Home Again

We ended our big adventure on December 5 at 4 PM. We traveled from Vero Beach to North Palm Beach on Dec. 4, spending one last glorious night at anchor with grilled filet mignon. We traveled off shore on the 5th to avoid all the bridges. It was a bit uncomfortable for Debby so we boosted the cruise speed to Hillsborough Inlet.
In all we were gone 111 days of which 51 days were spent underway, and we covered 2357 st. miles. We both wanted to just keep on going, but circumstances would not permit. It was a great trip; hopefully there will be many more like it.

Titusville and Vero Beach

We are in the home stretch. Spent Monday night in Titusville and last night at Vero Beach Yacht Club. We decided to stay here an extra day as we like Vero and the club here. Thursday we will travel to North Palm Beach where we will anchor out for the night then on to Ft. Lauderdale on Friday.

St. Augustine and Daytona Beach, FL

Debby's mother rode with us from Jacksonville Beach to St. Augustine on Nov. 29. We docked at Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor which is a nice facility just north of town. Deb's mom wore her FSU shirt to the bar there to watch the Florida/FSU football game after we arrived. Unfortunately, Florida won the game. Laura and Terrell drove down to pick up Rosemary, but we had a nice meal together before they left.
So, now we are truly on our way home. We spent last evening at Halifax River Yacht Club in Daytona Beach. Enjoyed a few drinks with several of the members in their new club house. Every Sunday afternoon they have live entertainment at the bar. Very friendly people.

Thanksgiving Holiday. Ponte Vedra, FL

We arrived at Jacksonville Beach, FL on Nov. 23 staying at Palm Cove Marina. We rented a car for the week, and spent our time visiting Debby's family (mother, sister, brother-in-law, nephew) as well as restocking our supplies for the remainder of the trip.
I forgot to mention in the entry on St Marys that when we docked there and plugged in to their shore power a voltage spike blew out our convection/microwave oven. We tried to get it fixed in JAX without success, nor could we find a suitable replacement. So we will spend the remainder of the trip dependent on stove top and grilled food. This is the only equipment failure we have had so far. It also blew out the AC power supply to our refridgerator, but we can run it on the DC system.
Friends of Debby's sister had all of us over for Thanksgiving along with other neighbors for a group of 12. It was truly a feast. We ended the evening with an old fashioned sing-a-long accompanied by a player piano. Debby's mom has a great voice.
Friday night was another happy time spent at the private Beach Club at Saw Grass. Far too much to drink, but a great meal and good band.

Jekyl Island, GA; St Marys, GA; Fernandina, FL

We traveled from Crescent River to Jekyl Island on the 20th then on to St Marys on the 21st. The weather has been cool, but sunny during the day and cold at night. We had driven to St Marys several years ago to explore with Pat and Brian. It is only a few miles up the St Marys River from Cumberland Sound. The river itself marks the boundary with Florida. We were fortunate to be at Lang's Marina restaurant for all you can eat shrimp night.
Yesterday we came on to Fernandina, FL which is only about 7 miles from St Marys. So, we are now back in Florida. Found a terrific spot for lunch at a place called 29 South. We will move on to Jax Beach tomorrow where we will stay until after Thanksgiving. Expect to be back in Ft Lauderdale around the 4th of December.

Incorrect address

I checked it three times and missed it. Here is the correct web address for the Google Earth site
http://www.greatloop.org/Mapping/membermap.php?id=937

Isle of Hope (Savannah) and Crescent River

Brrrrrrrrrr. It is 26 degrees this morning anchored out on the Crescent River. Fortunately, we bought a dual control electric blanket the other day. That combined with the reverse cycle AC has kept us comfortable. I am loving the lower helm station also on these cool days.

We traveled from Hilton Head to Isle of Hope on the 16th. Isle of Hope is a charming little historic community along the Skidaway River near Savannah. Had another good time in Savannah on the 17th. Great lunch at Vic's then toured one of the old mansions that once hosted the Marquis de Lafayette. We had cocktails at "17 Hundred 90" a B&B that dates back to that time. At Happy Hour the bar was full of men, regulars that have been coming there for 30 years. Met some real characters. One in particular had just competed in an open water, 5.1 nautical mile swim from Tybee Island to Hilton Head. He was 70 years old. He was very kind and drove us back to Isle of Hope.

The picture shows the approach drive to Wormsloe Plantation at Isle of Hope that dates back to 1739. We are now working our way though Georgia. We will be in Jekyll Island tonight and St. Marys tomorrow night.

For those of you that like Google Earth you can go to http://www.greatloop.org/Mapping/membermap.php?=937 and see the places we have been and our route on Goggle Earth. I just discovered how to do this and I am still inputting some of our early itinerary, but it is kind of neat.

Harbortown Resort, Hilton Head Island, SC Nov 14-16

What a treat this place turned out to be. It is a circular basin surrounded by condos, bars, restaurants, shops and hotel. We were tied up stern-to and felt like we were in the Med as the shops were right behind us so we could people watch. Being Friday night we went to Happy Hour at the Quarter Deck where a very good guitarist was playing. A couple of inebriated high rollers came in and got everybody together for a party atmosphere by buying shots of tequila for everyone in the bar more than once. Turned out to be a great time. Even met a couple that recently moved from our neighborhood.

We will come back here some day and spend more time. They have many bike trails and great beaches, but we couldn't take advantage of them due to inclement weather.

Beaufort, SC Again Nov 11-14

We liked Beaufort the first time on the way north, and found we like it even more with this stay. Our favorite restaurant here is Emily's which has a good selection of tapas. We toook the courtesy car to the ABC store and local food store. We were only going to stay 2 nights, but on the day of our planned depature it was extremely foggy, plus we had already decided we would like to spend some more time in the town.
On Friday the 14th we left with the tide change as the current in the marina is wicked makng manuvering difficult. Our destination was Hilton Head Island. Weather was reasonable on departure. It turned foggy as the day wore on to the point we could only see a few hundred yards by the time we arrived at Harbortown Marina. Thank goodness for radar, chartplotters, and depth finders. I have a whole new respect for mariners that navigated without these modern tools.

Charleston Again Nov. 8-11

This time in Charleston was a bit more relaxed as we had done many of the tourist things on the last visit. We made one very big mistake on Sunday. We chose Hyman's Restaurant for lunch as it was picked by Southern Living magazine many times as the best seafood in the southeast. the meal was so disappointing Debby is going to cancel her subscription to the magazine. Our alternative would have been a jazz brunch at High Cotton which we will do on the next visit. The picture was taken at the roof top bar at the Vendue Hotel at sunset.
Great view from there of Charleston Harbor.

Waccmaw River and Georgetown Nov. 6-8

The trip from Southport takes you to the Waccamaw River which is the most scenic part of the trip on the Intracoastal Waterway. It was particularly beautiful this time as we caught the last of the turning leaves on the cypress trees on a clear sunny day. These pictures are taken from the osprey marina which is just off the river at the northern end.
From Osprey it was a short trip to Georgetown. We had stopped here on the way up and liked it. There is a nice boardwalk on the water front where we finally got a picture of both of us.

Southport, NC Nov. 1 - 6

We left Beaufort on the 1st of November headed for Southport, NC with an intermediate stop at Harbor Village Marina which is near nothing (although it is a very nice marina). We had not stopped in Southport on the way North, and were eager to see it. It sits at the mouth of the Cape Fear River with direct ocean access, and has been consistently voted one of the top 10 towns in the country for retirees. The first day there we did not leave the boat as it rained all day long. We did get out the second day and liked it enough to stay a third day when a Farmer's Market was scheduled. Debby felt the shops in Southport were the most unique of the trip. We found several good restaurants for lunch. PJ's has special significance as that is the name of our grandson.

Beaufort, NC Oct. 28 Nov 1

Beaufort is another very early town in NC having been founded in 1709. Unlike many of the places we have been visiting it is right on the coast with easy ocean access. Like the other places it has a well defined and contained downtown historic district with many historical homes and businesses. We have had our first taste of cold weather with lows in the high 30's and highs in the high 50's and strong winds. So far the reverse cycle AC on the boat is working well so we keep warm on the boat

The marina is located on the town waterfront, so every thing is very convenient. The tidal current in the marina is pretty wicked when you combine it with the strong wind. We did not see it happen, but one boat on its approach tagged our burgee flag staff and bent it over 90 degrees. Obviously it could have been much worse. Beaufort Town Docks are dedicated to transients. As such they keep a "fleet" af 4 courtesy cars which enabled us to restock food and more importantly liquor. The cars are a hoot. Three of them are 1990 vintage Buick Estate Wagons complete with faux wood paneling on the side (or what is left of it).

We had intended to leave on Friday, but the bar at the marina was having a big Halloween Party complete with a blues band called Infectious Disease. In fact 3 bars in town were participating with costume contests rotating between them at 11, 12 and 1 o'clock. We decided we couldn't pass this up, so we stayed another day. Her is Debby with some of the better outfits. Also, Debby in front of one her favorite stores (note the name).

Oriental - One Last Time Oct. 26,27

We are now officially headed south again. We have had such a good time in Oriental we decided to stop one more time to visit our friends there. Sunday night at the marina restaurant, Toucan, they have an entertainer, DaveCollins, who along with his 14 year old daughter puts on a great show. He is straight out of a 60's rock band complete with head band and sun glasses. He plays a number of songs he wrote himself and at the end of the evening gave us a copy of his CD with the original songs.

Monday night is "Boy's Night Out" at the Tiki Bar. As you can see by the picture Debby did not observe the protocal even though she was entertaining the wives on our boat. All-in-all two very good nights.

New Bern Oct 19-26

We have really enjoyed our stay in New Bern. It is a larger town than most of the others, but it is concentrated in roughly a 6 block square area with both nice shops and classic old homes. This was the first capital of the colony of NC. It was established as a town in 1710 by Swiss settlers although English were here as well. Many of the homes date from the 1700s to early 1800s.

I left Debby here to travel to CT for a meeting at P&W for 2 days early in the week. She was able to to get her hair done for the first time since we left (a new record) and was very pleased with the job. The local airport was only 10 minutes away and provided easy service to Charlotte.

We were going to leave on Thursday, but found they were having their annual "Ghostwalk" this weekend and decided to stay to see what that was all about. Turned out to be a fun event. About 15 venues were open, most of them old historic homes, both Friday and Saturday night. As you toured each place they had locals dressed in period costumes acting out skits as ghosts of people who lived in the town during varius periods and describing what it was like at the time they were alive. It was a great way to get an historical perspective and also a lot of fun. it is a popular event as you had to wait in line at each place. Nice to see so many people walking the town at night. Like others we have visited here in NC this is a very friendly place. Most people are from somewhere else and eager to express there happiness with having relocated whether it was recent or 30 years ago.

Oriental Again Oct. 17-19

The ride to Oriental was in places another rough one. The Neuse River can get nasty in strong NE winds. Fortunately we were only exposed to adverse winds a relatively short time. We met our new found friends at the Tiki Bar on Friday night. This resulted in an invitation to a pre party for the Folk Festival to be held the following night.
It rained all day Saturday, so we used the time to get caught up on much needed laundry. Our host for the pre party picked us up and took us to his water front home just north of town. As in Ft. Lauderdale many of the water front places are pretty spectacular and this was no exception. The Folk Festival was held in the town's old restored theater. It turned out to be very entertaining, especially the lead act, Susan Werner. We were invited to a post party immediately following the show that included the artists that performed. This party was held across the street from our marina so it was very convenient. It was attended by nearly half the people that went to the show, so I think by now we have met a fair portion of the population of Oriental now.

Bath/Washington Oct 13-17

We left Ocracoke in some uncomfortable sea conditions. Pamlico Sound can be nasty in strong NE winds. For the first time this trip we traveled at a high cruise speed to get some comfort and to hurry to the lee of the shoreline. Once we got to the Pamlico River it was quite calm. We were stopping at Bath to break up the trip to Washington our actual destination, but were pleasantly suprised by how nice Bath turned out to be. It is the oldest incorporated town in NC having been established in 1705. For nearly 70 years it was the place to be in this region with 12 homes. Now, 300 years later there are maybe 36 homes in the historic district so time has passed the place by.

The town provides free dockage to transients and the picture of the our boat above shows the view to the town. The other picture shows the view from our boat down Bath Creeek to Pamlico River. We came to the conclusion that the whole town gets its grass cut on the same day as everything was fresh cut and manicured. All in all a very serene and picturesque place.

Washington was established in 1776 as the first town to be named after the great man. It quickly usurped Bath as the key town in the region at the headwaters of the Pamlico. Now it has a thriving historic district and booming real estate development for condos, townhouses and single family homes. People are coming here for second homes and for permanent homes as it is an easy commute to Greenville. The sunset picture was taken in Washington.

The place to eat in town is the relatively new Pia's. We met the owner in the bar and he gave us all the local scoop as well as THE BEST she crab soup. He runs this restaurant while his wife, Pia runs a new one they opened in New Bern which we will visit next week.

For kicks we spent one day with a real estate agent viewing some of the new condo/townhome developments. Sales activity is down here as elsewhere, but values seem to be holding. Most places had docks either included or for an extra charge, and some were quite nice, but the prices were higher than anticipated and in some cases the value was not there. Outside of town they have a nice Yacht Club/Country Club with a very nominal fee structure. Overall a very nice spot to visit, but I don't think we will be moving here.

Ocracoke Oct. 8-13

Ocracoke has been a great stop. We stayed one night at the Anchorage Marina at $1.75/ft. then found there was room at the National Park Service marina for a senior citizen rate of $0.60/ft. We moved there for the remainder of the stay. This is a true island community as the only way to get here is by boat although there is regular ferry service from the mainland and Hatteras. The entire island which is 16 miles long, is a national park (excludng the village). Population is less than 800 people.

Our friends the Sorensens left after 2 days as they needed to get back heading south. We were rained in the day they left, but have had decent weather since. Lots of unusual shops, great scenery, and lots of history here. The beach has been named best beach in the country by Dr. Beach for 2007. You are able to take 4 WD vehichles on the beach, and surf fishing seems to be the thing to do here as the pictures indicate. The light house is still operating even though it was built in 1823!

Of note for our British friends, there is a British Cemetery for British sailors that washed ashore during WWII when their antisubmarine ship was torpedoed off the coast trying to protect US shipping. The land has been donated to England in perpetuity.

We found the best pizza we have had in years. So good we had it twice in 4 days. Howard's Pub and Restaurant turns out to be the hot spot. We wanted to go Friday night to hear the local music, but it was raining too hard and our only transport is the bikes.

We leave today for Bath and Washington, NC. The weather for the remainder of the week is supposed to be gorgeous.

Manteo

Manteo is a town on Roanoke Island which is just west of Nags Head on the Outer Banks of NC. A bit of history, it is the location of the first English colony in North America having beeen established in 1584. Unfortunately this was not a successful colony, but today the history of the area is played up quite a bit.

We rented a car with the Sorensens and drove to the Outer Banks thru Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk. We visited Bodie Island Lighthouse shown here with Debby and Eddie. The following day Debby and Eddie shopped in Manteo while Fred and I visited the replica 16th century sailing ship on display across the harbor from us as well as the colonial village set up there. Travel in those days was very adventuresome! Fred and I agree we have lived in the best of times.

Yesterday we traveled to Ocracoke, part of the Outer Banks itself and accessible only by water. It was a great 57 NM open water ride in Pamlico Sound.

Mecca

For someone who has spent his entire professional life in aviation going to the Wright Brothers Memorial at Kill Devil Hills was akin to making a pilgrimage to Mecca. The exhibits are all very well done complete with a full scale replica of the original flying machine. In the picture I am standing at the point of takeoff. The stone markers indicate the landing point of the 4 first flights. The first flight at 120' was shorter than the wing span of a 747. the fourth flight was over 850'. Of particular note was one exhibit that pointed out we went from first flight to a man on the moon in 66 years!

Oriental to Manteo, Roanoke Island

The weather continues to be glorious with highs in the high 70's and lows in the low 60's. It has been a 3 day trip to get to Manteo with overnight stops in Belhaven and at the mouth of the Alligator River. Cruising in this area is easy with few navigational problems and long periods on wide rivers with nice scenery.

Belhaven as a stop was a non-event except for the neat little marina with notable restrooms. Notable in that they were very clean and decorated like you might see in some ones home. the Men's room was decorated with a sailor's artifacts from WW II including pictures of his beautiful girl friend and the "Dear John" letter he received from her in 1942.

The Alligator River Marina was located at the base of a bridge and along side a Shell Station. Not very picturesque, but we were able to get diesel for $3.36 per gallon!

Manteo looks like it will be a good stop. Fred and Eddie Sorensen will meet us here today, and we plan to rent a car to go to the Wright Brothers Memorial on Kill Devils Hill tomorrow.

Oriental, NC

Oriental has turned out to be our best stop so far. We stayed from Sept 30 to Oct 2. The harbor shown in the picture is quite small and quaint with more shrimp boats than pleasure craft. Our dock backed onto a small motel with a great restaurant and very active Tiki Bar. We met quite a few like minded people at the bar each evening. The average age in Oriental today is 59! The population is less than 1,000, but there are over 2,700 sail boats based here.

We did our first major bicycle based shopping excursion here to the local market about 1 mile away. Getting every thing back to the boat was quite a sight.

We now have a rough plan for the remainder of October in NC. We will meet our friends the Sorensens who have been traveling in the Chesapeake all summer in Manteo on Roanoke Island out on the Outer Banks. From there we will go to Okracoke, also on the Outer Banks, then on to Bath, Washington, Oriental and New Bern. That should take us to about October 25 when we will begin heading south again.

Dolphins and Swansboro

Sept 28 and 29 we traveled to Swansboro and Oriental. On the way to Swansboro 3 dolphins swam off our stern quarter for 20-30 minutes. We were traveling 9 mph and they had no trouble keeping up with us. It was a great site to see. As we proceed further along the NC coast it becomes progressively more pleasant with less coastal development.



Swansboro is a real small town with much character. We took a long walk to Piggly Wiggly and Walgreens for some necessities, but the town itself is very compact and well preserved. Believe it or not the picture is sunrise not sunset. We do get up early on this trip.



Oriental, so far sems like it will be a neat spot to spend some time. The marina is very protected and right "downtown", at least as much as there is a downtown. We will do some exploring today after tending to much needed laundry.

Continuing North

Sept 26 and 27 saw us travel to Little River, SC then on to Wrightsville Beach, NC. The trip up the Waccamaw river was probably the most scenic so far with almost no development and nearly virgin forest. Debby befriended the dockmistress at Coquina Yacht Club with one of her signature rum punches. As a result we got her life's story which was quite long as she is 72 years old.

The trip to Wrightsville was an eye opener in that the transition from SC to NC was like night and day. Once in NC the waterway was lined with homes and docks protruding into the ICW. Being Saturday with warm, calm weather everyone was out in their boats. With adverse wind and tidal current along with a clueless dock hand our arrival at Dockside Marina/Restaurant was very sporty. Fortunately, both ego and boat survived unharmed. (Getting out tomorrow may be a different story.) This is a very lively spot for Saturday night, but they need to work on the marina side of their business.

At Long Last..........

(We are playing catch up with these pictures which show 1) Debby at Thunderbolt, GA 2) Jim and brother-in-law Terrel at karioke night at the American Legion in Ponte Vedra 3) damage to the dock at Eau Gallie YC during Fay 4) Swing bridge in operation 5) Friday nigth dock party with locals at Titusville Municipal Marina 6) Jim returning from boat inspection during Fay)

We are nearly 6 weeks into this trip, and just now finding time to set up our blog so those interested can follow along. It is a rainy, windy day in Georgetown, SC, so we have once again delayed movement North to wait out the inclement weather. That has been the story of this planned trip to the Chesapeake from the beginning. We spent 4 days being beaten against pilings at Eau Gallie Yacht Club in Melbourne during Tropical Storm Fay. Then by the time we got to Jekyl Island, GA it looked like Hanna was going to hit us so we retreated back to Jacksonville for safe harbor. We spent a week there on our second visit and did a side trip down the St. Johns as far as The Florida Yacht Club. We also got to spend some more quality time with Debby's family and my sister and brother-in-law visiting from San Francisco. We were there for an extended period as we wanted to see what course Ike would take and I needed to go back to Ft. Lauderdale for 2 days of business meetings.

We resumed the journey on Sept 14 with Brunswick, GA the first stop. Unfortunately, the entire town shuts down Sunday and Monday, so no restaurants were open, and Debby could not get her Brunswick stew!

Sept 15 found us off to an anchorage on the Crescent River. It was a pleasant days travel, but the guide books mislead us on anchorage sites so it took a while to find a suitable site. the spot we found was very serene, and we spent a pleasant night on the hook.

Sept 16 took us to Savannah. This is the day the Love Bugs came out in force. We have discovered they love white and everything on the boat is white, so we were plagued by them the whole day. We toured Savannah on the 17th then toured nearby Thunderbolt (the town where we were docked) by bike on the 18th. We stayed the extra day as a party was being held at "Tubby's" down the street from the marina.

Sept 19 on to Beaufort, SC. Toured Beaufort by bike and found it to be a great little town with a lot of history. Dinner at Emily's was great.

Sept 20 traveled to Charleston, SC. Did the tourist thing on the 21st complete with carriage tour. Met our old neighbors the Bushes for dinner at Magnolias. Spent the 22nd walking the town and touring several fo the old homes. Lunch at 82 Queen which had in my opinion THE BEST She Crab soup. (Debby disputes that claim). We are on a quest to fine the best. (She thinks Emily's was better).

Sept 23 on the water again headed for Georgetown, SC. It is a smaller version of Beaufort, but not quite as nice. Toured by bike which did not take long on the 24th.