#45 Up the east coast!

(Photo above: Loopers like to take pictures of each other’s boats as they pass by and then trade them. We’re just like kids having fun with our toys!) We’re sitting in Beaufort, NC after a night in an anchorage. We knew there was a cold front coming, bringing lots of wind and rain, due in Beaufort around 2PM. So we left the anchorage at first light with four hours to travel. As it turned out, not only did we beat the weather, they pushed back the forecast to about 4PM, so by the time it got here we were snugly tied up in a slip. It’s kind of an unsettling feeling to be outrunning a storm, watching the gray skies roll towards you, but it’s also pretty satisfying when you accomplish it.

(I wanted to get these photos up so I’m posting, Cheryl says she’ll have something to say next time.)

We are now at latitude 34.7, while Knoxville is at 35.9. So we’ve made this giant loop south then north and are about back to where we started, latitude-wise. We’ve gone completely around Florida:

Coming around and then up the coast was interesting as we watched the terrain go by. Florida was beaches, mansions, and condos, Georgia was vast marshlands. South Carolina and into north Carolina was bald cypress trees and what sure looks like alligator habitat, although we still haven’t seen one. Had a nice visit in this area with Ellis and Alauna while we were at Osprey Marina near south Myrtle Beach, they gave us a ride to lunch and helped out with some boat parts I had shipped that got there late. Thanks!

Boating people will appreciate this photo, this is bottom growth on a boat that hasn’t moved in a long while. In some areas of Florida, you have to have a diver clean the bottom every two to four weeks to keep this from happening.

We are going to end this trip with hundreds of gorgeous sunset pictures, here’s just a couple from recent stops.

Same with pictures of the boat at stops, we’re trying to get a shot from each place so we can remember them later. I will spare you and not post them all!

Y’all remember my description of the wide variety of the showers at all these marinas? That continues. Here’s our last two stops. One in an actual wooden outhouse, wood grate on the floor for a drain, mere steps from a restaurant entrance, one dim light so it was hard to see at first until your eyes adjusted, and no good place to hang your towel or clothes. The next stop had this modern, clean shower/bathroom.

In Georgetown, a cool stop, there is an embroidery shop just across the street, so, following in the footsteps of some fellow Loopers, we had a sharp-looking hat made.

Reflections…

Never would have imagined this scenario….rolling down the river, (well, the intracoastal waterway), making enough to buy the next tank of diesel with a laptop and a wifi connection. Technology is great. (Sometimes. I will always be something of a Luddite.)

Cheryl was intrigued by this style of home. The street-facing side of the house is the narrowest, as that is how taxes used to be calculated, on frontage. So the front door actually opens to the porch, not the interior, so that the occupants could use the front porch as a living room or even sleep there.

One of the perks of this lifestyle…finding a neat little breakfast shop for coffee and a breakfast burrito.

We have wheels again! After that unfortunate incident with the salt water, and two unrepairable scooters, our new ones made it in. Thanks again to Cheryl’s friend Jeff in Wilmington for helping us get them to the boat.

Mama bird guarding the young-uns at red #76.

One of the highlights of this section of the trip was Porch Time with Robert and Kay Creech in Southport. If you are a Looper, you know who I’m talking about, if not, Robert and Kay are icons in the Looper world, Gold Loopers, hosting Porch Time evenings with whichever Loopers happen to be in town that day, providing a shady spot to sit and hours of great conversation and useful information about Southport and the Loop. We were there for two great evenings along with YooperToo, Round 4, You and Me, Caballito de Mar, Wade-ing Around, and Barefoot Getaway. So happy we made it!

Beaufort NC! A few pictures from our first day here.

This doesn’t look like much, but some 20 years ago or so I was here to deliver an Island Packet 38 sailboat from Beaufort NC to Melbourne FL, a straight offshore shot of 500 miles or so with a buddy. We left from the middle slip right here on my first offshore long distance sailing trip. What I remember most is the feeling when, after five days at sea, we stepped onto the dock in Florida and I thought “Well that was easy!” Of course it wasn’t, but what a feeling of accomplishment I had. We moved ourselves and a 12 ton boat 500 miles powered completely by the wind. Suddenly my car, which requires gas all the time, seemed horribly inefficient.

Beaufort Front Street from Carrot Island, where the wild horses live. Gorgeous place.

Still loving those scooters.

Getting ready to go find some wild horses.

Just an ok picture, we couldn’t get too close because look at that shore! Solid sharp oyster shells. If you look under the trees you can see three horses.