Georgetown, SC

When cruising, we find that the biggest awe inspiring revelation that we are in a new land comes from foreign vegetation. Living in Maryland for several years, we are accustomed to the deciduous trees and conifers that make up the land. When we left to go cruising, this same flora and fauna was consistant all the way through Virginia and North Carolina. When we reached South Carolina, we started seeing palm trees, but everything else seemed the same and not that striking to us. 

When we reached Georgetown, SC, we felt we had gone someplace new! 

Spanish Moss hanging from every branch and Resurection Fern growning on all the trees made this landscape feel alien to us! We felt like we had really made it to a new land that has totally different ecology from what we are used to. That made it feel like we had finally made it somewhere new! 

Compass Bubble

Does your compass have a bubble in it? This annoying air bubble will make it hard to read your compass at certain angles. The bubble is caused by either air getting into the compass or oil leaking out of the compass. Either problem can be remedied easily by adding more oil to the compass.

To fix your Ritchie Compass, you will need Ritchie Compass Fluid, a blade screw driver, and a syringe.

Begin by removing the compass from its mounting apparatus and locate the only screw on the side of the compass. This is the only screw in this area so it is hard to miss. This screw serves the purpose of keeping oil in, keeping air out, and adding more oil if needed.

Simply turn the compass on its side so that the screw is facing up and begin unscrewing it. Don't be alarmed if it takes you a while to get the screw out, it is rather long! Be sure to orient the screw up though, otherwise oil will begin to drain out of the compass and make a huge mess!

With the screw removed, add oil through the little hole with your syringe. As you add the oil, be sure that air is able to escape. Once all the air is out of the compass, oil will begin to work its way up to the top of the opening. It is important to have oil all the way up to the top that way the end of the screw is immersed in oil from the beginning. If there is a small bubble in the screw hole, the screw will simply force the bubble back in and you will find a tiny bubble inside of your compass instead of a large bubble.

Once all the air is out and the screw put back in tightly, you can turn the compass back to being right side up! If everything worked well, there should be no visible air bubble inside the compass. If some air got trapped in the screw hole, then you would see a tiny bubble in the compass. Simply repeating the steps will get that pesky little bubble out of there so that you can easily view the compass from all angles.

Waccamaw River

If you live on the East Coast of the United States and want to see something completely different without traveling very far, look no further than the Waccamaw River in South Carolina. 

The water is still and tranquil creating reflected images of the trees on the waters surface.  

The trees grow right out of the water! It will be 20 feet deep right up next to the trees. 

In the trees lives a plethora of creatures that you can view and listen to from the safety and comfort of your boat.

Remants of old rice fields are now covered in golden grasses that shine from between the trees.

The scenery around you might make you wonder how you got here because it looks like something out of a dream!

The water ranges from black (because of all the decomposing leaf matter) to brown following a heavy rain.

We spent several days leisurely going down this river, taking in all the sights that we could.

When you feel like stopping, all you need to do is drop the anchor and relax.

The Waccamaw River has definitely been a highlight of our trip so far!

Electric Motors Break Down

Yes, every type of motor you install in a yacht will be subject to breakdown. The difference is how easy is it to fix so you can be on your way once again. 

Our electric motor suffered a tragic end in April of 2017, when I forgot to disconnect the city water from the boat. A hose burst in the boat and the city water came gushing into the hull, filling everything inside with fresh water. Luckily, the bilge pumps were able to keep up with the water flowing in, so the water level only reached the floor boards. This meant though, that the engine was completely submerged for hours in fresh water. 

The motor, miraculously did survive the ordeal and ran once it was allowed to dry out. 

I contacted the manufacturer and sent the motor back to them for repair. They found water in the circuits of everything, and ended up sending me an entire new motor setup. The first motor operated flawlessly from its first day, until its flooding day. This period of a few years was very easy, as the motor simply worked. 

The new motor seemed to have some issues. The control module died on us, causing the motor to stop working entirely while we were in Oriental, NC. This simply prolonged our stay in this town, as we waited for the replacement part to arrive. The new part came in, and since the unit was now only 7 months old, the part was covered under warranty, so no cost to me and only a few hours of work to switch the part out. 

3 months later, the motor started switching between forward and reverse while motoring along in forward. The instrument display also began giving screwy readings. A quick call to the manufacturer and a few diagnostic tests performed with the guidance of an engineer over the phone showed that the control module had shorted out again, and a new part was sent out. The same amount of time was spent installing the new part, and we were then off on our way. 

While the first motor worked flawlessly for several years, the new motor has had some issues with the control module. Yes, these have caused us to stay in places longer than we had planned, but at the end of the day, we enjoyed the stay and the repair was easy to carry out with no cost to us to fix. 

A diesel motor would have problems that would need addressing, and they are not always such an easy or innexpensive fix. We have friends who have new diesel motors, that require parts to repair them while they are cruising. The parts cost hundreds of dollars and the mechanic to install the part is just as expensive.  

It seems that all motors will fail you at some point in time, the difference is how easy is it to fix, and if you can do the repair yourself. That will save you the most money and allow you to keep cruising with your budget going towards you instead of towards your mechanic. 

Sailing the Waccamaw River

​Once past the shallows and the rocks of Myrtle Beach, you will notice the concentration of houses dropping as the number of trees increases to take their spaces. The next thing you will notice is the gradual deepening of the water beneath you.

Going through Myrtle Beach, we had around 5 feet under us in the deep parts of the channel, and less than a foot in the skinny sections. All of a sudden, 8 feet under the keel will seem normal, then it increases to 14 feet, then 20 feet! All of this depth will make you feel spoiled as you no longer need to worry about running into a shoal in the middle of the channel!

This is just the beginning! As you keep going, the houses will completely stop and you will be surrounded by trees in every direction. As night befalls you, the sounds of the wildlife will come from the trees. Frogs, crickets, owls, and some other sounds that I am not familiar with echo in the distance!​

The water in the Waccamaw is not very pretty to look at, as it ranges from black when there is no rainfall to light brown following a strong rain. The beauty comes from the stillness of the water. Since the trees are so tall and right up to the waters edge, there is practically no wind on the surface of the river. This creates a mirror image of the trees and the sky everywhere you look!​

Since the river itself seems to snake around, wind seems to be funneled into it, making it either blow on your bow or on your stern. When the wind is on your bow, why not take a day off from sailing and relax at anchor while you wait for the winds to shift? When the winds are at your stern, sailing the river is effortless and easy.

The other wonderful aspect of the river is it flows to Georgetown with some potent force! When the tide is going, you can expect a few knots of push from the current! This coupled with a tail wind will make it easy to cover the miles as you bask at the beauty of the river. 

As you near Georgetown, the trees begin to thin as the remnants of rice fields line the shores. Rice used to be a major crop in this area until a hurricane blew saltwater onto the fields, destroying the grounds usefulness for rice. The rice fields are now covered in tall grasses but the trees are slowly creeping back into the vast acres of cleared land.