South Carolina Whack-A-Mole

Remember that old arcade/carnival game called Whack-A-Mole?  Well, we found an equivalent to play while motoring up the marshy Intracoastal Waterway in South Carolina. I'm not entirely sure what variant of annoying, biting, fly-like creature they are (deer fly we think), but the wet weather and low winds left us swarmed by them as we motored north from McClellanville SC.

McClellanville is definitely not a resort marina.

Oh, I guess I should mention we are making progress on the trip.  After making it to a marina just past Charleston on day two, day three had us sitting until noon, waiting on winds to die down so we could get the boat off the dock.  That day we made a short hop from Charleston to McClellanville.  Day four was the Whack-A-Mole adventure and finally a chance to make a run on the outside...all the way to Southport.

Anyway, after having enough of being harassed by the flies we went on the offensive. Out came a couple of cheap dollar store fly swatters and the battle began. By the time we were at Winyah bay the enemy had amassed a sizable casualty count and we had almost destroyed one fly swatter and started wearing down a second one.

Some of the enemy casualties and our well used weapon.

Despite the casualties lying all about the cockpit, the enemy didn't quit until we were making our retreat out into the Atlantic.

Spinnaker sailing in the evening.

The remainder of the trip was uneventful.  The seas were relatively calm and the winds were fickle.  At times we had 15 knots or more to sail with, other times found us using our spinnaker to aqueeze a little speed out of 5 knots, and there were times the wind died and left us motoring along on a single engine to make headway.

The sun setting somewhere near Myrtle Beach

And the full moon rising a few minutes later.
(More impressive in person...but low light photography
from a moving platform is difficult)

We arrived in Southport early this morning, tied up the boat, went out for breakfast, and then the entire crew crashed on the settee for a few hours.  We will be here for a few days as we deal with the logistics of the next leg of the trip. Time is running low, but we are almost out of our insurance-mandated hurricane exclusion zone.

Playing Motorboat Again

Well, our need to make tracks north and Mother Nature's need for unsettled weather along the southeast coast seem to be in conflict.  The trip would have been a few straight-forward hops on the outside, but for the high winds, unsettled seas, and threats of thunderstorms.  Since some progress is better than none, we opted to take the more protected route up the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).

With the weather forecast to be OK (except for the seas in the Atlantic), we departed Hilton Head on Wednesday morning.  We wound our way through the countryside and anchored in North Edisto river.  This morning we awoke to grey skies but nothing threatening and continued winding our way toward Charleston.

A part of our ICW path north of Hilton Head.

The twists, turns, bridges, and my unwillingness to travel it at night make travel on the ICW very slow.  In just over two days we could have made it from Hilton Head to Southport on the outside.  Instead, we made it just past Charleston.  As I sit here and write this the news is playing in the background and the local weather guesser is calling for more unsettled weather for the next couple days.  Guess our trek up the ditch will likely continue.

It isn't all bad though.  At least there is some different scenery to see.

Ladys Island Swing Bridge near Beaufort, SC.

Along the ICW.

Hard to believe the weather isn't going to be nice for a while.

I'd prefer to be using less fuel and making a bit better time, but I guess I'll just have to be happy playing motorboat.