Rain, Wind, Lightning and Thunder

Rain, Wind, Lightning and Thunder

Monday November 30, 2020

When the rain started sometime during the night, I heard Mike get up and close the hatch above the V-berth.  I went back to sleep but kept thinking that there was a lot boat of wake for the middle of the night.  Duh! All that motion was the waves kicked up by the storm.  At about 5:30 am Mike got up and I could hear what sounded like hail on the boat (wind-driven rain).  Then there was an almighty clang.  I started pulling on clothes.  Eventually, Mike re-appeared to say that he had removed the bimini top to reduce the windage.  The bang was the bimini arch support hitting a winch - Mike forgot it would fall down if the canvas is removed! Whilst up I did see readings of 35 knots on our wind instrument so we weren’t imaging the ferocity of the storm. We both tried to go back to sleep with mixed success.  The sound of thunder followed by a few flashes of lightning finished off the night’s sleep for us.

We read on line that this is the first winter storm of the season.  All I can think is that hardly any time has elapsed since we had the remnants of the last hurricane....

Some time after ten a.m., we went to shore in the dinghy.  It was mostly a down wind trip so we didn’t get too wet ... It was much warmer on shore, not to mention the ground under our feet seemed pretty stable.  Beaufort is a very pretty town with great views over the marshes and lovely old homes.  The most astonishing things we saw today had to have been the massive live oak trees.  Looking up into the branches you behold a mini forest of ferns, vines and Spanish moss (which I’d like to re-name—Merlin’s beard).  Many of the branches were as large as full-grown trees.  A single tree would occupy the entire front yard of a house.  

We returned to the boat to find that the combination of wind and opposing current had resulted in the mooring ball being halfway along the side of the boat.  The lines to the mooring were passing underneath the hull.  I’m not sure if that was why the boat was leaning to starboard but it was unsettling.  As we were eating our lunch there were several loud booming noises –the mooring ball went under the hull! The tide has turned now and the mooring ball has taken up a position in front of the boat.  Who know what awaits us in the middle of the night?

Gloria

32 25.749 N, 80 40.818 W

The calm before the storm - we were just about to go to bed when I looked out and saw how still and misty the anchorage looked

Beaufort marina. Even though it was slack current and zero wind the boat still moves enough that you have to use reasonably fast shutter speeds to get a sharp image even with a tripod. As dark as it was this then means using high ISO values (1600 in this case)

One of our neighbors in the mooring field

You can get some cool abstract photos if you use longer shutter speeds (still with a tripod)

The house "Tidalholm" - used as a filming location for the "Great Santini" and "The Big Chill"

Timing is everything

Timing is everything

Sunday 29 November 2020

We were up by 5.30 am and ready to go by 6.00 am but it was just too dark. Our chart plotter is great but the charts of the Intra Coastal Waterways are far from perfect and you couldn’t use them on their own to navigate at night. Even the paper charts aren’t always correct because the channels change with constant shoaling and you really need to be able to see the navigation markers. So we left as soon as we could, shortly after 6.30 am. As outlined in previous blogs we are trying to use the extra depth from high tide to help our passage through some very shallow sections. Todays trip to Beaufort, SC had two skinny sections, firstly along the Dawho river and then through the Ashepo – Coosaw river cut. According to the latest hydrographic charts both of these sections have depths as low as three feet. We figured if we could cover the first 22 miles before 10 am then we would have enough depth to get through the shallow sections safely and the remaining 18 miles would be relatively straightforward. I’m happy to report that this is exactly how it worked out! The currents were fairly strong – sometimes with us and sometimes against us depending on whether we were going up or down a particular river. We drove the engine a little harder than normal to compensate for adverse current and made good speed. So the timing worked out well. Perhaps the most fortunate timing was our arrival, because when we got to Beaufort we were able to pick up a mooring at the town marina (for $25 a night, which is a good price) and five minutes after we had tied up it started to pour down.

We are happy to be on a mooring as the weather is predicted to be bad over the next day or so with strong winds and occasional thunderstorms. The current also rips through here and the mooring field covers much of the best anchoring space, so all in all it works out for the best just to take a mooring. Now we can also use the marina facilities (showers, laundry etc).

We saw many more dolphins today – it seems strange to see them in these muddy rivers. We also saw a lot of birds (gulls, terns, loons, herons, ducks, bald eagle).

Cell phone reception is good so I’m envisaging watching some football this evening!

p.s. We noticed "Bees Knees" (see comments and photo from Nov 23 blog) here in the mooring field and had a chance to chat to her Captain. It's fun bumping into familiar boats again. It turns out "Bees Knees" had drive shaft problems on the day we saw her previously which was why she was going slow. Her captain dived on the propellor a couple of days later to remove a line that was wrapped around - now that's a scary and unpleasant job! 

Mike

32 25.749 N, 80 40.818 W

Beaufort mooring field on this wet and grey afternoon. Lady Island swing bridge is in the background

Looking south down the Beaufort River towards Port Royal

Revisiting scenes from the past

Revisiting scenes from the past

Saturday 28 November 2020

When the alarm went off at 5:15 am, I didn’t exactly spring from my bunk full of enthusiasm to get underway.  I dragged on a few layers of clothing and gratefully accepted the coffee Mike had warmed up.  Walking along the dock to the bathroom, I noted that the current was almost undetectable. (Typically in Charlestown what you see is debris moving very swiftly past the docks.) It did seem like this would be a good time to leave the slip.  The small problem was how extraordinarily dark it still was at 6 am.  We decided to depart at 6:15.  Once we were out into the harbor you could see some light in the eastern sky.  It took a fair while before details started to emerge from the dark.

The first obstacle was a high clearance fixed bridge.  We have negotiated many of these on the trip so far.  In the dark though, it’s quite disorienting.  The lights that we worry about hitting on the day transits are lighted green at night and the fenders around the bridge pilings are picked out in red lights.  It takes a while to figure out what you are seeing.  Shortly after the high bridge came the Wappoo Creek Bridge.  We had to call and request an opening of this drawbridge.  Luckily on Saturday, the bridge opens on request all day.  Wappoo Creek Bridge seemed to be a forest of red lights as we approached.  Once the draw was fully opened to lights on the opening sections turned to green signaling that it was safe to proceed.  

One mile further on we came to Elliott Cut, a short section connecting the Stono River with the Ashley River.  We both remember this section very well from the 2012 trip.  Someone had advised us that the current here could flow strongly.  We dutifully checked the current for the day we planned to leave Charleston and timed our departure accordingly.  However, we were misreading the current information and found ourselves making minimal progress with the cut a raging torrent.  Today, we were catching the last of the flood tide and moved through without difficulty.  That’s the way to do it!

After about four hours we turned off the ICW into Tom Point Creek.  The tide was now falling and we have notoriously shallow sections ahead. This is an anchorage we used in 2012.  I couldn’t really remember it but once we were approaching the area, I did recall this section.   As we were picking our anchoring spot, we saw dolphins in the creek.  We are anchored in the creek and have already swung around on the current once. Our memory of this spot is that we spent the night “heeled over” with wind pushing us one way and current another.  

New birds spotted today: White Pelicans, Little Blue Heron and Horned Grebe 

Gloria

32 38.767 N, 80 16.556 W

Black crowned night heron - Charleston City Marina

Tom Point Creek, SC - our midway stop between Charleston and Beaufort, SC. 

Common Loon in winter plumage, Tom Point Creek. We have also see many dolphins here in the anchorage

Nun’s farts

Nun’s farts

Thursday 27 – Friday 28 November 2020

Whatever you may be thinking this bog post is about food and boat jobs! We had a lovely Thanksgiving day – we hope you did as well. We tackled a few boat jobs in the morning – laundry and changing engine oil and filter. Both jobs were needed and also not too demanding. It’s worth noting that the oil change can be a bit messy so I stripped down to just an old pair of shorts to avoid staining my designer clothes. When the job was done (and it all went fine) I needed to drop a bag of oily rags etc into the bin and felt plenty warm enough wandering along the dock to the bins without a shirt on. You can’t beat 79oF at the end of November.

Around noon we started cooking and first made some mini Damson plum pies. There was some pastry left over so Gloria suggested making “belly buttons” – where you roll out the pastry, sprinkle with sugar and dollops of butter (and in our case some raisins) then roll up and bake. She then went on to tell me that “belly buttons” were her families name for this pastry but an uncle called them “Nuns Farts”. Gloria was at pains to point out that the family member was only an uncle by marriage. Well what do you expect of the outlaws! However, she did confess that other family members called these pastries “ass-holes”, but neither Gloria nor her sister Liz could remember who it was or perhaps weren't willing to reveal this family secret! I have a suspicion I might know the guilty party! Anyway, Thanksgiving dinner was pan-fried rib-eye steak with a green peppercorn cream sauce, rice and broccoli, followed by pastries. It was delicious. The best part of the day was our 1-hour conversation with Tasha out in Wyoming.

Today we finished up boat jobs – more laundry, filling our fuel tanks and replacing the zinc (sacrificial anode) inside the fridge heat exchanger. All went well except the old zinc snapped off the bronze fitting that it screws into and I had to drill out the stub and clear the thread. Did you know we actually have a workshop vice on board and an electric drill? This evening we are heading into Charleston to a restaurant that is supposed to have patio dining. We have a reservation but that doesn’t guarantee us a place on the patio and if we have to eat indoors we’ll get a takeaway from somewhere else and head home.

Mike

32 46.755 N, 79 57.281 W

Charleston at night

The Governors Inn, Charleston

Pillars - This one is for my brother Martin because he loves abstract pillar shots (not!) ... sorry Mart!

Entry Way - Charleston

The oil change - this excellent vacuum device sucks the oil out of the dip-stick hole. It makes the job much, much easier and cleaner, unless the fitting between the hoses (at the red junction) accidentally separates ... !

A Snake’s Honeymoon

A Snake’s Honeymoon

Wednesday November 25, 2020

I was reading my book this afternoon and noted the title phrase.  The character in the book was a naval officer and he used the expression “those lines look line a snake’s honeymoon”.

Possibly the lines he was referring to might have looked a bit like our dock lines....

We moved over to the dock this morning.  The whole thing went very smoothly owing to the skill of the helmsman and the choice of timing—slack tide.  Charleston is on the Ashley River and has a strong tidal current that reverses every six hours.  As the current flows quite fast, it’s best to do any maneuvering at slack.  Docking can be challenging enough without a fast flowing current pushing the boat around.

After lunch, we set off on a walk around Charleston.  Interestingly, we didn’t find it that familiar even though we had spent a fair number of days here on three previous occasions in 2003, 2012 and 2013.  At one point in our walk, we did recognize a driveway bordered by lovely gardens and leading to a small structure (see B&W picture below).  I expected to have more moments of recognition but not so much. Still there are so many lovely buildings and a gorgeous park near the waterfront. In the late afternoon we made our way back to the boat.

The delight of hot showers was followed by dinner.  It was my turn to cook.  I wanted to make a sort of spinach pie... What we had in the fridge was collard greens rather than spinach, so I used that along with feta cheese and sundried tomatoes.  Instead of a crust, I served the filling with warmed pita breads. I guess you could call it a deconstructed spinach(?) pie! 

We wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving with lots of wonderful food.  We plan to take the day off from blogging—let nothing interrupt the eating!    

Gloria

32 46.755 N, 79 57.281 W

The Red Wall  - Charleston has so many beautiful and colorful buildings

Passageway with pillars

House side from alleyway

The beautiful formal garden mentioned in Gloria's blog

Safe Harbors - Charleston City Marina

Boats lined up on the inside of the marina "mega-dock"

That mellow contented feeling

That mellow contented feeling

Tuesday 24th November 2020

We just arrived in Charleston a day ahead of our reservation at the marina so we have dropped anchor in the Ashley River and are chilling out in the cabin. Gloria has a cup of tea and I have a can of beer. We’re feeling pretty relaxed and happy to be here. Today’s journey along from Awendaw Creek went about as well as you could hope for. We planned it carefully with yellow post-it notes on the paper chart as Gloria mentioned yesterday and a departure time of 11.45 am, an hour and half past low tide. We spent the morning reading and doing not very much, but we both felt a little anxiety at the prospect of the section ahead so it was hard to really relax. In reality our plan worked well, we made fast progress in the easy sections, slowed down where we expected trouble and throughout we never saw less than 10 feet of depth. For much of the journey we had positive current and 10 -15 knots of wind from behind, so a couple of hours into the trip we realized we could make it all the way to the Ben Sawyer swing bridge before 4pm and thus make it to Charleston before dark. (This swing bridge opens on request, but not between 4pm and 6pm.) So we decided to push on rather than anchor an additional night in the marshes and have to wait for favorable tide until the following afternoon. We’ll have plenty of additional opportunities to enjoy more marsh-life once we continue south again.

So now we are looking forward to a quiet evening at anchor, a fine dinner of pork with pineapple and maybe tomorrow we can get into the marina early to start our Thanksgiving break.

Mike

32 46.552 N, 79 57.187 W

There are a few big commercial boat towing companies - "Tow Boat US" and "Sea Tow" being two of them. On entering the ICW near Georgetown there was a huge billboard with the phone number of "Sea Tow" which we wrote down! Hoping not to need them

Pork with pineapple (and red peppers and avocado) - easy to make and delicious! We ate it with rice.

Breath holding on the ICW

Breath holding on the ICW

Monday November 23, 2020

We intentionally had a late start to attempt to make this leg of the journey with the higher portion of the tide.  The anchor came up at about noon and we set off.  The first seven or so miles went well.  Then in the distance we could see a group of boats that seemed to be stopped in the channel.  We managed to raise one of these vessels on the radio.  What we heard was that some boats had run aground trying to get into McClellanville.  The boats we were seeing were waiting for high tide—about 1 hour to go (less than 1/2 foot to gain).  When we got closer, the sailing vessel started moving and we were following for a while.  Eventually, the slow pace overcame our patience and we got on the radio again.  Mike asked the skipper of “Bees Knees” what her intentions were.  Her reply was “my intentions are to avoid going aground.”  She was willing to let us go past and said that the problem area seemed to be near the green markers 35 and 35A.  The depths varied a bit but were mostly fine until we got abreast of 35A.  We saw the depth drop from 12 ft to 8.6 in a very short space.  Just after the worst area, we saw a boat off the channel that we presumed was aground. We later talked to the vessel and he had indeed run aground, but subsequently was having engine problems because of all the sediment he sucked up into his cooling water. For quite a section the depth was making us unhappy.  When I eventually looked back two giant power-boats were right behind us, adding to the stress of the whole experience.  

The tidal range for this area for today was 4.3 ft.  That shallow spot would be about 4.3ft at low today.  In other words, that would have been impassable for us at low.  We do find it hard to hang around in the mornings worrying about the travelling but clearly making use of the high water is the way that might work for us. This afternoon we spent some time studying the Army Corps of Engineers hydrology maps for the next section and placing ‘post-its’ on our paper chart where there are dodgy sections.  I wish I could say that there are hardly any little yellow bits hanging off the map.  Ten ‘post-its’ for twenty miles isn’t so bad, is it?

Gloria

33 02.054 N, 79 32.494 W

"Bees Knees" anchored in Awendaw Creek just off the. This is a wild and magical place.

Looking back to the ICW from our anchorage in Awendaw Creek. The power boat making it's way along the maybe the one that we saw earlier that had run aground.

Past sunset in Awendaw Creek. This afternoon and evening it looked astonishingly beautiful to us, but we can imagine it could be very bleak in bad weather. We could hear an owl hooting as I took this shot

Our Strategy for Navigating Shallow Water

Our Strategy for Navigating Shallow Water

Sunday 22nd November 2020

Some sections of the Intra Coastal Waterway in South Carolina and Georgia are particularly challenging because of strong currents, constant shoaling and marginal water depth. We are scheduled to spend three nights on a dock in Charleston over Thanksgiving and so we have four days to cover about sixty miles of rivers and canals that contain some of these difficult sections. Our strategy is to do short passages making use of a rising tide to provide extra depth and to use the down-time when we aren't traveling to enjoy hanging out in the wild and beautiful marshes that make up this part of South Carolina.

There are some helpful resources that we can use to help locate the problem areas and figure out how to deal with them. “Active Captain” is a free-access website now owned by Garmin that has information about anchorages, marinas, hazards to navigation etc, with postings made by the boating community (#1). “Skipper Bob – Anchorages along the Intra Coastal Waterway” has for many years been the guide of choice for people heading down the ICW. It was originally an independent publication but has now been bought out be “Waterway Guides”. We have a hard copy from our 2012 trip, but we splashed out $17 to buy the latest online addition. One big advantage of this new version is that it has links to further navigational information on the “Waterway Guides” website (#2). Along with detailed descriptions and recommendations there are sometimes even pictures of the latest Army Corp of Engineer hydrographic surveys (#3).

Today we left Georgetown shortly after noon for the first leg on this section, aiming for an anchorage in the South Santee River. High tide was around 3pm and in the range of 4-5 feet depending on location. So we had an extra 2-5 feet depth above mean low water. One notorious section that we covered today was the traverse of Minim Creek and the North Santee River. However, we read on “Waterway Guides” (#2, #3) that this section has recently been dredged and is currently quite straight forward. The lowest depth we saw was 10-feet which is fine, but we might have had problems had we tackled this at low tide. In any event, it was a pleasant motor and we arrived in the South Santee River just before 3pm. The river itself is tidal and has significant current, but the holding is good and it’s a beautiful location amidst the south Carolina marshes. 

The rest of the afternoon has been spent cooking, eating (Buccatine all’ Amatriciana followed by cherry bread pudding) and watching the Patriots lose to the Texans! We did take a few moments to enjoy a spectacular sunset.

Mike

33 09.102 N, 79 19.431 W

#1  https://activecaptain.garmin.com/en-US/pois/40268

#2  https://www.waterwayguide.com/explorer?latitude=33.193844238126864&longitude=-79.27691459655762&zoom=15&mode=navAlert

#3 https://www.waterwayguide.com/nav-alert/4-8134/sc-esterville-minim-creek-mm-415

Sunset over the South Santee River, South Carolina (wide angle panorama)

Sunset over the South Santee River, South Carolina (telephoto panorama)

Pasta All'Amatriciana and Cherry Bread Pudding ... both yummy!

Get your fat pants ready

Get your fat pants ready

Saturday November 21, 2020

That was a sign we saw while walking around Georgetown, SC this afternoon.  We think it’s a reference to Thanksgiving, but who knows for sure.

I should have known it was going to be a rough day.  I woke with a headache and cold feet.  The reason for the headache is unknown but the cold feet can be explained by the fact that I had managed to turn my blanket sideways overnight.  Thus, it was not long enough to cover both my shoulders and my feet.  That’s the sign of a bad night of sleep.  The tasks for this morning were going to the Verizon store to replace our wifi hot spot which has been failing AND going to the grocery store.  Both shops were located about two miles from the dinghy dock.  We got to the phone store with no problem.  Getting the new jet pack took a lot longer than you might imagine.  We sashayed across the busy road to an auto parts store to try to replace the air struts that hold up our fridge lid.  That didn’t work out as there was some uncertainty about the required size.  While there, Mike spotted the gallon of engine oil and that had to come with us!  

By this point it was noon.  What is that old adage— never do your grocery shopping when you are hungry?  I’m quite confident that we have never bought more food while on foot than we did today.  We were seriously laden down as we started to walk back.  Just when we stopped to rest and check how much further we had to go (1.25 miles) a car pulled up and the driver asked if we wanted a lift back to town.  Our instinct was to refuse but the weight of the backpacks and bags in our hands argued otherwise.  We decided to accept.  The driver, Michael, told us that he runs the Indigo bakery in town and the Indigo mercantile store.  He and his wife moved here from the San Francisco area a few years ago.  He talked a bit about the impact of the pandemic on his businesses and dropped us at the dinghy dock.  We were both very grateful.

After stowing our shopping we went to shore and had lunch in a cafe, sitting outside.  We enjoyed our lunch and decided to take a walk afterward.  As we approached the bakery (we were keen to go in and purchase some baked goods), Mike realized that he didn’t have his wallet in his pocket.  We returned to the cafe but the staff hadn’t found it.  Following the route we had taken, we were unable to find his wallet.  Mike popped into several shops and restaurants along the way to ask if someone had turned in a wallet.  No luck.  So a significant portion of the afternoon was spent on the phone to cancel various cards. As well as debit and credit cards and a fair bit of cash, it had Mike’s driving license and medical insurance cards. There was no activity on any of the cards so it’s possible someone picked it up and will try and return it, but it’s still very distressing.

Gloria

33 21.819 N, 79 16.929 W

Georgetown paper mill - established for over 100 years - at one time the largest paper mill in the world. It now focuses on pulp for diapers (nappies) etc. Apparently when the wind blows the smoke over the town it can get a bit smelly

Georgetown paper mill - the light was better earlier but I was busy trying to cancel my bank cards (aghhh)

Georgetown Boardwalk - this is a delightful town with lots of restaurants and cafes and friendly people

Endangered species

Endangered species

Friday 20th November 2020

It’s not every day that you see an endangered species and today we actually saw three Red Cockaded Woodpeckers! We woke this morning to perfect weather – a clear blue sky, a very light wind and temperatures that reached 70oF (21oC). We decided to move on to Georgetown, SC but not until the afternoon, so after a leisurely start we jumped in the “Dumb Dog” and rowed to shore to do some birding. We took the same trail as yesterday, but in reverse, or that’s what we would have done if we hadn’t been looking up into the trees and missed a turn! Anyway, we circled back, picked up the correct route and ten minutes later we found the Red Cockaded Woodpeckers. What a thrill! We have searched for them before on a family trip to Florida but without success, so these were “life birds” for us (meaning the first time we have seen them ever). We texted Tasha to tell her and she replied ... "are you sure they weren't parrots" ... how cheeky is that! These weren’t the only birds we saw this morning. It was much livelier than yesterday (no idea why) and we saw red bellied woodpecker, downy woodpecker, brown headed nuthatch, red breasted nuthatch, Carolina chickadee, ruby crowned kinglets, pine warbler, black vultures, turkey vultures and a bald eagle (later in the day).

Once back on the boat we made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to eat during the trip and then we hauled up the anchor and headed out. We were sad to leave – Thoroughfare Creek was our favorite anchorage in the Waccamaw River – absolutely gorgeous. We had a relaxing 15-mile motor to Georgetown with deep water and no submerged logs! I think I’m mostly out of my funk after hitting the underwater tree yesterday. Anchoring here is quite challenging – limited space constrained by docks and the waterfront on one side and shallow water on the other, as well as super soft mud with poor holding! We weren’t happy with our first attempt so we pulled up and tried again and now we feel confident we are reasonably secure. We plan to spend two nights in the quaint little town.

Mike

33 21.819 N, 79 16.929 W

* Vianney – if you are reading this I wanted to tell you it was immediately after our phone call that we say the woodpeckers

Spanish moss drapes the trees with Cotinga at anchor at sunset (photo shot yesterday)

Thoroughfare Creek, Waccamaw River - absolutely gorgeous (photo shot yesterday)

Heading down the southern stretch of the Waccamaw River shortly before it merges with the Great Pee Dee River near Georgetown

Dinghy on a mooring - Georgetown

A Walk on Sandy Island

A Walk on Sandy Island

Thursday November 19, 2020

When we came to haul up the anchor at Bull Creek this morning the current was ripping at 2.2 knots.  The recommendation for all anchorages in the Waccamaw River is to use a trip line in case the anchor should get caught on debris on the river bottom (so many trees in this area).  Trying to snag the trip line float and then pull it on board seemed to take all of Mike’s strength.  There is no way I could have done that anchor retrieval without his help.  The swift flow of the creek was carrying us rapidly down stream.  We had talked about needing to avoid the tree-stump that we had passed when going upstream but it was no longer visible above the water despite being low tide. We were trying to re-trace our GPS track into the creek but we either weren’t precise enough or the tree had been pushed aside by the current. In any event, and we failed to see the ripples that indicated its location in enough time to move over and we bumped into it pretty hard. There seems to have been no damage to the boat, just to our confidence. 

Rejoining the ICW we headed south to Thoroughfare Creek a distance of about 8 miles.  By consultation with the blog, we were able to determine that we stayed in Thoroughfare Creek in 2013 on our way north.  Mike has a photo on an alligator taken from the sandy beach opposite the anchorage.  I’m pretty sure that I didn’t go to shore on our last visit to this location.  Today, it seemed so warm and lovely (and no alligators could be seen basking on the beach) and I travelled to shore with Mike.  We found a map detailing a two-mile trail around Sandy Island.  It was a lovely walk through different types of vegetation.  Most remarkable was the higher areas where longleaf pine forest predominated.  We scanned the trees for red-cockaded woodpeckers without success. (Red-cockaded woodpeckers are endangered and only nest in mature longleaf pine trees).  In fact, we saw only a handful of birds: cardinal, eastern towhee, red-breasted nuthatch, golden-crowned kinglet, red-bellied woodpecker and belted kingfisher.  We heard the Carolina chickadee but didn’t see it. Despite our lack of bird sightings, it was a lovely walk, so nice to get off the boat and step out. We are trying to decide if we will spend another night here or move on in the morning.

Gloria

33 30.930 N, 79 08.635 W

Gloria birding on Sandy island Trail

Long leaf pine

Thoroughfare Creek at Sunset

Sandy beach - the easiest beach landing ever!

Same location after dark

Hanging out in Bull Creek

Hanging out in Bull Creek

Wednesday 18th November 2020

It’s been a lot colder the last two days and we have extra blankets on the bed. The first order of business this morning was to switch on our Espar diesel heater that warms the inside of the boat up nicely. It’s the same device that long distance truck drivers have in their cabs to keep them warm. By the time coffee was brewed it was quite cozy and we lounged around enjoying blueberry pancakes for breakfast. We had no great plans so Gloria spent most of the day working on her quilt and I cleaned and waxed fiberglass in the cockpit and polished the stainless steel “bright-work”. It was a beautiful clear day with no clouds and lots of sunshine, but my initial foray on deck in shorts and bare feet lasted about ten seconds – I returned a little later in long underwear, fleece pants and shoes and socks! 

The most exciting part of the day was having Gloria haul me up the mast in the bosun’s chair to take some pictures. It doesn’t particularly bother me being up high but it can be a bit disorientating if the boat is rocking at all then the motion is greatly magnified up top. Here in Bull Creek Cotinga is swinging in the current but there are no waves at all. You definitely get a different perspective from up high. 

Whilst we never left the boat it has been a very pleasant, relaxing day. 

Mike

33 36.668 N, 79 06.217 W

Bull Creek from half way up the mast

Cotinga from two-thirds of the way up the mast (above the first spreaders)

Sunset in Bull Creek, off the Waccamaw River

Tankage

Tankage

Tuesday November 17, 2020

Cotinga has many tanks that are of concern for us while living aboard.  We need to keep track of the levels in the fuels tanks (there are two) and the water tanks (two of these as well) and none of the gauges work well.  Nothing gets us quite so excited as seeing an unexpected reading on the level of the holding tank.  I think we mentioned that we pumped out the holding tank on Friday the 13th!  This morning the tank was reading “super full”!  Of course, in the general excitement of Friday, we hadn’t thought to check the level of the tank after the pump out.  Suddenly we were calling the closest marina about the possibility of coming into the dock to pump out.  As it was low tide at about 8:30 am we were reluctant to start moving at 9.  Mike remembered that we had previously had some problems with the “focus tube” for the ultrasonic tank sensor.  A quick investigation revealed that the tank was not full.  A cleaning of the focus tube resulted in a reading of about one quarter full.  This seemed much more in line with only four days of use.  It’s always something keeping us hopping.

At a more leisurely pace, we pulled up the anchor and motored five miles down river to Bull Creek.  This anchorage has a five star rating on “Active Captain”.  One reviewer even suggested that it was the best anchorage on the ICW.  That seemed like one to check out. “Skipper Bob” is a guide to the anchorages of the ICW.  Each anchorage is given a rating based on six parameters: Holding/Wind/Current/Wake/Scenic/Shopping.  For each category the maximum score is four with a minimum score of 1.  The Skipper gives Bull Creek a score of (443241).  The shopping is apparently the pits!

As for the wake (score of 2), so far it has been pretty quiet.  We saw one small open fishing boat (bass boat) zoom up the creek and then return but that’s all the traffic.  In the later afternoon, we decided to take a dingy ride up the creek.  The current was flowing so strongly that it was a different world from yesterday’s lazy trip.  After a short distance, we decided that we really didn’t feel comfortable leaving Cotinga unattended. So we turned back.  Back onboard the instruments indicated a current of 1.5 knots—not as fast as it seemed to me but still considerable. Let’s hope it’s a quiet night.

Gloria

33 36.668 N, 79 06.217 W

Cotinga anchored in Bull Creek

Evening colors - Bull Creek

Gloria relaxing with a cup of tea and a book in the late afternoon

Dusk in Bull creek. The float is tied to a trip line on the anchor. This is recommended in the Waccamaw river because of tree roots / branches etc on the bottom. You can see the current on the float

Photographic Challenges

Photographic Challenges

Monday 16th November 2020

It’s beautiful here in the Waccamaw River. Where we are anchored seems so isolated and wild. The only sign of humans is one single channel marker and the occasional small boat that goes by … and of course, us. The water is dark with tannins and Cypress trees, draped in Spanish moss, line the river. There are no true banks to the river; the water just seems to continue into the trees. The whole area is a National Wildlife Refuge but even if you were allowed in to explore there is nowhere to land a dinghy and other than the small tributaries the swamp looks pretty impenetrable. 

After a leisurely start this morning (watching last nights Patriots versus Ravens game on NFL Game Pass) we took a dinghy ride 3 or 4 miles up the river. We went slowly and were out about two hours and in that time we did not see another person or boat. It was a lovely experience and I took quite a few photos. But here’s the rub … if it’s as beautiful as we say it is, then why is it so challenging to photograph? 

I think there is uniformity to the color and structure of the trees. It’s hard to find strong compositions. You can get some beautiful reflections when the wind dies down and in the early morning and evening the water has been very flat. However, the light is low at these times and yet the boat is still swinging in the current, so even though I try to use a tripod on the boat you can’t always get a sharp image. In any event, I did get some pictures that I like and I’ll keep trying over the next few days.

Mike

33 40.554 N, 79 04.105 W

Morning light - Enterprise Creek, Waccamaw River

Gloria takes the helm of the "Dumb Dog"

There are many ox-bow bends and small tributaries off the main river

The edge of the river - occasional grassy patches but no real banks

The sun has gone down, the wind has died and the water is completely flat

Ditto