Leaving Southport

15 - 16 May 2019

I was reviewing our plans for departure in the early morning hours when I realized that we had not accounted for the fierce tide we were going to encounter going up the Cape Fear river in the morning. At its peak we would be fighting a 3.5 knot current, when our typical speed is about 6.5 knots. We needed to leave much earlier to miss this, so before the sun was up I was making our preparations.

Heather did a great job pulling away from the T-head. We were on the fuel dock for some diesel and a pump out in no time. We did this about 7a, just when they opened, and were off with two new bags of ice by about 7:30a, but the tide had already turned. We were only fighting a half knot current just now, but it was going to get worse fast. We ran the engine as hard as we had all year to race up to the cut out off the river and the engine did really well. By the time we made the cut the current was already about 1.5 knots against us, so we just made it.

We tried to get into Surf City Topsail marina but it was already booked full. Since we had gotten such an early start we could make it farther than I had planned, our longest day so far this year. We made it all the way to Mile Hammock bay, which is just off Camp Lejeune. My youngest sister was a guest here a long time ago. We saw ospreys on the way here, and at the camp I saw an Osprey, the tilt rotor kind, for the first time in person. It was doing some sort of touch and go exercise, over and over again.

It was a tough spot to anchor and already pretty full. One boat was leaving, having given up in disgust. It took us three tries to get the anchor to bite at a good spot between the seven boats already there, and I took a very long time to set it. I wasn't sure we were really stuck until about 4a when the wind shifted, so a pretty restless night.

In the morning when I first stuck my head up outside half the boats were already gone, and one or two more were in the process. We were the second to last to leave. Heather casually asked if there were any talking bridges. This is Heather-speak for an opening bridge that we have to talk to on the radio to get them to open. Oops, there was one just a few miles down. It opened only on the hour and the half, and they tolerated no slackers, the bridge being run by the Marines themselves.

We poured on the coals again, and again the engine did well. We just made the opening with a minute to spare.

We adopted a slower pace after that since we weren't in a huge hurry, having made so many miles the day before. The engine had run almost thirteen hours yesterday. We made it to Beaufort ("BoFort") and after some confusion on where to go, Heather smoothly did a 270° turn into the little basin and our slip, under the admiration of at least three guys who were initially watching quite skeptically.

Beaufort is a cute little town right up against the waterfront.

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Southport is Nice

13 - 14 May 2019

On Monday we rented a car again. On our way down to Charleston to pick up our car we stopped in Myrtle for breakfast, the busy place seen in the picture below. I had the red velvet cupcake waffle, apparent winner of some sort of state wide waffle contest. It was an interesting experience worth having, but ultimately too sweet, even for me.

In Charleston we picked up our late arriving package at the marina, and finally got to a Christmas store Heather hadn't hit yet. This didn't go well; I think they saw her coming. By the end she was picking up volume discounts.

We finally picked up our car at the airport. On our way back through Myrtle we had dinner at Z's Amazing Kitchen. It was a pretty inexpensive order at counter place but really good food. By the time we returned to Southport we had to return the car in the dark. This ultimately attracted the attention of the security guard, who helped us find the key drop off box. Then back to the boat in our own car, a long but good day.

We had a few chores the next day, but found out we were able to park the car there for a few days for free if we parked it out in back. Free is good.

Southport is picturesque. It seems like a nice little town.

Late we had lunch at the obnoxiously named Fishy Fishy.

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Southport

11 May 2019

We arrived in Southport a little confused about the configuration of the marina. It turns out we were on a smaller T-dock that was half hidden by the larger T-dock for the fuel, office and pumpout. It was a tricky docking with the wind and the current. For a moment it seemed that we were going buy a little runabout fishing boat that was small enough to be hard to see from the wheel, but big enough to be expensive. But no touch, no foul.

We had breakfast on Mother's Day at a little diner on neighboring Oak Island. Not the Oak Island of money pit fame, but interesting in that it became an island only through the digging of the intracoastal waterway in the 30's, severing its connection with the mainland. As we arrived it started  pouring rain. We were able to get an Uber out, but with a small town on a Sunday, Mothers Day even,  and the torrential rain we couldn't get one back. We eventually called a taxi, picking up our packages at the marina office on our way. They had arrived the day before us.

For Mother's Day dinner we headed over to the Frying Pan, right on the water. We called our moms, and Heather took calls. It was the first Mothers Day since my grandmother had passed. We made new routes all the way to Oriental, which is probably our next major stop. We're starting to try and figure out what our plan is if a hurricane starts flirting with the Chesapeake.

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To North Myrtle then Onward to Southport

10 May 2019

We had made enough progress north that the tides were now less than about four feet, with fewer really thin water places. At the end of the day we tied up at Barefoot Resort Marina in North Myrtle Beach. Only okay showers but with really good water pressure!

Right across the ditch from the marina was a Lulu's (sister of Jimmy Buffett). They were closed when we went by the one east of Mobile, and I'm not sure why we missed the one in Destin, but this was our chance finally. We could have thrown a dead cat across the water to the restaurant, but it took about 10 minutes to get there in an Uber. It was still easier than unloading the dinghy.

We could see our boat from our table. The food was good and the drinks were better. I'm glad I didn't have to drive home.

In the morning we set off for Southport, where we would shuttle the car north once again. Also some weather was coming in where it would be good to be tied up well. On the way north we passed several inlets to the ocean that we couldn't use with our depth but seemed like fun areas.

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Santee to... Somewhere

09 May 2019

The next day, as were were heading from the Santee River, the terrain was slowly transitioning from salt marsh to real trees. There was an interesting steel boat, a schooner I think, in one of the channels. Clearly an exhausting day.

We were low on ice so we tied up at what was called the Bucksport Marina. This was a funky little place, more campground than marina. No bathrooms or showers of note, but at least they had ice. Without ice civilization breaks down pretty quickly. We were in the middle of nowhere but we had enough of a cell signal to order more Amazon for our arrival in Southport.

The restaurant and bar was open for their first night since hurricane Florence dumped a yard of water on the southeast last fall. The only menu available was so interesting I had to take a picture of it. The "steak" sandwich was made with fried bologna, but maybe that's how things are done in these parts. For me, the "Bag of Dogs" was a little too close to another "bag of" similarly shaped objects in the popular vernacular. Nonetheless, the food was actually pretty good. The local news was covering the reopening, and they actually had a nice little stage set up for music acts later.

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Departing Charleston for Southport

07 - 08 May 2019

Early Tuesday I checked the engine fluids and belts, plotted out a new route for proceeding north from Charleston, and this. The boat behind us thankfully left, but then a new boat came in, blocking our most obvious escape route again. One of our Amazon Prime packages was delayed so now we'll have to pick it up with the car in a week. When we were leaving a dockhand sprung our bow out nicely, but now we were headed back into the marina. We had to make a tight turn around, but we did it and back out we went.

We saw Fort Sumter (below) as we were crossing the bay. No shots were fired. We had a late start waiting for the Amazon delivery and such, so we didn't make it far that day, just to a nice little anchorage up Dewee's Creek. We cooked dinner off the back of the boat again.

The next day we made it to a lower Santee anchorage, finally really timing our movement by the tides, waiting to leave until it was at least two feet up, then stopping before there was only two feet left. Since we saw some two foot and change depths this kept us from running aground. Along the way we saw more wrecked boats, a pair of eagles in a nest along the ditch (I really need to get the SLR out), and a kids birthday party.

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Charleston Chores

05 - 06 May 2019

Sunday's mission was to shuttle the car up this far. We rented a car then tried to catch some brunch. After the second strike out (more than an hour wait!), there was a Duck Donuts across the lot. I was not familiar with DD, but was intrigued.

So this is the fast pizza equivalent of donuts. They place your glaze, toppings and whatnot on a freshly fried donut. Because they are piping hot fresh they are the lightest I think they could be and still be considered cake donuts. They also had breakfast sandwiches, also served on freshly fried donuts. If Heather gets one of those pearl opening franchises, I'm getting one of these.

We drove the rental car down to Brunswick, making it both ways each in one shot. Between we had one last lunch at Porch. After returning to Charleston we dropped off the rental car and returned to the marina with our car. We picked up our Amazon packages at the marina office on the (long) walk back down the Mega Dock.

On Monday morning I tried to drain the engine fuel filter of any water. I let in some air bubbles in but no water (or fuel) came out. Guess I need to break the seal on top, but the exercise got me better at hanging upside down with my head in the aft lazerette, so I was able (with a mirror) to get a good view of the fuel bowl. There was some crap in the very bottom of the bowl which looked like it had been there a long time, but I didn't see any water anyway.

It was still a blustery day when we went up to the car in the parking lot. Our car was covered with tiny white dots, really only obvious on the dark tinted windows and and the little bit of black trim, although it could be seen in the reflection of the white paint. In looking around they had some sort of improvement project going in the lot about 50 yards away. Paint overspray! Our car is old, and I'd dealt with this and worse (tree sap) before, so I was annoyed but not angry. I can understand if the guy across the aisle from me felt differently about his jet black Ferrari.

Maybe Ferrari guy was there for a wedding, which there seemed to be a constant stream of. In addition that weekend there was a Citadel reunion and lots of proms.

We finished up visits to Costco, West Marine, Lowes and the grocery. After lugging all that crap back to the boat down the length of the megadock I drove the car back to Costco to get one more fire extinguisher for about a third of what West charges. I saw they also have 3 gallons of the multi weight Rotella for $30, when one gallon is $25 at West Marine. West is convenient but you sure pay for it.

I parked the car at the airport and took an Uber back to the marina, almost ready for our departure in the morning for points north. We had a quiet evening with just some snacks. We weren't really hungry but tired from our laps up and down the megadock.

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Charleston

02 - 03 May 2019

We were so tired on Thursday after we docked in Charleston. We just set up the electrical connection then checked in with the marina, picking up some ice at the office. We didn't leave the marina, didn't even make it to the showers. Heather made spaghetti and we crashed early.

First thing in the morning I found a spare fuel filter and swapped out the old one. The diesel in the bowl was clear, but the white paper filter was completely covered in a black slime. This is the poo of a microbe that likes to hang out at the interface between the fuel in the diesel tank and any water on the bottom. The water can come from bad fuel, or from breathing in moisture as a part of the expansion and contraction of the fuel tank contents as the temperature changes. Unfortunately even very tiny particulates can choke a diesel engine, so this is something else to keep an eye on.

After cleaning up and getting the diesel smell off of me we had brunch at Miller's All Day, where I pretended to share a large carafe of mimosas with Heather. I guess you really shouldn't have a carafe to yourself, so we headed back to the boat for a nap and to wait out the heat.

We cooled off inside the boat. An afternoon shower blew in and cooled things off outside, so we went to the outdoor(ish) market for Heather to do a little shopping.



We had dinner at the Swig and Swine, did a little more shopping, then back to boat for us.

Another vintage boat giving tours was in the river when we returned to the boat, this one named the Pride. All those sails are pretty but look like way too much work.

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Edisto to Charleston

02 - 03 May 2019

By the next night we made it as far as somewhere just off the Edisto River. Dinner was citrus marinade chicken cooked off of the back of boat. I'm out of practice, so some of it was Pittsburgh style, which is not really appropriate for chicken. At least there was a beautiful sunset.

The next day was going to be a short one so we slept in a little. We got stuck at a bridge just east of Charleston. Apparently the hours had changed last March, and now it only opens on the bottom of hour, which of course we had missed by a few minutes.

The engine hesitated a couple times on our way to Charleston. We turned on the auxiliary fuel pump and it didn't do it again, but this was a warning. We realized we hadn't changed the Racor fuel filters since Marathon, which was now almost two years ago. Time to do that again before we leave Charleston.

In Charleston we had a slip reserved at the mega dock, named that for good reasons. It's almost 2000 feet long and fuel is available anywhere down the length. To make it more friendly there were greeting ducks. That river cruise boat, the Independence, beat us here again from Beaufort.

We made a list and turned out we had a lot to do while we were here. Work, work , work.

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From Beaufort to Edisto

02 May 2019

The next morning we headed back up the ditch. Today it really did look like a ditch. There was more very thin water to make the day interesting, but ultimately no drama. We still need to time our travel with the tides a little better. We do have a much better feel for tides after spending so much time in Brunswick, but now we need to align that with our travel schedules. On a related note, a safety tip we've learned about thin waters is "birds don't walk on water".

One of markers which is supposed to show us where the channel is was almost completely out of the water. Noice.

Further down I took a picture of a creek running into the channel. There's about a three foot log in the puddle at the center left of the picture below, just below the grass. After I took the picture the log got up and started walking. Our first alligator that we've seen from the boat! But probably not the first alligator to see us on the boat.

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Savannah to Beaufort

01 May 2019

We left Savanna in the morning, aiming for Beaufort. We passed Hilton Head on the way with their distinctive lighthouse, and folks recreating.

We arrived at the city docks at Beaufort. There are two cities with this same spelling on the East coast, and we still couldn't be sure which one this was. After some paying attention we're pretty sure this, the SC one, is pronounced similarly to the word "beautiful". The one up north must be the one pronounced like "beau". We had dinner at the Old Bull Tavern, of tiny sign and good food fame. The little square at the center of the picture below, to the right of the door proclaims "This is our sign". Their only sign. Helpful.



We got our first boat card here several years ago. A nice couple docked here invited us aboard their Morgan Out Island 40, which was our baseline boat that we compared all other potential boats for us against.

We have been chasing the river boat below for days, now docked at the Beaufort downtown waterfront park.

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Dog Hammock to Savanna

30 April 2109

In the morning before sunup I checked the engine fluids and belt and all looked good, with no water (or anything else) in the engine sump. I did the dishes from the night before and got cleaned up just as the sky was lightening. I finally changed the little fluorescent light bulb above the sink in the galley.

It was a pretty normal day until we got to a pleasant spot named Hell's Gate, a particularly skinny stretch of water with occasional freakishly high currents. Since it was just after low tide Heather made squiggles with our electronic track breadcrumbs and we talked to Chelsea on the phone. This went on for about 45 minutes while the water rose a little more than a foot. Since we saw as little as about 2.5 feet crossing the gate, that extra foot helped keep the crossing from being a little too exciting.

We continued through the salt marshes, finally making it to the Isle of Hope marina, just outside Savanna. Heather did a masterful docking behind a very expensive trawler with a concerned owner looking on. We had a side tie with only 60-70 feet of dock clear to slide our 40 foot sailboat into, with a significant current still running, but Heather made it first try.

We had a quick pizza dinner at a little chain place. They also made fresh bread bowls for salads out of pizza crust which we had to try. We stuffed ourselves and returned to the boat to nurse our bug bites.

The showers were just OK but we didn't care because it felt so good to get cleaned up after another long day. I was already out  of shape before I fell, but six weeks as a veal didn't help.

At the dock was a weird cat with lots of winches but no mast, clearly associated (or infatuated?) with Better Call Saul. The guy I saw wasn't Vince Gilligan or one of the actors I recognized, but could have been co-creator Peter Gould. The sticker at the back is a New Mexico license plate "LWRUP".

After a predawn walk up to the bathrooms I got a nice shot of the peaceful waters.

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