May 9-20, 2017
Miles Today: 25.8 NM
Total Miles: 568.9 NM
It was a
beautiful day as we pulled out of Five Fathom Creek and back onto the ICW. We traveled through the Yawkey South Island
Reserve and the Estherville Minim Creek Canal - one of the prettiest stretches
of water through green forests. We have
finally left the grassy marshes behind.
When Jim realized we were sailing through the
Francis Marion National Forest, he broke out in a song from his youth:
Swamp Fox! Swamp Fox!
Tail on his hat,
Nobody knows where The Swamp Fox’s at.
Swamp Fox! Swamp Fox!
Hiding in the glen,
He runs away to fight again.
(In case you forget your Revolutionary War history..... Who was the Swamp Fox? Or, to hear the song: The Swamp Fox song.)
Such fun! Such joviality! Ain’t this a grand adventure?!
B e e e e e p B e e e e p B e e e e p B e e e e p B e e e e p B e e e e p!
An alarm was going off, piercing our eardrums. We began eliminating all the usual suspects – not the depth sounder, not the auto pilot remote control, not the AIS (automatic identification system). What’s that on the system control panel? Oil pressure has dropped? Turn off the alarm so we can think! No can do.
We limped our way up Winyah Bay at 4 kts. The alarm would stop and then start its loud beeping again. We arrived at Georgetown Landing Marina a bit rattled and dreading what might come next.
Diesel fuel had found its way into the engine oil. Over the next 10 days, Michael Raynor and his assistant Mendy from A&M Engine Specialist were on and off the boat uncovering some real issues with the turbo, the riser, the after cooler and the fuel cooler. Of course, nothing is easy, nor does it go smoothly – we waited days for parts.
Michael is extremely knowledgeable and certified to repair many brands of diesel engines. He owned businesses up North and semi-retired at a young age to more peaceful South Carolina. Yet, the demand for his services – from people all over the world – seems to be very high. We want to believe we dodged not a bullet, but a howitzer, as Michael said, by repairing and replacing all those very expensive items. They say you’ll end up putting 10-20% of the boat’s value in upkeep each year. Yup, that’s what they say and that’s what we did - in one big bite.
We tried to make lemonade out of lemons and enjoy the small and charming waterfront town of Georgetown. It really is very historic and very pretty – huge oak trees dripping with moss arch and shade the homes and sidewalks of each street.
We spent a couple of very enjoyable hours at the Rice Museum and its Maritime Museum gallery in Georgetown. The little museum contained fascinating artifacts, exhibits and dioramas about the cultivation and the role of rice production in this part of the South after the Revolutionary War to the late 1800’s. It took 15 years to create a working rice plantation out of the cedar swamps. By 1840, the Georgetown area produced almost half the rice consumed by the United States. It was an amazing little museum and gave Jim and me a glimpse of history we knew little about.
On Mother’s Day, we attended mass at St Mary, Our Lady of Ransom. We were asked to bring up the Gifts before communion and, along with the other Moms, Grandmas and Godmothers in church, I received a Mother’s Day Blessing and a red carnation. Later Jim and I chuckled at the name of the church – Our Lady of Ransom. We knew by the amount of work and new parts going into the boat that we would have to pay a ransom to leave Georgetown!
We somehow end up in churches that are appropriate for what we are going through. I’ve always felt a strong bond to the Holy Spirit – a special ‘friend’ when I’m feeling anxious or unsure. After a bit of a stressful almost-grounding in the channel leading to Lady’s Island Marina, we entered the church in Beaufort dedicated to the Holy Spirit and got the message – ‘all will be ok.’ And last summer, when we were trying to get out of the hurricane zone, the church we were in said a prayer together for protection against storms and sung a song about coming back from the sea to a safe harbor! Funny coincidences or little messages? - you decide; but it makes us smile.
We ate in some nice restaurants – on the water (River Run, The Big Tuna) and outside on the shaded main street (Alfresco Bistro). And really enjoyed some great seafood. I’m getting hooked on trying each area’s Shrimp ‘n Grits – and my waistline is attesting to that. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s time for a trip to the South, y’all!
It was also “Biker Week.” Some beautiful Harleys cruised down Front Street. We enjoyed a cocktail on the outside deck of Buzz’s Roost rubbing elbows with some of the not-so-beautiful riders (can I say that?!). They just were not as beautiful as our friends who own Harleys.
Our Visitor’s Center host also gave us a map to
follow a walking/driving tour of the 63 homes that are on the National Register
of Historic Places. Although most of the homes are privately owned, each has a
plaque that provides the name of the house and the date it was constructed – from
the mid 1700’s through early 1900’s. I
had a hard time getting my head around standing in front of a house that was constructed
in 1740. Of course it had been updated,
but still the history the house has seen causes my mind to be in awe and wonder….what
did it look like back then? There were no streets, so what did the land look
like around this house? – a forest for sure. Was there a dirt road coming out of the woods?
No electricity, no plumbing – can you envision the candles in the windows, the
outhouse in the back, the animals behind a rail fence? No neighbor’s house in sight. There are the
children, in dresses and overalls, playing out front. So fun and yet humbling to ponder.
The Georgetown Landing Marina is dedicated to fishing! Many charter boats line the docks, ready for eager passengers jump aboard, head out to the ocean and hopefully land the Big One. We returned to the marina one afternoon and witnessed the happiness of a successful day of mahi fishing.
We leave Georgetown 10 days longer than we planned to visit. But, despite the unexpected setback, we enjoyed our stay and the history that abounds in this area. Our bank account may be smaller, but our engine has a new turbo, new riser, new after-cooler, new fuel cooler, and a complete oil and coolant change. We're ready to cruise!
Such fun! Such joviality! Ain’t this a grand adventure?!
B e e e e e p B e e e e p B e e e e p B e e e e p B e e e e p B e e e e p!
An alarm was going off, piercing our eardrums. We began eliminating all the usual suspects – not the depth sounder, not the auto pilot remote control, not the AIS (automatic identification system). What’s that on the system control panel? Oil pressure has dropped? Turn off the alarm so we can think! No can do.
We limped our way up Winyah Bay at 4 kts. The alarm would stop and then start its loud beeping again. We arrived at Georgetown Landing Marina a bit rattled and dreading what might come next.
Diesel fuel had found its way into the engine oil. Over the next 10 days, Michael Raynor and his assistant Mendy from A&M Engine Specialist were on and off the boat uncovering some real issues with the turbo, the riser, the after cooler and the fuel cooler. Of course, nothing is easy, nor does it go smoothly – we waited days for parts.
Michael is extremely knowledgeable and certified to repair many brands of diesel engines. He owned businesses up North and semi-retired at a young age to more peaceful South Carolina. Yet, the demand for his services – from people all over the world – seems to be very high. We want to believe we dodged not a bullet, but a howitzer, as Michael said, by repairing and replacing all those very expensive items. They say you’ll end up putting 10-20% of the boat’s value in upkeep each year. Yup, that’s what they say and that’s what we did - in one big bite.
We tried to make lemonade out of lemons and enjoy the small and charming waterfront town of Georgetown. It really is very historic and very pretty – huge oak trees dripping with moss arch and shade the homes and sidewalks of each street.
 |
| Front Street, Georgetown, SC |
 |
| Harborwalk, Georgetown, SC |
The marina
was about a mile from town, so one day we hiked in and enjoyed an early dinner
on the waterfront and took an Uber back to the boat. Ubers are scarce in these small towns and we
are grateful to a lovely woman who came all the way over from Pawley’s Island
to give us a lift back to the marina before she headed home to Myrtle Beach, 40
miles north.
Enterprise gave us a great weekend rate of $9.95
using an AGLCA special discount code. We
visited Hopsewee Plantation and had lunch is their very lovely tearoom.
I was particularly intrigued by this plantation as Thomas Lynch, Jr. lived here and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. My mother's maiden name was Lynch and her family came from the same area in Ireland.
 |
| Walkway to River Oak Cottage Tea Room |
 |
| The Luncheon Sampler |
 |
| Hopsewee Plantation. Built circa 1740, forty years before the American Revolutionary War. It was one of the South's major rice plantations and birthplace of Thomas Lynch Jr, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. It is a National Historic Landmark, located between Myrtle Beach and Charleston, in the heart of South Carolina's Lowcountry. It sits on the banks of North Santee River and has seen very little changes since it was constructed. |
 |
| (Since the docent requested no photos be taken inside the house, the above three pictures were borrowed from the internet.) |
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| Old slave quarters |
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| The slave cabins consisted of one large room, separated by a double-sided brick fireplace - one side to cook in; the other to warm the sleeping room. |
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| The sleeping side was divided to make two very small rooms. |
We spent a couple of very enjoyable hours at the Rice Museum and its Maritime Museum gallery in Georgetown. The little museum contained fascinating artifacts, exhibits and dioramas about the cultivation and the role of rice production in this part of the South after the Revolutionary War to the late 1800’s. It took 15 years to create a working rice plantation out of the cedar swamps. By 1840, the Georgetown area produced almost half the rice consumed by the United States. It was an amazing little museum and gave Jim and me a glimpse of history we knew little about.
 |
| The Clock Tower, constructed in 1857 and the first building in Georgetown to be named to the Register of National Historic Places. It now houses the Rice Museum. |
The third floor of the Kaminski Hardware Store
(built in 1842) is now home to the Maritime Museum. It held the most astounding artifact – the
Brown’s Ferry Vessel, which sunk in approximately 1730
in the nearby Black River. It is the
oldest vessel of colonial manufacture on exhibit in America. The University of
South Carolina soaked the pieces for 10 years in a preservation liquid before reconstructing
it for the museum!
 |
| Model of the Brown's Ferry Vessel, built by William Brady. It took him 350 hours to build the 1/10 scale model out of the same woods as the original - oak, cypress and pine. |
 |
| The boat was raised from the bottom of the river as a whole, rather than in pieces - a feat few believed would work. But archeologist, Ralph Wilbanks, believed he could do it. 8,000 people lined the banks of the river to watch. The boat was loaded on a flatbed truck and driven to U of SC in Columbia. Ralph stopped the truck every 10 miles at various gas stations to borrow their hose and keep the boat wet. The vessel’s woods were conserved by slowly replacing the water in the wood cells with polyethylene glycol, a process that took more than nine years. |
On Mother’s Day, we attended mass at St Mary, Our Lady of Ransom. We were asked to bring up the Gifts before communion and, along with the other Moms, Grandmas and Godmothers in church, I received a Mother’s Day Blessing and a red carnation. Later Jim and I chuckled at the name of the church – Our Lady of Ransom. We knew by the amount of work and new parts going into the boat that we would have to pay a ransom to leave Georgetown!
We somehow end up in churches that are appropriate for what we are going through. I’ve always felt a strong bond to the Holy Spirit – a special ‘friend’ when I’m feeling anxious or unsure. After a bit of a stressful almost-grounding in the channel leading to Lady’s Island Marina, we entered the church in Beaufort dedicated to the Holy Spirit and got the message – ‘all will be ok.’ And last summer, when we were trying to get out of the hurricane zone, the church we were in said a prayer together for protection against storms and sung a song about coming back from the sea to a safe harbor! Funny coincidences or little messages? - you decide; but it makes us smile.
We ate in some nice restaurants – on the water (River Run, The Big Tuna) and outside on the shaded main street (Alfresco Bistro). And really enjoyed some great seafood. I’m getting hooked on trying each area’s Shrimp ‘n Grits – and my waistline is attesting to that. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s time for a trip to the South, y’all!
It was also “Biker Week.” Some beautiful Harleys cruised down Front Street. We enjoyed a cocktail on the outside deck of Buzz’s Roost rubbing elbows with some of the not-so-beautiful riders (can I say that?!). They just were not as beautiful as our friends who own Harleys.
The lovely
lady at the Visitor’s Center was an enthusiastic source of the town’s history.
The permanent settlers were the English who established a trading post with the
Indians on the Black River by 1710.
South Carolina became a royal province in 1729. The first real money crop was actually indigo
(the royal blue dye popular with the British Army), introduced around
1742-1775. Later came rice and by the
1840’s almost half of the rice consumed by the US was grown around
Georgetown. After the Civil War, rice
plantations started to fail due to loss of a slave workforce, hurricanes and
competition. By 1914 Georgetown had the
largest lumber producing plant on the East Coast. International Paper Company
built a plant here in 1936 and by 1942 this plant became the largest kraft paper
mill in the world. Who knew little
Georgetown had such an impressive history?!
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| This house was built in 1770. |
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| Another 1700's home. So beautiful. |
The Georgetown Landing Marina is dedicated to fishing! Many charter boats line the docks, ready for eager passengers jump aboard, head out to the ocean and hopefully land the Big One. We returned to the marina one afternoon and witnessed the happiness of a successful day of mahi fishing.
 |
| One proud fisherwoman! |
We leave Georgetown 10 days longer than we planned to visit. But, despite the unexpected setback, we enjoyed our stay and the history that abounds in this area. Our bank account may be smaller, but our engine has a new turbo, new riser, new after-cooler, new fuel cooler, and a complete oil and coolant change. We're ready to cruise!
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