Easy Traveling in the Carolinas

Pictures: the local doctor picks a name out of the hat for a raffle gift at a small pharmacy grand opening in Oriental, NC; surfer in the distance at Wrightsville Beach and a sanderling in the foreground; the beach at Capers Island, about 15 miles north of Charleston, SC; a view across the marsh grass at our last anchorage before Charleston

Finally I can write about something other than the weather. Because we are having a spell of less wind, though it is slightly colder than normal, it is easy to be outside without the windchill. The traveling is pretty straightforward. The Intracoastal Waterway is almost always straight, and the channel has been dredged in the difficult places; it doesn’t hurt that we have less draft with our Mainship than we had with our sailboat (just need 3’ or more of water) and we can go under some bridges without waiting for them to open. During this week while we were meeting no obstacles, we know of two boats that did go aground. Evidently the full moon was causing some unusually low water at low tide. Ken created a big wake for one of the boats, after the owner suggested it, and it worked in freeing the sailboat from the mud.

One of our best days was the stretch of ICW going through the Marine’s Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. There are maneuvers and training sessions in boats and helicopters to watch while you travel through. We anchored in a basin near the chopper takeoff/landing area and had time to slowly cook some ribs which we had for dinner with a great salad and caught a beautiful sunset. Then the Marine’s started night practice on takeoffs and landings in the helicopters. It was interesting to watch and nice to know they are not slacking in their training. They were done by 9:30 pm so it didn’t interrupt our sleep. There were 35 transient boats in the basin that night.

We got ashore at Wrightsville Beach, NC and walked to the ocean beach to see dozens of surfers catching some good sized waves. The young people there are evidently very outdoorsy as we saw one guy pedaling to the beach with his board under his arm and one girl with her board and her friends walking back over a bridge after surfing. The grocery clerk told us the locals enjoy doing without cars when they can. There is a very popular “Loop” that is 2.5 miles long and circles around near the beach for jogging.

Another walk we took was on Capers Island, South Carolina, where the state has set up a pier and dock for dinghies and you can walk to the ocean side of the island. There were lots of mosquitos but we moved fast and at the beach the light breeze kept them from landing. This area of South Carolina is pretty much wilderness with saltmarsh grass and only a few real land areas (“Low Country”), so a dock and a path were appreciated.

We are approaching Charleston, SC. We hope to sightsee a little, do some laundry and grocery shopping, and maybe get to see more of the boaters that we only chat with in passing. Most boaters stop here for a day or two and stay at one of the two city marinas.