Day Four

 

Waccamaw River

Log 22049

Waccamaw River, SC

We are cruising in the Intracoastal Waterway between Myrtle Beach and Georgetown. We should get to Georgetown this afternoon and to Charleston tomorrow. The trip has been pleasant and uneventful, except for being radio witnesses to a tragedy. 

One man was killed yesterday when a boat overturned in breaking waves in Carolina Beach Inlet. We listened to a blow-by-blow report mostly from a cool and capable boater who notified the Coast Guard, got EMT's called to the closest marina, and helped get the occupants to the marina. Another boater had braved his way into the breakers, nearly capsizing himself, and recovered the four occupants, one of whom was unconscious. CPR was administered and EMT's were waiting at the marina, but we learned last night from the news that the unconscious victim couldn't be revived. We passed the marina just after the occupants of the boat were brought there. See "Garner man drowns at Carolina Beach inlet after boat capsizes".

Carolina Beach is an unmarked inlet reported in guidebooks as a small boat inlet to be used only with local knowledge. When strong tides run into opposing wind these inlets can build up dangerous breaking waves. Apparently this group tried to turn around in the inlet, which got them broadside to the waves and flipped over their boat. It was reported that no one on the boat was wearing a life jacket. 

Since leaving River Dunes we have spent nights at Swansboro, NC, Wrightsville Beach, NC, and Myrtle Beach, SC. We are now entering one of the most beautiful areas of the ICW where we will pass through the 29,000-acre Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge. Once we enter it, we will see mostly nothing but wilderness and wildlife, and a few other boats. I wrote about this area near Georgetown on our last pass through here in "My Ancestral Home". 

The Wildlife Refuge has an ultimate "Acquisition Boundary" of some 55,000 acres, and there is an ongoing land purchase program within the boundary for interested sellers. Some of the current area is owned while other parts are managed as a part of conservation easements and long-term leases. The history of the area is fascinating and can be read about on the Refuge website.

We are having a great trip and continue to enjoy spectacular weather, even though it was not cooperative when we had opportunities to go to sea. We plan to get the boat to the Charleston area by tomorrow night where we will leave it and drive back home to Richmond Hill.

Update:

We arrived in Georgetown at 2:45 this afternoon. The fuel price here seemed quite reasonable at $1.75 per gallon. I have seen lower prices in a few places but also I have seen prices of $3.35 a gallon, nearly double the price here. I still had about 500 gallons onboard after last fueling in January, and could have waited until the new year to refuel, just because I could. Nevertheless, I decided to take advantage of our early arrival and fill the tanks. We took on 1,240 gallons. Having run for 251 hours and 1,565 miles since our last fueling, this meant we had averaged burning 4.9 gallons per hour at an average speed of 6.23 knots. We are getting 1.26 nautical miles per gallon to move around our three-bedroom second home, including some heavy fuel use for the generator in hot weather. We'll see what fuel prices look like in about another year.

My Ancestral Home

 Log 21695

Myrtle Beach, SC

We spent last night in historic Georgetown, the third oldest city in South Carolina, located in Winyah Bay at the confluence of the Black, Great Pee Dee, Waccamaw, and Sampit rivers. My great x 5 grandfather Thomas Jasper Samford was born in Virginia in 1758 and migrated to South Carolina, spending part of his life along the Great Pee Dee River (which doesn't sound appealing as a place to swim). He was the fourth generation of Samford's born in America dating back to James Thomas Samford who was born in England in 1624, but was married and died in Virginia. 

Born just 12 years after the American colonies declared independence, Thomas Jasper's son was named Thomas Jefferson Samford. He was born in what is described as "Marion District on Big Pee Dee". He migrated to Wilkinson County, Georgia where his son, my great x 3 grandfather William Flewellyn Samford, was born in 1817. William Flewellyn ultimately moved to Auburn, Alabama where he died in 1894. This series of migrations from England to Virginia, to South Carolina, to Georgia and ultimately to Auburn, Alabama explains how I became a member of the fifth generation in a row in my family to attend Auburn University, and is an example of what I would call evolutionary improvement.

We followed the Intracoastal Waterway past the mouth of the Great Pee Dee and through the Waccamaw River all day today from Georgetown to Myrtle Beach. We had an easy day cruising through beautiful remote territory. We have continued to look for opportunities to get back out into the ocean, but the weather has not cooperated whenever we had the chance. 

When last I wrote, we had anchored Wednesday night in Mosquito Creek. Thursday we made it to Isle of Palms outside Charleston where we had a great dinner outdoors on the deck at Coda del Pesce with our friend Dakota Willimon. Then Friday it was on to Georgetown and tonight here we are, planning a dinner of fresh shrimp from Georgetown on the aft deck. We have had light rain off and on for two days but it has been easy cruising. Tomorrow we should make it into North Carolina where we fully expect a dramatic change to cooler weather. We will keep you posted.

The Lovely Laura Lee and The Devine Dakota Willimon

Back on the boat

We are back on the boat. Paul Hamilton and I drove up from home to Southport, NC yesterday in a rental car. It is interesting that we could drive up in just over five hours, but the trip home on the boat will take more than five days (50 miles per hour or 50 miles per day). The weather was cold and rainy when we arrived, but promises to be great for the week. We had planned to head out this morning with stops in Myrtle Beach, Georgetown, Charleston, and Beaufort, SC, but it now appears we will be here one more day to finish up a few items.

We might have some options along the way to go offshore, depending on the weather. Georgetown to Charleston would be a good day to do so, as would Beaufort to Savannah, but we shall see.

The boat has been something of a movable repair project so far. Many issues have been resolved in Southport and there will no doubt be many more as we arrive close to home. This is, all-in-all, a great boat, but apparently no one did any maintenance for the past several years. We are making progress, and I won't bore you with the details.

We came up bearing the new flag of our home port at The Ford Plantation. We hoisted it today on the bow.

UPDATE @ 10  PM Monday 2.4.19: Many things came together early today, and we did indeed get away from Southport at around 10 am this morning. It was a beautiful day of cruising, with temperatures reaching around 70. We arrived mid-afternoon in Myrtle Beach, SC. 

Please click "Where's the boat?" above to track our progress.