Great Loop Statistics to date:
Statute Miles: 778.2
Average Miles/Day: 51.9
Total Hours Underway: 108.8
Average speed (mph): 7.6
States Transited: 4
Total Days: 38
Travel Days: 15
Locks: 5
Nights at Extra Days
Marinas: 7 19
Anchor: 7 1
City dock: 1 0
Free Wall: 0 0
Mooring: 0 0
We had four uneventful days of travel this week – a statistical rarity. 😉
Two spectacular anchorages along the South Carolina waterways, along with moderate weather, made for low stress overnights. One short thunderstorm just after getting the anchor down made us glad we had enough swing room to put out 120ft of chain on our large Rocna anchor. We didn’t budge an inch during the storm.
Thankfully, Charleston Harbor was both calm and not terribly busy with cargo ship traffic. We breezed right on through, choosing not to stop since Ray grew up in the area and we’ve seen quite a lot of this beautiful city over the years.
It is always amazing to see the change in coastal geography as one travels the coastlines of the states going either north or south -- sandy beaches, mangroves, and palms, to wide expanses of mud and marshland to stands of pine trees, rivers, and coastal scrub brush.
We finally had time to get the oil changed in the engines upon arrival in Murrell’s Inlet and were able to get the used oil recycled.
----
Great Loop Travel Days (GLTD):
012: Beaufort SC from Savannah GA
013: Church Creek (Edisto SC) from Beaufort SC
014: South Santee River (near McClellansville SC) from Church Creek (Edisto SC)
015: Murrells Inlet SC from Santee River (SC)
Map of our Great Loop travel:
GLTD012 Beaufort SC (from Savannah GA): We woke up early (before sunrise) to “go to work”. With a strong current at low tide, we both donned headsets to haul anchor – Ray on the bow and Lisa at the helm. The anchor rode was fouled around a crab pot. We had swung 360 degrees several times with the wind and tide changes overnight and wrapped the pot warp around the anchor chain.
After he cleared the crab pot, Ray snaked his way out of the anchorage, using all available resources:
- Aquamaps – for marked channels, shows latest depth soundings -- in color --from Army Corps of Engineers
- Navionics – shows depth contour for creeks (anchorages)
- SCOUT’s depth sounder and chartplotter
- the old “Mark II Eyeball” 👀
Below are chart screenshots for Wright River SC from two different applications -- Aquamap (on the left) and Navionics (on the right).
- In Aquamap (left), the blue dashed line is SCOUT’s tracks into and out of the anchorage.
- In Aquamap (left), the main channel shows color-coded depths, where red is shallow, and blue is deep.
- In Aquamap (left), the creek does not show detailed depths.
- In Navionics (right), blue is shallow and white is deep; gold is sand/shoals and aqua is marsh/wetlands.
- In Navionics (right), the creek shows depth contours. Ray followed the deeper (white) area out of the creek.
Notice how the deep water route goes very close by the sand shoal.
I went outside to get a photo of just how close we were to the beach at the exit of the creek, but instead, was distracted by the beautiful sunrise reflected on SCOUT’s large windows. “Double sunrise!” 😊
Soon after sunrise, Ray spotted dolphins.
Since the water is not very clear in this area, it’s harder to see the dolphins’ underwater activity. Even so, I could see the dolphin rolling for side to side to get a glance at what was above him. (At least that’s my interpretation of his movements. 😊)
And you still see them clearly when they breach the surface.
We docked at Safe Harbor Beaufort (SC) Marina at slack tide, around noon. After securing and rinsing the boat, we walked a couple of blocks for lunch at Hemingway’s Bistro. I enjoyed a French Dip (without bread), and Ray enjoyed a hotdog.
The waterfront park is beautiful. Swings along the waterfront are just some of the unique features.
The tide was REALLY low on that first day!
This ramp down to the dock was a LITTLE scary!
Great Harbour friends from mv Moonbeam, who live in the area, picked us up for dinner and drove us to their favorite Thai restaurant. What a fun, energetic couple!
(We also stopped in Beaufort to see them on our way south in the spring of 2019.)
After dinner, we walked right next door, to check out the new “axe throwing” venue.
We did not participate THIS time, but I’m guessing Mr. & Mrs. Moonbeam will be champs by our next visit! 😊
The next day, Ray & I took a long walk for exercise. As I stopped, briefly, to get a photo of this Spanish moss-covered tree with the marina in the background, a beautiful old car drove past and created a perfect scene from yesteryear.
Ok, just one more quick stop for this beautiful southern estate.
We got back to the boat before lunch. While we hydrated from the walk (and I had a snack), a few visitors dropped by SCOUT.
We met a couple of blog followers! Thanks to the Barbans, who told us about a symphony that would be playing in the waterfront park later that afternoon. It turns out he worked in NASCAR, so I got a selfie with him to share with Daddy, who is a big race fan.
We also met the captain of mv CRAWDAD, who was docked behind us on the face dock. (This will not be the last time we meet up with mv CRAWDAD.)
Bob423 (famous for his ICW tracks) happened to be docked right in front of us on the face dock.
He came over to meet Ray and gifted him with a Bob423Aquamap burgee, since he had been helping with logging some ICW track data.
After a lunch snack, we did a little shopping. On the way, we stopped to listen to the Low Country Wind Symphony practicing and warming up for a later concert.
You can barely see the symphony in the photo below, but I wanted to highlight more of the beautiful waterfront park’s features. Look at all that green space, and the hardscape seating around the amphitheater.
Since the city of Beaufort SC ended their mask mandate the day before we arrived (at midnight), this was the group’s first opportunity to even play together since the Covid-19 shutdowns began a year earlier. They seemed excited to be able to play!
And the community must have been happy too. The amphitheater seating, the surrounding benches and picnic table, and much of the grassy area was full by the start of the concert.
We had to leave the concert a little early to get ready for dinner with more Great Harbour friends. mv Moonbeam put up with our company 2 nights in a row 😊; this time captain and crew from mv Carolyn Ann joined us.
Great Harbour boat owners are sort of like family. This was sort of like a mini family reunion. We had not seen most of these guys in 2 years – at the last Great Harbour Trawlers Association (GHTA) meeting – since the last 2 annual meetings were cancelled due to Covid-19.
We ate at Old Bull Tavern, where I highly recommend the Black Angus Tenderloin with Gorgonzola Butter. (This is also what I had 2 years ago, when we met up with mv Moonbeam on our way south.)
Ray wanted to have the brick oven pizza (again), but apparently, that is something they are not doing --- temporarily. (Probably something related to Covid – like most everything else. 😕)
GLTD013 Church Creek near Edisto SC (from Beaufort SC): We left the dock in Beaufort SC right at sunrise, close to slack tide, which makes it easier to move the boat.
Culture and History: Along the way north, we saw this interesting vessel, “American Waterways Wind Orchestra”, anchored outside the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) channel. This article explains that the 195-foot-long double-hulled steel vessel is actually Point Counterpoint II, a boat designed by architect Louis Kahn for Conductor Robert Boudreau.
[In the 1950s, conductor Robert Boudreau, a trumpeter who graduated from Juilliard, had an peculiar dream: to assemble an orchestra composed of just wind, brass, and percussion instruments that would travel by water on a floating stage. The American Wind Symphony Orchestra (initially called the American Wind Ensemble) played its first free concert on land in 1957…] The first floating stage was a flat-deck barge with no propulsion; it had to be towed to each destination.
In the 1960’s, Boudreau asked Kahn to design a self-propelled boat for a 76-city tour he was planning to celebrate the United States’ Bicentennial. Kahn designed this boat, Point Counterpoint II, “with a long, low profile that resembles a flute and includes variously sized portholes to mimic the instrument’s keys.” Kahn died in 1974, but he had only completed the schematic design for the boat. British architect George Djurkovic completed the project for the 1976 tour.
In 2017, Boudreau decided to retire, at age 90, after running the music barge for 50 years. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma helped publicize the need for a new owner, and in 2019, Point Counterpoint II was acquired by a developer who is transforming the abandoned 1917 Delaware Power Station in Philadelphia into an arts and culture hub. Point Counterpoint II will be “the key musical component of the arts complex when it opens in 2022.” Ironically, the architect, Kahn, grew up in Philadelphia, after his family immigrated to the US from Russia.
The vessel has been in a shipyard in South Carolina for work on the hull.
The photo below, from the American Wind Symphony Orchestra website, show the center stage section raised for a performance in the Netherlands, 1989.
📞 Future stay marina planning: We evaluated several travel options that would allow us to meet up with friends in NC before heading north to the Chesapeake. After finding a few days we could all meet, I reserved a slip for several nights in Beaufort NC.
CRAWDAD Leap Frog: I think we were in Charleston when mv CRAWDAD (whom we met in Beaufort SC) overtook us. (This will become an expectation vs. a coincidence going forward. 😊) We exchanged “underway” photos via email.
🔷 Boater Tip: Both Aquamap and Navionics are very inexpensive smartphone or tablet applications that rival even the most expensive chart plotters. Each has its own pluses and minuses, so we use both, alternately, depending on the location and geography of where we are traveling. Aquamap has recently added Army Core of Engineers (ACOE) depth surveys as color coded overlays to the chart. These are updated weekly, as compared to some of the high-end chart plotters’ annual updates. It really is a brave new world for navigation technology of late.
Dawho River: Below, are screen shots of a known shallow spot in Aquamap (left) and Navionics (right). Ray followed Bob423’s track (Google “ICW Bob423”), which shows our boat traveling over *LAND*, but where we never saw less than 10 feet of water depth. Many of the shallow areas that boats travel in the southeast – FL, GA, SC, NC – are constantly moving and shifting due to storms, tidal flows, and other factors. Having the most up to date information can make all the difference in the world.
Incidentally, as we passed through the Dawho River, winds were probably 20 mph “on our nose” (bow). (Weather station showed windspeed of 26 mph, but that probably represented 20-mph winds plus 6 knot travel speed.)
⚓Anchored. We had a relatively easy travel day, and anchored in Church Creek, a beautiful anchorage near Edisto Island SC, by early afternoon.
GLTD014 South Santee River near McClellansville SC (from Church Creek near Edisto SC): We set the clock for 6:00 AM. Based on Ray’s navigation planning the night before, we left early, trying to time our entry to the notoriously turbulent Elliott Cut at slack tide. The clouds were pretty as we prepared for departure.
We were entering Elliott Cut before 8:30 AM.
The photo below shows our speed of 10.6 knots just after the current in the cut pushed our speed up to 11 knots! (I didn’t have my camera ready.)
A few things to note in the photos:
- At the time, both the Garmin screen and the tablet at the helm were displaying the charts, but Ray keeps one set on “North up” and the other on “heading up” to provide more information from both zoomed-in and zoomed-out views at the same time.
- The time, 12:39 PM, displayed at the bottom right on the tablet (far right) is the estimated time of arrival (ETA) for our plotted course, the South Santee anchorage. Just above the ETA, in smaller font, the estimated travel time, 4H 20M, is displayed. NOTE: Navionics will automatically adjust this estimated travel time & ETA as your speed changes. We normally travel at 6.5 – 7 knots. Since our speed was temporarily increased (by the current), the estimated travel time is understated, so the ETA is earlier than we expected to arrive.
- On the large chartplotter screen, you can see mv CRAWDAD (red “boat” at left center on the screen) is gaining on us (again 😊). This red indicator is shown as part of the Automatic Identification System (AIS) that many boats use to both “see” others and allow others to “see” them on the chart software. This is especially useful in fog or in the dark. CRAWDAD overtook us (again) in Charleston Harbor, shortly after Elliott Cut as they travel at a faster speed.
📞 Future stay marina planning:I spent some time looking at a range of locations where we might end up, in northwest Florida, during the Christmas holidays.We will begin reviewing marinas where we might reserve a slip for the month of December so we can leave the boat to travel to family gatherings.
I took the opportunity, while weather was warm and water was calm, to do some bow yoga. (This is the only time I intentionally move to the bow (or outside, in general) without my life vest.)
DANG IT! While doing yoga, an oystercatcher flew over me, as if to say “You missed me…again!”
Shortly before we arrived at the anchorage, I got a photo of the river’s colorful edge.
As we neared the anchorage, we saw mv CRAWDAD had dropped anchor there too. From this angle, the anchorage seems like a little strip of water among the marsh grass. (That is just an illusion; the anchorage is actually huge.)
As Ray set the anchor, early afternoon, winds were howling at 25 mph, with gusts up to 30 mph. Not long after anchoring, a couple of synchronized, nosey dolphins greeted us.
Just before bed, a thunderstorm rolled through, with 40 mph wind,...
…and wicked lightning! (Even though it looks like daytime, this photo is from video captured after 9:00 PM just as a bolt of lightning lit up the sky.)
GLTD015 Murrells Inlet SC (from Santee River): We left the Santee River anchorage before sunrise, and had an uneventful cruise up to Murrells Inlet, just south of Myrtle Beach SC.
Near Georgetown SC, we passed the Floating Swing Bridge at Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center.
The “bridge” “rests against the east bank when open, and is pulled across the canal by cable until the free end comes to rest against a large, fendered dolphin on the west side. The bridge remains open to marine traffic unless a vehicle needs to cross. Watch for flashing yellow lights on sign to indicate an opening.”
I found the Waccamaw River peaceful and scenic,...
…and much of it seems undeveloped.
We arrived at Wacca Wache Marina early afternoon, fueled up, and settled into our slip. It was hot and humid – with a heat index of 107 degrees (and rising)!
We sauteed leftovers we had accumulated the last couple of days, and added an easy-cooked egg for dinner.
Projects: The next morning, we slept in – a little -- before getting started on some projects.
I cleaned the rubber gaskets on the portholes and hatches, while Ray changed the oil in both engines.
Porthole cleaning.
1. Unscrew port from hinge, being careful not to drop the screws overboard into the water.
2. Lightly sand rubber gasket with 3M pad, then wipe down with wet rag.
3. Clean outside glass & apply Rain-X, then clean port frames.
4. Reinstall port and tighten hinge screws, again, being careful not to drop them overboard into the water😉.
Hatch gasket cleaning is a similar process - without any disassembly.
Before.
After. Spiffy! 😊
👍 Thumbs Up to the Wacca Wache Marina staff for arranging a pump-out for us! They normally only do pump-outs (from a mobile pump-out boat) once a week. They also took our 3 gallons of used engine oil to recycle. Pump-out was completed just as Ray’s sister arrived to take us shopping (provisioning). We were able to get several items we needed in one stop at Wal-Mart. Thanks Sis!
We had a relaxing afternoon with Ray’s Mom, sister, and brother-in-law in Myrtle Beach, then drove back to Murrells Inlet for a tasty waterfront dinner at Hot Fish Club. We had not seen them since we drove north from Florida last September.
Before we said our goodbyes, we had “docktails” before a beautiful sunset. Thanks to the family for driving out to Myrtle Beach for a brief visit on our way north! 😊
What’s next? Our next layover will be in Beaufort NC, where we will meet old sailing friends for the Raleigh area.
And, since we will stay in place long enough, we will get some mail orders delivered to the marina and complete a few projects.