SailThreeSheets.com

December 29 - Let me start this post with an apology for the delay in posting the previous few days. Our internet connection has been spotty at best, and in some cases non existent, so I have been keeping the log going, and we’re finally somewhere where we have a good steady connection so I am playing a little catch up!
Happy Birthday Barbara!!!!
5:30 AM  first alarm.  6:00 AM second alarm, and Brian is up and turning on the coffee.  I was in the middle of a dream when the alarm went off, and a bit hazy as a fumbled out of the Vberth about 15 minutes later.  Brian handed me a cup of coffee, and I pulled on some additional layers before going outside to cast us off.  Brian had fired up the engine, and it was purring like a kitten.  He’d already taken the spring lines off, so I walked up the dock to the bow and cast it off, then cast off the stern line, gave us a big push and we turned and headed out continuing down the ICW.  This morning was beautiful coming through Myrtle Beach, the sky was beautiful as the sun rose, rosy clouds against blue, and it was incredibly still.  We motored along for about an hour and a half before it started to drizzle.  Bless his heart, Brian suited up in his foulies, and although I’ve offered, he’s kept the helm for the past 4 hours in the rain and drizzle, while I’ve been down here intermittently navigating, cooking up some breakfast, and making ample cocoa all the while finishing catching up on these posts and editing some of the ones we haven’t yet put up on the site. Thus far we’ve made excellent time today.  We left about 6:30 AM and it’s now 12:18, and we’ve come 40 statute miles, with only 13 left to go today before we reach our destination.  We called ahead to john and Pat, who we knew were at Georgetown until Tuesday, and they let us know that they were at the Town Docks, and that given how late it is in the season, they’d gotten permission to tie up overnight, and that there was a spot in front of them for us.  They also invited us to join them for dinner, which we were really excited to do, and really excited to see them again!
At about 1, the weather had cleared up and I suited up in my foulies (just in case) and relieved Brian at the helm.  Poor guy had been steering this whole time, but despite my several offers to relieve him previously, he remained at the helm.  I made up the Starboard berth for him and we swapped so that he could come downstairs, warm up, and take a little nap, since we’d gotten up so early, and he wanted to be awake to visit with Pat and John.  The stretch down the Waccamaw River was really quiet, not much in the way of birds or other animals.  When I came up, brian warned me to keep an eye out for “Deadheads” floating logs and stumps and the like.  I kept a really watchful eye, and fortunately we made it through the Waccamaw without incedent.  The part of the drive that I did was really quite pretty, wide open, and deep (30+ feet) but very desolate - a few spanish moss covered trees on each side, lots of tall marsh grass, really quite pretty, but still what I kept thinking of (although not geographically possible) was the moors they describe in Wuthering Heights.
I awoke Brian at about 2:30, as we were pulling into the channel for Georgetown, and he came up to pilot us in, as I put the  docklines and fenders out and we glided up to the dock in front of Pat and John, with John giving us a hand bringing the boat alongsides.
We got ourselves situated, and I decided to walk over to the local Piggly Wiggly which was about a mile away.  I called the number for the manager listed in Skipper Bob’s on my way there, and indeed the store offers a car service to pick boaters up and bring them back to their boats with groceries… VERY SMART.  I let them know that since it was such a beautiful day, I was walking over to them but would love a ride back - “not a problem at all!”  I ambled up and down the aisles, and for once managed to get everything on my list but one item… grocery shopping has been an interesting part of this trip - sometimes because I’ve forgotten to put something on the list, sometimes because I forget to get something on the list, but most often because the store just doesn’t have whatever it is that I was looking for.  Anyhow, with my multitue of bags (I did a pretty big shop here as the plan was to go outside from Georgetown down to Savannah) I located the store manager and one of the customer service reps gave me a ride back.  John, Pat and Brian all helped me to bring the groceries down to the boats, and while Bri and I put away our groceries, Pat started cooking up an amazing dinner of garlicky chicken, parsley butter potatoes and asparagus - YUM!  We enjoyed a delicious meal, relaxing with Pat and John, and while the guys talked after dinner about navigation equipment, Pat and I went and sat upstairs in their cockpit underneath the stars and talked about family, and kids, and just generally had a really nice time.  We really enjoyed ourselves and it was such a treat to get to see John and Pat again and next thing we knew, it was 9:30 and we all decided we’d better call it a night since we were all planning to get underway in the morning.