Autumn on the Waterway

Fall colors along the ICW

Leaving Wrightsville Beach. NC, we motored through the ICW heading for Calebash Creek which is in South Carolina where we anchored for the night. We got to experience two boats with foreigners, come in and squeeze in between us and the shore to anchor. It probably would have been okay if they knew what they were doing, but I never saw such lousy anchoring as they did.  They did not have a clue how to anchor! We were beside them but you have to figure when the tides changes you will be in back of them at some point. That is the scary part, whether or not they will drag into you. Another boat who was anchored there first and who were behind them pulled up their anchor and went further up the creek after an exchange of a few words. But luckily there were no strong winds and we made it through the night without incidence.

The next day we motored through the “Rock Pile” area near Myrtle Beach. You can see how narrow the ICW is with not a lot of room to go to the side when a tug or shrimper go by.


 One of the interesting things of this part of the trip are the homes you pass by. The homes leaving Wrightsville Beach were more the beach type homes like these.

Beach homes

 It is certainly pink!

Then you get some homes that make your eyes pop like this one!

 Next you have ones closer to Myrtle Beach that look like "McMansions" with waterfalls and landscaping that probably cost as much as our home.

Is it a house or hotel?

What a spread!

But then no more than five minutes down the ICW you see this type of living. To each his own!

The local trailer community.

We saw another interesting structure in Myrtle Beach area. We believe it was something at the airport but maybe it is the ground work for a flying saucer!!!!

UFO maybe?

Gondolas at a stand still over the ICW.

 The last thing you expect to see heading south are gondolas for skiers. I have shown these in past years. They are for the golfers to get to the other side of the golf course. But this was the first year we saw them stuck. They were hanging there stuck right over the ICW. Luckily our mast was low
enough not to hit them and we did not see any people in them.

That night we went into Osprey Marina. We could not pass up the fuel there at $2.04 gal., hot showers, laundry and a quiet night. The next day we headed down the Wacamaw River to Georgetown, SC.

Kayaker on the Wacamaw early morn.

 This is one of our favorite areas with a variety of trees and those with hanging sphagnum moss all along the river's edge. You are seeing some signs of colors changing but probably not like further north.

One of the many side creeks on the Wacamaw.

We got into Georgetown around lunch time. This is one of our favorite towns.

Georgetown, SC with the shrimp boats.

 Unfortunately, being Sunday most of the stores and museums are closed. Most importantly, the Independent Seafood store was closed. We always get the best shrimp for a reasonable price here, $8.99lb. for extra large. So we decided to stay two days to get the shrimp and enjoy the town.

We anchored in the harbor although most of our friends go to the marinas due to the mucky bottom. We were not there very long when a boat called “Natures Call” approached us. She wanted to let us know that they have free pump out service now, only working for tips. Having just been at a marina we did not need it but they need it here due to those living on their boats anchored in the harbor.  It is good to know they are trying to keep the harbor clean.

What an appropriate name for a pump out boat!

We met up with Maryann and Ron on Cavu and their friends. The men were at a restaurant/bar with football games playing while we women did the few shops opened in town. We also walked this historic town which was famous for the rice fields back in the 1700's. That is where people made their fortunes and so was the reason there were so many beautiful stately homes with the majestic live oak trees through out the town.

You can only imagine how old these huge live oaks are!

Add caption

Looking at one of the historical building in town.

Being the third oldest city in South Carolina, only after BEAUFORT, and Charleston, there are many old homes and buildings. We were admiring this preserved 1765 warehouse which is now being used for artist to sell their wares.  It is the oldest commercial building in Georgetown County.

We enjoyed an ice cream and then back to the boat for a light supper. The next day we enjoyed walking around town some more, and I got to go into many more shops to pass the afternoon away. Our friends, Kris and Craig on Tilt came in to a dock. We dinghied over to them had a chat and eventually back to our boat for a delicious Cajun shrimp meal.

 

It rained the entire time from Georgetown to McClellanville. We decided to try stopping at a place we never had been. Al heard from another cruiser that it was a quaint town as well as reading about it in a cruising guide. Unfortunately, we had to pick a rainy gray day. We planned to be there at mid tide or better because it does get a bit shallow going in and we are glad we did. We could not raise anyone on the radio or phone at the marina where we made a reservation because there is only room for 3-4 boats. We decided to go in anyway and as we neared the dock a guy comes running out to help us. I was glad because I don't think I could have lassoed the cleat. We got tied up and shortly afterward the rain stopped. After changing out of wet clothing we quickly got off the boat to head to the one restaurant in town called TW Graham's Seafood Restaurant. It was definitely a local favorite with simple down home cooking with ample servings. We shared a cup of delicious seafood bisque and each had the grilled shrimp, fries and coleslaw platter.

Can't eat too many meals like this, but once in a while it is great!

 And what is a meal in the south without hush puppies! The shrimp were yummy and all but half the fries were eaten. There were just too many!

Afterward we walked back and along the way saw the Arts Center. In this tiny town, they had a cute arts center where regional artist sell their wares. They also had room for classes and even had a room for guest artist come and stay to share their talents. The one thing that caught my eye were these bow ties made from feathers off the fowl that her boyfriend hunts. They were magnificent and expensive at $100. The artist is Lucy Houting and she calls her company, 12 Gauge Ties.  The manager said most people buy them for weddings and special occasions. They come with their own wooden box so that they don't get crushed.

Bow ties made with feathers!  Now there is something you don't see everyday!

Walking through the town we saw 3 churches in the quarter mile walk. The southerners do love their churches.

This was the quaintest of the churches we saw.

We also saw magnificent oak trees again. One even had it's own placard. It said it was a Deerhead Oak, 1000yrs. old, height 67 ft., and the longest limb was 70ft.  You can see how dwarfed Al is near it!

The yellowish spot is where a huge limb broke off.

It had a huge branch that recently broke off in the storms from the hurricane.We have not seen too much damage from the hurricane so far.  There were a few stores in Georgetown that were cleaning up water damage but I heard Columbia, SC was hit bad.

As you can see, McClellanville is a shrimpers port.

Lots of shrimp boats tied up in McClellanville.

Due to the rain which started again, we did not get to see if there was a store to buy the local shrimp here but maybe the next time we can discover it.  Rain is due for one more day and then we will go in to enjoy Charleston hopefully in sunshine.