Wrightsville Beach to Charleston

Wrightsville Beach,NC to Charleston, SC – October 30 to November 6, 2009

We saw our first palm trees in Virginia planted on the grounds of the lock into the Dismal Swamp. As we neared Wrightsville Beach both the houses and the palm trees became more numerous.

It was a gray day when we passed this place. It sure caught our attention.

Life size lawn ornaments make you look twice. A good thing when you are trying to sell.

Wrightsville Beach is without a doubt a surfer town. With the Atlantic Ocean only three blocks from the dinghy dock it was a short walk to the beach to watch the action.

Mature surfer dude.

Oops.

Tom testing the water

The anchorage at Wrightsville Beach

Wrightsville resident

The anchorage at Wrightsville Beach is sandwiched between the two sides of town and is a beehive of activity. We saw swimmers (human) who appeared to be warming up for the ironman competition the following weekend as well as a number of dolphins. There was even a rumor of a possible shark sighting.

Getting around town

Warm up routine before going out to catch a wave.

Our neighbors in Wrightsville Beach

There are two food items at Wrightsville beach that I highly recommend; the fresh swordfish at Motts Channel Seafood (barbecued to perfection with a little garlic lime marinade) and the famous chicken salad from Robert’s Market that has its own facebook page. The first container didn’t last long and a special trip was made to restock.

The morning we left Wrightsville Beach I saw ocean phosphorescence for the first time. We have a clear hose that brings in sea water to the toilet and when I flushed in the early morning darkness I saw a flash of light in the hose. Sure enough when I lifted the toilet seat there was a little plankton winking back at me!

Kismet - Sunrise at Wrightsville Beach

We were up very early that morning as we had decided with three other boats to take advantage of the full moon and a good weather forecast to get more offshore experience in the log books. It looked like an easy overnight run directly from Wrightsville Beach to Charleston. Our estimated travel time was around 30 hours which would have us arriving in Charleston just before noon with the tidal current helping us into the harbor. You always need to be prepared to change plans at short notice and when there were reports of possible thunder storms 20 to 40 miles off of Cape Fear we changed our exit point and went out via the Cape Fear River farther down the coast to avoid the potential storm area. We were out in the Atlantic by mid morning and although the sky was overcast it looked like it would be a good passage. The winds were in our favor and the waves were less than two feet high. We had lots of dolphin sightings and even had a small pod travel with us for about half an hour crossing back and forth in front of the boat and coming up out of the water alongside us. They were larger than the ones we have been seeing in the rivers and inlets and were amazing to watch.

The afternoon dolphin show on the Atlantic Ocean

All was going well until it got dark. It was still overcast so the full moon was no help whatsoever. Both wind and waves increased and with the waves from a different direction than the ocean swells we felt like we were inside a washing machine. The hydraulic auto steering system could not keep the boat going in the right direction so we would need to steer by hand all the way to Charleston which was still about 100 miles away. One of the boats we had left Wrightsville Beach with had disappeared over the horizon some time earlier and on our last radio contact with them said they were having such a good sail that they decided to bypass Charleston and head for Florida. The other two boats were behind us. With nothing but blackness ahead we could only hand steer by following the compass or the course indicator on the chart plotter. To make matters worse, Tom got a very bad case of seasickness and spent much of the night feeding the fishes.

When we saw lights from another sailboat on our port side we changed course to fall in behind them and use their lights to steer to. Iwanda immediately hailed us on the radio to say they had seen us make a course change and wanted to make sure that we were okay. We confirmed that they were also headed for Charleston and indicated that were having steering problems and would like to use their stern light as a steering guide. Over the course of the night they kept in touch by radio to make sure that they were not travelling too fast for us and to advise us of their intended course changes and to provide an update on potential freighter traffic in the channel going into Charleston. While we were not in any danger, we are very appreciative of their concern for our wellbeing and grateful for them making our lives easier in the wee hours of the morning.

Not long after out arrival in Charleston Tom related our experience to a fellow boater on the docks. Rob turned out to be very well versed in the Hynotics hydraulic steering system that we have on Polar Pacer and took the time to discuss it in detail. He made some suggestions to troubleshoot the system and gave us copies of the Hynotics documentation he had with him. Just a few minutes with a bicycle pump and it appears that our steering problem may be resolved!

Tom later referred to that offshore passage as our “Gone With the Wind “tour. Just like Scarlett O’Hara we had depended on the kindness of strangers.

Once we had caught up on our sleep and had showers it was time to play tourist in Charleston. What a beautiful place. We took a horse drawn carriage tour with a guide whose family has been in the area for many generations. Montague (the horse) and Phillip (the guide) escorted us through historical Charleston and provided an entertaining commentary on the lifestyle and events of the area.

Monty

The old architecture is incredible and thanks to strict preservation rules that protect anything older than 75 years it should remain that way. Even the trees, sidewalks and old carriage steps are protected.

Many of the houses were built with side porches to catch the ocean breezes.

Creeping fig covers much of the stonework.

These are earthquake bolts They were installed in many buildings in the 1800’s to hold them together after they were damaged by an earthquake.

Downtown Charleston resident

An old carriage step

The ghost walk we took after dark was disappointing after the excellent Monty and Phillip show although we did go down into this cool dungeon below the old customs house.

A typical side garden

In Charleston we also made arrangements to have one last night on the town with Hanni and Roger. They will be staying in Charleston for an extended period before going on to Florida. We had a great time travelling with them. Hopefully our paths will cross again someday.

Saying goodbye at The Noisy Oyster