The Harborwalk Marina is a stone throw from downtown historic Georgetown. The grocery store turns out to be a few more stone throws from the marina — and just about everyone in Georgetown can provide you with confident & precise directions to the grocery store — which won’t actually get you there. But hey, I found the Piggly Wiggle (Wiggly) after adding about 3 extra miles to those directions. En route, I discovered that Georgetown is actually a very historic place.

Many houses have both a street number and a DATE (like 1765 or 1810)…the oak trees are ancient (we met the State Champion Oak Tree — nearly 600 years old!)…there are little landmark signs just about everywhere explaining either some American Revolution, Plantation or Civil War artifact, and Georgetown can boast one of the few remaining working steel mills left in the US. There is a Paper factory here too — and when the winds are just right (from the south) — can produce some nasty smells. We’ve only had northerly winds. Silver lining eh?

While Charleston hosts a mix of southern locals and transients, Georgetown seems to be the home of the native southerners. The southern drawl here is very pronounced, and it takes me an extra 20 seconds to digest what the heck people are saying. Try out some of these:

One block from our marina in the starboard direction, is a dock used by the local shrimp boats. And, surprise, surprise…right next to where the shrimp boats unload their catch — is an independent seafood market – open to the public. Here, you can buy fresh shrimp and other seafood catch of the day – very cheap & very fresh. Wow – what a treat! No more trips to the Wiggly….

Conversely, going 1 block in the port direction from our boat is the commerce section of old Georgetown. This main street in historic Georgetown is lined with very old buildings – now filled with nick-knack stores, tour guides, multiple barber shops run by 80+ year old barbers, one guys-only-but-they’ll-let-girls-in fitness center, and many restaurants (which all feature shrimp entrees – go figure!).

But alas, southerly winds are coming (Friday) – so we will be departing Georgetown by noon on Thursday – to find anchorage closer to the inlet at Winyah Bay. The plan is to try to make 2 legs of our travels north on Friday with southerly winds – and we expect to depart Winyah Bay at 3AM – fog permitting. Approximately 120 miles — with arrival in Wrightsville NC by 9PM that same evening. That’s the plan.