Georgetown North Carolina….Mosquitoes, No-See-Ums and things that go bite in the night

33:21.95N 79:17.06W

13th May 2015

8210 Miles from Ramsgate by log.

After arriving in Charleston we anchored just outside of the big marina on the north shore finding a rather tight spot just out of the channel and quite near to the Coast Guard depot so that at least Spectra would have some guardians while we were ashore. No sooner had we dropped anchor than a local artist / live aboard came over and introduced himself, he turned out to be a mine of useful information and so after I had done a bit of maintenance on the water maker we went ashore with at least an idea where we were heading, a novel experience indeed.

Much to Norma’s delight I trash the boat again before we go ashore as I run new feed pipes to the water tanks.

As it was Sunday Charleston was very much closed but what we saw was very nice, after having a Mexican lunch we checked up on the weather and were soon hurrying back to Spectra. Tropical storm Mona turned out to be tropical storm Ana once I checked on the internet, the Coast Guard seem to have a who can talk the fastest competition on the VHF radio and so they are very hard to understand at times. What I saw now was that Ana was lying offshore from Jacksonville and would move up to the Charleston area by midnight with winds of up to 60 Knots predicted for Charleston harbour. As our anchorage was none too secure and as I mentioned earlier quite tight we had to move! Charleston marina has a mega dock which is about a mile long but when we asked for a berth at the marina office even with that there was no room at the inn, apparently every boat for miles around was heading into shelter and so we decided to move across the river to get into the lee of an island and to find a bit more swinging room. On the way back to Spectra in our dinghy we were hailed by another live aboard as we passed, the young lady on board the small sail boat was having anchor problems and having dragged two of them on deck could not get the shackles open. Knight in shinning waterproofs that I am I wrestled the shackles open for her and then her friend arrived in a borrowed dinghy to help lay her extra anchors for the night and so we got on with sorting Spectra out.  Having crossed the river I found a likely spot tucked in reasonably close to the shore in 4 meters of water. Norma worked the windlass as we laid out 60 meters of chain on the main anchor and then dropped the second bow anchor and laid that chain out in reverse by pulling 20 meters of the main anchors chain back in again. This is called a Bahamian moor and allows you to get a lot of chain down but reduce your swinging circle. As both anchors had dug in well we were as confident as we could be and settled in to watch the end of series one of Downton Abbey on the television which we have become addicted to this week. I would like to enliven your day now with a tale of us battling hurricane force winds all night with a heroic deed or two chucked in for good measure but no, nothing untoward happened. I had left the instruments on as we can record wind speed and direction for up to 24 hours and the wind peaked at 20 knots around 0100 in the morning, or in other words it would have been a boisterous day sail, but to be honest I am not complaining at all a peaceful nights sleep was had by all apart from the cast of Downton of course who are in a right old pickle and no mistaking it.

The view of Charleston from our second anchorage.

The next day turned into a marathon shopathon with Norma which was so much fun that it has all blurred into one joyous memory for me and so I shall write no more on the subject.

A mule and cart pass by a rather attractive town house in down town Charleston

As a rule America is not very pedestrian friendly and so in Charleston the solution is to supply orange flags to carry as you cross the road, you return them to the holders on the post after crossing. Norma was slightly perturbed as I insisted on waving the flag vigorously above my head as we crossed over.

We did however meet up with the crew of the catamaran ‘Sweet Sensation’ again who were moored on the end of the mega dock. After a beer or two in their lovely spacious cockpit we bid them fare thee well and headed back over to Spectra for our final night in Charleston and the start of series two of Downton Abbey, I have serious concerns about Mr Bates the valet and Thomas the footman I can see no happy ending there. 

With the Mr Bates and Thomas situation still unresolved by the next morning we picked up our anchors and headed out of Charleston harbour. As Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil war were fired, came into sight ahead we turned left just astern of a large Coast Guard Cutter and re-joined the ICW. Our first day out from Charleston turned into a bit of a marathon and we ended up covering 54 miles before dropping anchor for the night in Minim Creek. The journey started late due to the first bridge not opening until after 9 and involved some fairly shallow water and commercial traffic at first which always keeps you on your toes. The anchorage was calm, isolated, scenic and absolutely jam packed with every stinging, biting and generally annoying flying insect known to man. Even with all of the hatches closed and the insect repellent sprayed liberally around my evening of Downton Abbey was not a pleasant one at all.

Fort Sumter Charleston Harbour I didn’t take a picture of the Coast Guard cutter as they had a very big gun on deck.

A floating swing bridge on the Minim canal

A barge passes us going the other way

After a horrible night and sporting a huge collection of little red lumps we got up early to catch the tide for the 12 mile final leg of this journey into Georgetown. With the tide helping us along we touched 8 knots at one point and so our anchor splashed down in the little creek by Georgetown just after breakfast. As we have decided to only stay here for the one night and push on tomorrow we launched the dinghy and headed ashore as soon as the anchor had settled on the bottom. Georgetown is a small place with a big history, the docks were a hive of activity during the 19^th and 20^th century as it was a centre for the exportation of lumber and cotton in the Carolinas but that has now all passed. The old docks have been very nicely converted into a riverside walkway with an array of bars, restaurants and arty shops supporting the towns new industry of tourism.  Rather sadly a whole chunk of the riverside frontage was burnt down a few years back which has left a 100 meter hole in the centre of the town but I am sure it will be rebuilt soon.

Georgetown public dock

River Restaurant and Big Tuna bar to the left just astern of Spectra, our entry point to the interweb.

The empty patch behind the yachts mast is where the fire destroyed a chunk of the riverside properties.

Jen has confirmed that she is going to join us and so we are now all set crew wise for the trip back. We are awaiting conformation of our mooring by email at Cape Fear Marina, Wilmington as we hope to get there a day or two earlier than expected which will give us a bit of extra time to start prepping the old girl for the trip back before Tommy and Sue arrive. The other reason we need conformation of the marina slot is that the price they quoted at $8 per foot for the entire stay is so cheap that we are convinced it must be wrong. Or maybe the price was per foot per day in which case it is ridiculously high and we will be going elsewhere, the email was not as clear as it could have been and so time will tell.      

            It is a planned late start today as we have to wait until after low water at 11 so that we have a rising tide for the next stretch and so having taken the time to write to you all of our latest travails I am now going on deck to try and borrow a share of the internet from the nearest bar, Big Tuna, before we head on up to the next anchorage. I am not sure where that will be yet as Norma is doing the navigation on the ICW and going by the noises coming out of the aft cabin she is still fast asleep, but it will be 30 odd miles north from here that’s for sure.

PS; Mr Bates has returned much to Ana’s delight; the other housemaid has been a naughty girl and gotten herself pregnant to the dashing Major while Mr Bates and Thomas are still not getting along, I can see nothing but trouble ahead and as for Lady Mary well who knows what’s going on there????. We need series 3 and 4 as a matter of urgency this is at least a Pan Pan situation.

Watch this space for the next exciting episode from the adventures of Spectra………