March 1,2021 Southport NC to Winyah Bay

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Warm sunshine, short sleeves, bare feet, windows open.  This is nice. The sky is turning overcast, though, so let's enjoy it now.

I had a big AHA moment this morning. After we left the marina and turned into  the  ICW we were... all alone. No powerboats, no wakes. I checked the date on my phone & saw that it was Monday. Well duh. All the traffic that was making me so cranky the last two days was because we went through what is probably the busiest seaside metropolitan area in N. Carolina on the first nice weekend of the year. Lessons learned.

We have seen several cruisers headed north the last few days and wonder if they are coming back from the Bahamas or Florida, their season finishing while ours is starting.  We have also seen a lot of remnants of past hurricanes.  There is something very sad about a wrecked boat. I wonder whose hopes & dreams & livelihood were also dashed on the shore.

100% of the helm time on the ICW is spent looking for "deep" water.  The ICW is a narrow channel of officially 12 foot depth in otherwise very shallow bays and rivers.  Get outside that narrow channel and quickly there be not enough room for our three foot draft.  There are many sections where nature has decided to only allow the channel to be only 10ft deep or less. These places are typically not shown on the charts, and may or not be shown by the channel markers.   There's a constant wiggling around hunting to find enough water; once you find it it disappears and you hunt again. It's exhausting and frustrating.  

This particular day the hunt for deep water is exasperated by a very low tide.  

But the weather suggests an opportunity to pop out into the ocean for the next 50 miles.  Not only does this cure the frustration of todays hunt for deep water, but it also eliminates the next day of the same.  But it also bypasses what many say are the most beautiful miles of the ICW.  

After a quick discussion weighing pros and cons we have made our decision and are winding through the beautiful Little River Inlet area headed for the open ocean.  

The Little River Inlet area is a stark and stormswept landscape that is beautiful.  We must visit again in warmer more settled weather.    I couldn't get a photo to do it justice, but tried a 360panorama- (tough to do correctly on a bouncing boat!) 

Once through the inlet we are in the ocean. Sails up, motors off, and it's lovely. Peaceful.  The quiet when the drone of the motors is gone is always so welcome.
We're making a run for Winyah Bay, and if conditions hold we should arrive around midnight. The sky is overcast & seas have a gentle roll.  We are happy to be in the ocean again.  The wind fades with the sun as we  motor sail passed the electric glow of Myrtle Beach some 10 miles west on the horizon.  The overcast night sky is very dark completely blocking out the moonlight, so we are guided by radar and GPS. This is the deep dark.

Right on schedule the man-made lights appear marking the entrance to Winyah Bay.  First to be spotted is the sea buoy miles out in the ocean flashing the "dit dah" - alpha in Morse code-  marking the beginning of the safe water approach to the partially submerged jetties.  In a few miles more we spot the reds and greens marking safe passage between the jetties.  We arrive at the first red and green channel marker at slack tide but that soon became a ragged 3.5 knots of outgoing current that slowed our inbound progress to a labored crawl.  We are aiming for a place not far inside the protection of the jetties where we can anchor and rest.  The first two anchorages were busts: the anchor couldn't find a good hold in the soft bottom and strong current. At one point we were moving backwards at 3.5kts with the anchor down.

They say the third time is the charm. We moved to a new spot, the anchor set on the second try, and we breathed a very tired sigh. 1:30AM. 

Comments

Jane said…
Such delightful commentary-I even felt your relief getting back on the ocean. You made real progress today!
March 3, 2021 at 9:09 AM
Lynn and Ed said…
Anchoring in the dark is always an adventure. When you get to the Bahamas it’s a relief to be able to day sail from place to place.
March 4, 2021 at 2:50 PM
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