…Further into South Carolina

This post is mainly to catch everyone up on where we are, and our plans for the next couple of weeks.  I’m finding it difficult to say much about our travels recently.  I think that’s because we started so late in the season and we are trying to stay as far ahead of the cold weather as we can.  Our stops are governed by the sun, the weather, the waters and mechanical issues, rather than based on where we want to spend our time.  When we come back in the spring, I really want to spend more time in South and North Carolina.

A word about Osprey Marina in Myrtle Beach.  We really enjoyed our time there.  The place has a unique fell to it.  It’s located maybe 200 yards off of the ICW and is completely surrounded by dense trees right up to the water in every direction, so it has the feeling of complete isolation.  Some one told me that it was built in the ravine of a former quarry, and it certainly looks like it.  The lagoon has steep sides so you look up at everything except the water and the boats.  This area was severely affected by floods following Hurricane Michael.  The marina owners nailed long 2x4s above the pilings so the docks would not float away.

Our 13 nights at Osprey included a few days with C’est la Vie, then they headed south while we stayed for a break and Thanksgiving.  Kitty’s bother and sister-in-law joined us for a few days then we spent Thanksgiving in Greensboro.  We came back to Osprey on Sunday then started our journey again on Monday.

Monday, November 26 – to Georgetown, SC

Distance traveled: 28 nautical miles
Travel time: 4 hours, 20 minutes

Georgetown was intended to be an overnight stop, with a longer day of travel the next day.  However, when doing our pre-travel checks on Monday evening, we found that the engine’s cooling water intake strainer was leaking into the bilge.  Not knowing how severe a problem this was, we postponed our departure from Georgetown on Tuesday and arranged for a local mechanic to investigate and make any repairs.

This turned out to be 100% an error on our part, and one we are glad we made.  The problem was that after cleaning out the strainer basket at Osprey, we did not replace the cap properly.  All the mechanic had to do was tighten a couple of wing nuts better than we had done.  However, while poking around in our engine room, he noticed that we were missing some of the coupling bolts that hold the prop shaft in place, and that the remaining bolts were loosely connected.  I’m no mechanic, but even I know that it’s good for the propeller shaft to be securely connected to the transmission.  If not for the strainer basket problem, we would not have detected this until all the remaining bolts came off and we were left adrift somewhere.  He connected the nuts and bolts we needed, and we were ready to leave Georgetown on Wednesday morning.

I didn’t mind the extra day in Georgetown.  It’s the kind of place I like to dock – a small town with a historic downtown close to the docks.  Kitty and I had a nice dinner on Monday at the River Room.  We sat on their waterfront deck and enjoyed the warm breezes.  Those breezes came from the heating units inside the tent – outside it was 40 degrees with a 20 mile-per-hour wind.

Wednesday, November 28 – to Isle of Palms, South Carolina

Distance traveled: 47 nautical miles
Travel time: 7 hours, 10 minutes

Starting today, our journey is dictated by tides, currents and the availability of places to stop.  We’ll have some fairly long days and some really short ones.  And of course, there will be rainy and/or windy days when we won’t want to travel.  Hopefully we’ll spend these days in some interesting places.

See the photo below – can you spot the jetty wall?  Neither can I – in the high water it is just below the surface, but it is visible on the nautical charts.

Isle of Palms is about 7 miles before you get to Charleston harbor.  We stopped here because the tide was going out and there is some really shallow water a few miles ahead of us.  Just past Charleston is Elliott Cut, as stretch known for its swift currents when the tide is rising or falling.  We’ll leave Isle of Palms at about 10:30 tomorrow morning to catch the nearby section on a rising tide and Elliott’s Cut hopefully right at high tide or shortly after when there will be little current.  If Sabrina were to catch Elliott’s Cut with the max current coming at us, we’d struggle to move forward at all.  With the max current behind us, she’d be hard to control.  The wild card is two swing bridges with clearance just over 30 feet.  Sabrina can pass under both bridges without them being opened, but we are likely to find ourselves behind some taller ships and sailboats waiting for bridge openings.  We aren’t the only ones travelling when the tides and current are in our favor.

Tomorrow we are only traveling 15 miles to St. John’s Yacht Harbor, because the next good stop is 56 miles past that.

Our plans only go as far as Jacksonville, FL at this point.  We have arranged to leave Sabrina there for a month starting around December 10.  During that time, we’ll take care of some personal business in Maryland and go to Baton Rouge for the holidays.  Here’s our best guess at the legs of that trip.  Each leg is one day – weather and the need to do laundry will dictate some multi-night stops.

St. John’s Yacht Harbor – 15 miles
Beaufort, SC – 56 miles
Thunderbolt, GA – 17 miles
Delegal Creek, GA – 41 miles
Kilkenny Creek, GA – 11 miles (via Hell Gate – stay tuned!)
St. Simon’s Island – 55 miles
Amelia Island, FL – 38 miles
Jacksonville, FL – 39 miles