Born Again

May 8, 2015

Woke up to moderate winds, of course still NNE.

Same decision – go or stay. Now the subtropical depression is a named storm, ANA, first named storm of the season, 120 miles southeast of our position and closing. For now she is “meandering about” but is expected to gain strength, speed and move to the north, northwest and the radar reports show us pretty much right in her path. Same predictions for high winds and higher gusts.

So now we are thinking, “Let’s get the hell out of here”, haul into a marina and let the system pass. So we headed north into that narrow, foreboding channel which is the ICW, at least this portion is narrow and foreboding. We threaded the very narrow Fourmile Creek Canal, crossed the North Santee River, entered and passed the also narrow Estherville Minim Creek Canal, entered the western channel of Winyah Bay and finally Winyah Bay at Mile 406 ICW.

We traveled up Winyah Bay with the winds on our nose of course, past Georgetown and entered the Waccamaw River. Winds were 18-20 with some 30 knot gusts. Weather actually pleasant for the most part, but in early afternoon, wind increased and heavy rains came on.

On the way up this long stretch of the Waccamaw we passed a very big, three-mast steel schooner (“Steel Away”) stern tethered to the west bank with a least two anchors deployed off the bow out into deeper water. This guy is hunkered down. Now we are in a panic. Time for us to hunker down. We probably should have taken a lesson from Steel Away. He looked like he knew what he was doing.

 

 

Steel Away at Anchor on the Waccamaw 

 

 

Steel Away

 

But we bailed on that and decided to find a marina. Finally found a likely prospect in the Waterway guide - Bucksport Marina in Conway, SC, about fifteen miles north. We called. Guy answers and says, “Which part of Staunton are you from”? Surprised, I say “over by Mary Baldwin, off North Coalter”. He recognized my area code. I have no idea how he got specific about Staunton.

So, it turns out I’m talking to Jeff Weeks who grew up in Verona, retired from ASR and now manages the marina here. He knew my father and just about everyone else in Staunton who I know. We had lots to talk about. He is living here with his son, Jeff Junior, a famous Augusta County wrestler who still is regarded as the best who ever came out of that area.

So we hauled into Bucksport Marina in a driving rain, got tied up securely, rain stopped, the sun came out, wind abated, and we had a drink. We are tied up within fifty feet of Captain Seaweed’s Bar and Grill, a separate Tiki Bar, with a band stand (country and southern rock only genres allowed). Late in the evening two young guys come in in a small skiff. The first thing I notice is the Early Times bottle in the bow – half full, or half empty as you prefer. Very chatty young men who swore to me that they had been working hard all day. Turns out that they had. The boat was equipped with a sonar instrument and they had been canvasing the river’s bottom, specifically for old buried timbers and lumber, but really for anything interesting. The leader of the pair was Justin Herrington. They were both from the Charleston area and had driven up a couple of weeks ago to explore the bottom of local rivers and creeks.

Justin has a company named “Born Again Heart Woods”. This guy and his companion mine these rivers, creeks and swamps for fallen cypress mainly, but also old boat timbers and any other wood species of value. Once they pick up something on sonar, Justin, this twenty something year old, spectacular young man dons his wet suit and SCUBA gear and goes down to inspect – sometimes to forty feet. If he finds something he likes, they mark the spot, go get their handy barge, equipped with an electric wench, return to the scene and drag that mother up! They have found lots of stuff including a ten thousand year old Native American dugout canoe, which he gave to South Carolina, many mastodon teeth and jaw bones, and one mastodon tusk which he sold for five thousand dollars.

Justin takes the ancient cypress and other woods back to his wood working shop where we cures and dresses them and builds anything people want. The waters around here contain naturally occurring tannins which preserve the downed timber. Now isn’t that something!

Back to that big steel boat. We talked to someone who knew about it. A husband and wife team built it from scratch and have been living on it for a long time. They have been all over the world in it. It must be spectacular. Its for sale if you are interested.

We are safe and sound. Hope you are too.

Namaste