This is my 20th year of creating the Island Packet Yacht Owners Association calendar. I create this to make $5.00 profit off each sale. The profits go to offset the $1,000+ cost of hosting the website for IPYOA.com where we have nearly 20,000 digital photos uploaded by IP owners. My calendar sales are usually 75-100 calendars total, netting me $350-$500 per year. So, you can see that I am living off this income and going sailing…ha ha ha! NOT. Please take a look at these fantastic photos. Enjoy…
If you want a sailing calendar, then please place your orders here.. Three days of work, 47 photos submitted, plus the 10,000+ I have taken, and here is my 20th edition. Truly a labor of love for IPs.
This is an easy section of the ICW, Georgetown SC to Charleston SC, with your biggest challenge being the Ben Sawyer Bridge and the Charleston harbor current. After a lovely few days walking the town of Georgetown and buying shrimp at the coop, and taking in the many beautiful homes on self-guided walking tours, we decided to move on. Again, we have no schedule, no agenda, just working our way south to the warmth of Florida. Of course, our near-term goal is to be in Stuart Florida for the best Thanksgiving on the waterway, but other than that, no rush at all.
Shrimp and Grits…..ahhh
Radeen is a great boat chief and she loves to cook, so when in “low country” you always buy some shrimp. In Georgetown, there is a local fish coop where the fishermen dock and sell directly to the public. Large shrimp with the heads off costs $7.00/lb! We bought two lbs and steamed some for a chilled shrimp cocktail and then Radeen made some wonderful shrimp and grits for a mid-afternoon meal. What a joy…..
Walking Tours of Georgetown, SC
With the many rice plantations and then indigo plantations nearby, this was a very prosperous town. Add in the deep water harbor and the close ocean access one can easily imagine the many colonial ships docked here in the early 1700s. The town’s museum is amazing and has been here for decades. The visitor’s center has a free self-guided walking tour of over 50 homes. These homes are within blocks of the harbor and we always walk the town and study the architecture of these beautiful colonial homes. Here are two beautiful examples.
Moving on to Whiteside Creek
Departing Georgetown, takes you back into the ICW for a simple two-day run to the next dream stop of Charleston, SC. Day one is about a 40+ nm run to a remote creek called Whiteside creek. These long and deep (15-20 ft) creeks run into the salt marshes and wind their way back off the ICW. With four Island Packets running together, this creek was a perfect stop for our fleet. We easily arrived by sunset and anchored for the night. The current will ebb and flood in and out of the creek, and your boat will always bow into the current. Your anchor may be under your stern with the anchor chain going aft, but that is the way it is in a fast-flowing creek. Not a problem at all, just something to get used to,
Charleston in Sight….YES!
The next morning we planned our short run to make the Ben Sawyer Bridge opening at 10 am, then once thru there it is a quick 45 min run up the Cooper River to the Charleston Maritime Center. The challenge to docking in the fast currents of Charleston is to time your docking at slack tide. Today for our docking this was at 11 am and we hit it right on. I have seen many yachts crash into other yachts when trying to dock in these currents. It is something to take seriously.
One of the photos we always try to capture is the view of the Ravenel Bridge from just after the Ben Swayer Bridge. This always raises excitement because that is a landmark of current-day Charleston. When we see this bridge over the horizon we know we are near one of our all-time favorite stops. Charleston South Carolina.
Docked at the Maritime Center
Many boaters will arrive in Charleston and dock over on the Ashley River to the west at the MEGA DOCK. but, those that know the city and where all the action is will dock on the Cooper River to the East. This places you directly on East Bay Street where you want to be. From the Maritime Center, you are a few blocks from Harris Teeter grocery store and all the fine restaurants and markets on East Bay Street. You are an easy walk a few blocks into the College of Charleston where you will then intersect King Street for a fun walk past all the amazing shops. This will lead you down to Market street where you turn east and take in all the local vendors and maybe even a horse-drawn carriage ride. Charleston, what a joy to discover and re-discover. We always book one week here and have for over ten years. We love this town. This is a must-stop location on the ICW.
The next post will show more of Charleston….
Thank you again, for sailing along with Team Island Spirit. with this being our 11th year of running south, we still love this activity. As long as the boat systems are running well, life is good. So far, lucky for us, all systems are running well. Imagine, after a full summer of tearing apart the entire motor and drive train, along with Autopilot, radar, B&G network, and the windlass, we simply then took off. Today, we feel relieved that all systems are performing well. Lucky we are and we know it.
In the words of Neil Young….LONG MAY YOU RUN…..
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