June 14-24, 2016 Fernandina Beach to Myrtle Beach

We enjoyed our AC filled night in Fernandina.  So cool.  But we had to leave early, 7AM, so it was up early to make coffee and take the garbage etc. 

Fernandina Marina 

We were nudged in between  sailboat  and that Krogen 50.  Coming through the St. Marys Inlet was uneventful.  As was the 3 miles run into Fernandina Baech.  Same paper mills belching smoke and same distinctive aroma identifying Fernandina Beach.

Krogen 50

As I was walking back from the marina office I saw the lady from the The Krogen 50 was out on their deck.  And we talked briefly before she offered to help us with our lines,  They were headed off shore to Charleston, an overnight cruise later in the day. 

We took the stern line off first and the brisk current pulled the stern out into the channel and after we took the other lines off we were freely drifting out with the current.

It was a short trip back out the St. Marys inlet and the calm ocean.  It was wonderfully smooth with just a slight swell.  But as we cruised along the coast we began to feel some increase in wave heights.  And thunderstorms. 

Ominous Storm Clouds

In fact there was as long line of very dark clouds along the coast.  We were about 7 miles off shore and were almost nearing the end of the really dark cloud line so we maybe lucky and escape the usual drenching downpour and high wind gusts.   I was more fearful of the lightning strikes which we could see on shore in the distance.    

We were lucky.  There were just  a few gusts of heavy winds and a light sprinkle that dissipated within a few minutes.

During all this, we decided to skip going into the Duplin river and instead continue on to Walburg Creek, another 25 miles north.  The skies were lighting up and the swells began to die down to a steady 3 feet so I figured it was worth it.  It could save us 25 miles tomorrow which will be near the last time we’ll be in the ocean.

Taking the ocean routes to our various destination saves us from having to figure in tide levels and timing our arrival at various points along the ICW.  These troublesome spots are difficult to navigate without help from high or rising tide levels.  And the meandering nature of the ICW adds additional miles and time.

Besides, we love being out in the ocean.

So we bypassed the Duplin River in Doboy Sound and made our way north for another four hours or so to Walburg Creek in St. Catherines Sound.  It turned out to be a quiet and very still evening when we anchored, the only boat in the creek.

Walburg Creek anchorage

Lots of current, but the creek is wide and long so no worries and we’ve anchored here before.  The storms seem to have petered out for now so I hope we have a quiet night.  40 miles to Thunderbolt Marina tomorrow which is at the near edge of Savannah.  The weather is forecast to be pretty nasty Friday so we may end up staying there for a few days to ride it out.

The Sounds along the Georgia and South Carolina coast are basically where rivers join the ocean.  They are usually rather large and somewhat shallow.  Many of them are usable inlets where boats can enter from the ocean.  During periods where tidal currents oppose the wind they can also be very rough.  Heading north from Jacksonville after the St. John's river inlet there are several .

• Nassau
• St. Marys River Inlet (not a Sound per say but an inlet to Fernandina Beach and Cumberland Island)
• St. Andrew
• St. Simons (Brunswick where we stay often and St. Simmons Island)
• Altamaha 
• Doboy (The Duplin River is here where we anchor often)
• Sapelo
• St. Catherines (Walburg Creek is here)
• Ossabaw
• Wassaw (Wilmington River leading to Thunderbolt)
• Tybee Roads (the main shipping channel to Savannah)
• Calibogue (Hilton Head Island)
• Port Royal (leads up to Port Royal and Beaufort, SC)
• Saint Helena (Edisto River south of Charleston)
• North Edisto River Inlet (rarely used and very shallow)
• Charleston (where the Cooper, Ashley and Wando rivers all join)

We left Walburg Creek pretty early the next day even though we only had about 40 miles to travel.  Much easier than the 89 miles we did yesterday.  Running for so long in these high temperatures leaves the engine room very hot which in turn, keeps the boat nice and toasty for several hours afterward,

This time we only had about 15 miles on the ocean and there were 2-3 foot swells on the beam so we rolled a bit on the way to Wilmington River, which is the waterway most of the mega yachts use when visiting Thunderbolt Marine.

We pulled up to the docks at Thunderbolt Marina which part of Thunderbolt Marine, the ship yard.  Hal, the dock master directed us to the end of the T-head on the inside.

Tied up at Thunddrbolt

After we were tied up I talked with the always interesting Hal, the dock master here.  He told me they had a couple of yachts here earlier in the year that were big ones, over 200 feet long.  The limit of their lifting platform as about 187 feet so these yachts remained floating in the basin.  Except they were here to be painted.

Thunderbolt had to erect floating scaffolding and then shrink wrap the whole thing, boat and scaffolding.  Usually yachts being painted will be hauled out of the water and transported to the paint shed which is a huge, stall in the larger building where there are half a dozen other stalls each 250 feet long and several hundred feet high..

In this case the yachts were too massive to fit.  And the lift,  an interesting platform with embedded rails that moves vertically into the water via 8 large hydraulic winches, wasn't able to handle the weight.

Always good scenery at Thunderbolt

I met a friendly couple on a sailboat who were up in the Chesapeake but decided it was too hot and uncomfortable there.  So they are returning to Jacksonville where they live, And their own pool the women emphasized.  Ironically that they live across from Blount Island which is where we anchor most of them time up there.  Comparing notes, we found out we usually anchor right across form their backyard.  Next time we’ll have to stop in and say, “hi!  Remember us from Thunderbolt?”

Another couple we met is on the Loop but have been stuck here for a week waiting for repairs.  They started in Jensen Beach, FL.  Long way to go if they are planning in completing it this year which is what they were hoping.

Most of the day we spent in the boat with all three AC units running.  Did I mention it was hot?  They had a difficult time keeping the boat cool in the blazing heat here.  Had a brief shower pass over us, otherwise it was just hot and humid.

I did tinker with the starboard engine start battery.   It gets charged from a little gizmo called a DUO.  Its really a smart DC to DC battery charger.  It doesn’t appear to be charging the start battery from the house bank even if the voltages are in excess of 13.  Well, another thing to figure out and fix.

Also the holding tank empty light isn’t glowing any longer when the tank is empty.  That’ll be a fun repair job.

We are going to a marina in Beaufort, SC, Ladys Island Marina to hole up while a weather system passes through here Friday and Saturday.  Then it’s up to Charleston, Georgetown and … well I haven’t planned anything out that far yet.  But the ultimate goal remains Norfolk.

We indeed leave the dock at 6:45.  Hal, always up early it seems, got to us before we left and had Mary’s (warm) donuts.  Savannah.

A Happy donut lover

We took the lines off ourselves and rode the current out into the big mega yacht basin before turning around and heading up the river toward

We needed to be passing through a  place called Fields Cut which bisects the Savannah River which is the main shipping channel.  We cant get through there unless its at least mid tide.  To shallow.  Remember, tides around here are in the range of 6-9 feet.

We waited for it to pass then went around its stern

As we approached the cut we had to cross the shipping channel.  Yup, big freighter coming at us.  I took the prudent course and ran down parallel to him and crossed over his wake into Fields Cut.  He was heavily loaded from the look of his plimsoll line so there was a rather large pulse of water we ended up crossing off  his stern.

We made it through the cut just fine.  As we moved out into Calibogue to pass Hilton_Head_Island.   I woke Mary up so she could enjoy the rest of the day.  And the rest of the donuts.

The rest of the trip was uneventful.  We’ve been through here several times before.   Mary called Steve the marina dock master as we crossed under the Ladies Island Bridge (real name is Richard V. Woods Memorial Bridge). .  That's when it got a little dicey.

Ladies Island Bridge

He was in town and couldn’t get back to the marina in time for us.  So he hung up, called some of the guys in the marina and then called me back saying David, Pete and Steve would be at the dock to help us.

The marina in on Lady's Island  along Factory Creek .  Getting into Factory Creek was a challenge.  You have to stay very close to the bridge, like within 20 yards other wise you’d go aground its so shallow.  To complicate matters, there are half a dozen almost derelict sailboats anchored in the channel and depending on the wind, they can block access to the deeper water. 

That’s what happened to us.  We were plowing mud for a short distance.  Once we cleared that hurdle, we had to go past the dock, and turn in the boat 180 degrees in the 2 knot current.

If you’ve never tried it, you’d find yourselves moving sideways down the channel as the boat slowly turns using the twin screws to pivot.

The guy standing on the dock where the empty spot is marks our destination

We came in to the dock with a fierce wind and running current.  I got it into the tight space just right, meaning missing a sailboats bow pulpit by 2 feet.  The three guys had us secured within minutes.

After a short time getting the electrical plugged in we had the AC units humming away (it was 94 with 90% humidity.

On the way in we were surprised to see Rob and Sue’s boat, Papillon tied up at one of the docks.  They had kept it here and gone back to GA for some medical stuff.  Rob called me later and filled us in.  They never made it to the Bahamas, and probably wont make it up to Canada this year.

Street side of the marina, Dockside immediately to the left

We basked in the AC the rest of the afternoon (it was 2PM when new arrived) and then, being rather lazy, ordered out for a pizza from Piace, a pizza place we were told about.  Before that though Mary found a guy to sew up the dinghy front cushion we have been carrying around for a few months.  So now we can offer a semi comfortable seat up front in the dinghy.  Dave, you should appreciate it!

The it was early to bed, after a few Frazier episodes (the internet here is pretty good)

We slept late this morning.  It was baking already.  I don't sit still well for very long.  What better time is there to explore Lady's Island and the stores?

So off the came the bike and after injecting air in the soft tires I rode off.  I stopped at the Publix,, about 2 miles up the road, and noted where the locations of the Walgreens, CVS, the Dollar Tree and the local liquor store.

Back at the boat with a light load of groceries  we heard from others on the dock about a severe thunderstorm warning here.  There was a scramble on all the boats to double up and tighten lines and secure bimini tops.

Starting to really blow now

Sailboat's owner was tying ti keep the boat from crushing the dock right behind us 

The storm was brief, maybe 15 minutes but the winds topped out at 71 mph according to one of the sailboat owners who had a recording anemometer.   Boats were heeling way over and pounding in to the docks.  One bimini top on a MT 50 was just shredded. The torrential downpour was torrential but again, only minutes thankfully.

Pretty wild 

No injuries thankfully, and damage was limited to mostly minor tears to bimini tops and sail covers.

The storm did kill the power to the whole area so I and a number of other boast ran their gensets for a few hours.

Calm after the storm

 Later I talked with Rob about checking his boat out.  They are back in Georgia and left the boat here.  And he wanted someone to look at it out for him.  And to mail back his MiFi device which he and left on the boat. 

Woke up to cloudy skies but no rain.

I walked over to Rob's boat and checked it out and got his MiFi gadget.  I packaged it up and then rode into Beaufort to mail it at a the UPS store.

Beaufort is a quaint little town, lots of little shops and restaurants.  And a very nice river walk/park.

The Beaufort UPS store.  And our bike

River walk

Part of the river front

Main Street Beaufort.  

Rode back but stopped at Bills liquor store to buy rum now that Mary is drinking it.  And I got a tiny bottle for the dock master (its in the rules!)

I continued to rip movies and started troubleshooting the starboard Digital Duo Charger, basically a DC to DC charger controller.  It doesn’t seem to be charging the start battery even though I'm seeing 13.4 volts on the output.  Port side is ok.

Also trying to figure out the Tank Watch system for the holding tank.  Its not registering anything but yellow which is problematic because then we don’t know how full the holding tank is.  It has four lovely colored lights.  Green for empty, Yellow for half full, Orange for 3/4 full and bright red for full.

Dockside restaurant 

Later we went out to eat at Dockside, the popular restaurant right next to the marina.  There is another bar, pseudo restaurant, The Fillin Station.  It's is a real dump but supposedly very fun.  We never made it there though. 

We are pretty much committed to staying here until Monday morning.  Have to leave here after 10AM to catch the ebbing tide so we can get off the dock.  Winds, which have picked up now to 20 MPH are forecast to slowly lessen over the next few days.

Meanwhile Mary hauled out her stain glass stuff and began working on something.

I spent  a good portion of the next day getting our routes north ready.  We have to figure out distance but also tides in most cases which alters distances and times.  All that math in school and now I’m doing word problems again.   Ugh …

Low tide, an easy walk off the dock

High tide makes for a bit of a climb from the dock

Another Publix, this one in Beaufort, SC

I rode to Publix for the last time, and it being fathers day I watched the US open for a few hours before going to Dockside again for dinner.  Mary, brought her wallet this time so I didn't pay a thing.

We returned rather early because we are leaving when the tide switches, around 10AM.  69 Miles tomorrow to Stono River.  Luckily sunset isn’t until 8:30PM so we have plenty of light. 

We left this morning about 9:45.  Getting off the dock was interesting.  I was sure our stern would swing out but the dock guys thought our bow would go out first.  So we rigged a forward spring line and I tried to get the bow to turn out into the channel, but no dice.  The stern went out first just like I thought.  

See you down south Papillon

The ICW was it's usual long and boring self.  But not hot this time.  We did run into really shallow spots at Fenwick cut and in Watts cut which are south of Charleston.  I was showing no water under the keel for about 100 feet.  So basically nothing has changed since we went through here last time.     
We came into Stono River but I was leery about anchoring here because of so many crab pots.  But Mary eventually found a spot and we anchored right away.    

Full moon at Stono River anchorage

It was a very nice evening.  And a spectacular moon in the clear skies.

We have many miles to go tomorrow and are under some timing restrictions becasue of tides.  So it will be an early departure tomorrow.  5:30AM

Charleston Harbor at sunrise

Moon still hanging up there in the morning after sunrise

We left at 5:15AM and went through Chalreston Harbor at sunrise.

The shoal areas on the ICW exist about 3.5 miles north of Charleston and south of  McClellanville.  I was seeing 5 feet in some areas and this was an hour after high tide.  If at all possible, we’ll head out to sea, bypassing this stretch of the ICW on our return trip.

We made it through without incident, but there were others areas almost as dicey.    Well there was one incident.

Through the shallowest segment and even though we had all the screens up,  a big black wasp snuck into the fly bridge.  So I took my trusty fly swatter and with a mighty swing missed the damn thing.

It was not amused and began buzzing around my head as the depth sounder was beeping at me because we were in shallow water.  It was an intense few minutes but at last I got the wasp out through a window and managed to make it through the shoal areas with touching bottom.  A win win.  We didn’t ground and the wasp lived.

We were a few miles behind some Aussie sailboats who were trying to negiotate  the same shallow areas as were were.  They were chatting on the radio about anchoring in the same are that we always do here in Winyah Bay. 

Tomorrow its Myrtle Beach and Barefoot Landing where we can rest up up a bit.  Its only 40 some miles away but goes through the Waccamaw River where we like to anchor in this little oxbow lake .  But we are rushed so we’re skipping that this time.

Tonight, the last night of relatively cool temps around here, our aft AC unit died.  Unsure of the cause but all I can hope for is something simple.  Ugh … 90’ and no AC.  Just what I always dream of. 

The sailboats left about an hour before we did this morning.  But I think we got the better part of that deal.  We left on an incoming tide which pushed us along at almost 9mph well into the Waccamaw River.

Our favorite Oxbow anchorage on the Waccamaw River

A far less verdant golf course Greg and I played many years ago.  

Then, about where the current flips we found ourselves on an ebb tide and rode that down to  Mrytle Beach at about 9mph.    Perfect timing ... like we planned it that way.

Socastee Swing Bridge on the way into Myrtle Beach

Not much has changed in Myrtle Beach since the last time we came through.  We docked at Barefoot Landing as we usually do when we are up this way.  The dock hands (not Nick) were very adept.

Nick, the dock master was still here on his boat.  We were only one of three boats here and as Nick explained the next day, its slack time for them.  After Labor Day all the boaters from up north start to migrate down south.

Instead of going to Normans for dinner we went to Joes, a  place recommended to us by the electric golf cart taxi driver here, Randy.  He provides this pickup service for tips.  Informative guy and extremely accommodating.

But before we were able to do all that, I had to figure out what was wrong with the aft AC.  After a bit I figured it had to be a clogged intake which tripped the overheat breaker.  That or we are leaking Freon, but time will tell that story.  For now its running again.

Next we had to reposition one of the support struts for the solar panels.  The starboard support pole popped out of its holder either during these high winds, or when we were waked by one of several large boats flying by us earlier on the river.  They cause very large wakes which really rock us around. 

So no more problems .. at least for now.

Tomorrow we head for Southport, about 47 miles away in North Carolina.  Winds tomorrow night will be stiff but I want to try this anchorage north of the town on the river.  Its name is Tina’s Pocket, an area of rather deep (9-15 feet) water near a spoil island on the Cape Fear River.  Its supposedly good protection from the river current and rough water when current and wind are in oppostion.  But we’ll see.

Well, we didn't head for Southport today.  Instead I rode to the new, and very nice Bi-Lo grocery store about 1 mile from Barefoot Landing

But first this morning, walked around the landings checking out the general store to see what they had.  Just typical tourist stuff and no grocery items.

As I walked back towards the boat the crowds were beginning to gather.  It's a popular place

We obviously had decided to stay another night.  The weather has me spooked, with dire warnings for severe thunderstorms and then warnings about rain.  Sheez ..

But I do have to change the engine oil soon and here is as good a place as any.  Nick, the dock master here said he can take care of the used oil too.

So after I returned from BiLo, I re-attired myself in oil changing clothes and plunged into the normally 4 hour task of changing engine oil.

These big Cummins diesels takes about 10 gallons give or take a few quarts for both engines.  Nothing quite like being confined in a small engine room with the residual engine heat conveying a soothing warmth much like a sauna.    Oh, so much fun.

Next was troubleshooting the digital duo, the DC to DC charger that maintains the start batteries.  Voltages were all good, as were the settings.  No output detected though so I can only infer the the Duo has seen its last days and I’ll have to replace it.  Meanwhile I can parallel the start battery for the starboard side with the starboard house bank to keep it charged.

On another note, the start batteries will turn over the engines, but when I parallel it with the house bank, the engines turn right over.  So I’m thinking I may need more powerful starting batteries.

We tripped the AC dockside pedestal twice again tonight.  It seems to happen at night and when we are drawing close to 20 amps.  This on a 50 amp circuit?  Something is amiss, but not on our end.

So we watched some Donna Reed episodes with only the water heater running.  Then I shut it off and started the aft stateroom AC.  The water will stay hot enough until morning but we’ll be nice and cool all evening.

Weather … Supposedly will get nasty tomorrow afternoon into Saturday.  We wanted to leave Saturday simply to expedite our journey to Norfolk  We’ll have to see.

And the internet here is fast, then glacial, then ok, then glacial etc.  Very annoying.

Rode to BiLo for last minute grocery items again this morning.  Maybe I should start submitting grocery store reviews since it seems i'm well on the way to visiting them all.

Mary worked on glass.  I dealt with a direct TV account problem, did some nav work and some engine room tweaks.  The we took a walk to get ice cream, and stroll around Barefoot Landings.

Another day, another storm

Once back on the boat I watched a severe thunderstorm make its way right at us.  We closed up the boat and sat for a few hours as the wind howled and the rain drenched everything around us.  We, for the most part, remained dry and glad we decided to stay here another day.

Southport, so I saw on TV, was walloped more severely then we were here in Myrtle Beach.

We ended up going to Greg Normans Steak House tonight for dinner.  Expensive and way too much food.  But it was very, good.

Tomorrow morning we'll check the weather and we’ll see if we are indeed going to be able to get to Wrightsville Beach tomorrow.