the guy on the mooring next to him was gone for awhile so to just tie up to it, which is what we did for two days.

Al and I walked around to see some of the lovely old homes and came across this huge lovely old oak tree which is said to be over 550 years old with a circumference of 23 feet. There were some small museums, shops and various restaurants along the harbor like most small sea side towns. But one of the pluses is a wonderful seafood store down at the docks where the seafood is brought in. It could not get any fresher! I am certainly getting my fill of shrimp on this trip which is my favorite. Instead of a great sunset with dinner, we had a great rainbow which came out after a brief shower.