SV-Baila: Waccamaw River and Cape Lookout

Waccamaw River, South Carolina

The Waccamaw is a long freshwater river north of Georgetown, SC, and our densely forested anchorage there was so different from our typical exposed saltwater wetland spots. The animals, plants, trees, bugs and even sounds were a welcome change.

It was nice to get the salt off the boat. Slippery and grimy, salt also loves to corrode metals. I have periodically had to remove corrosion along stanchion bases and other metal surfaces the entire year and look forward to having the boat back in a less saline environment. Plus, we could swim in the wonderfully cool freshwater. But there are the alligators. We asked some locals if the alligators pose a significant concern for swimming. Hearing that "everyone 'round here swims in these waters" didn't exactly answer the question. After seeing some gators on the shore (60 feet or so from Baila) Lynn and the girls opted to bathe from the protection of the swim ladder. I channeled my inner croc-hunter (after all- we have Aussies in our home back in Swarthmore, and they all wrestle the beasts, right?) and dove in. I supposed Darwin gave me a pass that week. Then again, as evidenced by my three daughters, I'm one big living Darwinian oversight.

Given how protected we were back in our forest anchorage, we opted to stay put for a few days of squally weather.

This is where we anchored on the Waccamaw. It's protected land so there wasn't any development around us. It was pristine and peaceful. Lynn did some more boat yoga (and took this picture-- gorgeous!)

Our lovely moquito-eating friend, the dragonfly. We love them!

Avery looking through her photo album of friends from home. She is very excited to see them again!

Out on the paddleboards... and... the INFLATABLE KAYAK generously given to us by our friends Benny and Lisa from s/v Rhiannon! Thank you Rhiannon-- we love it.

Avery likes her spot on the paddleboard-- she just tells me where to go, and I go.

Afraid of being consumed by a gator, Avery decided to fill a basin with water for a quick bath. We sent this to my folks who replied with the picture below. Guess who? Hint: the picture is forty-two years old, on a boat, and although the water level makes gender determination difficult, this is a male child. And he's not my brother. It's a stumper and I'll post the answer on the next blog update.

The most beautiful rain on the flat waters of the Waccamaw.

Sunrise and time to leave. A cool morning brought a whispy blanket of fog

Lynn worked so hard to finalize and submit the girls' schoolwork for the year. We are eagerly looking forward to other people educating our children come September.

Reuniting with dorenavent!

We caught up with our good friends on dorenavent in Wrightsville beach, NC. A weekend, it was terribly crowded and after our quick hello we set about provisioning the boats to head offshore as quickly as we could! Definitely no boat yoga there. Funny: I dropped Lynn and the girls off at a fuel dock so that they could walk to a Piggly-Wiggly (that's actually the name of the supermarket). Anna left her purse in the marina bathroom. Laurent (from dorenavent) was going to the same dock later to get fuel. I called and asked the gruff/burly fuel dock man if he could "kindly give my purse to a frenchman with a big yellow dinghy". It got real awkward.

The girls were so happy to see their little Aymeric again. He's really learning English! Here Avery tries to prevent Aymeric from pulling the shell off of the hermit crabs (yes-- the Bahamian hermits are still alive!).

Cape Lookout, North Carolina

Buddied up once again with dorenavent, we were happy to get out of the claustrophobic chaos of Wrightsville Beach and back into the Atlantic once again. We had a nice passage out to Cape Lookout (we were there in the fall as well). It's beautiful there and another great place for camping (though more rugged bare-bones camping).

Some Spotted Porpoises we met along the way. This is a tropical porpoise that is typically found in the Bahamas and Caribbean. However, they are found further north in the Gulf Stream, to which we were fairly close here. They are known to be more playful and acrobatic than their more locally known bottlenose dolphin cousins, and these guys really hung out with us riding the bow-wave and frequently turning their heads to look up at us.

Here's a video clip of these guys: