to South Edisto

Gooood mornin' Charleston! A beautiful day; crisp, but not that vicious cold that bites it's way right thru your clothes; 'specially your gloves. Man, never knew fingers could hurt like that. Anyway, since it is programed to be in the high 50's today, Scooter and; crew decided to move on. It is a 70+ mile run to Beaufort that's BEW-fort, Chuckie, as opposed to BO-fort, which is in NC.. However, the way the tidal currents whip around the marina entrance here, we elected to make a leisurely departure; around 1100 or so. That would put us closer to slower currents here as well as a rising tide at the Dawho River in case we found some bottom. Easier to get unstuck if the water is working with you. Loaded up, fired up Frick and Frack and took off. We've had a great time wandering around this pleasant city. Lots of sights for any and all tastes. History abounds, but modern is mixing in a bit as well.

 
 So, down the Cooper River, up the Ashley River, into and thru Wappoo Creek, thru Elliot Cut into the Stono River. From there we eased thru low country marshes, glowing with golden grasses, and populated with swiftly appearing porpoises. It is a constantly amazing thing when these mammals suddenly appear beside the boat, dive smoothly under it and survive. I kinda cringe and wait for the crunch; never happens. From the Stono, it was on to the Dawho, a noted shallow spot to be handled carefully lest one find ones self poised gracelessly on a lump of mud while awaiting towing assistance. 'Taint fun! Got by the issue, and are now anchored peacefully in the South Edisto River just north of ICW mile marker 505; as in 505 miles from mile zero in Norfolk, VA. Ain't life grand! Tomorrow will be on to Port Royal marina in.....Port Royal SC. Catch you later, be safe.

Charleston; Day 1

Wandered about downtown Charleston today; a gorgeous day, temps high 50's, low 60's light breeze, blue sky. Sort of a nice way to wind down a bit. Our slip is located in such a way that when the freighters go by the wake rocks the boat, rather than rolling it. Last time we were here was kinda rough. This marina is city owned, which means that there are politics involved. Some needed things will get done, others won't. All in all, a decent place to park for a few days. Easy walking distance to down town, Harris Teeter's , etc.
So, the main thing we did today was a carriage tour of the historic sections of town. Interesting, and very informative. Even learned the difference between a graveyard and a cemetery. What we have in the pic are Dale, center, Dale Jr, on the left, and the ever lovely Virginia, on the right. Not shown is Gary, Dale's driver and chief narrator of the tour. There are 5 carriage companies in the city, with routes being assigned on an hourly basis by lottery. Yup, an old fashioned lottery machine spits out a colored ping pong ball for each carriage. The ball color corresponds to the route that carriage, and horse, will follow that hour. That way the horses' treatment and use can be monitored. Seemed like a pretty good system to me. Here's a three beer thought; could we use that in our political system some how?
 There are thousands of little alleys, dead end streets, fantastic buildings and churches. Interesting rule: no building may exceed 8 stories in height, 'cause you can't block any sight lines of the church steeples in town. Further,  anything that is over 75 years old cannot be touched. Guess they take history seriously here.

Philadelphia St

Stay warm, stay safe, catch you on the flip side.

To Charleston

A short word about Dewees Island. This is an exclusive residential community established in the 80's by R Kennedy, among others, it has gradually evolved into a restrictive residential enclave of 150 home sites. Access is by ferry from Isle of Palms. No vehicles are allowed. Local transportation is by golf cart. Just think, in the 1700's this used to be a hunting island used by the Sewee Indians. Isn't progress an interesting thing to explore?

One more item of an administrative nature; should you wish to enlarge a photo for closer examination; click on it. I has trouble with it as well, Chuckie.

Today was kinda cloudy, cool, but peaceful. Anchor came up smoothly, Frick & Frack fired up, and off we went to Charleston Maritime Center. We got there earlier than planned, so took a half hour run up the Cooper River. That took us by the USS Yorktown of WWII fame.  I had an opportunity to tour that ship several years ago. Certainly gave me a whole new perspective on the courage  and determination of the warriors of those times. Impressive, to say the least!Along the way, we went under the Arthur Ravenel Bridge. Always strikes me as one of the most graceful and interesting bridges I've seen. really looks cool at night, when all the cables are reflecting the lights 

Refuelled, pumped out, tied to the slip, we trudged off to Harris Teeter. Sort of a southern Wegman's. Picked up a little of this and a little of that; packed the little red cart, and trudged back to Scooter, A word about little red carts; before we welcomed them into our life, we suffered mightily from PFS;"purple finger syndrome". This affliction occurs when one carries a plastic grocery bag with the fingers in the loop. Any distance over 1/4 mile will generally bring on the symptoms. The degree of purpilization, and accompanying swelling is usually proportional to the distance travelled.
A peaceful night to one and all, may the morning find you cheerful and full of vim and viga. catch you on the flip side

26 January

Sunrise over the South Santee River. Sunrise to some folks, 'specially those over 45, like me, is important; kinda like reveille, ya know. Gives hope that the day will be good, we'll get thru it in good form, and, gee, isn't that sunset gorgeous: what a way to end another lovely day! What you don't see here is that this particular sunrise was accompanied by lots of gunfire; yup, last day of duck season here; boy, were they trying hard.

Anyway, Scooter's crew was up, ate a great breakfast; refried shrimp, rice, and eggs with bacon and a beverage of choice. Chuckie, I gotta tell ya; life can be good, reeally good! So, off to see if we could slide by the McClelanville shallows to Dewees Creek. Tried it, did it and got there. No issues, either mental or mechanical. This is a very pretty stretch of the ICW; not much development at all, mainly 'cause there are several National wildlife preserves that the waterway runs thru. 'Course it is also not fun to build in swamp land. Remember the Swamp Fox, well, the Francis Marion National forest runs along this area, as well as the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge. As to wildlife sightings: dolphins, an eagle or two, river otters, wild pig, pelicans. Keeps us pretty busy with the " Oh, didja see that" "No, what was it?"

We are currently anchored between Big Hill Island, and Dewees Island, about 15 miles from Charleston, SC, scheduled to dock in the Charleston Maritime Center tomorrow. This is close to downtown Charleston which will be handy for walking to shopping, etc. Issue is, it is not a boater friendly marina, due to lots of stiff tidal currents. Plan is to time our arrival for slack tide; that time between tidal change; high to low, etc. water is not moving in either direction, so the boat stays about where you want it to.

Depending on the weather, we'll probably be in Charleston thru Tuesday, then underway again on Wednesday. rather run in the sunshine than the rain.
Stay safe, enjoy the better winter days, smile and look forward to Spring. Catch you on the flip side.

Further on

Okay, dokey, then! Last we visited we were dealing with a tankful of stuff in Southport, NC; as it turns out, this may be the gremlin that drives Scooter's crew bonkers. We toured Southport, by rental car, as well as shanks'mare. No, Chuckie, we did not have access to someone's mare: work it out y'rself. Went to the movies;  Green Book, as a matter of fact. I am not a great fan of movies that aren't shoot 'em up, or down, as it may be, but I would cheerfully go see that movie again. Perhaps 'cause it pulled back some memories from long ago. Shopped, explored, did laundry, tried to stay warm. Finally, the winds died down to a manageable roar, the water oozed back into most of the channels, and we took off for further parts SOUTH!

The one thing I've noticed about this retirement thing is that focus sometimes becomes a mysterious, wished for thing. There is so much going on, that you sometimes lose track of what it is you wanted to do/are supposed to be doing, and gotta get done. So, Chuckie you now know why "they" invented calendars and "HnyDo" lists. Sorry, I digress (fancy for mind wandered). Blowing out of Southport, we headed to Osprey Point Marina, and the Myrtle Beach environs. We've been guests there before; 'bout 9 years ago, and wanted to try it again. Nice spot set back a long fairway thru the woods along the Waccamaw River. To get there you go thru Lockwoods Folly Inlet, Shallotte Inlet, Littler River Inlet, all well known trouble, as in shallow, spots along the ICW. Calls for some tide planning and a lil' bit o'luck. Then you have some bridges to deal with; how about the "Captain Archie Neil ""Poo"" McLauchlin Swing Bridge. No, really, that is the official name of the bridge; abbreviated Captain Poo swing bridge; that is bad enough by itself. Then you have the "rock pile": an area that the Army Corp of Engineers was tasked to build many moons ago, but ran short of funds and left monster rock ledges for channel edges in a lot narrower dimensions than called for. Can't get a tug/barge combination and a small yachet thru there at the same time; guess who gets to back down.

So, we get to Osprey Point, refuel for the next leg, pump out just in case. Didn't think we really needed to 'cause we had just pumped out in Southport; AND, wise us, we've been logging flushes. Yes, Chuckie, logging flushes. We figure at about 1-2.0 gal per flush; depends on content, I suppose.  Scooter has a 30 gal holding tank, soooo.. figure about 15 flushes before full. There is also a digital gauge; suspect at the moment. Anyway, Ginny knows somebody, the wonderful somebodies lent us a car ( thanks Carson and Judy), we toured, shopped, ate, did laundry, tried to stay warm. Sound familiar? I must say that the city of Myrtle Beach has done a wonderful job reusing the old Myrtle Beach Air Force Base. Really pretty cool.

Mother Nature dealt up some ugly weather that kept us in the dock 'til today; But at 0800 we're up and rarin' to git'er done. Hit the flush switch; guess what came out of that vent line. So, the mystery is: where in the world is the water coming from? Stay tuned; we're sherlocking it now. Out of Osprey Point, down the Waccamaw River, across the Pee Dee river, past Georgetown, SC, down the Esther-Minim canal, to our current anchorage in the South Santee River. Tomorrow will, hopefully, find us sliding by the shallows at McClellanville, SC to Dewees Creek, near Charleston, SC.

Y'all stay happy, smile more, stay warm and enjoy the day. catch you on the flip side!

Catch up

Not much to report from Mile Hammock to Wrightsville Beach. Some pretty shallow water in the New River inlet, combined with a variety of confusing ATONs (CG speak for aids to navigation), led to some " Seriously, the channel goes there ?" moments.  Gotta give the CG guys credit for scrambling around trying to keep up with proper buoy placement with all the wind & rain, etc we've had lately. Squeaked thru there, then through a bunch of low spots to Figure 8 Island swing Bridge. That guy WAS in charge of that opening. I wouldn't/couldn't put the antennas down, so the bridge had to be opened. Anyway, we sat a bit longer than we expected, but were polite. Down to the Wrightsville Beach drawbridge, eased thru that to the Wrightsville Beach marina for fuel. pumpout, and water; the essentials of life on a small boat. The dock guy was like a 'wabbit with foxes after him, ziiiip, ziiip... "all done, Capt'n". Stay tuned for that part of the story. So, off the dock, neatly, if I do say so, Chuckie, in spite of the current blasting thru there. 'Round the corner, and into Motts Channel anchorage. A small, frustrating, scenario is that sometimes the anchor just won't catch firmly, electing to slip/slide across the bottom. Sea grass, fouled anchor (chain twisted in flukes), are possible culprits. Crew perservered, anchor was set, happy hour established, and all was apparently well.

Back step a moment; remember when we had all the crappy problems with the little red/green lights in the holding tank system? Well, it looked like all was well there also. Completely unbeknownst to us the tank gauge had failed, and the whole system was full; to include the vent line. When the vent line plugs you can't pull the "stuff" completely out of the tank. So, when "zippy" did his pumpout routine he just , as they say, skimmed the surface. I knew we were in trouble when I heard the toilet flush, and simultaneously, heard water running; outside the boat. 'Tweren't real pretty, Chuckie.
Anyway, we chose to press on to Southport, NC ; time for an oil change, and a discussion about changing the galley cooking fuel/apparatus with the yard folks there. Had to add the other issue to the list as well. So, down thru the twists and turns of the ICW to the Cape Fear River. I've got to throw out a bit of philosophical drivel here for a moment; hope it won't be repetitious to an annoying degree: but, as we wander down the waterway for the second time in 9 years, we find it to be sort of depressing to see all the new Mcmansions in there gaudy pastel colors being built, sometimes right next to the last Mcmonstrosity that the recent hurricane blew apart. I recognize that we are making more people, and creating less space all the time, but it seems that we just throw $$$$ at everything, not, perhaps, to make it better, but so that we look better. I'm still puzzling over this one. It is however a consistent theme in this journey.

So, we got to Southport, applied the pumpout hose, then hosed out the vent line several times until the pumpout unit was able to get things moving again. Scooter is now, freshly oiled and parked in slip D10 awaiting the predicted gale force winds that may hit in the next couple of days. Winds have a significant impact on water depth in the ICW, so we'll be delaying departure until that sorts itself out a bit. Lockwood's Folly, a notoriously shallow inlet 10 miles south of us, will call for gentle winds, and careful timing of the tides for a successful passge. Last couple of days have been sunny, sometimes partial clouds, temps in the high 50's, low 60's; tomorrow calling for rain, wind, with temps in the 40's, down to mid 30s' by Monday. Tough on old folks, I hear.

Catch you on the flip side; be safe, be warm, and be happy.

Cedar Creek On...

It was cold at Campbell Creek the other night, but strangely enough, very little frost on any boat surfaces. At Cedar Creek, it was also cold, perhaps not as cold as Campbell Creek; 1/16 " inch of fost on every exposed surface. Must be the lack of global warming, eh. No ice on the water this time around.  So, off we went  to Camp LeJune and Mile Hammock Bay. This is our third time thru the firing                                                                               

ranges; Until today, no delays. At 1400 Navy guard boats says "Waterway will be closed 'til 1600, Capt'n" Great. Anchored, nibbled; by the way Chuckie, Food Lion has the greatest chocolate chip cookies, paced, how far can you go on a 34' boat; actually, about 91'. So, 53 laps would be about a mile. And..... Navy  calls back "Yo, Capt'n, range is clear, G'by" Not really, but the meaning was there. Rumbled and thumped thru the Onslow Beach swing bridge to our current spot. Lovely moonlit night punctuated periodically by Sea Stallions and Black Hawks ( or the USMC equivalent thereof). Just glad I don't have a tall mast on this boat.

Tomorrow's run should see us in Wrightsville Beach, NC for fuel, water, pumpout, etc.

Watch the ice, stay safe, stay warm, catch you on the flip side

Mooovin' On!

Would have posted this yesterday, but we were so far in the boonies that there was no service. In spite of a dire and gloomy forecast; rain, wind, etc, we decided to leave the docks at Dowry Creek Marina  for parts further South. With a hand from Fred, the wind, and good ol' Detroit diesel, wed did just that. Not a long day, but as it turned out, a fairly successful one; nothing broke, nothing grabbed the bottom of the boat, and, we got where we wanted to go. Down the mighty Pungo River, 'cross the mighty Pamlico River into Goose Creek, which, Chuckie, is one of the geographical entities creating Goose Island. From we meandered into Campbell Creek: plunked the anchor down, and turned on the heat. Mr Buddy and little red Honda jumped right into it and did their best. Well, maybe it fell a little short, but it still felt reaaally good.


Up in the am to a totally different kind of day; sunshine, hardly any wind, and 45 degrees. Fantastic!
Rolled down Goose Creek ,past R.E. Mayo' shrimp company, the Hobucken CG station, and into the awesome Neuse River. Widest river mouth in the US, they tell me. All in all, a gorgeous day to be out and about; 'specially in a boat.                                               

We are now in Cedar Creek, NC; same spot we were in 9 years and 3 days ago when the killer shrimp attacked us. We be ready now, tho', got old age and wisdom on our side. Anyway, tomorrow we head to Mile Hammock Bay, down by Camp Lejune. You guys stay warm & safe; catch you on the flip side.

Update II

So, we loaded up the Yukon, pretty much too the brim, and headed back to NC. Plan was to deload the Yukon, load Scooter to the brim, put the bridge canvas on, jump on and head South. Well, that plan failed from the gitgo. Took almost 9 hours to get to Dowry Creek; traffic, accidents, etc. Add a day.

The unloading and fitting in took another day. OK, we'll put the bridge canvas on and get the plan moving. In steps Mother Nature with 15 knot winds. That was actually OK as well, 'cause the little red/green light dance that we thought was solved popped up again. Can't be full! Was!!. Took it all apart again, pumped dry, counted out 30 gallons going in, pumped out same. Recalibrated sending unit. So far, so good. At least we know more than we did before(and?...). 'Nother day gone; wind slowed to a manageable speed, so let's put the canvas on; haul it up to the bridge; first 2 pieces attached, but don't fit. So much for putting that puzzle together, Chuckie, they all have too mesh or nothing will work out. Find a place to store the canvas; we can run the boat from the lower station. So, can we go now? Nah; time for wind, rain, possible thunder storms. Might as well stay at the dock with real electric for heaters.

Here we sit, still; wind is howling, forecast just changed to reflect tomorrow's 20-25kt breezes. So much for optimism. Hopefully, Tuesday's forecast will hold true, and we can get underway.

You may have noted an occasional mention of a third crew member; I am pleased to introduce our ships anti-rodent control officer, as well as all-round situation monitor and staff trainer; Momma. You do know the saying" dogs have owners, cats have staff" Couldn't be truer in this case.

Sorry there isn't more exciting news to put forth, we're working on it. Stay warm and safe, we'll caych you later.