April 18-19, 2021 Beautiful Passage.

Sunday, April 18, 2021. Day 133.

We all arose with the sun, and it was spectacular. We have seen some amazing sunrises over the past 4 ½ months, but this one was unbelievable. All four of us ran around the boat taking dozens of photos. The water was like a mirror. The morning was quiet, peaceful and calm. Mike got up early to help Captain Roland take up the anchor and get started. and then he went back to bed (Mike is a retired firefighter so he had a lifetime of training getting up in an instant and then being able to go back to sleep - a wonderful talent). 

 I joined the Captain after Mike went back to bed. We were on the Waccamaw River in South Carolina, going through abandoned rice fields; possibly the finest scenery on this entire journey. We passed a boat selling hotdogs, custard, sodas and coffee, while anchored near a small creek right off the ICW. One of the many unexpected sights that bought a smile to my face. Who would have thought?

We passed Myrtle Beach and went under the Barefoot Landing Swing Bridge, which is 31 feet, without the need to open (MM is 25feet). We did need the next bridge to open, and the tender was excellent. As she saw us arriving she opened the bridge and we did not miss a beat.

Near Ocean Isle Beach, at approximately 2:15pm, my sister at the helm, we got a radio call from the local police for speeding by a marina and, he said, creating too much of a wake (MM has almost no wake, and we are always careful in slow and no wake zones, to reduce our speed). Unfortunately, my sister didn't realize she was passing a marina (her experience is not on the ICW, and this was early in her MM training). The Captain apologized and admitted that he needed to supervise his crew a little more closely. Captain Roland was just loving having so much time off from steering, but there is no free lunch; very embarrassing, but fortunately they didn’t fine us.

We arrived at St. James Plantation Marina, which is a lovely, small marina in a golf community. Before we had completed docking, we were greeted by two guys from Philadelphia who saw our hailing port, and came to the dock as a welcoming party. Much fun!

At our dock, the power post didn’t work and the person in the office hadn’t bothered to tell us it was not functioning, so we wasted a great deal of time and energy trying to figure out how to get the electric to work. Finally Gail suggested just trying a different post. We did and all worked just fine.

Monday, April 19, 2021. Day 134.

I got up early and did my 3 mile run around St. James Plantation. I passed very large houses, beautiful paths, outdoor installed exercise stations; an upscale community, with very reasonable marina prices. A very lovely place to stay.

At 9am, we de-docked, and the wind helped us do so, making the process easier. The Captain is practicing docking and de-docking from the fly bridge, and he loves it. He felt that he is really getting to know MM.

We exited from St James Plantation through a rather narrow passage, and proceeded back on the ICW. Most of the day was spent on the fly bridge, but the weather was erratic: sometimes very windy and overcast and other times sunny and lightly breezy. One gust blew off a cushion on the bow. Fortunately, one snap held, and I brought the 2 cushions into the pilot house, and almost went over the side like a windsurfer. Nothing was lost nor went overboard (including me).

We had only two bridge openings for the rest of the day: the first was very narrow, and there were several other vessels waiting. We all had to circle for 20 minutes; ugh, never fun. Later, we passed Little Wing, from Annapolis Maryland, a tiny sailboat that was captained by a very adventurous young woman. Very spunky!

We anchored at 5:10pm in Mile Hammock Bay; a cute little bay with five or six other small boats. There was a short fetch so there were no “wavelets”, a/k/a white caps. The entrance was very tricky from the ICW, really shallow, narrow with lots of dredging equipment (and it really needs to be dredged); very tough negotiating.

We anchored right near Camp Lejeune, and listened to the cannon blasts in the evening. No maneuvers were in process which was disappointing to the Captain who had hoped to see burned out tanks and helicopters and war games.

It was a beautiful small cove and we had a lovely evening; the end of a beautiful two days.

April 16-17, 2021 Anchorages for Four

 Friday, April 16, 2021. Day 131.

As agreed, Gail and Michael showed up before 10am with three carts of stuff to load on the boat, including food, clothing, drink, etc. While we were getting ourselves organized, we were waiting for our opportunity to go to the fuel dock to buy fuel and pump out the holding tank. The large boat that had spent the night at the fuel dock and was supposed to leave by 11am, didn’t leave until after 12 pm; so we had a wait for them to free up the dock; not really considerate. Hopefully, they did not have an issue that caused the delay.

By the time the dock was available, it was a bit windy and Captain Roland misjudged his turn so docking was a disappointment to him. He is often rather hard on himself; every docking is a new experience. We haven’t been back to the same place enough times to even begin to think we have “local knowledge”, and it’s always different anyway, especially when we factor in the variable wind and the current.

Leaving Charleston, Gail and Michael helped (they are a great crew with the lines and the fenders), and they watched the charts and the steering techniques that they are going add to their repertoire in order to take the helm of Magic Moments......soon… Not yet.

The day was overcast and cool, almost cold, and we are going north on the ICW, so we expected that it would get colder every day.

I had plenty to do with making lunch for myself and the captain, working on my blog and my 2 TCPW zooms at 2 pm and 3pm. Captain Roland was busy coaching the new crew.

We anchored at Capers Island, South Carolina, at approximately 4pm; Gail and Michael helping Roland anchor.

Michael and Roland took down the dinghy (Mike made a suggestion that may make the dinghy up and down easier… I certainly hope so ), and the four of us went for a dinghy ride to the ocean. People were arriving at the beach by boat, some to camp out for the weekend.

Captain Roland was very happy that his motor started right up for our dinghy ride.

The plan was that each couple would do two meals cooking and cleaning and then have two nights off. We hope to have a sprinkling here and there of a dinner at an outside restaurant when we were at a marina from time to time.

We had dinner after our happy hour on the fly deck: we grilled the turkey burgers, and there were lots of dishes. Roland cooked and helped by drying and putting them away. Everyone went to bed early and I had an hour by myself.

Saturday, April 17, 2021. Day 132.

I set the alarm for 6:30 for a 9am exit from the anchorage.

Everyone said that they slept reasonably well, there was a lot of hustle and bustle in the galley in the morning for coffee and breakfast and at 9am we left the anchorage, starting our cruise north on the ICW.

It was overcast in the morning but the sun came out later in the day. Captain Roland was thrilled to have additional steerers on board, I had more free time than I could imagined to work out, to stretch, and to work on my blog and catch up on my emails.

Everyone was taking turns to steer from the flybridge, and with Magic Moments in the good hands of Mike and Gail, Roland and I, for the first time ever, had lunch together on the back deck while we were underway. Captain Roland was loving this. We passed beautiful scenery and everybody was taking photos left and right of beautiful homes and beautiful scenery. The sun came out and it was again just beautiful. We saw a few other vessels; the afternoon was terrific.

Around 3:30pm, we anchored off the ICW next to Butler Island. Gail offered to do all the dishes for a while if we agreed to change our system. I did not hesitate and she was on. I did tell her that if she wants to change this, at anytime, I would be happy to do some dishes.

After Roland and Mike anchored, we had happy hour. It was a great day. I had a TIAW zoom at 6pm which I took in the pilot house, while the crew showered and Mike put steaks on the grille. And, in the middle of my zoom, the shouting and cursing began. Apparently Mike, who doesn’t know his own strength, closed the top to the grille, it flipped over, the steaks and all the racks and some of the heating elements were gone …..into the drink! Beautiful steaks.........it was a bummer!

Now what were we going to eat? Gail and Mike had left out some chicken for the next night's meal and in 15 minutes Roland whipped up a delicious chicken dish with string beans and sweet potatoes; it was delicious. Although Gail was unhappy that the sliced almonds were stale (they weren't the freshest.... but it was pretty good anyway for a last minute gourmet meal...... sad the beautiful steaks..... gone into the water. And, even more of a bummer, Roland had just spent an hour cleaning all the grates; what a waste.

However, that evening we had the most stunning sunset ever on the Waccamaw River, and....... “spoiler” …....the most incredible sunrise was waiting for us the next morning.