Oriental, NC to Charleston, SC
11 November 2016 | Wapoo Creek, Charleston, SC
Light winds, NE, 66 degrees
We spent Halloween with several of our sailing friends tied to the dock in the town of Oriental, NC. The population in the town is around 900. The town was named after a ship "Sailing Streamer Oriental" built in Philadelphia in 1861. The ship was used as a Federal transport ship in the Civil War. Ron and I love visiting this small friendly town, which is also known as North Carolina's Sailing Capital. While we were here, we went into our favorite working marina, Deatons Yacht Services, to get some minor repairs done to the boat in preparation for our Bahamas Trip. So now that the repairs are done we are underway once again.
On Saturday, November 5th we left Oriental and went to Beaufort, NC where we anchored in Taylor Creek just adjacent to the beautiful Beaufort waterfront. At 4:00 AM the following day we pulled anchor in the dark to begin a 218 nm/33 hr. ocean passage to Charleston, SC along with our friends from Grace V. We started the trip by motor sailing, but as the winds picked up, we turned off the motor and continued under sail alone. We listened to our weather forecaster (Chris Parker) and as predicted the winds were going to build throughout the evening. So, Ron went up on deck and put a reef in the main. (See picture gallery on the blog site). It was a good move as the winds did continue to build and so did the waves. One of the waves had the nerve to come up on our port side stern and splash into the cockpit, making everything covered in salt water, me included. That has never happened before, so I must say, I was surprised and not a happy camper. The wind and waves continued to build as we approached the Charleston inlet. At one point, we hit 10.7 knots on the knot meter. Our average speed is 6-7 knots. Unfortunately, the wind direction was making the ride a little uncomfortable, but not too bad. We arrived in Charleston, around 2:45 PM on Monday, November 7th. We went ashore and took a marina bus to downtown Charleston with our friends Tim and Karen on Grace V. We had a great day walking through the city looking at the historical homes and enjoying the southern hospitality.
Presently, we are anchored in a creek (Wapoo Creek) which is surrounded by beautiful large waterfront homes. Yesterday, I made my first pecan pie with pecans that Ron and I pick off the ground from under a pecan tree in Oriental. I was worried as to how it would turn out. But, to my surprise it turned out to be quite tasty. It looked pretty too.
We will stay here until the next weather window provides us the opportunity for another overnight off-shore passage to St. Mary's Inlet, which adjacent to Cumberland Island and Fernandina Beach Florida.