1-15 April 2010
Daytona Beach, FL to Beaufort, NC
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| Date | Location | Log and Pictures | |
| 1 April 2010 | Seabreeze, Daytona Beach, FL | Underway at 9 am from Titusville we made the 40 NM trip to Daytona Beach by 3 pm, moving slowly and saving gas. We anchored in a beautiful spot at the Seabreeze bridge. This evening the generator gave us one more problem, shutting down as we were preparing dinner. It appeared the heat exchanger was not cooling properly, so I spent 3 hours removing, cleaning, and installing the heat exchanger. A good job for me and apparently successful as the generator is now functioning properly. I've had the boat 12 years and the generator has never given me a problem so the work was not a real annoyance. | |
| 2 April 2010 | St Augustine, FL | Anxious to get through the worst of the shoaling in Florida, Ft Mantanza Inlet, at high tide we got underway at 7 am. All well as we went thru the shoal area we made it to St Augustine by 2:30 pm and moored at Camanchee Cove Marina just north of St Augustine. I was nervous about the water picked up in the fuel in the Bahamas so I had a mechanic pump the bottom of the tanks soon after arrival. There was no water in the starboard tank, but 20 gallons of water was pulled out of the port tank, the one that feeds the generator. Now all is well. Over the last two days we passed some beautiful homes and passed on of Carey's favorite spots, Haul Out Canal, where a senior citizens group were piling into their kayaks for a trip on the water. | |
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| 3 April 2010 | Alligator River, FL (near Fernandina Beach) | Carey did laundry this morning and I fueled and cleaned the boat. Just about time for underway we were visited by a Judith Wood (formerly Judith Ann Body), a high school class mate of Carey who has a boat at Camanchee Cove. We went over to Judity's boat and visited with her and her husband Craig. A pleasant visit. Finally underway at 11 am, we headed north on our 5 hour trip to Alligator River. Along the way we saw some ugly homes (most are nice but the one shown below must belong to a Wendy's employee). As it is a weekend we saw many water sports on the water and some beautiful old boats. Unexpectedly an 18 foot boat in front of us suddenly stopped and as the owner opened the engine compartment smoked poured out from the engine fire. Luckily the fire stopped when he shut down the boat, but we got involved in the USCG "rescue" by going alongside and taking the people aboard Apolonia until the USCG showed up. Everything ended well. No one was hurt and the boat was still floating after we transferred the occupants to the USCG vessel and continued on our way north. We are now anchored at Alligator River, just south of Fernandina Beach. I'm doing this and Carey is fixing dinner. The generator is running fine and we're enjoying AC and hot water. | |
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| 4 April 2010 | Frederica River, GA | Underway just after 8 am we headed north. Passing Fernandina Beach, Bill Bowman called and said we may want to stop there as Brian and Melanie Grimley had just bought a restaurant in Fernandina Beach. We called Melanie and congratulated them on the purchase. The restaurant will open soon and we'll surely stop on the next trip. We continued north enjoying the views of Cumberland Island and its beaches. We then stopped at Golden Isles Marina to look at a boat Ruth and Jean are thinking of buying. It is the beautiful Hatteras you see below and we will give Ruth and Jean a full report soon. Underway again we headed another 10 miles north to our planned anchorage in Frederica River. The river is an alternate route along the ICW and we wanted to check it out this trip. It is a winding and tree lined river with beautiful large homes along the shores. | |
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| 5 April 2010 | Wahoo River |
Underway at 10 am to wait for high tide in one shallow area we'd pass today.
We had a pleasant trip of 33 NM and anchored at Wahoo River, rafted up to
Ross and Kathy by 3 pm. It was slow going over the shallow spots but
we enjoyed the leisurely pace. Carey enjoyed taking pictures of homes
on the Frederica and Duplin Rivers. After anchoring Carey fixed a
great spaghetti dinner and Kathy fixed the salad. After dinner Ross
won two games of Farkle and we're now settled down for the evening.
We started our trip up the waterway at Lake Worth FL, statue mile 1014, and are now anchored at mile 630; we'll get near Savannah tomorrow. Statue mile 0 is Norfolk VA so we're moving steadily north. |
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| 6 April 2010 | Herb River, GA (near Savannah) | 39 NM to Herb River, just below Thunderbolt (near Savannah). It was a slow and easy trip with Carey driving a good deal of the way. I had a book to finish. We saw a beautiful boat along the way, a FED SHIP I think, although it could have been a Thrumpy. Beaches along the way were crowded with swimmers and Carey was in love with the beautiful homes along the waterway. We rafted with Ross and Kathy on Pilgrim at 2:30 after leaving at 8:30 am this morning. Carey fixed a corn beef brisket with cabbage and Kathy fixed the rest of the meal. Great food we enjoyed as the sun went down. |
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| 7 April 2010 | Beaufort, SC | Underway at 10 am to wait for a rising tide at some shallow areas, we arrived at Lady's Island Marina in Beaufort, SC by 4 pm. An easy 40 NM trip. Two things we see every day are dolphins jumping alongside the boat the the boat moving across the chart plotter. An every day constant. We laughed at the diesel and gas sale price at a local fuel stop, $0.00. Wished the price was for real! A cold front is predicted to push through tonight and tomorrow, but upon arrival at Beaufort the weather was nice, with just a slight increase in the wind, a predictor of today's cold front. We'll see what the weather is like tomorrow to decide whether to wait or move on north. | |
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| 8 April 2010 | Beaufort, SC | We stayed at Beaufort today as weather in Charleston, our next stop, was predicted to deteriorate by mid afternoon. Weather here today was pleasant so we of course wondered whether we made the right decision. Current forecast is for the front to pass between 8 tonight and 2 in the morning. Hopefully it will be through and we'll head out tomorrow. We did some chores, including laundry, and relaxed a bit. We're aboard tonight for dinner and an early to bed so we'll be ready to move early in the morning. | |
| 9 April 2010 | St John's Yacht Harbor, Stono River, SC | No pictures today. We left Beaufort at 8:15 and headed north. Ross and Kathy decided to stay in Beaufort another day. The wind was howling, 20-25 knots but it was predicted to decrease to 10 knots by the time we got to Charleston. It did not. We moved north with 8 boats spread out over the route, all passing along to those behind what they experienced. The strong winds were blowing water out of the ICW and coupled with low tide it was an interesting trip. Everyone made it through but there were a few white knuckle minutes. It was not uncommon for all of us to see 6 feet of water in the shallow areas where there should have been 8-9 feet. Finally and safely we made the 60 statue mile trip to a marina just south of Charleston by 3:30. After cocktails and dinner on board we noted the wind has finally diminished. We're expected great weather for the next several days. We'll travel to George Town, SC tomorrow and since we like the town so much will stay two days. | |
| 10 April 2010 | George Town, SC | Underway at 8 am to get to the fuel dock. We fueled and were underway by 9 am for George Town, SC. We passed the very large Charlestown harbor with its large boats and just an hour later a small 14 foot sailboat headed back to its home in North Carolina. Later that day we passed several dredges working to deepen the water in the ICW. We finished the 66 statue mile trip to Georgetown at 5 pm, and after a cocktail walked to town to enjoy a great meal. We're now aboard and relaxing. We will stay here tomorrow and relax and enjoy our favorite town some more. | |
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| 11 April 2010 | George Town, SC | Up today we watched my favorite Sunday morning news shows, then we went to breakfast. After breakfast we were going to Wal Mart to pick up some supplies. At the breakfast cafe we tried to find a cab company working on Sunday. Impossible. The cafe owner said no problem and loaned us his truck to do our shopping. He did not know us so it was an amazing level of trust. We did return the truck within an hour and went back to the boat, did some cleaning and other chores. Carey fixed a great Salmon dinner on board and we decided to stay one more day. We're really enjoying the town. I may even finish our taxes tomorrow. The pictures below are of the old town boardwalk, a cafe on the board walk and two of the main streets in town. It's a beautiful area with nice old homes, a restored waterfront area, and old large hard wood trees lining the streets. | |
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| 12 April 2010 | George Town, SC | Still here and loving it! We enjoyed breakfast at Thomas Cafe, our favorite place on the ICW, then back to the boat for whatever. I did manage to complete the taxes and submitted them along with our payment. Carey caught up on the laundry. We both managed to also enjoy the day. We have decided it's time to leave so underway tomorrow. We'll travel outside on the Atlantic to Cape Fear (near Southport and Carolina Beach), a 95 NM trip. Doing so allows us to bypass two very shallow inlets and the pontoon bridge that does not open at low water. If the weather is as predicted we'll have a nice day. Let's hope for such a day. | |
| 13 April 2010 | Doc Holidays, Myrtle Beach, SC | Underway at 8 am for the 55 SM trip to Doc Holiday's at Myrtle Beach, mostly through the Wacamaw River. We did not go outside as we wanted due a change in the weather. A cold front is en route and winds are expected to best 20 knots and seas to rise on the Ocean to 3 to 7 feet. So we decided to stay inside. The Wacamaw is a beautiful winding river with tree lined shores and pocket bays where fisherman throw their lines in the water. Just before arriving at 2 pm we passed through "the rock pile," a 4 mile section of the ICW lined with rocks that have damaged a few passing vessels. We passed at low water this time and noticed the ragged rocks sitting ready to say hello if we got too close. This was a very pleasant part of the trip with good water under the hull all day. We met Ross and Kathy on their boat Pilgrim at Doc Holiday's. We had gone to separate destinations over the last few days. After drinks on board Apolonia we went to our separate boats, getting ready for a 6:30 am departure tomorrow to make high tide at some potential shoal areas. | |
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| 14 April 2010 | Southport, NC | Underway at 7 am to make it through the shoal areas at mid-tide or higher. Pleasant run but the wind increased throughout the day as the cold front pushed through the area. By noon it appeared the ride up the river at Cape Fear to Carolina Beach would be a bit rough so we stopped, along with Ross and Kathy on Pilgrim, at Southport. A nice place. Carey and I enjoyed an inexpensive but great meal at a local restaurant. We're now aboard and will be underway in the morning for New River, NC. | |
| 15 April 2010 | New River Marina, NC | A 7:30 am underway for our 7 hour 58 SM trip to New River Marina, NC where we stopped for fuel and an overnight stay, mooring by 2:30 pm. Along the way Carey took a picture of a pink home she has taken a picture of every trip. She claims she likes the house even less this time around. As we crossed Cape Fear en route to Carolina Beach early this morning we noticed several small fishing boats hauling in their nets full of fish and at Carolina Beach had to navigate around a tug towing a dredge and his 2 football lengths of pipe behind the dredge. Finally we arrived at New River Marina, actually a bulkhead on the ICW next to a trailer park that sells the cheapest fuel on the ICW and charges just a $1/foot to stay the night. All in all, a great day. | |
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