South Carolina

Hi Everyone!
Well we are over halfway through South Carolina now. Since our last post we continued through N Carolina- the houses all along there are just gorgeous. Very Caribbean style/Florida style and huge! Way bigger than anyone would ever need. We crossed into South Carolina, the scenery is changing a little. Again lots of pelicans, they are really cool birds. They glide just above the water and then all of a sudden they drop straight done and belly flop into the water and catch fish. They are definitely not a graceful bird and I'm always surprised that their technique works. There is a stretch of the ICW around here where anchorages are abyssmal and we had one day with a long run with no idea where to stop. We saw every sailboat that had passed us over the day stopped at this one dock so we pulled over. It was a place called Barefoot landing and it was great! It is mainly a shopping area with tonnes of stores and restaurants and things, it is very close to Myrtle Beach. What made it perfect is that weather was coming with a gale the next day and it was Abbey's birthday!!
She was very happy as she thought we would be anchored in a swamp in the middle of nowhere! So we had a wonderful breakfast at a Blues House- only $3 per person! Then she played in a house of mirrors with her brother, had presents and then dinner at a really nice Japanese restaurant. It was one of those places with the grill on the table and the chef prepares dinner in front of you. It was great and we all ate too much!!
The next day we moved on and after a few anchorages made it to Charleston, SC. We were hoping to stop here and check out the history of the town. We also had to do laundry as earlier Shadow drank a ton of sea water when we weren't looking and then threw up all over all the kids bedding!! What fun. Anyways, when we got there the anchorage was terrible- huge current and so crowded that the other boats were right on top of each other. The marinas were full and there was no way we could stay. The weather was calling for a really huge storm to hit the coast and especially Charleston harbour. We did not want to be there for 45 knot winds and 5 foot+ chop in this open and unprotected harbour. So off we went. We spent the day before the storm getting further into the ICW to get away from this. Luckily the ICW went west and not straight south so we got inland.
We wandered up this little creek looking for a good hurricane hole spot and really lucked out. We met a super nice local named Bob who invited us to tie up to his dock. He was great, let us plug in, use the water and lent us a portable heater. This was a life saver- the temp dropped so much the next day that they had record cold in Charleston and it snowed!!! We would have been frozen without the heater! The rain poured and the wind howled but we were snug and warm and could walk the dogs no problem. Bob the day before even taught us how to catch shrimp and crab!! The first night we had fresh shrimp- it was wonderful and the next fresh crab. The crab was very tasty but messy to crack them open, etc. We have stayed here two days to wait out the rain/wind and nasty storm and will leave tomorrow. Bob let me use his internet to give updates too. There should be more people in the world like him!
The kids are doing well, Shadows tail is almost healed- he keeps whacking it and then sneaks in licks so it has delayed healing. We made up a pop bottle to put on his tail to protect it and that really helped since no head collar could keep him from his tail.
We are dreaming of warmer weather and are pushing on, Bob told us that Georgia ICW is beautiful.
We have now seen dolphins numerous times and jellyfish and all sorts of shells. Also palm trees are now native and everywhere. It is just beautiful here.