Nov 8 - Stay in Georgetown and “see the sights”. Visit the Rice Museum, which is fascinating. Georgetown County was for a long time the largest rice producer in the world and the guided tour of the museum addresses all aspects of the cultivation and commerce of rice. We were guided by a local young woman just out of high school who had never been out of Georgetown County, but was expecting to go on a trip to Montreal and a sailing adventure in the BVI’s. She was very sweet and informative, but I have to tell you, it was unnerving to have a black woman telling you all about the slave culture that was such an integral part of the rice growing business. The rice industry of Georgia collapsed after the Civil War in substantial part because it was predicated on the use of slaves and was no longer economical when competitive wages had to be paid. Anyway, if you’re ever down this way, you should really visit the Museum. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it’s well worth the visit. We buy some local crab cakes which are pricey but very good and we eat in one of the many small and eclectic restaurants. Lots of Live Oaks with all kinds of ferns and other vegetation growing on them. Very interesting. (Some pix attached).
Nov. 9 - All sources warn us about the shoaling spots in the next stretch of the ICW and I am all nerves as we leave for Isle of Palms Marina, which is just 5nm more or less from Charleston. Will stay there because doubt I can make Charleston in the daylight. We leave on a rising tide and have plenty of water almost everywhere along the trip, but there are lots of twists and turns and where the bigger creeks feed into the ICW the current is treacherous. Almost at our destination when the plotter doesn’t agree with what I’m seeing or the depth sounder and we have a white knuckle moment while the depth sounder reads 6.5 ft. (we draw just about 6) before I figure out where the deeper water is. There’s another place nearby where the plotter shows a small island in the middle of the channel that doesn’t exist and it’s weird to be seeing the boat pass over dry land on the plotter with the depth sounder reading 16.5 ft. Will have to write Raymarine about that. Anyway, get to Isle of Palms Marina which is quaint and since it’s Saturday there’s an oyster roast and live band at the restaurant next door. Music is good but too loud for us to sit where the band is playing so we retire to the boat and listen from there, where the volume was just right.
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