Charleston to Southport

Mar 29 thru Apr 2

—Blogpost written by Bob

Charleston to Winyah Bay

While I realized that it is bad luck to leave port on a Friday, we couldn't resist the favorable weather report and expected mild sea conditions on March 29th.  Before leaving we filled our fresh water tanks, purchased a bag of ice cubes, as well as retrieved our shore power cable and fresh water hose.  With help from the marina dockhands with our lines, we departed at 9:15 AM, about 30 minutes before the slack low tide.  (It is tricky getting in and out of slips at Charleston City Marine because of the swift current in the Ashley River.)

Our trip started out with a harrowing exit from our winter slip. The tide was still going out and it was not exactly slack low tide yet. The swift tidal current displaced us laterally (within a boat length of boats in other slips) even though I was turning with the boat is reverse at about 3/4 throttle. We made it without a scratch though.

Our next issue was a low lying fog bank at the harbor’s mouth but it miraculously cleared up just a we came through it.

A GoPro shot of the calm ocean
leaving Charleston.

After leaving the harbor we saw several large (3 to 4 foot diameter) sea turtles in the ocean—they were about 5 miles offshore and about 5 miles north of Charleston. 

Although our plan was to make two ocean passages in two days, we again considered sailing through the night all the way to Southport as a single long ocean passage. However, we would have had to slow down considerably so we could enter the Cape Fear River during daylight the next morning. As it turned out we stuck with our original plan and stopped for the night at Winyah Bay, near Georgetown, SC.

During Maggie's watch at some point in the afternoon we hit something with the propeller or the rudder.  Looking back after we passed whatever we hit there was something like a large fin sticking out of the water.  We don't know what this was.

We pulled into Winyah Bay’s entrance from the ocean, an inlet we’ve never entered before. We anchored inside the inlet across from Georgetown Light as the sun was going down. Just when the anchor caught, the dinghy came loose and drifted away (out toward the ocean) with the outgoing tide. I had to quickly raise the anchor and chase after the dinghy with s/v Rainy Days. After a few failed attempts at snagging it we finally hooked it with one of our boat hooks. We retied the painter (the bowline knot had come loose—we think because the knot was too close to the end of the rope) and fastened the dinghy to the stern before we re-anchored for the night. We left out 120 feet of chain in approximately 22 feet of water depth. In the evening we could hear the swift outgoing tidal flow against the hull.

A screen shot showing our anchorage
in the inlet to Winyah Bay.

When we were all done for the day it was completely dark outside. All I could think of was a very stiff drink to end my day but we had to be up very early in the morning so that we could make Southport before dark tomorrow night. (I had the stiff drink anyway.)

Winyah Bay to Southport

We were awake before sunrise and were raising the anchor as the morning’s first light appeared (6:45 AM).

Looking out of the inlet toward the ocean as
we were raising anchor in the morning.

We motored out through the long channel and then set our course for the entrance to channel at Cape Fear, 64 miles away. About 20 miles out, we noticed steam coming from the engine exhaust and the engine water temperature was running hot (almost 240 degrees F). We slowed down and the engine began to cool but we would never make our destination in daylight going so slow. We stopped the engine and just drifted while we analyzed the problem. After checking the raw water strainer, we pulled some vegetation out of the strainer but it wasn’t in the strainer basket, rather outside the basket. I assumed this was due to the strainer basket not being seated properly in the strainer housing. After cleaning out the vegetation, we tried motoring again and although it seemed slightly better the improvement was not sufficient.

The next step was to replace the raw water pump impeller. While this was a challenge to do while drifting in the ocean, we got it done in about 1-1/2 hours. (I had to do this with my left hand while laying in the quarter berth and mostly working by feel.). As it turned out, the rubber impeller had one blade (out of six) worn off and that was enough to cause the overheating. When we restarted the engine, it ran like a top, as they say.  A superstitious sailor would wonder if this was our Poseidon's revenge for leaving port on a Friday.  (Later, we discussed the advantage of making preventative replacements of the impeller every six months.  We are already changing out the complete raw water pump (with a new impeller) every year--so six months after our annual maintenance, I simply change the impeller at some convenient location.  (I put a reminder for this preventative maintenance item in my electronic schedule for February 7 every year.) 

Old worn impeller with one
of six blades missing.

We got back on course and underway to Cape Fear River—it was now 45 miles away. At one point in our passage (about half way to Cape Fear) we had three dolphins come and play in our bow wave. They stuck around for about 15 minutes—that was the highlight of our day!

The ocean was calm all day with
hardly a breath of wind.

At one point in the passage while I was on watch and Otto (our autopilot) was driving, I noticed that we were traveling at 6.7 knots and we were on a course of 067 degrees and we were in 67 feet of water.  Needless to say, our ocean trip outside of the impeller change was totally boring.

Losing 1-1/2 hours to change the impeller meant we would have another late night arrival. We arrived at the Cape Fear sea buoy at 7:30 PM and proceeded into the channel using our electronic navigation. We arrived at Southport Marina at 9 PM.  It was a leap of faith to motor all the way into the relatively shallow ICW and the marina by using just our electronic navigation--it was quite an experience!

Maggie made delicious mango daiquiris to celebrate our arrival in Southport--we drank them in the cockpit while we wound down from our harrowing experience late in the day.  Both ocean passages would have been fine except for the harrowing experience of entering port at night (and of course the failure of the raw water pump impeller).  We both decided that we don't want to ever enter any port from the ocean at night--I must add this to our list of rules. 

First Stay Over Day in Southport

We woke to a glorious (that's the best way to describe it) sunrise in the Southport Marina. Today is Sunday, March 31– the last day of March. We decided to stay here until Wednesday since there are some high winds and small craft warnings in the marine forecast for the next couple days. We need some rest anyway.

It was great taking a hot shower this morning even though it’s been only two and a half days since having one in Charleston. It’s funny how a hot shower (something land dwellers take for granted) seems to provide a whole new lease on life after two days on the water. When I returned from my luxurious shower, I re-positioned the handle bars on our bikes so that we could use them around Southport.

We went out for lunch at Fishy Fishy Cafe, one of our favorite restaurants in Southport.  Maggie had the Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos and I had a soft crab sandwich--both were delicious.  After lunch we rode our bikes down the street to do a little shopping and then rode back to the boat for some much needed rest.  During our bike ride we found a restaurant where we can get various types of oysters on the half shell--its called the Moore Street Oyster Bar.  We picked up a list of their daily oyster offerings.  We decided give it a try before we leave. 

The daily oyster offerings at Moore Street Oyster Bar.
This is the first time I have seen "hot" and "cold"
recommendations.  I recognize the lower
three as farmed oysters (which in
my opinion are the best).

The rain arrived at 3:30 PM.  I was laying on the v-berth reading when the rain falling on my legs made me spring into action to close the overhead hatch.  We just snacked for dinner.  Maggie watched some TV and I did some reading as I lay in bed.  We had a "simple, no frills" day today.

Second Stay Over Day in Southport

Monday, April 1 was a cold day (44 degrees as I started writing my blog for the day!) and the day only warmed up to 54 degrees in the afternoon!   The sky was overcast but the sun poked through the clouds every once in a while.  The north wind was blowing 12 to 15 knots with gusts to 22 knots today (and tomorrow's forecast is about the same).  I'm glad we decided tp stay here for a couple days. 

s/v Rainy Days tied to the face dock at Southport
Marina.  Our inflatable dinghy is tied near the
stern so it doesn't take up space along the
face dock even though there is only one
other transient boat here at this time.
(Note that my forward dock line
is not even coiled!)

We decided to go out for lunch at the Moore Street Oyster Bar today.  (Tomorrow we will go out for breakfast and have lunch on board to keep things "changed up.")

Our new favorite restaurant in Southport.

We had four oysters on the half shell--they were farmed oysters from Harker island NC.  We also had six Drago's which are similar to oysters Rockefeller except without the bacon and different cheese.  Everything, particularly the service, was great, even the peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream for dessert!  (The oysters on the half shell were 35% lower in price than in Charleston!)


We rode our bikes to some shops along Howe Street and stopped for a latte at Port City Java.  We ended up back at the boat by 3 PM, stuffed to the gills.

While in Southport we had limited cell phone coverage--it was even difficult to get our regular weather reports.  Worthy of note is that for the first time in my recent memory I had three beers in one day (two with lunch and one at Happy Hour)! 

Third Stay Over Day in Southport

Rain is in the forecast for the entire day today, accompanied by 25-knot winds out of the north.  Some sailors would call this weather "downright snotty."  When we awoke it was raining lightly but the wind wasn't all that bad--it sure looked like the day would be a soaker for sure.  It also wasn't as cold as I expected (50's) but the temperature is expected to drop to 40 degrees by early tomorrow morning. (The high temperature tomorrow is expected to be 67 degrees F!)

We decided to brave the weather and ride our bikes downtown for breakfast at the Moore Street Market.  While we were having breakfast it started to rain much harder--it was nearly a steady downpour!  We lounged inside the restaurant for a while before heading outside into the rain.

Interior of Moore Street Market.
(It is located in an old home.)

A sign on the restroom door in
the Moore Street Market.

We decided to do some shopping at Ocean Outfitters rather than riding our bikes back to the marina in the driving rain.  I bought a Patagonia shirt (spiced coral color) and a retainer (made from light green silicone) for my sunglasses.  For a change, Maggie didn't buy anything.

Dry clothes and hot chocolate were our goals immediately upon returning to the boat.  Of course, the rain slowed down a little when we returned.

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I recently finished reading Paul Trammel's new book entitled Journey to the Ragged Islands: Sailing Solo Through the Bahamas and it was a great read!  Paul has a master's degree in marine biology, is kind of a loner, and recently bought a used boat and learned to sail.  The book is well illustrated and very informative as well as entertaining.  I would recommend it for any sailor.  Written in 2018, the kindle version of this book is available at this link on Amazon.

The cover of the book I
recently finished reading.

Reading this book has confirmed to me that we don't have to sail to the Caribbean for our next adventure.  The Bahamas are sufficiently vast and present us with an unlimited potential for adventure.  Besides, this boat is made for Bahamas-type cruising with her 5-foot draft.  We can go to different places in the Bahamas year after year for the foreseeable future.  

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We had a late lunch onboard, leftover ground chicken stroganoff, that Maggie made while we were in Charleston.  I marinated some boneless pork chops in Diet Coke for grilling onboard tomorrow evening at anchor in Wrightsville Beach.

Marinating pork chops in Diet Coke
for grilling tomorrow evening.

Lola half asleep in the enclosed
cockpit of s/v Rainy Days
on a rainy day.

Stay tuned for our continued trip up the ICW--we leave Southport tomorrow at mid-day.


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