Swans Point to Cumberland Island

Swans Point to Cumberland Island

After our unexpected stay at Swans Point we headed for Wrightsville Beach.  The hurricane moved the channels, especially around the inlets. Nature is busily re-routing the deep water back to wherever it thinks it should be making the areas around inlets very unstable. Some of the channels are moving with each tide. The Coast Guard has done an amazing job of re-buoying, but humans cannot keep up with Mother Nature.  We ran aground at Masons Inlet. A very nice family came along in their outboard and asked if we would like a tow off the sandbar.  We happily said yes.  While they were towing us off one of their beautiful flat coated retrievers took the opportunity to go for a swim.  No one on board seemed to think this was unusual behavior for the dog. After we were afloat the dog swam to the boat and they pulled it aboard.

We left Wrightsville Beach Monday morning (October 31) and had a fast run down the Cape Fear River with the jib up and the tide pushing us along at 7-8 knots.  We spent the night at St James Plantation Marina.

November 1^st we left at 6:45 a.m.  Sunrise was at 7:32 a.m. so we had the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful sunrise.  We had the tide with us and went through Lockwoods Folly and Shallotte Inlet with plenty of water.  Around Myrtle Beach we started seeing hurricane damage. The water was still very high. Seeing people’s houses with water damage is very sad.  When we were in the Cypress Swamp we could see the high water line about 5 feet up the trees.  We spent the night anchored in an oxbow of the Waccamaw River.

Wednesday we had an uneventful trip through the cypress swamps and marshes. The marshes are a great place for bird watching. We saw dozens of blue heron, egrets, and pelicans. In the afternoon a wood stork flew over the boat. We went aground briefly while trying to get into the anchorage at Price Creek. Luckily there was enough wind from a useful direction that we were able to use the jib to heel the boat over and sail off the mudbank. The boat already in the creek, DIRT FREE, called us on the radio to compliment our use of the sails to get unstuck, and to give us the heads-up about some more shoaling in the creek.  We were able to successfully enter the creek and had a calm night.  We were planning on cooking on the barbecue but due to the zillion no-see-ums, we had to change to a meal that we could cook inside.

Thursday we had an easy run to Charleston and docked at the Ashley Marina.  We spent the next few days in Charleston walking miles and admiring the beautiful homes.  The walking was great as I didn’t feel so guilty about eating ribs, a fried green tomato BLT, fried okra, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, boiled peanuts, and shrimp and grits. On Saturday we were in full tourist mode and took the tour boat to Fort Sumter.

Sunday we left Charleston and had an uneventful day on the way to Bass Creek.

Monday we were able to SAIL most of the way to Beaufort!  On the way we saw a man on a dock emptying crabs out of a crab pot with a bald eagle circling him hoping for handouts.  Eventually the seagulls, who also were hoping for a treat, drove the eagle away. In the afternoon we wandered around Beaufort enjoying the beautiful houses on quiet streets lined with live oaks.

Tuesday we had a choice of starting through Georgia, or going outside to Fernandina Beach. Georgia takes about 4 days and has some tricky areas and the weather looked good so we chose to do an overnight to Fernandina.  We were able to sail for 3 or 4 hours, then motor sail, then just motor.  The sunset was very dramatic with dark blue water, intermittent clouds, and a bright red stripe across the horizon.  The half moon would occasionally appear through the clouds during the night.  We came into Fernandina around sunrise and anchored for a few hours to catch up on sleep. In the afternoon we moved over to Cumberland Island.

Thursday morning we spent the morning ashore walking around Cumberland Island.  The hurricane damaged the docks so we had to tie our dinghy to a tree and bushwack our way through the brush to a trail.  We heard some rustling in the bushes and saw an armadillo, then when we reached a clearing we started seeing wild horses.  When we were walking down the path to the duck pond we heard the sound of galloping hooves and were almost run over by a wild horse.  Luckily it saw us and veered at the last minute.  Around the burned remains of the Dungeness mansion there were many wild horses and more armadillo. Even though armadillos seem to be armored rats they are strangely cute.  The beach on the ocean side of the island was almost deserted. We walked for over a mile before we saw anyone besides plovers and sandpipers.