Another jump north
16 May 2009 | Bear Creek, North Carolina
Cloudy with showers, Air Temp 74F, Water Temp 71F, Wind SSW@12-17
McClellanville street
Well even Charleston can loose its charm and we were ready to go before the weather cleared. We arrived on Sunday and had some chores to do on Monday and West Marine required a second trip on Tuesday to pick up a battery I had ordered but that was shipped to the wrong store.
On Monday night we went to dinner at The Peninsula Grill, a very nice spot. We went with Glen and Elsa, a couple from Chicago aboard the J46 Wyndera moored ahead of us on the dock. The food was excellent and we had a nice time chatting with new friends.
Tuesday, after another West Marine visit, we had a chance to walk around the beautiful downtown area, always finding new sights to see and to do a bit of grocery shopping. I was on the lookout for new deck sandals as one of mine jumped overboard un-noticed and left me with only a left foot. But no luck.
By Tuesday we were ready to go, but the weather for Wednesday was still strong northerlies. So we decided to motor up the ICW to Winya Bay, about 50 miles north, from where we could jump offshore again. Heading out, we circled Wyndera to say goodby, passing a British boat, Alsaheer, also getting underway. Wyndera was waiting the weather out in Charleston as their mast height, 66', prevents them from using the ICW at all. All fixed bridges are just 65', and some are barely that. So we left them waiting for a window to head offshore to Chesapeake Bay, a three day run.
Motoring down the harbor against the 20 knot wind, we fell in with Alsaheer and were soon chatting on the VHF. We passed through the Ben Sawyer Bridge, running across to Isle of Palms, a Charleston suburb. It was our only opening bridge of the day. Here I told the bridge operator that I had read a posting about her on the SSCA web site saying she was the best operator on the ICW, She was delighted.
Past Isle of Palms, the ICW quickly begins winding through salt marshes of the Cape Roamine Wildlife Preserve. Although beautiful, we had had all we could take of it by mid-afternoon and turned in to McClellanville for the night. We have passed this town before, always in a rush to get somewhere, but today we decided to stop. Our plans had changed as Thursday's forecast had changed to strong easterlies and our offshore route to Beaufort was north-east, so we had an extra day. The cruising guide describes McClellanville as a town time has forgotten, and it was right. We had no idea what to expect when we turned in the tiny creek. Rounding a bend we found a fleet of shrimp boats tied up waiting for the season to open next week. And next to it, a tumbledownn dock with an old man standing on it signalling to us. There was no question... we were to tie up here for the night. Ashore he shuffled up to a barn and told us the owner would be down "sometime" and to just wander around and enjoy the town. He directed us to the retail shrimp outlet where we bought some fresh shrimp (the offshore area is already open). Then we wandered through the town and confirmed the description from the guide.
It is a pretty old southern town that is just dozing in the hot sun. Back at the "marina" we settled in and had excellent shrimp sauteed in butter, garlic, peppers and Pernod, on top of grits... Excellent! Finally the owner shuffled down and we paid him his $25 for the night and we settled in.
Thursday we pushed on to Winya Bay and ran up to the town of Georgetown, another pretty, but more active town. Here we anchored and went ashore for a few "essentials" (excellent Orange Marmalade, among other things) at the Kudzu Bakery. Not to be missed!
In mid-afternoon we dropped down the bay and anchored behind Alsaheer for the night. We chatted on the VHF and confirmed they were also heading for Beaufort, an overnight run of about 125 miles.
So Friday we headed out Winya Bay with the last of the tide at 6:30 am and set course to clear the Frying Pan Shoals off Cape Fear, about 75 miles away. Over the 26 hour sail we had a bit of everything, beautiful sailing in sunny skies, teeming rain in squalls, and lights through which we motor-sailed. By 8:30 am we were entering Beaufort's inlet and dropped the sails. From Beaufort we motored up to the Neuse River where we hoisted sail again for a beautiful afternoon of sailing and napping.
In Beaufort we met Seabird again. They left Miami three days ahead of us, and we didn't think we'd see them again this spring, but they had slowed down while we took a number of quick offshore hops. So tonight we are together in a beautiful anchorage and will travel together for the next week or so.
But the next few days are sounding like storm days with north winds of 25-30 knots, not weather in which to travel north. So we'll hunker down and wait it out.