Hi F&F ,
This is the end of our first stage south!
Woke up to the unpleasant perfume of the nearby paper mill! Obviously the wind direction had changed! We decided to forgo the wonderful 3 egg fluffy omelettes at the Good Break Cafe in Georgetown this morning and headed off around 9 am.
I forgot to mention yesterday a funny situation.Just after we got on the ICW from Grande Dunes Marina I suddenly spied on the edge of the bank a small low lying boat completely camouflaged in green and brown colors.Around it were several floating plastic ducks! We were going about 12 knots so I called to Graeme to slow down! I am known as the anti wake police on our boat! There was a guy inside the boat also in his camouflaged gear! Well he got quite a rock and roll from our wake ,but all was ok. We truly did not see him til the last moment! No doubt he is hoping the live ducks will not either!
Back to today,We had a great run to Charleston.The canal was straight for the most part, wide and smooth and the vistas wonderful. Lots of low lying marshes, birds everywhere and dolphins accompanying us every now and again. We passed Slow Dancing a boat from Mobile Alabama once again and also Rosie a sailboat from Philadelphia .Its funny how you see the same boats over and over again on a journey like this. We passed the Charleston City Marina full of boats or should I say in some cases ,ships. Saw some beautiful big sailboats parked on the outside docks. Had another 15 ft bridge to negotiate once again just before our Marina , but fortunately the tides are bigger the further south you go ,so we were able to get under with a good foot or so to spare.
We will keep our boat here for the next 2weeks as we will drive north to join family and friends for Christmas.
I will resume the blog after the 1st January 2013.
I will leave you with this saying on a small plaque which sits on the boat.
" Every day is a gift,that's why they call it the present!" We hope you to can value each day and we wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Over and Out,
Erica and Graeme.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Day 16 off to Georgetown
Hi there F&F
Got up to a misty day and decided to wait a half hour for it to clear. Left about 8.30am and started off back down the ICW.Two other boats were chugging along ahead of us.First time we have really ha dcompany.There was a lovely stretch of canal not unlike the Dismal Swamp for most of the way .all Cypress trees lined the way and the water was very still.We had to avoid quite a lot of water lilies growing in the canal and also several floating logs, some were quite large.So its important to keep alert , you don't want damage done to those expensive propellers!We had a swing bridge of 11 ft to wait briefly for an opening, but no dramas this time. I was able to download on the I Pad and listen to a sermon from my church Cornerstone in Leesburg Virginia along the way. Then I prepared lunch on board ( one of the benefits of traveling by boat ) something you can't really do so easily traveling by car or RV ( Campervan). We arrived at 1 pm and then after tying up went for a walk through the town.We were here for Graeme' s birthday just over a year ago.The town is doing ok ,barely.Several restaurants still open ,but unfortunately our favorite The Rice Paddy was closed Sunday.We had heard the Krazy Fish Restaurant / Bar had great food so decided to wander back in the evening and try it out.As we entered there was a cockatoo bird sitting on top of his cage saying" Hello."This bird belongs to the owner of the restaurant and the husband walked around with it on his arm .Quite a talkative bird it was too and most entertaining.They think its about 25 yrs old.Also there was an Italian Mastiff dog wandering about belonged to one of the staff.It looked a bit like a Sharpei without all the wrinkles and was a very calm and quiet dog fortunately. Well, the food was good , but the biggest surprise came when we received the bill!I kid you not, there was no mention of food.
Laptop bag $ 9.95 was Graeme's entree
Laptop bag $8.95 was my entree
Laptop bag $ 3.50 was the soup
Wallets $ 2.50 was my beer
Tote bag $5.50 was Graeme's glass of wine
Tote bag $5.50 was Graeme's 2nd glass of wine.
Were they posing as a Bag shop perhaps?
Oh well, I guess crazy can be spelt many ways!
Over and out
Erica.
Got up to a misty day and decided to wait a half hour for it to clear. Left about 8.30am and started off back down the ICW.Two other boats were chugging along ahead of us.First time we have really ha dcompany.There was a lovely stretch of canal not unlike the Dismal Swamp for most of the way .all Cypress trees lined the way and the water was very still.We had to avoid quite a lot of water lilies growing in the canal and also several floating logs, some were quite large.So its important to keep alert , you don't want damage done to those expensive propellers!We had a swing bridge of 11 ft to wait briefly for an opening, but no dramas this time. I was able to download on the I Pad and listen to a sermon from my church Cornerstone in Leesburg Virginia along the way. Then I prepared lunch on board ( one of the benefits of traveling by boat ) something you can't really do so easily traveling by car or RV ( Campervan). We arrived at 1 pm and then after tying up went for a walk through the town.We were here for Graeme' s birthday just over a year ago.The town is doing ok ,barely.Several restaurants still open ,but unfortunately our favorite The Rice Paddy was closed Sunday.We had heard the Krazy Fish Restaurant / Bar had great food so decided to wander back in the evening and try it out.As we entered there was a cockatoo bird sitting on top of his cage saying" Hello."This bird belongs to the owner of the restaurant and the husband walked around with it on his arm .Quite a talkative bird it was too and most entertaining.They think its about 25 yrs old.Also there was an Italian Mastiff dog wandering about belonged to one of the staff.It looked a bit like a Sharpei without all the wrinkles and was a very calm and quiet dog fortunately. Well, the food was good , but the biggest surprise came when we received the bill!I kid you not, there was no mention of food.
Laptop bag $ 9.95 was Graeme's entree
Laptop bag $8.95 was my entree
Laptop bag $ 3.50 was the soup
Wallets $ 2.50 was my beer
Tote bag $5.50 was Graeme's glass of wine
Tote bag $5.50 was Graeme's 2nd glass of wine.
Were they posing as a Bag shop perhaps?
Oh well, I guess crazy can be spelt many ways!
Over and out
Erica.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Another Day in Myrtle Beach Day 15
Hi F&F ,
We had a nice leisurely day in our Grande Dunes Resort. Started off with a cooked breakfast at Waterside the resort restaurant, then it was off to the supermarket for provisions and later we were taken over by the resort staff to the Grande Dunes golf course once the weather warmed up. Played a good nine holes, course was nice and easy ( if there is such a thing !) in perfect weather not too hot or too cold. Later at the cocktail hour we walked all of about 20 steps off the boat to Ruth Chris restaurant where they had a lovely bar area and tried out their Christmas cocktails .Wandered back afterwards for a vegetable chili on board the boat . We would come back here again It is very convenient on the ICW , good amenities and the staff friendly and helpful.
Over and out
Erica.
We had a nice leisurely day in our Grande Dunes Resort. Started off with a cooked breakfast at Waterside the resort restaurant, then it was off to the supermarket for provisions and later we were taken over by the resort staff to the Grande Dunes golf course once the weather warmed up. Played a good nine holes, course was nice and easy ( if there is such a thing !) in perfect weather not too hot or too cold. Later at the cocktail hour we walked all of about 20 steps off the boat to Ruth Chris restaurant where they had a lovely bar area and tried out their Christmas cocktails .Wandered back afterwards for a vegetable chili on board the boat . We would come back here again It is very convenient on the ICW , good amenities and the staff friendly and helpful.
Over and out
Erica.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Day 14 Off to Myrtle Beach
Hi again F&F ,
We had quite a long journey today at least 73 miles.It doesn't sound much by car but believe me it takes a while by water! We started off back down the Cape Fear River and to the open sea. The sea was very mild about 1 ft seas and a following slight wind .A beautiful sunny day to top it off. We travelled down to the Little River Inlet and entered in at Little River SC.On the way in we saw the two casino cruise ships near the entrance. These boats go out several times a day. As we entered in to join the ICW , we also crossed the line between North and South Carolina. Now we crawled along as it was in a fairly built up area and we are mindful of the wake our boat leaves that can affect the shoreline .All the bridges we passed were easy to clear until we came to a low swing bridge.Had forgotten that to hail this bridge on the VHF radio now we had crossed into South Carolina we had to change channels from 13 to 9. Couldn't at first work out why the bridge attendant was not responding. We caught on after a few minutes and carried on. The marina we are staying in for the next two nights is called Grande Dunes and has most pleasant staff. At check in , we received a nice bottle of wine and a promise to drive us to supermarket tomorrow and also book a tee time and drive us to the golf course in the morning .It is fairly quiet here at present although there are surrounding high rise condos and 3 restaurants on site.
Chose to eat on board with a nice glass of wine and tried out our electric George Foreman grill.It was highly successful. Lovely sunset and a crescent moon completed the evening.
Over and out
Erica.
We had quite a long journey today at least 73 miles.It doesn't sound much by car but believe me it takes a while by water! We started off back down the Cape Fear River and to the open sea. The sea was very mild about 1 ft seas and a following slight wind .A beautiful sunny day to top it off. We travelled down to the Little River Inlet and entered in at Little River SC.On the way in we saw the two casino cruise ships near the entrance. These boats go out several times a day. As we entered in to join the ICW , we also crossed the line between North and South Carolina. Now we crawled along as it was in a fairly built up area and we are mindful of the wake our boat leaves that can affect the shoreline .All the bridges we passed were easy to clear until we came to a low swing bridge.Had forgotten that to hail this bridge on the VHF radio now we had crossed into South Carolina we had to change channels from 13 to 9. Couldn't at first work out why the bridge attendant was not responding. We caught on after a few minutes and carried on. The marina we are staying in for the next two nights is called Grande Dunes and has most pleasant staff. At check in , we received a nice bottle of wine and a promise to drive us to supermarket tomorrow and also book a tee time and drive us to the golf course in the morning .It is fairly quiet here at present although there are surrounding high rise condos and 3 restaurants on site.
Chose to eat on board with a nice glass of wine and tried out our electric George Foreman grill.It was highly successful. Lovely sunset and a crescent moon completed the evening.
Over and out
Erica.
A surprise dinner at Wilmington
Hi there F&F ,
Day 13.
Today you get two days as Wifi not so good where we were docked in Wilmington.We are so glad we made this diversion.Maybe wouldn't return except for the restaurant but more later on that one! We woke up to a cold , windy and cloudy day. Would have been easy just to stay curled up with a book for the day in the cosy boat ,but we need the exercise ( one downside of cruising is lack of opportunity to exercise) And as for trying Pilates on the boat, forget it!We set off to explore the town and find the trolley tour of the historic area and check out the restaurants for our evening meal tonight. Turns out the trolley tours are not operating in December expect for Saturdays, so armed with a map we did our own.This town is full of lovely old homes one after another. Each with a plaque giving the history of the house. We also made a lovely River Walk along the Cape Fear river where there are lots of shops and restaurants all with a view of the river. We picked out a nice looking restaurant called Pilot House on the waterfront ( a favorite with the locals ) and returned there after a leisurely afternoon. The waitress suggested where we should sit even though it was free sitting.Turns out we were put next to a group of 6 business people who were fairly noisy , but in a happy kind of way. But so what, the meal was fabulous ? I had salmon en papilotte which I would go back for any day! When Graeme asked for the check, the waitress said the table next to us was paying our check! Turns out another couple had sat at our table and then asked to move because of the noise . So,we walked out having had a free meal.Extraordinary! We walked back along the waterfront.Apparently there were meteor showers in the sky thought we didn't see any. There is quite a current running in the river so we heard a fair amount of slapping on the hull when the tides changed.But ear plugs really help so we were not too bothered.
Over and out
Erica
Day 13.
Today you get two days as Wifi not so good where we were docked in Wilmington.We are so glad we made this diversion.Maybe wouldn't return except for the restaurant but more later on that one! We woke up to a cold , windy and cloudy day. Would have been easy just to stay curled up with a book for the day in the cosy boat ,but we need the exercise ( one downside of cruising is lack of opportunity to exercise) And as for trying Pilates on the boat, forget it!We set off to explore the town and find the trolley tour of the historic area and check out the restaurants for our evening meal tonight. Turns out the trolley tours are not operating in December expect for Saturdays, so armed with a map we did our own.This town is full of lovely old homes one after another. Each with a plaque giving the history of the house. We also made a lovely River Walk along the Cape Fear river where there are lots of shops and restaurants all with a view of the river. We picked out a nice looking restaurant called Pilot House on the waterfront ( a favorite with the locals ) and returned there after a leisurely afternoon. The waitress suggested where we should sit even though it was free sitting.Turns out we were put next to a group of 6 business people who were fairly noisy , but in a happy kind of way. But so what, the meal was fabulous ? I had salmon en papilotte which I would go back for any day! When Graeme asked for the check, the waitress said the table next to us was paying our check! Turns out another couple had sat at our table and then asked to move because of the noise . So,we walked out having had a free meal.Extraordinary! We walked back along the waterfront.Apparently there were meteor showers in the sky thought we didn't see any. There is quite a current running in the river so we heard a fair amount of slapping on the hull when the tides changed.But ear plugs really help so we were not too bothered.
Over and out
Erica
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Day 12 To Wilmington
Hi F&F ,
Well this morning we planned a really early start 7am! But it was such a grey day and visibility not so great so ended up leaving nearer 8 am.Today we needed some strategy to get through two low bridges , so we worked out the distance and speed and were able to successful go under them with a few minutes wait. Along the way we fueled up at a really cheap fuel dock in Swan River ($3.39 per gallon).This makes sense when you are putting in up to 200 gallons at a time at around $4 a gallon for diesel . With speeds of 23 mph , we average around 30 gallons per hour. Graeme has a special app on his I Pad which lists all the docks and fuel prices. Of course in the ICW we are going anywhere between 6 and 12 mph.
This stretch of the ICW had lots of fishing activity mainly clam harvesting. The boats had lots of hungry pelicans surrounding them. They were looking for a good feed. occasionally the fishermen would throw out some tidbits. At one point we saw a boat with the name Heather R.A.E on the transom and thought of our good friend Heather Rae! Sadly Heather I didn't get my camera ready in time ,but it really did say that! We had a couple of scary points along the way where temporary buoys had been place because of shoaling .One of them had been marked incorrectly and we felt the dreaded shuddering and the boat stopped.By putting the boat into neutral Graeme was able to nudge his way forward into deeper water. It was cloudy most of the way but no rain.Once we entered the Cape Fear River we were in deep water and no speed restrictions , so had a lovely run up to Wilmington. This place has a big port and lots of Coast Guard activity. We tied up just outside the Hilton Hotel along the River Walk in front of the big Coast Guard Ship called Diligence. Lots of young guys and gals are living on board and training up and down the river Also opposite us ,is the famous battleship North Carolina.Saved from demolition , it has its resting place here and is a great tourist attraction. This battleship had over 50 battle engagements, mainly in the Pacific arena during WW2.
The rain started to come down so we holed up inside and had dinner on board.Will explore the town tomorrow.
Over and out
Erica.
Well this morning we planned a really early start 7am! But it was such a grey day and visibility not so great so ended up leaving nearer 8 am.Today we needed some strategy to get through two low bridges , so we worked out the distance and speed and were able to successful go under them with a few minutes wait. Along the way we fueled up at a really cheap fuel dock in Swan River ($3.39 per gallon).This makes sense when you are putting in up to 200 gallons at a time at around $4 a gallon for diesel . With speeds of 23 mph , we average around 30 gallons per hour. Graeme has a special app on his I Pad which lists all the docks and fuel prices. Of course in the ICW we are going anywhere between 6 and 12 mph.
This stretch of the ICW had lots of fishing activity mainly clam harvesting. The boats had lots of hungry pelicans surrounding them. They were looking for a good feed. occasionally the fishermen would throw out some tidbits. At one point we saw a boat with the name Heather R.A.E on the transom and thought of our good friend Heather Rae! Sadly Heather I didn't get my camera ready in time ,but it really did say that! We had a couple of scary points along the way where temporary buoys had been place because of shoaling .One of them had been marked incorrectly and we felt the dreaded shuddering and the boat stopped.By putting the boat into neutral Graeme was able to nudge his way forward into deeper water. It was cloudy most of the way but no rain.Once we entered the Cape Fear River we were in deep water and no speed restrictions , so had a lovely run up to Wilmington. This place has a big port and lots of Coast Guard activity. We tied up just outside the Hilton Hotel along the River Walk in front of the big Coast Guard Ship called Diligence. Lots of young guys and gals are living on board and training up and down the river Also opposite us ,is the famous battleship North Carolina.Saved from demolition , it has its resting place here and is a great tourist attraction. This battleship had over 50 battle engagements, mainly in the Pacific arena during WW2.
The rain started to come down so we holed up inside and had dinner on board.Will explore the town tomorrow.
Over and out
Erica.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Day 11 Try to go outside into the Atlantic
Hi F&F
We had an early start ( well for me that is!) around 8 am this suspect first bridge was even better today as we were at low tide and easily went underneath with good clearance. The Neuse river was calm , lots of pelicans flying about especially near the entrance.We had a good trip back down to join up the ICW near Oriental where we had spent a night recently.We made a decision to go for Beaufort ( remember its pronounced like Bowfort in NC but Bufort in SC even thought both have the same spelling) At Beaufort we stopped , tied up with free dockage just for lunch.Enjoyed a nice lunch at Queen Anne's Revenge ( named after Black Beard's flagship which was found somewhere in NC waters) bug surprise , we met up again with our lady friends on Raising the Bar cruiser .Turned out they are a mother daughter team named Hope and Faith! Wonder if there is a sister called Charity or Love in the family! They were the ones delivering a boat to Florida and were about to head out into the ocean so we suggested we give them a call and if things looked good we would join them ..However it was awful, 6 ft seas so we decided to scrape that idea and head down the ICW the much slower course.I think in future it is best to go outside weather permitting and come in at Wrightsville Beach .Both inlets are very good and not bad for shoaling .Many of the inlets are not recommended unless you have local knowledge in this area.
We arrived at Casper's Marina where we had stayed in March and finally got to try the IceHouse Waterfront Restaurant.Well worth the visit.Watched a DVD then off to bed.Over and out. Erica
We had an early start ( well for me that is!) around 8 am this suspect first bridge was even better today as we were at low tide and easily went underneath with good clearance. The Neuse river was calm , lots of pelicans flying about especially near the entrance.We had a good trip back down to join up the ICW near Oriental where we had spent a night recently.We made a decision to go for Beaufort ( remember its pronounced like Bowfort in NC but Bufort in SC even thought both have the same spelling) At Beaufort we stopped , tied up with free dockage just for lunch.Enjoyed a nice lunch at Queen Anne's Revenge ( named after Black Beard's flagship which was found somewhere in NC waters) bug surprise , we met up again with our lady friends on Raising the Bar cruiser .Turned out they are a mother daughter team named Hope and Faith! Wonder if there is a sister called Charity or Love in the family! They were the ones delivering a boat to Florida and were about to head out into the ocean so we suggested we give them a call and if things looked good we would join them ..However it was awful, 6 ft seas so we decided to scrape that idea and head down the ICW the much slower course.I think in future it is best to go outside weather permitting and come in at Wrightsville Beach .Both inlets are very good and not bad for shoaling .Many of the inlets are not recommended unless you have local knowledge in this area.
We arrived at Casper's Marina where we had stayed in March and finally got to try the IceHouse Waterfront Restaurant.Well worth the visit.Watched a DVD then off to bed.Over and out. Erica
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