ICW - Beaufort, South Carolina

We headed to Beaufort, SC on Saturday, November 22nd, two days earlier than expected due to bad weather on its way.  We are now in a high tidal range area and there are several areas that are impassable for us if the water is too low.  This passage was over 60 miles and included two “trouble areas” with low water which we did make it through with little to spare below the keel.  You can see in the picture just how low the water is and where the “high tide” mark is on the pilings.  Beaufort absolutely wins the award for “southern hospitality”.  The town is full of charm with one of a kind shops and galleries with many restaurants, a great riverfront, elegant southern mansions, unique live oaks and Spanish moss.  Local residents volunteered to be host couples to our boats in the Sail Rally.  A lovely couple, John and Diane, were our host couple and took us all around one afternoon shopping and also showed us their yacht club and many historic homes.  The city celebrated our stay with an awesome party at the Saltus River Grill with fantastic food (especially the shrimp and grits and raw oysters) and live music.  Our host couple, John and Diane, attended and introduced us to many local residents, including the mayor.  Everyone at the party were just the nicest people.  Each boat in our Sail Rally was given a welcome bag with some wonderful gifts inside.  We are recommending Beaufort, SC as a must stop to all of our boating friends.  

ICW - Charleston, South Carolina

On Thursday, November 20th we traveled to Charleston, SC.  Since we had covered 80 miles the day before, we only had 22 miles to our destination, St. John’s Yacht Harbor in Charleston.  The city of Charleston is full of southern history, charm and culture.  Although we did not stay at the Charleston City Marina, we did sail past this mega-yacht marina and the largest we have seen so far.  There is much to see in this city with all of the beautiful homes and historic sites.  There is a great marketplace and live statues.  We have made many new friends on this Rally and one family is on s/v Ryajen.  Don’t we look happy?  We were scheduled to stay here for three days, but had to leave a day early and head straight for Beaufort, SC due to extreme bad weather on its way.

ICW - Whiteside Creek Anchorage

There are many trouble spots on the ICW that are called trouble due to low water, shoaling, etc.  There are also many bridges that operate on restricted schedules and these need to be coordinated with the tides of the trouble spots.  For this reason we had to travel almost 80 miles today on Wednesday, November 19th and spent the night at the Whiteside Creek Anchorage.  We left Osprey Marina at sunrise with frost on our dodger windows and a temperature of 28 degrees!  The fog on the ICW almost made it impossible to see the boats in front of us.  It is a bit nerve racking to see birds standing on the ground just a few feet away from our boat as we travelled through some of those trouble spots!  This area is full of salt marsh lands and the docks from land out to the water are very long – we did see one owner drive a golf cart to the end of his dock.

ICW - Myrtle Beach,South Carolina

The trip to Myrtle Beach, SC was interesting with many golf courses and one has a cable car that carries golfers across the ICW.  There is a stretch called the Rock Pile which is a narrow cut with rocks on both sides that are beneath the water during high tide, however the colors of the foliage were quite beautiful.  I think we found the place where all buoys go when they aren’t needed anymore.  Osprey Marina in Myrtle Beach, SC was the next stop on our rally.  This marina is down a short channel right off a narrow section of the ICW.  They give every visiting boat the best welcome basket we have ever seen – with detergent, dryer sheets, toiletries, snacks, floating key ring and much more!

ICW - North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

The passage to North Myrtle Beach was very scenic and diverse.  There are several inlets from the Atlantic Ocean (the current and shoaling can be rough in these areas), remnants of previous hurricanes, interesting vessels, impressive and large homes, more opening bridges, and foliage that is changing colors.  We stayed at Barefoot Landing Marina in North Myrtle Beach where there is an abundance of shops and restaurants like Flying Fish, Dick’s Last Resort and House of Blues.  

ICW - Southport, North Carolina

We had a short, but a bit challenging ride to Southport, North Carolina on Friday, November 14th.  Southport Marina and the town of Southport is a great, friendly place to visit.  The town, along with the Mayor and City Council gave us a welcome reception party with appetizers, wine, cheese, and hot drinks.  We stayed here for two days and our Sail Rally fleet had a group dinner at a local restaurant with some excellent food!  On Saturday, some of the shops in town were having an Open House and served food and drinks just for stopping in their store.  This was a full service marina that also sold beer and wine in their ship’s store!  

ICW – Carolina Beach, North Carolina

On Thursday, November 13th we departed Mile Hammock Bay in Camp Lejeune and traveled 51 miles to Carolina Beach anchorage.  This trip took us almost 10 hours due to a number of restricted bridges that only open on the hour or half hour.  It is very tricky to arrive at the bridge when it opens due to the tides, currents and the number of miles.  When the bridges do finally open, there is a parade of boats wanting to pass through to get to the next one.  There is a number of interesting landmarks on this segment – a very pink house, a giraffe, mermaid sculpture and a palm tree with a parking meter in the water.  We have to be cautious at all the inlets that open from the ICW to the ocean.  We anchored in this small anchorage and during the night the winds picked up to 15-25 mph, but our Mantus anchor held us!

   

   

ICW – Morehead City, North Carolina and Camp Lejeune

On Monday, November 10th we left New Bern and headed to Morehead City, NC.  We were up way before sunrise to catch the bridge opening at 6:15 am (the bridge is closed from 6:30 to 8:30 am for traffic).  After 51 miles we arrived at Spooners Creek in Morehead City, NC which is near Beaufort.  Within a mile walking distance there is just about every store you could possible need including a West Marine.  It is getting cold due to an arctic cold front passing through the U.S. so we bought a propane heater for the nights we anchor without electricity.  On Wednesday, November 12th we traveled 36 miles to Camp Lejeune where we anchored on the base.  There are times when the marines are having firing exercises and the ICW is closed.  We were lucky as there were no firing exercises when we passed.   As the anchorage filled up with boats, the marines were practicing maneuvers and helicopters flew overhead till after 10 pm.  The anchorage was very peaceful and calm.  We ran into our friend, Bill, who we have been meeting with throughout our trip.  It was good to see him again and we had him over to catch up on all happenings and for a chili dinner.