Georgetown, South Carolina - June 8-20. 2007

We left Charleston, South Carolina, on Thursday, June 7, heading towards Georgetown, SC. As we left the large, busy harbor, our autopilot failed. Bad deal. Fortunately, we knew we could hand-steer the boat especially since we were traveling up the calm waterway to our next destination. We stopped for the night outside a little town called McClellanville, put down the anchor and proceeded to spin in circles as we were beset by conflicting currents from the ICW and a nearby little river. It was 5:30 p.m., quite a bit later than we usually anchor as we’d gotten a later than usual start. We worked and worked trying to still the boat finally putting out a stern anchor as well. Big mistake. That meant the two anchor lines twirled together creating a bit of a tangled mess. In the process, the windlass, our anchor control, broke! Truly a bad day….in terms of equipment. Mike took apart the windlass but couldn’t repair it. At least he was able to fix the controls to pull up the anchor—a good thing, as the anchor rode (chain) is very heavy. In the midst of all this turmoil, we found ourselves aground on a tiny island at the mouth of the river! Of course, we rightfully figured that as the tide rose, we would no longer be aground.

In the morning, we headed for Georgetown finding a marine mechanic who could fix our autopilot—but not till Monday. Alas, our schedule continued to fall behind. Bruce, the mechanic, did a fabulous job and by Thursday, we were all set—except for the windlass. We had ordered a part, but after trying to repair the windlass, we were told it wouldn’t work, and we’d have to order a new one. Of course, we did, but that meant another whole weekend in Georgetown—really setting us behind. Today is Wednesday, June 20, and we’re hopeful the new windlass, which arrived yesterday, will be installed early so we can get on our way.

However, we have had a delightful time in Georgetown, a quaint, historic district with a few good restaurants and charming shops. The town has beautiful live oaks spreading over the streets lined with well-maintained attractive homes—all with appealing front porches. The people here are friendly and helpful. In the marina, we’ve met a few people who have a boat here permanently like Dean Dawson, pictured above with his boat, Pawley Girl. Dean is an avid sports fisherman who has shared his catch with us and even brought us squash and tomatoes from his garden. Bruce Braynerd, the marine mechanic, brought us homemade peanut brittle. We also met a couple from California who along with their two- and four-year-olds were sailing on a large, 42-foot Catana catamaran—they’re picture leaving our boat in their dinghy. Another couple we met in Charleston, Sunny and Blake from Seattle, joined us for the weekend. Before they left Monday morning, Sunny insisted on fixing Korean specialty barbecue complete with sticky rice. It was delicious. We enjoyed their companionship.

Charleston, South Carolina – June 5 & 6, 2007

We spent a delightful couple of days in Charleston. As we arrived at 9 a.m. on June 5, we sailed past a couple—Sunny & Blake-- on a Manta 42’, Slow-Mocean. They seemed very glad to see other cruisers and almost immediately after anchoring next to them, they came over to tell us of their adventure. They had been caught crossing from the Bahamas in tropical storm Barry. They had weather 30-foot seas for 26 hours and had had to deploy their sea anchor. They were very happy to have arrived in Charleston the previous afternoon.

Later on we all went to West Marine as the City Marina provides a van there. That night, as it was Sunny’s birthday, we had planned to celebrate with a nice dinner in town. However, thunderstorms precluded that, so Sunny and Blake brought their Korean dish to our boat, and we enjoyed a pot luck dinner. Sunny & Blake are from Seattle and spent the winter in the Andros area of the Bahamas getting lessons from a seasoned cruiser on spearing fish and lobsters. ( Of course, it was also our daughter Brooke’s birthday, so we called her to sing happy birthday—the first time we haven’t been with her on her birthday.)

Wednesday, June 6, we joined Sunny and Blake for a walk through the city. Charleston’s a beautiful city with elegant old homes. It was founded in 1670 and has preserved its rich cultural heritage. We ate lunch at a wonderful, non-touristy restaurant, Mistral, across from the market, a group of open-air shops selling everything from hats to jewelry to straw goods. Mike and I restocked our pantry from a wonderful grocery store, Harris Teeter.

South Carolina – May 30, 2007

We left Thunderbolt Marina on Tuesday, May 29^th, moving a little south to Turner Creek so that we could stock up at a nearby grocery store. Then on May 30^th, we headed north to Hilton Head Island. Again, we motored most of the way with a little help from the wind. We anchored in Skull Creek just outside too great restaurants, Hudson’s Seafood, and Charley Crab. Of course, we had to try them out. Enjoyable.

We left the following morning for Beaufort, South Carolina, a lovely town we remembered from our 2004 driving trip down the east coast. We walked around the town in the afternoon and found a great little restaurant on the waterway. Beaufort has a lovely riverfront walkway with wooden approximately 10 sets of swings along the path facing the water. It too has a lovely historic downtown district. We had some dinner, went back to Jus’ Now and prepared for the next trip to Charleston, a couple of days ahead.

In the morning we had to wait till 9:15 for the Lady’s Island swing bridge to open for us to go through. With a 64” mast, bridges are sometimes a challenge for us. The only other opening is at 2:15 which would have delayed our progress a bit. Our next stop was Mosquito Creek, aptly named. We’d heard about a great seafood place, which though advertised, was closed when we arrived. However, some local fishermen sold us some freshly caught shrimp and we all were happy. Saturday proved to be a rainy day with the effects of tropical storm Barry inundating the area. We stayed put, visiting the seafood place to replenish our supplies.

Savannah, May 10,2007

We traveled up the Intracoastal Waterway from Brunswick to Savannah for three days. The route was scenic, mostly marshes and trees with many birds and occasional dolphins accompanying us. Of course, many of the areas were narrow, and there wasn’t much wind, so again we motored. Occasionally, we traveled with several other boats plodding along with us at about 6 knots per hour. Most boats however were trawlers or other yachts motoring at much higher speeds. We anchored at three places along the way: Wally’s Leg, Wahoo River and Moon River, before reaching Savannah on March 14. At Wally’s Leg, we had intended to jump in the water for a cool swim in the morning before we left, but just as we were ready, a nearby boater asked if we had seen the alligator on shore. That was all we needed to abort those plans….

As we approached Moon River, the ICW was lined with gorgeous multi-million-dollar homes. It was very pretty. We had hoped to find some seafood restaurants along the route, but no luck.

Once in Savannah, we docked at Thunderbolt Marina, just south of the historic district. We needed a few repairs and planned to visit Denver—a business trip for Mike. After settling on the needed repairs, we were able to make our plans to leave for Denver on Saturday, May 19. On Thursday, we had the good fortune to meet a very nice lady, Brenda Haynes, who worked in a plumbing store we visited after trekking three miles to a Home Depot which did not have what we needed. Brenda befriended us and drove us to get some supplies then to our boat—a welcome gesture as we were exhausted from the heat. Once at the boat, Brenda was joined by her husband, Ken. After a glass or two of wine, they offered to check our boat while we were gone. We drew the line at their more than generous offers to take us to the airport, etc. When we returned from Denver, Ken and Brenda took us on a tour of Tybee Island. We thanked for their generosity with a great meal at Paula Deen’s brother’s restaurant, Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House—for those of you who know the southern gourmet on food TV.

On Friday, we needed yet more hard-to-find propane bottles, and although Mike tried, we were unable to rent a car to get them, a good distance away. As he was repeating his bad luck at 4 p.m. to a passerby, Jim of Wind Dancer III, who had just rented a car for the weekend, said he would take him. Away they went in a hurry. We thanked them with a dinner of low-country boil and ribs shared on their trawler.

Brunswick, Georgia--May 3

Finally, it was time to leave the Bahamas and head back to the states before the hurricane season hit. A good friend, Steve Olson, was able to take some time off and join us for the crossing, a two-and-a-half day trip from Marsh Harbor to Brunswick, Georgia. Steve could not wait to get out on the open water with no land in sight. His help sharing the two-hour watches for the entire trip made the crossing much easier for Mike and me. Fortunately, the crossing was uneventful. Calm conditions though great, with a lack of wind we had to motor most of the way. We were entertained along the way by several pods of dolphin, appearing every once in awhile to cavort around the boat. On our last evening Steve caught a 50-inch dorado, a real treat. We arrived outside Jekyll Island, Georgia, on Wednesday evening and decided to anchor there as it was getting late. The air was murky with the acrid smell of smoke from the Georgia fires, and for the first time since we started the crossing, the seas were a little rough. By morning, all had calmed down again.

We went another couple of miles into the Brunswick Landing Marina, recommended to us by some fellow Coloradans (Bryan and Sharlene from Castle Rock) on a catamaran, Tonga Time, whom we’d met in George Town, briefly. We loved the town of Brunswick.. Its historic downtown, a half-mile walk from the marina, has been renovated and boasts a few very good restaurants and shops. Of course, West Marine and the grocery store, where we really needed supplies, were a two-mile walk from the marina. Steve left us Saturday morning to return to Denver. We wish he could have stayed a little longer, but as it turned out, a tropical depression, Andrea, was making its way outside of Brunswick, so on the advice of the weather gurus, we stayed put till it passed. That meant we didn’t get on our way to Savannah until Friday, May 9.