Our big goal was St Augustine, however we made several stops along the way. Once we left Vero Beach we headed to Cocoa Beach Village. While we were there a festival was going on at Lee Werner Park. They had live music at night where we were able to practice some of our Fred Astaire moves. We also met up with two boating acquaintances from our trip. The captain that nearly had a heart attack as I was attempting to dock at Stuart and John and Tania who we met at Vero Beach.
John and Tania drove to meet us at the Marina and graciously showed us the sites. Tania took Pam shopping and John took us to the base where Pam was able to see men in uniform at the officers club. I must admit that I did not know that Pam truly loves a man in uniform.
We spent three days at the Marina at Hammock Beach Resort, another place that met Pam’s “I was born to live this way” standards. We had time to walk the beach,
wander the grounds
and imagine the use of the pools. Since it was raining we were not able to actually get in the pools.
The only drawback was the marina was a couple of miles away from the resort. All we had to do was call for the shuttle and we would be whisked away to the resort. Pam said it was like the washing machine commercial, all she had to do was point with her index finger and things happened.
We reluctantly left the Marina at Hammock Beach Resort and continued our journey to St. Augustine.
This was our second time to be on a mooring ball. St. Augustine Municipal Marina has strict rules about using the mooring ball. It requires two lines and they can only be long enough to have the tether three feet from the bow of the boat. We managed to make this happen quite easily.
We have been to St. Augustine several times by car, but this was the first time on our boat. This was also our first time to use the dingy extensively to get us to shore for shore excursions. We also stayed until after dark so we had the adventure of maneuvering through the mooring balls in the dark. After the first night we remembered to bring a powerful flashlight to spot the empty balls.
The view from the water was better than the one from shore.
Our next major stop was Jacksonville with a quick stop at Palm Cove to fuel up and break up the trip. As we traveled Saint Johns River we came across one of the big boys. Carnival had a ship Carnival Elation docked here. Interestingly enough as we left to head north the same ship was in port and making ready to go to sea.
We arrived in Jacksonville on June 6th. Pam left me while we were at Jacksonville. I had known it was coming for quite some time. She kept telling me she was going to leave me, but I guess I hoped it really would not happen. It was only temporary though. She went to Spokane to help our oldest daughter and her family find a place to live when they moved out in July.
We made friends with Tom and Diane at The Marina at Ortega Landing. Pam made them promise to keep me out of trouble while she was gone. They were good friends and kept that promise happily. We went out for lunch on fathers day. We had a horse race at their club. We played Mexican Train in the lounge at the marina. We had a wine tasting in the lounge as well. And after Pam made it back to the boat we had a 4th of July pool party/cookout sponsored by-*-*/ the marina. —–
Did I mention that the people we meet along the journey are what make this trip. All along the way we have met great people, people who provided information, companionship and great times. If you travel the Great Loop and don’t meet these people you are robbing yourself of the greatest pleasure on the loop. We have several business card holders full of boat cards that remind us of all those we have met along the way.
Tom and Diane tried their best to talk us into staying at The Marina at Ortega Landing instead of heading north to the Chesapeake. It was really tempting. The marina was great, the people were great and there were many things to explore in the area. But we had a greater desire to explore the Chesapeake. So we headed out on the 6th of July.
Our next destination was Jekyll Island. We were planning on meeting Pam’s cousin from Lakeland Florida there. We have spent several weeks at a time with Kathy and David before and always have great fun. This was to be exactly the same. But I am getting ahead of myself.
We stopped at Fernandina Beach first along the way. The marina had been silted in by hurricane Mathew so we moored in the mooring field across the Intracoastal from the marina. This is where I learned that Pam is much better at getting and keeping the boat in position to pick up the mooring pennant than I am. She claims it is because she was the one on the bow of the boat the first 2 or 3 times so she has an understanding that one doesn’t get from running the boat. I called BS on this because I have been on the bow 2 or 3 times now and I still can’t put the boat in the right position and keep it there. I have a sneaking feeling that she can maneuver the boat far better than I can. I will soon be moved to first mate status away from captain status.
We were only stayed at Fernandina Beach for one afternoon, but I think it is one of my favorite places. We took Uber to the south end of Amelia Island and had snacks while listening to live music at Sliders.
They have unique seats at the bar in Sliders. Pam showed that she was capable of letting loose and that at this stage in her life she could still swing.
We walked to the beach, but decided that we were more interested in finding some good seafood. We walked to a restaurant to eat before having Uber take us back to Fernandina Beach. The Uber driver told us that Amelia Island is two different places. The southern part is modern and full of new stores including Walmart, Home Depot and Loews. The northern part where you find Fernandina Beach is older and has quaint stores.
We enjoyed our brief stay at Fernandina Beach but we had to make it to Jekyll Island so we left the next day July 7th.
Now up until this portion of the journey I was not overly concerned with tides and currents. But this was the beginning of my daily assessment of the charted route for shoaling and other grounding opportunities. After marking these areas on my charts I would then plot the tides and currents to see the best time for transiting the trouble areas. Eventually I started putting all of this information into a spreadsheet so that I could easily see if I needed to speed up or slow down to maximize the passing of the trouble spots.
I use Coastal Explorer to chart my routes. Most of the time I have a route charted for 5 to 10 days in advance. As we progress through the route I break up the long route into daily routes. When I do this I will use the imbedded Active Captain to determine trouble spots. After finding the trouble spots I then use the tide/current tables imbedded in Coastal Explorer. This is extremely handy especially through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. I am not a captain long on experience so what I lack in experience I try to make up for with attention to detail.
Jekyll Island is one of those place where you can get lost in time and forget about the worries of everyday life. We have been here several times and enjoy the island immensely. The islands history is just the beginning of the experience. The marina is not a grandiose place but it is very nice. Pam and I spent the first day reacquainting ourselves with the island. The marina has loner bikes and golf carts. We made use of these to go to St. Andrews Picnic Area at the southern end of the island. Then we visited Driftwood Beach on the northern end of the island.
Pam’s cousin Kathy and her husband David came to Jekyll Island to the remainder of our stay. It was their visit that made this trip to Jekyll very enjoyable. We took the carriage ride/tour of the cottages.
We spent time on the boat. We went to the Jekyll Club House. We went to the island museum where we saw one of the original Red Bugs. We were fortunate enough to witness the end of a croquet match. We did visit the neighboring island of St. Simons Island. We did not spend much time just relaxing.
The last couple of days we had this boat the Jonathan III at the dock next to us. Pam and I decided that after the loop we would like to have a boat similar to this. However, Pam has always told me that she wanted people on the boat. People to wax the boat. People to cook for us in the morning, noon and night. people to cart laundry up to laundromats. Maybe even someone to put a mint on her pillow for bedtime or to occasioanally relieve her from the First Mate duties. With a boat of this caliber people are a necessity.
While at Jekyll Island we met, well Pam met fellow boaters with their grandson. It turns out that John and Carolane became travel companions for a few more stops. We did not intend to horn in on their cruising. After all they had their grandson with them and had plans to meet their son at Charleston. But they were gracious enough to allow us to tag along. They are great people. Are you starting to see the theme here?
We did not leave Jekyll Island until July 14th. I did not think I would convince Pam to leave then. The only thing that helped was that we had another destination in mind. We were planning on meeting with Jonathan and Olivia at Myrtle Beach. We needed to be on our way so that we had plenty of time to make Myrtle Beach without having a time crunch.
The first night out we anchored out. When we left Fort Loudon Marina the game plan was to anchor out more than we stayed at marinas. There were extenuating circumstances that kept this from happening. First was when we left it was the dead of winter. As we traveled our main concern was that we would be able to pump out. The water lines at the marinas were run under water so no problem with them freezing. The waste lines were another thing. They were all run just under the dock. Therefore they would be winterized, and only used once a week. We made sure to dock at all the marinas to make sure we would be able to pump out when needed.
But every time we anchored out we wondered why we had not anchored out more. We set the anchor and watched with baited breath. We were in the heart of big tides and swift currents. I set the anchor watch imbedded in the Garmin chart plotter. I had never used it before so I did not set it properly. Once the tide turned the alarm went off, but we were still firmly held by the anchor. The center of the alarm circle was not really in the center. I extended the range to reset the alarm and we slept the night. Well not completely, I got up about four times through the night to check the anchor.
I was going to skip Isle of Hope, but I would never hear the end of it if I had. This was a great place to visit. The people were very friendly and there was much to see and do. The marina had loaner cars which made it convenient for seeing the sights. We decided to attend the church just down the street from the marina. It was a short walk.
The service was great. The message was good. The invitation came and we all stood up. I got light headed so I sat down. Then I got even more light headed so I laid down on the pew. The next thing I knew Pam was trying her best to revive me. There were many faces looking at me. An ambulance was summoned and the paramedics came in to work on me. I thought I was recovering until they decided to help. The first thing they wanted to do was stick a needle in me. I don’t like foreign objects being poked into my body especially if the are long and pointy. That caused my blood pressure to fall and my heart beat to slow down.
Suffice it to say I ended up in the emergency room and poked. After some time they did let me go. But Pam would not let me run the boat long without checking to make sure I was still cognizant. She did relax a little just before we put the boat up for the winter. Oh, the only thing they said was the problem was that I was dehydrated.
On the way to Myrtle Beach we made stops at Windmill Harbor Marina, Downtown Marina at Beaufort SC, Charleston City Marina and Harborwalk Marina at Georgetown SC. All of these stops were excellent. The history was more than I had learned through school. Things that I learned there were reinforced but the idea of the humanity in history was lost during school. Here we walked in the very footsteps of the real people involved in the lessons we learned at school.
We found this at outdoor market in Charleston. I thought it perfectly described Pam. Every time we tell people we have 15 grandchildren Pam is told she does not look old enough to any grandchildren let alone 15.
As mentioned earlier we met John and Carolane at Charleston. Their son David flew into Charleston to pick up their grandson Will. We were fortunate to spend a couple of days with them before they left. David knew about the culinary delights in this city. He allowed us to tag along with the family to some truly unique and tremendous meals. We ate oysters from all over the country at Amen Street restaurant. The menu listed oysters from NC, VA, MA, PEI, SC, NB, RI and NS. Who knew that oysters could taste so different depending on where they were harvested. And I guess we all adapt a taste for those indigenous to the area in which we were raised. Although the tasting was a wonderful adventure…George’s favorite is still Smith Point, TX oysters and Pam’s favorite is Apalachicola FL oysters!
We took a city tour which pointed out many historical buildings from the British bombardment to the Civil War blockade. There are many replicas since the originals were mostly destroyed. However there are still some original buildings left.
We left Charleston on July 23rd heading to Georgetown. Once again we were able to see many historical homes. We are so fascinated by these buildings. After living in the suburbs of Houston for so long where every fifth house looks alike, seeing these homes that exude personality is such a treat.
Georgetown is also home of the Rice Museum which is not large in size, but is extremely large in history. We learned about the golden rice that was raised in the part of the country which was an important cash crop. It made plantation owners extremely wealthy. The rice was extremely labor intensive so it was not profitable after the Civil War when the labor was no longer slave labor.
On July 25th we left Georgetown for Myrtle Beach. Along the way we passed these kayakers. I try to slow down so these boaters don’t get huge wakes. Sometimes I do in time and sometimes I misjudge and they still get some wake. It is not as big as if we are at cruising speed, but still enough to make them uncomfortable. When they see I am trying to give them a slow pass they are always grateful and most give a wave in acknowledgement. If I misjudge they sometimes give another type of wave.
As we docked at the Barefoot Marina at Myrtle Beach we looked across the channel to see some friends from Stuart Beach. This is the Nordhavn that I almost broad sided twice while trying to dock there. We did not get a chance to catch up with them because they left the very next day.
As we settled in and took a walking tour of the marina area, we decided to stop into the bar/restaurant on premises. We seated ourselves at the bar area to grab an appetizer and drink, and immediately met a nice Christian couple. This couple lived in the condos on property and owned a fabulous golf cart. I could hardly believe my ears when they offered us the use of this cart to ride the soon arriving grandkids. There was a bridge we had to cross in order to get over to the larger restaurants and attractions. They used a specific back road, which they described to us, and parked as any other vehicle in the parking lot upon arrival. Needless to say, Pam enjoyed wheeling Olivia and girls around in the golf cart as soon as she could persuade them to hop on!
Barefoot Marina has pool privileges at the resort just up the hill. We planned on utilizing this with Jonathan, Olivia and the girls while they were in town.
We did get everyone in the pool a couple of times, but there was so much to do here that we spent many hours on the beach, shopping, shows and sight seeing. This is truly a vacation destiny.
A perfect conclusion to the visit was Gramma & Grampa having the girls spend one night on the boat while parents enjoyed last night in the condo. We enjoyed having the girls all to ourselves. And after Jonathan left to go back the work, Olivia and the girls stayed a couple of nights and enjoyed the pool with us.
On August 5th we left the Barefoot Marina and made our way through the Rock Pile. It was through this stretch of the trip that I found Bob423 in Active Captain. He has very good information about the obstructions and shoaling and how to avoid them. It was only after we attended the Southern Rendezvous in Hampton Virginia that I realized the celebrity that he is. I used his information extensively for the tough situations.
So we made it to Southport Marina on August 5th and spent the rest of the day exploring the city. As most people are aware this is the place that Safe Haven was filmed. They even built the store on site that was burned in the movie. The store was built and destroyed just for the movie. And that is not the only thing that has been filmed in Southport.
We had fun chasing down the places were some of these movies and TV shows were filmed. The house where Matlock lived is here. The restaurants used in various shows and even the water tower. But that is not what made this stop special. It was the people we saw and met here. There was the man sitting on his front porch every day that enjoyed watching people including us and the cool breeze under the trees. There was the people in the restored bank that now sells clothes and accessories.( It was so keen that they had salvaged the original vault with its big turn stiles and remodeled around it. So many places would have modernized and destroyed this great piece of history). There was the waitress at Frying Pan restaurant. There was the man at the marina that Pam befriended that gave us tour advice and a ride to the CVS for prescription drugs. And the tour guide that was recommended to us for seeing the sites in Southport. Then the man and his wife at the museum that listened to our boating stories and gave us a ride to the grocery store for supplies. I am on the theme again aren’t I. It is the people that we meet that always seem to make this trip.
As we left Southport on the 9th of August we couldn’t help but take a few pictures from the boat of the water front of the city.
We left Southport on August 9th for the final push to Chesapeake Virginia. Our goal for the summer was to make it to the Chesapeake Bay and cruise around the bay for the summer. We had planned on being here by mid June. As you see we did not make that timing. But we would not trade any of the adventures for the time back. In fact we questioned whether we went too fast. We experienced as much as we could for 8 months on the boat. As we looked back at the trip we couldn’t help but wonder how much we missed. We knew there were places we wanted to stop but didn’t. And as always with our travels we knew there were places that we did not even know about that were the gems that we wanted to discover.
Enough daydreaming, we stopped at Wrightsville before our planned stops at Mile Hammock Bay and then Beaufort NC. This was just an overnight stay with an easy in easy out marina. This turned into one of those humbling experiences. There was a very strong current and the marina was in the channel so there was no protection from the current. At first I wanted to use my tried and true method of docking the boat with stern in.
My method was always to go into the marina bow first and then turn the boat around to get the stern into the slip. It took only 5 seconds to realize that the current was pushing me into the boats, the dock and most importantly into the concrete wall. I very quickly straightened Bye George up and got her out of the raceway back into the channel.
Now I was contemplating my next move and starting to formulate a plan. About that time someone on the dock called out to Pam. He said tell him to turn the boat around and take her stern first into the raceway and then reverse her right into the slip. As she relayed the message to me I felt a relief come over me. That was precisely the plan of action I thought of but was unsure if it was right.
I turned the boat around, headed into the current past the entrance into the raceway and reversed the boat right into the slip. Just when I was feeling like I could put the boat anywhere I wanted without incident up jumps the devil and makes me understand that I do not have that much experience. Note to self, it is easier to control the boat bow into the current.
We left Wrightsville heading to the anchorage at Mile Hammock Bay but as we made our way there we were joined by a fellow traveler. As we approached Mile Hammock Bay they radioed and said since it was early they were going on to Moorehead City. We decided to do the same. We made it to Bogue Sound without incident.
As we try to do on a routine basis we pushed the motor RPM’s to around 2000. As we were doing this the port engine would not get past 1600 RPMs. I backed both engines down to idle and let them run there for a few minutes. Then I raised the RPMs to 2000 again. Now the port engine would not get above 1400 RPMs. So I throttled it back to idle and the port engine died.
Restarting was not working so down to the engine room I go. Pam is left in the Fly Bridge to keep the boat in the ICW with only the starboard engine running. The first thing I did was tie a line around the port engine propeller shaft so that it would not rotate. (Thank you Timothy for the lesson on the dangers of rotating shaft without cooling water) Then I started trying to get fuel to the port engine. But after some basic trouble shooting the fear of the unknown made me stop. We contacted a diesel mechanic to meet us at Moorehead City the following day to help correct the problem.
Meanwhile Pam continued to steer the boat between the markers on the ICW. If anyone knows about this stretch of water if you venture too far out of the channel there is only about 1 to 2 feet of water. I was truly impressed how well Pam kept the boat on coarse. So remember when I said she could out captain me. This is another case in point. I am starting to see my days as captain numbered.
After a day to correct the fuel delivery system we left Moorehead City for Belhaven. OK the trouble was that some debris had clogged the manual priming valve, so we replaced it and bought another as a spare. We also replace the fuel hose on the port engine. The path to Belhaven required crossing both the Neuse River and the Pamlico River. A thunderstorm blew in as we were crossing the Neuse River. It chased us all the way across the river. It caught us just as we turned hard to port to head into Bay River.
By the time we reached Pamlico River the storm had passed us by and the weather was quiet for the time being. We entered the Pungo River and made our way to Belhaven. We docked at Dowry Creek Marina in a hard rain. The weather had turned sour again. The dock hand was soaking wet by the time we were tied up.
That Saturday evening we went into town utilizing the loaner car of the marina. The local knowledge of the dock hand said to go to The Tavern at Jack’s Neck for dinner and ask for Jeff. He was the bartender there and worked part time at the marina. This was the place all the locals came for Saturday evening meal. It looked like the entire town was there.The town was a typical small downtown look, but as the doors were opened to this restaurant our eyes were wide open in amazement. The room was large with beautiful wood finished walls and huge elegant bar which gave a very rich look. While there we met Diana a realtor who retired and moved to Belhaven because of childhood memories. We all sat at the bar for our meals, as did many other guests. Of course everyone knew everyone, and all hugged necks as they greeted incoming guests. Diana invited us to her church and we agreed to attend.
We got up Sunday and drove back into town to go to the little Methodist Church. The message was good and the people were warm and very friendly. Diana was helpful, she told everyone that she recruited us to come to church “at the bar” and they chuckled. Just a side note, I did not have any problems physically while attending church. I was concerned that maybe God was trying to tell me something before.
Here are a couple of details about Belhaven. This is the birthplace of the Intracoastal Waterway. It is also home of the River Forest Manor which has been renovated. It was this manor that Diana remembered as a young girl that caused her to want to live in Belhaven. We also found crabs here. Kemah has pelicans, Houston has cows, Dallas has horses and later we found that Annapolis has birds, but Belhaven has crabs.
On August 14th we left with the idea that we would stop at Alligator Marina for the night and then continue on to Coinjock the next day. As we approached the Alligator River Bridge the weather was cooperating so we elected to continue on to Coinjock Marina for the day.
As we came into the dock Pam handled the lines and fenders as usual. We docked uneventfully, or at least I thought it was uneventful. But as I was shutting down the electronics and securing the Fly Bridge I could hear Pam talking to herself. She was saying something about a “young smart alec kid” and “how dare he say that to me.” Then there was something about “he does not know how long” I have been at this. “I could have started only yesterday for all he knows!” So I waited for her to calm down a little and then I asked what happened.
Sometimes when approaching a dock, you realize that your prepared vertical fender lines will not work on this dock, and lines on each fender must be modified to horizontal. She explained how she was repositioning a fender and tying her modified clove hitch to secure the fender to our rail. As she is tying one side of the fender the dock hand is tying the other end. So Pam pauses to watch how he is securing the line to the rail. always being willing to learn more about the boat she asked him to show her this knot. He showed her two half hitches and concluded with “You should know your knots by now.” The frustrating part to Pam was that she had just the day before sang praises of our 2300+ mile journey without any major harms and after all, possibly these novices might be doing pretty good after all. The smart comments brought a moment of defeat to the otherwise joyful memories of so many along the way that were friendly, willing to help without condemnation, and an overall joy on the journey.
When she finished her explanation I quickly walked out of the Salon and around the deck to the cockpit to avoid the explosion. Fortunately we did not see that dock hand again, I don’t think I could of held her off. Even to this day she gets a little hot when we talk about the dock hand at Coinjock.
The final push to Chesapeake Virginia was only 32 nautical miles. It was very uneventful with easy travel. We were excited to finally catch up with Randy and Sherri again. They were boaters that we met while at Fort Loudon Marina in Tennessee. Since they had completed the Loop already and were live aboard’s we picked their brains as much as we could. In fact they were with us when we anchored out for the very first time.
Now that we made it to the Chesapeake about two months later than the plan, we had to make up time so that we could see as much as possible. I will make another post about our travels in the Chesapeake.
This is the first day of our actual journey.
Bye George 