A Tale of Two Chemists: Waccamaw River, South Carolina

Waccamaw River, South Carolina … Wednesday 7th November 2012

You know Brits love to talk about the weather, so let the former me start by saying it was sunny but rather cold this morning (British understatement). We don't have a thermometer but the weather channel said it was 36oF at 8am. We cranked up our Espar heater to warm up the cabin and took hot showers at the marina facilities. We finally got away about 9.15 am and headed down the "rock pile" section of the ICW. This area is somewhat treacherous if you get out of the channel as there are many submerged rock ledges. All went smoothly and we negotiated a number of swing bridges. This section runs just inland of Myrtle Beach and It's interesting to see the amount of construction that's going on at the edges of the canal. What was once wild and natural has mostly been clear cut and there are luxury houses / condos going up all along. After about 20 miles we made it to the Waccamaw river, where nature still triumphs. This area is very beautiful with moss covered cypress forests and no apparent development. Shortly after entering the river a coast guard power boat came up behind us and then drew level. We were certain that we were about to be boarded and inspected, but after giving a good look from alongside they simply waved and roared off. There are a number of secluded anchorages along the river and we chose to go up Bull Creek because it gets good reviews in the "Skipper Bob" guidebook. It is supposed to have good holding but we really struggled to achieve a solid hook. It seemed like the anchor was scraping along rock, it would rumble along the bottom, seem to grip, then as we backed up harder it would pop. We finally managed to get a secure holding on the 4th attempt. You are advised to use a trip line in this area to help recover the anchor if it gets snarled up, but after our first three attempts we took the trip line off in case it was this that was messing up the anchor. Now we are well hooked I'm worried that we won't be able to get the anchor back. I'd be more worried if we hadn't already decided to replace our primary anchor (45 lb CQR) with a better model (55lb Rocna), but I'd hate to lose any chain. This is an exceptionally secluded spot. No other people, no boats, no lights … only the sound of the birds. We heard a Northern Screech Owl at dusk, but this looks like Ivory Billed Woodpecker territory to us so we are hoping to see one tomorrow. Here's hoping they aren't really extinct!

Mike

33 36 02.9 N, 79 06 29.3 W