Oriental NC

It is Thursday May 29th and we find ourselves in Oriental, NC which is on the mainland across from the Outer Banks. Storms are due in and we like to be off the ICW for the weekend so we will be here until Sunday. They have a courtesy car here so we plan on driving into Beaufort and the Outer Banks that we missed on the water. For insurance purposes we want to be out of NC as soon as we can but we don’t want to miss this beautiful country. The Pamlico and Neuse Rivers come together here to form the Pamlico Sound this runs between us and Ocracoke and Hatteras. The waters are a little “mean” and so you want to go through in really good weather and that just happens to be on Monday We will get some housekeeping done and maintenance along with a little sightseeing R&R. Got word this morning that my friend and colleague Todd Dodson lost his mom this morning to that awful disease ALS--he and his family are in our prayers.

The Shipp's aboard Silver Boots were Gold Loopers and a wonderful resource





Creative way to propose

Camp Lejeune and Moorehead City, NC

Coming north on the ICW we went through the Marine Station artillery training field along the water. We had gotten an early start and as we were coming down this field a Marine aboard a small boat flagged us down and said there was no entry until 1500 hours. We knew that is 3 pm and here we are at 8:50am! A retired Col. was on a sailboat behind us and questioned why we were turning around—he called the Marine on the radio and said he had called bla bla and that they were supposed to let us through on the odd hour. The Marine said “Oh Yea” and so we got to go through—as soon as we got out of the canal we hear the artillery fire explosions. It was an interesting cruise and we were in Moorehead City by 1:30 and glad it wasn't 6pm. We pulled up to Sanitary Fish Market and Restaurant where they allow you to overnight and if you eat at their place it is a great deal. So we went in where John Tunnels (a friend of Little Jimmy Dickins so he liked our Nashville roots) greeted us like family and we had a great lunch. We walked the city and went through the History Museum where they pay special tribute to the military—nice.

Artillery Field

Home for sale

Moorehead City's King Neptune

Sailfish Fountain--they are noted for the fishing here

Happy Memorial Day!



Happy Memorial Day

 Memorial Day in a small city is pretty amazing. After restocking the boat for the next few weeks, we went to Southport’s Memorial Day ceremony with the school children leading the Pledge of Allegiance, the mayor saying some words along with a Veteran of the Vietnam War saying some words. This was followed by an apple pie and ice cream reception. It is right out of the movies (with no drama). We took another swing along the waterfront and saw the Pilot stands that have been used through the ages (they still have pilots that go out and take over large ships and guide them into port). This port also served as the quarantine gateway until the 1930’s for boats coming from other countries to make sure they were not bringing any infectious diseases in with them. Apparently yellow fever, typhoid, etc., wiped out many communities in the early days. After another great dinner we put away the bikes and dingy and prepared to head north in the morning bright and early. Through the North Carolina waterways we see the water go from brown (river waters) to green (ocean waters) depending on how close you are to an inlet. The osprey are back but we have not seen any dolphin since Butler Island. We are at Swan Point Marina outside Camp Lejeune near Jacksonville, NC for the night and then on to Beaufort/Oriental, NC area for the rest of the week.

Decorations for  Memorial Day in Southport 



Pilot's Watch





Thor--they shot this off as part of the Memorial Day Ceremony



Met this bad boy coming out of Southport at 7:30 this morning



Loved this house near Jacksonville, NC



Southport

This is a perfect little seaport village at the mouth of the Cape Fear River with perfect weather—plus the price is right. We are anchored in the heart of the historic port in Robert and Kay Creech’s front yard (this basin can hold about 2-3 boats and is a 3 minute dingy ride to shore. We took the bikes to shore and plan on spending Memorial Weekend here. We rode a couple of miles to their Walmart to restock and in the process rode through the city and saw some neat restaurants and shops. The Southport Maritime Museum is within walking distance and there we learned about Stede Bonnett (the Gentleman Pirate—so named because it seems he was a wealthy planter and decided to embarrass his family by going into pirating they haven’t come up with another reason). This Gentleman bought a ship and hired his crew (unusual) and learned the trade from Blackbeard. He was hung in Charleston in 1718. We also saw exhibits on The Frying Pan Light boat that helped with running the Yankees blockade of NC ports during the Civil War- a mobile lighthouse. The Eatery proved to be a great place for an early dinner (and the doggy bag for lunch the next day). Saturday we went to dinner at around 8pm and were told there was about 2-21/2 hour wait at the many restaurants. We went for ice cream—one of the best dinners ever—and were snoring before we would have gotten a table. Great live music came from the venues, had a great new drink—3 Sheets to the Wind (Malibu Coconut Rum, NC Cranberry Wine, NC Blueberry Wine, equal parts with a skewer of fruit—easy Sangria and yummy), but the best thing is the weather. Sea breezes take on all new meaning to me—the high has been about 78 degrees and the low about 60 in the middle of the night—add the light breeze and it is just perfect. Andy and Mary have vacationed here for many years—now we see why. Radio is from 106.3 The Dude?!?

Our view of Southport



the Maritime Museum collection of ships




Fitz relaxing at anchor--25 yr. old t-shirt



The Creech's view of  our anchorage--their cruising Jefferson is on the left

The Rock Pile

Up this morning not so bright and early because we are going through an area of the ICW called the Rock Pile. Many people have warned us that the 5 or so miles just north of Myrtle Beach were treacherous and just last week a big sport fisherman tried to pass another and ended up on the rocks. Low tide, we were advised, was the time to go through and then you can see the edges of the rocks more clearly. So we left out about 10am and went through the Rock Pile without incident (or even seeing another boat). Guess it is only a big deal if it is crowded. The cruise to Southport, NC took us into aquamarine waters again and lots of civilization. One railroad swing bridge had to be opened and we handled the hailing of the bridge master like old timers. Southport is a little boating village outside Wilmington and we have some Looper Friends—Robert and Kay Creech that live right on the water. We are going to anchor there for much of the weekend and ride out the Memorial Day Holiday off the ICW.

One side of the Rock Pile

Otherside of the Rock Pile

Leeton's Beach House

Holden's Beach House down from Holden's Point Marina

Myrtle Beach

We had a terrific anchorage at Butler Island outside Georgetown (crowded, stinky and we were not going to go to the town anyway). It was a dark night and we were able to get digital TV and watched the finale of American Idol. We loved seeing Keith Urban, J-Lo, and Harry Connick, Jr perform together plus Lady A with their new song Bartender. The cruise into Myrtle Beach was a startling contrast to what we have been experiencing. It had Lilly Pads (brackish water), eagles, osprey, and trees. No more Low Country. We found great homes and civilization after about 3 hours and by 3pm we were at Barefoot Resort and Marina in the heart of Myrtle Beach. It has a restaurant, a swimming pool and a hot tub—I am in 7th heaven. The water is the color of coffee again but otherwise this is the place to relax.

Sunset at Butler Island

Eagle!

Lily Pads, trees, and sunning turtles

Neat homes going into Myrtle Beach (notice the blue infinity pool)

Regretfully Leaving Charleston

After a day spent going across the river to Patriots Point through the WWII battleship/aircraft carrier Yorktown (with its Medal of Honor Museum), the destroyer Laffey, and submarine Clamagore, we wound up our Charleston trip and prepared to head north. The vessels were really interesting and the museum more so—we were fascinated (me for 3 hours, Fitz for 4 hours and he could have gone longer). Fellow loopers-Donna and Dan Hardy were docked next to us and we got together with them for Happy Hour and to swap experiences and advice. They have actually been around the world twice on their sailboat so we mostly listened. We are both traveling north so we hope to see them some more. The cruise to Georgetowne, SC took 8 hours through uneventful waters. I bet we might have passed 5 boats –we saw an eagle and about a dozen dolphin, lots of seagulls. The horseflies were out in force but it seems they only like Fitz so he went on a mission to kill as many as possible. We get Classic Rock Radio out of Myrtle Beach with some good Allman Brothers and Eric Clapton. Nice, quiet day after a hectic stay in Charleston. Happy Birthday to son-in-law Scott Norris back in Tennessee. He is a great husband to our Kate and father to Leeton and Holden. We love him and glad he is part of our family!

All the WWII vessels --good stuff

The seagulls liked to follow us

These bugs were not so lucky

Charleston Maritime Marina

We moved around the end of the Charleston Peninsula to Charleston Maritime Marina because we wanted to stay longer and they could take us. It is even closer to all the restaurants and tourist haunts plus it has a laundry and near a Harris Teeter so we could restock. After some housekeeping, we got on our bikes and rode downtown to lunch at the Charleston Crab house-yum. Then on to this is a big waterfront greenway park called the Battery –it is full of Civil War cannons and piles of cannonballs and statues. It was and absolutely perfect day (low humidity, light wind- about 75degrees) Great people watching, beautiful homes, smelled of honeysuckle and magnolias. On the way back to the boat we stopped by Fleet Landing for a little libation and had a new drink—Pomegranate Mojito made with Guava Rum—I told Fitz we needed to go back there for Happy Hour tomorrow night.

Daughters of the Confederacy Headquarters

Welcoming Fountain at the Battery

Sundial Memorial for a ship that sank in 1952 that kept time

Great Happy Hour

Nice little Lambrigini parked next to the marina

Charleston

40 miles to Hilton Head 20 miles to Charleston

Oh my where to start! Charleston is right on the ICW and the first two nights there we are staying at the City Marina—the Mega Dock. Thusly named for the large yachts and sailboats we are wedged between. With the short 18 mile run from our anchorage at Church Creek, we got into dock in time for a late lunch of soft shell crab and a bike ride through town. I thought Fitz was going to wreck his bike looking at all the 100 ft.+ yachts. They all had crew of 3-6 guys polishing and doing maintenance. Our friends Lisa and Chip are moving their family here this summer so I decided to find them a worthy home. There are plenty. Right outside our dock is the historic residential district with sleeping porches, honeysuckle hedges, emaculate gardens between the close houses and there is an ornate 300 year old church on ever corner. For many blocks downtown there is a large open air market area that is like Christmas Village every day—our talented Lisa will be right at home. We had to take a picture of the Headquarters of the Daughters of Confederacy—my grandmother would have been proud.


Sunset at Church Creek





Golf Course Tee on the water



Elliott Cut into Charleston

Out of Elliott Cut to the Mega Dock

Nice little home for Lisa and Chip--Belvedere



Looked up from watching the news about 11pm and this 100 footer was backing in within 5ft. of us



The Fillin Station

The restaurant about a hundred yards from our dock is called the Fillin Station and has different specials. On Wed., you get a hamburger, hot dog, potato salad and baked beans for $4 cash, Thurs. 2 pork chops, scalloped potatoes and vegetable for $5 cash and on Friday it is steak, baked potato, and vegetable $10 cash. Any way you look at it this is a GREAT deal. Fitz loves pork chops and when we found we had to stay the extra day we earmarked this for dinner. We had been warned there were NO variations and everyone gets the same thing on these nights. If you are a vegetarian and want no meat the price is the same. If you don’t want the hot dog—you get it anyway—you are to give it to someone or throw it away. You can’t get a hamburger on Thursday. The Food Nazi with a good deal. So even though it is raining we head to the Fillin Station for dinner. Inside the front door is the karaoke bar, then a pool table and on back porch is the restaurant full of locals. Fitz stops at the kitchen, gives the cook $10 and we go sit down at the only available table. The people watching was fun and we noticed everyone had a to-go box in front of them and about 5 empty beer bottles each. After about a half hour, the cook brought us 2 plates with 2 pork chops (deep fried—is this a viable way of fixing pork chops?), potatoes, corn and green beans. For $10 we had enough food to feed a village--and it was delicious. Of course we needed a to-go box and when I went to get one the cook said she would bring me one. 15 minutes later Fitz went to get the box—came back empty handed. 15 minutes later we get the to-go box. At the front door we stop to give the rain a chance to slack off and get to watch some of the worst karaoke (can’t remember watching it before but this was so bad it will be memorable). Two hours later we are back at the boat having spent an amazing evening. This morning we are up early to leave for a night at anchor and then into Charleston. Rest assured we will eat well in Charleston but I don’t believe we will get a better deal.

All dressed up and nowhere to go

We got the injector fuel line replaced, packed up the bikes, water in the boat, then we checked the weather. This should have been done in reverse order. Weather that brought bad storms to Nashville were heading our way to collide with some storms out of Florida. By 1am Wed. night we were supposed to get storms for 24 hours. So much for anchoring out and going into Charleston. We had to cancel on Robin and we set out to explore more of Beaufort or more specifically Lady’s Island –the little burg across the river from Beaufort where they graciously allowed us to stay 2 more nights. The Marina was starting to fill up with boaters ducking in to ride out the predicted storms. First in were our old friends the Valentine’s aboard the Lauren Grace. We crossed the Gulf 3 months ago together. We had kept up with them through their blog but we had not seen them since Dunedin. It was good to see them. We then went exploring where we found an awesome hardware store that had kitchen and other housewares. Walking home around 8pm (about 5 hours earlier than predicted) the rain set in and we had to jog the last mile-- not so bad when it is warm but still wet. At least we had not changed our plans under false predictions. We will wait it out today and head for Charleston tomorrow.

Group exercise before the storm rolls in

Beaufort Continued

Steve and Will helped us tie up (I did my blog entry) and we fixed a cocktail to sit on the back and enjoy sunset. We realized the diesel smell was getting stronger rather than dissipating—not a good thing. The engines get really hot after a six hour “blowing out the turbos” cruise on the open so after a couple of hours Fitz went down to check the engines and found one of the injector fuel lines had a hole in it. So this morning we call American Diesel and they are going to overnight the line and we hope the head mechanic/Captain can get it installed so we can make Charleston by Thursday afternoon when our friend Robin is coming in for business. The timing is suspect for this problem—only when we have a schedule we want to keep does this happen. Beaufort is a really lovely little town with loads of little shops and restaurants. We walked through the neighborhood and the antebellum homes are beautiful. The Gullah culture has some of its roots here and there is a lot of art, books and cookbooks that reflect those early slaves/emancipated people. Neat place.

Historic Baptist Church

Antebellum Home

Garden behind the antebellum home

Beaufort (BUfort)

We waited on mail and got a late (noon-ish) start out of Thunderbolt, needed to “blow out the turbos” so we went on the Outside—the ocean. The seas were calm (2 ft) and while we didn’t save any time we enjoyed a day at sea. The silver flying fish were really working some of the aquamarine water and the pelicans put on a show of clumsily landing to scoop up some lunch. We missed Hilton Head—major no no for the society folk—but we passed Parris Island (not Camp Lejeune) on the way to Beaufort. This little village is more our style than Hilton Head. Hell, we might have to get out of our cut-offs to go to a restaurant. We are going to stay here at Lady’s Island for a couple of day then head into Charleston.

Look closely--this is the graveyard coming out of Savannah that is in the movie Goodnight in the Garden of Good of Evil



In the middle--a palm that looks like a big pineapple



Passing a big container ship heading--It was heading into Savannah

Tybee Island Lighthouse



Parris Island



Leaving Thunderbolt

After we Skyped with Katie and the Grandbabies- no longer babies now that they are 2 and 4 yrs. old, we rode through Savannah State. It is less than a mile from Thunderbolt, a beautiful campus, the Tigers, and had Hill Hall which I am sure was named after our favorite Savannah child—Katie Hill Barksdale. On to dinner with Maddie Russell and friend Christine at Tubby’s Tank for a little Low Country Boil—terrific local dish! It was so fun to catch up with Maddie who is one of our favorite Knoxville girls doing her residency in a Savannah Hospital. We are going to Beaufort, SC (pronounced BUfort not to be confused with NC BOfort spelled the same way) for at least a night then on to Charleston.

Hill Hall--the prettiest on campus

Beautiful antebellum hall

They are the Tigers

Christine, Maddie and Fitz

Lola, Maddie and Fitz att Tubby's Tank near Thunderbolt