Standing outside our marina in Beufort, SC, heading to lunch
Lunch with Brad, Patti, Mary, and Andy at Beaufort, SC.jpg)
Captain's cocktail hour...we always invite the ladies too
Very typical house in Beaufort, SC
Very typical home in Charleston, SC
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A shot from the bridge down at Charleston City Marina
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At Charleston City Marina they call this the "Mega-dock"...it makes a great dock walk
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In downtown Charleston there is this market place...originally a warehouse where all the ships brought their goods
Deb and I took a tour of an underground prison built in the 1700's
Deb talks about (in here 2 cents) the ladies making baskets...a skill passed down for generations
This is "low country" on the ICW between Charleston and Georgetown, SC
The waterway goes on like this for miles...and the flies are so thick you can't imagine it
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This is a familiar picture as well...a 7 to 8 foot tide puts boats on the ground during low tide
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We arrived at Myrtle Beach at low time...the ramp is so steep it's hard to go up
Leaving Georgetown on Friday morning there was a little fog, but it burnt off very quickly, and it was an awesome morning
It had rained hard the night before, so Deb was putting the lines out to dry on the bow
This is a Osprey nest...lots of them along the waterway
The view I had heading north on the ICW...heading for Myrtle Beach
The closer to Myrtle Beach...the more homes along the waterway
This is an overhead monorail over the ICW near Myrtle Beach
Log 128
Day 353
Saturday, May 09, 2009
6:00 AM EDT
Location: Myrtle Beach Yacht Club; Myrtle Beach, SC.
Weather: 72; clear; and light winds. Heading for the mid 90’s today
It’s a beautiful morning here this morning. We arrived at Myrtle Beach Yacht Club yesterday afternoon...a stop we last made in 2000 when we came through here. I know I have been a little lax on keeping up with my captain’s logs, but for some reason I did have (take) the time. The good news is Deb was working on her “2 cents”, and she will be able to keep you up. Here is her update; that she wrote yesterday.
Hello All! Deb here. Well – I can’t believe it, but the last time I chimed in was in November! It’s not that I don’t have a lot to say…it’s just that I’m too lazy to type it all out! Having read Bob’s logs, you all know about our extended stays in Ft. Myers, Key West, Marathon & Ft. Lauderdale this past winter. Bob & I both enjoyed having the extra time to get a better feel of “life” in these areas. In Ft. Myers, Bob found a couple of other Looper captains and they took multiple trips to West Marine, so he was happy…and we were able to spend some time again with Andy & Mary on Good News…always a fun time! The dock at Ft. Myers was like a little community with planned events; pot lucks, dinners out, etc. I think I could spend time there again this next winter. In Key West Bob got to do a lot of fishing and I did a lot of walking, a way to explore while getting my exercise. My sister’s birthday celebration in Key West was a blast! In Marathon, again Bob got a lot of fishing in…and I got out on the bike to check out the neighborhoods…exercise and sightseeing....and of course, trips to Publix...(great to have one so close!) From Marathon, our last extended stay was in Ft. Lauderdale during Spring break time. What an experience! This is where we hooked up with another sister and her husband for some fun on the dinghy, pina coladas and pizza at a great Italian restaurant! After leaving Ft. Lauderdale, we made our way up the Atlantic coast of Florida, cruising mostly on the Intracoastal Waterway, stopping at favorite marinas and checking out some new ones. We left Florida waters on the 29th of April, had one quick overnight in GA at St. Simons Island and then moved on to South Carolina where we have been for the last week. All together, we spent over 4 ½ months in Florida (avoiding that awful Midwest winter)! And as a bonus we were able to meet up with many old friends and even a couple of sisters along the way!
This past week in South Carolina, we visited Hilton Head Island, Beaufort and Charleston and travelled with Good News and Salvage Crew…fellow Loopers. We did some sight seeing with them and gathered for dinner and a “captains” meeting every night. Hilton Head is a picture perfect little harbor (small, exclusive and expensive!) and it’s one of our favorite stops. Beaufort (pronounced Bew-fort as opposed to Boe-fort in NC) is a great place with beautiful “planters homes” along the waterfront. Fun fact: There are more antebellum homes in Beaufort, SC than in any other city. Many movies have been filmed in Beaufort including The Big Chill, Forrest Gump, The Fugitive, The Great Santini, and The Prince of Tides. In The Great Santini, “Bull” Meecham’s family home scenes were shot in the house known as Tidalholm built in 1856 and was also used as Harold and Sarah Cooper’s home in The Big Chill. We took a horse drawn carriage ride/tour one day and our driver/tour guide told us he had a small part in The Great Santini (if you want to look for him in the movie, he’s one of the rednecks in the bar fight scene and he’s holding a meat hook!)
Charleston was a great city...beautiful homes lining tree shaded streets. A lot of the streets were paved with bricks that were used as ballast in ships that had landed there. There were even some cobblestone streets, again using stones used as ballast. Fort Sumter lies just offshore and the city just drips of history! One interesting thing…in the market place there were many ladies weaving baskets and selling them. Our new friend Patti from Salvage Crew, called them "Gullah" baskets. Gullah refers to a language that's a kind of Creole blend of heavily accented English and West African languages which is said to have originated in the African slave communities in the low country of South Carolina and Georgia. (Side note: In the song of the same name, "Kum ba Yah" means "Come By Here" in the Gullah language.) In talking to one of the women weaving, we learned that this basket weaving skill has been handed down from generation to generation, mother to daughter. They used several natural materials in weaving them; bull rushes, palmetto leaves and pine needles among others. The baskets were gorgeous and I was determined to pick one up as a souvenir (I'm not a big souvie shopper so felt I was due)...but looking at the prices they were a little steep! $250 - $350 for a nice sized one (I would call it a large bread basket size). We saw some as little as $25 – but they were just small wreaths made with a single bunch of bull rushes held together in a circle with a palmetto strip and what they called "popcorn" as an adornment. My favorite was a large "platter" like basket with low sides, using 4 different kinds of natural materials and had a twisted rim......$800! The woman weaving them said I could have it for $500. They were beautiful works of art, but I still couldn't justify it! (We’re on the “F.I.” ya know!) I’ll just have to be satisfied with the pictures I took of them.
We had “one last dinner” on Good News with Mary & Andy and Patty & Brad from Salvage Crew and said goodbye to them in Charleston. It was great to be able to spend time with them again and we hope to run in to all of them again…maybe on the Chesapeake Bay next month.
Yesterday we cruised 63 miles from Charleston, SC to Georgetown, SC. It was 80* and cloudy and HUMID. The biting flies were awful but luckily we were able to zip everything up, turn on the air and man the fly swatters to stay ahead of the horde! I cannot imagine how people in the open cockpits of sailboats dealt with those pests! We got to our slip at about 1 pm, rinsed off the boat, checked in and walked up to town to check out the Harborwalk (a kind of boardwalk area overlooking the water with lots of fun bars and restaurants). It looked like it could be a hopping place on the weekend, but was very quiet at 3:00 pm! Since Mary & Patti weren’t around to share meal planning, I found some leftovers in the freezer for dinner, and after watching American Idol (yay! Danny is still safe!) we called it an early night.
Today, we pulled out of our slip at about 6:30 am and are heading for Myrtle Beach…about 55 miles. When we pulled in to our slip yesterday there was just one other boat next to us, but during the afternoon more boats joined us on our dock, and this morning we found that we were surrounded! Backing out of the slip easing around all these boats could have been tricky had the wind been up, but it was calm and Capt. BK had no problem.
It’s a beautiful morning for a cruise! The winds are low, the water is dead calm, we have blue skies and the temp is 73* - on its way to 91* for a high today. This part of the ICW looks a lot like the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers…wide and deep and lined with trees that look like pines and oaks…no palm trees! We left this morning at low tide and now the rising tide is giving us a mile an hour push (and in some of the tight turns it gets to almost 2 mph). We’ve seen a couple of slowly swimming alligators and HUGE osprey nests with little birdie heads sticking up over the rims waiting for food! About every 15 minutes BK says, “OMG – this is awesome!” He’s going to be over the moon when I remind him that today’s Friday and he can have a Bloody Mary for his cruise! Maybe I’ll go down right now and make one for him as a surprise!
Hope everyone is enjoying their spring weather...that the river level stays down…and that it rains just enough to help the flowers grow and the grass to stay green…but only at night! Here’s to a great boating season! First Mate - Deb
I’ll keep you posted.
Bob
Very typical home in Charleston, SC
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A shot from the bridge down at Charleston City Marina
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At Charleston City Marina they call this the "Mega-dock"...it makes a great dock walk
.jpg)
In downtown Charleston there is this market place...originally a warehouse where all the ships brought their goods
Deb and I took a tour of an underground prison built in the 1700's
Deb talks about (in here 2 cents) the ladies making baskets...a skill passed down for generations
This is "low country" on the ICW between Charleston and Georgetown, SC
The waterway goes on like this for miles...and the flies are so thick you can't imagine it
.jpg)
This is a familiar picture as well...a 7 to 8 foot tide puts boats on the ground during low tide
.jpg)
We arrived at Myrtle Beach at low time...the ramp is so steep it's hard to go up
This is our slip in Georgetown, SC.
Leaving Georgetown on Friday morning there was a little fog, but it burnt off very quickly, and it was an awesome morning
It had rained hard the night before, so Deb was putting the lines out to dry on the bow
This is a Osprey nest...lots of them along the waterway
The view I had heading north on the ICW...heading for Myrtle Beach
The closer to Myrtle Beach...the more homes along the waterway
This is an overhead monorail over the ICW near Myrtle Beach
Log 128
Day 353
Saturday, May 09, 2009
6:00 AM EDT
Location: Myrtle Beach Yacht Club; Myrtle Beach, SC.
Weather: 72; clear; and light winds. Heading for the mid 90’s today
It’s a beautiful morning here this morning. We arrived at Myrtle Beach Yacht Club yesterday afternoon...a stop we last made in 2000 when we came through here. I know I have been a little lax on keeping up with my captain’s logs, but for some reason I did have (take) the time. The good news is Deb was working on her “2 cents”, and she will be able to keep you up. Here is her update; that she wrote yesterday.
Hello All! Deb here. Well – I can’t believe it, but the last time I chimed in was in November! It’s not that I don’t have a lot to say…it’s just that I’m too lazy to type it all out! Having read Bob’s logs, you all know about our extended stays in Ft. Myers, Key West, Marathon & Ft. Lauderdale this past winter. Bob & I both enjoyed having the extra time to get a better feel of “life” in these areas. In Ft. Myers, Bob found a couple of other Looper captains and they took multiple trips to West Marine, so he was happy…and we were able to spend some time again with Andy & Mary on Good News…always a fun time! The dock at Ft. Myers was like a little community with planned events; pot lucks, dinners out, etc. I think I could spend time there again this next winter. In Key West Bob got to do a lot of fishing and I did a lot of walking, a way to explore while getting my exercise. My sister’s birthday celebration in Key West was a blast! In Marathon, again Bob got a lot of fishing in…and I got out on the bike to check out the neighborhoods…exercise and sightseeing....and of course, trips to Publix...(great to have one so close!) From Marathon, our last extended stay was in Ft. Lauderdale during Spring break time. What an experience! This is where we hooked up with another sister and her husband for some fun on the dinghy, pina coladas and pizza at a great Italian restaurant! After leaving Ft. Lauderdale, we made our way up the Atlantic coast of Florida, cruising mostly on the Intracoastal Waterway, stopping at favorite marinas and checking out some new ones. We left Florida waters on the 29th of April, had one quick overnight in GA at St. Simons Island and then moved on to South Carolina where we have been for the last week. All together, we spent over 4 ½ months in Florida (avoiding that awful Midwest winter)! And as a bonus we were able to meet up with many old friends and even a couple of sisters along the way!
This past week in South Carolina, we visited Hilton Head Island, Beaufort and Charleston and travelled with Good News and Salvage Crew…fellow Loopers. We did some sight seeing with them and gathered for dinner and a “captains” meeting every night. Hilton Head is a picture perfect little harbor (small, exclusive and expensive!) and it’s one of our favorite stops. Beaufort (pronounced Bew-fort as opposed to Boe-fort in NC) is a great place with beautiful “planters homes” along the waterfront. Fun fact: There are more antebellum homes in Beaufort, SC than in any other city. Many movies have been filmed in Beaufort including The Big Chill, Forrest Gump, The Fugitive, The Great Santini, and The Prince of Tides. In The Great Santini, “Bull” Meecham’s family home scenes were shot in the house known as Tidalholm built in 1856 and was also used as Harold and Sarah Cooper’s home in The Big Chill. We took a horse drawn carriage ride/tour one day and our driver/tour guide told us he had a small part in The Great Santini (if you want to look for him in the movie, he’s one of the rednecks in the bar fight scene and he’s holding a meat hook!)
Charleston was a great city...beautiful homes lining tree shaded streets. A lot of the streets were paved with bricks that were used as ballast in ships that had landed there. There were even some cobblestone streets, again using stones used as ballast. Fort Sumter lies just offshore and the city just drips of history! One interesting thing…in the market place there were many ladies weaving baskets and selling them. Our new friend Patti from Salvage Crew, called them "Gullah" baskets. Gullah refers to a language that's a kind of Creole blend of heavily accented English and West African languages which is said to have originated in the African slave communities in the low country of South Carolina and Georgia. (Side note: In the song of the same name, "Kum ba Yah" means "Come By Here" in the Gullah language.) In talking to one of the women weaving, we learned that this basket weaving skill has been handed down from generation to generation, mother to daughter. They used several natural materials in weaving them; bull rushes, palmetto leaves and pine needles among others. The baskets were gorgeous and I was determined to pick one up as a souvenir (I'm not a big souvie shopper so felt I was due)...but looking at the prices they were a little steep! $250 - $350 for a nice sized one (I would call it a large bread basket size). We saw some as little as $25 – but they were just small wreaths made with a single bunch of bull rushes held together in a circle with a palmetto strip and what they called "popcorn" as an adornment. My favorite was a large "platter" like basket with low sides, using 4 different kinds of natural materials and had a twisted rim......$800! The woman weaving them said I could have it for $500. They were beautiful works of art, but I still couldn't justify it! (We’re on the “F.I.” ya know!) I’ll just have to be satisfied with the pictures I took of them.
We had “one last dinner” on Good News with Mary & Andy and Patty & Brad from Salvage Crew and said goodbye to them in Charleston. It was great to be able to spend time with them again and we hope to run in to all of them again…maybe on the Chesapeake Bay next month.
Yesterday we cruised 63 miles from Charleston, SC to Georgetown, SC. It was 80* and cloudy and HUMID. The biting flies were awful but luckily we were able to zip everything up, turn on the air and man the fly swatters to stay ahead of the horde! I cannot imagine how people in the open cockpits of sailboats dealt with those pests! We got to our slip at about 1 pm, rinsed off the boat, checked in and walked up to town to check out the Harborwalk (a kind of boardwalk area overlooking the water with lots of fun bars and restaurants). It looked like it could be a hopping place on the weekend, but was very quiet at 3:00 pm! Since Mary & Patti weren’t around to share meal planning, I found some leftovers in the freezer for dinner, and after watching American Idol (yay! Danny is still safe!) we called it an early night.
Today, we pulled out of our slip at about 6:30 am and are heading for Myrtle Beach…about 55 miles. When we pulled in to our slip yesterday there was just one other boat next to us, but during the afternoon more boats joined us on our dock, and this morning we found that we were surrounded! Backing out of the slip easing around all these boats could have been tricky had the wind been up, but it was calm and Capt. BK had no problem.
It’s a beautiful morning for a cruise! The winds are low, the water is dead calm, we have blue skies and the temp is 73* - on its way to 91* for a high today. This part of the ICW looks a lot like the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers…wide and deep and lined with trees that look like pines and oaks…no palm trees! We left this morning at low tide and now the rising tide is giving us a mile an hour push (and in some of the tight turns it gets to almost 2 mph). We’ve seen a couple of slowly swimming alligators and HUGE osprey nests with little birdie heads sticking up over the rims waiting for food! About every 15 minutes BK says, “OMG – this is awesome!” He’s going to be over the moon when I remind him that today’s Friday and he can have a Bloody Mary for his cruise! Maybe I’ll go down right now and make one for him as a surprise!
Hope everyone is enjoying their spring weather...that the river level stays down…and that it rains just enough to help the flowers grow and the grass to stay green…but only at night! Here’s to a great boating season! First Mate - Deb
I’ll keep you posted.
Bob
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