On departing Charleston on April 30th, we again had the pleasure of passing by Fort Sumpter, so emblematic of another troubled time in American history. It always strikes us as too small to have played such an important part as the fuse for starting the war between the states. It's controlling position at the entrance to Charleston Harbor tells another side of the story however.

North of Georgetown we again marveled at the remote scenic beauty of the Wacamaw River and it's Cypress swamps. We think it is one of the prettiest rivers we have seen. It also demonstrates how Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, so effectively confounded and eluded the British during the American Revolution by hiding there. Further north, it seems that each inlet also has it's own history of pirate havens and civil war blockcade runners.

We have continued our cruise north on the ICW, timing tides, currents and weather to make progress. Unfortunately, another Nor'Easter created a 6 day
layover at Barefoot Landing Marina in North Myrtle Beach, the location of more shops and restaurants than you can count. Our guess is that 80 percent of the areas GDP is restaurants and shopping.

Today, after negotiating Lockwood's Folly and several other inlets, we arrived on the broad Cape Fear River where we enjoyed a surfing ride north on a max flood and strong current. Eleven mph at 2,400 RPM's - not bad! After a night on the hook here in Carolina Beach we will continue running long days northwards, trying to pass through potentially problematic areas before the next Nor'Easter.