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A yachtsman’s yahoo:
What sea captain wouldn’t want to dock at Harbour Town? The Hilton Head marina,
famous for its octagon-shaped, striped lighthouse, currently is home to The Stars and Stripes,
America’s famous sailing vessel. Boutiques, galleries and restaurants are other reasons to visit the
quaint Sea Pines neighborhood.
Photo by Jane Faircloth/
Transparencies Inc. |
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| Cruising The Carolina Coast |
|
he Carolina Coast is a ragged hedge of colliding currents
and sun-drenched islands anchored by a series of shifting shoals that compose
an area called the "Graveyard of the Atlantic."
These four mid-Atlantic
shoals, Cape Hatteras, Cape Lookout, Cape Fear and Cape Romain, funnel warm
ocean currents from the Gulf Stream into the chilling storm clouds of fast-moving
cold fronts, creating a navigational nightmare for any skipper skirting the
Carolina coast.
Fortunately, there is an alternative for those skittish
sailors seeking to sail from town to port without risking both wife and limb.
It's called the Intracoastal Waterway and it's a bashful boater's best friend.
The ICW is an interstate
waterway for commercial
and recreational
vessels, stretching more
than 3,000 miles from
Boston to Key West.
Built earlier this
century to provide a
safe inland shipping
route for military and
commercial ships, the
ICW remains the premiere
passage for recreational
sailors moving north and
south along the Atlantic
seaboard.
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rom the local native
in a small skiff to the professional captain delivering a new motor yacht, the
Waterway provides a secure route between the islands and inlets of the Carolina
coast.
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Fishing is a fashionable career in the Lowcountry and
shrimpers and skippers
alike enjoy golf on the links at Hilton Head..
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From Elizabeth City to Hilton Head, the Waterway is brimming
with small towns, ritzy resorts and long unspoiled beaches. South of Charleston,
the Waterway begins to turn back on itself every few miles as the Lowcountry
spreads inland with the rising tide. It's a slow style of sailing, but for many,
it's the most scenic stretch of the Waterway. Here are opportunities for side
trips down the North Edisto River to the beach communities of Kiawah Island
and Seabrook Resort, where long walks on wide beaches can cure the most contagious
case of cabin fever.
Farther south in Beaufort, SC, the scent of fresh seafood
lingers as shrimp trawlers nudge the creosote dock pilings along the main waterfront.
Fishing is a fashionable career in the Lowcountry and shrimpers and skippers
alike enjoy golf on the links at Hilton Head. Harbour Town and Shelter Cove
Marina offer an assortment of sophisticated shops, superb docking facilities
and excellent dining, making them favorite stops along the Waterway.
Hilton Head stands in stark contrast to the coastal communities
bordered by the Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge. Sailors heading north of Charleston
will catch a glimpse of what coastal living was like before highways and fairways
reshaped the dunes and creeks of the sea islands. As your cruise enters the
shallow waters of Winyah Bay, you'll begin to see and smell the port city of
Georgetown, overlooking the Waccamaw, Great Pee Dee and Sampit rivers.
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Southport has the feel of an old New England fishing village,
but with the climate of the subtropics.
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This coastal village was honored by King George of England
as a colonial port of entry. Take a day to explore authentic colonial architecture
in the historic district and sample the fare of riverside bistros along Front
Street.
Myrtle Beach may not have the charm and heritage of a
Bucksport or Pawleys Island, but what it lacks in pedigree it makes up for in
marine services. Cruisers find plenty of marinas, including the cozy
Lightkeepers Village in Coquina Harbor up Little River Inlet (marker 346), and
exciting nightlife, dining and shopping, like that at Barefoot Landing marina,
anchored by the Alabama Theater and House of Blues.
From Myrtle Beach, it's a day's run up to Southport, NC, and the resort of
Bald Head Island. Southport has the feel of an old New England fishing village,
but with the climate of the subtropics. The town was once a secure harbor for
Confederate blockade runners and a refuge for pirates. Bald Head Island has
been tastefully transformed from a remote sand spit into a first-class island
resort. The "village" includes a marina, golf course, restaurants
and boutiques.
Half a day's sail from Bald Head Island will put you in Wrightsville Beach,
considered the "Malibu of the South" by many. In recent years, Wrightsville
Beach has enjoyed new wealth and energy. Beaufort, NC, has long been hailed
as the "Gateway to the Caribbean." Because of its proximity to the
Gulf Stream, Beaufort is a port of departure for many crews sailing to the Bahamas
and Virgin Islands. The town was developed during colonial times as a deep-water
port to receive European wares and spices from the islands.
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If you come to Ocracoke, you come by boat. There are no stoplights or bridges
to the mainland.
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Today, most of Beaufort's historic homes, gardens and commercial buildings
have been restored. Still, the public park and anchorage along the waterfront
remain its primary attraction along with the lure of treasure from the recently
uncovered remains of Blackbeard's ship.
Just north of Beaufort, there is a dramatic shift in the style and type of
sailing. The shifting shoals of Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout help preserve
the beaches and sand bars of the Outer Banks, forming the inland bays of Pamlico
and Albemarle sounds. The towns and villages here exude a flavor of exotic isolation.
Oriental is a village of nostalgia, untainted by coastal congestion found in
other tourist towns. New Bern, just around the river from Oriental, was the
home of North Carolina's first colonial capital. Bath and Washington sit on
a stretch of the Pamlico River north of Oriental, overlooking the same narrow
creeks that Blackbeard used to moor his fleet when contemplating his retirement
from pirating.
Ocracoke Island sits in the middle of the Outer Banks and is about as close
as you'll get to Caribbean cruising this side of the Bahamas. A stubby white
lighthouse overlooks a small, circular anchorage and a web of narrow lanes paved
with crushed sea shells leads down to the beach.
If you come to Ocracoke, you come by boat. There are no stoplights or bridges
to the mainland, and the most pressing form of civil discourse is a debate on
whether the island should secede from Hyde County. Allowing for the attitude
and latitude of those involved in this cultural revolution, it seems to be a
resistance movement short on resolve and long on relaxation.
But here on the Carolina coast, that's just another sign of the times and tides.
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Written by Eddie Jones
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