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| Why is the Socastee Swing Bridge needed???? |
After moving to Grand Dues yesterday we got up in good cheer expecting to move south by Saturday or maybe as late as early next week. Our hopes were dashed by the morning report on bridge and marina status which can be found
here. It's the first report we turn to every morning! There we read the bad news, the Socastee Swing Bridge was not expected to be operational until 10 to 15 days later. Judging from past experience, I would expect the 15 days to be more accurate. I cannot understand why they think they still need the Socastee Swing Bridge when about 600 feet south they have a 65 ft high bridge that connects to the same road that the Socastee bridge does! What dunces! With the bridge non-operational, the ICW is blocked to all traffic. Not even powerboats can get through since the normal 11 ft of clearance is no more.
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| We are just south of the Grand Dunes Bridge |
As you might expect, all the marinas north of the bridge are filling up. At last count there was still room at Barefoot Marina (not Barefoot Landing Marina, they are rebuilding docks) and at Grand Dunes. The marinas north of there are already filled when I called them a few days ago.
I heard from Terri who is south of here and she reported the the long face dock at Fernandina was destroyed in the storm. They don't expect to reopen until May! Their dinghy dock is closed for now due to concerns over debris in the marina. Hopefully, they will open the dinghy dock by the time we get down there. The moorings are closed until they're inspected. We anchor out anyway so it does not affect us although we do need access to the dinghy dock.
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| The azaleas are in full bloom |
We are cycling through the various car rental agencies but none have any cars yet, maybe next week. Meanwhile, we have all we need. The weather has been fantastic with temps in the 70's and no rain although that may change in a few days. I hate to be wasting this great traveling weather on just sitting in a marina! I somehow suspect that when the time comes to finally continue south, the weather will be much different, I hope not.
4 comments:
Is Winyah Bay Inlet open for traffic? It would allow bypassing the ICW between Southport and Georgetown.
Richl, Winyah is open for traffic although there's a small craft advisory out today. Entering the bay you'll be facing the outflow from flood waters. Be careful with a wind against tide condition. We're just going to sit it out here.
Hey folks Bob and Judy on The Edge, still in the Outer Banks waiting to leave, was wondering why nobody is going outside rather than down the ditch? Be safe!
Edge, there are plenty of folks going outside the New River to Winyah Bay. It's a 67 Nm run assuming you anchor first at the Calabash Creek for an early the start next morning and then go to Georgetown. This time of the year you have about 11 hrs of daylight. You would need to average 6.1 kts and you can expect the trip up Winyah Bay to be a slog regardless of the tide due to the flood outflow. Needless to say, you need good weather.
You could shorten the trip to 60 Nm by anchoring just outside the entrance to the ICW but it's wide open.
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