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We passed Southport, NC and entered a section of the ICW that lives up to its nickname, “The Ditch”, a long narrow canal. We had a good sailing day heading south crossing over into South Carolina. We pulled into our Marina, Dock Holidays, where we planned to stay for a week. We decided to use this marina as a “jumping off” spot to head to Greenville to visit Tony’s mother. We tucked into the marina and rented a car as we would prepare to make the 300 mile journey west across the state first thing on Saturday morning.
We left the marina just after 7:00 a.m. to drive almost 300 miles west to visit Tony’s mother and family. They live in and around the Greenville, SC area. We had a wonderful visit with Tony’s mom, Mae Norungolo, his sister Suzanne, brother Pat and his niece Risa. Tony played some golf with his mom and sister. The weather was splendid with highs in the mid 80’s and lows in the 60’s at night. We had a good visit and it was great to catch up with all.
We left Greenville at 6:00 a.m. on Monday and drove the 300 miles back to the marina. It was a nice spot and we all needed a break from the long weekend of driving. We stayed on at the marina through Thursday, catching up on emails and such. We got some laundry done and some grocery shopping. It was a good respite.
We left North Myrtle Beach after 9:00 a.m. knowing we had less than a 40 mile day ahead of us, we were in no rush. We had mostly a cloudy day, with light winds. We motored the whole day through Pine Island Cut into the Waccamaw River. There is lots of new shoreside development along this stretch, with Golf communities being the main attraction, with over 100 courses in the 25 mile area.
We pulled into our anchorage about 3:30 p.m. and had the place to ourselves, much different from the anchorages we’d stayed earlier where it was bumper to bumper. It was peaceful and beautiful with the only interruption being a hunter’s gun shot heard every once and awhile. Monica commented that the water is once again, tea colored. Makes for a lovely scene when flushing the head!
The Waccamaw River is a deep river, between 20 and 30 feet and is beautiful with thickly wooded banks. Moss draped cypress trees line its side streams and turtles are everywhere sunning themselves on rock outcroppings. Wildflowers grow in the cypress stumps and the water continues to be tea colored.
We had a short sail of under 10 miles to arrive at the Wacca Wache Marina where we planted ourselves. We grabbed a cab about 10:30 a.m. to visit the Brookgreen Gardens Plantation. This is an outdoor museum with gardens that had a spectacular display of local flowers, trees and shrubs, an exhibit of domestic animals of the plantation, and an extensive collection of American sculpture and statuary. It was begun in the 1930’s by Archer and Anna Huntington, who purchased an old plantation to transform it into the splendid spot it is today.
Anna Hyatt Huntington was a renowned sculpture, she married Archer Huntington, a philanthropist, and their vision was to create a place where people could visit and enjoy the beauty of American sculpture. Their dream was fulfilled with Brookgreen Gardens, which is a wonderful tribute to them. They transformed the old plantation into a work of art. The grounds are dotted with fantastic sculptures that are nestled in manicured lawns and gardens. The live oak trees, planted over 250 years ago, still remain in all their grandeur. It is a “must see” for anyone interested in sculpture and gardens.
We woke to a drizzly, cold day. We hung around the marina until about 11:00 a.m. waiting for the weather to improve. The wind was NNE at 15 to 25 and the temps were in the low 50’s chilling to the bone. We proceeded south and after about four hours of icy wind and drizzle we pulled into a marina in Georgetown, SC. Not much of a town, and it was cold, so we made Chili for dinner, Monica made her famous beer bread and we watched the Tampa Bay Bucs lose to the Carolina Panthers. The temps dipped down into the high 30’s overnight and we were happy to be tucked away with the heat blasting.
We left Georgetown early and it was chilly – only 39 degrees! We decided no more stopping, we needed to get to Florida ASAP. This stretch of the ICW is some of the most beautiful. The dredged channel cuts through low marshy islets, and across several small rivers. We had no bridges and had the current with us most of the day so we made good time. It warmed up in the afternoon with the sun shining on us. We called it a day around 3:00 p.m. as we approached a very nice anchorage, Big Marsh Hill, just off the ICW and in view of the Atlantic Ocean. It was in back of a small island called Dewee Island that is a private island, with the only means of transportation being golf carts, no cars. There is a ferry that shuttles residents from the island to the mainland. We were greeted in the anchorage by playful dolphin. It was the first time we’d seen dolphin in awhile.
We woke to fog as thick as pea soup. We thought we were in Maine! We pulled up the anchor around 7:00 a.m. and began our trek out of the anchorage into the ICW. We had hoped that visibility would improve as we moved away from the ocean, but it got worse so we turned back and returned to the anchorage threw out the hook and waited a few hours for the fog to clear. We got underway again around 9:30 a.m. with just a lingering fog. It had warmed up considerably from the cold spell experienced over the last several days.
We approached Charleston and with all the rivers and side channels running through it, we were fighting a fierce tide, over 2.5 knots! Between the tide and two restricted bridges, both of which we had to wait 30 minutes to get through, we called it a day after only 33 miles under our belt, but what turned into a very long day. We passed through Wappoo Creek and the Stono River along the way. We anchored in a quiet creek off the ICW just south of Charleston. It was a beautiful spot in Church Creek amongst the marshes. The sun was still shining brightly and it had warmed up to 80 degrees. We dropped the hook and took cover below as the ‘no-see’ums’ were out in full force. We put the screens up and enjoyed the rest of the evening in our quiet spot.
