North on the ICW through the Carolinas

   We departed St Mary's Inlet on a sunny day with light southerly winds and sailed/motor sailed offshore for 2 days coming back into the ICW at Georgetown, SC to avoid a passing cold front with strong thunderstorms.  The Waccamaw is one of the prettiest sections of the ICW and we really like to transit this area, but we were a little early for Spring conditions, the trees just starting to leaf out.

   The Waccamaw winds through a true Cyprus Forest filled with wildlife. One year we spotted 5 bald eagles through here. This year we only saw one, but saw lots of Osprey - more than we have seen before.

   In addition to the ospreys, there are herons and egrets all along the ICW. Also the playful dolphins pop up along the ICW usually close to the inlets.

   We anchored for the night, again behind Richmond Island near the Wacca Wache Marina, mile 383. There is room for several boats here. There were two of us behind the island this evening. Tucking behind the island keeps you away from the ICW traffic and their wakes and noise. Entrance here is deep right along the island shoreline looking to the right on the photo. Shoals on the left.

The next day we transited up to Little River Inlet and anchored for the night just inside the breakwater. Our plan was to leave at first light and make the offshore run up to Cape Fear River, bypassing the shallow shoals of Shallotte and Lockwoods Folly. Its a bad sign when Skipper Bob's guide tells you "Shoaling is always a problem here, Approach with caution."
   Unfortunately, the wind gods did not cooperate and we were looking at 15kts on the nose offshore. We revised our plans and went back to the ICW. No sense getting bashed up motoring offshore into 20kt apparent headwinds.  Both Shallotte and Lockwoods Folly were very shallow, despite both being dredged in Jan 13 when we were heading south. At low tide, (yes, all the gods were conspiring against us as we had to pass through the inlets at low tide so we could make the flood current at the Cape Fear River), we saw about 5ft in short stretches mid channel in both inlets, but got through without bumping.

   This was actually a very nice anchorage just inside the Little River breakwater on the red side behind the dunes. We were told you can carry 6ft for quite a distance behind the dune here and locals like to spend the weekend up this little creek. We dropped the hook in about 7ft and didn't proceed up too far as we had hoped to head out to see early the next morning. Once the sea breeze and the inlet boat traffic quieted down after sunset it was a very quiet and calm night.

   Next day we made it to Carolina Beach State Park and got Tides Inn tucked in on the T-Head as we had to return to Yorktown for a week for some work and personal commitments.
   The transit up the Cape Fear River was "interesting", sorry no photos. We had 20kts of apparent wind on the nose along with 2.5kts of flooding current carrying us up the river into the wind. That meant a bucking bronco ride but making 8.5kts over the ground with our modest 6kts through the water.
   We parked on the T-head because this pier has only 35ft slips. Turns out they put us here because we asked for 30amp power. If I had told them I had a 50amp converter, we could have been on Pier-A which are 40ft slips, but only 50amp receptacles. Worked out ok as we avoided having to maneuver into the tight slip fairways.

   Carolina Beach State Park marina is a nice place to stay with a flat rate of $30/night and good fuel prices. The marina was recently renovated with new floating docks. Most important, they dredged the approach channel which is now reported to be 6ft at low tide. We saw 7.5ft at mid tide (4ft tides), so the 6ft is correct for normal tide conditions. Unusual lows with strong north winds you would see less than 6ft.
   The marina is fairly empty of slip holders right now as they raised the annual rates after the renovation and scared many renters away.  But the transient rates are still the same low price.  Good deal.  There are walking trails in the park and its just over one mile to Carolina Beach for shopping and dining and beaches. We'll go back here in future transits.

   One never gets tired of sunsets at sea. The forecast was for scattered showers and thunderstorms but check out the blue skies we had all day.  We were hoping for a green flash but, too much humidity on the horizon with the approaching warm front that did bring thunderstorms the following night.

   Love that enclosure when you have winter/early spring temps to deal with and showers.  Short sleeve weather inside when the sun is shining.

   We made good time offshore from St Mary's north and bypassed Charleston for the Georgetown inlet.
   Why is it that the wind always blows hardest inside the breakwaters?  We had 20kts offshore and it was 10kts in Georgetown. Passing through the mile long breakwaters it was 30kts gusting to 35!  We were almost fully prepared with double reefs in sails but, it was still 30degrees of heel with the 30kt winds directly on the beam.
   The sturdy IP380 plowed its way in with no complaints and we could soon turn downwind and zip up the channel. We continued straight up the Wacamaw River, our favorite section of the ICW, and anchored behind the island off Waca Weche marina. Great protection for the thunderstorms that finally arrived that night.

   The Wacamaw River winds through a true cyprus tree swamp with lots of wildlife. One year we saw 5 bald eagles through here. None sighted this spring but lots of ospreys and herons/egrets.

   Tonight we're anchored at the Little River Inlet, just in from the breakwater on the "red" side. There is a creek that runs up behind the dunes where you can actually run further up but, we are here staged for an early departure tomorrow morning, back to sea for the run to Cape Fear River which we need to get to before noon to ride the tide up the river. There is a little bit of swell from the ocean that reaches us and plenty of wakes on this holiday Monday, but should quiet down this evening as the wind and traffic ease off.
   Heading for Carolina Beach State Park tomorrow to spend a few days.