Working our way south on the ICW heading back to Jacksonville, FL. We are like the horse that wants to get back to the barn: no stopping for more than 1 night anywhere. Our first night, we anchored in Mile Hammock where we were entertained by Helicopters flying overhead even after dark & well into the night. This is a protected anchorage where we have stopped multiple times but it is also a military training base. Each time we stop, something is going on.
The ICW has gotten shallow in many areas, so we are really being careful, following Bob423 on Waterway guide and attempting to cruise the shallow spots at mid to high tide. So far, so good!
Carolina Beach is a new spot for us & they have mooring balls. We were even able to reserve one on the Dockwa App. We would not have had to worry, we were the only boat on the moorings. There are 9 balls on a deadend channel, situated about 2/3rds in. The town sits at the end of the channel. It was a quiet night surrounded by condo's and houses.
Our next stop south is Grand Dunes; we have stopped here before. It has seen better days-it looks & feels tired, worn & neglected. But there is a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse on the property. We ordered Take-out and it was yummy. Our drawer freezer is giving us fits-the temperature keeps inching up: today it's 24 degrees. It's hot outside but that shouldn't be an issue. We started our couch freezer & moved everything over there but now that is acting up-yikes!
Georgetown is one of our favorite stops and they gave us a great spot on their face dock. We walked to Piggly Wiggly which is a bit over a mile away but it's not as nice as the new one in Oriental. The selections were limited. We did enjoy a nice dinner in town @ Rollins, sitting outside on the sidewalk. Their asian food is delicious.
The next 2 night were anchoring first in Awendaw Creek & the next night in Church Creek. Both of these are nice anchorages but Awendaw had many small fishing boats zooming by in the late afternoon. Church Creek is the opposite-very quiet and we were the only boat around.
Safe Harbor in Beaufort SC has a mooring field and we were able to stay there for the night. The weather was cool, gray, raining & gusty so we stayed on the boat & watched Joe Biden win a debate over the immature, bully Trump.
The weather often dictates our plans, so as we looked ahead and checked all our resources, we decided to "do an overnight" the rest of the way home to JAX. There would be a full moon, light winds & calm waves, so quite an easy decision. We had an easy cruise, with Dolphins stopping by to say Hi and the moon to light our way.
