Georgetown, Charleston, and a Change of Plans

Tuesday, Nov 8, 2016

Today was a fairly short day from Thoroughfare Creek to Georgetown SC.  We got in early, got gas, water, and a pumpout.  Both of us were feeling lazy, so we just anchored instead of exploring the town.  Just before sunset, our neighbor boat "North Star" from the night before pulled up and anchored ahead of us.

Wednesday, Nov 9, 2016

Since so many people we've talked to recommended skipping the shallow, unmaintained Georgia section of the ICW, we started giving serious consideration to going "outside" at Charleston and making a single run down the coast to Fernandina Beach, FL.  Both of these inlets are straightforward, and it would take about a day and a half.  Our friend Bill Bredlow, who will be crewing with us on the crossing to Bimini, Bahamas later in the trip, had indicated that he would be interested if we decided to go outside, so we gave him a call to start things rolling.  Then, this morning, we tuned in to Chris Parker's daily marine weather net, for which we are a subscriber.  In response to our specific question, Chris said that this coming Sunday & Monday would be a pretty benign weather window for Charleston to Fernandina, with favorable wind and sea state on Sun, and decreasing on Monday.

Doing Charleston today in one shot would be a long day, so we elected to do another short day and stop halfway at Five Fathom Creek just outside of a little town called McClellanville. The run down Winyah Bay was a fast 8 kts with the current behind us.  Once back in the canals, things slowed down.  We saw a few dolphins in the canal, but they just passed us by. Herons were everywhere.

Joan thoroughly enjoys taking the helm, even in the narrow, shallow canals.

Five Fathom Creek is just off the canal, and is actually quite deep. It leads out to the Atlantic, and large shrimp fishing boats go in and out of McClellanville this way.  We anchored just past the town cut that the shrimpers use, in a much shallower part of the creek.

Fishing Boat Returning

The creek is situated in the middle of hundreds of acres of marshland without a tree in sight. Wildlife abounds.  We've seen herons, pelicans, and a bald eagle.  Still no alligators.

Tomorrow, we'll get to Charleston and take a slip for a few days. Bill will come down on Friday, and, if the weather forecast continues to cooperate, we'll head outside Sunday.