My last update had me in Satellite Beach, FL visiting Rick and Clayton. I was able to spend 6 days with them. Did some bike riding to the beach, walking, swimming (in the pool as well as the ocean, sat in the sun, did some work on the boat, and the bottom of the boat cleaned, and generally had a great time. Leaving them, I continued to St. Augustine, with an overnight stop in Daytona Beach. I took a day off and did the sightseeing thing in St. Augustine, including the old town section and St. Augustine Winery for wine tasting and lunch. While visiting Fort San Marcos I bought a senior citizens pass for $10. The good news is this pass will allow me to get into tall the national parks and seashores free for the rest of my life, the bad news is it means I am getting old! The following day I made my last stop in Florida, anchoring for the night in Fernandina Beach. Then I had to tackle Georgia and all its shallow water.
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| The dreaded Georgia Green Fly |
In addition to the shallow water, Georgia was teaming with green flies, I counted 4 dozen I had killed and had fallen in the cockpit. Plus there must have been another couple of dozen than I had already thrown overboard as I killed them. All that in one day of motoring up the waterway. Fortunately, I only had to spend 2 days transiting Georgia, but the flies were around for both days. One night was spend near Cumberland Island on the South River, the other just south of Savannah in Thunderbolt, GA. Once I got into South Carolina the flies pretty much disappeared, which was good.
The first stop in South Carolina was Beaufort. After anchoring, I took the dinghy ashore, walked around town, stopped for wine and oysters, and had dinner. I had hoped for another wine tasting, but the winery that was there in the fall must have gone out of business, because it was nowhere to be found. Next stop was Charleston. I spent an extra day in Charleston doing more sightseeing. I had lunch in town and went to a museum, but was not feeling well, so went back to NAVIGATOR in the early afternoon and had dinner there. It gave me time to rest up for the rest of the trip.
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| South Carolina Intracoastal Waterway |
The next day I left early, and got as far as Winyah Bay, spending the night on Minim Creek. Next stop was and small anchorage behind Richmond Island on the Waccamaw River, which is across from Wachesaw Landing and Wacawache Marina. A very quiet and secluded anchorage. The last stop in South Carolina was the Lightkeeper’s Marina in Little River. I have a friend from where I used to work you lives in the area, and I stop to see him when I go by. He buys dinner on the trip south, I buy on the trip north. I got tied up at the marina early, so we went wine tasting in the area. Found two wineries, and ended up buying 5 bottles of wine. The white are pretty good, and one winery had a nice, dry cabernet franc.
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| Waterfront Homes near Isle of Palms, SC |
The next night I spent anchored off Wrightsville Beach, NC after getting 54 gallons of diesel fuel to keep the engine happy. It had been raining a lot over the past week, and today was no different, having to anchor in a shower. It is good for sleeping though, listening to the pitter-patter of rain on the cabin roof. The next night I anchored in a little cove on Camp Lejune, the Marine Corps base. It is wonderful they allow boaters to use the cove as there is really no other place to anchor for a long stretch of the waterway here. That afternoon, they were practicing the use of their small landing off the beach in the cove. Morehead City was my next stop, staying at the Morehead City Yacht Basin Marina. I got in late Friday afternoon, so did not walk around town, but I did go to my favorite restaurant in Morehead city, Floyd’s 1921. A very good meal as usual. The next morning it was blowing fairly hard (25-30 knots), so I decided to stay put for another day. I did an oil change on the main engine, then went into town and walked around a boat show and art exhibit. The boats were all small fishing boats with outboards, so sail boats, so that wasn’t all that interesting. The art exhibit was interesting though. I also had mussels and wine for lunch.
Today I left the marina, and headed toward Oriental, NC. It was a relatively short and uneventful trip, so I thought I would take the opportunity to update everyone on what I have been doing and where I am currently located. Just down the Neuse River from Oriental is Broad Creek. I am anchored in Broad Creek in a quiet spot just upriver from a fancy marina associated with a planned community called River Dunes. The creek banks are all lined with trees, making it a lovely spot to spend a quiet afternoon. I should only have about 4 more nights in North Carolina before I reach Norfolk, VA, although I can easily stretch that to 5 nights if I spend 2 in Elizabeth City, which I usually do. Well, now your are up to date on my happenings. This year has been a wonderful adventure, particularly after my heart attack last winter. I certainly am already looking forward to another trip next winter. I am attaching some pictures of this portion of the trip. I apologize for not taking more, but is a lot of work to run the boat, steer, be lookout, navigate, watch water depths, and all the other things required for a safe trip, I usually have little time for taking pictures. What I need is a partner to help out with some of the duties, including taking pictures!
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