On November 16, 2020 we set sail from Carolina Beach, North Carolina. We arrived in Georgetown. South Carolina early the next morning. It was a pleasant and uneventful overnight cruise. We were sad to say goodbye to Carolina Beach since it was so well suited to us with great walking and a safe grocery store, but the southern migration needed to continue, and the winds were favorable for the short sail.
We pulled up the anchor early in the afternoon and motored at a very leisurely pace down the Cape Fear river, arriving at the Cape Fear inlet about an hour or so before sunset. We set the sails, made a pot of coffee, and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset before settling in to our darkness routines when sailing in the ocean.
I find that I enjoy sailing overnight. Sure there are a few things about it that I don’t like, but the good outweighs the bad, at least for short passages. For example, the density of stars in the ocean sky at night is hard to describe. In our modern world, there are few times that we are treated to a night sky unpolluted by stray light, and nighttime ocean sailing is one of those rare times. The Milky Way wraps it’s thick band of brightness around the sky, with a dense mat of stars stretching from every horizon to every other horizon.
On this night, we were treated to an amazing meteor showed that lasted all night long. The Leonid meteor shower happens every November, and this year it was peaking on this night. All night, I could lean over the side or the back of the cockpit, and it was not unusual that I could see a streak or two in a couple minutes of watching.
I had to slow down quite a bit to make sure we didn’t arrive at the inlet prior to light, and our first few buoys actually were in darkness. By the time we were in the thick of the inlet there was good light, which significantly reduces me stress levels! Our trip up the river to Georgetown was fast as the flood tide was scooting us along with an added three or four knots.
We spent a couple nights at the Harborwalk Marina in order to get the lay of the town. The smell of the paper mill was bad, and we were afraid we wouldn’t get to spend much time here because the mill smell was awful and made our eyes burn.
But after a day the wind shifted, the air cleared, and we fell in love with Georgetown. We moved back to the back of the harbor and dropped our anchor with a fantastic view and excellent protection from winds. Really a good anchorage. It should be noted that part of the view was also the paper mill in the distance and the steel mill right along the back of the harbor, but hey ya take the good with the bad!
Turns out our boat name is well known in the area, as there was a Civil War era boat by the same name that was sunk in the river. It was fun to be in a town where our boat name appeared lots of places!
The town is doing a great job of revitalizing itself after the collapse of it’s old economic base. There was a big steel mill that operated in the 20th century, but closed in recent years. The mill still exists, dominating the back end of the harbor. Apparently there was a sugar mill too, but we don’t know where that was. The paper mill is obviously still running. But the town is working hard to become a quaint tourist destination, catering to migrating boat people like us and also working to attract land tourists. Folks are friendly and accommodating.
Walking in town was excellent, with old homes lining the sidewalks, streets draped with archways of live oaks, and a general sense that folks who lived here were happy.
We were disappointed that there wasn’t a better grocery store in town. Funny how we come to judge towns by their grocery. It was a two or three mile walk to the decent store (which was surprisingly a Food Lion) and the Piggly Wiggly–while only a little over a mile–turned out to be an awful store. There was a nice little general store (Indigo Mercantile) that was right downtown, which is where we bought several things. Was nice supporting a small business there too instead of the big chains.
As we were approaching Thanksgiving, lots of the homes had started to put out their Christmas decorations. Seemed a bit early as the weather was so nice, but I suppose November is when lots of folks start putting up Christmas decorations.
Speaking of Thanksgiving, we celebrated Thanksgiving on the boat, anchored in the Georgetown harbor. We baked a couple of Cornish hens, baked a couple of yams, had some stuffing that we bought at the Indigo Mercantile, and a really mediocre pie from the Indigo Bakery.
