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