Air temp 52, water temp 64, winds SE @ 10
40 nautical miles today, 738 total miles from Marathon
What a calm, beautiful night on Thoroughfare Creek. The winds had died, all the parties on shore had broken up and we enjoyed a quiet evening on Second Wind. But, the temps dived down into the high 40s and we had to put a second blanket on the bed plus snuggle-up. Laura took this colorful picture last night.
No alarm set for the morning but we were both awake by 7am. The tide was changing to flood around 9:30-10:00am so we waited a bit before leaving the quiet creek. By 9am I had the boat ready to go so we raised the anchor and motored back to the Waccamaw River. As we turned north, we had the last hour or so of the ebb current against us so the boat slowed to 4.2 knots.
On our way out of Thoroughfare Creek, I took this picture of a local "hot dog" boat that was tied up near the river. It seemed like a nice idea of selling hot dogs and soft drinks to boaters on weekends. If you zoom in, you can see several signs on the boat. My favorite is "Kraft Mac n Cheese". Wow! Not just any mac-n-cheese.... Too funny.
Our speed gradually increased as the flood tide caught us. We were back to 5.5 knots (no current) as we passed Bucksport Marina and picked up helping current the rest of the day.
There is always LOTS of wildlife on the Waccamaw and today didn't disappoint. Turtles sunning, Osprey's yelling at us from their nests and this huge bird that flew over the boat. It happened so suddenly that we didn't get a picture but Laura looked it up on-line. What we saw was a Wood Stork. Here is a picture downloaded from grandstrandmag.com.
Just before lunch we stopped at Osprey Marina for fuel and took on 96 gallons of diesel. This was our usage from Stuart, FL - 530 miles ago. We ran our engine 90 hours during that time so you can see the result of our lower RPMs with the wind helping often. Normal usage for this boat is about 1.2 gallons / hour so the last couple weeks were just a little lower than that. We paid $1.22 / gallon for boat diesel - $118.40 total. The lowest I've seen since the early '90s. For comparison, my records show that last fall we stopped here and purchased 103 gallons for $268 - more than double the price. I know the U.S. economy is really down right now with the lockdown, but at least there is a small silver-lining for us.
After fueling, we had a nice trip through Myrtle Beach ICW and the 3 bridges which had to open for us. The local traffic picked up throughout the day but not as bad as weekend days down near Daytona or St. Augustine. It was a warm, sunny Sunday so lots of folks were out enjoying the day.
I was worried we would not make the marina before they closed at 5pm, but the increasing tidal current helped us to the lighthouse that marks the channel into the bay. By time we went through the Little River Swing Bridge, we had 1.5 knots of current helping us. We tied up at Myrtle Beach Yacht Club at 4:55pm and I quickly went to the office and paid for 2 nights - $139. We'll relax for a day with our friend Sandy who lives only a few miles from here then leave early Tuesday for Carolina Beach.
Monday, May 11th
Air temp 58, water temp 62, wind N @ 10
Not moving the boat today
It was a very nice night in the marina and I kept a small window open next to the bed for fresh air. The boat was a little chilly this morning so we ran the heat for a short time to warm things up. The cockpit was nice and warm with the Sun shining so Laura had her morning coffee up there.
We went for a couple mile walk after breakfast for some much needed exercise. The walking around here isn't great because there are no sidewalks. You end up walking down the grass next to a busy highway. But, we found a small housing project to walk through and the people we saw by the street were very friendly.
Our friend Sandy drove over in the early afternoon. All of us were very down about not being able to hug as dear friends are supposed to but we eventually settled down to catch up on what was happening in our lives. We had planned on going to the marina restaurant for lunch but forgot they were closed on Monday and Tuesday. We decided to drive to North Myrtle Beach for lunch in a mall. This mall also had a West Marine where I needed to pick up a new power-cord for the boat.
We decided on Mission BBQ for lunch. They had about 1/2 of their tables closed for social distancing and the food was excellent. I had a pulled-pork sandwich. Laura had a brisket sandwich. I think the last time we ate out was in Marathon over 3 weeks ago. We wore our face masks and all the workers there had face masks on. Most everyone was pretty good about keeping their distance.
After lunch we came back to the marina and sat at a table by the pool. I came back to the boat for a little after-lunch wine and we chatted for a couple hours. Here are Laura and Sandy at the table under the umbrella on a pretty South Carolina day.
We decided we couldn't leave without at least opposite-face hugs. It's always great to see Sandy and we always talk about her late husband John. Sandy and John spent several winters in Marathon near us and we had plenty of good times.
Back at the boat I installed the new power cord and cleaned up the boat a bit. Nothing really needs to be worked while we are here so we just relaxed in the afternoon and took our post-wine naps. Those are the best!
The winds are supposed to die down tonight and go north but light tomorrow. It's going to be chilly in the morning with lows in the high-40s. Plans are to head out Little River Inlet and do the short 25 mile off-shore run to Cape Fear inlet then up the Cape Fear River to Carolina Beach where we will probably pick up a mooring. Because the low tide here tomorrow is about 6:30am, we need to be out of the marina by 6am in order to catch the outgoing tide through the inlet. Then the flood tide at ends around 2pm at Southport (about 5 miles up the Cape Fear River). It should all work out assuming we average 5 knots off-shore - like 7am to 12pm - and catch the helping tides at both inlets. I'll let you know how it works out!
Hope it all works the way you planned it.
ReplyDelete