Shortly after entering the waterway we passed under the Ben Sawyer Bridge.
Since rain was forecast for the afternoon we decided to fuel at Isle of Palms Marina. Without much signage to indicate it's location I nearly drove past it. We spent a half hour fueling and emptying the holding tank and then off again. Fuel was $3.77 with our Boat US discount.
Our decision to fuel early in the day proved to be the right one because it started to rain by mid-morning and continued to our anchorage in Bull Creek which turned out to be a very peaceful anchorage. For the first time in a long time we had trees around us at an anchorage! The rain quit and we were able to do steaks on the grill!
Wednesday 4/27/11 Still the threat of rain when we pulled anchor and rejoined the channel. It wasn't long and it started to rain again. Our timing was off as we arrived at the Socastee Bridge. He had just opened 5 minutes prior and wouldn't open again for 10 minutes. At a clearance of 11' I couldn't make Tourist short enough to fit under the span.
Our travels continued on past the Myrtle Beach area. Kind of an East Coast Branson with a beach and golf courses all over. One of the courses requires an aerial tram ride over the ICW from the clubhouse to the course.
Continuing north we entered the Cape Fear River and picked up a nice tidal current as well as a tail wind which at trawler speed made Tourist wander around like an old drunk. Since Tourist does have twin 660 hp Cummins engines I applied a bit more throttle and made Tourist look a bit more respectable.
One thing I forgot to mention is that prior to entering the Cape Fear River our chart plotter froze up so my Chapman's training came in to play. Paper charts to the rescue! I've spent a big portion of my life reading road maps so the paper charts are like an old friend. Onward we continued and arrived at Joyner Marina in Carolina Beach, NC. Hey! Tornado warnings for tomorrow. Guess where we'll be?
A word about instincts. Before we left Legacy back in Ft. Myers I had two concerns heading out on our trip. One was that I should replace the inverter batteries which came into play. The other was that I should replace the plotter which hasn't had a stellar history among the Sea Ray owners who purchased them. In fact one owner told me I should use it as an anchor! Trouble was, ours was working. I knew how to use it and I had everything loaded into it for our trip. After sitting for a night it started up again and seems normal. We'll see what happens as I look into new plotters.
Plotter update: We are now still sitting in Carolina Beach, NC. awaiting a new depth transducer. What? Yep. Upon refiring the old plotter a couple more times it refused to work any longer. We made the decision to install a new Garmin 5212 plotter. Partly because of price. Partly because it will fit in the space available. And partly because it was in stock at West Marine. Why a new transducer? Because the old one would work only with the Sea Ray Navigator and wouldn't interface with any other brand of plotter. Of course no one has this creature in stock and can't get one in until Tuesday!!! And we wonder why the Chinese are kicking our butts!
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