Savannah to Norfolk, VA

Today, on May 25, we are starting this post, sitting tight at Southport Marina, waiting out a storm packing 30-40 mph winds.  I figure this is a good time to finally bring our blog up to date.  Leaving Florida on April 8, we decided to forego the ICW through Georgia with all its switchbacks and shallow areas.  We entered the Atlantic at Fernandina Beach and came back in at Wassaw Sound to take the southern route to Savannah.  While most loopers choose to stay several miles outside the city to avoid the fast currents and heavy commercial traffic of the Savannah River, we chose to take a face dock at the Downtown Riverwalk Dock.  The current is tough (there's a nine foot tide here), and commercial traffic is awesome (about eighteen ocean freighters plus their accompanying tugs and pilot boats come through every day), but we would be right in the middle of the action.

 After orienting ourselves with a trolley tour, we took to walking the narrow streets and square shaped parks that run through the city, enjoying the live oaks, spanish moss, and especially the azalias which were in full bloom.  Built on trade, Savannah was a rich city even before the Civil War, and was one of only two Cotton Exchanges in the world, the other set in London. 

Over three days we must have seen most of the one thousand historically significant homes and other structures in the city's two square mile historic district.  We also enjoyed the riverwalk with its seventy boutiques, restaurants, and pubs including the "Oyster Bar" where we had dinner one night.

After running a short twenty five miles, we spent the next four days enjoying the resort island of Hilton Head.  Though we rode our bikes quite a bit, exploring the island, we spent a lot of time with our long time friends, Rick and Kathy Munger who keep their motor coach on their lot which overlooks the ICW.  Besides dining and exploring together, the four of us had fun watching the pro's warm up for the Verizon Heritage at Harbor Town, famous for the lighthouse which stands behind the 18th green.  I (Dave) even got Boo Weekley to autograph my straw hat.

Another twenty five or so miles north, we visited the great little town of Beaufort, SC.  Like most of the coastal cities and towns from northern Florida through the Carolinas, Beaufort is proud of its rich heritage.  In fact, Beaufort can boast that its entire downtown is on the National Register of Historic places

Then came Charleston.  Tying up lines at the City Marina, we ducked as the Blue Angels, using the megayacht in front of us as a spot, screamed low over our boat, practicing their routine for the performances to be held in the city over the next two days.  After that rather loud welcome, things quieted down quite a bit the next day, as we set off for breakfast at a farmers market, then for a carriage tour of the city. Founded in 1670 by the British, Charleston is steeped in history, and we spent the next two days getting to know the city and its history by bike.  Where it was too dangerous for us to explore Savannah by bike because of  its narrow streets, we spent hours riding through Charleston on two wheels.  Its beautiful homes, gardens, and churches were a feast for the eyes, and visiting in April when the azaleas were in bloom added to the wow factor for us.

 We learned that much of the city's beauty stems from the fact that after the Civil War, most citizens had no money to build new homes, and buildings were preserved because people instead made do with what they had.  Many of the homes were trimmed with wrought iron, some of which was spiked, showing the fear these homeowners had of the potential for slave uprisings.

 

We next moved up the Waccamaw River to Georgetown, another quaint, historic South Carolina town. 

 Then we stayed two days in Myrtle Beach, where we docked next to Barefoot Landing, a development with over one hundred shops, pubs, and restaurants.  Next we moved into North Carolina, docking a day each in Southport and Topsail.  Arriving in Morehead City, the winds were so strong at our designated marina that the dockmaster felt it too dangerous for us to enter, and he found a slip for us at a more protected marina nearby. 
Next, Belhaven, one of our favorite places, set in a pine forest wilderness; 

 then Coinjock, popular with delivery captains because of its restaurant's famous prime rib. 

 

Moving up the Carolina coasts, we cruised beautiful rivers through the wilderness, rivers with colorful names like Alligator, Ashepoo, Pungo, Neuse, and Waccamo.  We crossed large bodies of water in crossing the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds.  We dodged thousands of crab pots, and often fought strong cross winds intent on pushing us out of narrow channels.  We touched bottom twice.  Our trip is still proving to be quite an adventure, and we are loving it.

It's now the 2nd of May, and Perfect Timing is twelve miles south of Norfolk, at the Atlantic Yacht Basin in Great Bridge, VA.  There it will remain for three weeks while we take care of things back home.

Marathon to Fernandina Beach, Florida

Except for a two week respite at home, we ended up spending two months and ten days wintering in Marathon.  We had originally intended to spend some of that time in the Bahamas, but because the weather over there was no warmer than the weather in the Keys, and because communication home is difficut in the Bahamas, we decided to stay put.  After our grandkids, Jordan and Corey, flew back home, our long-time friends and boating buddies from Grand Haven, the Nickels, spent a few days with us, one of which included a trip to Key West.  While there we rented a glorified golf cart and explored the city, taking photos of ourselves next to the mark which indicates the southernmost point in the U.S., and next to the  sign showing mile "0" marking the end of highway 1.  While in Marathon we also helped host a "looper lunch" for forty to fifty loopers wintering the the area. We also rode our bikes pretty much every day for fifteen to twenty five miles, and watched a lot of sunsets from the tiki hut on the waterfront at the end of our marina

Leaving Marathon, we cruised for two days on the outside up the Keys, meaning we traveled up the Atlantic side of the islands.  The first night we anchored off the small island of Rodriguez Key, and the second we anchored in No Name Harbor, a state park anchorage in Biscayne Bay with a good view of the Miami skyline.  The next day we cruised through the city, then left it through Government Cut, the inlet used by cruise ships and freighters moving in and out of the Port of Miami.  This inlet is wide, long, and well protected, but here is where we learned a lesson we won't soon forget.  We already know that an ebb tide ( a tide going out) in an inlet can be dangerous if it meets opposing wind or waves, but we thought the moderate wind we were experiencing wouldn't be a problem in such a wide channel.  We were wrong.  Halfway through the inlet we came upon steep eight foot waves so close together that even at idle speed we submarined four times with green water going over the bow,  reminding us of some of the scenes from the old T.V. series, Victory At Sea!  Once out to the side of the channel, we found smooth sailing, but we promised ourselves to take the ebb tide in the inlets thing more seriously in the future.

Our next stop was Ft. Lauderdale with its over-the-top homes and megayachts.  There we met a nice couple from the area who were about to begin the loop.  After picking our brains for a while on our loop experiences, and after learning we held a common interest in biking, they offered to take us on a bike tour of their home town.  Thanks to their generousity, we saw areas of the city we would not have seen on our own.

Next, we traveled inside up the intracoastal waterway to Stuart, where we spent much of four days with long-time friends and associates, Bob and Carolyn Holmes, who have had a condo there for over thirty years.  Dave and Bob went fishing on a party boat one day, and the four of us played golf, explored the area, and ate very well.  Bob and Carolyn couldn't have been more gracious, and we had a great time catching up with them

Leaving the ICW at Ft. Pierce, we went outside eighty miles to the Cape Canaveral inlet and entered a small lock.  We anchored that night between that lock and a picturesque island.  From there we went inside to an anchorage in Daytona before continuing on to St. Augustine.

St. Augustine is a gorgeous town and proud of its Spanish roots which trace back to 1565.  The seventeenth century Spanish fort, Castillo de San Marcos still stands, and Spanish architecture is prominent throughout the town.  Flagler College, originally built as a hotel by oil magnate, Henry Flagler, is a particulary good example of the Spanish style.

We next moved up the ICW to Fernandina Beach, our last destination in the state of Florida.  Bottle nose and other types of Dolphins were particularly playful on this leg of the trip, surfing, rolling and jumping in our bow wave.  Fernandina Beach is a small seafaring town of 11,000 whose legacy includes being traded, annexed, or conquered by foreign countries no less than eight times.  It boasts a small art community, beautiful Victorian homes, and the state's oldest bar.  It was a pleasant place to spend the last days of our stay in Florida!

Ft. Myers to Marathon

A few days after Christmas we drove back to Ft. Myers with our cat, Schatze, who has become quite the traveler at 19 years of age. Our stay in Michigan wasn't quite what we had expected, in that Linda spent most of that visit in Harrisville, attending to her mom who suffered a severely broken arm the day we arrived home. Once in Florida, though, we began to relax by enjoying New Year's Eve with our friends Russ and Barb and common friends, the Slattons. Everyone's main topic of conversation over the next couple of weeks was the weather, in that Florida was experiencing a record cold spell that seemingly wouldn't break. The temperatures, which were for two weeks about 15-25 degrees below normal, caused a massive fish kill, where millions of fish died from shock in the shallow waters of Florida and its Keys. We saw thousands of dead reef fish as well as iguanas and other small reptiles floating dead in the waters around us.

Daughter, Jennifer, and grandkids, Courtney and Carter, visited us during this cold snap. Though they couldn't enjoy any beach time, we found lots to do. The kids enjoyed a 90 minute cruise on a pirate ship on which actors, one of whom showed a remarkable resemblance to Johnny Depp, put on quite a show. Another day, we bundled up with gloves and blankets and enjoyed the sunshine, flying around the Everglades on an airboat. The kids got a kick out of the pelicans who joined us on the boat for part of the ride, and out of the racoon they discovered in the mangroves. They were pretty excited when our guide even let them each drive the airboat when we reached an open area in the swamp. Since we saw no alligators on the boat ride, we went "alligator hunting" by car along a river in the nearby national park. We found several of the big creatures sunning themselves on the banks.

After a couple of weeks, Linda flew home to attend to her mom, and I stayed on to move the boat south to Marathon in the Keys. Along with friend, Russ, who agreed to crew on this leg, we made the 140 mile run in two days, stopping once in Marco Island. We motored slowly in our approach, dodging what seemed to be thousands of crab and lobster pots, and skirting the shallow reefs guarding the entrance to our destination at Harbour Cay Club. Russ stayed on for four days or so, and we enjoyed the laid back nature of our small twenty four slip marina, picking up a bit of the devil-may-care attitude called the "Keys Disease" while watching golden sunsets and visiting several of the many funky open-air establishments in the area.

When Linda returned, she flew into Miami with Jordan and Corey, our other two grandkids. Thankfully, the weather again had turned warm, and the kids could enjoy some quality beach time. In addition, we had a great time at the local Turtle Hospital where, after a general presentation on sea turtles, we saw a veterinarian actually perform surgery on a turtle patient, and then visited ponds and pools where other turtles were kept for recovery or observation. About a week before our visit thousands of sea turtles were brought to turtle sanctuaries for treatment for shock from the cold, with over 170 brought into this facility alone. Most had been released in good health a few days before our visit. We traveled to Key West one day, where we ate at Sloppy Joe's, a famous Hemingway hangout, rode a tour trolley-train, and saw street performers (sword swallowers, acrobats, musicians, escape artists, etc.) at Mallory Square at sunset. Key West is at the end of Highway 1 and is the last of the island chain. After a walk on the original old 7 mile bridge in Marathon, and after finishing up a week with the kids, we drove them back to Miami and put them on a plane solo--a new experience for them, for us, and for their parents.

We are now relaxing and enjoying the nice people at this "marina", which is actually an association of people who own their own slips. In addition to us there are two other looper couples renting slips at this place. Right now this little community of boaters are celebrating Superbowl week by holding a shuffleboard tournament (no one is any good), a kite flying contest, as well as a chili cookoff and Superbowl potluck. We have found a great place, indeed.