South Carolina

• 11/7/22  Bird Island, NC to Myrtle Beach, SC (29.7 NM)
• 11/8 – 14/22 Myrtle Beach, SC
• 11/15/22 Myrtle Beach to Frazier Point, SC (29.2 NM)
• 11/16/22 Frazier Point to Awendaw Creek, SC (26.2 NM)
• 11/17/22Awendaw Creek to Whiteside Creek (14.6NM)
• 11/18/22 Whiteside Creek to Charleston, SC (14.1 NM)
• 11/19 – 20/22 Charleston, SC
• 11/21/22 Charleston SC to Toogoodoo Creek, SC (22.2NM)
• 11/22/22 Toogoodoo Creek, SC to Beaufort, SC (36.3NM)
• 11/25/22  Beaufort, SC to Hilton Head Island (27NM)
• 11/26- 27/22 Hilton Head, SC

Myrtle Beach, SC

Myrtle Beach was our first extended stop, spending eight nights at the Osprey Marina.  We can not say enough about the hospitality of the folks at the Osprey Marina.  We changed our reservation 3 times due to weather and even when they did not have room the first night we wanted to dock, they offered their fuel dock.  In the end, they moved boats and we were placed at the end of a T-dock for all 8 nights.  I flew back to MA to visit mom and our annual fall girls weekend!  Zachary flew to Myrtle Beach to play tourist with Bob!  

Frazier Point, SC and Awendaw Creek, SC

Leaving Myrtle Beach we headed to Georgetown, SC with the intention of anchoring and exploring the town.  Once we arrived in the Sampit River, outside of Georgetown, we discovered a very full anchorage.  After trying a few spots, we could not get a good hold on the anchor so we decided to abort and move on.  We found an amazing spot to drop the hook off Frazier Point in Winyah Bay directly off the ICW.  We were the only boat and it was beyond beautiful!  Breaking up the drive to Charleston, we stopped at another,  Awendaw Creek in Bulls Bay.  Both anchorages did not have a place to get off but did have good protections from wind, close to the ICW, absolutely beautiful sunset, quiet and dark, good holding and dolphins.

Charleston

We fell in love with Charleston, SC.   The historical feel, cobblestone streets, wealth of restaurants and cultural feel gave us tons to do and explore.  The best part of the stop was connecting  with Jodie and Stephen.  We have not seen them since a few years after graduating from BSU.  They were wonderful hosts and gave us lots of local pointers. We visited the French Quarter, The Battery Promenade, Waterfront Park and Charleston City Market.  Our favorite restaurants  included: Rodney Scotts, which had best barbeque ever, Little Jack’s Tavern  which had by far the best burger ever and Kaminsky’s, the pecan pie was so good, we went twice.  We saw a show at The Black Fedora.  Mack Black was a interactive mystery comedy play and both of us had a part in which we played the killer’s ghost.   Our  East Coast Brewery tour continued with stops at  Revelry, The Baker and Brewer, Charleston Beer Works and our favorite The Palmetto Brewery.   Three Sons docked at The Charleston Maritime Center.  When we made the reservation, we got the last slip and was told “it can be bumpy.”  Well yup, they were right!  It is open to the Charleston Harbor and has a strong current along with lots of marine traffic.  However, the location was great just a block from downtown and the action.  So a few sways and some creaking lines was worth it.  Generally do not like to visit the same place, since there are so many places to see, but we will be back to Charleston!

Beaufort, SC

Beaufort, South Carolina was a perfect spot to spend Thanksgiving. It’s a postcard of a southern town. Big plantation style homes, Spanish moss hanging from every tree and water all around us.  We really enjoyed walking around the town just to take in the sites.  We stayed on a mooring at Safe Harbor Beaufort, right near the ‘downtown’ area with lots of small restaurants and shops. We haven’t used the dinghy much, so it was good to give it some use and stay in the quiet harbor with easy access to shore. Beaufort is extremely bike friendly having a Rail to Trail Project. We rode on a few of the trails including the Spanish Moss Trail that runs through creeks, low lands and stately neighbors. On the first day, we biked around town a bit and then biked to Port Royal, about 5 miles south of Beaufort. There, we got to walk on a small beach bordering the ICW and of course found a nice brewery. Shellring Brewery was in a perfect spot and a good place to take a break before heading back.  We took a different route back thru Lady’s Island where we stopped at the Fillin’ Station- a self proclaimed 5 star dive bar.  We enjoyed the $5 cheeseburger and fries and a few beers while listening to live music and looking out on the ICW.  It was only a 10 minutes bike ride to Beaufort from there, where we parked the bikes for the night and found more live music at Luther’s Rare and Well Done on Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park.

On Thanksgiving we went for a nice walk in the morning before heading back on the bikes to our Thanksgiving dinner at Madison’s in Port Royal.

Hilton Head, SC

It was a quick trip from Beaufort to Hilton Head Island.  We left later in the day to have tides and currents in our favor and ran into our first day of cruising in the rain and wind.   We docked at Palmetto Bay Marina.  It is a beautiful marina with a few restaurants, that had live music, new floating docks and free laundry!  Hilton Head is known for golf courses and beaches but we were beyond excited to discover the miles of well maintained, tree lined bike paths.   The bike paths run parallel to the roads and are a completely different system away from cars.  We enjoyed a catching up and having dinner with friends of Bob’s, Drew and Diane, who live in Hilton Head.