South Santee River

We are gone by 8:15am. Another cool day, we are wearing watch caps, neck gaiters, gloves and warm jackets. Even though it is sunny partly most of the day it is still cool. We get to a very remote anchorage, South Santee River, were we have anchored before. It is very remote, with limited cell service. Soon after we anchor we make hot chocolate with Amaretto. After dinner we watch some TV shows, before we happily slide into our warm electric blanket heated beds. 

Floating swing bridge for cars

 Video to South Santee

https://www.relive.cc/view/v1vjkdVmPJO

Osprey

 

We leave the marina by 7:30am, we have a long day to Osprey marina on the other side of Myrtle Beach. 

 

 

 

 

We are planning on taking Linda’s niece, Charla out to dinner. Of course she has to pick us up. Eventually we get a sunny afternoon after starting out with a cool cloudy morning. It is almost 5:00 PM before get we docked at Osprey. Charla, picks dinner at Texas Road House. Her son and girl friend who are vegetarians can not join us this trip, so Charla is excited to get a steak, it has been awhile for her. We always enjoy visiting with Charla.

Lots of Bridges today

Entrance to Osprey

Sunset at Osprey

 

Video to Osprey

https://www.relive.cc/view/vr63AQegzdv

 

Video to Osprey

St. James Plantation

We get up at 7:00, but don’t leave until 10:00am so we can catch a favorable current down the Cape Fear River in the afternoon. Today’s trip started off cloudy and with a little rain and by afternoon we had some sun. Saw lots of dolphins. It was fairly rough going down the lower Cape Fear River and the whole boat was getting rather wet. We get in St. James at 4:00PM and first get fuel and a pumpout before we head to our assigned slip. I immediately get the hose out and give the salty boat a fresh water wash down.

 

Traffic on the Cape Fear River

Cape Fear Ferry

 

We quickly shower and head to dinner at the newly opened restaurant at the marina. The old restaurant was very good, but Covid did it in and they have not had a restaurant here for a couple years. The new restaurant, just recently opened is excellent. Linda and I split a dinner of Mahi-Mahi tacos with fabulous onion rings and a dessert of raspberry cheese cake.

 

Diner at St. James

St. James Harbor

 

After dinner Linda does laundry, I do some planning. We call our friends Jack and Ann whose boat was damaged in Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers on the hard. Hopefully they will be able to get it repaired and launched this winter. The hard part is finding a slip which was almost impossible before Ian took out a large number of marinas.

 

 

Wrightsville Beach

The wind shifted over night from north to east. This morning it starts to shift to the south. With this 180 degree rotation our anchor starts to drag about 50 feet before it resets. Not a big deal when there is lots of room, but we are close to docks. I turn on the engine and put it into reverse to further set the anchor.

 

We drag 50 feet to the north when the wind switches

Still not comfortable where we are, so we start to motor forward to pull up the anchor to move. Linda is behind the wheel and puts the engine in forward. It is vibrating oddly and I check below to see what the problem could be. After a minute I realize the engine throttle is too low. The Autoprop engaged at idle speed will produce more thrust than a fixed prop. Increasing the throttle produced enough thrust to quiet the drive train. There are a number of differences between the props that I am going to have get use to, some positive and some negative.

 

Photos for the insurance company

We motor around and reset the anchor for the southerly winds we will be getting. I later put the dinghy down while it is relatively calm and “take photos standing ten feet away from the boat at all four corners”. We have explained to the insurance company we are traveling on the boat, but they stick to their script.

This evening the last of one of the remaining bands of Nicole passes through and we are bouncing and swinging in 25 to 35 knot winds. A little disappointing after a fairly calm afternoon.

 

Wrightsville Beach - Old Prop

Back to the old prop

This morning is relatively calm, still very windy, compared to the last two days. Steve texts me telling me he will be here in 20 minutes. I take the dinghy off the davits and move it to the side of the boat. When Steve arrives we tie his boat up on the opposite side. In less than ½ hour he has completed the job. The rest of the day we spend on the boat working on stuff like dealing with our insurance company. The woman wants a picture of the damage. She knows the is prop missing, fell of. I try to explain all she will see is a clean prop shaft. I have the feeling she does not even know what a prop is.

Another anchor watch

 

Steve brings his office

Steve goes to work

11/9 Wrightsville

 

 

In the morning we are still here, the pink is the arc we swung last night.

In the morning the wind is a little less. I locate a Prop Shop in Wilmington about 10 miles away. He has the key stock that I need and spare prop nuts in case the diver drops any of them working under this bouncing boat. Our diver, Steve Mcgee, agrees to come the following morning when the wind is suppose to lessen. I email him our location. He keeps a boat at a local marina just a few minutes away.

 

Surf at Wrightsville Beach

This surf and wind we are currently experiencing is from the High System that has been temporarily blocking Hurricane Nicole's northward movement.

I lower the dinghy and put on the outboard and we head to the town dinghy dock. Alain and Diane head in at the same time to walk to a supermarket about a mile away. We get an Uber to the Prop Shop in Willmington. The Prop Shop is a one man operation and Alan cuts the ¼ inch square keys for us. I get 4 made, 1 to use and 3 spares. He has a set of the prop shaft locking nuts, so now we have plenty of spares. I assume if the prop gets dropped it will be easy to find, unlike the small pieces. Alan only charges us $20. We take another Uber back. The driver drops us off at “Tower 7” a Surfboard themed Mexican restaurant that we have really liked in the past and we have an early dinner before heading back to our boat.

I work on cleaning the keyway slot in the prop and filing the brass key stock pieces so they easily fit. Steve will not be able to fart around under water forcing things together, like usually happens doing this job on dry land standing under the boat.

 

Now Hurricane Nicole in off Florida is heading our way in southern North Carolina

 

 

Wrightsville Beach

Before sunrise

We get up at 6:00am and the wind does not seem too bad. I call the Figure 8 Bridge operator to check on the wind there. He says its fine for now, but if the wind increases they may not open, no guarantees. We are aiming for the 9:00am opening and plan to leave the marina around 7:00am to cover the 10 miles or so. We start off with a lot of current against us so I have to increase the engine RPM to compensate and put out the head sail. When we reach the Bridge, we furl the head sail and try to keep the north wind on our stern from pushing us into the bridge. Even with the engine in neutral the wind behind us is pushing us along at 2 knots. I have to keep putting the engine in reverse to slow us down waiting for the 9:00am opening. 

ICW Giraffe just before the Figure 8 bridge

 

 

Figure 8 bridge

Once through the bridge I put out the head sail and shut down the engine, we only have 5 miles to go to the next bridge at Wrightsville Beach and the next opening is at 10:00am.

 

As we approach the Wrightsville Beach Bridge I furl the sail and start up the engine. We are still moving too fast for the 10:00 am opening. I put the engine in reverse, Clunk! We turn around to see if we hit something, like a log, but there is nothing there. I increase the engine RPM’s, but we are not slowing down. My first thought is the transmission failed. Now the brisk wind is starting to push us sideways and we are loosing steering control with a rapidly approaching closed bridge. I roll out about ¼ of the head sail so we can have steering control and I straighten out the boat and look ahead to an area before a row of docks. I steer the boat over, off the main channel, Linda takes the wheel and I run up and deploy the anchor. It quickly grabs the bottom and we spin around into the wind. Linda calls Tow Boat US, our towing insurance and within 45 minutes a large inflatable tow boat arrives. The operator does a side tie to pull us along. While waiting we call most of the local marina’s and they are all full with boats hiding out from the high winds. So we decide to be towed to the Wrightsville Anchorage since we have run out of options. We get the boat anchored and set. We determine the prop must have fallen off since the drive shaft is turning just fine with no vibrations. I have had the AutoProp for 4 years and it took us to the Bahamas and back 4 years ago. It does not mount like a regular fixed prop. I assume that the locking set screw had not been tightened when installed in the spring.

 

Tow Boat US to the rescue

Fortunately, I have our old 3 bladed fixed prop that I had repitched to match the gear ratio of the new transmission I install 4 years ago. I have carried it as back up to our fancy AutoProp. I spend much of the afternoon calling various marinas and boat yards looking for a 1/4 inch square shaft key which I do not have a spare and a diver. I finally locate a well recommended diver, who has his own boat and we plan to talk again tomorrow morning, hoping to get a lull in the wind. We are a little nervous having to wholly rely on our anchor with no propulsion, if we drag in this wind. We have a rather bouncy night swinging back and forth with the wind howling through the rigging.

Our location at Wrightsville Beach with the anchor watch circle