Long run to Wacca Wache Marina in Murrell's Inlet, SC -- June 12

We set the alarm for 8 a.m. so we could get an early start for what we knew would be a long run to the Wacca Wache Marina in Murrell's Inlet, SC. This was our target because we knew from our travels on the ICW last year that it is a nice marina (with a great name) just ten minutes from the home of dear friends from our college days -- and we knew how long it took us to make this trip the last time. The marina is on the Waccamaw River almost twenty miles upstream from Georgetown, SC and 35 miles from the ocean via the Winyah Bay Inlet. Despite this distance, we had to contend with a tidal current running about one mph upstream while docking. The dockhand was experienced and guided us through it well.


The Waccamaw is one of our favorite stretches on the Intracoastal, with a big national wildlife refuge full of cypress trees in its northern reaches and big grassy stretches full of abandoned rice plantations at its lower end. The rice plantations, which lined many of the major rivers in the SC low country, were a major source of wealth for slave owners -- but brutal for the slaves. Our tour bus driver in Charleston yesterday said that the average working life of a slave on a rice plantation slave was six years. The rice plantations were located far enough upstream that the water wasn't too salty, and they took advantage of the tides (and the fact that fresh water flowing out tidal rivers runs on top of the denser salt water) to add or remove water from the fields as needed through ditches and control gates. 

Noteworthy sights leaving Charleston included a Coast Guard boat conducting some sort of training or drill,


some beautiful old mansions along the Battery,


and a ferry boat headed out towards Fort Sumter. (One can't have an aquatic Charleston travelogue without a picture of Fort Sumter.)


We had an invitation to stay with our friend Paula for the night (Rick was away on business) and had a lovely visit with her. It also gave us a chance to do a load of laundry, which is always welcome while cruising. 

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