Beautiful, but Disappointing Day

    As planned, we dropped lines at Georgetown Landing Marina at 6:45 AM.  Thankfully, the flood tide is much more gentle than the ebb and we were able to slip out between the 130 foot MV LUCKY SEVEN on our bow and the 80 foot MV ENTERTAINER at our aft without any excitement.

Ripples from a small boat reflect the coming dawn

          

Exiting the ICW

     The sky to the east was just a few shades lighter than dark as we resumed out trek south. We were passed by a number of small and large fishing boats heading out to the ocean. The sun made its appearance before we made the turn into the Estherville Minim Creek Canal.  Thankfully, a tug and barge exited as we approached the canal.  It would have been very tight quarters had we met in the canal.

An eagle in the pines

Marshes 

Chanel marker and fire watch tower
near Estherville

  
    It was just past high tide as we traveled through the Romain National Wildlife Refuge.   It is primarily open marshes dotted with small islands of scrub and winding creeks.  Along with the barn swallows, gulls, cormorants, I spotted eagles and hawks, egrets, great blue herons and a few king fishers.

Debris from falling storm surge

Missing floating dock and
tree stump on walkway

      Our plan to make McClellanville by 10 was delayed an hour as we were bucking the current since Winyah Bay. We passed those newly noted skinny spots a foot below high.  There is no way we would have made it through at low. Factoring in the tidal drop, the report of 4 foot at mean low water is fairly accurate. Some of the docks still had the debris from the receding waters of Matthew.

Civilization near Awendaw

    The weather is wonderful; highs in the low 80s and gentle winds from the SSW.  It is also Sunday.  The boat ramp just south of Awendaw was a hive of activity. So was the various rivers and tributaries leading to the ocean. We passed a couple of dolphins and were entertained by an eagle sitting on a dock rail ripping apart paper and a group of pelicans diving for fish in shallow waters. Their close quarter maneuvers just prior to the dive were remarkable.

Diving in for food

Synchronized Diving

Hard aground

      Our fight against the currents continued. In the Price Creek area, around Green 89, skinny water was reported and we are almost at dead low.  Luckily, we had just over 2 foot of water below our 5.5 keel.  The low water didn’t seem to bother the dolphins who swam by our boat.  However, one of the crazy Sunday boaters, cut across our bow within less than 10 foot clearance came to an abrupt stop about 200 yards away, at the entrance to a shallow creek.  He pulled a long black pole from his boat and used it to maneuver into deeper waters.  We later saw a boat use the pole as an anchor in the mudflats…strange anchor!

Still in hurricane mode

Dolphin paying a visit

      The beautiful lowlands just above the Palm Coast were always picturesque in our previous travels. We now know that we passed through here at mid- to high tide.  Today, it is so low, the mudflats and mussel beds are exposed and we can’t see over the white gravel line berms to the rest of the marsh.  A little further down, we came to the conclusions that realtors wanting to sell property on the Palm Coast, must make sure that it is mid tide or higher before the showing.  Seeing the dock pilings and floating docks sitting on the mud is not pretty!   I did see a small shark battling something in the shallows.

Returning home with catch. . .  and groupies!

      Our traveling buddy boats today, SV PROVIDENCE, is a 42 Jeanneau with 6-foot draft.  Following him made it easier to keep to the deeper water. We throttled down to idle once we entered the Palm Coast.  We had 50 minutes until The Ben Sawyer Bridge would open.  “Dancing” in the wind and current waiting for the bridge opening was a challenge.   Transiting the bridge was “interesting .AS the bridge began to swing open, PROVIDENCE started to enter with us right behind her.  Out of nowhere, a motor cat by on our starboard. Pete thought he might be trying to slip to the outside of the bridge passage channel.  No, he cut us off as he cut in; never saying a word.  The 75 foot Sport Fish waiting to traverse north, started to quote nave rules about wind and current and his right of way.  Pete pointed out to him that we had the current, and the rule applies to western waters.  As we traveled though Charleston Harbor, PROVIDENCE and we discussed the craziness.  Pete said, “he had nothing to complain about.  He had 3000 horse power and bow thrusters!”

YEP! It's accurate!

      We had another half hour wait for the 5:30 opening Wappoo Creek Bridge.   Remember, today is Sunday. . . more small boats waiting for their chance at the boat ramp just before the bridge while we dance in the current and wind. Now, we were getting nervous.  We have reservations at St. John’s Marina and they close at 6. There are more miles to cover than we can usually do in a half hour.  For once today, the current gods smiled upon us.  We traveled through Elliott Cut during the race tide.  Pete was able to document our 11 MPH!!!  A new speed record for PEKABU!

      We pulled into St. John’s Marina at 6:05 and the dockhand was there waiting.  With limited fairway space, unknown dock assignment AND the heavy currents, there was no way we could have docked ourselves with confidence. He definitely earned a good tip! 

     We will be here for 8 days.  We needed a good place to dock PEKABU and rent a car so we can drive to Florida for a wedding this weekend. “E” is the dock master and she is great to work with as we discovered last year.  The marina had suffered damage to 3 docks due to a microburst that occurred right above the marina this past July.  They hadn’t completed the repairs from that when the 8-foot storm surge and 83 mph winds arrived from Matthew.  Repairs are ongoing. The marina is almost at capacity due to damage to other marinas in the area. AND…the small bridge that connects the main parking lot of the marina from the road is still out of service so liveaboards, transients and staff have to hike to get out of the marina to the cars. There are a lot of bikes secured to the railings at the parking area and the top of the boardwalk to the docks.

     We’ll continue our journey next week. Hopefully, this magnificent weather also continues with our travels.  

~ ~ ~ /) ~~  K & P