November 9-12 2008 Southport NC to Charleston SC

November 9 Pulling anchor at first light we left Mile Hammock Bay. The water was was calm and placid compared to last night when we pulled in and set anchor. The days are getting quite short. First light comes around 6:30 am but darkness sets in by shortly after 5pm so we plan to be off the water long before then. Southport NC at mm295 is our destination. There is a free dock at a restaurant called the Provision Co. If you eat there dockage is free. It is a pretty loose operation-get the beer yourself-tell the bartender-he puts a chit beside your name-tell them we will be back to eat later after a bike ride-do you want us to pay? no-pay when you come back. Neat town. Gail and Judy visited a Christmas store. Even I was impressed with the amount of inventory and selection

November 10. Myrtle Beach Yacht Club in Coquina bay at mm346 was our next destination. We are now in South Carolina. First we had to navigate through a pontoon bridge that moves out of the way on the hour so the boats can pass through. It looks like the bridge tender will be out of a job soon (a year or so) as they are building a new high rise bridge over the waterway. While pulling into the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club Marina, I heard someone holler at me. Turns out it was John & Pat from Gypsy Time-they had traveled with us last spring. The day was warm-almost warm enough for shorts-but tonight it will get down to forty

November 11 After filling our fresh water tank and emptying our holding tank, we trek on down the waterway to an anchorage near Butler Island mm395-not really close to anything as now the waterway winds through some desolate countryside. There is a steady stream of boats heading south. Mostly sailboats but powerboats and trawlers like ours also. At one point Judy counted 10 sailboats and four powerboats waiting to go through a bridge opening.

November 12 Our next stop is an anchorage at Dewees Creek- mm454 which is a short distance-10 miles from Charleston. (We have traveled almost 500 miles since leaving Deltaville VA). This called Low Country. As we sit here in our anchorage it is like looking across the flatlands of Indiana's cornfields except in this case you see a few trees but mostly sawgrass. The tides are starting to get high. There is a 6' tide here. That is a lot of water that moves in and out of this creek twice a day. Dewees Creek is probably 300' wide where we are anchored, so in Indiana we would call it a River. We are anchored and you would think we were in a raging river. A lot of water flows by us. Soon we will be sitting 6' higher and we will have a spectacular view over this Low Country. John's autopilot went out on his boat, so I spent a little bit of time troubleshooting it today. It appears the hydraulic pump motor failed which in turn burnt out the main processor board. Tomorrow may be a repair day in Charleston. The autopilot spoils you pretty quick, even when traveling the ICW. There a lots of straight stretches of water and right now lots of currents that move you sideways rather easily so the autopilot keeps the boat on track.