Georgia

Have spent the last few days transiting through the low country of South Carolina and Georgia.  The weather has not been great....high winds, and eventually heavy rain.  The waterways have been somewhat protected from the marshlands, however there are a number of sounds we had to cross which can get rough, depending on wind direction, as they open directly to the sea.  As a result, we planned our 'movement' more with the wind direction and timing the height of tides.  We have also had to consider current, of course, but with so many rivers winding their way through the marshes, often the current changes frequently during the day, ultimately cancelling out any favourable or unfavourable direction!

Here are some Low Country images and anchorages!!

We left Charleston under sunny skies and and cold, following winds, so not too bad!  As we sailed through the marsh country, I was reminded of our prairies at home!  Flat 'grass lands' going on for as far as the eye can see, with the odd copse of trees scattered along the horizon!  Our anchorages have been 'fair to middling', with good holding but strong currents and strong winds.  Generally the currents are stronger than the winds, but we still tend to swing around our anchor as the currents change.  Often the winds die down early in the evening, but then pick up about 0200 am.  We have been continuing to see dolphins swimming in the rivers and creeks, and we are now seeing marsh birds like egrets.  Pelicans and cormorants are also frequent companions along the way.  We have been enjoying watching the pelicans fish.  They soar over the water, looking straight down, and then suddenly plunge down in to the water, landing with a resounding splash!!  Always too far away to see if they have been successful in their fishing, but have decided when they stay down, they caught something, and when they quickly take off again, have failed in their attempt!  Our first anchorage was approved by the local cormorant, possibly pelican, community.  Woke to the calling card left behind by one of them who decided our solar panel made for a nice roost for the night!!  Luckily, it was still fairly 'fresh', so although copious in nature, easy to wash off using buckets of sea water and a good scrub brush!!!

We only went to a dock once through Georgia, as the ICW flows through fairly remote country.  We had read that Beaufort (again, this one pronounced 'Bewfort') was pretty and had an interesting history. During colonial and pre-civil war days, it was the 'summer' destination for the wealthy plantation owners, anxious to get away from the heat of their inland plantations.  In this part of the world, they were growing indigo, rice, and cotton.  The homes here differ slightly from the ones in Charleston, as they have been built on a 'T' design, and are raised above the ground to allow for optimum air flow.  During the civil war, as the union soldiers were making their way south, the town heard of their approach and all the owners simply left the town, leaving their slaves and all the property behind.  As a result, when the soldiers arrived, they simply moved in to the abandoned buildings.  This means that the houses here are still the original homes, as none of them were burned or looted during the war!  We were both looking forward to seeing them.  There was a lovely stretch of old homes lining a street that overlooked the waterway, surrounded by amazing live oaks shrouded in spanish moss.  Other than that, I'm afraid, we weren't terribly impressed with Beaufort.  I would definitely not recommend the downtown marina.  They charge top dollar to stay, and did the absolute bare minimum to help us land or familiarize us with what the town had to offer, and finally did absolutely nothing to help as we left.  We had timed our departure so the current, which can be strong, was in our favour, and to be fair, didn't really require any help, but we were surprised as we were docked right beside the little dockmaster hut, and no one came out to even offer assistance!  Also the downtown portion of Beaufort honestly looks pretty run down with lots of closed shops, and the ones that were open, their hours were brief.  We had planned to stay a couple of nights, but decided one was enough!

'typical' catwalk leading from the home to the boat dock

'typical' home!

Beaufort harbour and mooring field

live oak with spanish moss

The day we left actually ended up being one of the warmest and quietest days we have had this week!  Leaving Beaufort, we passed through Port Royal Sound and the (in-)famous Parris Island where 'America makes Marines'!  Created for an interesting discussion about the making and breaking of young men and women.  We continued on and anchored in Bull Creek, across from Daufuskie Island.  The history behind this name is as follows.  The first people to inhabit the island, when giving directions as to how to find it, would explain to visitors that it was da fus' key in the river, or, 'the first quay'.

The next day we crossed the Savannah River and entered Georgia!  Although the day started out cool and threatening rain, as we crossed in to Georgia, the sun came out and so did the heat!!  We felt this was a good sign!!  The rivers in Georgia are deep and winding, although prone to shoaling off the banks rather badly, so need to watch both where we are in the water, and where the tide is!  We have been trying to travel on high tides to get as much water under the keel as possible, as some of these shoals come right out to the middle of the river!  En route today, we passed Moon River!!  Yes, THE Moon River of the well-known song!  It was a favourite of George's Dad's, so took a photo to commemorate the moment!

sailing and snacking!!

Moon River

hiding from the wind in Buckhead Creek

The rivers and marshes are lovely, but we have also been overwhelmed by the HUGE houses that line the bigger rivers!  Waterfront property is obviously exclusive around here!  Once we left them behind, however, we were truly on our own!  Not even other boats to be seen.  We found a quiet anchorage for the night, as the winds were predicted to get high again, and as it turned out, they did indeed, and in fact, continued on in to the next day, so we stayed put.  Unfortunately, it also started to get cold again, and our propane heater was trying very hard to give up the ghost!!  So that day, we cooked a big breakfast, then I made cookies, then we had tea, then finally supper, and we managed to keep the cabin fairly warm!  It was sunny all day, though, which was really nice!

The following day, the weather was still windy, but again, in a favourable direction for crossing the sounds in our future, so decided to head out.  We crossed the sounds with the wind at our back and on a flood tide, so lots of water, and glad we went when we did, as the weather started to deteriorate, so that by the time we dropped our anchor for the night, the rain had begun and the winds were up at 20+ knots.  Once again, the anchor held fast in good old ICW mud!

The following day we had planned to stay at anchor until about noon, when the water would be high enough for us to go down the Little Mud Creek; a place famous for shoaling and low water generally.  There was another couple anchored beside us whose draft was somewhat shallower, so they headed off to the creek early in the morning, but said they would let us know what the water depth was like.  They radioed as they came out the other end and let us know that there was lots of water, even though we were at a the beginning of the flood, so not high water yet!  We were pleased to hear this, as it meant we could get away early enough that we might be able to make Brunswick that day, as George had (thankfully!!) managed to get the heater working the night before, but it was not working in the morning and we risked being cold again that night at anchor!  So off we went, and not a moment too soon.  Quickly, the weather worsened, with the winds picking up the water and pouring rain all day!  We were really grateful that the temperature was actually not too bad, although by the time we had been rained on for 8 hours we were cold anyway!!  By the time we reached St. Simon Sound, the visibility was so bad we decided to fire up the radar, just in case there was any commercial traffic, however, once in the sound, the rain cleared up and we could see!  We pulled up to the Brunswick Landing Marina where the very efficient staff caught our lines in the strong winds and we breathed a sigh of relief!

passing tug and dredger in the rain!

dark clouds on the horizon, white caps in the river

shrimp boats in Brunswick, GA


Some street scenes from Brunswick, GA

The weather was predicted to continue to be bad, and indeed, it has been!!  We have been here for three days now and although sunny, the winds have been 35 knots and really cold, hovering around freezing!!

It was American Thanksgiving yesterday, so everyone in the marina contributed a 'side' and the marina barbequed 5 Turkeys and a couple of hams, and we all shared in the feast at the club house!!  Lots of good food!!  Meant to bring the camera, but forgot, so a formal record of our overflowing plates has not been recorded, but believe me, we ate well!!!  I have a little bit of left-over broccoli and rice casserole, so will add that to today's fresh shrimp that I have been 'cooking' in lime juice for the last 24 hours!  A way of cooking any fresh fish that we have seen here, called ceviche.  I hope it works, as it will be a great meal to remember when we finally hit all that heat in the Bahamas and George starts catching fish!!!

Today, the weather has moderated a little, so although still cold, not as cold, and still windy, but not as windy!  We are doing our final preparations to leave tomorrow morning.  We need to leave at the crack of dawn to catch the high tide at the next 'worst shoaling place on the ICW' (really, we are beginning to think our guide book cries 'wolf' quite often.  While these spots definitely need to be approached with caution, not all of them can be the 'worst'.....)  Right now, we are just north of the Florida/Georgia border, so tomorrow we will enter Florida; our last state before we head over to Bahamas!!