Evening clouds.
I don't set out with a length expectation when I write a blog post. They could be very short - a 'strictly facts' narrative, but my goal is to share the experience, not just the route and stops along the way. But this one will be shorter. Why? Because I finally uploaded the photos referenced in my last blog post, and feel I need to post something saying 'they're there!'.
Anyways...
I wrote the last blog post while sitting outside the laundry room at the South Harbor Village Marina. After I finished it, I walked in the dark down the docks to Grace. At the end of the main dock is a fish-cleaning station. There were 3-4 people there, talking to everyone walking past, with Two Wheelbarrows Full Of Fish. All kinds of fish - barracuda, grouper, ... One was an old, white-haired black man - very talkative. As I chatted with him, I made a comment about him having too much fish to eat. He explained that he will be eating this fish all winter - and then he gave me a fish. I'm not sure what kind - some sort of bass.
The next day, as I was leaving the marina ahead of the others, Kathy from Gentle Presence threw a bag of seasoning to me. As I went down the channel towards the ocean, someone I'd met 6 days earlier at Downey Creek named Rolando passed in the other direction and yelled 'Hi Alex'. Great start to the day.
The group went off-shore down to our next port - the Little River, a beautiful run of 25 miles, with a nice breeze and I got the chance to finally raise the mainsail after not taking the sailcover off for a week. While the rest of the group was going to a marina, I decided to anchor out in the Calabash River. Very tricky, shallow spot to get into - I actually ran into the mud two times (very soft mud. The boat doesn't stop as much as slow to a stop, and it's easy to reverse out of it.) Rolando was already there, and he got on the radio and guided me through the shallows. After anchoring in 6.5 ft of water, I put the swim ladder down and swam over to his boat. We had a nice visit, and he told me about some of the very attractive sections we'll go through tomorrow.
The fish was not what I'd hoped - not only was it small after cleaning, and it was an oily fish. Still, a nice break in my menu.
Yesterday was another long, boring motor on the ICW, past Myrtle Beach - I posted a picture so you can get an idea of 'the scenery'. I am now in the Osprey Marina in Socastee SC (we crossed from North to South Carolina yesterday). Today was a typical marina day - washing the boat which had gotten filthy, going to the grocery store, working on the engine, reading, and writing this blog post. Tonight the group is having a potluck dinner. Tomorrow we head down the Waccamaw to Georgetown SC.
That's it for my 'shorter blog post'. L
ook in the Gallery to see the pictures I finally uploaded.