Offshore, Fernandina to Georgetown, SC 4-5 Apr

 

   Sunrise 4 Apr and we are heading out the St Mary's Inlet bound for sea and a 38hr transit up to South Carolina. We'll either pull in to Charleston or if the weather is still good and we're making good progress we'll go all the way to Georgetown. 

   We had a choice to leave a day earlier in some stronger winds where we could sail in 4-6ft seas or wait till the 4th when there was little wind and calm seas. The crew voted to wait, so we're motoring.

   Not much to do when you're motoring in the ocean. Check the horizon every 15mins or so. Check the bilge every couple hours or so. Get some rest when you can as we'll be going all night long. 

   Our visitor for the day. This butter butt warbler stayed with us the entire day. Not sure what he was doing 20miles offshore but he was probably glad to have a place to rest for the day. The challenge was to keep him out of the boat below so he wouldn't mess on things.

   Interestingly, the next day we had a different bird, but another warbler, visit us for a few hours, still about 20 miles offshore.

   Our other visitors were dolphins off Georgia, several times during the day. They would come over and play in the bow wave for an hour or so then go back to feeding. Its interesting how having dolphins around always makes you feel better and safer. Not too scientific but its a fact.

   Sunset on day one. We are making good time and will pass by Savannah about 10pm. Should be off Charleston about noon tomorrow. We'll plan to continue on to Georgetown as long as we can get there before sunset tomorrow. 

  Notice the ocean conditions. Sue, and Rivah, are very happy. Using up some diesel fuel but making this offshore run cuts about 5 days off the time it would take to travel through the meandering grasslands of Georgia and southern South Carolina. Not to mention there are several very shallow spots in the ICW thru Georgia where you can't transit at low tide. We avoid all that by going offshore.

   Hard to get a good moon photo from a moving boat but it was a full moon for our transit and you can see the moonlight reflected in the ocean. 

   Again, the crew is very happy with the sea conditions.

  Sunrise on the 5th. Sea is still dead flat. The moon is setting off in the west. We didn't see any traffic all night long. Several boats anchored off Savannah and a couple transiting but we never were close enough to see them.

   Passing by Charleston about 10am. Murphy's Law - the one merchant ship we have seen so far was coming out of Charleston at the exact time we were crossing the channel.  The advantage of having AIS (Automatic Identification System) is that we can see on our chartplotter where we will cross paths and he can see the same information. The system said he would pass just under a half mile in front of us - which is too close. So we slowed down some and let him pass at a safer distance. 

   Later on the 5th and we actually have all the sails out with a little bit of wind behind us. We could sail at about 4-5mph with these winds but that wouldn't get us into Georgetown before dark. So, we have the engine running as well and making good time. We'll arrive at the inlet before 3pm.

   That will enable us to transit up the Waccamaw River to our desired anchorage area and set us up to transit to Little River the next day.

   We're here - passing the Georgetown, Winyah Bay lighthouse. Making good time up the river with a following current.  This transit has gone amazingly well with the weather, sea conditions and currents all in our favor. Sometimes it all works out - particularly if you are not in a hurry and can pick the best window.

 

  We made it!  Anchored by Butler Island in the Waccamaw River just before sunset. Winds are calm and temperature balmy. 

   Tomorrow we transit up the Waccamaw River, stop for diesel at Wacca Wache, the proceed on up to the Calabash 4-corners at Little River Inlet to anchor. Then its one short day to Holden Beach.