We're HOME!

We got out of the ICW yesterday and Donnie & Vickie aboard "Charisma" met us up river and we raced towards New Bern in about 17 kts. of wind. Both boats hit speeds of 7.2 to 7.3! It was awesome and we had such a WONDERFUL time. Charisma even had her mizzen sail up and she was GORGEOUS! It was the first time in over a month and a half that Long Gone did any real sailing and it was such a thrill. We're at the T-Head at the Bridgepointe awaiting a slip where we'll be for the next month and then head up to Baltimore/Annapolis and points north.

We're in Surfside Beach, NC

It's been an "interesting" couple of days. The forecast again has been incorrect and we've fought winds and cold temps for the past 2 days. We left Southport yesterday morning at 7 am and battled current and wind up the Cape Fear River. Our goal yesterday was Hampstead, but after we missed the Wrightsville Beach Bridge by only 5 minutes and would have had to keep idling and turning around for almost an hour in 30 knots of wind, we decided to just stop and dock at the Bridgetender Marina. We had hoped for better weather today but it just was not to be. We wanted to get north of the 3 opening bridges and at least we made that goal. Swansboro would have been nice but going through the New River area at low tide and in this wind would have been nuts.

We are at the Beachhouse Marina in Surfside Beach, NC (close to a grocery store and ABC store). Our docking in 30 knots of wind coming in here was NOT pretty and we've vowed not to leave unless the winds are calm tomorrow. We've been traveling with a buddy boat that we met in Myrtle Beach named "Blue Moon" and they are from NY. They created "an adventure" today. Chris & Walt (the owner of Blue Moon) went to check into the marina. Shortly thereafter, Kristen (the female off Blue Moon) came frantically knocking on our boat saying "our boat is sinking". Man...those are words that chill a boater to the bone. I came flying off our boat, ran up to the office to get Walt and he and Chris came running back full tilt. The water was gushing from between their floor boards at this point. Walt quickly located the problem fortunately (stuffing box) while Chris pumped frantically. All is well now, but needless to say, we will be drinking rum tonight! I'm making stir fry for the crowd as it's just too windy to grill a darned thing. Now that we're so close to home, we are anxious to get there and see everyone and just settle in a bit and relax.

Arrived back in Myrtle Beach, SC (April 13)

We left the anchorage quite early as it was NOT a peaceful night. Since the wind was blowing so hard, we felt compelled to check the anchor frequently so a good night sleep was not had by all. We danced at anchor all night long and with the wind and current, it made for some worry. We are now at Barefoot Landing Resort. WHAT a place. The 3 condo buildings are huge – about 15 stories high and the swimming pool is reported to be the largest in South Carolina. The onsite restaurant and bar had live music last night so we went and listened and drank some wine (hard to believe, I know). We had intended to stay here for a bit since it’s so convenient to everything, but pricing just isn’t competitive so we’ll move further north. We provisioned the boat as there is a Bi-Lo just down the street and did some laundry. We’ll take the dinghy over to Barefoot Landing later today and explore all the quaint shops. We’ll try to make Southport tomorrow and then hopefully they’ll be a weather window to head outside as we want to avoid the Figure 8 Island Swing Bridge which only opens twice per day.

Anchorage at Bull Creek (Waccamaw River, SC) - April 11

Position: N 33º 36’.318, W 079º 05’.924
Tonight we anchored in Bull Creek – the widest creek off the Waccamaw River. We launched the dinghy and went exploring. The creek went on for miles – we stopped at the fork and returned since it was becoming quite shallow and it would have been a LONG row back to the boat if we had ruined the dinghy motor. When it turned nightfall, there were several owls that were “calling” – very cool. About 7 pm another sailboat (named if you can believe this, Charisma) also anchored in the creek but they were much further toward the mouth of the creek. After exploring we determined that an even better anchorage was just around the bend where we had set our anchor – we’ll know next time that it was a bit more sheltered there, as the wind was really whipping.

We FINALLY anchored out!!!

Position: N32 degrees 36.943, W80 degrees 16.462 -Steamboat Creek
We anchored in a WONDERFUL place last night off the North Edisto River called Steamboat Creek. It had a small brick structure called the "octagonal house" and was described in the Cruising Guide as having been used by the wealthy plantation owners as a steamboat stop to take them to Charleston (I apologize for the picture - it was late afternoon when we arrived and early morning when we left so the picture isn't the best). The William Seabrook House, a very historic plantation house was directly behind it. Unfortunately, we got to the anchorage late in the afternoon so couldn't get the dinghy ashore before nightfall to explore. We were surprised that we were the only boat back there but we were in a "parade" of power boaters and I'm sure they were far ahead of us by late afternoon. This creek was probably a mile from the ICW but well worth the extra time. Depths remained at 18 ft. even at low tide for about 1/2 mile into the mouth of the creek. We made it to Isle of Palms today since we needed fuel and we enjoyed it so much the last time we were here.

We turned around!!!

Well....we made it to Thunderbolt, GA. We enjoyed a day of dining and shopping in Harbour Town in Hilton Head on Saturday (despite the awful storms), went through Fields Cut with no problem at all, despite warnings to the contrary. We have so many "no-see-um" bites that we don't know where to scratch first! We had contemplated going further south on the outside and had a favorable wind (NE) - just too darned much of it (a story of this trip). After debating back and forth, and with Myrtle Beach Bike Week looming in front of Chris, we decided to turn around. We're in Port Royal today (just 2 miles south of Beaufort, SC) and the marina staff here is absolutely one of the best we've encountered (Thunderbolt was also very good). We're going to meander back to Myrtle Beach and possibly stay there until Bike Week in May - of course, our plans are in sand so we'll decide on the fly. It was kind of disappointing to not make the goal of FL, but there's always next year. We had not met any buddy boats going south - everyone was headed north and we just didn't feel comfortable going on a long ocean run all by ourselves. Hope to see all of you soon before we head north to the Chesapeake!!!!

We're at Harbour Town Yacht Basin, SC

Well, "best laid plans" and all that. We had intended to go "north" as the weather report said NORTH winds on Sunday and we thought "cool - time to have Mother Nature give us a push" from Port Royald Sound. TODAY, weather report on Sunday says SOUTH winds so.....we punted and changed our plans. We were told NOT to use Calibogue Sound to go outside but have sought local knowledge and have the plot to go outside to catch the intersection of Calibogue Sound and Tybee Roads (Savannah River - about 9 miles). Today was a day for lots of RAIN and thunder/lightning. We decided to treat ourselves and went out to dinner at Europa Cafe on the waterfront here at Harbour Town and saw a dolphin show while enjoying a steak for Chris and a "seafood potpie" for me. This trip has taught us lots about changing plans on the fly. We still haven't finalized tomorrow's plans yet - sunrise and the weather report will determine where we go and IF we go. Thanks everyone to responding to the blog - we enjoy your comments!

Tales from the Crypt in Beaufort, SC

We walked around Beaufort yesterday and found this old church and graveyard. The spanish moss on the trees was really beautiful. We couldn't leave Beaufort until about 10:30 this morning due to DENSE fog so got to Hilton Head after SAILING (yippee) down the Port Royal Sound . We are at Hilton Head Harbour "Resort". Actually it's an RV Park with a marina (hmmm...). It has a nice pool and a cute little restaurant called the "Sunset Grille". Tomorrow we intend to move North (yes, north) up to Skull Creek Marina. We had planned to go outside at Calibogue Sound but everyone advised us against that due to shoaling so we are doubling back up Skull Creek closer to Port Royal Sound so that we can go on the outside (ocean) on Sunday with north winds. We will probably only go up to Tybee Roads and then possibly up to Savannah (or close to). We're still a bit leary of an overnighter in the ocean without a buddy boat.

We're in Beaufort, SC

We FINALLY left Bohicket Creek this morning at 7 am on the falling tide. The fog was so thick that we navigated by GPS and radar only - we couldn't see our hand in front of our face. The day was HOT and long with the wind on our nose the entire way so no sailing AGAIN--we're beginning to think that Long Gone is really just a trawler. We ran aground HARD at Marker 219 in Brickyard Creek outside of Beaufort (4 ft. 9 in. of water at low tide) - took a bit of wiggling to get out. We were exactly where we should have been but had seen depths under 6 ft. all day throughout the land cuts - very taxing on the nerves. When we arrived in Beaufort, we tried to anchor outside the Downtown Marina but our anchor kept dragging in this current and wind, so we finally gave up and took a slip (Donnie - we actually DID get mud on the anchor)!!! Thank goodness because at the moment it's blowing 22+ sustained with gusts to 30 and very very choppy. We saw 3 boats previously anchored drag and saw them head up river in this wind and rain. Just to prove that it's a small world after all, there are 3 boats from New Bern right in a row here in Beaufort on the transient dock. One, a Niagara Sailboat from Northwest Creek and another motor vessel from Tidewater. It was blowing and raining too hard to go explore the town this evening so we made dinner aboard and will hopefully get a weather break tomorrow.