November 22-24

We discovered that you don’t need to make many sightseeing plans for Thanksgiving Day, because you’re not going anywhere, and nothing is open even if you do get there. That actually worked out pretty well, though, since there are always lots of ‘chores’ to take care of on the boat. It was nice to have a day to just take care of some of these.

On Friday we caught the bus into Savannah and spent the entire day touring about. Downtown Savannah has been very thoughtfully restored to maintain its original architecture. The shops along the riverfront are quaint and interesting



After spending the morning wondering about, we were hungry and headed for the noted restaurant The Lady and Sons run by the apparently very well-known Paula Deen. Our timing was perfect, as we were able to get in without a wait, even at lunchtime. The buffet served, in part, fried chicken (unbelievably good), collard greens, black-eyed peas, sweet potato … the very best of southern home-style cooking.

After lunch we went on a 90 minute bus tour of the historic area of Savannah. This provided an overview and tease of all of the things we need to come back and see.

While waiting for the bus to get back to the boat, we walked through the cemetery alongside. The tour bus driver had told us about this gravestone dating back to the eighteen hundreds. Can you see why it is noteworthy?


Saturday has been cool and windy, a perfect day to get some provisions and blog postings completed in preparation for an early departure, with lots of high tide, for some 'thin' waters on Sunday.

November 19-21

We have decided that we know it is going to be a good day when we don’t see our breath when we get up in the morning. We have been on a wonderful string of good days, and are thoroughly enjoying it.

On Monday we traveled from Charleston to Bass Creek, a small creek off the Parrot River. The scenery is beautiful through this relatively undeveloped stretch of the waterway, and we had a leisurely trip.

We made the relatively short run to Factory Creek, just outside of Beaufort, on Tuesday. One should be sure to get the pronunciation right. In South Carolina it is pronounced ‘Bew-fort’, as opposed to ‘Bo-fort’ in North Carolina. The story goes that although both towns were named for the Duke of Beaufort, North Carolinians pronounce it with a proper French accent, while in South Carolina they say it however they want, thank-you very much.

Beaufort is a vibrant town with a rich history through the civil war era as well as in terms of pop culture. There are homes and buildings dating to the 1700s, as well as the Beaufort National Cemetery containing 12 000 graves of Confederate soldiers.

On the pop culture side, both of the movies The Big Chill and Forrest Gump were filmed in Beaufort.

Bay Street, the main street along the waterfront, has a number quaint shops and restaurants with decks overlooking the harbour. We had a nice lunch on one of these decks as we took a break from our search for the cooking classic Hoppin’ John’s Lowcountry Cooking. We are assured it contains recipes for shrimp and grits and the other famous Lowcountry classic, Frogmore stew.

On Wednesday we continued on to Turner Creek, a nice anchorage from which we will be able to gain bus access to Savannah, Georgia. Along the way we passed by the Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot and, at the other end of the spectrum, Hilton Head Island. I have always associated Hilton Head with golf courses, of which there are twenty-five. Apparently it also has 250 restaurants.

Nearing the anchorage we passed by Bonaventure Cemetery, which sets the stage for the novel and movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Without television, we are really enjoying reading the books with associated different parts of the trip.

November 16-18

We set off early Friday morning for Charleston. Our intention had been to take a marina slip upon arrival and spend Friday afternoon and Saturday exploring. No slips were available when we arrived so we ended up anchoring out in the river, an excellent spot.

This picture looks back from where we were anchored to the mega dock of the City Marina. There are three large boats in the picture. Grits, the one on the right, was in Solomons when we were there and it looked very big at the time. In this picture it is overshadowed by the other two boats. The grey boat is called Kismet. The URL below describes the boat and makes for interesting viewing.
http://www.moranyachts.com/Article/?ID=54

Charleston is a great town. On Friday afternoon we wandered down King Street, a very trendy shopping area. Unfortunately we couldn’t find any festive dresses or holiday attire that seemed quite right for the boat.



On Saturday we browsed through the ‘market’, a four block long collections of shops and stands. I asked in one of the shops if I could try on one of the ‘southern gentleman’ hats for a picture for our blog, and the owner replied, with a big smile, ‘Nope, you’d look much better in this one.’

The shopping was actually pretty good at the market. We bought a bag of grits – because we are still looking for the perfect recipe for shrimp. We did make the one fella’s version of fried shrimp, minus the hog fat, the olive oil and most of the butter, and they were very good. Our favorite so far, though, has been boiled shrimp with a liberal sprinkling of a southern spice concoction.

There were numerous stalls selling the most beautiful baskets made of sweetgrass. We admired these each time we went by, but settled for a ‘rose’, which this young lad made in just a couple of minutes. They really are a work of art, but unfortunately don’t stay together very long.

On the way back to the boat, I said, ‘Maybe we should stay another day.’

Corinne replied, ‘I think that’s a great idea.’

Sunday morning we went for a long walk around the battery, the harbour edge of town. Charleston is steeped in history, beautiful old homes and gardens.

After our walk we met another cruising couple from England for lunch. Three of us, in a moment of recklessness, ordered the shrimp and grits, which were phenomenal. I have to figure out how they do that.

November 15

We nosed our way out of the creek early Thursday morning and headed for McClellanville.

The South Carolina shores are often referred to as the Lowcountry and are very marshy and undeveloped. This is in stark contrast to North Carolina, where there is considerable housing development along the shores.

We seem to have fallen out of sync with other cruisers, as we met no other sailboats throughout the day, and only an occasional motorboat. Indeed, the only company along the way seemed to be the birds keeping an eye on things.

McClellanville is a very quaint community built around the shrimp and fishing industry. We were happy to be tied up at the dock, as strong winds and rain had just preceded our arrival.

The two fellas who gave us a hand were working on the boat beside us, and seemed very happy to take a break and chat. We soon got them on to shrimp recipes, telling them that we had barbecued them with shells on last night. The older fella said, ‘You did what!’ As it turns out, you only leave the shells on if you are going to boil them.

The younger fella said, ‘I’m a shrimp and grits kinda guy,’ and explained how we could prepare them in that way.

The older fella said, ‘I like them best fried.’ When pressed, he explained, ‘Well, you heat up some hog fat, add a little olive oil because it’s good for the heart, and of course some butter, and then throw in some onions, anything tastes good with onions, and when that’s smellin’ good, toss in the shrimp.’

And in answer to one final dumb question, ‘Nah, you never worry about taking out the vein.’

November 14

We are now in South Carolina, and passed through Myrtle Beach Wednesday morning. This is a very populated area with beautiful homes along the waterfront. There is also an abundance of golf courses, which makes we wonder if I shouldn't have snuck on a few golf clubs. One course has holes on both sides of the waterway with a cable car that ferries golfers and their clubs back and forth.

We have noticed two changes this morning. First of all, many of the homes in Myrtle Beach have Christmas decorations up. Secondly, as we pass into less populated areas, the fall colours in the trees have appeared, almost as if overnight.

We anchored in Thoroughfare Creek in mid-afternoon. As the afternoon warmed up wonderfully, we dinghied ashore to do a little exploring. At shore was a 20 to 30 foot high sand cliff, a smaller version of what we used to play on at Wanasing. Just as we pulled up to the beach, a fisherman pulled in as well. We went over to chat with him, and he explained that Sandy Island had been declared a nature preserve. ‘You can see all sorts of wildlife here - raccoons, deer, foxes and wild hogs. You have to be careful of them hogs,’ he said, ‘they’ll git ya.’ That was pretty much the end of the conversation, and definitely the end of the exploring!

Last night we bought a pound of fresh shrimp on the dock at Calabash Creek. A mother and her daughter, a real cutie, weighed them out and before putting them into the bag asked if we wanted the heads off. I said, ‘Sure, but how do you do that?’

The little girl replied, ‘It's easy, just squeeze them just like this’, and so came our first lesson in cleaning shrimp. Fresh shrimp are amazingly good, and we are experimenting with different ways of cooking them.

November 12-13

Tuesday was a great day traveling along a surprisingly populated part of the waterway. Beautiful homes line the shores, almost all the way to Carolina Beach, where we spent the night.

It has been cool, especially at night, so we are trying to cover at least 40 to 50 miles a day. Although that doesn’t sound like a great distance in land terms, it is typically an eight to nine hour day of traveling.

On Wednesday morning we motored through the Cape Fear River. The guide book says the ‘Cape Fear River is appropriately named; winds always seem to be blowing at the mouth, the current runs to 6 knots, and there is ship traffic day and night … if the wind opposes the current, river conditions here can be treacherous.’ Does it make you wonder who does this stuff, or just who writes about it? We had a wonderfully calm passage while coming to the appreciation that this is a significant body of water.

We also had to pass through Lockwoods Folly inlet and Shallotte Inlet. These are two areas notorious for shoaling and shallow water. Gormã draws five feet, and so when our depth finder registers numbers beginning with four we begin to worry. With good planning we were making these passages during the upper half of the tide change, but imagine our anxiety wending our way through this fishing derby in only five feet of water.

We anchored in Calabash Creek and dinghied into the small town of Calabash with a couple sailing on Wayward Wind for an authentic supper of Calabash cooking.

November 11

We got an early start Sunday morning, hoping to get as far as Mile Hammock Bay within the boundaries of Camp Lejune. We have begun to see a number of shrimp boats the last few days. They make quite a sight as they are motoring along with their nets spread.

Much of this part of the trip was along Bogue Sound. It is a beautiful stretch of waterway through a channel along the western edge of the sound. This channel is bounded by sand dunes along the seaward edge.

Shoaling, however, is a constant problem along the waterway. By 8:30 am we had encountered a sailboat sitting helplessly on the wrong side of a green marker, just outside of the channel, waiting for the towboat to come and pull them loose.

Now you would know you’re having a bad day if you were driving this jeep, which we encountered along the waterway at Camp Lejeune, or if you had encountered this set of markers in the middle of the channel.



They tell you to make a zig-zag which you find hard to believe. Remember that sailboat from earlier in the day? Apparently he didn’t believe it, and was hung up, waiting impatiently I’m sure, for another tow. The sad thing is his boat blocked the markers for the boat behind him, and before you know it, two boats were hard aground.

I know what you’re thinking. No, it wasn’t us. We were able to sneak past and make our way to Mile Hammock Bay. This is a small man-made harbour that was created during World War ll to provide a place where marines could practice amphibious landings. It was peculiar to look one way upon a rusting relic of a troop ship secured at dock and the other way to a beautiful sunset in a secure anchorage shared with twelve other boats.

November 6-10

South Lake was a very pretty anchorage, and interestingly, the first time in our entire trip that we have had an anchorage to ourselves.

While we have been suggesting that the first part of the ICW involves many passages through canals and small rivers, this may be a deceiving characterization. Much of this first portion is wide open water passing through the Currituck, Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds and the Alligator and Neuse Rivers.

Wind direction and velocity make a huge difference in the speed and comfort of these passages. On Tuesday we had a very slow and bumpy ride up the Alligator River before heading into the twenty-mile long Alligator River - Pungo River Canal. We were very content to be nestled into Broad Creek off the Pungo River and enjoy a ‘sundowner’.


On Wednesday we crossed parts of Pamlico Sound and headed up the Neuse River to a comfortable spot in Broad Creek. The wind was again brisk, but this time from behind us, and we had a fabulous day sailing downwind under genoa alone. For much of the day we would look out and see nothing but boats, largely sail, stretched out to the horizon both in front of and behind us.

A short jaunt Thursday brought us to Oriental, NC. It was time for some regular maintenance - oil and fuel filter changes as well as laundry and showers. Which of these do you suppose is the most expensive?

When we meet up with people who have made this trip previously, and ask about some of the must-see places along the way, they regularly mention Beaufort, NC. On Friday we had an interesting trip to Taylor Creek, which is waterfront of the town of Beaufort.

Along the way we passed dolphins at a couple of points, I think this will always be a thrill, and a dredge. The Corps of Engineers is constantly monitoring and dredging shallow spots along the ICW. My theory is that working the dredge must be very monotonous, and so to provide some entertainment, the operators leave a pile of sand at the edge of the now constricted channel they are working on. They then bet among themselves whether an approaching boat will pass safely through, or …

Shackleford horses can often be seen grazing on the saltmarsh corngrass that grows on the island area along the south side of Taylor Creek. While their origins are not clear, it is thought these horses may be descendants of early explorers, possibly dating back to the conquistadors. This is Carrot Island, part of the grazing area, just off the stern of the boat.
SHACKLEFORD

November 4-5

We rather outfoxed ourselves this Sunday morning. We set the alarm to get an early start, but felt a little foolish listening to the weather forecast at 5:45 am when we were sure we had set the alarm for 6:45 am. We totally missed the return to standard time!

We figured out how to get a close-up view of a Navy helicopter, though. You simply depart Hampton Roads at the same time as an aircraft carrier, in this case Warship 69. We were subject to very close scrutiny by the helicopter pictured flying just above the carrier. We sat very still and altered our course wide to starboard.

Shortly after Norfolk/Portsmouth there is a lock which equalizes the water level between Hampton Roads and the Intracoastal Waterway. The lock operates hourly, and so on busy days, a number of boats lock through at once. On Sunday, eleven boats were packed into the lock with us for the 12:30 passage. This makes for quite a flotilla as the lock empties and everyone continues on their way.

The return to standard time has changed our evening schedule as well – mainly there is no evening. We were quite thankful for this after a long day when we tried to make our way into Blackwater Creek, twice, and got hung up on a shoal each time. We ended up anchoring in the mouth of the creek with one other boat, who I’m thinking met the same fate as us. Just before turning in, I went above to check things out, just in time to see a tug and barge pass not far off our bow.

Monday morning we were up to get an early start as well, this time on purpose, and in our haste, and fog, passed the green daymarker on the starboard side. You shouldn’t do that. Drat! Stuck again. Brother Doug says there are only two kinds of sailors, those who have been aground, and liars.

After that ignominious start, we had a great day. We passed through Currituck Sound and then on to Albemarle Sound in the afternoon. It was pretty breezy, which led to a spectacular sail across a sound that has a reputation of being at times rather difficult. Once again, the day passes too quickly, and evening approaches in another beautiful anchorage.

November 1-3

We spent Halloween evening anchored in the Hampton River, just off the campus of Hampton University. Hampton University is one of the top ten ‘historically black colleges and universities’ in the United States. The area for anchoring is restricted to a single line in which there were seven tightly packed sailboats just outside of the navigable channel. Interestingly, all but one of these boats was Canadian.

On the other side of the river is the Bluewater Yachting Center. This is the starting point for the Caribbean 1500, a race/cruise from Hampton, Virginia to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. They are scheduled to depart November 4th, but current weather may have some impact on that.

Hampton Roads is a very interesting area, steeped in history and commerce. ‘Roads’ is a mariner’s term for anchorage. Hampton Roads is located in the mouth of the James River, at the bottom of Chesapeake Bay, with immediate access to the Atlantic Ocean. Hampton Roads is bound by Hampton and Newport News on the north side and Norfolk and Portsmouth on the south side.

The town of Hampton is the oldest English-speaking settlement in America, founded in 1610. Another interesting piece of folklore is that when the pirate Blackbeard was captured and beheaded, his head was hung on a post in the Hampton River.

Newport News is home to the largest shipyard in the world, owned by Northrop Grumman. Norfolk is the site of the Norfolk Naval Base and a short distance away is Langley Air Force Base.

The weather on Wednesday and Thursday was very nice, with highs in the mid-70s. We wanted to get a picture of us in shorts in November, but as you can see, I couldn’t scramble aboard from the dock before the timer went off.

Friday and Saturday, however, were much windier. Whether due to Noel or just a strong cold front, the winds were 20 to 30 knots, with gusts to 40 knots during the night. We are counting on things settling down on Sunday so that both the Caribbean 1500 and we can get off to a smooth start.

October 29-31

Monday morning was clear and cool, and that is pretty much how it stayed for the entire day. It was good to be on the move again, and after a full day we were very happy to find a nice spot to anchor in Mill Creek on the Great Wicomico River.

It was again cool and clear on Tuesday, and just to reinforce the point, there has been a frost warning on the marine radio forecast for the past two nights. The broadcast also notes the wind speed and water temperature at a number of coastal locations, and the water temperature has been hovering between 63 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit, so we are not in any danger of freezing. The sunrises are always beautiful, and with a cup of hot coffee make a great way to start the day.

We have moved a little quicker than we originally planned, in anticipation of some inclement weather. After spending Tuesday night in Chisman Creek on the Poquoson River, we headed for Hampton Roads. This is a great stopping over spot before moving on to Norfolk and the beginning of the Intracoastal Waterway.

Wednesday was a gorgeous day, marked by the return of warm temperatures and the highlight, to date, of our trip. Corinne was at the helm and I was busy elsewhere when she called, ‘Greg, come quickly.’ Sometimes I am not as quick as I should be, and so there was another call, this time with a decided note of urgency. I looked ahead to see what was causing concern, and we were being escorted by a pod of dolphins - jumping and playing in our bow wave. It was a spectacular sight and a great welcoming party.