All the planning was complete. We had reviewed the times for two required bridge openings, and then the tide cycle for both leaving Wrightsville Beach and arriving in Charleston. I went out at 7:30, began raising the anchor, and quickly realized the entire 100-foot length of chain was caked with thick, black, stinky mud. It took a while to clean the chain, the deck, and me, but then we were on our way. The ICW was glassy smooth and yielded great reflections along the way. We had seen reports of a huge dredge heading north and we soon passed port-to-port. One lead tug pulled the large barge Rockbridge, two smaller helper tugs followed alongside multiple smaller barges to keep them in line, and finally the tug Rikki S steered the long stretch of dredge pipe from the rear. The first and last tugs are shown in blue on the map below. I connected them with dashed line to show how long this thing was. They totally bridged New River Inlet.
Dolphins were spotted ahead of us. Since the water was so still I guessed that they'd want to play in our bow wave and went out to take a look. Sure enough, all three picked up in front of us and had a great time breaching and doing barrel rolls. The tide continued to fall as we made our four hour trek to the Wrightsville Beach inlet. Crab pots were left high and dry in the short marsh grasses and mud flats. We passed Surf City and broke out the obligatory Beach Boys references. They say they never roll the streets up ’cause there's always somethin' goin' -- but the main drag was recently relocated when the low swing bridge was replaced with a new 65-foot span and bypassed a once hotspot of retail.
We passed large groups of waterfowl in the more remote areas. As we moved south, residential development increased. Houses of all shapes and sizes could be seen. Our arrival at the Figure Eight Island swing bridge was perfectly timed, but there was a work crew on the span that had to remove their lift before it opened. After a little delay, it rotated and we passed through. One hour later, we arrived at the Wrightsville Beach Bridge, just after low tide. We were checking out all the megayachts at the marinas lining the ICW and were excited that we were almost ready to exit into the Atlantic. Only a short distance to go.
We made a sharp left turn. Actually it was a too sharp left turn. Crossroads slowed to a stop. We had an opportunity to speak with a few locals in small runabouts. Two crows even came and claimed a spot on the bow rail. After 15 minutes or so, Barry wriggled us off the hump. He then tells me that in August of 2016, Crossroads found the same little hump. I guess its now a rite of passage. Oh well, there are only two types of cruisers: those who have run aground and those who lie about it. As it turns out, that was our only excitement of the trip. We moved on by the large houses, hotels, and the safe water buoy. The Atlantic was flat with only small rollers, the sea state you dream of.
We settled in and were treated to a nice sunset with cool swirly clouds. At 6:00 we began our three-hour watches. The night sky was amazing and I wish I could have captured it and done it justice. Deep black backdrop was dotted with brilliant points of light. Orion and the Big Dipper were easily spotted. My final watch ended at 6:00 am and I went below and zonked out. Barry caught the sun rise over the cloud bank. When I emerged, the Atlantic was still placid, the sun was bright, and it was warm. We had made really good time overnight and were actually early on our approach to Charleston. The city marina asked that we not arrive before 1:00 which was also slack tide on the Ashley River.
We slowed down and took in all the sights of Charleston. Large cargo carriers passed us going in and out of the channel. Tour boats darted to Fort Sumter. The Revenel Bridge glistened in the sunshine as did the large waterfront houses and church steeples of historic downtown. We came into the marina with no wind or current which made docking drama-free. For the first time since we left Deltaville, I was down to one layer. Tidying up the docklines isn't such a chore when its warm.
We went for a delightful walk and then returned for dinner onboard. We will explore Charleston over the next few days, revisiting some of our favorite places (from our May visit) and checking out a few new ones. I'm looking forward to both the carriage ride and the Sound of Charleston performance.
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