We are finishing out our time in North Carolina with stops in Oriental, Belhaven and Coinjock.  Three places that before the Great Loop I had never heard of.  The geography lesson continues!  We haven’t done much this week.  We had bad weather and/or winds to contend with Monday through Thursday so we’ve spent a lot of time waiting around.  Thankfully we’ve been in places with lovely friendly people. I’m reminded again just how hospitable people in the south are!

We left Beaufort Sunday afternoon after looking at the forecast for Monday….and Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday it turns out.  We pulled into a marina just past Oriental that got great reviews and had a pool!  A definite plus if we are going to be stuck.  We never actually went into Oriental.  We pulled in Sunday in some high winds across a choppy Pamlico Sound and knew we had high winds for all day Monday as well.  We got in too late to swim Sunday but after running to get groceries Monday the girls and I headed right for the pool. We knew storms were headed our way (seems to be our specialty lately) so I told them they could jump in until the storms arrived around noon.  The sky looked menacing but the water felt great.  We headed to the boat and did some school work during the storms and then when the rain cleared they headed right back into the pool.  Around midnight there was a torrential storm and then the wind calmed and by the time we woke up Tuesday the water looked like glass.

Tuesday we set out across Pamlico Sound towards Belhaven.  The water was gorgeous.  We were blessed with amazing conditions after waiting out the wind and rain.  We are in a stretch of waterways where we are going from river to sound to river to sound.  A lot of these waterways are not like the narrow stretches of ICW that we’ve been on traveling up the coast.  They are wide, large and unpredictable bodies of water very much like Lake Michigan and therefore must be treated as such.  We have pored over wind and weather forecasts for these bodies of water.  Tuesday we covered Pamlico Sound, the Pamlico River and part of the Pungo River and arrived in Belhaven.  We again picked a marina just outside of town with great reviews and a pool.

 

 

The girls and I headed immediately to swim because after this one gorgeous day we knew that Wednesday and Thursday were bringing a cold front with high winds and more rain.  So, we took our 80+ degrees and sunshine and ran with it.  The pool was stocked with pool floats and one of them was the current resting place for a cute little frog.  We watched him a bit and helped him jump off the float before jumping in the pool.

We did make it into town this time.  Belhaven is VERY small.  VERY.  SMALL.  We’ve been in a ton of small towns.  This one was even smaller!  One of the highlights was the Ace Hardware store.  We head read it was a must stop.  It’s not only a hardware store, but also sells clothes, crafts, greeting cards and some food and wine.  It reminded me of  Home Goods with a hardware store mixed in.  Bizarre!  We covered all of town in under an hour.  We had been told by Ben’s aunt that the museum in City Hall was interesting. Go figure it was closed on Wednesday when we went into town!  A number of other boats pulled into the marina including three other boats doing the loop.  We haven’t been with other loopers in awhile so it was fun to have others to hang out with.  But it did mean sharing the courtesy car so we didn’t make it back to the museum.  We did share the car for dinner Wednesday night and made it to Spoon River.  A farm to fork restaurant right here in tiny Belhaven.  It was delicious and they treated the girls like royalty!  What a treat to have an amazing meal.

 

 

After it rained almost all of Thursday with gusty winds the skies finally cleared.  All of the boaters gathered in the clubhouse last night and had a great time visiting and stretching our legs a bit.  This morning as predicted it was once again beautiful.  We were again treated to a pretty great day after waiting out the bad weather.  More bodies of water to cross today.  We set out this morning for the 80+ mile run to Coinjock, NC.  We continued up the Pungo River to “the ditch”.  This is a skinny section of water with land very close on both sides that connects the Pungo River to the Alligator River.  Forecasts for the Pungo and Alligator rivers and the Albemarle Sound were all pretty good.  We made it through the ditch and the Alligator with no issues.  It was gorgeous out once again and Molly and I finished another puzzle!

The girls and I covered a lot of ground on school today and decided Monday will be our official last day for the year.  We’ll still do some work a couple of days a week over the summer but Molly really wants to have an official last day, so Monday it is!  They both finished their math books a couple of weeks ago and we finished the novel Molly and I were reading today so we’re wrapping things up nicely for summer.  I wanted school for the day done before we hit the Albemarle.

The Albemarle was not too bad but not too great.  The wind picked up and it’s a big sound.  We took a couple of hours to cross it and saw how hard the Seakeeper (our stabilizer) worked today.  The girls don’t spend much time up on the flybridge.  They tend to stay downstairs and play with dolls, legos, slime, playdough, or watch YouTube and Netflix instead of enjoying the water around them.  To their credit, it’s usually blazing hot upstairs and they have to wear hot life vests.  So, air conditioning it is.  But when the water gets rough everyone comes up.  Molly next to me.  Maddy in my lap.  Molly gets sick.  Maddy gets scared.  Ben turned on the engine room camera that shows the seakeeper working.  They love watching it and how much it rolls and turns to keep us level.  It worked hard today as waves were hitting us from the side.  The waves weren’t that big but enough to toss us around and feel the motion.  Ben was fine.  The rest of us had had enough and were very happy to enter the North River.

We made it the short distance up the North River and tied up at Coinjock marina.  Friends have been telling us about Coinjock since September.  People tell us places not to miss all the time and it’s so hard to file it all away, but Coinjock was one that got mentioned over and over.  I see why.  It’s just a fun place.  It’s nothing but a long face dock with a good store and great bar and restaurant.  Their claim to fame is that you order your prime rib ahead of time when you book your slip.  They have a 16 oz. and a 32 oz. prime rib.  Ben’s the only serious meat eater in our group so I reserved him a 16 oz. prime rib for dinner.  We are docked directly in front of the restaurant.  The food was good – their fish is as good as the prime rib!  Once again the entire marina has the friendliest people.  There’s a live band right outside our door.  After dinner we let the girls hang out for a bit and listen before bed.  We’re just here for tonight but were pleasantly surprised.  What a fun stop.  Life is good.

Tomorrow we leave North Carolina and cross into Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay.  We’re planning to head to Hampton, VA for a few days and will then meet the Burnetts for a visit mid week!  We’re so excited – it’s been six months since we last saw them and we miss them so much.  Molly’s birthday is next weekend and they are driving a long way to be here to help her celebrate!

After anchoring for a night in Wrightsville Beach we headed to Topsail Island in Surf City, NC.  While anchored Ben was working in the engine room and noticed that the water pump for our generator had gone bad.  It’s a maintenance part but we didn’t have a spare on board so Ben ordered a new pump with overnight delivery to arrive in Topsail Island.  We had a pretty trip through this part of the ICW.  I didn’t get many pictures but did snap a couple just on the other side of this swing bridge.

Once in Topsail Island we got off the boat and went to find Sugar Island Bakery and used bookstore.  The Wilsons had told us about it and we were excited to check it out.  We picked up a stack of new to us books and got some delicious cookies.

After the bakery the girls were desperate to get to the beach.  I wasn’t far behind.  We have seen some amazing places recently and had a wonderful time doing so, but I miss swimming suits, water, and just relaxing!  So, the girls and I got suited up to head to the beach.  It was about 4 pm so I told them we just had an hour or so to play.  As we were heading up the dock I noticed some dark clouds behind us.  We’ve had a lot of afternoon spring storms so I checked the radar and the storm was either going to hit us or skate just below us.  Molly said she thought we should give it a try so off we went.  The beach in Topsail Island is BEAUTIFUL!  We have really missed nice beaches since coming back from the Bahamas.  The Atlantic side of FL just doesn’t have nice beaches.  But North Myrtle Beach and Topsail Island have restored our beach loving.

The girls enjoyed approximately 3 minutes in the water before the CRAZY storm moved in.  Molly kept yelling “look look”.  The girls do this a lot.  “Mommy look”.  All.  The.  Time.  So, I kept saying “I am looking!”  Pretty soon I realized she was pointing behind me.  Whoa.  I yelled to them to get out of the water immediately.  We, and everyone else on the beach, took cover.  As the wind picked up and the rain started our cover wasn’t sufficient and we ducked into the waterfront bar and restaurant we were standing next to.  I asked the bartender if we could hang out while this blew through.  She said no problem.  We were wet and cold as the wind and rain was blowing everywhere inside as well.  It was pouring off the roof and splashing everywhere.  Eventually the storm cleared and Madelyn noticed it had stopped raining.  We made a run for it.  We quickly realized that all of the streets were flooded and for some reason the town doesn’t have any sidewalks.  So, we sprinted through some rivers of water the two blocks back to the boat.  Madelyn lost a shoe at one point crossing a street but was able to grab it.

The next morning Ben was waiting for the pump to arrive so I took the girls back to the beach. Take 2!  It was a gorgeous morning.  The tide was way out so the beach was huge.  The girls were fascinated with the surfers.  Maybe this was why it’s called Surf City.  The girls jumped right on their boogie boards.  The ocean was so calm but where the waves were breaking was wild and fun.  After snapping a few pictures of them I joined them in the water.  They met another little girl who was 9 and there on vacation and the three played for a couple hours in the waves, never taking a break.

Back on the boat Ben got the pump for the generator.  However the night before when he removed the broken pump he realized it didn’t look like the one he ordered.  He was able to chat with online support and determined that since our generator was built they have designed a new pump with an adapter kit to fit our generator. Forgive my lack of any technical knowledge of any of this.  Anyway, the adapter kit was then ordered with Saturday delivery shipping to arrive in Beaufort, NC.  Once back from the beach, as the tide started to rise we pulled out and headed for Beaufort.  We had planned to anchor close by and finish the trip Saturday morning but there were no anchorages close enough to Beaufort that were also deep enough.  This section of the ICW was also quite pretty.  Beautiful huge houses right on the waterfront.  And then we got to travel through the live fire zone used by the marines.  Ben had called ahead that morning and was told that they were not doing any live fire exercises on Friday.  Phew.  When they are performing tests they close the ICW and boaters are just stuck waiting.  It was neat to boat through this area and see the targets used for practice on the banks.

At some point during the trip the generator overheated and shut down.  Just confirmed our decision not to anchor and to get to a marina so Ben could get the adapter kit and replace the pump.  After a long day we pulled into Beaufort, NC around 7:45 PM and tied up.  Ben was exhausted.  I got the girls off the boat to run off some energy for a few minutes.  We watched a gorgeous sunset and the girls found a large grassy area to play with their Skip Its.

Saturday morning my cousin Michael and his wife Addi came to visit!  They live just outside Raleigh and drove over to the coast to hang out with us.  We’re so lucky that so many of our friends and family make an effort to join us on this journey.  We love having visitors and sharing this trip with so many.  Michael and Addi got married on Carolina Beach last September.  We missed the wedding because we had just set out on the Great Loop.  We boated right past where they got married on our way to Topsail Island Thursday.  We’re so happy they were able to make the drive over to see us.  They arrived with a ridiculous amount of packages we had sent to their house.  Between boating stuff and presents for Molly’s upcoming birthday they were very gracious to collect and deliver them all!  They also brought breakfast.  After we hung out and ate and showed them around the boat they enjoyed a lovely couple of hours of errands taking us to West Marine and Walmart for oil so Ben can do another oil change.

 

 

We finally made it into town for a late lunch.  After lunch we toured the North Carolina Maritime Museum.  This is a free museum open to the public and they have a scavenger hunt for kids.  So the girls completed the scavenger hunt and we learned about Blackbeard the pirate and the Queen Anne’s Revenge.  We saw quite a few cool shipping artifacts and models and animal skeletons.  Michael took a turn surfing.

After the museum we walked across the street to watch a group of people working on building boats.  We watched them for a few and then headed to the obligatory shops for more t-shirts and magnets.  We completed our quick tour of town with a stop for ice cream for Molly and Ben and shaved ice for Madelyn.

We were all full from our late lunch and feeling quite lazy in the heat so we went back to the boat and just hung out.  Ben replaced the generator water pump and let it run for a bit to make sure all was well there.  We chatted and did some puzzling and just hung out the rest of the night.  Ordered a pizza for dinner and didn’t do much else!

This morning Ben put the dinghy in the water as soon as he got up.  We all hopped in and headed over to Carrot Island.  This is a long stretch of land right across from Beaufort and we noticed a lot of people there on kayaks and other beached boats.  Michael and Addi told us that a lot of the small water taxi ferries will take you to Carrot Island and Shackleford Banks.  I had read in the guide book that there were wild horses!  Since we were still feeling burned by not spotting the horses at Cumberland Island we were determined.  We rode around in the dinghy for a bit and Molly spotted them!!!  We pulled up to the marshy land but didn’t get out.  We watched them from afar and I got the best picture I could.  Madelyn was so happy to finally spot them!!!

 

 

Then it was time for the beach!  What a perfect day.  I’m so happy that we have had 3 beach outings in the past week.  I’ll say it again – we’ve missed chilling out at the beach.  The water was 81 degrees.  The beach was beautiful.  This is our favorite type of beach – find a stretch of sand, pull up the dinghy and hop out.

Tide was out so there were tiny crabs running all over the sand.  Addi picked one up for Madelyn to see. Michael and Molly made a bee line for the water on the other side and were fully in before I could tell them about the crabs.  We all ended up in the warm water.  Addi, Michael and the girls played catch with Molly’s bounce on water ball.

Then Addi kept exploring and found a live sand dollar!  The girls learned all about sand dollars in the Bahamas but we were only able to find the white ones which are not alive.  But today the girls got to hold and touch one that was still alive.  VERY COOL – thanks Addi!

After a fabulous morning we said goodbye to Michael and Addi.  We were fully in beach mode and ready to head back to play some more when we thought we should glance at route, tides and forecast.  Reality set in.  I wanted to just pull out of Beaufort late afternoon and go to a close by anchorage so we had a little jump tomorrow morning.  We had planned on a long day from Beaufort to Belhaven.  But the forecast showed storms for Monday and Tuesday and rain Wednesday and wind moving in.  Dreaded wind.  So, we quickly made a new plan and decided to head to Oriental, NC today.  It got us 25 miles north so that our run to Belhaven will be shorter.  We are in a marina with a nice pool so that if there is a break in the storms the girls can swim.  The forecast is now much improved but we will stay until the winds and water calm.  Oriental is on the Neuse River.  It’s a pretty wide body of water and the winds are whipping up it right now rocking us pretty badly.  We are safe and sound, but it’ll be a noisy night.  We have 11 miles on the Neuse River before we enter Pamlico Sound.  We are in a stretch right now of rivers and sounds that are more like Lake Michigan than they are the narrow stretches of the ICW we’ve been on.  So, we’ll keep an eye on the winds and waves and go when it’s comfortable.  After Belhaven we’ll head to Coinjock and then to Norfolk, VA which is mile 0 on the Atlantic ICW.  Then we’ll enter the Chesapeake Bay!

I last blogged a week ago Tuesday when we tried to leave Charleston and then turned around in a massive storm that hit us.  Well, Wednesday wasn’t much better.  It rained.  And rained.  And rained.  The wind was insane.  We didn’t even try to get off the boat, let alone take the boat anywhere.  But then around 4 pm it magically stopped and the sky cleared a bit.  We hopped off the boat as many around us did and stretched our legs.  We took an Uber to the store to grab a few things and mostly just to have an outing.

 

 

Thursday morning we made a run for it!  After hours of studying charts and tide schedules and wind and rain schedules Wednesday night we decided to give it a try.  The weather was much improved. The rain was pretty much gone and we just had some wind to deal with.  We had to head through a very nervous making passage between Charleston and Georgetown and we needed to do it on a mid to rising tide.  The tide schedule was not in our favor as high tide was scheduled for around noon in Charleston and 1 where we were heading.  So, we got up at 5:15 and pulled off the dock by 6 AM.  Anyone who knows Ben knows what an achievement that was for Ben and how he was exhausted the rest of the day and the next day after doing that!  He and early mornings don’t agree.  Anyway, we had a great group of boats to travel with and the river traveling north is beautiful when you aren’t stressed out and can look at it.  We did enjoy the view.

The boating community is so supportive.  We left Charleston right behind another boat who has similar draft to us and has done the trip many times. Ben called him a number of times to ask for a depth report and he was helpful each and every time.  Then we found ourselves traveling with a 95 ft boat with a 5.5 ft draft and unprotected props in front of us and a sailboat with a 6 ft draft behind us.   They were going nice and slow and we were happy to stay right between them.  The sailboat was a local and had lots of tips along the way.  The 95 ft was not and had not thought to do any research prior to the trip.  He hadn’t looked at Active Captain or Waterway Guide.  We get kind of frustrated when we get accused (mostly online forums) of being unprepared and not paying attention to conditions.  I had two pages of notes about tide levels and times for every hazard mark that day.  We do a LOT of preparation.  It doesn’t always matter.  But, we like to be as prepared as we can be.  So, we were happy to slow down and let the 95 footer go first.  We’d call ahead to him each time we approached a hazard and between us and the sailboat both reporting our research findings he navigated through first and we both followed.

We finally made it to Georgetown and kept on going.  We thought there was a chance we’d have to stop and anchor and wait for tide to fall and then rise again but we made good time and got to the last of the tricky spots just after high tide and still had plenty of water.  Georgetown was unfortunately full.  There was a fishing tournament going on and those two extra days in Charleston meant there wasn’t room for us now.  We’ve been told it was a cute stop but we just can’t catch them all.  So, we headed on north to Wacca Wache on the Waccamaw river.  Say that five times!  It was a very nice marina with very friendly people and the river there is beautiful even if the water is browner than brown.  We hopped off the boat and decompressed after a long day.

Friday we headed to North Myrtle Beach to Barefoot Marina.  Our friends Rod and Susie from Beehaven keep their boat there and had gotten us a slip for as long as we wanted to stay.  They are just another example of the truly wonderful people we have met on this trip.  They are just the sweetest!  We got in fairly early and I took the girls to the POOL!  A huge pool.  With a sno cone tent on the pool deck.  The water was a bit chilly but the sun was hot and the sno cones were delicious.

Rod and Susie came by the marina later that afternoon and they and Ben joined me on the pool deck until I was able to get the girls out of the water.  They have two condos they rent out right on the beach.  They are staying in one while having some maintenance work done on their boat.  We had dinner together next to their condo and then walked out to the beautiful beach.  Then they took us up to their 18th floor condo.  I’m terrified of heights so I could appreciate the view from inside but no looking over the balcony for me.  Rod immediately pulled out his ukulele and started teaching the girls how to play.

Saturday we spent the whole day with Rod and Susie.  We went back to their place and had a lovely lunch and Molly got another good long ukulele lesson.  She’s completely learned how to play Happy Birthday!  Then we all went down to the beach.  It was perfect boogie boarding weather.  The ocean was warm.  The waves were big.  The sand was soft and there was no current pulling them.  Ben and I got in too.  Their condo also has a pool and lazy river so after we were done with the sand we took a float around the lazy river for a bit and then headed upstairs again.  Susie immediately told the girls to go hop in the big Jacuzzi tub.

In our continued craziness, Saturday night we hopped in a rental car and drove most of the way to Annapolis, MD.  Stopped at hotel and slept so the girls could swim and play a bit in the morning.  That was the agreement with taking on another road trip although this one was only 7.5 hours.  Half the length of our last one.  Sunday morning after they played we went to see another boat we like a lot.  Spent the day there and had a great lunch at a local crab place.  Drove back the entire way that night arriving back in North Myrtle Beach around 1:45 AM.  Ben and I were tired.  Boat discussions go up and down constantly so I won’t waste space with that here.

Memorial Day we laid low.  We were both tired.  I sat around in pajamas until after noon.  A coworker of Ben’s from Schwab came to visit us and brought his 14 year old daughter.  They mentioned they live outside of Charlotte but didn’t mind the drive.  Given that we’d just driven 7.5 hours we told them we’d love to have visitors but that they were CRAZY!  The girls all swam for quite awhile and then we had a classic Memorial Day cookout before they headed back.  They brought us some North Caroline favorites to try – peach and almond bread and Cheerwine!  It was a perfectly relaxing and chill holiday.

Tuesday it was time for us to move along even though it was blazing hot and the girls wanted to swim again.  Rod and Susie drove Ben back from Enterprise to the marina and came to say goodbye.  We truly enjoyed our time with them and will stay in touch just like the rest of our looper family!  We had an easy trip from North Myrtle to Southport.

 

 

I told the girls we crossed through another state and are now in North Carolina!  Because of the tide schedule we left late morning and didn’t arrive til around 4:30 PM.  We took a quick walk through town and headed back to the marina for a 6 pm briefing a fellow boater holds nightly.  He walks through weather and tides and the rest of the route north from Southport all the way to Norfolk, VA.  We left with a good handle on the next few days and a packet of information including maps and notes on the tricky parts ahead.

While in town the harbor host for Southport, Robert Creech, reached out to us!  He saw our boat at the marina, looked us up and called Ben.  What a nice guy!  His house is right on the water so we walked past and stopped and said hello on our way back to the marina.  He and Kay have a lovely view of the water from their front porch.  The girls enjoyed a few minutes in the rockers before we had to go.

This morning we took another walk into town before heading north.  Wendy from La Cigale and mentioned all the history here and I asked her to tell me more because I missed it last night!  Wendy said go walk along the water.  So, we did.  And she was right.  Tons of Civil War history here as well.  We didn’t make the girls stop and read every board but we read them.  Stories of the Union blockade of the rivers and the confederate ships in NC that were used to partially block the blockade so that the blockade runners could sneak ships out carrying cotton and rice to Bermuda and the Bahamas.  Here they sold these goods for military supplies that they then snuck back into NC.  There is a string of shipwrecks of these ships up the coast of NC from Southport.  There’s even a very old, very rusty anchor from one of them on the bank where we were standing.  The girls instead stopped at almost every swing to swing while we read.  In the background is the former house of a blockade runner.

Then we moved on to the Pilots’ Tower.  People would stand in these very tall towers and look for ships out on the ocean.  When they spotted one ready to come in they would fire a cannon alerting a pilot boat to head out.  The pilot boats would head out to the inlet and the captain would climb the ladder up to the big ship.  The mate would drive the pilot boat back in to the harbor and the pilot would bring in the big ship navigating twists and turns and shoaling in the inlet and river.  Although these towers are no longer needed today because of electronics and improved communications the pilots are still used.  I first learned about pilots in the Bahamas.  Had we gone south to Eleuthera there were spots that we would have called a pilot to take us in.  Local knowledge is a wonderful thing!

Just as we were rounding the corner to walk up into town and get some salt water taffy Ben saw tents about a block down.  We were just lamenting we had a rental car in North Myrtle yet somehow seemed to be very low on produce.  And then just like that a farmer’s market appeared!  Yay!  We loaded up on tomatoes, blueberries that were picked yesterday, asparagus, red peppers, Jade cucumbers and romaine.  Then stopped off for some garlic herb pickles.

Once we loaded up on the healthy stuff we headed for salt water taffy.  Ben and I like it as much as the kids so Ben grabbed a bag and everyone grabbed handfuls of the flavors they wanted.  We ended up with just over 3 lbs.  Yes, I’m admitting that.  I won’t admit how quickly it disappears.  There are also three local fish markets in town with fresh catches each day.  We got 2 lbs of fresh shrimp brought in this morning for the crazy cheap price of $7 per lb.  What a deal.  So between the shrimp, the fresh veggies and the taffy we are eating well tonight!

Other random stats from this past week include another tooth lost by Madelyn.  She’s now toothless in the front and enjoying her funny speech until those big teeth grow in.

And while we had a car I decided haircuts were in order.  The girls haven’t had a trim since early January and it was time.  Molly has been growing her hair out since last summer and decided it was bugging her and she wanted to go back to short.  Madelyn fought me on cutting a large chunk off of hers but it was all the way down to her waist.  Her hair is extremely thick and unless I have it braided every single day it just was looking derelict!  So, despite her protests I gave the instruction to cut 4-6 inches off.  It’s still plenty long!  She wants to grow it to her feet like Rapunzel of course.

Ben and I were both kind of feeling burned out yesterday.  We have just been tired and ambivalent about where to go next and what to do.  My cousin and his wife are driving to see us Saturday so I’ve been trying to map out where to meet them.  Our choices were go to Carolina Beach, or Wrightsville Beach or Topsail today.  Carolina Beach was so close to Southport that ultimately seemed silly.  So we settled on anchoring at Wrightsville Beach tonight.  We planned to drop the dinghy in the water and go into town.  They have a close and easy to get to dinghy dock here.  But what they also currently have are 25-30 mph winds.  The forecast says 9 mph.  Seems like more often than not we have a good forecast and then boom, crazy wind when we anchor.  Ben reminded me that we had lovely nights anchored at Fernandina and St. Simons.  He is right.  I just remember the windy ones!  So, we are sitting at anchor spinning back and forth while all the sailboats and the one other power boat don’t move at all.  Looks like we won’t make it into town.  We can’t leave the boat when it’s this windy.  Instead we’re having a relaxing afternoon chilling out. Molly and I worked on a puzzle a bit and now I’m sitting on the back deck listening to the water and watching the boats around us.  Ben unfortunately just spent a long time in the hot engine room working on something.  Hopefully he’ll sit and relax soon too.  (And now that I’m done writing it has already calmed quite a bit)

Tomorrow we head to Topsail Island Marina in Surf City, NC.  Another recommendation from the Wilson family.  Then we think we will meet Michael and Addi in Beaufort, NC Saturday before we turn to head north after the weekend.

I’ve been looking forward to Charleston this entire trip!  As I’ve said a thousand times I was really sad to leave the Bahamas and island life in general but I have been very excited about all we have to explore going up the east coast.  St. Augustine, Savannah and now Charleston complete the trifecta of big stops on the southern section of the east coast.  After this we go back to little waterfront towns for a bit.  We enjoy those as well and we will have a slower pace for a bit!

We left Beaufort last Thursday and had a long stressful day making our way north to Charleston.  After much debate we decided to take the ICW instead of going out into the ocean.  It would have been 40 extra miles to go outside and that just didn’t make sense if we could manage the tides and depths.  We spent a long time studying every hazard mark and shallow spot along the way and, as we always do, timed our departure with the tides.  Thursday that meant that we didn’t leave until 11ish so that we were traveling on a rising tide.  We made it through all of the shallow spots without issue and arrived at the Charleston City Marina late in the day and tied up to the Mega Dock.  The Charleston City Marina is famous for their 3000 ft. long Mega Dock for transient boaters.  We thankfully got a spot on the inside of the dock about halfway up.  It was still a very long walk to get off the dock but the girls have taken that in stride and we’ve all enjoyed a big boost in our step count!  The Mega dock is home to lots of boats and lots of mega yachts.  We’ve enjoyed walking past multiple enormous power boats as well as the 295 ft. long Athena sailboat.  We’ve never seen anything like it.

Friday morning we got school done quickly and hopped on the free shuttle provided by the marina into town.  We started with a carriage ride to get our bearings and a little of the history of this great town.  The girls were thrilled to see more horses and this time we got front row seats!  We quickly learned that mules were pulling our carriage, not horses.  Maybe most people know this, but….Mules have a horse for a mother and a donkey for a father.  The girls were fascinated to learn this as well as other facts about mules that we were told and they have researched.  I will let them share in their blog!

The tour took us around town.  We learned a lot of history about the area and the houses.  After our tour guide referred to Charleston as the “Holy City” a few times I looked up why.  There are a few theories out there but the most common is that it earned the nickname because of its support of religious freedom hundreds of years ago.  As you look into town from the harbor or any of the highways or bridges you see a lot of low buildings and many tall steeples.  We toured past a number of the oldest churches and the girls and I were able to attend mass at the old Catholic cathedral on Sunday.   And somehow I didn’t get a singe picture of these incredible churches!

After our carriage ride we walked through the famous City Market and then took a walk down to Waterfront Park and took that all the way past Rainbow Row to Battery Park.

Amazed that Madelyn hadn’t yet balked at all the walking, we decided to push a bit further.  We were able to snag an early reservation to SNOB (Slightly North of Broad).  Walking in the restaurant a bit sheepish in our sight seeing clothes after having taken a carriage ride and walked many miles we were taken to a lovely table with a view of the kitchen and had the best meal of our stay in Charleston!  I have been looking forward to the cuisine here and this meal did not disappoint.  I had the best swordfish I’ve ever had.  I should have taken a lot of food pictures but only managed to get one the whole trip.  A fabulous charcuterie plate (that we had already eaten half of)!

After dinner we wandered around a bit more and then tricked Madelyn into walking all the way back to the marina.  We just kept saying we’d walk a little further and call the shuttle. She was completely fine and eventually looked up and said “hey, did we just walk all the way back to the boat?”.  Yes we did!

Saturday morning we got up and headed to see the USS Yorktown.  My kids are kind of tapped out on Civil War history so it was good to change it up.  First of all this was WWII history so that made a world of difference for them. Ha ha.  But more importantly it was a museum inside an aircraft carrier!  So cool!  The USS Yorktown has been permanently docked here in Charleston to serve as a museum.  I’ve admitted before that my knowledge of history is embarrassingly bad and I hated history as a kid.  So, I’m learning with them and experiential learning is the way to go!

This “museum” consists of the USS Yorktown, the USS Laffey and submarine USS Clamagore.  All three are open to self tour.  We started with the USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier from WWII that was named after the first USS Yorktown lost at the Battle of the Midway.  It holds 3500 sailors as well as 90 aircraft.  Molly just kept walking around saying “we can’t be on a boat”.  I called it a boat in one room and was corrected by a fellow patron telling me it was a “ship”.  Not a “boat”.  Point taken.  The ship was split up into 5 self guided tours. Maddy was thankful for that.  She’s not a fan of listening to people drone on about what she’s looking at.  The kids were fascinated with the accommodations and comparing and contrasting to our boat.  First up was the bunk room. We found a number of bunks with notes written on them by soldiers years ago.  So special to read this little piece of history.  Then onto the dentist office where both girls took turns in the chair.

Next up was the galley, where Madelyn couldn’t believe how real the pancakes looked.  They were particularly interested in the quantity of food prepared each day in these galleys.  Enough for 3 meals plus midnight rations for 3500 passengers.  That’s a lot of food!

Then we got to the butcher room and the bakery.  My favorite was the bakery!  There was a recipe and ingredients displayed for a typical batch of 10,000 chocolate chip cookies!  The girls’ eyes bugged out.  But if you think about it, that’s not even 3 cookies per sailor.  I was amazed at 500 eggs and 100 lbs of sugar.  Wow!  And the mixer.  Maddy could stand in the mixer, it was so big.

The doctor’s office and operating room were a bit primitive looking.  And then there was the engine room.  Whoa.  It’s big.  Really really big.  The girls got to try out “driving” and see the radios used to call up for signals.

Then we headed up towards the flight deck. The girls sat down in the briefing room first and then we went out to the aircraft deck.  Molly again was in awe that we were on a ship!  With airplanes and helicopters on it!

Last but not least we saw the “brig” – the jail on board.  The girls and I were all kind of in awe of that!  Yikes!  We also got to see the captains’ and officers’ dining room, quarters and snack bar.  It was fun to check out the old soda fountain on board for them!

Next we moved onto the USS Laffey which was extremely hot and stuffy and much smaller!  An important ship for sure but not nearly as interesting.  Onto the submarine.  The USS Clamagore.  The poor submarine is rusting away sitting in the salt water!  Still very cool to climb aboard.  We’ve confirmed that I could never ever live on a submarine. So claustrophobic.  Still interesting to tour.

After a long, hot, albeit very interesting morning, we headed back to the boat.  We spent Saturday afternoon looking at another boat we may be interested in and then headed to dinner at Fuel.  It had been recommended by friends and was a fun casual meal.

With rain forecasted to move in Monday we decided to rent a car Sunday morning and head to one of the big plantations.  After church we grabbed brunch at 82 Queen.  Husk has been one of the most recommended restaurants by friends.  We put our name in there and while waiting for our table glanced at the menus at 82 Queen on one side and the place on the other side of Husk. Our table at Husk became available just as 82 Queen opened and said they could seat us on their patio. Their menu looked better to us so we skipped Husk and ate there.  It was excellent.  Beautiful patio.  AMAZING biscuits.  The girls had delicious crème brulee French toast.  I had a fabulous omelet and Ben had a great tenderloin, egg, arugula sandwich.  Another successful meal and off to Boone Hall Plantation we went.

It was again quite sunny and HOT.  We took a wagon tour around the grounds and explained to the girls how southern plantations worked.  This particular one is still in business.  They no longer grow cotton although the old cotton gin is a preserved landmark building.  It was turned into a restaurant for a few years and when they went to remodel, a load bearing wall came down so now it is being supported from falling down but obviously the restaurant has closed.

The plantation also no longer makes bricks but they grow many fruits and vegetables.  They had just finished harvesting kale, watermelon and a few other things but were currently growing grapes, peaches, more watermelon, strawberries and corn.  By fall the corn will be corn maze high and they will have a full crop of squash and pumpkins.

After the wagon tour we stopped by their butterfly conservatory.  Who doesn’t love butterflies?  Madelyn was of course also enthralled with the horses!

We took a tour of the plantation house but were a bit disappointed.  We came to learn that Charleston doesn’t have too many original plantation houses.  At Boone Hall this was the 4th house.  The previous ones had been burned to the ground, blown away by a hurricane and torn down to build the current more modern house in the 1930s.  It is a beautiful house but as Ben pointed out, our house in Chicago was built in the 1880s so a 1930s house wasn’t all that interesting to us.  It did have one beautiful room preserved from the old house with the original pine floors and cypress walls.

 

 

Boone Hall is famous for its Avenue of the Oaks drive.  Many movies have been filmed here and the plantation is now the location for close to 200 weddings a year.  Our tour guide told us most of these trees are 250+ years old.  They live about 450 years so they are still young.

 

 

Back to the history lessons!  I largely wanted to visit a plantation for the history.  This culture of farming is so different than what the girls know at home.  But in addition to the still existing farm, Boone Hall has 8 slave houses still intact that we were able to tour.  Each house contained a bit of the timeline of these slaves lives.

We learned on our carriage tour that there is no natural stone to use for building in this area.  We’ve moved from coquina in St. Augustine to tabby in Beaufort.  In Charleston slaves made bricks.  One of the slave houses had a brick mold on display.  Ben explained to the girls how they poured the materials in the mold to form them and that the writing in the mold then displayed on the outside of the brick.  All of the slave houses were built by the slaves out of these bricks, as well as many of the houses in Charleston.

There were copies of slave lists coming into Charleston as well as advertisements of slaves for sale on display in one house.  Molly and I spent time looking at the descriptions of slaves such as good workers, complains, has a baby, full hand, half hand, driver, nurse, etc.

Throughout the various slave houses we were able to listen to a history through the ages.  I’m sure the girls didn’t soak in all of the vast amount of history here, but we listened to recordings about Lincoln ending slavery and then how in the south voting rights were lost again for many years for African Americans.  The history timeline continued through Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. and ended with Barack Obama becoming our first African American president.  It is hard for me to grasp the enormity and difficulty of the lives these people lived, so I know it is hard for the girls to grasp.  I hope this was at least a bit of glimpse for them into the past and that they grow up to be respectful of the history here.

After that somber note (and a full weekend of home schooling at its finest!) we had some fun in store for all of us!  When we came into town I emailed Kim Russo – she is the Director of the American Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA). I knew she had teenagers so I asked if she may have any leads on a babysitter.  Her daughter was working all weekend but she emailed to tell me her niece was free.  It gets better.  Her niece is a high school senior who teaches gymnastics.  We planned to have a date night Saturday night but then Paige mentioned that her gym had open gym hours Sunday afternoon.  Sold!  We dropped the girls off and they had a blast.  A full gymnastics studio with sprung mats, trampolines, foam pits, bars, balance beams, you name it.  And a personal gymnastics instructor at their disposal!  She drove them back to the boat after.  We got a couple of errands done and headed to Magnolias for an early dinner.  Another highly recommended restaurant and it also did not disappoint!  The fried green tomatoes (for me) and fried chicken (for Ben) were two of their signature dishes and were both great.  Molly and Madelyn are pretty good about being taken to nice restaurants but it was such a treat for us to have an adult dinner at our own pace with drinks and appetizers and dessert!  We took a long stroll back around town and to the marina.

Monday was supposed to be rainy all day so we had a pretty low key schedule.  School and then Costco and Trader Joes were on the list.  It’s not all glamorous even when we’re in fun places.  But Kim Russo came to our boat to visit Monday afternoon!  We’ve been emailing her for months and it was fun to put a face with the name.  We’re so happy we got to meet her while we were in town.

Last night we went to Obstinate Daughter for dinner.  One more restaurant off the list of recommendations.  It topped my list for best cocktail.  Impossible to make them all so Ben and I will just have to come back.  Today we hoped to head north towards Georgetown, SC.  The path from here to there is narrow and shallow.  We picked out an anchorage 30 miles north of here.  Today the tide schedule was not in our favor.  Low tide was at 12 PM in Charleston and 1 PM where we were heading.  And added bonuses today were thunderstorms starting at 2 pm and low tide being below MLW (mean low water).  Friends of ours headed north before us and reported two or three spots that were 5 ft. when they passed 2 hours after low tide so we had to continue to wait.  Big storms moved through on schedule at 2 pm.  By 3:30 it was looking ok and after checking many weather sites we decided to pull out and give it a try.  There are a number of good anchorages along the way and we figured we’d just see how far we got.  There were more storms to the west but mostly just rain and a long ways west.  We pulled out and were fine.  All of a sudden dark clouds moved in.  We were barely across the bay here and Ben decided he was turning around.  Better safe than sorry.  One of the storm cells to the south moved more north than east and was now in our path.  We turned around and it started dumping rain on us!  I had to jump off the boat and tie lines.  I poured an inch of water out of my shoes when I came back in.  But we’re back at the City Marina safe and sound.  The sky is now clear and the water looks like a mirror.  We shall see what morning brings.  Charleston has been another fabulous stop on this great adventure!

 

 

 

 

We had an easy ride between Savannah and Beaufort.  We’re in a big stretch of places that other loopers have told us are not to be missed.  Savannah and Charleston were both on our list of course, but we didn’t know much about Beaufort, SC.  First, there is also a Beaufort in North Carolina.  The Beaufort in South Carolina is pronounced “bew” like “new”, or “beautiful Beaufort” as I read in someone else’s blog.  North Carolina has  “bo-fort”.  So, as we were on our way to “bew”-fort this little guy hopped on board.  He just hung out for awhile and then flew away as gracefully as he came.

We pulled into the marina and quickly got off the boat to enjoy the charm and see what this place was all about.  Beaufort, SC wins the award for best waterfront we’ve seen in a long time.  It was beautiful and welcoming.  Lovely sidewalks, swings everywhere, a big amphitheater area, tons of room for the girls to scooter, a playground and a number of restaurants whose back patios back up onto the waterfront park with lovely views and a wonderful atmosphere.

We had heard about all of the history and famous antebellum houses here.  We strolled around a bit and found some of them on our own.  They are gorgeous.  Absolutely gorgeous.

We then settled in for dinner at one of the waterfront restaurants.  After school earlier in the day the girls made slime.  They were so excited to finally get a batch made (we didn’t have Borax on board so they had to wait until we bought some).  They pulled out the slime to play with while we waited for our food.  Our waiter stopped by and said it was pretty cool and asked if they made it in school.  Molly has the answer down pat…”no, we are being home schooled and are living on our boat traveling around the eastern third of the United States”.  The usual reply is “wow that is so cool”.  This time our waiter also said that he was homeschooled through 8th grade and that he only went back to play sports.  I am continually comforted that we are hopefully doing alright by our kids as we meet more and more people who were and are home schooled.  On that thought, it’s almost summer break!  Side note — the girls only have about a week of their math curriculum left and then we’ll taper off for summer!!

After dinner the girls ran around in the grassy park and we all took turns on the swings.  What a beautiful night!

Wednesday morning we headed to Blackstone’s Café for breakfast.  Another not to be missed spot.  Had a great breakfast and everyone was happy.  French toast, pancakes, omelet and corned beef hash. And as any great greasy spoon is, it was fast and cheap and GOOD!

After breakfast we hopped on a carriage tour.  We wanted to get some of the history of Beaufort and decided the girls would do better on the 1 hour carriage tour than the 2 hour walking tour.  Madelyn has been begging to go on a carriage ride!

Our tour guide was fantastic (as was Angus our horse!) and gave us a lot of the history of Beaufort.  We got to see a ton of the famous antebellum houses along with stories about their original owners.

The history here is rich.  We also learned about important parts of history like the life of Robert Smalls, raised as a slave in one of these houses.  His masters taught him to read and write as a young boy. Against the law, but they did it anyway.  He went on to become a ship’s pilot and work on one of the large Confederate ships during the Civil War.  He was very intelligent and would read all the memos that came through the office unbeknownst to the captains of the ship.  He eventually freed himself and his crew by taking over a Confederate transport ship and sailing it from Charleston Harbor to the US blockade.  This helped convinced Abraham Lincoln to accept African American soldiers into the military.  Once the war was over Smalls went back to Beaufort.  After the war many of the buildings and houses were put up for auction.  Robert Smalls bought the house he was raised in.  His owner was still alive and in ailing health. He took her in and cared for her until she died.  Pretty powerful story for our girls!

In addition to the history the houses were fun to look at.  Bright colors.  Unique features.  In St. Augustine we learned about coquina – made from sand and oyster shells.  Here in Beaufort houses were built using tabby.  Similar material that was made from lime, sand, oyster shells and ash.  Very strong and wouldn’t burn down.  We learned that taxes were charged based on porches and chimneys.  So HUGE mansions with 6 fireplaces would have 2 chimneys, each with 3 chimneys funneled into one.  And porches were only considered porches if they had a front staircase and door.  So instead houses were built with their stairs and door on the side of the house and the big beautiful southern front porches were just for sitting and relaxing.

We also heard about the movies such as The Big Chill and Prince of Tides which are just a couple among many filmed here.  We heard a story about two teenage boys smoking cigars in their barn.  They heard footsteps of an adult coming and put the cigars out, sparking the hay in the barn and starting a fire that would go on to burn down 44 houses due to embers landing on the roofs.  This barn is now a Best Western constructed of brick.  We saw some of the not as pretty parts of the houses.  Below is a Dependency House.  It is attached to the main house by a continuous wall and is where the house staff and slaves lived.  The house was “dependent” on the folks in these houses.

 

 

We learned about Angel Oak trees.  These incredible trees have branches that come down and touch the ground and then rise up again.  And finally we learned that the roofs of the porches were almost always painted a color of the sky – light blue, light green or sometimes yellow.  Our tour guide said this was to keep both ghosts and bugs away.  Apparently the bugs think it is open sky and fly away.  Sure enough the more we looked the more we noticed mostly blue/green porch ceilings.

We had a lovely time in Beaufort, SC.  The carriage ride was great.  The girls loved having time and space to run and scooter and just play.  We had a relaxed schedule which was a nice respite after trying to fit everything in while in Savannah and then our quick trip back to the Midwest.  A couple of great days of rest and relaxation!

We finally made it to Savannah!  It’s one of the cities I have been most looking forward to on this trip.  We have so many fabulous places that we have been and so many more to go.  I do not mean to discount any of those, but Savannah is a place I’ve wanted to visit for years and never have.  We had a long run outside on the ocean to get from St. Simons up to Savannah because the ICW had too many shallow spots for us.  We set out in waves larger than forecast so we stopped school and went up to the flybridge.  It settled down pretty quickly and the girls went to play.  Then the water completely calmed and looked like glass….bad news for the girls, back to school!  We finished up school work and after an 85 mile day arrived at our marina in Thunderbolt, GA late in the day Monday.  The marina is attached to a working yacht yard. When we arrived there were no inside slips and we were so tired of being knocked around in St. Simons that Ben asked if they had anything else. We pulled into the yacht yard instead and docked for a week in amongst HUGE mega yachts.  Boats close to 200 feet long.  The girls were in awe….when walking to our boat you couldn’t see it at all until rounding the corner.  We felt quite small!  We walked into town and grabbed dinner and rested up for Savannah the next morning!

Our marina provided a box of Krispy Kreme donuts every morning for each boat!  After starting the day Tuesday with donuts and a little school we got dressed and headed into much awaited Savannah.  It was about 95 every day we were there.  After a full week in St. Augustine of history and learning we took it easy here.  We had an Uber drop us at the water front and we enjoyed the beautiful cobblestone streets, Factors walk, the river walk, the cute shops and restaurants and just relaxing.

We walked over to the City Market area and grabbed some lunch.  We walked back to the riverfront and found the lady we had heard about from friends who makes elaborate designs out of palms.  She gave each of the girls roses which they love!

We went into quite a few of the Savannah Candy Kitchen stores and got to sample fresh pralines and taffy.  We watched the candy makers making both as well.

The taffy was a lot of fun to watch.  We watched it be stretched out and then cut and wrapped by a machine that then dumped it into a little car that carried it to a conveyor belt.  The belt carried it up and around the store and dropped it into the taffy bins where customers could scoop it up to buy.  While we were watching the guys making the taffy tossed as many samples as we wanted out to us to catch.  It was a hot but fun day.

Wednesday we had a lovely visit with Sandy and Bob from Karine.  We met way back in Clarksville, TN and always seem to be running somewhat close to each other but never quite overlapping.   We finally connected and it was fun to swap stories and catch up.  After our visit we jumped in an Uber to Mrs. Wilke’s Boarding House for lunch.  So many people have told us we have to go.  It’s a truly southern meal.   You wait in line to get in and they seat you at tables of 10, family style.

There is no menu or ordering.  All the food is just put out on the tables.  We all passed it around and ate so fast I didn’t get too many pictures but it was amazing!  My favorite meal in Savannah.  Fried chicken, candied yams, creamed corn, green beans, lima beans, pinto beans, cabbage, greens, cucumber salad, the list goes on.  Our table counted 21 dishes in all.  Madelyn, adventure eater that she is, sampled the amazing mac and cheese and the biscuits.  She commented “look Mommy, when you squeeze the biscuit, the butter drips out of it”.  Yep, no extra butter….that was post baking.  They were incredible.  Everything was so good.  Blueberry cobbler a la mode and banana pudding for dessert.

After lunch we headed out into the 95 degree heat and tried to walk a bit of our lunch off!  We went to see one of the big cathedrals and a few of the famous squares in Savannah.  I hope to return to Savannah again and spend more time doing this.  With kids in tow (really just with Madelyn in tow, Molly is all good with walking) and the incredible heat, we just couldn’t walk super far.  In moderate temperatures Ben and I would walk miles here from square to square just wandering the day away.  But back to this trip!  On our walk we found a monument to Casmir Pulaski.  The girls go to Pulaski International school back in Chicago so we stopped and looked at this one.

We admired the beautiful houses and then headed to Forsyth Square.  Madelyn was looking for a fountain to throw a coin into and make a wish.  What a beautiful park!  It was prettiest one we saw.  The Spanish Moss and trees are just incredible to look at.  And they block a lot of the sun.

After some time in the park we walked over to the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace.  On our walk there we passed the First Girl Scouts Headquarters building.  Juliette Gordon Low started the Girl Scouts.

The house we toured was the house she grew up in and is now preserved for tours and as sort of a Girl Scout Museum.  The tour guide catered 100% to the girls and directed the entire tour towards them, telling them all about Juliette’s life and how she started the Girl Scouts.  We loved looking at the old house and the beautiful rooms, windows, woodwork, etc.

The tour ended in the library which is now an interactive room where kids can look at old pictures, write poems and leave a list of his/her favorite books.  A quick stop on the terrace to overlook the gardens and a gift shop stop for the girls to get pins saying they completed the tour.

Our Uber driver Wednesday morning mentioned a trampoline park.  The entire day visiting beautiful, historic Savannah the girls asked nonstop about the trampoline park. So, when you are in this amazing town filled with so much history you definitely go to an indoor trampoline park right?  Of course you do.  Off we went….their treat for the day.  They LOVED it.  They are still asking us almost daily if we can find another one somewhere else.  Hey, it was inside and air conditioned and was only an hour.  They could have stayed all day.

Thursday we headed to the Georgia State Railroad Museum.  It was 97 and the entire park is outdoors!  Just another hot Georgia spring day.  Ben can probably offer a lot more detail as to what we saw.  The yard still has an old diesel engine and an old steam engine.

They do tours on whichever they have out that day.  We got to take a ride on the diesel engine from 1947.  The car starts on the turntable and turned us around to the first track we took out.

The conductor on the train talked all about the train industry and the cotton industry in Savannah.  It was a GREAT homeschool tie in from last fall.  We studied a lot about the Civil War last fall and learned about how the Union cut off the supplies to the confederate troops by tearing up miles and miles of railroad track.  We got to see a “Sherman’s Necktie” piece of track on display here.  And we also learned about how the railroads were not only essential for supplies and food but also for transporting people to safer places.

The Central of Georgia Railway was bought out years ago and then railroad bridge connecting the park to the rest of the track was taken down by the city.  So now it’s a big museum.  All the original buildings still stand where the train cars were maintained.

After our ride we also got to take a tour of two of the Executive cars.  These were the cars that the railroad executives traveled in.  One of them was a Pullman car built in Chicago!  They were beautiful.

The original woodwork, beautiful dishes, and original furniture were cool to look at.  The girls liked seeing the bathrooms and sleeping rooms.  We also got to see the crew quarters and the stainless hose down kitchens.

Lastly we toured a car where railroad workers rode while working.  Bunk beds, a big galley style kitchen and a few chairs.  Not the same accommodations!  Before we left the park the woman who ran the tours asked if the girls wanted to drive the hand car.  Yes of course they did!  They had the hand car set up on a track and with the help of the museum employee they made it down and back quite a ways in the heat.  This was a great stop!

 

 

We took one last walk around town.  I still wanted to see the Cotton Exchange building and the Exchange Bell so we went in search of those.  We learned at the railroad museum about how critical the cotton industry was to Savannah.

This wrapped up our time in Savannah.  I definitely want to come back!  Around 3 PM Thursday afternoon, while taking our Executive Train Car tour Ben made the decision that he really wanted to drive to Michigan for a Stein family reunion taking place over the weekend.  Our boat was in a great marina that kept a watchful eye on things so we felt comfortable leaving it.  By 4:30 PM we were at Enterprise picking up a car.  And by 7 PM we were packed, car loaded to the brim, girls in jammies and pulling out for the long 14 hour drive straight through to Union Pier, MI.  We’ve determined that we are no longer 21 and driving through the night takes a toll.  I stayed up the entire night. Ben all but about two hours.  The girls slept in chunks. But all four of us were exhausted.  But we made it and had lots of friends checking in on us through the night.  Good friend Wendy, from La Cigale, is up til about midnight and then up again at 3:30 AM for medications for their youngest daughter so she chatted with us and checked in on our status (and secretly she was concerned we were still awake!).  Then she’d head to bed and in a couple of hours check in again.  Thanks Wendy!  I was able to chat online with Kathy, a good friend from home, who is in Italy.  She was up for the day as we were still driving so she kept us company for a bit as well.  Thanks Kathy!  And Alli, Ben’s cousin’s wife checked in around 4:30 AM from Michigan when her baby woke her up. We appreciate all the help and concern about our safety!

We had a great weekend visiting with so much family.  There were so many wonderful pictures.  I’ll post a few here.

Sunday, after a goodbye with lots of hugs and tears with so much family, we left and drove to my mom’s house to spend a few hours with my mom, Jim, Libby, Brian and the kids.  What a treat for our girls to get to see ALL of their cousins in one quick trip!  They were sooooo upset when we left Michigan.  We didn’t tell them we’d be seeing my sister’s kids.  It was a fun surprise and eased the pain of saying goodbye to the MI crew!  It was a special time.  And a treat for me to get to see my mom and one of my sisters on Mother’s Day as well.  But then we had to say the goodbyes all over again.  What a day!

We left my mom’s house around 8 PM Sunday night and drove to Nashville.  We decided we couldn’t pull two all nighters inside of  a week, but also couldn’t do 14 hours straight in the car with the girls.  Yesterday we only needed to drive from Nashville to Savannah, but like any road trip the end of the trip always drags on forever.  We had a number of various stops and didn’t make it back to the marina until 10 PM last night.  As we drove through Chattanooga we drove along the Tennessee river and with fond memories of last fall we were thrilled to see the water again!

 

 

Last Tuesday we pulled out of St. Augustine and headed north to Fernandina.  Fernandina is on Amelia Island and is the northernmost city in Florida.  Fernandina was hit hard by Hurricane Matthew and the marina is still mostly closed. They can only dock smaller boats and only have a few mooring balls reinstalled for smaller boats.  So, we anchored around the bend in a lovely spot and took the dinghy in.  They do have one dock that they’ve set aside as a dinghy dock so we tied up there.  It’s really sad to see all the closed signs on the marina and docks under water, power pedestals torn apart.  When we were in the Bahamas it didn’t shock us to see hurricane damage still being rebuilt.  But it is so much worse here on the East Coast and that surprised me a little.  I think of America as having more funds and more resources to get everything fixed and yet the damage is so vast and takes so long to regroup and repair.  We are trying to do our part.  We stay in marinas where we can, shop local in the small towns and frequent the local restaurants.

Anyway, we docked the dinghy and walked into the adorable historic downtown.  We took a quick walk around the main drag before grabbing some dinner.  Made a stop for me at Fantastic Fudge…it was fantastic and is all gone.  Looked at a beautiful old church and City Hall.

City Hall is one of the last remaining buildings of this architecture with the square dome at the top.  We walked past Florida’s Oldest Bar.  I poked my head in but having two little girls with us didn’t scream go sit at the bar.  Even the cute Amelia Island Welcome Center was adorable.  We grabbed a quick dinner by the marina and then let the girls have a special after dinner ice cream.  They can’t manage sugar and going to sleep so they usually don’t get to have dessert late – I have no issues with fudge and ice cream at 9 AM however!  But we had such a short time in Fernandina we made the most of it and ice cream it was.

We took the dinghy back to the boat in yet another beautiful sunset and turned in for the night.

Wednesday we got up and headed to Cumberland Island and into GEORGIA!  We have been in or around Florida since early November!  It felt crazy to enter a new state.  We did spend 6 weeks in the Bahamas but otherwise we’ve explored a lot of Florida.  Cumberland Island was only about 7 miles away and we pulled in and anchored quickly so we could take the dinghy over to the island.  Cumberland Island is run by the National Parks.  There are no trash receptacles on the island. There is a visitors center/ranger station.  There are campsites and there is some running water.

There are a couple of hikes you can take.  The longer one is about 2 miles each way plus time to walk the beach and we thought with the tides coming up and Madelyn’s short legs we likely wouldn’t make it that far.  That hike goes out to some ruins that we’ve been told are neat to see.  We did about a third of that hike to look for horses and did the full hike out to the beach.  A much shorter, yet incredibly beautiful walk.  Much like on Manjack Cay in the Bahamas we went through beautiful woods opening up into this amazing beach.

The tide was way out and the beach stretched on for what felt like miles.  The girls ran and played.

We had originally planned to anchor here Wednesday night.  That would have allowed us to spend all day, do the longer hike slowly, have a beach day and just chill out looking for horses.  But after the electrical issues while anchored the night before (that Ben wrote about previously) he wanted to get to a marina so we could figure out what was up.  We also knew storms were moving in Thursday so we wanted to get settled safely.  So, we enjoyed the time we had.

My only regret is that we saw NO horses.  Everyone has told us about the amazing horses.  We were determined to see them.  None.  Nada.  No horses.  Madelyn was especially upset.  We did find a lot of evidence that there were indeed horses living there.  And we did get a lovely brochure about the Horses of Cumberland Island.  Guess we’ll have to go back!  On our walk back towards the other side of the island we were trying to walk as quietly as we could.  And….we heard a horse!  It was loud and in the brush and sounded very large….but even with Ben craning his neck we couldn’t see them.  Darn!  But Cumberland Island was beautiful none the less and I’m glad we took the time to stop.

When we walked over to the ocean side of the island we noticed how calm it was!  With all the wind we’ve had we haven’t seen that in awhile.  So, instead of heading up the very nervous making shallow ICW we headed outside!  We had planned to go up the ICW a short ways to Jekyll Island.  But just past the marina, the end of Jekyll Creek is very shallow with a lot of known hazards.  By being able to go outside we were able to go past that up to St. Simons Island and avoid Jekyll Creek altogether.  By this time Ben had already become acutely aware of the engine shake we had that turned out to be another prop ding (floating debris he wrote about in his blog).  So we were happy to avoid any more shallow water.

 

 

We pulled into Morningstar marina in St. Simons.  It was right off the inlet to the ocean and an easy approach.  This marina also sustained a lot of hurricane damage.  Many docks are still under water.  But they have a large face dock that they are putting transients on.  Three of us pulled in at the same time.  A 70 ft. boat pulled in awhile later and a few days later a 93 ft. boat.  So, plenty of room for all of us.  Unfortunately they wanted us all docked a certain way and the wind was howling.  The marina has essentially no protection from the current and we had good 4 ft. waves hitting our stern coming in with white caps from the wind.  They were slamming under our swim platform and jarring the boat nonstop.  I didn’t sleep much more than a few winks for two nights in a row. Turns out the lady on the boat behind us had the same issue.  We both wanted to turn around and face the other way but we had no props on our boat and couldn’t move!  Friday night it was finally calm when we went to bed but by 3 AM the wind had returned and started bouncing us around again.

We didn’t see much of St. Simons.  Between a trip to the AT&T store and 2 trips to Simply Mac trying to get my phone working along with a trip to buy some battery cables and a new battery Ben mostly did errands and worked on the house battery system on the boat.  The marina had a pool so after school I hung at the pool with the girls.

While sitting at the pool Thursday Ben texted that the diver reported a dinged up prop AGAIN.  WHAT?!?!?  HOW?!!??  We have no idea.  Floating debris?  We didn’t hit bottom again.  So Ben started working on finding someone to fix that.  Friday we waited for a diver to arrive and then when he was about half done with his work we headed out to Simply Mac and to return the rental car.  We made a quick trip out by the pier to walk around a few cute shops and see some of touristy St. Simons.  As we were dropping the car off Ben got the call from the prop guy that the key ways for the props had washed off the swim platform into the water and he couldn’t finish the job that day.  REALLY????  Well, it was still windy so we likely weren’t going anywhere anyway but we had planned to at least pull out of the marina and anchor somewhere.

Friday night we grabbed the courtesy car again and at the advice of the marina headed to Southern Soul BBQ.  A local treat!  It was delicious and nice to get out and do something fun!

 

 

Saturday again we sat around waiting for prop repairs.  The diver lost his phone in the water as well.  So when we hadn’t heard from him Ben called his wife’s phone and texted.  He finally got a text back that the diver woke up and couldn’t walk so he went to the hospital and had a slipped disc. He had to stay off his feet for 24 hours but would be there Sunday.  I’ve suffered from back pain for years so I feel for him….but seriously…NOT OK!  Like a fellow looper said…we couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried!  Ben waited a bit and then texted back and said he’s sorry but can he find another diver.  At this point the marina had said they needed us to move.  Turns out that no one on the dock left so we didn’t have to move…..all of us were winded in together.  But the other divers showed up eventually and it took them until 5:30 PM Saturday to get our props back on.  The girls got to swim three days in a row.  It’s been getting chillier at night the last few days so by yesterday the pool was cold for them and they were in and out quickly and instead played hair salon in the sunshine on the pool deck.  Their never ending creativity for imaginative play never ceases to amaze me. I am thankful every day for how well they get along!

We woke up this morning to NO wind, NO waves and YES props!  A good start.  We pulled out and went up river a few miles to Brunswick, GA to get fuel.  They were nice enough to let us tie up and leave the boat to walk around town.  We are anchored tonight so wanted to get off the boat for a little bit first.  We walked into town and there was nothing!  Ghost town!  Nothing open.  No people.  Nothing.  The girls and Ben grabbed lunch at a Subway. I opted out.  Hey at least we took a little walk.  We headed back near Morningstar and the inlet and are anchored around a bend in a nice quiet spot.  On our way to our anchorage a HUGE ship passed us after coming in the inlet.  Apparently she didn’t care about the Atlantic ocean waves!

Tomorrow morning we plan to pull out early and expect to see a nice flat ocean waiting for us to make our way north to Savannah!  I’ve been bored and frustrated with the wind these last few days and am excited to get to Savannah.  Once there we will need to rent a car to drive back to Brunswick to pick up my new phone and our repaired props.  But despite these hiccups we are thankful every day for this adventure, for our health and our happiness.  A few days of wind and repairs are hardly worth all my whining!  I do try to remember to be aware of that.  Here’s hoping for smooth seas and an easy trip!

Sunday morning the girls and I got up and went to mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine.  It was a stop on the trolley tour as well but we saved it for church.  It was an incredibly beautiful cathedral and I talked to the girls about how it looked different than other churches we have been in.  The Spanish influence was so obvious and so gorgeous.  Bright red ceiling, dark wood.  Spanish tile floors.  It was truly beautiful and a lovely service that welcomed the many visitors.

After church we met up with Fred, Nikki and Ben and went to brunch.  We changed into some comfy clothes and took the short walk from the marina to Castillo de San Marcos.  Molly was excited to use her 4th grader National Park pass!  We haven’t gotten it out since Shiloh and Corinth way back last fall.  And this park finally had the actual cards – so she got her official National Parks card for the year.

We spent a good long while touring the grounds.  We started up top and looked at all of the different cannons and lookouts and read about the shape of the Castillo and how it was built.  It was under construction for 24 years!  It never changed hands under enemy siege.  Each time it changed power was by treaty and was peaceful.

One of the most important features of the fort was the dry moat.  It was built with a dry moat so that when enemy forces were moving in, all people, cattle, other animals, etc. could be moved into the dry moat and then inside the fort and the town could all live inside without running out of food.

We learned about all of the various types of cannon balls and how they affected approaching boats differently.  Some with spikes were meant to stick in the side of the boat and set the boat on fire.  Some were double ended and meant to cut through masts.  Some were made of glass and meant to shatter and cause pain and suffering to the crew members who may be barefoot.  Other were just plain old cannon balls meant to destroy.  The various sized cannons could shoot between 1.5 and 3 miles away. The lighthouse across the water is about 1.5 miles away.

We were also able to tour the inside of the fort and see a bunk room, a chapel, the “necessary room” where the contents of the latrines were stored until high tide when they were dumped over the walls!  We finished our visit with a cannon demonstration. We had watched a short film about the process of getting the cannon ready so the girls knew what was happening as we watched the men prepare for fire.  Even when bracing for it, the cannon is still so LOUD!

Fred and Nikki took the girls to dinner Sunday night so Ben and I could sneak out for a date night!  We loved the Distillery tour so much that we went back for dinner to the Ice Plant restaurant.  It was behind the Distillery in the old Ice Plant complete with the original crane used to lift the ice blocks.  Fun cocktails, great food.  It was a good choice!

Monday we headed to the Lightner Museum for lunch.  This is housed in the former Hotel Alcazar. The grounds are beautiful!  We saw a number of wedding parties on Saturday in the area and once we walked onto the grounds we understood why!

After lunch we went to the Fountain of Youth.  This is actually a large archaeological park that is thought to be the original landing site in 1513 of Ponce de Leon.  Archaeologists have uncovered what they believe to be the original village created on this site.  The park today has samples of what they have found recreated throughout the grounds.  There is a large section dedicated to boat building and boating in general.  The girls and Ben spent some time practicing their knot tying.  The girls and Fred and I took turns trying out the various pulley systems used on the boats.  We also got to see a recreation of a Chalupa boat that was just finished and put in the water this March.  These boats were smaller boats used for getting supplies back and forth but they could raise sails and make larger passages if need be.

We watched a short video on the history of the area and how Ponce de Leon landed here after crossing the Atlantic with Cristopher Columbus.  The Spanish history in this area is so rich and I hope at least a fraction of it sunk in with the girls!

Then we moved on to the Fountain of Youth!  We drank from the fresh spring water said to keep you young and learned the story behind this.  When the Spanish landed here they found the Indian tribe settled here to be big and strong and living into their 90s.  This was a huge contrast to Europe where people were only living 40-50 years in large part due to the serious pollution of water.  They took this to mean that the water here was a “fountain of youth”.  It was fresh unpolluted water and what the Spanish desperately needed when they landed.  This water was used for those who stayed and in order to stock their ships to return to Spain.  The girls didn’t love the taste of all the minerals in the water.  But they gave it a try anyway!

A random addition to the park were the beautiful peafowl everywhere.  I find it unfair that the females are so unremarkable looking and the males are so gorgeous!  It’s mating season and boy are their calls to each other loud!

Tuesday morning we woke up to calm winds and calm waters.  We said goodbye to Nikki and Fred and headed north under the Bridge of Lions on our way to Fernandina on Amelia Island.  We had a great visit with them and in St. Augustine!  Fernandina will be our last stop in Florida.  We’ve been in Florida since early November with the exception of 6 weeks in the Bahamas.  We’ve seen and done a lot but it will be exciting to move north into a new state as well.

 

 

Wednesday was our first full day in St. Augustine.  After knocking out some quick school work we met up with Michael and Cathy Rogers from Trawler Life and their grandson Collin.  Ben and Michael took the props to be fixed and then we all headed to the Alligator Farm.  It’s been crazy hot and humid here so we were a bit concerned it would be uncomfortable there but it really wasn’t.  Lots of shade and a few indoor areas.  We saw all kinds of alligators.  Albino alligators, baby albino alligators, American alligators, a komodo dragon and many others.

I loved watching the komodo dragon’s tongue shoot in and out.  We watched a pregnant woman give a informational talk from inside one of the alligator pits. I thought she was insane.  But she explained the alligators are very smart and can be trained and are quite slow on land.  Water, another story.  They did indeed respond to their names and were rewarded with treats.  Ben posted a frightening video of alligator feeding time.  We learned that alligators only need to eat the human equivalent of one sandwich a week.  But they sure all did enjoy the feeding demonstration.  She fed them alligator food and rats.  Gross.  I was happy we were up on a bridge, far removed from that crazy!

The farm had many other animals as well.  We saw a number of snakes, which freak me out more than birds and spiders.  I took no pictures.  We saw a number of beautiful, colorful, not freaky birds.  The girls and I loved the HUGE tortoises!  And my favorite were the lemurs!

Then we moved on over to the crocodile side of the farm, the playground and then on to lunch!  Michael and Cathy took us to a local favorite for amazing fried shrimp.  We really enjoyed spending the afternoon with them and Collin.  He’s a sweetheart and the girls took to him immediately and had a great time.  After we said our goodbyes we walked into St. George street again and found gelato!

Thursday we spent a full morning on school to get caught up a bit.  We got the boat mostly cleaned up and organized.  And then waited for Ben’s parents to arrive.  They got to us around 3 pm.  It was another crazy hot, humid and windy day.  We got them settled and then walked into town and around for a bit before stopping off the beaten path at Catch 27 for dinner.  We had a fabulous farm to table meal.  Best shrimp tacos I’ve had this trip probably and blue crab and corn chowder.  Despite the heat it is just beautiful here to walk around.  We walked back along the water, instead of through town.  We learned the old original seawall by the marina was built by slaves.  There is now a new seawall that the girls like to walk on closer to the water. But the original wall is still there and serves as another sidewalk.

Friday we spent the day being tourists.  We took the Old Town Trolley tour around the city.  We decided to hop on and ride the full route to get a sense of where everything is and where we wanted to stop.  It was about 87 degrees and felt like 95 because of the humidity!  We saw the oldest house in St. Augustine, the Old Senator, a number of churches, Flagler College with it’s dining room Tiffany glass windows, the Lightner Museum, Castillo San Marcos, the Fountain of Youth and many other sights.  The Old Senator is actually a tree.  A huge old tree that is called a “love tree” because it has another tree growing up through the middle of it’s trunk.  It’s said that if you kiss the one you love by the tree you will be tied to them for eternity.

Everything in St. Augustine is beautiful. The streets are pretty.  The architecture on the buildings is old and gorgeous.  We only saw the dining room at Flagler College from the outside but it sounds amazing.  Much fancier than any dining room I saw the inside of at U of I!  The entire rounded section is made of Tiffany glass windows.   The whole campus is beautiful.

After riding around and making a mental list of where to stop we hopped off and grabbed some pizza inside in the air conditioning.  Then back out to the sunshine and back onto the trolley to head to the Old Jail.  While waiting for our tour to start we toured the St. Augustine History Museum.  Molly was able to lift a 60 lb. silver bar!

The original jail in St. Augustine was much further into town.  Flagler came to town and built a fancy hotel and some other things and decided the jail needed to be moved.  So he paid for it to be moved.  But he didn’t want it to look like a jail.  So it looks like a pretty pink house from the outside with big porches with rocking chairs all around.  You can see some of them in the picture of Madelyn below.  The Sheriff’s quarters are attached.  We took a tour of the outside and the inside.  Fred got locked up in one of the cages the jail used to string prisoners up in the air.  We were reminded that those cages had no weather protection, were made of metal, had no facilities, etc.  Molly got a little worried during the tour.  I explained that, first I hope she isn’t going to jail…ever…but also that jails now are not “cruel and unusual” as they were in the early 1900s when this jail was in use.  We went on to see the gallows and I explained how a hanging worked.   We learned that 30 days before a prisoner was scheduled to be hung they were moved to a separate cell and each person was required to build their own gallows.  Yikes.  We also learned how long it took a person to die after being hung.  Longer than you’d think.  A person was able to talk for up to around 12 minutes and it took another 15 or so after that to die.  Again yikes.  We got to tour the inside of the jail and see the women’s cells, the kitchen, the Sheriff’s quarters and office and the men’s cells.  The men’s cells were set up very much like Alcatraz and we found out that Alcatraz was modeled after this jail.  The girls received Pardon cards when we left the tour.  Phew!

After a long hot, humid day we hopped back on the trolley to get closer to the marina.  We hopped off pretty close and headed back.  Fred took the girls into one of the French bakeries for a yummy treat.  Molly got something fabulous and lemony and Madelyn got a chocolate Eiffel tower with edible glitter!  Nikki went back to the boat and Ben and I headed to the St. Augustine Distillery to catch the tour there.

The distillery is in an incredibly old building.  The building was first used as an electrical plant.  Then an ice plant.  And then in the 1960s when science advanced enough to create ice more easily, the ice plant shut down and the building sat vacant for 50 years until the distillery took it over.  They have done much to preserve the history of the building and it was a lot of fun to walk through.  This is also one of the first distilleries in Florida and after a lot of legal hurdles they are allowed to distill liquor, give tours and offer tastings.  They distill Bourbon, Rum, Vodka and Gin.  We took a tour of the distilling floor and learned how each of the liquors is made.

The distillery is doing what they can to help the environment.  They have a zero water waste process set up with their cooling tanks.  All self contained, water is chilled outside, brought in and around tanks to cool down the contents and then pumped back outside to be cooled again.  For the grain alcohols, the distillery takes the corn by product after the alcohol has been distilled out and gives it to local farms for livestock feed.  The vodka and rum are made with local St. Johns sugarcane.  All in all it seems they are doing their part to be environmentally conscious, create jobs, and help out in the community.

Then we moved onto the tasting room. YUM! First up, the St. Augustine Florida Mule.  If you know me, you know I love a good Moscow Mule.  Well the Florida Mule was really good.  They juice fresh lime and fresh ginger instead of using ginger beer.  We’ve signed up to get the recipe and see if we can recreate it.  Their vodka is very smooth – I didn’t like it straight but Ben did.

Then onto their Rum tiki drink.  I’m not a huge rum fan but wow was it good too.  Then an Old Fashioned – I opted out on that one but Ben reports it was tasty.  And then onto a Gin and Tonic. I don’t like gin at all but the bar tender told us that if we are gin haters he would make us “gin-tolerant” and he did.  Instead of crushing juniper berries they keep them uncrushed and use other berries as well.  The tonic they use is their recipe and the two together were quite good.  Don’t worry – all tastings were shot glass sized!  We made it out A-ok…with a bottle of vodka!  Smart people – free tour….free tasting….happy visitors!

Today was a BIG day!  Madelyn’s 7th birthday!!!  Ben and I have both celebrated birthdays on the Loop but birthdays are magical for kids and we wanted this one to be as magical as all the others.  She has been counting down the days for months now.  We’ve gone from counting by the week to the day and it was finally here.  She was bouncing, literally, at 6:35 this morning.  By 7 I let her run upstairs to find her balloons and presents.

A very mermaid themed birthday along with a number of other goodies.  Molly got to join in the fun as well with early birthday gifts from Max, Kyle, Sophie and Zoe as well as Nikki and Fred.  We put a few away for her birthday in 7 weeks but she’s old enough to understand that if she opens them now she won’t have them in June.  Both girls got new Lego sets put together right away and spent the whole morning playing with their new things.  Madelyn also got a Garmin Vivofit Jr….a kid version of a fit bit.  She was thrilled to make it to 10,000 steps on her first day!  We baked ice cream cone cupcakes this morning as well.  Maddy wanted those for a third year in a row.  She’s been asking me to bake them since we were in the Bahamas.

We finally got ourselves organized and off the boat after lunch and went to play miniature golf.  We talked Maddy out of the beach given the insane wind again.  She asked to play mini golf and Fred found a great course just the other side of the Bridge of Lions.  We had a lot of fun and were thankful that much of the course was shaded and had a nice breeze without the insane wind of the marina.

After mini golf we headed to the St. Augustine Lighthouse.  We were able to tour the grounds and the old lighthouse operator’s house.  There were a number of interactive exhibits inside so we learned a little along the way.  The lighthouse was 219 steps to the stop – equivalent to a 14 story building!  Fred, Ben, Molly and Madelyn made it to the top.  They will have to post pictures separately!  Nikki and I have height issues.  I made it about halfway and got all panicky and went back down. There were old photos and museum like information panels on different landings so I did stop to read a handful of things before heading down.  We all got to try to lift the 30 lb., 5 gallon oil bucket that the employees used to have to carry up the 219 steps every 2 hours all night long.  Thank goodness for electricity!  The grounds also had a wooden boat building section and of course a pirate ship playground!

It was finally time to head back and frost the cupcakes!  Madelyn requested dinner on the boat.  She chose leftover noodles.  That’s our Madelyn!  The rest of us had steak, the last of our Bahamas fish, and Brussels sprouts.  Madelyn’s face in the cake pictures sum up her day.  She said it was a great day!  A huge shout out to all of the special FaceTime calls she had today…Sophie, Zoe, Uncle Max & Aunt Kyle were up first!  Then Grandma Cathy and Jim.  Then Livia, Claudia, Sabina, Jack and Kathy.  Then Grace and Hannah.  Then Aunt Emily with Jacob, Grace, Eli, Hannah, Caroline, Aunt Libby & Uncle Brian. And finally the Wilsons – Bobby, Wendy, Nina, AnnaMay, Ella and Mia called and sang to her when we had candles lit tonight!  Another huge shout out to all of the AGLCA members and everyone else who sent Madelyn a special email or Facebook message.  She heard every one of them and you helped make her day fantastic!

The girls and I are going to mass at the old Cathedral here in the morning!  I’m excited to see it and show it to them.  Then we hope to all go to Castillo San Marcos and the Fountain of Youth tomorrow or Monday.

We traveled from Titusville to New Smyrna last Thursday afternoon and anchored for two nights across from town.  We made dinner and watched a beautiful sunset and enjoyed a very calm and quiet night at anchor!  It’s been awhile since we’ve had a night at anchor that still.

Friday morning we spent time on school.  That afternoon we took the dinghy into town and tied up at the free dinghy dock.  The kids immediately spotted the fabulous playground.  It was about 85 degrees and very sunny so Ben and I found a bench in the shade while they turned bright red burning off some energy!  We then walked around town a bit and had a fabulous dinner at Yellow Dog Eats.  Such a fun place with great food.  Saturday morning we ran into town one more time for another park trip and the farmer’s market.  We found a large supply of wonderful fruits and veggies at the farmer’s market.

At this point we had really enjoyed the cute little town of New Smyrna.  We pulled anchor and headed north towards Halifax marina in Daytona Beach.  Just past the Ponce Inlet in the middle of the ICW marked channel we hit ground.  Hard enough to stop us in our tracks.  We hadn’t heard that awful sickening sound since October in the middle of the Tenn Tom.  It’s terrible.  There was a sailboat aground as well.  We both drifted off.  The sailboat with their keel was completely fine.  Us, not so much.  Once again the unprotected props have become an issue.  Ben will type up a blog with more technical details once he drops the props off to be fixed yet again.  I’m frustrated.  Ben is beyond frustrated.  Even the slightest bend and we have a horrible shake when the boat is in gear.  We had Tow Boat US lead us through the section where we ran aground.  We were free but followed him through with him reading depths.  We followed him for a couple of miles and limped into Daytona Beach with our shaking boat.  Ben started calling the list of divers that the marina supplied us with to work on getting the props swapped out and our spares put on.  Given that it was 5 PM on a Saturday night this seemed like a tall order and we assumed we wouldn’t have any luck before Monday morning.  We walked into town and grabbed some dinner and let the girls run around for a bit and then turned in for a fairly solemn evening.

Sunday morning I went for a jog and Molly joined me on her scooter.  We covered over 4 miles and had a good time.  Ben heard back from one of the divers who said he could come swap the props that day!  Things were looking up.  The girls and I spent the day puzzling.  Maddy worked on one of her puzzles and Molly and I are tackling a large dolphin puzzle.

Sunday afternoon the diver and his apprentice showed up.  It took him awhile to get the bent prop off the boat and then the other prop – which thankfully we think is ok.  Then started the process of putting the spare props on.  While the diver was under water he managed to slice his hand badly enough on the prop that he cut through tendon down to the bone.  Yikes.  Molly and I were up on the fly bridge working on a puzzle.  She kind of freaked out when she saw Ben bandaging the diver’s hand.  The diver was nothing but calm and said he’d go call another diver.  He came back a bit later and said he was going to head to the hospital and would have a diver here first thing Monday morning.  So, that was terrible for him and another hiccup for us.

 

 

Monday morning around 9:30 the injured diver showed up with his apprentice and another diver.  His hand was very bandaged and he told us he’ll need surgery since he cut through tendons.  I feel terrible since he has to have his hands to do his job!  I know it’s not our fault and this is why we hired him instead of Ben trying to tackle this job.  But still…I feel terrible and wish him the best.  But to continue on….the diver he brought couldn’t get the prop on by himself.  Ben can explain in more detail but the prop was too heavy for him to lift onto the shaft under water by himself.  To give an idea, our props are 29″ in diameter and weigh about 100 lbs. each.  So, off they went to call yet another diver to come help them.  Alas, around 11:30 AM or so Monday the props were back on the boat!

Once the girls and I finished school we took off into town while Ben finished up with the divers and got the boat prepped to head on north very cautiously.   We haven’t gotten their scooters out since we were in the Bahamas and they had a lot of fun riding around.  Daytona Beach has a great water front path that runs right along the sidewalk.  We scootered the length of the little downtown area (not the big boardwalk – that was across the ICW on the other side) and stopped for some frozen yogurt before heading back to the boat.

We hoped to anchor Sunday night and Monday night before arriving in St. Augustine today.  However, after the prop issues and looking at Active Captain (a website that shows full maps and reviews of anchorages, water hazards and marinas) we determined there just was not a decent place for us to stop.  So Ben made a reservation about 35 miles north of Daytona Beach in Marineland, FL.  The trip north was actually quite easy and very beautiful.  There were not too many hazards in that stretch however Ben and I both kept Active Captain up the entire time and had two sets of eyes on all the comments at every hazard mark.  We pulled into Marineland in VERY high wind and blew right into our dock.  The harbor master there lives up to his Active Captain reviews and was so helpful.  Tensions relaxed for a bit as we settled in for the night.

Ben and I spent a long time last night looking at every inch of the 18 miles between Marineland and St. Augustine, FL.  The Matanzas River has had a lot of serious shoaling post hurricane.  Much of it right in the channel.  Ben called Tow Boat US for advice twice yesterday.  And talked to Eric at the marina twice.  And made plans to follow another boat docked with us.  It turns out that two boats who pulled in with us last night both hit ground in the same place we did by Ponce Inlet.  But…keel…no damage.  Sigh.  Anyway, we were able to follow one of them today which was a huge relief.  They were so sweet and called us on the radio with constant updates through the diciest parts of the passage.  The worst part was just dredged and was all good.  Ironically this was the deepest water we’ve seen in months….but the unknown of the random shoaling in the middle of the channel was the problem.  And again this part of Florida is quite pretty!

 

 

The current pushed us along and we got to St. Augustine about an hour and a half early. We needed to pull into the marina at slack tide.  The girls and I have learned that this means either dead low tide or high tide.  The current through the river here is very strong and at slack tide it stops and changes direction making it simpler to dock.   Ben did donuts in the channel for an hour or so and then we pulled in and tied up without issue.

We walked into town for an hour or so this afternoon.  I love it already.  I’m so excited we have a full week to spend here.  There are so many things to see and do.  We had dinner on the boat tonight and then enjoyed the colors of sunset.

Tomorrow Michael and Cathy from Trawler Life are coming to meet us with their grandson.  Ben and Michael will take the props to be fixed and then we’re all heading to the Alligator Farm!  Should be a fun day.  Thursday Ben’s parents arrive and we will save most of our sightseeing for their visit!  And Saturday is a big day…Madelyn’s 7th birthday!  She wakes up every morning with a countdown of how many days left until her big day.  She’s so excited.  I hope we can make it special for her even though it will be a little different this year.