November 7th- Carolina Beach, NC to Calabash Creek, SC

Before leaving Carolina Beach we stopped in the North End coffee shop. Luckily it opens at 6am. Hot coffee and egg sandwiches for breakfast. Ollie got in a little more “fun time” before we headed out.

There is nothing to fear but fear itself. FDR

I picked a good morning for the Cape Fear river. What little wind we had was behind us. The strong current pushed us along at 7 knots. By noon the current was going to reverse and a southwest wind was supposed to start up but we were long gone by then.

We were soon off the river and back in the ditch (ICW). We passed by Southport which is a popular stop. Maybe we’ll get to it on the return trip.

Lots of restaurants on the water.

We pushed on down the North Carolina waters.

Oliver has been spending most of his days on deck. Sometimes he stares off into the distance for hours. I wonder what he’s thinking about? He has gotten very comfortable with boat life.

By evening we crossed into South Carolina. There was no Welcome sign for a photo op. Our anchorage was in Calabash Creek. A somewhat ominous sight was 3 half sunken vessels near us. One wreck was a sailboat that looked fairly recent.

Ollie had a new experience. We approached what I thought was a beach. It was actually a giant pile of oyster shells. We scrambled up the loose pile. He tolerated the stop but definitely was not happy about the shells. He did his business and jumped right back in the dinghy.

No pictures from this stop. We had a big storm in the evening. Wind wasn’t bad but the sky opened up with a ton of rain.

November 8th- Calabash Creek, SC to The Waccamaw River, SC

Today we had several draw bridges to traverse. We also went through the Rock Pile. It is an area of the ICW where the engineers ran into rock ledge. They blasted a narrow passage through it. If you stray from the channel it’s all rock. We didn’t hit any rocks today.

A sign to make boaters even more uncomfortable in the Rock Pile.

The first half of the day really seemed like we were in a ditch. The banks are tall with big houses at the top. As we went further down the scenery became more rural.

A lighthouse on the ICW? It was actually Lighthouse marina.

This was some restaurant/ amusement center. Is this where every missing ICW buoy is located?

The second half of the day had us on the Waccamaw River. This became much more rural until it became a large swamp. I never was able to figure out the name of the swamp.

Spanish moss. Cedar and cypress trees. Alligator country for sure.

November 9th- Waccamaw River, SC to Georgetown, SC

We did not have to wrestle any alligators. The town of Enterprise Landing was a short dinghy ride from our anchorage. Olliver made it to shore without having to negotiate swamp territory.

Two odd things happened at night.

I kept hearing distant roaring sounds. Lion roaring sounds. I figured it was my over active imagination. Maybe a metal dock surging in the water somewhere. The next day I went on Google maps to see what is around the area. Waccatee Zoo was not far. It’s good to know I’m not hearing things.

The other odd thing was we kept having a helicopter buzz over the boat repeatedly. It was flying very close to the river. The next morning we turned on the VHF radio. A kayaker never made it to his destination. The helicopter was searching the area. I don’t know if he was ever found as the alert was repeated several times throughout the day.

Ok, three odd things. The temperature dropped to 35 degrees. It was 80 a day or two ago.

We continued down the Waccamaw River. There was a breeze blowing so I got to do some swamp forest sailing. At every bend I had to tack over the head sail. Eventually I rolled up the jib so Ollie could relax in his spot.

The Wackamaw is pretty deep down to Georgetown but this was surprising.

River School bus.

We picked up a favorable current and made good time down to Georgetown. The Waccamaw hooks up with the Great Pee Dee River and both empty out into Winyah Bay. We then had to turn up the Sampit River into Georgetown.We filled up with diesel. Had marina showers. We went into town for fresh shrimp at the Independent Seafood Market. Then, the fourth odd thing happened today.

We were walking up a dock into town. The woman walking down the dock wanted to meet Oliver. She has a Border Collie. She used to live in Massachusetts. Her dog is from Cape Cod. Her dog is from Abfab Collies. His birthday is the same as Ollie’s. Her boy is Olliver’s brother. What are the chances of that happening?We were going to move on in the morning BUT, it’s Sunday Funday. We’re going to meet up tomorrow morning so Ollie can see his brother. Pictures will follow.