We jumped down through Georgia.  Had our first anchoring out experience, but had another problem with the windlass.  Had a few harrowing, difficult minutes as Artie had to haul up the chain by hand.  He was not a happy camper.  Then went over to Brunswick Landing marina.  Really a great marina.  Lots of liveaboards, terrific staff.  Great place to spend some time.  They have three clubhouses, free laundry, walking distance to town, a keg of beer in the clubhouse free each day, and wine happy hour three nights a week.   Really a great community feeling here.  Left there this morning, and we are in Jacksonville, FL tonight.

Took a nice, slow ride down from Charleston to Beaufort, SC, near Port Royal.  The plan was to then leave there after a day or two and head up to Savannah, GA to drop Craig off at the airport to head home.  Unfortunately the weather continued to be uncooperative and we had to hole up in the Beaufort area for a few days.  As we are in the middle of the annual “southern migration” , dock space started to get tight and we were forced to change marinas in the middle of a pretty bad squall.  Suffice it to say, there was a boat vs electrical stanchion throw down as we tried to dock in heavy winds at the new marina.  The stanchion lost.  LPort Royal Landing Marina was great. Loaner car, nice facility, no hassle about the stanchion which they had repaired within the hour.  Class Act.  Craig was also great, we’re sorry he wound up having to rent a car to get up to the airport.  Tired to salvage the new schedule by touring Port Royal and we went up to Savannah by car to tour around.

Very nice town. Beautiful, well preserved, genteel Southern culture.  Great architectural features. Tons of restaurants and shopping.  We stayed on the “back side”,  near the Aquarium.  We were across from the aircraft carrier and next to a cruise ship dock.  Unfortunately, some bad weather arrived along with our friend Craig and changed our plans.  As they say, one of the worst things you can have on a boat is a schedule. Luckily, Craig is a boater and a trooper and we made the best of a bad weather situation.

WHEW!  A bit of a whirlwind the last week or so, let me catch y’all up.  After meeting up with our friends and neighbors Crabby Linda and Joe and Mike and Liz in South Carolina, we headed south for Georgetown, SC.  Very nice downtown, Harborwalk, and the Chamber of Commerce hosted a cocktail party which we kinda, sorta crashed – but were warmly welcomed anyway.  Artie was introduced to “oyster shooters”,. basically a Bloody Mary in a shot glass with a raw oyster in the bottom.  Its better than it sounds, I promise.  Best yet was that Artie drank his like a shot and didn’t expect the oyster at the bottom.  Look on his face:  priceless.  We were then off to Charleston, SC where we met up with our good friend, Craig.

It’s funny how the scenery can change along the way.  From Osprey Marina to Georgetown, we passed through a wooded swampy area.  Spooky and with tannic, brackish water (mixture of salt and fresh water which is clear but takes on a brown hue from the surrounding plants).  From Georgetown to Charlestown, we passed through low areas (the low country).  Check out the screen from the chartplotter;  it clearly shows the swampy and low areas around the channel of water we are traveling through — part of the reason it is known as “the ditch”.

Another nice small town, with a lovely downtown.  Really enjoyed this spot, despite the weather not cooperating. Attended a free cocktails/ appetizers party, thanks to local Georgetown business community.

We’ve moved a few times lately in North and South Carolina.  At the Bridgetender Marina in Wrightsville Beach, we were along the face dock.  Never knew our boat could look like a dingy, compared to some of the other boats there.  Very good restaurant, too.  Also stopped at Ocean Isle, where we caught a nice sunset.  We are currently at Osprey Marina, where there are goats in a pen from the nearby zoo, and a walkway next to a swamp.  The skipper doesn’t know what to make of half of what he sees.  He did decide to become the great explorer and jump into the swamp — and he did get a bath that night.

Saw a small island with feral goats on it.  Why did this guy have a giraffe in his yard?  Who knows? 

We have a few different ways to know where we are at any given time.  We have paper charts, chart books and guidebooks.  We use these to track where we are, give us the big picture of what is up ahead, and plan the next stop.  We also have an electronic chartplotter that moves along with the boat similar to a car GPS, showing where we are on the chart.  Along the way, there are red and green markers that show the channel — or the preferred place for your boat to go through.  And on the ICW, there are yellow stickers on the markers or buoys, to show that you are in the intercoastal.

We have been lucky to meet up with friends along the way.  Hello and thanks to Tony and Eve who met us in Wrightsville Beach, NC and took us shopping.  Hello and thanks also to Crabby Joe and Linda and to Mike and Liz who met us, fed us and shuttled us around in Myrtle Beach, SC.  And we hope to see Craig next week in Charleston.

Long run, dreary rainy day — but brightened up by DOLPHINS!! They were playing off of our wake, two and three at a time, jumping up, gliding along, keeping up with the boat effortlessly. They would turn on their slides and look up at us as we tried to take photos.  Amazing.

A few things I saw along the way.  Had a bird following overhead for quite a while, thought it could be an eagle.  Saw a sailboat heeled over with no sails up, couldn’t figure out why, then saw that he had hung a huge bag of water to one side, so that he heeled over enough to fit under the bridge.  Kept hearing in my mind: “Smoooke on the water, fire in the sky…”  And, the water itself can be mesmerizing.

Our last few stops have been in North Carolina.  I was really taken with Belhaven — could almost see myself living there. Stayed at the River Forest Marina, which despite poor reviews in recent years was a very worthwhile stop.  Terrific help from dockhand Eddie, and the owner was a very lovely man who couldn’t do enough for us.  The usual cruiser stops are from Coinjock directly to Belhaven, a rather long run.  Many folks leave from Coinjock at the same time, and all arrive in Belhaven within a couple of hours of each other. They did a great job of getting everyone in and settled.  Oriental was a bit off the beaten path, a nice overnight. Stayed at Whittaker Marina, a very nice facility that seemed more like a yacht club. New docks, nice clubhouse, terrific shower and changing rooms, loaner car, “honor system” laundry — leave your dollar in the box when done. Last night and tonight we are in Beaufort, NC.  They have the best fuel prices, and we found that they also have transient docks. Very convenient to downtown Beaufort. And decent wifi, so I have been able to catch up on posts all day. We will be heading out again tomorrow.

We are starting to get into a bit of a routine now that we have been at this for about a month or so.  When we get into a marina that has a loaner car, we do sometimes use it.  The level of trust and helpfulness is really a very nice bonus to all of this. Basically you say that you would like to use the loaner car, and they hand you the keys. No paperwork, no issues, they just ask that you have it back in an hour or so.  In other cases, someone will come down the dock and ask if anyone else needs to go into town.  We have used loaner cars and golf carts to get around near the marinas, re-supply, etc.  We sometimes use our own folding bikes, and whenever we can, we bring Skipper along.  Other nice thing: many restaurants and stores are dog friendly, to the point where they put out water bowls out front for the dogs, and keep treats behind the counter.  Can’t ask for more than that.

Those nice slow rides keep the fuel costs down.  We have done ok, Artie is doing the math but we are burning about what we anticipated, but paying a bit less than we budgeted.  Coinjock was about $2.15 a gallon for diesel, we later paid $1.99 at Beaufort, NC.

You may ask, as everyone does, what is Coinjock?  It is essentially the only place you can stay after entering the Virginia Cut.  There are two marinas there, across from each other.  One, the Coinjock marina, is known for its prime rib dinners.  It is “the thing to do”.  So, here it is — one fed both of us, and the dog, for two meals.

Before we left, a friend gave us a little notebook; the cover reads “Bad Decisions Make Good Stories”.  Ok, so it was the Virginia Cut — but not a bad decision.  We pulled up at a free town dock just after the lock, and there was a forty five foot space left between two sailboats.  Yes, we went for it.  Gotta love twin engines and a bow thruster.  Artie parked that boat like he was parallel parking in Manhattan at the last open meter on alternate side parking day.  Even the sailboaters were impressed.  Dinner that night was from — wait for it — food trucks which flock to the little park.  Locals were there, other boaters, it was really a very nice night.  Spontaneous is sometimes best!

After the Norfolk / Portsmouth area, you have to make a choice — which way to proceed south.  In our case, it was late afternoon and we expected to stay in Portsmouth and then take the Dismal Swamp.  Well we were so surprised that we made it through the Railroad bridge, we hadn’t quite made a plan as to what to do next.  We saw other boats in the distance at what we “thought” was the Dismal Swamp entrance.