South South Carolina and Northern Georgia

Our Friends Gill and Sharleen on "First Love" at anchor in Turners Creek, the last place we anchored in South Carolina. They were going to hop "outside" the intracoastal to the Atlantic and come back in at Northern Florida, to miss the infamous winding Georgia ICW. Will see them later in the Bahamas

10 more ft of waterline and 25 more HP and most everyone is passing us. We cruise at about 6.2 knots in still water but a tide can make that anywhere from 4 knots to 8 knots over the ground, depending on whether its against or with you. Most of the displacement trawlers are going at 8 knots and some of the larger sailboats are doing that as well.
Back on the ICW, it's a cold day. Rivers traveled : The Ashley, Stono, Wadmalaw, North Ediston, Dawho, South Ediston. Caught up with First Love, and anchored in the same spot they did along with 9 others . Good to have south- bound company again! Celebrated one month on water with a nice meal and some wine. The next day was even colder going through the Ashepow, and Coosaw (Coosaw was wide enough to sail) to the Beaufort River. Had a bit of a competition with a boat from Charlottown,: PEI- Be Faithful 2. Went out for supper with Gil and Sharleen from First Love.
There are no pics for the day we left Beaufort because we were frozen stiff and did not even want to get the camera out. Hilton Head, GA. would be beautiful on a nice day- but it was cloudy and very windy. Anchored at 1pm, just before the rain started. Very noisy night because of wind , tide and pedestrian ferries, had to pull up anchor and move in the morning because an abandoned boat broadsided us and was threatening to do worse with it’s bow sprint. At least there was no tornado's as the weather warning predicted. Did a cold motor–sail to Thunderbolt , GA, in and out of cuts and creeks and very shallow water just before crossing the Savanna River. Lots of boat traffic in this area, sailboats in a parade with us, (we saw Dave single-handling his Hullmaster 27, from Trenton, Ont., we met him at Beaufort, SC) and commercial traffic on the larger waterways. We passed The Bonaventure Cemetery on the Wilmington River which is featured in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
We had a very tasty sea food supper at Tortula’s, across the road from the marina. The next day we anchored a bit upriver to use a ramp at Hogan’s marina, close to a grocery store a post office, and had lunch on board while there. It is a busy place and lots of boats anchor there although the lady at the marina said it was not a ‘legal’ place to anchor?? We traveled by the Moon River ( it is not ‘wider than a mile”-but the homes here have lots of $tyle), across the Vernon and the Big and Little Ogeechee Rivers. The tide was rising so Moxie got past ‘Hell’s Gate’ and a few other shoaly spots just fine, anchoring in a very secluded creek just as the sun was beginning to set. "Red sky at night…" for 2 nights in a row- as the day going through all the rivers close to Sapelo Sound (huge shrimp boat fleet here) was also sunny. Were with a few other boats and had low water again (tide at 1 pm), so we went a bit further than planned to take advantage of the tide noting that the current here is strong in any anchorage. Ended up at anchor in the North River, about 30 miles north of Brunswick
GA. The next day we left at high tide and got through Little Mud Creek and all the other winding rivers, creeks and cuts arriving at Brunswick Landing Marina at about 1:30 pm. Plan to rent a car
here re-provision and see some of the local sights like Jykell Island.
The weather is getting a bit milder, we spent some very cool days and cold nights on the waterway
this segment.
Nov 17/14 Opossum Pt., Broad Creek, SC (Mile 564 IWC)
Nov 18/14 Morningstar Marina, Thunderbolt , GA (Mile 585 ICW)
Nov 19/14 Anchorage, Turner’s Point, GA (Mile 585 IWC)
Nov 19/14 Anchorage, Buckhead Creek GA (Mile 608 ICW)
Nov 20/14 Anchorage, North River, GA (Mile 651 ICW)
Nov 21/14 Brunswick Landing Marina, Brunswick, GA (Mile 680 ICW)
Gerry Note: Was able to upload the pictures very quickly this time, less than a minute each which is why there are so many (some places it took 15 minutes a picture). WiFi at most of the Marinas is very slow and everyone is trying to get the most out of it, slowing it even more. The WiFi at Brunswick landing is the best so far, making this segment of our Blog a treat to get online. Boat is working well and again, are we ever glad to have a heater.
There are no pics for the day we left Beaufort because we were frozen stiff and did not even want to get the camera out. Hilton Head, GA. would be beautiful on a nice day- but it was cloudy and very windy. Anchored at 1pm, just before the rain started. Very noisy night because of wind , tide and pedestrian ferries, had to pull up anchor and move in the morning because an abandoned boat broadsided us and was threatening to do worse with it’s bow sprint. At least there was no tornado's as the weather warning predicted. Did a cold motor–sail to Thunderbolt , GA, in and out of cuts and creeks and very shallow water just before crossing the Savanna River. Lots of boat traffic in this area, sailboats in a parade with us, (we saw Dave single-handling his Hullmaster 27, from Trenton, Ont., we met him at Beaufort, SC) and commercial traffic on the larger waterways. We passed The Bonaventure Cemetery on the Wilmington River which is featured in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
We had a very tasty sea food supper at Tortula’s, across the road from the marina. The next day we anchored a bit upriver to use a ramp at Hogan’s marina, close to a grocery store a post office, and had lunch on board while there. It is a busy place and lots of boats anchor there although the lady at the marina said it was not a ‘legal’ place to anchor?? We traveled by the Moon River ( it is not ‘wider than a mile”-but the homes here have lots of $tyle), across the Vernon and the Big and Little Ogeechee Rivers. The tide was rising so Moxie got past ‘Hell’s Gate’ and a few other shoaly spots just fine, anchoring in a very secluded creek just as the sun was beginning to set. "Red sky at night…" for 2 nights in a row- as the day going through all the rivers close to Sapelo Sound (huge shrimp boat fleet here) was also sunny. Were with a few other boats and had low water again (tide at 1 pm), so we went a bit further than planned to take advantage of the tide noting that the current here is strong in any anchorage. Ended up at anchor in the North River, about 30 miles north of Brunswick
GA. The next day we left at high tide and got through Little Mud Creek and all the other winding rivers, creeks and cuts arriving at Brunswick Landing Marina at about 1:30 pm. Plan to rent a car
here re-provision and see some of the local sights like Jykell Island.
The weather is getting a bit milder, we spent some very cool days and cold nights on the waterway
this segment.
Nov 17/14 Opossum Pt., Broad Creek, SC (Mile 564 IWC)
Nov 18/14 Morningstar Marina, Thunderbolt , GA (Mile 585 ICW)
Nov 19/14 Anchorage, Turner’s Point, GA (Mile 585 IWC)
Nov 19/14 Anchorage, Buckhead Creek GA (Mile 608 ICW)
Nov 20/14 Anchorage, North River, GA (Mile 651 ICW)
Nov 21/14 Brunswick Landing Marina, Brunswick, GA (Mile 680 ICW)
Gerry Note: Was able to upload the pictures very quickly this time, less than a minute each which is why there are so many (some places it took 15 minutes a picture). WiFi at most of the Marinas is very slow and everyone is trying to get the most out of it, slowing it even more. The WiFi at Brunswick landing is the best so far, making this segment of our Blog a treat to get online. Boat is working well and again, are we ever glad to have a heater.