Charleston to Conway, SC

On Wednesday afternoon, September 24th, we walked about four blocks to downtown Charleston and tried the she-crab soup at Tommy Condon's Irish Pub. She-crab soup is basically a crab bisque - rich and full of crab meat - and was quite good! We then strolled through The Market which consists of several long buildings full of all kinds of touristy merchandise.

Todd was especially impressed by these labor-intensive handmade baskets.



The vendors started packing up between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. so we moseyed over to the Noisy Oyster for a happy hour drink before continuing our stroll around the downtown area. We later returned to the Noisy Oyster and shared happy hour appetizers for dinner. On the way back to the boat we stopped by Harris Teeter's to pick up a few groceries. We weren't familiar with Harris Teeter grocery stores but we had been told about this one by Bob & Stephanie on "September Song" and I guess they are fairly common on the east coast.

It was pretty rough on the boat Wednesday night and all day Thursday with strong, gusty northeast winds causing the boat to constantly bounce and buck in the rough water. Even though it was rather unpleasant on the boat, it was too nasty to go anywhere else, so we stayed on the boat all day. Rain moved in Thursday evening and, thankfully, the water finally settled down. The rain continued Friday morning but it cleared off nicely by early afternoon.

While Todd was on the computer Friday morning we received an e-mail blog comment from Sarah, a young lady we met in the Exumas in early May. Sarah was crewing on a sailboat charter called "Bahama Star" and we spent some time together with the owners, Bruce & Sheila, and crew one afternoon on a nice sandbar in the south mooring field at Warderick Wells. And the next morning Captain Bruce came over to "Life's2Short" to have a Bloody Mary and discuss anchorages with Todd.

Anyway, Todd sent an e-mail to Bruce & Sheila to say hello and to get Sarah's e-mail address (FYI - blog comments are sent through the blogger website and do not reveal the sender's e-mail address).  After bouncing a few e-mails back and forth, we learned that we were parked right behind "Bahama Star" at the Charleston Maritime Center! We didn't realize it was the "Bahama Star" because the transom had been whitewashed and the name was gone. What a strange coincidence!

We walked in to town again Friday afternoon and shared a sandwich at the Mellow Mushroom before following King Street all the way to the waterfront park at the south end of the Charleston peninsula. We then followed E. Bay Street around to the Noisy Oyster and stopped in for a drink before taking off again in search of a place to have dinner. Along the way we happened upon the MOJA Arts Festival parade, which didn't amount to much, and eventually ended up at Sticky Fingers for some great fall-off-the-bone tender ribs!

Looking down King Street, which has lots of upscale shopping.


This old cemetery was just off King Street. I wouldn't want to wander into here after dark!





A few of the many beautiful homes in the residential portion of King Street.




A waterfront monument to the Confederate Defenders of Charleston.


Walking along the waterfront on E. Bay Street.




The MOJA Arts Festival parade on King Street.



After dinner we walked back down to E. Bay Street to check out the MOJA block party. There were lots of people, live music and vendor booths with crafts and food. MOJA is a Swahili word meaning "one" and the festival is a celebration of harmony among people in the community and it also highlights the many African-American and Caribbean contributions to western and world cultures. 2008 marks Charleston's 25th annual MOJA Arts Festival: A Celebration of African-American and Caribbean Arts.




We left the Charleston Maritime Center dock early Saturday afternoon and covered about 15 miles to Whiteside Creek. The temperatures were back up into the mid-80's with lots of sunshine. Sunday it took us 5 hours to go another 36 miles to Minim Creek, fighting the current most of the way on a falling tide. We have noted for the return trip to make sure we go through this stretch on a falling tide to take advantage of the current as it makes a tremendous difference on our speed (6 mph vs. 9 mph)!

The U.S.S. Yorktown was directly across the harbor from the Charleston Maritime Center. We will probably tour it on the return trip.



The "Spirit of Charleston" was heading in to the harbor as we were leaving.


Sunset at Whiteside Creek.


This guy has a long day ahead of him towing a big boat against the current!


On Monday we travelled 26 miles to Thoroughfare Creek with a stop at Georgetown Landing Marina for lunch at the on-site Land's End restaurant. Unfortunately, by the time we pulled away from the marina the tide was falling and we had to fight the current the remaining 14 miles to Thoroughfare Creek where we anchored in front of a 30-foot high sand bank.

Tuesday morning was cool, cloudy and foggy and Todd took the dinghy out to do a little exploring. The afternoon turned beautiful and we both went out to explore a nearby canal system that we are told was a 1960's project that didn't quite make it. Nonetheless, there are several homes on the canal system and a very nice, deep lake at the end of the northernmost canal. The entire system is on an island, though, and can only be accessed by boat.

Photos from the Captain's morning dinghy ride.










While exploring we met an interesting individual named John who lives on the canal system with his dog Hap and who also built several of the other canal system homes. He told us to give him a call on our way back south and he would have us over for his "Sandy Island Special" for dinner.

John's home on Sandy Island.


After leaving the canal system we took the dinghy over to the sandy beach below the sand bank and enjoyed our first happy hour on the sand since we left the Exumas! The sand bank is apparently a product of the dredging of the canal system lake which is just a short distance away, on the opposite side of the sand bank.

What a beautiful, pristine evening in a spectacular setting!


The canal system lake on the back side of the sand bank from the beach.


Every evening while we were at Thoroughfare Creek, some of the locals came out to ski. They were quite skilled and pretty amazing to watch!


On Wednesday we took the dinghy to the Reserve Harbor Yacht Club, just off the ICW about a mile from our anchorage, to get ice and dinghy fuel. It was a pretty nice day until the afternoon turned windy so we decided not to go to the beach. Todd tried his hand at fishing but didn't have any luck. We were surprised to learn that Thoroughfare Creek is fresh water, as is the Waccamaw River. The water is the color of iced tea (I would say raspberry iced tea) as a result of tanic acid from the cypress trees and other plant life along the shore.

We left Thoroughfare Creek late Thursday morning, took a detour through Prince Creek and stopped briefly at the Bucksport Plantation Marina to buy some of their famous homemade sausage. The on-site restaurant is closed for the season so we'll have to fix our own, but everyone who has had it says it's the best sausage they've ever eaten!

Our detour through Prince Creek.


Purchasing sausage at Bucksport Plantation Marina.


The transient dock at Bucksport - easy in, easy out.


We covered a few more miles and anchored in an oxbow near the mouth of the Waccamaw where it splits off from the ICW and goes north to Conway, SC. Tim & Sue aboard "HuckleBerry" were in the anchorage and we joined them for happy hour later that evening. Todd had met Tim & Sue the first day we anchored in Thoroughfare Creek. They had already been anchored there several days and left the day after we arrived. They are also heading up the Waccamaw to Conway but probably not until Monday.

An interesting place to live!


This sunken boat was across from where we anchored. Looks like it's been here for a while!


Catching a few rays while reading on the bow.


The "Jungle Princess" takes people on cruises up and down the Waccamaw River. What a funky boat!


We left the oxbow a little after 10:00 a.m. Friday and arrived in Conway around 12:30. It's probably not more than 15 miles (maybe less), but there are a number of housing developments and docks along the way so it was pretty slow going. We had been told that Conway had two free 40-foot floating docks along their Riverwalk so we chose one of them and got situated. What we were pleasantly surprised to discover is that they have added free 30- and 50-amp power to the docks!

Winding our way up the Waccamaw River to Conway.



Later that afternoon we visited the Chamber of Commerce and spent some time checking out the downtown area. We came back to the boat early evening to put on some warmer clothes for dinner and Todd started chatting with a local who was bass fishing in the river near us. As it turned out, Joe was pre-fishing for a bass tournament on Saturday and didn't have a partner, so naturally Todd volunteered! As some of you know, Todd used to bass fish extensively and did quite well in a number of professional and semi-professional tournaments. It is probably the single thing he misses most about not being a "dirt dweller," so he was all excited to be able to fish in a tournament again!  After Todd got his fishing gear put together, we had a nice dinner at Copper's and called it an evening since Todd had to get up bright and early to meet Joe.

Today is Saturday, October 4th, and it looks to be another beautiful, sunny day. The bass tournament will be over at noon so we will hit town again this afternoon and check out the Art Walk that Conway has the first Saturday of every month. We also have to stop in at a great little restaurant we ran across yesterday called Berni's and have a couple of their spinach cakes. The owner gave us a sample yesterday and they were really good!

We plan to leave Conway Monday and start heading south again. Even though the weather is still quite nice, fall is in the air and we have decided not to go any further north. Our goal is to be in Jacksonville by the middle of November, so we are going to take our time and check out some new and different things on the return trip. Check in with us once in a while and we'll let you know what we find!