Festive Shrimp and the Mullet Revival

October 15, 2006

Sunday, October 08, 2006 - Calabash Creek, Little River, SC
By Tom

We got off to an early start this morning as Mila and I pulled up the anchor and had the boat pointed south by 7am. The weather was still overcast and threatening, but thanks to superior timing and navigation skills, we had a fair tide all day and arrived in Calabash Creek around 2 pm.

We got the anchor down seconds before the rain descended. It never stopped raining all night.

Trapped inside for the remainder of the day, we alternated between doing odd chores and reading books. For dinner I braved the down pour to grill beef ribs with barbecued potatoes. Amy contributed two side salads.

After dinner we played with the ferrets and then watched a movie before turning in early. Tommorow promises to be a long day of motoring.

Monday, October 09, 2006 - Gerogetown Harbour, Georgetown, SC
By Tom

Another early start and another long day. We were under way by 6:30. The rain finally stopped around 4 am this morning. It's a good thing we're on a boat as many of the water front homes around here are flooding pretty bad.

We passed through three bridges on our way south. The bridge operators here are about the friendliest ones we have ever seen on the ICW. I'm not sure why, they just are.

We stopped for fuel and home made sausages at Bucksport, SC. Don and Sandy got some here last year that we all shared for dinner one night, so now that we have the freezer, we thought we'd add some to our frozen food section.

Speaking of the freezer, it's been working perfectly. Our built in fridge/freezer unit has been turned down to the warmest setting and is now used just to keep sodas, milk, and veggies cool (45 F). The new freezer is running less than 20 minutes an hour, drawing less than 2.4 amps while on and keeping everything mega frozen. Nice!

We anchored in Georgetown amidst the ghetto boats by 4 pm off the town waterfront. I know I say this we are here, but the city needs to do something about the floating garbage scows that litter the harbour here.

Maybe they should do like Vero Beach does and install reasonably priced mooring balls. At least then I think some of the transiting cruisers would stop by. As it is now, most cruisers bypass Georgetown both ways. It's kind of a shame because the little water front area of town is quite pleasant and the people we have met there are ultra friendly.

Tomorrow we are going to take the day off and go to shore to hike out to the Piggly Wiggly. How hard is it to take a store seriously when it has either "Piggly" or "Wiggly" in the title?

Tuesday, October 10, 2006 - Georgetown Harbour, Georgetown, SC
By Tom

The ghetto boat next to us has two dogs on board that finally drove us off the boat by 9 am. I know it's not the dogs' fault, but the owner should probably be shot. Who in his right mind has two, 50 pound plus dogs on a 30 foot hulk of a sailboat that looks barely afloat? I feel sorry for those pups.

Once ashore, Amy went to the coffee house place with her laptop and I strolled around the water front. We met up around noon and hoofed it out to the grocery store.

As the store is about a mile and a half each way, we tried to get only the necessities, which ended up being amended to include two 24 ounce Heineken's and a 12.5 pound cut of New York strip that was on sale for two bucks a pound. With our new freezer only half full, we jumped on that deal.

Back on board, with the help of both of my good fillet knives and the use of Milo as a counter poise, I was able to reduce the massive hunk-o-meat into 15, two person sized New York strip servings in about 30 minutes. As the two designated carnevours on board Dream Catcher, Milo and I are most pleased.

For the record, Amy will tolerate steak if it is cooked correctly and served buried under a mound of veggies. Mila says that she won't eat anything dumber than her nrother and thus finds cow repulsive.

After the meat whacking operation and post shopping clean up, Amy and I returned (sans ferrets) to the water front bar called Big Tuna's. We had a couple of beers and split a pan seared Tuna appetizer. It was pretty good, but maybe a little under cooked.

Later, back on the boat we broke down the dinghy and readied the boat for traveling. After that I grilled a surf and turf combo of Asian Style Mahi Mahi and a freshly cut New York trip steak. Rice was also available as a side dish. Dinner turned out quite good.

Amy finished out the evening reading while the ferrets and I watched After the Sunset for the thirtieth time. Tomorrow we press on.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006 - Whiteside Creek, SC
By Tom

We left on the tide out of Georgetown early this morning. We calculated our departure to give us maximum push from the tide and as such, we averaged 9 knots for the first 3 hours this morning.

The weather offshore is still suspect, so today was another day motoring down the inside. We waited until 3 pm to decide on our destination for the day based on our progress and we ended up using the unsuspecting Whiteside Creek as tonight's anchorage.

There is absolutely nothing special about Whiteside Creek and there is nothing visible on the horizon in any direction except marsh weeds. At least the neighbors won't keep us up.

We had the anchor down and the boat to bed by 4 pm. Cocktails proceeded the evening meal of home made pizza. Amy spent the remains of the evening reading and the ferrets and I watched Running Scared before we all retired for the night.

Tomorrow we push through Charleston and head towards Beaufort, SC where it is rumored we will have weather to head offshore to Florida by the weekend. Hmmm.

Thursday, October 12, 2006 - Rock Creek, SC
By Tom

We upped anchor by 7:15 this morning and turned the boat south in a supreme effort to find heat. It could only have been 40 degrees this morning. Brrr.

I'm sure this is nothing to those of you living normal lifestyles, but keep in gentle reader that I own one pair of socks and exactly one pair of pants. We are not equipped to combat the cold. In fact, it was so cold this morning that I stuffed Milo and Mila inside my sweatshirt to act as a heating source as I drove southward in the early morning hours.

It finally warmed up around noon and we made good time in our travels south. We alternated hour shifts at the wheel with the hour off spent down below trying to stay warm. On one of my off periods, I cut down the new dinghy tiller extension mechanism so that it now fits in our application. See supporting evidence displayed side right.

We pressed on for as long as we had the tide, knowing that we were making tomorrow's trip into Beaufort, SC shorter and shorter. We came to rest in Rock Creek, just off the ICW in another completely unremarkable anchorage with nothing to offer other than weeds, swamp, and bugs.

I grilled up a chicken breast for Amy and a steak for myself for dinner along with a few grilled potato wedges and Amy's patent side salad. Milo sat on my salad and crushed it under his massive weight, thus claiming it for himself. It really didn't bother me as I am not much of a friend to vegetables.

Amy turned in early in an effort to get warm, while the ferrets and I played video game until 10 pm before retiring. We should make Beaufort by noon tomorrow

Friday, October 13, 2006 - Beaufort Harbour, Beaufort, SC
By Tom

We were up early and made our way to Beaufort harbour by 11 am. We had the hook down and the boat to bed in time to go ashore around 1 pm.

We dinghied into the free city dock and walked around the town to stretch our legs. After an hour or two we retired to Cathleen's water front pub for a beer and a buffalo wing. In what has become an increasingly recurring phenomenon, Cathleen's draft beer taps are broken. Shitty death!

I made do with a Yuengling bottle and after a few drinks we returned to the mother ship to relax and generally aggravate our ferrets. Around supper time I made some grilled potato skins which turned out to be excellent. We retired to our books by 8 pm.

Saturday, October 14, 2006 - Beaufort Harbour, Beaufort, SC
By Tom

We were up early and I made blue berry waffles for breakfast. We dinghied to shore around noon to experience the "Beaufort Shrimp Festival".

We decide to walk around the town some and take some picture, mostly because we have been here 5 times, but never taken any. One of the pictures I conned Amy into taking was of me riding the 17th century cannon. Remember that scene in Armageddon where Steve Buschemia is riding the super secret space laser on the asteroid?

"Sorry boss, I just wanted to feel the power between my legs". Come on Steve, you know what I'm talking about.

We made the tour of all the shrimp festival booths and Amy took lots of pictures. She also sampled several of the local offerings, while Milo, Mila and I sampled the Amber Bock beer from three different vendors strategically located around the festival encampment. Remember, we fear goo.

For the record, all of the shrimp I saw looked festive. There were, however, several anit-foriegn and anti-farm raised shrimp displays laid out by the local shrimp cooperative. Apparently foriegn shrimp are somehow inferior to their locally caught bretheron. Go figure.

Of course I also spotted 12 male and 5 female co-op member sporting the timeless and ultra stylish chop and drop "mullet" hair style, so maybe foriegn shrimp aren't a bad thing after all?

After festivaling ourselves to the limit, we retired to the local pizza parlor for dinner and then returned to the boat to ready it for offshore work tomorrow. If the weather gods hold, we will be running out of Port Royal on the morning tide bound for Saint Augustine sometime the next day.

Last night the temperature went down to 43. It's definitely time to get south. In fact it was so cold last night, I had to get out the ferret sleeping bag. You know it's cold when your wickies need a roll up. More to follow.