CRUISING THE CAROLINAS

Almost as soon as we left Savannah and headed North, we were in South Carolina. First stop was Hilton Head. We stayed at Shelter Cove Marina which was a really great location as it had multiple restaurants and shops right up the ramp from our boat. We met up and had dinner with Dick and Louise, loopers from our second segment. Kathy and Brad, friends from Ohio were so gracious to let us send some much needed items to them and bring them to us once we arrived in HH. And then we met Chris and Herb our dock neighbors who plan to start their loop next Spring. The tides there were huge and during low tide the manatees would come in and just swim around. We rode our bikes to get groceries and we even went to the local theater and saw the musical, Hair Spray.

Next stop – Charleston, South Carolina. We stayed on the inside of their Mega Dock which is one of the largest floating concrete docks in the world! We ate at the Fox Swamp Restaurant one night for dinner. We took a horse drawn carriage to learn about the history of this town. We certainly celebrated my birthday in style at an old Charleston Mansion/hotel/restaurant. And we took a ferry out to visit Fort Sumter. We also learned that King Charles II directed his governors to build a road linking Charleston, South Carolina to Boston, Massachusetts by a highway known as US Route 1 or also known as the King’s Highway.

Onward to the historic Lowcountry city of Georgetown which is also known as the third oldest city in South Carolina. We met up with our Huntsville Harbor Host, Dave who has started his loop this year. A visit to the Gullah Museum was very interesting and educational as well.

Next we went to Wacca Wache Marina on the Little River on the ICW. Last year on the loop we met Alison and Doug who live in Myrtle Beach but are originally from Piqua, Ohio. We had many items shipped to them and they were kind enough to be our very own honorary Harbor Hosts. Alison picked us up at the marina and we went out to dinner. Of course we did! Once we left our marina and continued along the ICW, we went right past Alison and Doug’s house. They have cameras set up on their home and managed to capture us as we went by.

Once we left the Myrtle Beach area, we headed to Southport, North Carolina and Kay and Robert’s front porch time. They are gracious Harbor Hosts and come down to the marina and invite you to Porch Time at 5:00 pm. They have had as many as 25 couples on the porch, but since we are at the back of the pack there was only one other couple that showed up with us. They also lent us their car to drive for provisions. Robert was also a big help by suggesting the name of a reputable marine technician that was able to help us install our shower sump pump and box. We visited the Maritime Museum and the Visitor Center. We learned that Southport has been the setting for quite a few movies as it is such an old picturesque Southern town. In fact the Netflix show The Waterfront is filmed here and Kay and Robert’s porch appears in the show.

After we left Southport, NC, we continued north and spent the night anchored right outside Camp Lejeune Marine Military Training Base. Late afternoon and into the early evening, we could hear them practicing in the distance and the big artillery guns firing. We saw some helicopters fly over and we definitely heard a few Ospreys flew right over the boat as they went in to land. The noise was deafening. The next morning they were preparing to launch their amphibious rafts to practice in our anchorage area. Danger Signs were posted to warn boaters if there was live firing practice occurring.

We continued north to Beaufort, NC. We have been to Beaufort, South Carolina and now we are in Beaufort, North Carolina. But – they are pronounced totally differently. We toured around the area via Captain Ron’s tours and we saw some of the infamous wild horses. We saw lots of birds as well. We were basically kicked out of the marina due to a fishing tournament. It’s called The Big Rock Tournament. And it’s a huge event down there. You have to pay about $10,00 a day to enter into the tournament. Michael Jordan usually enters it every year with his big boat. The total purse exceeded $9 million! The winning blue marlin weighed 920 lbs. We’re not fishermen, but it was pretty impressive.

As we traveled northward, we realized that the Outer Banks and Emerald Isle were right along our route. We ended up in New Bern, NC another historic and quaint old town. It has bear statues all around town and we managed to capture a few with us in them. The highlight of New Bern was having our Godchild Kalie Ruddle come to visit. She lives in Raleigh and drove over to spend the day with us. We had such fun catching up after not seeing one another for a few years. And Cheri wouldn’t let Kalie leave until she played cards with us. LOL

We left New Bern and went to Oriental and onward to Belhaven. We met a lovely couple from Australia in Oriental. On the way to Belhaven, I started the generator to cook breakfast when the battery exploded! Not an exaggeration. It made a huge loud pop down in the engine room. Fortunately, we were able to get a mechanic to come to the boat the next day to fix the issue. Yep another issue. But we had lots of fun anyway. Well Cheri did because they had golf carts and a cute little car that we were free to use to drive around the picturesque little town.

Next we headed up the Alligator River and crossed the Albemarle Sound. Because our props are exposed on our boat, we chose to go that route instead of the The Dismal Swamp as the DS can be very shallow. The area we traveled was very swamp like as well, but we could finally go fast as we were traveling across the sound. We also went through a lock. Although after going through the huge locks on the inland rivers, this small 2 foot drop was easy. Our last stop in the Carolinas was the Coinjock Marina. They stacked our boats in like sardines. Not much there but they did have a restaurant with live musicians and a general store.