Going the wrong way...

 

A group of factors have come together at the same time that led us to the decision to return home for this year.  In part we have already done several months on the boat and realized that we wanted to have some time to accomplish some other things during this next six to twelve months.   Another factor has been the weather patterns this fall which have made it challenging to find a sufficiently long period of advantageous weather to go around the shoals and shallow water of the ICW in South Carolina and Georga by going out on the open ocean.   Strong winds out of the north week after week without sufficient time for the larger seas to calm down between systems made it clear that we could spend many days or even weeks waiting to find a weather window to comfortably sail down the coast “outside”.   Our 6.5’ draft is about a foot and a half deeper than is optimal for the ICW shoaling depths between North Carolina and the Florida border.  This 18” difference in how much water we need under our keel can literally be the difference between getting a desired number of progress miles per day as we would constantly have to time our passage past a shallow place while having to wait for high tide to make the next few miles. 

Another factor that came up after we arrived in South Carolina was the unexpected news that our insurance carrier made a recent (as in the past two or three weeks) decision to refuse to provide any insurance for the Bahamas for any vessel over thirty years of age.  Alternate insurance providers that we investigated were very (!) expensive and would require us to pull the boat out of the water and have a professional survey conducted (expensive) which would still not necessarily guarantee coverage for Justice.  There were other factors as well but ultimately, we decided together that we had done enough cruising on Justice for this year and that we wanted to accomplish some other things this winter as well.

We are really happy with having made it this far and have a far more in-depth understanding what is involved with “doing the ditch”. It really involves a lot of patience, weather forecasting and good seamanship. We enjoyed each day. This trip has given us many stories along with sympathy and excitement for hundreds of ICW snowbirds.

It seems easy to retrace our steps but the same care will be taken as on the way north at 5 – 7 knots. The weather is colder but we are cozy in our cockpit enclosure. We are surprised to see so many boaters without one, surviving fine all bundled up for the rain and wind. There is still a steady stream of boaters coming down, picking their days to hop between stops.

Today we are back at Coinjock (Mile Marker 50). Next stop Norfolk, then a few more days to get up the Chesapeake Bay.

 

Holden Beach, NC

Example 1 of a section of GA ICW

Example 2 of a GA ICW section and inlet

Rain, Wind and Shallows, Oh My! (Prince Creek, SC)

Rainy weather - lots of time to eat big breakfasts, catch up on show series and contemplate our next move.

Heavy weather is no fun out on the ocean OR at a shallow non-protected anchorage, and if there are few or no marinas that can take our draft, there are few good choices to stay at night in Southern South Carolina and Georgia.

From Charleston, SC to St Mary’s FL/GA border is 255 Statute Miles of ICW. If ya go by ocean it’s about 183 miles. Georgia in particular is very curvy, therefore many miles of going around curves to make a few more miles “down Georgia”.

Justice draws 6.5 feet of water.

The SC and GA ICW is full of very shallow areas, some below 6 feet at mean low tide. Of course the strategy is to go over the shallows at high or near high tide, but when it’s “constantly” shallow, it makes for short travel days during the high tide hours-let’s say 6 at the most. Several daylight hours are wasted because they are not at the higher tide times and you can’t go at night.

Even then, you want to know where you are going to anchor or stay at a marina. There are few marinas that take our draft on the GA ICW. In this stretch to FL, most anchorages are shallow and not protected from the wind. We read some disappointing reviews on WaterwayGuide.com. Even if you're willing to try one, you don't know if there will be room for you when you get there. Not everyone uses AIS transmitters, so you can't see where all the boats are.

We heard Georgia ran out of ICW maintenance money last year or so. There is never enough money anyway, but unfortunate for any part of it to get behind. We also read that it’s beauty equals it’s frustration : )

Planning Inlets

“Newbie’s” without local knowledge are not recommended to use some inlets in SC and GA. So if they are not all options, then you have to sail overnight to get in the next one. We are fine with sailing overnight to avoid the ICW, but waiting for that good weather window is important and we hear there are fewer of them in late Nov and Dec. You also should time your inlet departure and arrival for close to slack tide to avoid rough inlet waves. At this time, there won't be a window long enough for about a week or month from now. Local knowledge is available from boat towers, weather routers and others, but it's still a risk in bad weather.

When we left Cape Fear to go to New River Inlet, we timed it for the arrival, not the departure, though the departure factors were not bad and it was still rough. It was an outgoing tide against the waves (but it would almost always be against the waves and wind- and it was nice to get a 2 knot push of current to get us through it asap) It was doable, but we wouldn’t want it any rougher. At that time, we had to steer straight into the wind and short-period waves to stay in the channel, which made for a rough ride of "hobby horsing". When it’s rough like that, we DO NOT go down below for anything- as you can get hurt. It might have only lasted an hour or so before we could put up a riding sail and sail off the wind a little. It got deeper and open for a smoother motor-sail ride. We did not have time to slow down and just sail, or we wouldn’t make the arrival inlet window. Some other inlets are not so well marked so we stuck with our plan to New River.

A good offshore weather window is not coming for over a week or month. It’s best to wait one day after the first  “good” weather day to depart because it takes a day for the sea state to “calm” to match the new weather. So that brings a total wish for 3 good days in a row.

Back to Nature MM382 in South Carolina

 

Enjoying the changing leaf colors in Prince Creek, off Waccamaw River, SC

There is just enough room here for us to swing with the current as it switches directions.

Highish winds are forecast for the next few days on the Ocean. We are very protected here, and finally getting our "full day" of rest we didn't get at Bird Island. We have been doing 30-50 mile days.

The anchor chain still creaks as we swing around constantly with the river current, but it's not touching the keel : )

Alligators?

We are told there can be alligators starting down here. I know they can jump out of the water to snatch wildlife from branches (or a boat!), so we are watching the area and Thunder. We WANT him to enjoy this area because we keep him down below at marinas now mostly, if we can't supervise him (since the dock jump incidents). He also likes to sit on the cockpit top and watch things and we shoo him back there often.

What's more scary than alligators? Not much, but here is one: running out of little plastic garbage bags with handles! The plastic grocery store bags are strong and fit well where we like to hang our galley garbage and recycling.

BIG THANKS TO Angela and Noel for giving us their saved up bags they had ready to recycle. If I find a tear, I just Scotch tape 'em up! They are wonderful!

Now we know why it’s called Cape FEAR.

Above. Departing Cape Fear inlet, spits on left and right, close by

Carolina Beach to Cape Fear River. ( photo inserting in progress)

Nice view of the boat nearby before we had to re-anchor.

Spur of the moment change of anchorage. We were so proud of ourselves making a change of plan “on the fly”. Our goal was the Cape Fear inlet area anchorage even though it would get some ocean swell. Even though it was a “designated anchorage”, we saw some boats comfortably anchored around the bend before the designated one. We decided to try it out there instead. We anchored between 2 boats with a buoy on one side and Battery Island on the other. Our first try was a hair too close to the island for comfort, so we pulled up and anchored again. This was good practice measuring the area since we had to do it after dark when we watched the anchor alarm path show we were dragging.

The boat was heading into the current, but the wind was pushing us from behind, pushing the boat over the anchor chain, making us kind of odd “sailing” at anchor.

Afte re-anchoring around 8 pm, we saw there was a deep “hole” in our area. Claire thinks the anchor was falling in the hole before. Without any way of knowing, we watched our position every hour all night, so we didn’t get good sleep. Locking Thunder in the back bedroom with his litterbox and food. He was happy with one of us for company most of the time.

Nov 8  Still sleepy but glad to be going sailing

Upon waking the last time, at dawn, we decided it would be a “break” to do a day on the ocean, timing our departure with a good tide for entering Little River Inlet (border of NC/SC). (We could take turn taking naps) This was also a departure time when the tide was going out of Cape Fear Inlet, giving us a big push. Of course the wind was coming from the nose-south/SE so against the wind and with the current made for short deep waves, dipping our bow almost into the next wave, splashing water to wash the deck. Real bucking. We just slowed down to make it the least bucky. We had to go into the waves because it was a narrow channel.

Call for Ginger Tea!

After we clear the narrow shallow channel, we put up the staysail sheeted in tight for stability. Kept the motor on since the wind was dying to 3 knots and we wanted to make Little River inlet at good time. Poor Thunder didn’t like the boat action and got sick. Claire didn’t feel great at all, even with fresh ginger tea from our precious ginger plant, so didn’t get anything done for 6 hours other than washing the dishes.

Thunder trying to be comfy after not feeling great.

Little River Inlet was not rough at all since we timed it well. Anchored with other boats immediately to the right. Beautiful grassy area by a dune, view of traffic coming in the inlet. What a relief to be still. 1 pm. Chatted with friends on the phone and Claire had a conference call. Our boat sits right on the border of NC/SC.

Nov 9. Reverse Wind-Current Anchor pull, again

We hate this. When we are angled into the current, but the wind pushes us forward over the chain. As the wind shifts and currents change, the pull the boat sideways, rubbing the chain along the but chainplate, but likely along the keel too, surely rubbing bottom paint off. We reduced chain to reduce this.

Move we shall

We don’t like this noisy chain action, and the wind will pick up tonight, so we’d like to anchor somewhere else. There is not an anchorage we can get to before sunset, so we have to try for a marina. The first one couldn’t take our 44 ‘. The 2^nd one can take us: Cricket Cove Marina MM345. A short trip, but it's already past sunrise, so we can't go a full day anyway. We WERE planning to stay here and get boatstuff done, so glad to have a short motor day.

Update: Nov 9 afternoon. We are docked on the outside floating dock of Cricket Cove Marina! Yay, dinner at the restaurant and a shower with elbow room tonight! Pretty sunset photo to come. The marina wi-fi didn't work at the boat, so we have our computers out at the restaurant downloading all kinds of stuff with the restaurant wi-fi. I would have though this so rude last year, but not now, since we are traveling. We are still sociable with our waiters and people nearby- i think - CW.

 

 

Eyeing the Ocean

 

This was a peak of the Atlantic ocean we got passing by an inlet the other day. We are not on the ocean... .yet.

Nov 7. We motored down Cape Fear River to get near an inlet that is safe to let us out to the ocean, but we should have a plan of where to go back in to the ICW, even if for a break.  We spent hours researching the depth of inlets in SC. Finally found tide info for them- wasn’t easy. To make our jump to the ocean easier, we motored down the ICW a couple miles to just before Bald Head Island. The ferries taking people there passed us several times each way. We’ve heard it’s a beautiful place to visit.

The reason to go out in the ocean is to avoid the curvy ICW in SC. We can sail or motorsail in the ocean for the same distance between towns in less time and save ourselves stress of micro-navigating every foot. We would need to take turns navigating at night, unless we can get in an inlet before dark. It takes time to get in and out of an inlet and ya want to do it at high slack tide, which only occurs 2X a day. So if we find we won't make it in in-time, we'll probably try for the next do-able one.

Wrightsville Beach to Carolina Beach

 

Departing Mile Hammock, morning surface fog

s/v Kunik 

our high-tech sunscreen for valuable navigation iPads.

Wrightsville Beach

We started seeing our first derelict boats. How sad it was to see them left high and dry, sunk or ready to sink. There is a great effort to remove them, but it is slow, dangerous and expensive.

A bunch of us boaters anchored in a row along the island that separates Wrightsville Beach from the ICW. When the boating activity calmed down, there was still a “hum” of the ocean waves hitting the beach. I was surprised it was so loud from over the inhabited Wrightsville Beach neighborhoods. The inlet was just around the corner.

Wrightsville Beach to the east

View to the west

We left W Beach around 11 am because we wanted to time high tide over the most shallow ICW areas. It made for a short day since we need to anchor by sunset, now at 5:30 ish! So we anchored in Carolina Beach anchorage, the next closest place we could get to the ocean.

Carolina Beach anchorage has a mooring ball area as well. The town mooring ball instructions are posted clearly and the no wake zones are enforced. We saw the town harbormaster check out what seemed to be an anchored derelict boat. It appeared they did not find anyone aboard the sailboat that was towing a dinghy but it was mostly deflated now.

It was close quarters and we went in different directions for a while till the breeze lined us up.

Below: Carolina Beach Anchorage, protected on all sides.

Below, the big clear sign

We are not going into many towns yet. Sorry so much water. We are watching the weather windows for going on the ocean jaunt.

On Way to Mile Hammock Bay (not a secret after all)

Camp Lejeune territory

The Ocean is just over the dune.

Onslow swing bridge. Glad it opens on the half hour during the day. They are building a new bridge next to it, to be ready in 2025.

Mile Hammock Bay: a little "bay" on the west side of the ICW. Mile Marker 244.4 North Carolina.

Just inside the narrow markers, looking back.

 Reviews say there is room for up to 20 boats. I think we had 15 and that was quite a few in the deepest parts. Very pretty and peaceful, except for Camp LeJeune bombing noises during the day.

From there we went to Wrightsville Beach anchorage (Nov 5), then Carolina Beach anchorage (Nov 6).

Swansboro, NC

Friday Nov 3. Made it from Oriental to Swansboro, over the Neuse Sound, through the Adams Creek canal down to Morehead City, down the "coastal" ICW along the barrier islands, over the two shallow/narrow spots we worried all night about. They were no problem since we met them at high tide and there was no traffic or barges. We pretty much had the stretch to ourselves.

We tied up to the outside dock of Casper's Marina (MM229.3)(look them up on Facebook). They had a very affectionate black cat in the office. Nice to make a new friend.

It's a short walk to town with nice shops and restaurants. Claire recommends these shops:

Through the Looking Glass  www.shopttlg.com (though this is just their floral shop site. They have nice gifts and kids toys.)

Salt Marsh Cottage (home decor)  www.saltmarshcottage.com

Rocket Fizz ( candy and pop )  https://rocketfizz.com/locations/rocket-fizz-emerald-isle-nc/

We enjoyed our traditional walk to look at historic homes. The older homes have signs showing who built or owned the home.

https://visitswansboro.org/culture/historic-swansboro/

Visitor info  https://visitswansboro.org/   

and the shops page https://visitswansboro.org/shop-dine/swansboro-shopping/

and Muscovy ducks!

We had dinner outside at The Boro Restaurant and Bar  https://borocafenc.com/

We didn't NEED a waterview ( for some reason  LOL )

There are several town docks for a good deal:

$1.50 per foot per day

https://visitswansboro.org/recreation/town-docks/

Evening time: Quiet. No wakes. Just 3 other boats docked here.

Zzzzzzzz...

Jean's Pumpkin Bread get's it's own post!

 

Jean, your beautiful loaf of pumpkin bread gift was delicious!

We didn't have room in the freezer, but we kept in in the fridge and enjoyed it with friends in Maryland.  Nice touch by adding cranberries. So moist! Heaven!

Thurs Nov 2, 7 am: We are on our way to Oriental, NC!

Update 3 pm-ish: We arrived at Oriental, anchored outside breakwater with some other boats since nice weather. We need this afternoon to plan the next day, so no going ashore for fun. : )

If we want to stay on the ICW, and not go out on the ocean, then there are 3 very shallow and narrow places in NC, on the ICW that we need to hit at high tide to not run aground, likely with a million other boats. We'll need to depart Oriental at sunrise to get to the first two and get to an anchorage/marina by sunset. Our goal is Swansboro NC at Casper's Marina. They are closed now, don't use Dockwa.com but open at 8 am. We'll call them for a reservation then otherwise risk anchoring where there is room for just a few boats by there. We are ok with going out in the ocean, but want to experience the real ICW. We are told Georgia is more treatcherous and to avoid GA altogether, so we may save our overnight sailing on the ocean for GA.

Now for leftovers dinner!