All alone on the ICW.

Sunday 10-19-08
We awoke to a sunny and VERY cool day. The front had passed but there was some north wind left over, but nothing we couldn’t live with. We both took advantage of the nice showers at Osprey and about 09:00 we decided to get underway and head on down the line. Osprey is a great stop and it would be easy to slide into a case of “dock fever” but we have places to go.
During the first several hours south, we saw very wild and natural shore line along this stretch of the ICW. Scrub bushes and trees grow right into the water and signs of human life are not to be found. We did cruise by a small gut or bay, where the Waccamaw River got a bit wider, and there were a half dozen little cabins (kind of like the garden sheds found at home) on floats, that were tied to trees along the wild shoreline. I am guessing they are floating fishing cabins used by local sportsmen – sort of like the ice fishing cabins that are used in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Once again, we felt we were the only boat heading south – all of the boats we saw were locals coming back north from a weekend boat show held in Georgetown, SC.


A SCHOOL BOAT!

The Waccamaw got wider as we sailed by Georgetown and a few miles farther, the ICW left the river and we entered the Estherville – Mimim Canal. The canal is another dug portion of the water way and pretty much straight. There was a cable ferry crossing indicated on the chart and when we reached that point, we found a small 2-car flat craft that had a sign on its side saying, “Scott Employees Only”. When we were passing the town of Georgetown we had seen a large industrial facility which looked like it must be a paper mill – the ferry must be a short cut for getting people to the mill so they can keep the toilet paper rolling out across America.

SCOTT PAPER FERRY

We had decided we would cruise about 40 SM today, and on the chart that was close to Minim Creek which is listed in the Waterway Guide as a good anchorage. Minim Creek is right at the end of the Estherville – Minim Canal and wasn’t hard to find. We turned into the creek’s mouth and cautiously passed over the shallow water and on into the deeper spot shown on our chart. We had the anchor down and the boat secured by 2:15 PM – about 43 miles for the day. Minim Creek is one of many narrow water ways that cut up, what can only be described as a huge marsh area. The geography in this part of coastal South Carolina is very flat and nearly at sea level, with a tidal range of approximately 5’. We were the only boat anchored in the creek for the night – we estimated that we were the only humans within a 5 mile radius.

Tug & barge on ICW - Flight at anchor.

Dinner was a simple affair – we heated and shared the penne ala vodka that was left from the great dinner last night at Scatori’s and made salads from the bagged greens we have aboard.
FLIGHT, the boat, has been performing wonderfully-Moving us along at a reliable, 8 kts., while sipping diesel at the predictable 2.4 GPH and doing it in very comfortable style. A few days ago, when slowly idling about waiting for a bridge to open, we detected a squeak or brief squeal just after the transmission was shifted to neutral. The noise occurred a few seconds after shifting – possibly at the point the prop shaft was coming to a stop. That noise occurred again today as we were maneuvering to anchor. That is something we will have to investigate and maybe make a phone call to Tolchester Marina, our favorite service yard near Rock Hall. If any work is needed, we may have to take advantage of being near Charleston, which is coming up soon, and is a major boating center.