New Year 2010

Have been frustrated with iffy wireless connections, and I’m tired of lurking outside marina offices in the cold and dark, so haven’t posted lately. After Murrell’s Inlet, we anchored in beautiful Price Creek, right off the Intracoastal and figured we’d be alone there until Nellie D. came in right behind us. They launched their dinghy and Bill, Bicki and Dave took a 1.5 mile jaunt down the creek to the ocean. We then went aboard Nellie D for cocktails, supper and great conversation.

Next day we tied up at the Megadock of the Charleston City Marina. Yeah, we could have anchored and saved a few bucks, but we had several free marina nights due to the holiday, we needed provisions (free shuttle to Harris Teeter) and we appreciated electricity to run the heater at night. Act III was at the end of the 1,000’ floating concrete dock and it took 7 minutes to walk to the restrooms. Planning ahead was necessary. Bicki and Dave anchored out on Nellie D, but brought their dinghy over to our spot and we spent more quality time together.

We were all set to leave on Tuesday morning, excited to finally go outside the Intracoastal, when Bill discovered the problem with the generator was not simply a faulty wire connection. Fortunately Carolina Auto Electric shop was a short taxi ride away; they did a fast, high-quality rebuild for a fair price while Bill waited, so we were back in business by Tuesday evening, with the generator working better than ever.

We left Charleston at 0430 hrs, in order to arrive at Hilton Head in daylight. 20-25 kt wind from the NE at our back, we averaged close to 8 kts over 6-8’ seas. (A far cry from the predicted 10-15 kt, 2-3’ seas they continued to predict while we were sailing.) Act III loved stretching her canvas and rolled with the water beautifully. We came in Port Royal Sound, hooked up with the Intracoastal again and stopped at Skull Creek Marina, the first we came to. It was getting dark and our planned destination of Harbour Town Marina was still 9 miles away.

Thursday morning we motored the short hop to Harbour Town, a cutesy tourist destination, but the main attraction was visiting Heidi’s long-time family friend, Elizabeth Lewis. Elizabeth took us to lunch at Yummy Chinese buffet (yes, it was!), and gave us a short tour of this famous island. It is indeed gorgeous here.

New Year’s Day, Elizabeth arranged for Bill to play tennis with her neighbor Glenn. As she pulled into the driveway to drop Bill off, she casually mentioned that Glenn’s son was here on Hilton Head to attend the Van der Meer Tennis Academy. The 13-year-old son is one of the top 20 players in the country of his age group. Needless to say, Bill was whupped (6-1, 6-1, 6-1), although most of the games went to deuce. Glenn is also active military and has daily physical paces he must go through to stay fit. While Bill played, Elizabeth ferried me to some shopping for a whistling tea-kettle so I won’t put water on the stove and forget about it, wasting propane (just thinking ahead, of course. I would NEVER actually do that.)

We just returned from a divine dinner with Elizabeth and will hop into bed to be ready to leave early tomorrow for another outside run, planning to anchor in Bradley River, at Ossabaw Sound, about a 50-mile day. Weather is still unseasonably cool, but the wind should be in our favor (we'll give NOAA another chance to get it right.)