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.