GEORGETOWN, SC

The day started early yesterday.  We left the marina ten minutes before sunrise and headed down the Cooper River to join the ICW.  Unlike the day before, we were the only boat on the move but I wanted to time the tide to get a push through the ditch as long as possible.  Certainly there is not much in the way of scenery in the marshes on the South Carolina lowlands. You can go for miles and see no signs of civilization. There are numerous wildlife refuges along the way with quite a variety of waterfowl but that's it.  I'll be glad to get out of the lowlands.  We had great weather to start the day but the forecast for deterioration held true.  The winds picked up considerably as the day went on.  By the time we entered Winyah Bay, the last leg of the ICW before Georgetown the winds were up to 25 mph which kicked up the muddy waters of the bay and gave us a 4 ft following sea and following winds. Whee! The Georgetown Landing Marina was chosen because it is in the protected waters of a small harbor and provided us with a slight reprieve from the wind.  We were tied up securely before the front passed through the area with severe thunderstorms and wind gusts up to 45 mph which made for an interesting night and morning!  Boaters who arrived after us all had comments about the sea state in Winyah Bay.  However, we arrived early enough to take a short walk around town before happy hour on our boat with new found boating friends from Albemarle Sound, NC.  Another interesting couple. He was a nuclear
control officer on an aircraft carrier before retiring from the Dept of Energy.

Remnants of the storm greeted us with heavy rain this morning but we were able to don our raingear and make the short walk into town for breakfast in a small restaurant recommended in the travel guide. There's not much to the town but there are plenty of plagues around to tell of it's historical importance, especially during during the civil war.  Once the wicked weather moved through the area and the winds shifted we are now downwind of a paper mill and it's foul odor.  I guess that can be considered part of our adventure.

Alas, the gremlins returned yesterday ;-(  I had high hopes that the throttle issue had been fixed.  After another Chinese fire drill I was able to regain control from the flybridge and we continued to Georgetown. I made a phone call to the Glendinning engineer to continue our discussion about our recurring  problem. He said he would meet us in the Myrtle Beach area if we can get the boat up there tomorrow.  Tomorrow's weather is promising and if we can get another early start we can time the tides and be in Myrtle Beach tomorrow afternoon. I'm looking forward to to yet another attempt to get the issues resolved. Otherwise the boat is serving us well.

Y'all stay vertical,

Capt John and First Mate Sue