November 22nd- Beaufort, SC to Turner Creek, GA
We probably could have spent another week in Beaufort. We preferred having Catalpa in Factory Creek over the Beaufort River but the downtown area is very cool. Oliver made many friends over at Lady’s Island Marina. See you in the spring.
Further down the Beaufort River is the Paris Island Marine Base. Paris Island is where they train new recruits. I visited the base many years ago with my Grandparents. The Marines are a big presence in this area. We often saw jets from the Marine Corps Air Station flying overhead.
Paris Island.
We passed another dredging operation in Fields Cut.
They have to pile it somewhere.
We packed some miles under Catalpa’s keel today and made it up Turner Creek around dusk. Turner Creek is on Wilmington Island which is near Savannah. While we were only there for one night we did a little reconnaissance of the area. Very good stop for provisions. There is a grocery right next to Hogans Marina. It can be difficult to get groceries without a car so we’ll keep this stop in mind for future reference. I walked up to the gas station and filled a couple of jerry cans with diesel. There aren’t many places to get fuel on the next leg of our journey.
November 23rd- Turner Creek, GA to Kilkenny Creek, GA
Our goal was the Wahoo River but we decided to cut the day short and get into an anchorage. Today it seemed like the current was running against us most of the day. We went through another Hell Gate. This was a notoriously shallow spot. It was recently dredged. It’s just a narrow channel dug through the mud.
We anchored on Kilkenny Creek off of Kilkenny Marina. If there was an award for rustic charm, it would go to Kilkenny Marina. The shower functioned. I also managed to get another can of diesel. The area around the marina has old, pre-civil war, homes. It is filled with ancient live oaks. There may have been Pterodactyls living in the trees. The birds seem bigger down here. In the morning there were all kinds of jungle sounds.
The Marina.
The marshes around this part of the country seem to go on forever. They must support a ton of wild life.
November 24th- Kilkenny Creek, GA to Duplin River, GA
We had a strong West wind to help drive us south today. The only actual sailing we’ve done, on this trip, has been in Long Island Sound, the coast of NJ, and the Chesapeake Bay. The rest has been motoring or motor sailing. Getting a sail up with a favorable wind really helps to push Catalpa along. Parts of Georgia seem to be very shallow. I’m really appreciative of our 4 foot draft these day.
After consulting the Books of Bob I decided on anchoring in the Duplin River. It is bordered by Sapelo Island. The main attraction of our next stop is a ferry landing with an easily accessible dinghy dock. This makes it much easier to bring Ollie in. It’s main detriment is that you need some sort of tourism permit to visit it. I obviously don’t have a tourism permit but we look like tourists. The people on the ferry waved to us. We played frisbee in a grassy parking lot. Sapelo Island has an interesting story. We didn’t see much of it but it’s worth a Google search. There is a small community that live on the island. The state manages the rest of the land. There are no city lights out here. The Milky Way is on full display.
The road in.
A mouthful.
You can just make out Catalpa in the background.
Catalpa anchored in Duplin River.
