You dont always get what you want

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The winds changed direction and off through the ocean inlet we went. Nice sunny day, our aim Beaufort North Carolina. In the entrance channel we were approached by a coast guard boat complete with a manned machine gun on it's bow. He wanted us to move over as far as possible since there was a submarine coming out astern of us. Well we are not inclined to argue with either guns or submarines. We got all the way out of the channel. Good thing too, these things throw an
enormous wake. At Mark's word I turned Witchcraft to meet the huge waves the sub had created, and back into the channel we went.
Sail up motor off and we settled into our northerly direction. The winds were flukey and not exactly as advertised as regards direction. We were making poor time and heading. Various combinations of sail and motor were tried. At one point there was a big scramble to get all sail down as a squall was headed our way.. The jib stuck requiring Mark to go out on the bowsprit to get it down, not nice in the rain and lumps. Luckily the squall passed astern of us, and we just got damp. It did however become clear that we would not make our intended port in a timely fashion. We entered Charleston in the early morning 01:00 and negotiated the myraid of lights, container ships not to mention ebb tide running against the wind and waves. Now the wind was not much of a thing but the lumps leftover from six days of north easterly winds were sizable in the inlet. We were settled in place at four am. This run should have taken no more than 30 hours and took in reality over 48 hours. You dont always get what you want.
We are now proceeding via the ICW, slower yes but keeps us moving in the right direction. This will let us see a chunk of the ICW we have not seen before. The nightly anchorage planning begins, setting out which anchorage we want to make, and figuring out alternates. Current will either slow or speed our passage on a gien day.
The Waccamw River is lovely, perhaps the nicest bit of the waterway. Large trees, side streams, marshes and wildlife line it's banks. I wondered what was swimming in front of the bow of the boat and discovered it was several alligators crossing the river. The preservation efforts seem to have worked. Turtles swim around the boat when you are anchored, and one still sees dolphins regularily.
We are as the song says moving on.

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Photos

Anchorage
company in Thouroughfare Crekk

Turtles
company around the boat

Comments

[CFG on Melodeon]

You guys are brave!
We came in at night ONCE in a squall to Solomon's Island. That's enough for at least a year! LOL Good blog. Nice scenery ahead. Take care. CFG

[svwitchcraft]

you guys are brave
We are not brave it is just the way it worked out. *sigh* Waccamaw River is lovely as advertised.

[Curmudgeon]

Waccamaw well worth the trip
Glad you enjoyed the Waccamaw. Meredith certainly did. Sorry to hear you had to cut in to Charleston - so much westing to no good effect. Will you go outside at Norfold and direct to New York or are you heading up the Chesapeake. If the Chesapeake you may burn a lot of fuel as the wind sort of dies over the summer. Whatever you do enjoy the trip. bob and connie

[Diane Alarie]

slow going
We have been watching the blog daily to see how far you made it. The weather on the eastern seaboard has been crap for sailing north. We have seen several come into Cape Marine after surviving a squall out on the open ocean. Two of these boats are over 50ft and are unable to do the ICW. It is such a waiting game. We are doing well with our projects and hope to leave the last week of June. Best of luck, always in our thoughts SV Joana