On Wednesday Nov 9, we entered South Carolina and anchored in the Calabash Creek near Calabash, SC.  The anchorage is just off the ICW.  There was a strong current and wind at this anchorage so we only stayed one night.  The guide book claims there are several good seafood restaurants in Calabash, but we did not try any of them.

It was like turning the Verison switch on when we crossed the border.  All through NC, we could not get Verison service with the National plan for internet connection.  Soon as we crossed the border, the cell phone came on showing us connected to the Verison network with the National access plan. This is the reason for the long gap in posting updates.  In NC we could get the misnomered “Quicknet” which was about 14.4 kb service.  The National access plan is 250 kb service.  Ain’t technology wonderful?

On Thursday Nov 10, we anchored off the Waccamaw River in Cow House Creek, which was very narrow and secluded.  It was like having an anchorage to yourself even though a small marina (Wacca Wache) was out in the Waccamaw River a short distance (1/2 mile) away.  Earlier in the day we went through the ‘Rock Pile’ which is a land cut that runs parallel to the Myrtle Beach area.  The story about this area is that once the canal was started, more rock than originally thought was found, and to stay on budget, the Army Corp of Engineers kept narrowing the cut to reduce the amount of rock that needed to be removed.  I believe that story as in the middle of the cut, there is not room for two boats to pass.

Next stop was Georgetown, SC where we stayed for three nights, Nov 11-13, as we had some extra time and found Georgetown a nice place to visit.  Georgetown is the third oldest city in SC and was the heart of the Rice culture in the days preceding the Civil War.  This area grew about 80 % of the rice consumed in the US and shipped rice all over the world.  It was called Carolina Gold and was grown in the cypress swamp areas.  There are four freshwater rivers converging at Georgetown and rice requires a lot of water to grow as the fields need to be flooded for most of the growing cycle.  There were many plantations in the area with a large slave population.  During the height of production, over 80% of the population were slaves.

Clearing the swampland and digging the canals for flooding the fields took about 15 years of hard labor before rice could be planted.  The fields were all along the rivers with dikes built to control the flooding.  Remnants of the dikes are still visible today along the clearings.  In Georgetown, there is the Rice Museum which we visited that preserves this history.

Georgetown is filled with many old homes built during the rice culture and restored.  Good examples of the architecture of the period.  We had a good walk through the town on Sunday using their historic places map for a self guiding tour.

We left Georgetown Monday Nov 14 and continued southward.  We have reservations a Charleston City Marina for Wed Nov 16 through Sun Nov 20.  We will meet by brother Peter and his southern belle wife Donna on Friday and go to their new home in Greenwood, SC for the weekend.  We are looking forward to the visit.  We will play tourists in Charleston as neither of us has visited here before.

Also while in Georgetown we meet another cruiser from Jacksonville, Fl and asked him for suggestions for a marina in Jacksonville to leave Island Time to return to Vt for the holidays.  He is leaving his boat at Seafarers Marina in Dec/Jan.  Genie called and made a reservation at Seafarers.  Genie also bought our plane tickets leaving Jacksonville on Dec 14.

From Georgetown we traveled to Awendaw Creek which is a few miles north of Isle of Palms, SC and anchored in the inlet just off the ICW.  While at anchor, we saw a family of dolphins traveling through the inlet.  It looked like two adults and the cutest little dolphin.  We did not get any pictures as it is difficult to predict where they will surface.  We also saw a pair of bald eagles perching in a tree along the side of the ICW.  This is the first time either one of us has seen a bald eagle in the wild.  They are very majestic looking.

Today, Nov 15 we traveled to Inlet Creek anchorage which is about 7 miles north of our marina in Charleston.  We tried to anchor in Seven Reaches Creek but came very close to running aground at the entrance and felt it was too narrow to safely anchor as there are strong tidal currents in this area which turn the boats around when the tide changes and this requires some swinging room.  We could put out two anchors to limit the swing, but that is a hassle especially when you raise anchor and they get tangled.  The cruising guides suggest two anchors, but most of the cruisers we talked with say they only use one.

Tomorrow we will leave late morning to go to Charleston City Marina as the current there is listed at 3 knots at maximum, which will occur at 10 am.  We plan to arrive there at 1 pm which will be slack to avoid docking with the current running.