BACK ON THE ICW

MAY 16, 2016

EARLY MORNING SWING BRIDGE

COMPANY ON THE WATERWAY

It's Perfect left Charleston, South Carolina at 6:30am on Saturday May 14.  It is great to be on the move.  The weather was beautiful for our first day on the water and wild life was abundant.  There was a large ray that jumped right in front of It's Perfect along with birds, fish and dolphin.   We have found that we have not yet gotten back into the rhythm of life underway. It will take time and more miles under the keel. 



After a long first day in the ICW we anchored behind Butler Island, South Carolina.  It is just north of Georgetown and was home to rice plantations before slavery was abolished.  We dropped the anchor at 5pm.  It was time for happy hour and dinner.  The sunset was beautiful but it was early to bed to prepare for an early departure. 

MOM OSPREY FEEDING THE BABIES

We spent the next day in the Waccamaw River going north, the weather clear and cool.  They should call this part of the ICW the Nature Trail.  This is the perfect time of the year to see newly hatched osprey in their nests along the waterway and mom flying by with a fish in her talons for dinner. We also saw bald eagles nesting higher up in the trees, raccoons, turtles, dolphin, fish jumping and 2 alligators swimming along the grassy shore.

NESTS ARE EVERYWHERE

  

We passed thru what must be the ultimate tourist destination on the east coast, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  It could be the small boat capitol of the world.  From the first sight of homes and businesses we were surrounded by so many watercraft we lost count.  Jet ski's, paddle boards, kayaks, ski boats, fishing boats, monster jet boats and even Casino boats.  Our nerves were fried by the time we made it to the north end.

The day flew by, there are very few places to anchor along the way.  We had tried to get into two of the small marinas we were familiar with but it being Sunday we were not having any luck.  As the sun started to set we were getting a little anxious.  We were just off the Cape Fear River heading into Southport, North Carolina and it was getting dark.  We called 2 more marina's along this part of the waterway and again no answer,.  We tried a small anchor spot along the way and quickly ran into 4 1\2ft of water.  Not the place for us.

As dark set in the last option we had was to continue on to anchor just off  South Port in the Cape Fear River shipping channel.  We anchored there late one night 4 years ago heading south.  It means  about 5 more miles in the dark. 

We tried one more time on the VHF to hail a marina and finally got a response.  It was Russ and Lauri from Twin Sisters out of Essex, Connecticut.  Twin Sisters is a PDQ 34 motor cat.  Just so happens they anchored across from us in the Waccamaw River at Butler Island last night and passed us doing 12 knots during the day.   They were on the dock in South Harbor Village Marina just behind us and they knew the dock master.  There was plenty of space on the transient dock and we could settle up with the dock master in the morning.  At  9:15pm we pulled onto the dock with Russ and Lauri waiting to help us tie up.  After quick introductions and thanking them for their much appreciated help it was finally into a hot shower and bed after a long 14 hours on the ICW.