![\"Morning](\"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Morning-mist.jpg\")
<\/a>Today was the first time we woke up to frost on the dodger (windshield\/windscreen) and on the dock. \u00a0We are determined to get to warmer climate soon!<\/p>\nBut the day warmed up nicely and we were delayered and shedding the shoes by the time we reached the next marina for our evening stay.<\/p>\n
Shortly after leaving in the morning we went through the first of 3 bridges that needed to have an opening requested.\u00a0 We ended up following the same sailboat all day, and although we didn’t converse much, it was nice to have him lead the way.<\/p>\n
There are a couple of wide areas in this 5 mile\/8 km section, but otherwise there is no real space to pass tugboats, barges and other commercial vessels.\u00a0 So, as is recommended by the cruising guide, Christina put out her first Securite message on the radio.\u00a0 (There are three international radio warnings that get broadcast to all stations: 1)”MayDay” for distress or life threatening situation aboard – please send help.\u00a0 All commercial vessels are required to respond in the area. \u00a02) “PanPan” is used to convey urgency on board \u00a0but no immediate danger to life or vessel – don’t send help but be advised of the situation. \u00a0(We have heard a few PanPans issued by the Coast Guard for unmanned dinghy in the channel, distress calls they have received with no location, etc.) and 3) “Securite” for safety messages, indicating there is some hazard or something different than normal.)\u00a0 The Securite message boaters are advised to send out for the Rockpile is to state your vessel is entering the Rockpile from which direction and request information regarding any vessel entering or transiting the narrow passage from the other direction.<\/p>\n With the Securite issued we proceeded down the Rockpile, hoping for the best.\u00a0 Following the sailboat in front, we were pretty comfortable until as we reached the most narrow portion near the end, another sailboat approached from the south heading straight toward us at full speed.\u00a0 Bob, at the helm was not impressed and a few expletives were uttered.\u00a0 Christina tried to hail the oncoming boat on the radio, but they either had their radio turned off or not on the hailing channel of 16, because they didn’t respond.\u00a0 We ultimately slowed down and veered a bit to starboard to avoid them, hoping we weren’t going to hit the rocks.\u00a0 We don’t think they fully understood\u00a0why we weren’t too friendly as they passed by.\u00a0 Thankfully it was just a stressful moment and nothing else.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We left the Rockpile, and went through our second bridge opening of the day.<\/p>\n South Carolina has been subject to severe rains and ultimate flooding recently, and with that, the water heights are reportedly 4 feet higher than usual. \u00a0This board indicates the number of feet of clearance to the bridge. \u00a0This usually reads about 66′ and today it was 62.5′. \u00a0This was no problem for us but we do have friends with masts that are 62.5′ and wondered if they scraped as they passed by the prior day.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n From there we enjoyed the warming sunshine as we meandered past golf courses and very expensive looking homes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n All the charts indicated there was enough clearance for the mast to pass under the gondola, but Christina wanted to make sure, especially with the higher than usual water.<\/p>\n Also along the way is a dock where you can tie up your boat at the outlet mall. \u00a0Very convenient.\u00a0 But, Bob couldn’t be persuaded to go shopping and so we continued past…..maybe on our way back North?<\/p>\n This is not as close or where we really wanted to be passing a barge as we went under the third bridge today.<\/p>\n We left the land of golf courses and mini mansions and entered the land of cypress forests as we approached our marina.<\/p>\n When we checked in we were given a “goodie” bag which was quite fun.\u00a0 It contained pastries, crackers and local jam, along with another can cooler (we can never have too many of those!) and other useful assorted goodies.<\/p>\n The marina is nestled in the woods and was a very peaceful delightful place to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening.\u00a0 We highly recommend this sanctuary to any one considering transiting the ICW.<\/p>\n Tomorrow is another short day as we head to Georgetown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sunday 15 November – We had a relatively short day planned today and allowed for a leisurely start to the day, but again we were up and ready to go by 0700 and so we did. Today was the first time we woke up to frost on the dodger (windshield\/windscreen) and on the dock. \u00a0We … Continue reading A Gorgeous Day….<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=245"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":266,"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions\/266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dreamtime-sailing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>The first (and really only) challenge of the day was navigating what is referred to as the Rockpile.\u00a0 This is a particularly narrow part of the Waterway which is bordered by rock ledges on both sides for 5 miles\/8 km or so.\u00a0 It really wouldn’t be too worrisome, if those rock ledges weren’t UNDER\u00a0the water, and therefore could not be seen.\u00a0 Many boaters have had significant damage done to their boats by getting too close to the sides of the ledges and rubbing up against the sharp rocks. \u00a0 You have to trust your eyes and stay in the middle of the Waterway.<\/p>\n<\/a>Near the southern end of the Rockpile you will see this. \u00a0There are no signs, but the chart listed Tide Station near this location. \u00a0So we are assuming that is what this is.
\n<\/p>\n<\/a>We think these trees are usually on land and not in the water – another sign of recent flooding.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a>\u00a0South Carolina is known for its many golf courses, and one even has a gondola that crosses the waterway with enough clearance for sailboats to pass safely underneath.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Bob is at the helm 99.99% of the time, and so he wanted to share his view of the world these days.<\/p>\n<\/a>We decided we found a real gem of a marina on the ICW\u00a0 at Osprey Marina<\/a>.\u00a0 We navigated through this small channel and were greeted by a very helpful dock master who assisted us in tying up in a slip….twice.\u00a0 The first slip was a bit too short for us and our long bowsprit, so he moved us to a longer slip where there was no danger of our anchor taking out electric pods or fire extinguisher posts.<\/p>\n