Days 52 & 53 Georgetown & Charlston, SC

Another beautiful morning on the Inter Coastal Waterway. We woke early as usual and began our departure routine. We were under way by 7am on our next jump south. We were planning on our usual 45 to 50 mile day which would bring us to the little town of Georgetown just off the ICW. The trip took us inland away from the main part of Myrtle Beach. We were disappointed that we did not pass through Murrel's Inlet, which we had visited by car some time ago. We passed several developments that had been abandoned, most likely due to the recession, and many houses and properties for sale all along the waterway. Just before arriving in Georgetown there were waterfront lots for sale for $300,000. Can you imagine what kind of a house you would have to build after paying that kind of money on the lot. There certainly was a lot of wealth all through North Carolina on the waterway in stark contrast to the poverty we saw as we drove down on Rt. 17 a few years ago.

We passed through Bucksport, Maine in August and Bucksport, South Carolina today!We arrived in Georgetown early afternoon and after a few attempts were safely anchored in the harbor. Our first impression was not entirely a good one. Just a mile or so from town a huge plant spewed out, who knows what, and it looked very unhealthy. We were lucky the wind was blowing away from the town so the evening passed without us suffering any ills from the emissions. We met up with a couple of retired NY state teachers who Jane had met in Elizabeth City. We dropped the dingy in the water and after a walk through town we went for cocktails on their boat. (This cocktail thing will have to stop!!!!!) Along the ICW today we met a LARGE barge in a narrow section and saw lots of day marks with nests on top. Sometimes the numbers could not be read!

We woke to a different scene this morning. We thought for a moment we were in Maine. We had pea soup fog all around. We were not sure whether it was emissions from the plant or just plain old fog. However we delayed our departure until 8am which is late for us to get going. The first hour was not very pleasant. The fog was dense and as we went down the waterway the smell, which we believe came for the plant, was overbearing. We almost threw up on a few occasions. Oh the joys of cruising!!!! All this soon passed and we had a beautiful day all the way to Charleston. We had not planned on going all the way but as we drew closer we said lets go for it and we arrived in Charleston Harbor Marina at about 5 o'clock. The marina is home for the aircraft carrier Yorktown which was used to recover the first several astronauts from their space capsules. We went on board a few years ago on our last visit to Charleston. It was very impressive. Several of our buddy boats are here in town so we will stay for a few days to visit and also wait out the rain & winds expected from the leftover of Ida coming through the gulf.