Wednesday, 23 December 2015

South Carolina.USA.. The Intracoastal waterway (15th December to 20th December 2015)


This was a lovely anchorage on the North/South Carolina border on the Little river inlet. We arrived on the 15th December and to celebrate our arrival we sat on deck sipping wine and watched this little Kingfisher diving for fish


The inlet from the sea always causes silting and it is easy to run aground at low tide like this yacht did. Another yacht tried to pull them off without success so then US tow boats came to their assistance and after several attempts got them off the bar


The next day we got away at daybreak. It was a beautiful morning as the sun came up with magnificent reflections in the water

There is a narrow cut through the rock that is called the “Rockpile” and it was like gliding across a mirror. The only ripple made by the boat


We pushed inland on the Waccamaw river enjoying the scenery of magnificent trees and turtles basking in the sun. Earlier in the year as we travelled north the Osprey were nesting.


The morning of the 17th was foggy. We set off but after 3nm the fog set in and we couldn't see markers or the river bank so we anchored and waited 3 hrs until it lifted

We stopped in Georgetown and took on fuel. Eric got a lift with a fellow local yachtie to get Propane while Cathy walked to the supermarket to buy supplies before pushing on again.
We enjoyed watching herons and pelicans on the foreshore and took a photo of the place we ran aground earlier in the year, keeping marker 40 well to our starboard side this time! Again it was low tide and we only had a few inches under the keel


Thank you to these dredges the waterway is kept navigable


On the 18th December we reached Charleston. It had been a drizzly day with a strong incoming tide across the inlet and we were 10mins too late for the last daylight bridge opening so we anchored off the city


As we motor sailed up the harbour we could see Fort Sumter and the decommissioned ship “The York” which is now a maritime museum


US coastguard were patrolling the harbour and called us on the radio for our details, but we weren't boarded


The next day was very cold and we had several layers of clothing on to keep us warm and hot water bottles!


Our next 2 overnight river anchorages were beautiful with magnificent sunsets. We watched eagles in the trees and dolphin herding fish. 


Our next blog will be Georgia



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SV Erica

SV Erica

About Me

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We met in 1971 and it was Eric's dream to build his own yacht and sail the world. This became a joint dream but it was not until 1994 that we were able to start building. "Erica" was launched in 2001 after 7yrs building her. It then took us 5 yrs to prepare her and ourselves before leaving NZ to see the world

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