October 2020

 

Time flies. It is the beginning of October already.  The hurricane we were expecting was a wind & rain event when it reached us.  We went back to Cobb’s ready to start our trek south.  We departed on September 24^th and made great time to Great Bridge.  There was a submarine leaving as we passed NOB Norfolk.  The officers were outside on the tower but my camera had an automatic flash so I couldn’t get a good photo.  

On to Lutz Creek then on to Belhaven.  It was really foggy in the Alligator Pungo canal! 

We have friends in Belhaven but due to Covid-19 we opted not to contact them.  We did walk from town out to Walgreens & Food Lion just to get some exercise. From Belhaven our intention was to head to Broad Creek near Oriental but it was not meant to be. 

We were having a lovely motor sail & had taken the boat out of gear to see if we could actually sail.  Our speed dropped dramatically so I put the boat back in gear and…. nothing.  We still had reverse but no forward motion.  We hailed TowBoatUS & were taken to Deaton Yacht Service in Oriental.  Not only were they the local TowBoatUS franchise but a Beta Marine dealer too! 

We arrived about 4:30pm on a Wednesday, a bit late to start on anything.  John Deaton came by first thing in the morning to begin troubleshooting.  When the boat was put in reverse, we had lost that as well.  The transmission was removed and a replacement ordered Friday and it was shipped the following Tuesday.  It arrived a week later late in the afternoon.  By Friday it was installed and we had done a river run with Eric, our technician.  We have nothing but positive things to say about Deaton Yacht.  They did great work at a reasonable rate and were really nice folks too!  We stayed the weekend to do laundry & provision.  Did I mention that the marina also had a loaner car?  While we wish this had not happened, it really could not have happened at a better place on the ICW.

While we were in Oriental, we spent some time with friends Brad & Jeannie of S/V What Next.  They have a nice home just outside of the village.  We did venture out to the local brew pub with them one night but it seems that the further south we get the less people are wearing masks & practicing social distancing.

Since we spent 2.5 weeks getting repaired, we decided to make some miles south.  Oriental to Spooners Creek (just south of Morehead City NC) to Mile Hammock Bay (Camp Lejeune). We were treated to quite the air show while there. 

From Mile Hammock it was on to Carolina beach.  Here is some “wildlife” just north of Carolina Beach.

Notice the banner by Neptune?

 

On to Calabash where we were treated to a deer swimming across the anchorage.

On to Enterprise Landing (beautiful spot on the Waccamaw River) to Georgetown SC where we decided to take a couple of days off.  The folks in Georgetown really seemed oblivious to Covid.   Although all the shops had the signage about wearing a mask very few did.  It made us feel a bit uncomfortable.  The town is definitely a tourist destination and business was booming!  On Saturday there was a wedding held at the Kaminsky House with about 150 people!  We had front row seats as that is where we had anchored.  The music was pretty good too.  

 

We decided to hop offshore to avoid some shoal spots on the ICW so we left Georgetown at 9:55am headed through Winyah Bay to the Atlantic.  We timed it to have a fair current on the way out.  At some points we hit 9 knots & that is flying for our boat. We base our timing on being a 5-knot boat.  We averaged over 6.5 and arrived at the jetties in Charleston at 7 pm with an outgoing tide as we came in.  Finally, about 9pm we were settled in for the night.

This is the first time we have not explored Charleston.  We left the next morning.  After the experience in Georgetown with people not being safe, we decided to move on.  We had hoped to see Bobby & Francie of S/V Barefootin but Bobby had chores & Francie was out of town. Hurricane Zeta had hit Louisiana and the remnants were headed our way so we opted for the ICW instead of offshore knowing we would need to travel with the high tides in several spots.   Onward to Church Creek then to Bull Creek where we will wait for the high tide. And that’s it for September & October. 

I have to thank Joel & Donna of S/V Seaquel for the lovely sunset shots of our boat.