Merry Christmas everyone!

It is hard to believe it's that time of year again already.

We have made it down to Jacksonville, Fl, and we had a great trip. I hope that our time here is as awesome as it was in Charleston,  We are already missing our daily dock "talks," riding across the Ravenel Bridge to work, riding over to Sullivan's Island, and everyone we met.  They are a great group of people.

Here is a tiny look back at our time there

Sunset from the marina

Sunrise from MUSC parking garage rooftop

The racing crew that Doug was able to join

Low country boil on the dock

Our awesome going away party

Did I mention the incredible sunsets?

So, we sadly had to leave on Thursday morning, November 20, and we anchored in Tom Creek off of North Edisto River the first night.

 Our sunrise the next morning was just incredible

It was a little cold on some days.

We made it to Port Royal Marina in Beaufort, SC for the second night, and Isle of Hope Marina in Savannah, GA the third.  We had a couple of little issues with the battery bank, engine, and then our computer, along with weather coming in, so we stopped here to fix everything up and wait out the rain.  It was so good to see our friends Jimmy and Beverly there.  They were such a huge help with everything. We can't thank them enough.


A very nice light Beverly made for us.

Our new computer with our navigational software, Nobeltec. Thank you Jimmy for telling us about this.  It made the trip 100 times easier.

We made it to an anchor in Back River near Darien, GA the day we had to leave Savannah, stopped at Jekyll Island Marina for one night, and then to Little Marsh Island on the St. John River the next where we were greeted with a dolphin show.  They were beautiful, and this is where we thought we lost Mizzen.

She can find places to hide that we don't even know exist.  She was running back and forth on the boat after we set anchor, and then she jumped up on the main sail pac.  We were watching the dolphins, and she disappeared.   20 minutes later, Doug found her IN the sail pac...it turns out that the stitching has come out and produced a 3 foot long hole up top in the seam.  She is so curious, so she climbed in and was so comfortable, evidently, that she went to sleep.  We were very glad she had not gone for a swim.


The infamous hiding place





Coming through Main Street Bridge in Jacksonville

So, we docked in Ortega Landing Marina on Sunday, November 30.  Our first week here has been great.  The weather has been a bit odd with lots of fog almost everyday, but it is warm, which is the way we like it.

We hope all of you have a great holiday season, and we'll post again sometime "soon."

Brunswick, GA to Charleston, SC

Hi everyone!  Just wanted to give you an update.  Sorry it's been so long since we've written anything...

Brunwsick Landing Marina was such a nice place with wonderful people.  We would definitely stay there again if we go back.  While Brunswick proper lacked a lot to do, we did find three incredible restaurants and again met some incredible people there as well.  St Simon's and Jekyll Islands had great bike trails and restaurants as well.  I can't say that I will miss the paper mill smell (reminds me of Canton near Asheville) or the water treatment facility down the road, but we will certainly miss all of those people.

We left for Charleston on Sat at 730a, and it was ruff!  The winds were 15-20 kts and the seas were 3-4 ft with 5 sec frequency.  That means we were getting beat up, but it did finally start to calm down around 4 or 5 pm.  We sailed only until about 6 or 7 p and then motor sailed through the night.  The winds were so calm by 3 am that Doug and I put up the head sail, because it was just flopping around in the air.  Our friends Don and Erin went with us and had they not gone, we probably would've turned around and come back when we thought it wasn't going to let up for a while.  Thankfully it did. 

We only had one little incident during the trip...our boom vang shackle at the boom broke.  At first, I thought the boom itself broke, because it was so loud.  It didn't break the hatch glass though, so that was a pleasant surprise. 

We arrived in Charleston around 1030 am on Sunday, we drove Erin and Don back to Jacksonville, stayed the night with them, and drove back to Charleston on Monday.  It was an exhausting, but great trip.  I missed being out on the water.  We didn't take many pictures this trip...maybe because we were a little sea sick Saturday, so I hate that we don't have any to post.

Since then, we have been riding around checking things out and guess what we found??  LOL!  Well, don't laugh...but we found Mother's Laundry.  It is a little Asian lady with a heavy accent that charges $1/lb for washing, drying and folding (or hanging if you prefer)!  Our first drop off was two loads and cost $22...BUT keep in mind that if we would've had to do them here...it would've been $18 with coin laundry.  Here it is $2.50 a load for each wash and $2.50 for each dry, and the drier has been know to take 3 cycles to dry.  I guess we could wash here and dry on the boat...nah!

We like the marina (Charleston Harbor Resort Marina) and Mt Pleasant is close enough to ride our bikes (we actually rode over to Sullivan's Island for lunch today).  So is Charleston, but you have to go across that crazy huge bridge, and we just haven't had the nerve yet.  I am only 2.5 miles from MUSC, so if I do get daring, I could ride to work.   The trolley is free from the resort, and they allow bikes...so we could use it to cross that bridge.

As some of you know, I took a position in Charleston, SC at MUSC.  It will be 3 nights a week, 630 p to 700a.  I start on Monday or Tuesday, but not sure if it will be 3 in a row or not yet.  We'll be here until September or October, so if you are planning on being in the area, please let us know.  We would love to see you!

Our Trip Down to Brunswick, GA

In our last post, we talked about being on our way down to Brunswick.  We have been here two weeks already, and the weather is INCREDIBLY WARM!  We have had a couple of cold days and tomorrow is supposed to be a high of 52, but 52 is better than 32!  Besides that, it will be back into the 70's by Tuesday.  I think we can handle it.

Our trip down was a first for us on the ICW for 5 days and an overnight 16 hour outside jump from Beaufort, SC.  We were hoping to just hop out into the ocean from Southport and make here in 40-something hours, but the weather wasn't favorable, so we left on Sunday, November 3, and arrived Sunday, November 10.  We enjoyed all of it tremendously as it was great experience, and we met so many people we hope to stay in contact with or hope to see again along the way.

Day 1 - Sunday, Nov 3, Southport NC to Barefoot Landing Marina at North Myrtle Beach, SC

Here we go!

Don't think they will be contributing to our seafood fetish anytime soon.

We don't think we've ever seen an RV campground on the water...but we suspect they are more prevalent than we think.

Lucky enough to be following someone through the "Rock Pile" before Myrtle Beach, SC.

At Barefoot Landing Marina, SC

 Day 2 - Mon, Nov 4, North Myrtle Beach to Harborwalk Marina in Georgetown, SC

My attempt to stay warm as it was quite cold in the mornings...a little over kill?  Nah!

Wendi and Burry Vanderveer on S/V Seahawk X with the fog laying on the water and the sunrise just hitting the bridge.  We didn't know them at the time, but hailed them shortly after this picture, and we stayed in contact for the rest of the trip. 

Capt'n Doug!

180 deg South...very good documentary on YouTube, by the way, if you've never seen it!

Georgetown, SC...we went to eat and went straight to bed...lol, but we loved seeing a prop and anchor like this beside a building.





Day 3 - Nov 5 Georgetown, SC to Toler's Cove Marina at Isle of Palm, SC

Leaving at sunrise...just beautiful!  Cold, but beautiful!

M/V Aphrodite.  We met the delivery crew the night before, and they passed us this next morning.  What a unique boat!  I believe they were heading to South Florida.

I don't know if you can appreciate this picture, but this new construction home was out in the middle of no-where with no other houses around...now, that's seclusion!

Arriving at Toler's Cove Marina...don't ever come in here at low tide if you draw more than 5'.  As a matter of fact, don't ever come through between the Isle of Palm Connector Bridge and the Ben Sawyer Bridge if you draw more than 5'.  We saw 5'2 and realized we were lucky for making it in.

Day 4 - Wed, Nov 6, Isle of Palm to Bull River (anchorage), SC

Charleston Harbor, SC

Wappoo Creek Bridge just on the other side of Charleston Harbor

We met up with Wendi and Burry Vanderveer on S/V Seahawk at the bridge and were able to talk with them again.

Some other boats coming through the bridge.



S/V Wonderful Life - Doug, Kathleen, Abe, Jack and Ella.   If you can see it, their three kids are taking turns spinning out on the halyard.



SV Wonderful Life, SV Slow Flight, Steve Elliott, and us taking a by-pass-so-to-speak around the Ashapoo Cutoff to Bull River.  We just missed Mary Lee by an hour or so...that Great White shark tagged by ocearch.com who pinged in the sound a little after we came through.  She would've been quite a site!

Us at anchorage in Bull River with Doug, Kathleen, Abe, Jack, Ella, and Steve.  Steve was generous enough to make some incredible cookies for us...well...they were for Abe, Jack, and Ella, but Doug, Kathleen, Doug and I were able to have some as well, and they were very tasty!



Day 5 -7, Thurs-Sat, Nov 7-10 Bull River Anchorage until we left from Beaufort, SC

Sunrise out of Bull River

So...we made it to Beaufort, SC.  Our next blog will cover Beaufort, SC to Brunswick, GA...plus two weeks...since we have been here for that long...time flies when you are having fun!!!  Talk to you soon!