Beaufort NC

We spent two nights here at the Boathouse Marina off Taylor Creek in Beaufort, and are leaving the boat here while we go pick up the trailer and car in Charleston tomorrow.  The marina is quite a ways from the historic town center...had a great setup for us, since there is a boat launch next door, a courtesy car and a trolley into town across the street on the weekends.  It is brand new and we can tell they are still ironing out the wrinkles in their systems.  They have a great staff who bend over backwards to help you out.  For example, the wifi didn't work, so they lent us the owners personal hot spot to use for the weekend.  When completed, this marina will be part of a resort with condos/townhouses, restaurant, inn, etc.  At this point there is mostly just the dry storage boat house, a few nice docks, a pool (that wasn't open yet) and an event center where they had a wedding last night.

Another example of their bending over backwards was when we watched in amazement as they did a "trial lift" of a 42ft Hatteras with their forklift.  The owner requested that they try but you could just tell there was no way it would work... the boat was just too long and heavy.  But they tried just the same.  We couldn't figure out why he wanted to try it...why risk a beautiful boat like that?

Last night we biked into town for the afternoon/evening's music entertainment which was very fun. It seems like everyone is young and pregnant or has children under 5.  The kids were cute dancing to the music, playing and just being kids.

We missed having our chairs, though, so today we carried them to the trolley and took that to the music festival venue which was much better suited to crowds.  We started early but bugged out before the headline events as we'd had enough of sun and WIND.  The music ranged from heavy metal to country, but the surprise guests were the Marine Corps New Orleans style jazz band.  They weren't on the billing and only played for 30 minutes but they brought down the house.

So tomorrow we drive to Charleston, spend the night, then drive our own truck and trailer back to Beaufort.  I'm so excited to be staying in a motel...we're going back to the place with the whirlpool tub.  This has been a record 10 nights in a row on the boat and I'm ready for a little luxury.. but I'll miss the views!

Beaufort NC

Southport NC and Swansboro NC

You know how, when you are on a good vacation, you forget what day it is?  Well, I can barely remember what month it is, much less where we've been.  All I can say is that we're having a great time and we love traveling the ICW.  I have come up with a new plan: we need two boats, one for each coast and that way we won't have to drive across the country to do this again.  Either that or we buy one of those gorgeous homes along the ICW... um well, dreaming is part of boating, isn't it?

Deep Point Marina, Cape Fear River, Southport NC

Deep Point Marina

We traveled 48 miles from Little River SC to Deep Point Marina in Southport NC.   This took most of the day as there are several "no wake" zones, especially in the Myrtle Beach area. The landscape in NC seems different... much more beachy feeling.  Deep Point Marina was both a pleasure and a disappointment.  They had a great swimming pool, but it was FREEZING cold; and free laundry but we had already done laundry the day before... and the "short walk" to the historic town was, in fact, too far to walk.  The dockmaster was really nice, though, when we said we were going to bike to the grocery store.  He said not to because it was very trafficy (is that a word?), then gave us his car key with directions to the local Walmart.


The marina itself was lovely, surrounded by pretty landscaping (are my flowers at home blooming, are they getting enough water?) with great docks and good wifi.  The night was a little "bumpy", though as we were across from a ferry to Bald Island that came and went about every 45 minutes until about 9pm or so.  On the plus side, the view from our cockpit was wonderful and I almost took a picture for you... but you'll have to use your imagination.  A large catamaran sailboat (about 50ft) with 3 strapping and tan young men without shirts were preparing their boat for a major voyage.  I had to supervise all their preparations most closely.

Today we decided to travel farther than originally planned.  We started early because the mouth of the Cape Fear river seemed very open and possibly treacherous to us.  It turned out to be easy peasy. We went about 78 miles from Southport to Swansboro NC and are docked at Casper's Marina in the tiny, historic district of Swansboro.  We were able to average about 25 miles/hour as the ICW was not so crowded with "no wake" zones.  We kept hearing radio transmissions about a bridge that was non functioning... when, at the end of our cruise, we came to that same bridge with all these gorgeous trawlers and sailboats stuck anchoring or circling the area.  We smiled and waved and proceeded under the bridge with no issue.  Our C-Dory can go faster than most boats and is not inhibited by water depths or most low bridges.  On the other hand...

The first sailboats we've seen actually sailing

Shrimp Boats are a fixture of the local economy

Well, most of them anyway

We enjoyed Swansboro very much...especially eating someone else's cooking at the Ice House Restaurant!  Caspers is a more "basic" marina, with stationary docks (only a few other transients are joining us this evening)... by the way, I hate being called a "transient"... why can't they just call us "visitors"?  Swansboro is a small town with picturesque homes and shops.

Casper's Marina, Swansboro 

Casper's launching from dry storage... so fun to watch!

Residents of Swansboro... not sure if these are ducks or some kind of swan?

We are headed to Beaufort NC tomorrow where we will be for about 3 nights and where we will eventually pull the boat.  We had originally planned to go as far as New Bern NC but discovered that Beaufort has a 2 day music festival this weekend.

Southport NC

Swansboro NC

Cooking and Entertainment on a C-Dory

We have been asked what sort of stove and galley we have on board.  I am not the cook, but I usually complain anyway about the lack of facilities on our little boat (we were spoiled on our Hunter sailboat..complete with a microwave and regular oven)   We doubt that the big boats around us are having more fun that we are, but they may be eating better (or at least more easily)!

We have a one burner stove, called a Wallas, which also has a fan contraption on it that will blow hot air and heat the cabin in the winter.  It is run by diesel fuel (or kerosene).  It takes forever to heat up and forget trying to boil water.  And we do need to boil water, because we have no running hot water.  So, we have added a few modern appliances:

I went shopping at a truck stop looking for 12volt appliances that truckers might use.  The first thing I bought was a little hot water pitcher so that I could have hot water almost instantly.  It comes in handy for tea or coffee, hot chocolate, and washing dishes.  I also purchased a 12volt slow cooker (like a crockpot) which has really improved our menus.  We end up eating earlier, though, because it smells so good cooking throughout the day.

Generally speaking, in nice weather, Rob cooks on a two burner Colman propane camp stove or on the propane barbeque that hangs off the stern.

We have a small refrigerator (like a dorm refrigerator, except the freezer is even tinier) where we keep our meat and produce... and a cooler in the cockpit holds overflow groceries,beverages, condiments and, most importantly, ice for our drinks.

Regarding beverages, I also have packed our Soda Stream which has saved a lot of space and a lot of garbage waste.  We "gas up" a few bottles each day and keep them cold.  We aren't big soft drink people but we do have assorted "trial size" flavor syrups so that if I want cola and he wants rootbeer, we aren't buying sixpacks of both.  Usually, though, we just like the sodawater with ice and maybe a slice of fruit or dash of lemon juice.

The strategy with regard to grocery shopping and meals along the ICW has been very simple as compared to when we boatcamp at Lake Mead or Lake Powell for example.  We only carry enough for a few days and if we get sick of camp food, there are always restaurants along the way.

So for cooking we need a little propane and for refrigeration we need electric... when at marinas we have all the electric we need, but we also have two house batteries, a solar panel AND a generator in case we anchor out.  We've not used either so far... but we need our electricity!  Or at least we think we "NEED" it.  We can only "rough it" to a point, but never can we "unplug"!  Mostly we need electric to keep our various devices charged... its a sad state of the world, isn't it?

We are also asked: what do we do at night?  Our Kindles are our primary source of entertainment, although surfing via phone, tablet or computer still occupies our time when we have wireless internet (the quality of internet at marinas varies).  Rob downloads podcasts which keep him entertained and we listen to the radio at times.  We also have a plethora of movies and TV shows recorded on the laptop, however I'm proud to say we haven't watched a TV show in over a week.

LIttle River SC

We traveled 56 miles today which took us about 5.5 hours.  Usually we go at a faster pace but there were several "low wake" zones as we passed beautiful homes, docks around Myrtle Beach.  It didn't really matter as we had no agenda or deadline except to arrive at Harborgate Marina in time to enjoy their swimming pool.  In Rob's advance prep for the trip, he created a spreadsheet of all the recommended marinas along the way, how far they were from each other etc.  I requested him to highlight those with a pool.

The weather has been glorious, not too hot at all... although the sun can get to you after awhile.  We are lucky being in the cabin and protected from harsh weather in general.  The windows keep us cool and the bimini keeps the sun off.  I am convinced that May is the perfect month to be here as we have been surprised that there really aren't many boaters out and about.

One of the biggest surprises to us is the method of reserving a slip for the night.  We dutifully call ahead and they respond "no problem, let us know when you get here".  They usually don't even take down our name or boat name.  We are used to having to reserve slips weeks in advance and put it on our credit card (no refund if we don't show).  That's not the case on the ICW.  We don't know if its because we are a small boat (they can fit us in almost anywhere), or because of the season.  In actuality it doesn't usually matter, as there are often several marinas in a row... or we could anchor out if necessary.  But I wanted to ensure getting a place with a pool!

Today we encountered two bridges which even our tiny C-Dory couldn't clear and we had to wait with other boats for the bridges to open. (We were traveling at high tide). Rob utilized his most proficient sounding captain's voice on the radio to hail the bridge tenders and talk to the other boats traveling either direction to agree on who would follow whom.  It was very organized!

In the areas where there weren't homes along the ICW we encountered forests more than swamp grass.  We did see some osprey nesting in the "mile marker posts" along the way and tried to take pictures of some little ones in the nest.  We did see several families of turtles out sunning as well. Didn't see any dolphins today but we should as we get closer to Cape Fear.  (Just the name Cape Fear makes me nervous but we aren't going around the cape, just near to it).

Here are scenes from today:

Little River SC

Cinco de Mayo in Georgetown SC

We traveled 52 miles to Georgetown SC and stayed 2 nights because it was such a quaint town and the weather was perfect in every way.  Here are a few pics from along the ICW:

I think I could live here :)

The docks are very long as the area between the homes and the water is marshy with some sort of grass... we call them tules but I think there is a local name for this type of swamp grass.

The first night in Georgetown, we rode our bikes to a local event at the Kominski Mansion, sitting under huge shade trees, and listened to a concert from the Long Bay Youth Orchestra.  It was almost surreal to look out on the ICW, listening to classical music and watching the leaves rustle above us in the gentle breeze.  You couldn't ask for a more glorious day.

We docked at the Harborwalk Marina which is literally right in the historic district and walking distance to several small, local museums... a Rice Museum and a maritime museum, as well as the Kominski Home museum.

The south is so genteel... I appreciated taking a break from shopping at all the cute little shops!

Georgetown was settled in the early 1700's and was once one of the biggest export towns for Carolina rice.  Today it has a paper mill and a steel mill which, unfortunately, are visible on the waterfront.  But we just looked past them and enjoyed the charming main street and beautiful tree lined side streets and watched the boats go by.

Harborwalk has very nice slips and restrooms, laundry facilities and they sell ice.  The grocery store is about 1.5 miles away.  It is right downtown near some nice restaurants and delis.  Many boats are anchored out in the harbor and dinghy in to the docks to visit town.

Today is Cinco de Mayo so we are celebrating with margaritas and fajitas for dinner!  We don't have a blender so, fortunately, we found these which work just great!  Now, where is that shaker of salt?

Charleston to Isle Of Palms SC

Well, we're off!  Down the Ashley River, across Charleston Bay and onto the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW).  The day was cloudy but warm (80's) and the sun eventually did shine.  We traveled only about 30 miles today as we really wanted to stop at the Isle of Palms marina for the night. We had been to the older, more historic island: Sullivan's Island to see Fort Moultrie last time; but had heard how beautiful this recently developed island is and wanted to see it.  Besides, there is a great restaurant with live music tonight and it sounded like fun.

The pictures of Charleston from the bay didn't turn out well as it was cloudy but the views of the battery were still beautiful... and we saw DOLPHINS!  Hopefully we'll see more and get pictures next time!

Restaurant here at the IOP marina... Live music this evening!

 Surprisingly we were guest docked next to another boat from Las Vegas NV!  What are the chances of two boats on the dock in SC from Las Vegas?  Pretty good, our neighbors told us that last year when they were here at this marina there were actually three boats from Las Vegas!  Unlike our boat which trailered here, these boats were purchased here on the East Coast somewhere but the people live (or used to live) in LV.  Our dock neighbors recently sold their house and live on their 42ft Hunter Sailboat (with two storage units: one in NC and one in FL).  They divide their time between their storage units traveling up and down the coast and enjoying the cruising life.

Today was the first annual "corn hole" tournament here at the IOP Marina.  Corn Row is some kind of game, similar to horseshoes except you throw some kind of burlap bags into wooden platform, shooting for a hole.

The sun actually came out about 3pm and we decided to take our bikes to the beach (Atlantic side) and around the golf course... very fun!

 Typical $3-4 million dollar homes at the beach. We decided we want one!

Rob planning the next legs of our trip.

On the way back from the beach, we took a neighborhood side street just to check out the "average" homes (not on the ocean beach or on the ICW or the golfcourse).  Still very large homes and very beautiful. We saw a sight seldom seen in captivity: but I couldn't get a picture... sorry!  Two very tan, very fit young ladies riding skate boards through the neighborhood... in very skimpy thong bikinis. (Don't their butts get sunburn?)  Rob was happy we chose that side street.

After our bike ride, the band at the restaurant was starting up.  We were treated to live music (two different bands with very different playsets) all evening.  We pulled our lawnchairs out onto the dock and joined our neighbors for great boat stories,beer and wine, and live music until 10pm.  A great day!
Isle of Palms, SC