November 9, 2011
We now have Tropical Storm "Shawn" out there and it continues to generate strong N'ly winds and seas. What this means for us it that we will have to continue motor sailing to Charleston, SC. Since we are heading South and the winds have been out of the North, we have been able to set our jib sail and gain an extra knot while motoring.
Once again we woke up at 0500 hrs and departed at 0630 hrs. The early morning Wx reports confirmed that we wouldn't be able to go along the coast due to strong winds and seas. So on we go to Charleston at mile Marker 469. We started in Norfolk at Mile Marker 0. It would have been difficult to imagine that we would end up motor sailing the whole way.
From Southport, NC which is at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, the ICW continues on running between the outlying islands and the mainland. Here in this beautiful small town, fish, fowl, and foul-weather sailors all enjoy the passing of tides along the Cape Fear River. The strength and height of the tides are now increasing. We can see out speed fluctuate between 7.8 kts and 5.2 kts on the flood and ebb tides. We're making good time. The Wx is getting warmer and the Fall days are very enjoyable with changing colors on the hardwood trees.
We are entering a more remote part of North Carolina with many inlets and creeks. Shoaling at these places has to be observed very carefully. Tonight, when we anchor in Calabash Creek, we will be in South Carolina.
We dropped anchor at 1354 in Calabash Creek, SC (33 deg.52.3' N x 78 deg. 34.2 W). What is truly surprising about all these small creeks is the depth that they carry. Many have depths over 15 ft.
At last the N'ly winds are predicted to give way to a cold front which will bring a strong NW'ly offshore wind. This wind would have been perfect for us to sail from Southport, NC to Charleston, SC. Too late now: we're on a motoring crusade!
Calabash Creek is a beautiful remote anchorage. The "usual suspects" of the rat pack showed up at varying times. Anchoring is a spectator sport. Everyone watches every one else anchor. The entrance to Calabash Creek has a shoal near one of the entrance buoys. There is a 5 ft tide so at low water it's easy to run aground. That's what we did coming in! No problem here since the bottom is soft mud. We quickly backed off and moved into the anchorage and set the hook. Now it's time to watch others run aground unless we see them coming and can warn them of the shoal area. In this small transient community of boaters, everyone is willing to help and inform their fellow yachtsmen.
Another quiet night in a beautiful anchorage. We saw two very big tourist boats come into and depart the creek which surprised us. They were able to maneuver around all the anchored yachts and proceed upriver. Skillful boat-handling on their part and inconsideration of many of the yachts that had anchored right in the middle of the channel. Although these boats are big, they carry a shoal draft of 6-8 ft for the creeks.
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