Today was a travel day, no big plans just put on a few miles to get closer to Charleston. The weather was bright and sunny, but cold and windy. Forecast called for 15-18 knot winds with stronger gusts, borderline no-go day, but we expected to be protected inside the ICW for most of the ride. We bundled up for a cold ride and set out at 8:30, so that we could get some help releasing the lines at the dock. About an hour into the ride, we realized the forecast was a little off on the wind prediction or the gusts were a whole lot steadier. Not really a problem except for the
wind chill, until we heard a woosh and the magnets holding the solar panels all dropped from the Bimini. Bob asked Tracy to quickly re-apply them before the panel blew off, but she couldn’t find any magnets on top to attach to. Upon further review, the single gust tore off the panel, unplugged the wires, and fed the panel to Neptune, before the magnets hit the deck. So, of course, the right thing to do was remove the second panel before it suffered the same fate. Bob stood thru the flybridge window to pull it in, but as soon as it came above the Bimini canvas, it was ripped from his hands. At least this time he could watch to see how fast those lightweight panels sink!
A little depressed about our loss of free sun power (not to mention the loss of 2 NOT free solar panels) we pressed on.
During this segment we were running from Holden Beach (MM326) to Oxbow Anchorage (MM375). The ICW was lined with houses of all shapes and sizes, humongous to trailers, multilevel condominiums to single house planned communities on canals. `
About an hour before our planned anchorage, we came upon the Socastee swing bridge. The same bridge we spent about an hour at last year due to a mechanical issue. Just as we were about to call the bridge tender, we got a radio call from the boat behind us asking for a pass. We complied, but as he passed us we noticed it wasn’t a slow pass as most boaters do, but faster than normal, and the shape of his boat created quite a wake. We quickly fell behind him to minimize the rolling. However, we quickly were passed by a small boat in pursuit of the fast boat. He got in front of him before the bridge, and took lots of pictures of him. Within minutes 2 or 3 cars with about 6 people appeared on the bridge and prevented it from opening. This drama went on for over an hour. We learned that prior to passing us, this boat sped thru the ICW residential area, leaving a wake of destruction including a sunken pontoon boat and jetski, as well as a dock that broke away into the ICW. The boat owner did not appear very remorseful, but the authorities ultimately decided to detain him at the next marina to sort things out and allow us to get thru the bridge.
The world is a small place, while we were floating waiting for the bridge to open, a small boat pulled up and said “Hi.”. He was a local resident, trying to mange the mess at hand. They recognized our boat and pulled up to chat. We had meet them in Elizabeth City, VA in the spring while they were cruising. We had docked next to them and walked to a nearby brewery to have a beer.
Sometime during these adventures we crossed from North Carolina to South Carolina. We capped off our ‘easy’ day, by failing to find a secure spot in Anchorage 1 or 2, so we moved on to #3, where we got a good set and finally enjoyed our ‘Here beer’.
The next day, we cruised from Oxbow Anchorage to Awendaw Anchorage. Both anchorages were on the ICW and we traveled from Mile Marker 375 to 435 and the scenery was complexly different from yesterday. Not many houses, wide width and deep water, tree lined edges or large grass lands. Going south, one would think the weather should be getting warmer, but today was the coldest day yet. We needed winter hats and blankets on the fly bridge. We did not see many boats cruising today, maybe because of the cold? Once we dropped the hook, we enjoyed out ‘here beer’ on the bow with just long sleeves, enjoying the sun’s heat.
Segment Stats
- Holden Beach, NC to Oxbow Anchorage, SC
- Wednesday, November 1, 2023
- 46.2 Nautical Miles
- Route: MM 324 to MM 375
- Cruising Time: 6 hours 21 minutes (stopped at delayed bridge opening)
- Anchored in Waccamaw River Oxbow. Attempted to anchor at Enterprise 1 and 2 just north of Oxbow.
- Oxbow Anchorage, SC to Awendaw Anchorage, SC
- Thursday, November 2, 2023
- 52.9 Nautical Miles
- Route: MM 375 to MM 436 via Waccamaw River and Winyah Bay
- Cruising Time: 7 hours 31 minutes (stopped at Wacca Wache Marina for Diesel and water)
- Anchored off of Bulls Bay in Awendaw Creek.