North along the Waccamaw River in position 33:39.88N, 79:04.27W
AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Tue 2 Jun 2009 23:45
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We have been passing through one of the most
beautiful stretches of the Intracoastal Waterway - the Waccamaw River in South
Carolina. This river flows through beautiful woodland, which
reaches down to the river's edge both sides where many dead and dying trees
are covered by hanging mosses. Eagles fly from one side of the river to the
other and nest both in trees and also on top of the red and green buoyage marker
posts situated out in the river, where young eaglets (?) could be seen in the
nests. As soon as we approached they would start to frantically call
for their parents who were probably away gathering up some ghastly
live meals to feed them. Along the banks we could see many terrapins basking on
rocks. We seemed a million miles from civilization, and felt this area
probably hadn't changed in hundreds of years.
Our evening stopover was to be in a
small bight of the river, a semicircular loop where the river used to flow but
has been by-passed by a more direct stretch. Rather like an open ox-bow lake if
I remember correctly from Geography lessons. This is a
recommended anchorage on the ICW and was just at the right distance to provide
an early halt to the days motoring. Besides it was looking thundery (again) and
we didn't fancy motoring along in the pouring rain. At least being surrounded by
tall trees we felt a little more secure should the lightening get close.
We arrived and motored round the bend of the bight
where another yacht was already anchored, so we obviously wouldn't be alone for
the evening. They then made it clear they didn't welcome us being too close to
them as the holding wasn't good, it had taken them a long time to anchor and
there was a storm coming. We started to turn back and then two other yachts
arrived simultaneously entering the bight from opposite directions in a pincer
movement. One anchored where we had been about to go, which wouldn't have
pleased the resident yacht that had already shooed us away. It became a game of
'musical chairs' anchoring as we all vied for room, desperate to get the hook
down before the rain started to fall. Then the storm arrived.
The morning forecast had indicated a 20%
chance of thundery showers with no cloud to ground lighting foreseeable. This
storm certainly had the cloud to ground lightening to go with it, and very
spectacular it was too, then the rain started. We had dropped the anchor
50 mtrs from the entrance to the bight but by the time we had laid out some
chain the wind had changed direction and we were almost into the lily pond by
the trees which didn't bode well for a relaxed night. Then the anchor windlass
wouldn't work on the "up" switch. The day was ending rather badly. Skip had
to hand winch the anchor up whilst No.2 steered, keeping Ajaya away from the
lily pads and overgrowing trees. Rather incongruous for an ocean going
catamaran! After much huffing and puffing the anchor was finally up
and we shifted position and then re-anchored just in the entrance to the bight
where the holding should be quite good in the silt. The rain was now
torrential and the wind was changing continuously as the storm seemed to be
on all sides, although there wasn't enough wind to be a real problem.
The storm eventually passed on down the coast to soak some other poor wretches
and we settled down to a vegetable curry and early night, as we had a long day's
motoring to come the next day. We just hoped the storms had finished for the
time being.
Selection of pics of the trip north into the
ICW from Charleston
 Our first swing bridge
 Houses with water transport "parked
up"
  Along the waterway
  Into the Waccamaw River
 Eagles nest on a green route marker - electric
lighting included
 Note the lone eagle sitting on the tree top! We
thought this scene was eerie!
 Our anchorage in the bight come
morning
 Another morning scene in the
anchorage
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