The story of Beaufort

The city of Beaufort here in South Carolina was named in honor of Henry Somerset, 2nd Duke of Beaufort and so was Beaufort North Carolina but up there they pronounce it Bo-fort. Go figure!

Waynes friend Frank who retired a Lt. Colonel from the Army not too long ago picked us up from the marina at about 9:30 (he has an Endeavour 42') and took us on a tour of the area. First to Beaufort!

Dathaw Island Marina (its Datha Island)

The ICW in Beaufort

Next he took us to the Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot. Apparently this is one of only two in the US the other is in California. Neat place, we saw recruits being drilled and went to the Museum there apparently only 8% of the male recruits and 13% of the female recruits 'Wash Out' is how they put it. Jeff and I watched the presentation in the movie theatre, the whole 'Basic Training' course is only 12 weeks but boy they sure get put through their paces. Marines are 'Soldiers of the Sea'.

Then we went to a beach and a Lighthouse - boy this place just gets better and better. On the beach we met Bonnie who had just caught her second Red Fish or Spot Fish she calls them on account of the spot on its tail!

This is Bonnie or is that Bonny anyway the fish's name is Spot

The Hunting Island Lighthouse is 95' high and not where it was when it was first in active service. Back in the late 1800's when it first went into service the only fresh water they could get was by saving the water from the eavestroughs.

On the way back we stopped in at a little resturant for a late lunch. The place had dollar bills stapled to the walls and just about anywhere else you could staple a dollar bill. I scribbled 3 Men in a Boat on a dollar bill and followed suit! Then we went to Franks Fort (house) to meet Franks wife Debbie. They have one of those long docks that folks build down here and now I've walked out on one.

I didn't manage to get a sunset shot today so I Googled it and this it it - actually South Carolina uses a Palm Tree that looks like this in their logo but is a sun or a moon?



The other two members of the crew are sawing logs, so I guess I should hit the sack!

We are just past halfway there!

From Charleston to Datha Island Marina is 49.66 NM to be exact and we did it in good time 7.5 hours averaging 6.5 knots. Again the currents were sometimes with us sometimes not, weather was clear and sunny, it was a lazy ride.



At noon we were in the Wadmalaw River about 6 NM from the ocean and we saw Dolphins on numerous occasions. Its difficult to get pictures because by the time you grab the camera they have dived and you have no idea where they'll surface again.

Wayne has a friend here who keeps his boat in the marina so he has gone to visit leaving Jeff and I to eat a whole lot of chicken! Its a lovely place and check out the sunset the picture really doesn't do it justice.

We'll be here untill Tuesday then on to Savannah and beyond another 50 miles or more - wish you-all were here with us.

Like I said before, you get to meet the greatest people!

The Pub Tour - Charleston, circa 11/12/2011

(The goofball at the back howling like a wolf is me!)

Again I'm starting at the end of the Charleston adventure. The above group of responsible adults were our partners in what proved to be a very educational booze up. We not only drank just about every shooter known to man but we learnt about the history of Charleston from a drinkers point of view. Whatever! After the second Pub we were just having a hoot of a time.

Charleston (named after King Charles II) is a must see place, its steeped in history and is a beautiful town. Take the Buggy ride around the downtown core and see if you don't agree with me.

And then there's the Mega Dock! This is where we tied up for the two days we were in town - it's 3000 ft long, so if you need to use the facilities, run!

Captain Jeff 

They put us just one boat away from the end but we didn't mind because we love to walk! Check out the boats in the above picture. On our way out to the Pub Tour we checked one of the diesel pumps - $3790, thats over 1100 gallons of gas! Oh and did I mention it floats but the WiFi isn't very good

Sunrise on the second day. Check out the fog bank on the right - cool!



We went to an AT&T store (just acroos from Western Marine) before the Pub Tour to talk dirty about our favourite subject WiFi. Seems the solution is simple enough and there are a number of them all of which are expensive - well maybe not if you own one of the mega yachts in the above pictures. No matter which way you cut it, to receive email, surf and call your loved ones on Skype you need a minimum 3G or more of data and that's going to cost you anywhere from $60 to $80 a month. We decided therfore to take our chances once Wayne has left the boat and use whatever WiFi we bump into on the rest of the trip. Sorry - that means this blog will probably get spotty after Jacksonville.

A Mule is a cross between a male donky and a female horse end of story except for......

 We are now on our way to Hilton Head near Beaufort, South Carolina. We'll be visiting a friend of Waynes, ever onward and south. Temperatures should hit 21 today! Wind out of the south but not a factor at only 9 knots. Should be an intersting leg.



All that's missing is the snow

It was a very cold run today - thankfully we only had 26NM to Charleston and if it weren't for a hold up at the Ben Sawyer Memorial Swing Bridge we'd have made if in about four hours. Long story and its late, will do a more comprehensive story tomorrow. Till then - sweet dreams.

WiFi what WiFi?

Does anybody have any ideas as to what we're going to do when Wayne leaves the boat? His phone is our Hot Spot and he has refused to leave the phone with us!

So if you check our locations in the last two days you'll see that we have anchored both nights a little out of town - put the last two locations into Google earth and toogle between the two. Gives you a good idea of how far we traveled - neat.

Brief outline of our travels in the past two days. Up at 6:00am Wednesday morning and cast off at 7:14am, we have a long way to go. Lots of bridges but only a few are swing bridges and therefore we shouldn't be delayed too long. The tide is up, they are having more of an influence on our progress these days depending on where we are relative to the inlets we pass along the way. With us and we can do 8 knots or better but when they are against us we drop to just over 5 knots. Anyway today we passed North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach on our way to Oatbed Island in the Waccamaw River. At 6:00am the following morning all hands were on deck and anchors away by 6:50am. The season has been 'Fall' all the way so far. The trees are in their fall colours and looking beautifull because of it. The route today was through marsh all the way once we cleared the river. We passed the 400 mile marker at 10:30 mile zero being back at Norfolk. Mile marker 1015 or there abouts is where we're heading so not quite halfway. At 3:30 we dropped anchor in a small creek called Graham Creek - now why would anybody name a creek after my brother-in-law. Graham that is not Creek!

Back to my notes and some pictures, now what happened of note on Wednesday!

With tides down Mud Flats were exposed and for sure I saw Oyster Catchers



This is Josh Slocums boat Spray, he sailed single handed around the world in her without a chronometer. We passed a replica of her at 9:20am.

A couple of the more choice properties along the way, of course the top one had an 'Infinity Pool'. can you tell its getting warmer - check out the Palm Trees.

Sunset on Wednesday behind Oatbed Island. That night we were sung to sleep by a Pileated Woodpecker, yes thats right Woody Woodpecker in person.

Did I say we had no WiFi, I know this is a dumb question but if my little $30 GPS puck that I plug into my computer can tell you-all exactly where we are on a day to day basis why can't we get WiFi anytime we want it? Well at least you can get Gas!

The boat is 'The Star of Poland' she is a 34' Sabre,we met these folks at River Forest Marina we bought them a gallon of diesel oil when we went into town.

We've only seen one deer the entire trip, here he,she is swimming across the ICW in front of us. Actuall when he,she saw us he,she turned around and swam back to the bank.

You never argue with these guys.

We didn't think we'd get one because the clouds came over but then this happened!

Thats all folks - till tomorrow. Charleston here we come.

You get to meet the greatest people

We had another good run form the point of view we fetched our destination as planned timed the bridges just right and had time to shop and eat at a local diner (more about that later). But - from a picture point of view well, when you've seen one mud flat, vacation home, castle, you've seen them all. There are some beautiful homes, one that was for sale had a sign which read 'Million Dollar Lot 40% off including the House' anybody got $600 thousand dollars they don't want?

Here are the new bird species I saw today, again not my pictures but without the pictures they're just names right! Actually on the exposed mud flats I saw a lot of waders, probably Sanderlings and a few larger birds also but too far away to identify for sure.

Top is a Black Skimmer and bottom is a White Ibis

Went past a few inlets and caught a glimpse of the ocean - great to see, wish we could go out there sailing. At the Wrightsville Bascule(google it) Bridge we caught up with the Scottish pair that we first met in Solomon Island. There boat is called 'Elnamea and they haill from PCYC.

So at 01:46 we pulled into Southport Marina, gassed up, pumped out then settled in. Jeff hosed down the boat to get rid of the salt and did general cleaning duties and then we went shopping for groceries in a BMW loaner. Then walked, yes walked to the Yacht Basin Eatery, great food, great staff and the owner Jill Brown from New Jersey is a great host - well we all thought so! No really we had a good time we would recommend this place to all, stop by next time you're in the area.

Southport Marina

Spick and Span

The walk along the waterfront

Jill Brown is the good looking one on the left



And thus ends another day on the ICW which I keep spelling incorrectly - its Intracoastal Waterway, well according to the charts anyway, what do I know. In keeping with tradition here is the sunset, the above picture was on the way to the eatery, not the official sunset. This is!

Now isn't that pretty. Sleep tight everybody.



Today we saw Dolphins or is that Porpoise

After leaving Jarrett Bay Boatworks and heading south to exit Newport River at Morehead City you make a 90° turn up Bouge Sound into what I've always thought of as the ICW proper because the coast is right there on your Port side. Anyway not too long after entering the sound we caught a glimpse of our first Dolphins or is that Porpoise?

  

This is the best picture we got but it is a Dolphin!

Our destinattion today, some 58.5 nautical miles on is Sloop Creek a little past Surf City in North Carolina. We are anchored just a quarter of a mile from the Coast and can here the waves crashing on the beach.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, on the way down the Newport River I'm pretty sure I saw Oyster Catchers and Common Egrets (white Herons) as well as the everyday sightings of Pelicans, Cormorants and Bonapartes Gulls. I never saw a gull yawn before but I swear thats what one did as we sailed by. Someone can find out how Bonapart got a gull named after him!

At 10:30 we saw a pod of 3 Dolphins hopefully I got some video. Then at 12:30 for the second time only in my entire life I saw an Osprey dive and catch a fish, last time was in Whitby, Ontario of all places.

The sun was warm today I was in 'T' Shirt and Jeans only and tomorrow I am determined to put my shorts on, the forecast says 20 degrees tomorrow.

We were buzzed by some helicopters today, got video of them having remembered I have a 2x lense for the camera.

I have had a request to include more pictures so here they are!

Jarret Bay as we left

Surf City

The swing bridge at Surf City just before our anchorage

 

And heres todays sunset over to the left is the coast where we can hear the waves crashing on shore

O.K. So this is todays sunset

This was not taken today - this is to show that I do my share at the helm! When I'm not blogging that is.

So the end of another day - its becoming routine, all three of us at their respective computers. Well Wayne is trying to find a different alarm on his phone we are fed up with the Icecream Van so he's looking for a Cockeral! I'm going to kill him, Wayne not the cockeral. Wind is freshening hope the anchor holds. Goodnight.