2018/19 is a wrap!

5/12/19
Southport NC
Posted by Bill

The last blog post was almost a month ago and we left you in Cocoa FL. We made it home on 5/4 and have been taking all of the stuff off the boat and finding a home for it in the house. It sure is a contrast living in the house versus the boat, but we are enjoying all of the creature comforts that we didn’t have for the past 7 months, including our fantastic shower, flushing toilets that you don’t have to pump out, an endless supply of running water, ice maker, washing machine and dryer, endless supply of electricity that you don’t have to manage, and FAST INTERNET!

I haven’t kept up the blog very well. A big part of the reason is that our good friends and travel partners are splitting up. It came down about halfway through our trip and it is difficult to compose my typical blog content and respect their privacy at the same time, so I chose not to post like I usually do.

Our trip home from Cocoa was pretty good weather wise. We only had 4 or 5 days of rain or high winds in just over 2 weeks of travel. We left Cocoa and motored to Rock House Creek at Ponce Inlet, anchoring in position 29 03.672N, 080 55.877W. As the wind died we got swarmed by no-see-ums in the worst bout of them we have encountered. By the time we got down below in the cabin and shut all the hatches and ports, we had a swarm in the boat. It made for a miserable evening and little sleep. We had several days of high winds (up to 40 knots) in the next 4 day forecast so in the morning we upped anchor and took a slip at Halifax Harbor in Daytona Beach, position 29 12.265N, 081 00.549W. We spent 3 nights there and enjoyed having shore power and shore access without dealing with the dinghy in bad weather, and it did blow in the 30s and low 40s for 3 days. This allowed us to explore an area that we typically don’t go ashore while transiting each year, and we found some great places to eat. We’ll stop here again in the future. On the 21st, we left Halifax and took a mooring buoy in St Augustine at position 29 53.657N, 081 18.560W. This is one of our favorite stops and we spent 2 nights there enjoying our favorite places to eat and drink. On the 23rd we traveled to Fernandina Beach and anchored in the Amelia River at position 30 40.638N, 081 28.729W. The marina and mooring field at Fernandina is still closed from last years hurricane damage so we couldn’t go to shore and enjoy the town there.

On 4/24 we entered Georgia and left Florida behind. Georgia has 3 major shoal areas that we have to time the tides for, and several open sounds that can be nasty with high winds. We always get our asses kicked in them. The tides lined up perfectly for us and winds were calm except for the transiting of the last sound, and we made it through Georgia in 3 days stopping each night as follows: Brunswick, position 31 09.056N, 081 29.994W; Kilkenny Creek, position 31 47.522N, 081 11.812W; Turner Creek, position 32 00.910N, 080 59.404W.

On 4/27 we left Georgia Behind and entered South Carolina. We picked up a mooring in Beaufort at position 32 25.722N, 080 40.849W, and had a great dinner at the Bull Tavern. The next day we ran aground entering the Ashepoo Cusaw Cutoff (a known shoal area) but we were able to back up and find enough water on the starboard side to get going again. We anchored that night in Steamboat Creek at position 32 36.327N, 080 17.799W. The next day we traveled to Charleston and took a slip in the Charleston Maritime Center at position 32 47.321N, 079 55.443W. We love Charleston and decided to stay 3 nights to enjoy our favorite places to eat and drink. Usually when we are there, it rains at least a couple of days, but we had fantastic weather this time. On 5/2 we traveled to Georgetown and anchored in position 33 21.972N, 079 17.410W, in front of the steel mill. The mill is active again which was interesting to watch, but made it hard to sleep. The next day we pulled in to Grande Dunes Marina in Myrtle Beach, position 33 45.815N, 078 49.082W. We had never stayed there before. The guy helping us with our lines was completely clueless about how to dock and tie a boat and we had to make 2 attempts to get tied up. They put us in a slip that was very difficult to get out of for our boat, but Matt and Larry helped the next morning and we had no issues. We left early in the morning and arrived in Southport early in the afternoon.

It was a couple of weeks of long days and we pushed hard to get back, so we were pretty worn out. The house was in excellent shape when we got back and we were really happy to be home.

Pictures:

Anchored at the steel mill in Georgetown:
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Island Bound at the Maritime Center in Charleston:
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Sunrise in Beaufort:
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3 thoughts on “2018/19 is a wrap!

  1. hayden cochran

    Great summary as always, I always enjoy your posts. Congrats on getting home. We too are ready, been on since Sept 1 at Annapolis. Flying home June 1 from Grenada. Long trip. Someday we will see your cool home.
    Congrats.
    Hayden

    Reply
  2. Mark S

    HI, Good to see you made it home. But gosh darn it, I always miss when you are coming thru Charleston! We take the water taxi at Maritime Center all the time and should have looked for you. Enjoy the summer and hope all is well!

    Reply

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