BS1 08 – Transients

Adjusting to life aboard has been relatively painless for us except we could have enjoyed a little more time to settle in before having to leave Hidden Marina and Campground, but we knew we would have to leave at the end of our paid time once we moved onto the boat. Understanding this, as we moved in we did our best to sort and store everything in preparation for active travel, resolving to find more permanent homes for things at a later date so that we could focus solely on preparing to leave the dock.

 

We had a small window of time left and the biggest goal we wanted to achieve before setting off was to re-cover our bimini frame over the cockpit with a custom aluminum hard top. William had long ago drawn out his plans, ordered and picked up the aluminum sheeting, flat bars and other items he required for assembly, and everything had been brought to Georgetown and conveniently stored in our nearby unit, ready and waiting.

 

William gathered everything, went to work, and managed to finish it all in record time: fitting and installation, sealing, coating the top in white paint, and he was even able to affix our three new 200 watt solar panels on top too. More information about these big projects will be shared via Sailing Wind Dragon YouTube vlogs, so be sure to check them out!

 

Sneak peek: underneath the new hardtop looking aft in the cockpit

 

We slid out of our slip and returned to Hazzard Marine for a short haul so William could change out the props as planned, and then…well, we truly had no plan from there.

 

We were fortunate that the manager at Hazzard Marine was able to allow us to spend a little extra time there on the facing dock while we got things situated and investigated our options. Our goal had been to head to Wilmington, NC if possible, but we were having no luck finding any available long term dockage there, or anywhere in-between for that matter, which meant we would just have to move as transients for a while.

Georgetown from the docks at Hazzard Marine

Transient dockage is generally easy to obtain, though it can be expensive. Dockage is charged by boat length and is usually available by daily, weekly, and sometimes monthly rates. For slip occupancy longer than a short stay the most economical solution is a long-lease slip, however they can be difficult to obtain. Marinas within the most popular areas are usually wait listed for long-lease slips, sometimes by as long as a few years in advance, and even then not all marinas are accepting of boats with people living on them full time (i.e. Hidden Marina).

 

Of course there is always the option of just finding a place to anchor, but at the moment we prefer being docked with electricity and amenities whenever possible. We have easily managed to juggle our day jobs while traveling in the past, but attempting to complete our refit and concentrate on boat projects as we like requires dockage which will allow us to still cross even more items off our refit lists quicker than we would be able to if we were at anchor.

 

Heading North up the ICW, our first stop outside Georgetown was at Wacca Wache Marina on the Waccamaw River in Murrells Inlet, SC. This is a lovely marina with a restaurant/bar on site, public boat ramp nearby, and bookable local airboat gator tours and pontoon plantation tours which are well worth exploring! Almost as expected however, Wacca Wache Marina is both transient expensive and wait list heavy on long-lease options, so with a heavy sigh we had our name added to the list for future possibilities and continued our search.

 

A couple of days later William found an ad for a long-lease slip located in a private marina North of Myrtle Beach which piqued our curiosity. It wasn’t as far North as we wanted to be but it was only about an hour from Wilmington and the numbers were very fair. The slip was currently occupied but would become available the first of September, and the owner was willing to comp to a 4 month lease since we plan to depart for the Bahamas in December.

 

We drove up and checked out the marina, spoke with the dock master to confirm legitimacy of the rental and enquire after marina rules of compliance for occupancy, and then just a short bit later after submitting our insurance details to the marina we paid our lease, and our long-lease problem for this year was solved! When we get there. In the meantime, we’re still transients, and we’re still traveling.

 

Our next stop would be Bucksport Marina, just 5 nautical miles north of Wacca Wache on the Waccamaw River towards Myrtle Beach, in the heart of the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge. Though fairly close to everything via waterway, the actual address for Bucksport Marina is in Conway, SC, and by land it does take about an hour to reach the local beaches because the roads must drive the long way around protected nature and forestry preserves.

Except for the remoteness of Bucksport, we absolutely love the marina, the community within it, and the beauty of the area. Wildlife is abundant, especially in the forms of gators, osprey, dolphins, and turtles, and the rhythmic songs of the frogs are mesmerizing enough to hypnotize even the most cynical of city dwellers. Bucksport is known as a good hurricane location because it is well protected from storm surge and there are tons of tall trees surrounding the area which provide a great wind break, however it is said to be prone to flooding – which has been part of it’s demise over recent years past – but now under new ownership it is slowing building back and still as popular as ever.

 

 

Still, with Labor Day approaching we made the executive decision to stay in Bucksport through the busy holiday weekend and then make our way to our new home after the waters have been vacated of seasonal revelers. To be honest, if we hadn’t already pre-paid for our long-lease dockage up river, we would be seeking to stay at this marina as long as possible. The locals refer to this phenomenon as The Bucksport Vortex, because several who have stumbled in as transients (like us), have ended up staying, and thus the lovely community of people within has been built.

 

Unfortunately we have no choice but to leave the Vortex behind very shortly and travel to our new home marina for the next few months. We don’t know what wonders our new marina will hold, if there is an active community or if it is mostly just local storage, but we’ll soon find out. The biggest bonus we are looking forward to right now is definitely location, as we’ll be so much closer to the suppliers we need to access while finishing up more refit projects before we set sail again.

 

Until next time friends, fair winds!