4/18- 4/25 Through North Carolina

April 18-20
We crossed into North Carolina today!  We love NC! There are so many inlets here that the water is such a beautiful blue green color! Also some interesting homes along the ICW...

Bob's sister, Randee, came into town to see us and invited us and our friends staying on the dock in Southport to her beach house for dinner. Shrimp and grits- delicious!

Randee at head of table. Dave and Cheri from Blue Sky and our new friends from Oregon, Corrine and Robert on Ariel.

April 20

Up the Cape Fear River with the tide and wind behind us- hit 9 knots! Passed by Wrightsville Beach and Topsail. Motor sailed up to Camp Lejuene where we anchored in the basin. No military action this day.  Sometimes they actually close the ICW for firing practice.

April 21

Continued on to Oriental, NC, a town known to be a cruisers' favorite. Went through the beautiful Bogue Sound and past Morehead City.

Morehead City

Lots of shrimp boats now.

Ran into a couple we know from Rock Hall, Kate and Bill and had dinner with them along with David and Cherie from Rock Hall.

April 22

Had a light wind crossing the Pamlico Sound. Able to use the jib.  Most days we motorsail with the smaller staysail because of the strong winds. Spent the night on a courtesy dock in Bellhaven, NC.  That evening along came Diana, a former cruiser who now lives in the area. She likes to greet new visitors on the dock.  She offered to take us to the grocery store or wherever we wanted! Bob worked on the auto pilot in a hard to reach spot! Still not working.

Bob in lazerette in cockpit

April 23

Today we went up the Pongo River to the Pongo-Alligator Canal, a long skinny canal through a swamp. From there we entered the Alligator River and spent the night anchored close to shore, wind blowing about 20 knots.  Bumpy night on the hook.

April 24

Proceeded across the Albemarle Sound.  This was a windy and wavy crossing!  The picture below is what we saw all day.

  Its getting colder out everyday!  Had to break out long sleeves and long pants! What happened to summer???

Bob even has socks on!

Opted to take the Virginia Cut up to Portsmith. (Coming down we went via the Dismal Swamp) Bob wanted to stay at the Coinjock Marina and try their famous 32 oz prime rib, so we did! Yum!

4/10- 4-17 On to Georgia and South Carolina

April 9
We headed north to Fernandina Beach, FL and got a mooring ball overnight. Breezy from behind us and had a great motor sail up using the jib.

Pepromenon headed north- photo taken by our buddy boat

Our plan heading north is to set sail by 7am and cover 50-60 miles/day.  This is our last night in Florida where we have been for 4 months!  We will miss the palm trees!

April 10
Breezy again and able to use the jib. Got up to 8.2 knots with help from the tide! Racing along with our buddy boat, Blue Sky. Crossed over into Georgia and anchored in the usual marsh. Back Creek off the Mud River. The marshes are everywhere, no trees in sight.

April 11
Now that we are in Georgia, it is hot and buggy, with ants, gnats and flies!  Had some dolphins playing nearby our boat and we enjoyed watching them with our screens up. Anchorage was on the Moon River but too overcast to see the moon...

April 12
We decided to take a lay day after 3 long travel days.  Came into Isle of Hope Marina.  They provided us with a courtesy van and we drove into Savannah with Dave and Cherie from our buddy boat, Blue Sky.  We had just one afternoon there, so we jumped on a trolley tour and then had shrimp and grits at a low country restaurant, Anna's.  It was an awesome history tour of a great town.  So many interesting homes and "squares".  A "square" is a square block of gardens and trees now where in the old days livestock would graze.

Oglethorpe Trolley tour

Beautiful restored gracious homes in the historic district
Front doors were on the second floor to get away from the smell of the horse and buggies plus the dust from the old dirt roads.

Savannah has 24 squares. This is the one from the Forrest Gump movie where Forrest is sitting on the park bench with his box of chocolates.

April 13
On to Beaufort, crossed into South Carolina today! Still marshy. Fewer palm trees. We stayed at the Beaufort City mooring field and went for burgers with some other cruisers at Luther's.  Beaufort is another beautiful southern town, so we took a walking tour and then stopped for breakfast.  More shrimp and grits, even for breakfast!  Beaufort SC is where the grand estate home is that was used in the films The Big Chill and the Forrest Gump (actually the same house was used).
The picture below is a block away but shows the same grandeur.

Live Oak Tree with Spanish moss

Bob's breakfast- Cajun Shrimp and Grits

April 14
We crossed over a lot of shoaled areas today, so we had to keep an extra close eye out. Anchored out  again, Tom Point Creek. Our auto pilot died today, so now we have to steer by hand all of the time.

April 15
Passed by Charleston, SC. We decided we had seen enough of the city during our 2 week stay coming south, so we went on by. Actually bumped the bottom at another shoal area north of Charleston. Then the wind picked up to 25 knots on the nose.  We decided to call it a day and anchored in Whiteside Creek. Blew all night! Quite uncomfortable! Boat listing to the side. Very little protection in these marsh areas.

April 16
Drizzled all day and we fought a tide and motored along at 4 knots. Saw many eagles, some along the river perched on logs, others high up in trees. Had one fly right across our boat and we saw the big talons.  Our coldest day- 65 degrees with this cold front. We had to dig around to find some warmer clothes.  Anchored in Schooner Creek SC, a narrow winding creek off the Wacamaw River. Nice and calm!

April 17
Continued north through more drizzle. Passed Myrtle Beach and anchored at Calabash River on the very northern part of South Carolina, North Carolina is the land to Port.  Our scenery changed to a more tall wooded shoreline with cypress and cedar trees growing right out of the water.  Dogwoods and Azaleas in full bloom.

4/4 to 4/10 Spring Break in St Augustine

April 2015 Spring Break in St Augustine
We stayed on a mooring ball all week at the St Augustine Marina. Nicest bathrooms we have seen at a municipal marina!
Did some boat maintenance.  During the trip we have been removing old varnish and cleaning our teak trim.  Now time for the application of cetol varnish. 3 coats!

Applying the varnish.  Bob helped too!

Before

After

Our friends, Lynne and Gene Zarroli bought a condo in St Augustine Beach 2 years ago. They were down on spring break and were kind enough to include us in the week's festivities. We went to the beach, had a bocci ball tournament, delicious Easter dinner where we also celebrated Bob's birthday and explored the cool, historic town of St Augustine and all its restaurants/bars!  A fun time with old friends!

Bridge of Lions drawbridge

Castillo de San Marcos- Fort on the waterfront

El Galleon

Lynne and Carol- friends since 5th grade!  At Lynne's condo

Out to dinner in St Aug with Lynne and Gene and their friends, Cindy and Tom, and Anne and Rick

Fun times with Lynne and Gene!

Two boats from our home port arrived here, home from the Bahamas.  They report a fabulous time in the Exumas and Abacos! We plan to buddy boat north with Dave and Cherie on Blue Sky.

April 9, 2015 - Left St Augustine to begin the trip north at the crack of dawn!

Sunrise at St Augustine inlet

3/29-4/4 Vero Beach to St Augustine, FL

March 29-30
We were delayed by a cold front moving through and stayed in Vero Beach a few extra days.
Then we travelled up to Merritt Island/ Port Canaveral area and spent 2 days with Holly and Jack.  (Holly worked with Bob at the hospital and she and her husband spend 6 months every winter at their  house on Merritt Island).

Holly and Jack were great tour guides and we explored Port Canaveral and Cocoa Beach.  We saw the cruise ships in the port and toured Exploration Tower.  This is a new attraction with information about the space program and the development of the area.

Exploration Tower

Looking over Port Canaveral from Exploration Tower

The beach here is the prettiest we've seen with fine white sand! Ron Jon has their mothership store in Cocoa Beach and its huge!

March 31- April 1
Headed north and spent the night anchored off Daytona Beach. Excited to see some white pelicans and more roseate spoonbills with their bright pink coloring. We have passed a lot of "spoil islands"all through southern Florida.  These were created from dredging spoils to build and maintain the ICW. They are usually nice, sandy islands with lots of vegetation and sometimes palms. People take their boats or kayaks out and camp on the islands or fish or just have a picnic.

Florida has a very impressive park system!  We constantly see waterfront parks with fishing piers and fish cleaning stations complete with hoses even. And lots of walking and biking trails.  And they are used! Another popular boating activity is to hang out on the numerous sandbars during low tide and party on the weekends.  There is even a beer here called Sandbar Sunday!

April 1-2
Motored on up to Marineland.  Its an actual town with a dolphin program on the beach.

Our marina was 1/2 block from the beach and we could hear the waves. We rode our bicycles to Matanzas Inlet and it was the most natural area we have seen in Florida.  Beautiful dunes and sandbars, hardly any houses, and no hotels!

Matanzas Inlet Bridge

April 2-
On to St Augustine where we will meet up with our friends, Lynne and Gene Zarroli who will be there for Easter week.