Travel Day 12 ~ South Port to Georgetown, SC

     PEKABU left Southport around 7:40 with plans to drop anchor at the top of the Waccamaw River, south of  Myrtle Beach and Osprey Point Marina. The winds were light, the temperatures mild and the skies clear.  Everything went well. . . for about 2 hours!

     Once again the batteries stopped charging, the RPM and charging gauges stopped functioning, and now the plans have changed. Since there is no way to charge the batteries while at anchor, that is no longer an option.  There are no openings at any of the marinas.  He made it through the Rock Pile once again at low tide with all the rocks showing, planning to get fuel at Barefoot Landing Marina.  Unfortunately, the fuel dock was already occupied by a larger boat that was staying for the night.  He traveled almost on fumes to get to Osprey Marina.  Though there was no docks available, they were still pumping fuel.  Unfortunately, with so little fuel, he requested that he move up in the line for those boats waiting for fuel. Thankfully, they accommodated him.  He also called the recommended electrician/mechanic at St. John's, who will work with Pete once he is docked there.

     Now there are no marinas between here and Georgetown that can accommodate a sail boat, so he called there and explained his story.  Georgetown Harbor Marina will leave a spot open on the inside of the dock for him. This also added another 7 hours on to his travels. . . and it will be in the dark!

    This area of our travels are one of our favorite.  The river winds through forests that line the river.  Further down are many cypress trees with their knobby knees; osprey and eagles are found in their nests along the river as well as turtles that love sunning on the fallen logs.  This river winds through old rice fields and protected lands.  While magnificent in sunlight, darkness on this river brings its problems.  There is no ambient light as there are no people living along these shores and the rivers tributaries. Channel markers are few and far between, and the caution buoys are not lit or well marked on the charts.  Pete spent hours without moon light or even star light.

    Pete has also found that our large, million-watt, hand held, spotlight is a problem when single handing; Too much reflection back. Instead he used the high intensity LED flashlight, which was perfect. Unfortunately, trying to see where the lighted areas were from the helm, he needed to stand up on the balls of his feet.  All that unusual exercise led to some pretty intense leg cramps later on.  Definitely not what was needed after such a long day.

     I called periodically for his sake as much as for mine.  We were both glad when he finally docked at 11:20 PM.  Between needing to eat, decompress, and walk out the cramps, he finally settled into bed around 1:30 am, totally exhausted.  The alarm is set for 7 and reservations are already made for Isle of Palms Marina.

     "A hell of a day at sea (well, ICW)!"

~ ~ ~ /) ~ ~    P & K