In Georgetown - South Carolina
AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Mon 23 Nov 2009 16:01
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It's been a few days since we posted anything apart
from position reports as the trip through North into South Carolina is very much
out in the 'sticks' with few places of great interest to report on. However
there's always plenty of action on the water, especially as certain sections of
that coast around the smaller inlets are beginning to shoal, meaning a greater
risk of grounding without warning to the unsuspecting 'snowbirds' heading south.
Also we are well and truly back into tides and currents and the locals must
derive great fun from seeing out of control sail and powerboats flying off in
all directions as they wait for bridges to open.
Our first 'near miss' came at the Camp LeJeune
firing range, where a section of the ICW occasionally becomes closed for short
periods whilst the military lob live shells across the water trying to hit
various items of redundant hardware on the opposite shore, such
as old tanks and vehicles no longer required by Uncle Sam. During this
procedure a Navy guard boat is anchored either end of the range.
They kindly alert transiting boats in the vicinity via VHF of the
possibility of getting blown out of the water by stray shells making
it necessary to drop anchor for a while near the guard boats. It
was here that we came close to sustaining damage of a different kind.
A heavy displacement cruising yacht with the close range destructive
capability of a pocket battleship we had last seen in Morehead City decided
to anchor just up-current of where we had already laid out 20 metres of chain to
hold us steady until we were cleared to proceed. They decided
that a humble offering of approx 5 metres of chain in the 3
metres of water would do the trick and then preceded to wave a cheery
'hello' to us whilst we frantically waved back to them indicating that they
were dragging their anchor and its small amount of chain down onto us! At
the last minute they finally got the message and powered up their
engine just in time to clear our bows whilst still trying to retrieve
their own anchor in the process. A close shave!
The next dramas on the route south occurred at
Wrightsville which should really be re-named 'Agroundsville' as, due to shoaling
from the inlet from the Atlantic Ocean, one of the members of our
southbound convoy duly went hard aground where there should have been plenty of
water and had to be towed off by Towboat USA. (The RAC of the ICW). Then at the
Wrightsville bridge which opens on the hour another unfortunate cruiser went
aground where there should also have been loads of water to float in, due, we
learnt later, to a large tug which had previously gone aground at that
very spot and, with its large propeller churning up the seabed, had
inconveniently rearranged the underwater contour line in that
vicinity.
We were going to anchor ourselves that
evening at Wrightsville beach just off the ICW which meant a sharp left
hand turn after the opening bridge. With 2 knots of current and millions of
gallons of water in a hurry to return to the Ocean from whence it came we
skidded round the corner towards the anchorage when our shallow water alarm
started bleeping like mad. 'Skip' decided this wasn't working out very well and
not such a good idea after all so aborted the procedure and tried to turn round
into the fast flowing current. Ajaya was doing 2 knots sideways as we
desperately tried to round up and head back into the ICW, then another boat came
flying round the corner with the current, the crew looking alarmed at a
sideways going catamaran close by. We pulled out of the 'skid' before we damaged
any local boats parked in the adjacent marina and managed to get back into the
ICW, immediately crossing Wrightsville off the future list of idyllic overnight
stops. We decided instead to head on to Carolina Beach a few miles
further down the ICW.
A mercifully quiet night at Carolina
Beach, apart from the sounds of the Atlantic surf pounding onto the beach a
few hundred yards away from us, was then followed by a transit through
man-made 'Snow's Cut' which leads onto the Cape Fear River. We remembered
Snow's Cut from the trip north in June - it was so shallow that a small
speedboat drawing just a few inches had actually gone aground in the cut and had
come back looking for a 'guide boat' i.e, one that had a proper chart onboard,
which happened to be us! It was so shallow at that time that we were
dreading the trip back through this narrow stretch of water - but, good
news, the cut had since been dredged over the last few months - or was
still being dredged, because as we entered (depths now seemed very good) we were
hailed by one of the engineers in his boat to say there was a very long
length of dredging pipeline in the cut which had broken loose which one
boat had already hit on the way through ahead of us. Our trip through the
Carolinas was turning out to be like the 12 challenges of Hercules. We decided
that we didn't much care for this part of the ICW anymore.
At the mouth of the Cape Fear River lies Southport
where we had previously enjoyed the comforts of a marina and a meal at 'Fishy
Fishy' a really nice restaurant in the creek, with live music and a local
Carolina type atmosphere. This time we anchored a short way up a narrow canal
with just a few feet under the keel, opting not to sample the local delights in
the chill of autumn. Skip proceeded to strip the outboard engine down for the
umpteenth time to try and get it to run properly. (Blocked idle jet in the
carburettor). It promptly poured with rain during the procedure and then as the
rain stopped squadrons of mosquitoes descended on the boat with freshly
sharpened proboscis's driving us inside for the evening. But not before drawing
a small quantity of group 'O' from the 'outboard engineer' on
Ajaya.
Our next stop was at the entrance to the Little
River where we shared a starry evening with one other yacht (and a million more
mosquitoes). But at least the outboard seemed to be back on song once more. We
were treated to the sight of two large cruise boats entering the inlet from the
Atlantic Ocean. Closer inspection with the 'binos' revealed two casino
boats loaded with slot machines, which presumably took punters out for the day
enabling them to spend a small fortune whilst incaserated on one of these
floating prisons.
Onwards past Myrtle Beach and its numerous golf
courses. Much of the ICW is bordered by large properties occupying huge plots of
land. One house with anornate bedroom balcony had numerous eagles sitting on the
balustrade, some airing their wings - not sure who would be the most alarmed if
the house owner threw back the curtains in the morning - the eagles or the
homeowner!
And so to Georgetown, named after King George and
lying at the confluence of the Great Pee Dee River, Wacamaw River,
and Sampit River. Georgetown is the second largest seaport in South
Carolina, handling over 960,000 tons of materials a year. It's home to one of
the largest paper mills in the world, but has a history dating back to the
1500's which makes interesting reading which we won't bore anybody with now -
it's all in Wikipedia.
After a Sunday stopover here we will be moving on,
possibly to Charleston where we first entered the USA after our voyage
through the Caribbean.
Here are some pics from the last few
days:-
Beautiful Oriental
Where boats outnumber residents by 3 to
1
  Tranquil Whittaker Creek where we
bought some engine
spares
Oriental's rural waterfront is beautiful
  One road back from the river
bank
The river with the entrance to Whittaker Creek to the
left
  Painting of a dragon on a stone nr. the
beach - they're big on dragons here
! The beach close by on a
beautiful sunny day
  It was still flooded from the recent
storm
This is the waterfront road - still underwater.
Main harbour at Oriental - Phil and the 'new' dinghy in the
foreground
  Morehead City - at the Sanitary
Restaurant for the night excellent Hush Puppies here
....sunsets aren't too bad either
  You see some strange sights on the
ICW Africa meets the
USA! some
sad sights as well - an abandoned Mainship trawler
  New bridge assembly - the concrete
spans are delivered
by barge
Maybe it will be finished by next year?
  Ospreys are gone for the winter - now
the really big birdies have arrived
! ..... and they are in
numbers, flexing their wings
  Just what you don't want landing on top
of your mast .......... A Pelican. It had
difficulty landing which is not surprising really with a metre
wingspan
END.
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