South Carolina into North Carolina

As we traveled the intracoastal waterway in South Carolina there were several areas that were quite isolated and low and behold a fire tower appears and later that day we witnessed why the towers were needed.  There was a small fire across the isolated area near the waterway.  The areas and anchorages along this stretch are known for the the bugs and we had a day of fighting off the horseflies, but all in all we were very lucky as we did not have a lot of bugs.

We saw this great looking osprey on the marker board and thought we should show it to you.  They sure look a lot like an eagle.

The next town worth noting was Georgetown, South Carolina.  We did go by Charleston as it was not easy to anchor in the swift current and the marinas are expensive plus the fact it is a big city and it did not appeal to us.  In Georgetown we went into the basin area to anchor for a night as there was wind and weather heading our way.  This is Solitude at anchor in the harbor at Georgetown.

These next picture is the view from our boat at this anchorage.

This is two shrimp boats parked by the recycling crusher.

There was also a paper mill which had the same aroma as our home port of Muskegon, Michigan.

We did also go to the marina at Georgetown and caught up on our laundry and the marina staff were very helpful and gave us a ride to a Super Walmart so we were able to stock up on groceries which is always a good thing. 

We did hike around town and here are some of the sites.

This is a view of the lovely park area by the board walk.

   The scenery changed as we crossed the border into North Carolina.  Interesting that the state of North Carolina adds these friendly markers to the waterway.  They are very helpful as the waterway is measured in mile markers from Marathon (1,200) to Norfolk (mile zero).  Usually we use our waterway guides to determine where we are on the waterway along with charts, etc.

The houses in North Carolina are typically a long way from the water.  There is a lot of marsh and the tides can be as high as 4 feet so the docks are very long.  Here is a picture of the one of the middle sized docks.  That is a boat on a lift at the end of the dock and it is probably about 25 to 27 feet long)

Here is the sunrise as we see it in the morning as we leave.

Here is a picture of the rain over the ocean.  The ocean is a few miles away from the waterway that we are on and we did not have rain that day.

We began to encounter tows and barges which we had not seen since we took the rivers down to Mobile.

As you may already know, we see many bridges and this one is a called a swing bridge.  You call the bridge tender on the marine radio and he closes off the traffic and swings the bridge to let boats pass.  They typically have a schedule every hour or half hour to open the bridge to boat traffic.  This bridge is swinging toward us and in the second picture you can see a sailboat heading south and we are heading north.

We also anchored at a unique spot along the waterway called Mile Hammock.  It is right off the marine training center of Camp LaJeune.  Wow, as we traveled up the waterway, we saw this sign.

The lights were not flashing so we were able to proceed.

Although, I have to say when you can see the bombs exploding a mile or so away from you and you see the smoke, it is not the usual travel day.

Nice looking target, huh?

That afternoon and night we saw many helicopters up close and personal.  A little scary as they have the guns mounted right on the helicopter and they do fly in close as well.

Here is another one.

These were very interesting.  At night you can hear them but only see a small red dot heading past you at a fast pace.