A Tale of Two Chemists: South Carolina Marsh

South Carolina Marsh … Friday 9th November 2012

In our original planning we had intended to go "outside" from Georgetown to Charleston, but after studying the guides it became apparent that it was quite a bit shorter to stay on the ICW because you don't have to go out and in the river estuaries. Today we came about 35 miles from Georgetown and I'm so glad we chose to stay inside. It was a cloudless, almost windless day, and the scenery and atmosphere in the marshes was terrific. As we progressed there were fewer and fewer trees, which only tended to emphasize the "big sky" feel. We are pretty keen birders and today we saw tons. Bald Eagles (> 8), red tailed hawks, marsh harriers, blue herons, great egrets, tricolor heron, loons, kingfishers, snow geese, ruddy ducks etc. At one point we saw a large flock of wood storks (> 100) circling in an updraft. We've seen plenty of wood storks before, but never a flock like this. We also saw dolphins, a coyote on the bank and a raccoon swam across in front of the boat. Early in the afternoon we passed McClellanville and realized that we had stayed here at a B&B for a night back in 2003 on a vacation to Savannah and Charleston. We remember going out for dinner at a nearby crab shack / fish restaurant and Tash collecting a horrible stinky conch shell in the harbor, and the next day we drove through torrential rain to visit a cypress swamp. I think we ate soft shell crabs that night at the restaurant, but I'm not 100% sure! We are now anchored in a creek just off the ICW. There is almost no wind but the current is flowing strongly and has turned us 180o since we first anchored. We were surprised to find three other yachts already here when we arrived (great minds think alike) but nonetheless it is very tranquil with the only sound coming from birds squawking in the reeds. After some web research we think we are hearing Clapper rails ... well they say hearing is the new seeing ... a new species for us, tick! Before we left Georgetown this morning, we took the dinghy to shore and visited the local fish dock and bought some grouper and shrimp. This evening we cooked a fine dinner of sautéed grouper, couscous with shallots and red pepper, and zucchini. It was fabulous! Right now we are cozy in the cabin, listening to the music Tash introduced us to over the summer (Blind Pilot, Bon Iver, Of Monsters and Men, The Shins … and others). Tonight I feel really good about this trip. Tomorrow we have about another 35 miles to get to Charleston.

Mike

33 02 02.2 N, 79 32 18.5 W