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Published: January 19th 2013
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making use of power- toast !We left Beaufort North Carolina at around 4 pm Monday 14th, a little earlier than planned by about 2 hours. However since we were ready and wanted to get out of the channel in daylight we cast off. The waves were higher than the forecast suggested, and poor Caribee was bouncing up and down. The good news is the motor does not overheat anymore! We knew the winds would not be in our favour, but we chose this weather window anyway because the waves were supposed to calm down to almost nothing for close to three days. At some point along the trip we would be at an angle to motor sail.
The waves did calm down a bit ,and although it was not a smooth overnight ride it was relatively warm... only one set of gloves and one less layer of pants! We somehow actually stayed ahead of schedule as the night passed. We got close to Cape Fear earlier than expected, and still in the dark. We had decided on the small interior channel instead of rounding the whole section of Frying Pan Shoals to save time, and to not head out as far into the ocean as
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Harborwalk we have been so far. Closer to shore usually means less waves, or at least less chance of those big ones rolling through. Of course just as we are less than two hours from the small channel and making sure we are on course, a heavy fog sets in. With already only a sliver of a moon we now can't see anything. We wait for a while, wondering if we should still try to find the three buoys that are the small channel. We decide we don't want to risk anything and change course to go all the way around the shoals. This is going to cost us hours!
At the last minute, as we are almost past the safe water buoy, the fog lifts with the daylight. We are able to get back on course towards the interior channel after all. Once in the deep water again on the other side we try our luck at motor sailing. We get some wind. THe angle is not so good- we are heading towards Little River Inlet and that is way too north on the coast if we are trying to get to Charleston. But at least we are heading
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view of Harborwalk from Buzz's Roost for the coast and calmer waters. We stay on the course for a bit until we really decide we have to head more south and we take in the sail. We are still ahead of schedule, we will be in Charleston just as the dawn breaks now. Along the way we find more wind- it has shifted a bit in our favour. Marty takes out the genoa as I (Lori) sleep in the cockpit- I wake up to find Caribee doing 8 knots and the ocean to be almost totally calm! We are visited by more dolphins- a lot of them this time and they stay for a bit longer- maybe because we are going faster and are therefore more interesting than our 5 knots last trip. We average 7 knots for a while and get even more ahead of schedule..... now we will be entering Charleston at night, and we are not pleased with that. We have been told and have read that it is a confusing harbour at night if you are not familiar with it due to the many shipping lanes and to the large ships themselves entering and departing at all hours. We will monitor our
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fishing boats progress and figure things out as the day nears its end.
The forecast calls for dense for again in the evening. We decide there is no way we will enter CHarleston now, and we look for another place to go where we might get in before nightfall, or at least before the fog. We see we are heading straight for Georgetown. ALthough I had heard and read that Georgetown was worth the visit, it was not on my stopping list because it, like Savannah, is too far inland and too much time will be wasted. Unfortunately, the other close choice of Murrells Inlet was already a bit to our north- we decided to go to Georgetown because the channel is easy and well marked even if it is long. We read that it is a safe place to enter, but to watch for the tides. As I quickly read about the area and see where we can land and as we look for the buoys we forget to check the tides after all. We make our way into a long channel which is indeed very well marked and would probably be beautiful in the daytime. But it is really
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front street really long...... and hour goes by or more. Luckily the tide is with us and we have over 2 extra knots at our back. Then the fog hits. The dodger windows fog up too from the change of temperature, but in the end even I can't see anything on the deck so that doesnt matter. Marty tells me where the buoys are supposed to be, and I panick until I finally see a glint of red or green peek out of the fog. It is scary for Marty because he can't see the buoys that he sees on the gps. It is equally scary for me who quickly studied the channel but now with a light up on the deck cannot see what Marty is seeing on the gps and has no idea what direction we are going in or where we are supposed to be going without seeing the landscape or the buoys that I know are somewhere close by. What worried me more was that sometimes additional posts or signs are added and are not on the gps, and even though we are hardly motoring at all the current is keeping us moving enough to have an uncomfortable
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Front street impact should we hit one. The worst is that the last section of the channel leading to the marina I chose ( the one I thought would be easiest at night because it was straight ahead no curves to negociate in the dark.... didn't think of the fact that it was on the biggest river and therefore would have the most current!) had no LIT buoys. Marty called out where they were supposed to be and I desperately tried to find them with my light. Nothing. "oh well, never mind we passed it...." This is a horrible experience. The fog clears a little as we finally see lights for what could be our marina. I know there is a very long welcome dock for transients, Marty knows there is a dock but does not know how long it is. As we find it and approach it he gets close to the dock, but not enough for me to jump off. I try to tell him to keep going forward, but he is being pushed by the current. We back up and try again, with no luck. The third time I get on the dock, but not even half of Caribee
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getting ready for the nasty weather is flush with the dock- I was able to only jump onto the corner of the dock and I jumped from before the stays. To my horror Caribee starts getting pushed by the current AROUND the dock to the other side backwards! I can't pull her forward onto the dock alone. I hear the squeaking sound of boat squishing dock and try to ease her around and push her off so we can tie up to the other side, I am not having much success. Marty manages to jump off as Caribee is swinging slowly around the end of the dock and I squish between a sign and a pole to get to the other side of the dock as well and try to keep her from pushing on the corners of the dock. We get her tied up and change the fenders. Amazingly our flashlight shows no damage to our new paint. Maybe in the morning we will see it. I sit on the dock and cry- it was a long stressfull two hours coming in. And the stress was our fault- we learned that you should never go into a place at night that you have not properly
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beautiful old homes researched. We would have been better to backtrack to Murrells, or to cut our speed, proceed to Charleston and hover outside somewhere until daylight cleared the fog I guess.
The next morning there is a good wind, a lot of sunshine and some current still. We listen to the weather and it has not changed- we still have until Thursday evening before the bad weather comes and it is Tuesday morning. Marty does some calculations and we decide we can be in Hilton Head before noon Thursday if we leave at noon today. We are setting up to leave when I notice green liquid again in the collar where the motor meets the saildrive. I clean it up and Marty listens again to the weather which has changed slightly- winds will be a bit higher than before. We talk about it and decide that we think the front might be coming in earlier, we are still tired and we will go into Georgetown itself to wait out the weather, refuel and take another look at the motor.
I am happy we did. We rested well Wednesday night, looked around beautiful Georgetown and made more plans. Georgetown has amazing
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mature trees architecture, a bigger front street than Beaufort and has lots of mature trees. A waterfront boardwalk has been built and you can sit at a restaurant right on the water. Georgetown claims to be the third oldest city in South Carolina, and it has a very interesting history that can be learned through the museums or by the plaques in front of the oldest and most influencial buildings which look for the most part like they did over a century ago. Again it is a pleasure to walk the streets here!
The bigger winds came in by 1pm Thursday instead of late evening, accompanied by a bunch of boats off the ocean and ICW looking for shelter! By evening we were tilted sideways at the dock and having an inside dinner (fresh fish and shrimp caught earlier that day!) safe from the rain and wind. Friday the temperature dropped from 24 to 14, but we still did some preparations because wind and waves were diminishing enough to leave Saturday morning. The forecast looks good for most of the week, and best of all the winds will finally be in our favour for the first time- we can sail properly!
Because of our location now on the coast, we will have to skip Charleston, sadly. We will also skip Hilton Head unless something goes wrong. We have decided that we will no longer enter anywhere at night unless it is an emergency, so we have planned a few possible stops and we will decide where to stop depending on where we are when morning hits. We are hoping to make St Simons or even better St Mary's so we can meet up with Anthyllide and crew again!
Bye Bye South Carolina!
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Craig
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HATS OFF TO YOU BOTH
You're doing something people only talk about doing, my hat off to you both. Your courage, determination and sence of adventure is truly inspiring. Safe travels, God speed. Over and out, Craig