Our Great Loop Adventure: April 2014

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Due to rain and very gusty winds our travel plans for Easter Sunday altered. Gale force winds were predicted all day and just getting the boat off the dock would have been challenging. We stayed in Myrtle Beach another day. We spent a quiet afternoon on the boat and went to the Officers Club for Easter Dinner. They had ham, baked potato, green beans, carrots, and desert was a chocolate sundae. Dinner was delicious. Monday, April 21st, dawned with clearing skies, but still the wind was brisk. We got an early start passing thru several inlets where again tides, currents and winds affect your speed. At 8:38 we crossed the border into North Carolina. When we turned into the Cape Fear River, the ride became lumpy, but the currents were in our favor, so we were moving at over 10mph. We passed a large restricted area complete with a patrol boat. It turned out to be the U.S. Army Military Ocean Terminal which is the largest ammunitions port in the United States. We came to Wrightsville Beach, NC, where we spent a quiet night at Seapath Marina. On Tuesday we traveled from Wrightsville Beach to Swansboro. Near Swansboro is a military base called Camp Lejune. We felt their presence because there was lot of chatter on the VHF. They were performing military exercises on the beaches with water craft and we got a glimpse of a large ship out on the ocean. At Caspers Marina, Tony docked the boat like a champ in the high winds. Tom and Melesia Goodman are the harbor hosts in Swansboro. We traveled with them on the rivers and to the fall rendezvous. We called and Tom agreed to take us to lunch and grocery shopping on Wednesday. The next morning we walked into town. It is very small and the shops did not open until 10:00am. Even the coffee shop was closed, well that is not entirely true, the shop was open but there were no customers or staff. Talk about small town America. Tom picked us up at noon and we went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch. Then he took us to the Lowes and the grocery store. Fully stocked, we came back to the boat, where we thanked Tom for his time. Melesia was out of town, but it was great to catch up on all the news. At 4:30 new dock neighbors arrived. The Pinta came in. The Nina is still in Georgetown for maintenance work. This is the fifth time we have been at a marina with them.The crew knows us on a first name basis. Thursday, April 24th was a short journey to Beaufort, NC. We wanted to get there early so we could have the day to walk around and visit the historic sites and see downtown. We went to the Beaufort Historical Association and got a map to do our walking tour. We then found a coffee shop to have a beverage and plan our route. The coffee was just so so. Beaufort was originally settled by the Coree, a native american tribe. They were followed by the French Huguenots. It was eventually settled by the British. By the 18th Century Beaufort was a thriving community of fishermen, sailors, soldiers and pirates. Many of the historic homes were built by sea captains. They have two tiered porches, which were popular in the West Indies and the Bahamas. There are also Queen Anne Style cottages and Greek revival homes. Porches are the dominant style for all of them. There are also many picket fences because there due to an ordinance that said pigs must stay in the yards. Pigs found outside the yard could be slaughtered by the finder. One of the highlights of our walk was the Old Burying Ground. The cemetery was deeded to the town in 1731. The oldest part of the cemetery looks empty. An archaeologic survey in 1992 confirmed that there are many graves in the area. These are probably the graves of victims of the Indian wars because many of the skulls have evidence of tomahawk wounds. Most of the graves face east because they wanted to face the sun as they arose on "Judgement Morn." We traveled mainly on rivers on Friday, April 25 ending up 48 miles later at an anchorage in Campbell Creek. The winds were building and we had tornado warnings. High winds and rains were with us all night. I turned in early and missed the lightning show. Today, we are in Belhaven, NC, where we are cleaning the boat and washing.

U.S. Army Military Ocean Terminal

Palm Island

Yard Art

Beach for troop maneuvers

The "Sharon Ann"

The Pink Palace

Two Tiered Porches in Beaufort

Front Garden in Beaufort

Area of the Indian War Graves

Sea Captain

Oldest marked grave 1773

Wild Horses

Blackbeard's Favorite Hangout

Girl buried preserved in a keg of rum

Sea Gulls following us

Summer Recess in Beaufort

Coffee in Beaufort

Saturday, April 19, 2014

We easily pulled up our anchor on the Church Creek on Monday, April 14th. We had shared the anchorage with Quimby, two sailboats and what seemed like a hundred crab pots. We continued on the the AICW towards Charleston for a short two hour run. We ran into some rain and poor visibility as we got closer to Charleston. the rain continued until after tying up to the transient dock. We docked at the Charleston City Marina before Noon. The marina is huge and is home to several large vessels. One of the marina's amenities is a courtesy van that leaves every hour and will take you to downtown. After checking in we took the van to King Street. Guess what? There was a Starbucks on the corner. We walked down King Street, which has every type of store you can imagine. It is a lot like Michigan Ave. in Chicago except it is only a two lane street with narrow sidewalks. We then went to Market Street which is a several block long series of buildings housing lots of crafts and small businesses. It is the only place where you can find Charleston's famous hand made sea grass baskets. We discovered two looper boats, Limelight and CJ are also here. Tuesday brought rain, rain, and more rain. We did some grocery shopping and inside tasks on the boat. The evening brought wind and we rocked and rolled all night. The morning of Wednesday, April 16th, was very cold. We wore socks and lined jackets. We have developed a routine to get the boat ready to leave the dock. One of the steps is checking the engine. When we lifted the access panels, we were greeted by an unpleasant odor and a battery that was boiling over and appeared to be swelling. We have had concerns about the battery for a while.Tony has been adding water every week, and the last time he had added a full gallon. Now we knew that it needed to be checked before we should travel any farther. Luckily there is an on site repair service located next to the marina office. A mechanic came by before 10:00am and, sure enough, the battery was dead. We decided to have both batteries replaced. The batteries are 8D's. They weigh 150 lbs each and require two men to lift the old batteries out and lower the new ones in place. The job was completed before 3:00pm. Thursday was another chilly day, but we wanted to move on. We made our way through Charleston Harbor. We saw the aircraft carrier, Yorktown, in the distance and passed Ft. Sumpter. (You may be wondering why we did not do a lot more sight seeing in Charleston. We visited Charleston the year our daughter, Becky, graduated from high school. At that time we saw all the wonderful homes, Ft. Sumpter, the Yorktown, and shopped.) We had a very long trip to Georgetown. It was 63 miles of gusty winds and we were fighting current and tides. We finally docked just before 5:00pm. Again we met up with Limelight and CJ. Again we are sharing a dock with the Nina and Pinta. We also were visited by a couple from Rhode Island on a boat named Dolphin. They followed us for most of today's travels and finally passed us when we got to Winyah Bay. Georgetown is known for their shrimp fleet. So on Friday morning, I went to the seafood market and bought fresh shrimp. We started our trip on Friday on the meandering Wacamaw River which has trees and swamps on both sides with occasional glimpses of civilization. On top of many of the ICW channel markers we observed many nesting bald eagles. As we got closer to Myrtle beach the waterway narrows and it is very important you stay in the middle of the channel. There is a five mile stretch called the "Rock Pile." In this area you hope you do not meet any large oncoming vessels because there is little room to maneuver without causing great damage to your boat. One of the most unusual things we have seen on this trip were two gondolas suspended on cables crossing over the waterway. They are used by golfers to get to the course on the west side. The clubs are on the outside and the people are on the inside. We docked a Myrtle Beach Yacht Club right behind Limelight and CJ. The captain of Dolphin helped us with our dock lines. After checking in we went on a tour of Dolphin, a 55 foot Offshore. It sure was a beautiful vessel. Tony was just a little bit jealous, but he got over it when he thought about how much it would cost just for the diesel fuel. We spent Saturday in Myrtle Beach. Again another cold and rainy day. Tomorrow, Easter Sunday we will treat ourselves to breakfast and make our way north on the ICW to Southport, North Carolina.

Market Street in Charleston

Shrimp Boat in Georgetown

Seafood Market in Georgetown

Schooner at anchor

Nesting Bald Eagles

Gondolas for Golfers

The "Rock Pile"

Saturday, April 12, 2014

On Sunday, April 6, we bid a sad adieu to our looper friends at Ortega Landing. We traveled back on the St. John's River. As we were motoring along minding our own business, a U.S. Coast Guard boat came along side of us. They boarded our boat and did a safety inspection making sure we had items like life jackets, fire extinguishers, and proper boat registrations. We passed with flying colors. We reentered the AICW around noon at Sisters Creek, which flowed into the Amelia River. Our next port of call was Fernandina Beach on Ameilia Island. After docking the boat, we decided to have a beverage at the Palace Saloon, the oldest tavern in Florida. However, we were disappointed because it was very loud and smoky. We were the only non-smokers in the bar and we have forgotten how noxious second hand smoke has become. Tony was especially upset because the only hard cider they served was raspberry Woodchuck.Needless to say this was not Tony's favorite establishment on the loop. April 6th was a day of two milestones. It was the 200th day of our loop adventure and we have traveled more than 2000 miles. The following day we stayed anticipating a storm front to coming through. We walked into town to see the historical buildings and houses. We found Amelia Island Coffee and, of course, I had to try their mocha. It was only adequate. The front finally came around 5 o'clock. Tuesday, it was raining but the winds were light. With the expert help of the dock master, we safely left the dock. (We are slowly realizing tides and currents dictate how you come into and out of a dock. We will rely on the local expertise of the dock masters as we continue.) We continued on the Amelia River and crossed Cumberland Sound ( A sound is an inlet open to the Atlantic.) We were now in Georgia. We passed the Kings Bay Submarine Base. Pleasure craft must stay in the channel or you could get boarded by the navy. We saw a small boarding vessel guarding the entrance to the base. We did not see any submarines. We docked at Jekyll Island. We decided to use the marina's bikes to see the Island. Sharon was not happy about riding bikes but Tony for once prevailed. Jekyll Island was once the playground of the Rockerfellers, Morgans, Goodyears, and Vanderbuilts. It is now a state park with an historic district and 65% of the land must remain undeveloped. In 1885 the island was sold to a group of wealthy northerners for a hunting resort for mere $125,000. They built a 60 room clubhouse, tennis courts, a yacht marina as well as individual mansion-sized "cottages." After World War II the club was offically closed and the state of Georgia bought it in 1947. The historic district contains the "cottages" as well as the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. We had a beverage there. It was quite posh. We left Jekyll Island on Wednesday in breezy conditions. We travelled through four sounds which were connected by winding rivers. We had to watch depth because tides can change the water level up to eight feet. We anchored on the Wahoo River, which was peaceful once the winds died down. We were joined by two sailboats. Thursday's journey took us through several rivers and creeks with our destination being Thunderbolt, GA. The city got its name from a legend that lightning struck the bluff and created a freshwater spring. We decided to split the assigned tasks. Tony took his bike and went grocery shopping and I did the wash.All we wanted to do when all the tasks were completed were have a glass of wine and dinner. We slept well Thursday night. Friday we crossed the Savannah River into South Carolina. We passed Hilton Head Island, with its many mansions along the coast. We passed Parrish Island, which is where the U.S. Marines have their boot camp and docked in very windy conditions at Beaufort. The Nina and Pinta are here. This is the third time we have come across these to replica ships. There is a steady stream of visitors, who have to pass the Summer Recess to get to the ships. We have had several conversations with them. A couple of people are amazed that we are able to travel from Michigan to here by boat. There are many loopers here. Friday night we were invited to docktails on Quimby, a boat from Massachusetts. We were joined by Alex and Andre on the Allison Leigh. On Saturday we were tourists. Beaufort is a historical city that has been occupied by the Spanish, the French and the English. They also played a role in the Civil War. There are many restored historic homes. The mansions were built by the wealthy plantation owners, who planted sea island cotton. We walked the downtown which is mostly shops and restaurants. We found the Common Ground Cafe for coffee. We then took a carriage tour with Bev and Emmy from Quimby and saw the beautiful ante and post bellum homes surround by lush gardens. Tonight we are going to dinner with them. Tomorrow we hope for calm winds because it will be tricky leaving the dock and we will be entering Ashepoo Coosaw Cutoff. It is notorious for the "low water at low tide". We are hoping to reach this spot at mid tide when we hopefully will have a couple of feet under our keel. We hope to arrive in Charleston, SC on Monday afternoon.