We backed off the face dock here, at Isle of Palms at 7:40 am. We were so quiet that the trawler, Tu Tot Bene, docked in front of us didn't even hear us leave. He passed us later in the morning and told us we snuck away! It was an easy off and away heading north on the ICW. It's a very calm and peaceful morning. We didn't get any of the rain that they predicted for the night nor this morning. Hopefully we stay north of the rains and winds today as well as tomorrow.
The only other boats that we've seen today is a 27 foot sailboat heading south and another sailboat going our way...we passed him up just in time to meet a Coast Guard boat pushing a barge...port-to-port. After all of that excitement, we are passed by the Carver 36 foot, mv/Tumbleweed from Arkansas and mv/Tu Tot Bene from Tennessee...both 'Loopers'! Other than these few boats, we are alone in the low country of South Carolina which is really nice. We are seeing bald eagles and ospreys. In fact, Chuck spotted two bald eagles sitting side by side up in the top of a dead tree...just looking around. We're always excited to see the eagles, ospreys, and dolphins. Yes, we are still seeing dolphins all the way up into the South Carolina salt marshes!!
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| Ferry warning at the canal |
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| Estherville Minim Creek Canal |
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| Ferry on narrow canal |
Our plans are to anchor at Minim Creek, West. As we got close to our anchorage, I checked the weather again. The winds for tomorrow are suppose to blow 25-28 kts. We remember our trip south across Winyah Bay in the fall under similar wind conditions and it wasn't a pleasant time! So our other option is to keep on pushing through the Estherville Minim Creek Canal, across Winyah Bay, toward and beyond Georgetown, SC today. It's going to be another long day but that's okay. If we get above the Lafayette Bridge, we'll have a short day tomorrow to Osprey Marina...about 21 miles. We want to get there before 1:00 due to tomorrow's wind forecast!! I think we made the right decision. The water surface on Winyah Bay is perfect until we travel through the Lafayette Bridge and then the winds pick up to 18 kts...still lower than tomorrows prediction.
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| mouth of Jericho Creek |
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| anchored in Jericho Creek |
After checking Doyle's water guide book, we decided to try to anchor at a small, narrow creek called Jericho Creek. Doyle's said that Jericho has 'all around protection' and that's what we were looking for with these winds. Unfortunately no one had written a review for this site but we were going to give it a try. We only went into the mouth of the creek. As of now, we are very protected from the NW winds. The water is calm with little current. The tall trees are really cutting the winds and it actually feels hot here!!! It looks like we'll have a very calm and peaceful night. Then all of a sudden, we had a bit of activity. A power boat came roaring out of the river, from where, I don't know. Then 3 teenage boys motored off the Waccamaw River in an open fishing boat. They went along the creek and wrapped fishing line to tree branches. Later we found out they were probably setting lines and hooks to catch catfish. We never heard of that method of fishing. I guess it beats catching catfish with your arms like we've seen on tv!! The rest of the night was quiet....62 miles today....
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