Day #293 – Oriental, NC

We had a wonderful dinner at Oriental Steamers last night and met a terrific local couple.

Mary and George Duffie have lived here for many years and are boaters.  We had inquired at the marina earlier in the day about renting a car to go to New Bern and they said there was nothing available.  When we told the Duffie’s the story they graciously offered to take us.  We were thrilled as there is no better way to learn about an area than to do it through people who live here.

At 9:45 this morning they picked the four of us up at the Provisions store in town.  This is the scene right outside the store where the streets are still flooded from the past rain and wind surge.

New Bern is a quaint little waterfront town about 30 miles from Oriental.  Our first stop was Mitchell’s Hardware.  Just an old-time hardware store which appeared to be family run.

From there Mary and George drove us Moore’s for GREAT Carolina barbecue.  It was just what we had been looking for.  Moore’s has been there for many years and we never would have known about it if not for local knowledge.  It has also won many awards.

Pepsi Cola was invented in a small pharmacy in New Bern and they are quite proud of their connection to the beverage and even have stores that sell memorbelia.  Clearly, this is a different Brad than the Brad we know.

A few shots of the historic downtown are are below.

An outdoor church named Christ Church, just like home.

Their City Hall.

One of their beautiful courtyards.

One of the many church steeples.

And finally, New Bern is the sister city of Bern, Switzerland.  Bern means bear in the Swiss language and the bear is everywhere.

Thank you Mary and George and Deb and Bob for a wonderful day, another for the memories (and the blog!).

As soon as we got back from the whirlwind tour (5:00) we were able to move the boat from Oriental Harbor Marina to Oriental Marina and a much calmer place to be docked.  And to end the day, a “leftovers” dinner aboard Headquarters.

Day #292 – Oriental, NC

When we woke this morning the rains had stopped but it was still chilly and overcast.  After checking several weather and wind websites we decided to leave Beaufort and threw off our lines at 9:45.

It felt strange leaving without our buddy boat, Salvage Crew, but they decided to wait another day and try and make the trip tomorrow.

We traveled up Adams Creek and out into the Neuse River.

There were sights along the way that changed as we advanced.  Some of the interesting spots we saw are below.  We wondered if you buy the property if the boat comes along with it.

And another housing option.

That part of the trip was fairly calm, actually smoother than we expected. When we entered the Pamlico Sound to cross over to Oriental it got rougher.  Waves were as predicted, 2-3 feet and we were glad we only had five miles to make it to the other side.  This was our view most of the crossing.

Oriental is known as the “Sailing Capital of North Carolina.”  Year round residents are under 1,000, but there are more than 2,500 boats. You have to love a place like this.  Well, at least I thought I was going to like it until we walked off the docks and saw this sign.

Bob and Deb on Headquarters stopped by shortly after we arrived. They are in the marina that we were supposed to be in not far from here.  That one is full since no one has left for the last few days to head north because of the weather.  Hopefully we can move there tomorrow as it is  “rockin and rollin” in this marina.  We are still glad to be here and tied up safely.

We are going to Oriental Steamers with Bob and Deb to celebrate our anniversary.

36 years of wedded bliss.  If we survive this trip, anything will be easy from here.

Day #291 – Beaufort, NC

It rained all night long.  We got so much rain that it set a record, 2.4 inches.  When it rains that hard and that long boats tell you where the weak spots are and the VIP stateroom sprung a small leak.  No damage done, but when it stops raining we will have to find out where the leak is coming from.

Good News sits at the dock in Beaufort and it has rained hard all day. Oh, and did I mention today is windy and the high was 55?!?!?!

We decided the take advantage of the courtesy car and head out to do a few errands.  They gave us what they call the Roadmonster.  It was a bit like driving a boat but it did the trick and we ran errands and were back on the boat in a little over an hour.

After our chores we walked into town and found a great little lunch spot.  They had the best (self proclaimed) hamburgers in North Carolina.  Not having eaten the others we had to agree, they were pretty good.

After lunch we decided to walk around in the rain and do a little strolling and shopping.

We aren’t very good at keeping ourselves busy on rainy days as we haven’t had many.  This is how we kept ourselves entertained…Andy did computer time

and I cooked.  Tomorrow is our anniversary so I decided to treat Andy and make him his favorite meal, Colby Casserole.  That may be as good as it gets in Beaufort, NC.

We are scheduled to leave for Oriental, NC in the morning, but the dockmaster called and said that no boats are leaving as the winds are expected to be high.  So, they may not have room for us.  If that is the case, we will spend one more day in Beaufort.  Patti is feeling a little under the weather today so that may work out fine anyway.  Stay posted as the excitement unfolds.

As a reward for spending a rainy day in port, we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

Day #290 – Beaufort, NC

Last night was a bit of a rough night in Wrightsville.  The marina is actually just a face dock located right on the ICW and almost under a bridge.  Boat traffic was heavy all night which makes for a rough ride.  Also,  a boat directly in front of us, named My Boat, decided to board with about 10 drunk people at 1:30 am.  Then they decided it would be a good idea to crank up the stereo and dance on the docks.  Hope they are sleeping well today.

The trip today to Beaufort, NC (pronounced Bo-furt, as opposed to Bew-furt in SC) was a long one.  We had many bridges to contend with and 80 miles to travel on the ICW.  We passed under the first bridge at 6:10 am.  We arrived at one of the bridges with a 12′ clearance at 8:20 and they informed us that they only opened on the hour, not the hour and half hour like most others. And so we waited.  And waited.  Our luck changed and the current carried us faster than we had anticipated and made it to the next 12′ bridge one half hour ahead of schedule so we made up the lost time.

The area is wide and less traveled than yesterday.  There was very little boat traffic.

Note the crab pots on the shore above.  Boaters are much happier to see them on the shore than in the water.

Camp Lejeune Marine Corp Base is located in the area.  The last swing bridge we went through said it is operated  and maintained by the Marines.  It appears that they take shooting practice in this area as well.  Glad they decided to take a day off today as obviously they close it to boat traffic when they do.

The houses along the way have varied quite a bit.  There are huge mansions on the water and we have passed several waterfront trailer parks.  This house should win for being the most colorful.

A huge storm was predicted and we had hoped to make it to the marina and be safely tied up before it hit.  With that we weren’t so lucky.

The storm hit exactly at noon.  Thankfully, we haven’t had this view from the pilot house many days on this trip.

We arrived at Beaufort Docks 8.75 hours and 80 miles after we left.  Long day and glad to be here.

Day #289 – Wrightsville Beach, NC

We left South Carolina and headed to North Carolina at 6:45 this morning.  Traveling on the ICW on a Saturday you always know you will run into lots of boat traffic.

The ICW is narrow in many spots and the markers are very close to the shoreline as well.

We had to time our arrival at the Sunset Pontoon Bridge correctly as they only open on the hour.  The bridge is actually set on pontoons and they use a cable to pull it around for boats to pass through.

Quite unique and another bridge it in the building stages to replace it.

Once you pass through it you are into North Carolina.  The scenery changed almost as soon as we entered. The evidence of sand dunes is everywhere.

In the distance you can see the houses that sit right on the ocean.  I am quite sure these are the ones we always see when hurricanes are in the area.  They are built on stilts and sit directly on the sand.

There are still many, many shrimp boats and apparently they come in all sizes.

This large passenger ship came up right behind us and from the picture you can see how close he passed.  We could not hail him on the radio and were not sure what his intentions were.  Finally he pulled away and went out into the ocean.

We passed a town named Southport, NC.  We made a mental note that if we ever pass this way again it looks like it might be a good stop.

There is evidence of development in this area everywhere.  Somehow this sign wouldn’t make you inquire about their new development… “luxury villas and boat slips.”

We have really had to pay close attention to the navigation today as we pass many, many inlets and channels.   Not only are there many other boats, but swimmers, jet skiers and fisherman as well.

Before we reached Wrightsville Beach, we passed many beautiful areas one of which being Pleasure Island.

Many of the ocean inlets we passed you could see people flying kites.  It must be a great pastime in North Carolina.

We arrived at Bridge Tender Marina in Wrightsville Beach seven hours and 71 miles after we left.

Day #288 – Myrtle Beach, SC

Last night we walked up to a local restaurant and had dinner.  Andy ran into a lady who looked familiar

and Patti ran into even more.

We were glad to report that our Red Wings won their game and now advance to the semifinals where they will face Chicago.

Barefoot Landing is a large outlet mall right on the ICW.  They have many, many stores and we did a little shopping.

We have had such a laugh about our timing.  We missed the Shrimp Festival in Fernandina, FL, the FoodFest in Beaufort, SC and a few other festivities along the way.  We did however land right in the middle of Myrtle Beach’s Bike Week.  Barefoot Landing is command central.

We decided that we definitely like boat shows better.  We saw a lot of odd ducks.

Day #287 – Myrtle Beach, SC

We left Georgetown at 7:15 this morning under overcast skies.  As we move up the inter-coastal waterway the landscape is beginning to remind us of the way it looked on the Tombigbee River.  We are even seeing the reemergence of water hyacinths.

Many of the markers have osprey nests in them.  If you look closely, there are birds in the nests.

It appears that we have left the marsh and salt grasses behind us and the vegetation again comes right to the water’s edge.

Last night John, on Island Rhumb, pulled into our marina.  We met he and his wife, Darleen, for the first time in the Bahamas.  They are from Monroe, MI and we really enjoyed their company.  We last saw John in St. Augustine while Darleen was back home.  She ended up needing some medical attention and now he is traveling with his granddaughter.  They hope to be back in Michigan by June 15th. He traveled to Myrtle Beach today as well.

We will be staying at Barefoot Landing tonight and tomorrow night.  It was a slow trip today traveling 51 miles and it took seven hours.  We saw a few unusual sights along the way.

The “people” are really friendly and greet you from the shore.

We didn’t see any dolphins today, but we finally saw a whale.

Have we really traveled that far from Miami? And still have that far to go until New York?

The harbor master told us about a place just up the street that will have the Red Wing game on tonight.  It is not available on the dish so this will have to do.  It is Game 7 of the quarter finals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

GO WINGS!

Day#286 – Georgetown, SC

Woke to a cool morning, much cooler than we are used to lately.   Andy, Patti and I walked to the Shrimp Dock for a little fresh seafood.

They have a local snowy egret named Wilbur who frequents their store daily.  Rumor has it that if you don’t purchase anything, Wilbur comes after you.

Not wanting to find out if that was truth or fiction we purchased some crab cakes and crab dip for the freezer.

Our next adventure was to walk into town and check out the stores.  Andy won as the largest purchaser and took his new shoes back to the boat.

We had decided to have lunch at Thomas’ Cafe as recommended by Charlie and Linda on Freedom’s Turn.

Lunch was shrimp and grits with fried green tomatoes, a southern specialty, and we were not disappointed.

Georgetown is a great little low country, harbor town and fun was had by all.

They are very proud of the Harborwalk

and their beautiful old homes.

Day #285 – Georgetown, SC

We left beautiful Charleston this morning at 7:00.  It was a bit overcast and the temperature had dropped during the night as a front passed through.  About an hour into the trip this morning the sprinkles began and it was only 56 degrees.  We haven’t had cool weather in a long time and realized we haven’t missed it.  The high for the next few days is supposed to be in the mid seventies.

The scenery along the ICW today is low and marshy.  Little has changed over the last couple of hundred miles.

Note the length of the docks that line the ICW.  You sure hope you remembered everything you need from the house when you get down to the water.

We thought this was an interesting way to get your vehicle down the river.  Also, notice the fisherman placing crab pots in front of him and another pleasure boater approaching.  It was an interesting stretch.

Georgetown is South Carolina’s third oldest city, established in 1732.  We will be staying at Harborwalk Marina overlooking the Sampit River Harbor.  The boardwalk is lined with restaurants, galleries, antique shops and specialty stores.

The trip today was 65 miles and took us 6.25 hours.  Time to go exploring in Georgetown.

The fellas stopped for a “cold one” while Patti and I did a little shopping and exploring.

Day #284 – Charleston, SC

Today is our last day in beautiful Charleston.  Time to get a few chores done and get ready to shove off early in the morning for Georgetown, SC.  We will move every day or every other day for the next few weeks so we have surely enjoyed our relaxing time here.

Patti and took advantage of the marina shuttle and went to Harris Teeter, a specialty grocery store we had heard so much about.  You know the saying…never miss an opportunity.  It was as great as everyone had said and we had a great time.  Well provisioned AGAIN.

Came back to the boat and got organized after being gone for the weekend.  Did a few loads of laundry and did a little cooking.  Maybe a quiet day, but a quiet day on the water is still a great day.

We’ve been invited to Salvage Crew for dinner of Patti’s Shrimp Gumbo.  Hmmmm, wonder when will be a good time to start the diet?!?!?!