Sunday, December 6, 2009 South Santee to Dewees Creek SC

South Santee River, SC (N33*08.777 W079*18.951) to Dewees Creek, SC (32*50.187 W079*43.794)

We hauled our anchor up at 8:15am and headed out 33 miles to Dewees Creek. As we approached McClellanville I could see a couple of fishing boats (fishing arms up) following the meandering stream to return up the tidal creek and home. Both ships must have had a good load of fish or shrimp to be returning in the late morning (close to 11:00am). Another clue that they had good hauls were the clouds of gulls and pelicans that hovered all over the boats. They were literally swarmed with birds.

McClellanville’s a lovely little village, small and picturesque with pines, large live oaks and palmettos lining the tidal creek and salt marsh. It almost invites you to visit – it’s just a very friendly looking place. As a further testament to the richness of the sea’s bounty on this area, we were joined and flanked by two dolphins.

The dolphins made their presence known to us while I was standing at the helm taking in the scenery. Splash! I was startled from my thoughts. On the right side of the boat a dolphin surfaced and splashed us, scaring me and making me laugh at the same time. I thought it went under the water to the other side of the boat and surfaced and then back under again to resurface on my right. I was wrong. There were two dolphins. We had one on each side of the boat. They followed along on both sides for a quarter of a mile to a half-mile until we had to make a turn. Then they fell back. I had to wonder about them. Did the fishermen feed them on their return home for good luck? I enjoyed their company. I was going to race for my camera but normally when I do this I’m too late to get a good picture. This would have been a good day for dolphin pictures too. Se la vi.

I kept my eye out for alligators while cruising along the Awendaw Creek. We’d had a spotting there last spring. This fall – no luck.

As we pulled into Dewees and were anchoring, I heard Hampshire Rose and Jade East. I think they’re a couple miles up the road from us somewhere. My phone rang which surprised the daylights out of me – so we seem to have good phone reception here – depending on which way we swing LOL! I hurried up and facebooked Becky to let her know we’d be coming into Charleston Monday sometime and would be there until at least Wednesday, depending on the weather.

Dewees Creek is a nice anchorage. The tidal current runs swift and strong here because of the inlet from the Atlantic. You can see the breakers all along the opening. This is not an inlet to use to go out to or come in from the mighty Atlantic. It varies from 0 ft in depth to 15 ft. Watching those white caps and breaking waves is a definite incentive for setting a good anchor. On the other hand because the currents are so strong, along this creek, the mudflats and oyster bars get a continuous replenishment of nourishments to support healthy populations of fish, shrimp and crab. At low tide you can usually see people out scouring the mud banks and oyster bars. By the way, these are the original oyster bars – the kind that the oysters belly up to, not the kind in NYC.

We anchored just past a private club and the ferry docks. This is where a small island divides the current forming mudflats. There’s good holding even with the strong currents. Time to make dinner - Flat Iron steak and German potato salad for dinner tonight. I noticed another boat (Canadian) pulled in behind us in front of the ferry dock and anchored for the night.