In the morning, we finally figured out the thug sound. We think it is the military base training.

At 7 am, we pulled the anchor up and headed on our way. We waved good bye to Sam on Tidbit and sent each other pictures of their boats. It is always nice to get a pic of your boat. As we got underway, we saw several paratroopers in the sky!! What a great treat.

It was an easy drive for Kelly to do while Mike worked. Kelly doesn’t drive as often but not having Jen aboard she has had to do it more.

We arrived in Beaufort, NC midday and getting into the slip was fairly easy. Current was calm which always helps. We met up with our friends on Silver Linings and used the marinas courtesy car to go to the grocery store. The car was old with a lot of miles on it, so it made for some good laughs. We sent a cute video to Michael, it is posted below. A side note all jokes aside, we are truly grateful for the free courtesy car.

That evening, we had dinner with 5 looper boats (including us) – Silver Linings, Kittiwake, Wright Chioce, and Tranquility Eh.  A new friend, “Tranquility Eh!” is from Texas! It was fun to share Texas stories and listen to their journey.  Few loopers leave from Texas and have stories about going through Louisiana and Mississippi. Kelly was craving beef after having so much seafood so we ate Ribeyes Steakhouse. It did not disappoint!

At 7 am, we pulled away from Southport Marina to Mile Hammock Anchorage.    

It is a nice anchorage. It is wide and deep enough for a lot of boats. We got to watch the military training landing helicopters….the sound of freedom. We anchored by “Tidbit” whom we have seen a few times but have not met.  

At night, we kept hearing a thud sound. It sounded like a log hitting the boat. We checked several times with a flashlight (pitch black dark there) and didn’t see anything.  Oh well, we went to bed.

Today, while Mike worked, Kelly did some planning. We are a little behind on the traditional looper schedule. We need to decide if we are finishing the loop this year or have a different plan. Inflation and the price of fuel is a factor. We also miss our son Michael and don’t get to see him as often as we would like to. Nothing has been decided so more to come.

Monday was a domestic day. Mike made burgers and Kelly did some dog grooming.  The dogs really need some grooming. Hopefully, we can get them an appointment in Norfolk. There aren’t any local groomers before then.

We woke at 6:00 am and saw a lot of fog. We decided to keep getting ready to leave the marina and see if the fog burns off. At 7:30 am, visibility looked good, and the dockhands arrived, so we pushed off. The waters were once again calm in the morning, and it was a relaxing, beautiful drive.  

At about 9:00 am, the fishing boats were on the move towards the inlets to the Atlantic Ocean. At 10:30 am, the family pleasure boats were heading to the beaches. The fishing boats make a small wake so they aren’t a problem. The pleasure boats may be small, but their wakes can be strong….and when they wake you, they smile and wave, not knowing what they’ve done. 

Arriving in Southport, NC was easier than we thought. All weather apps indicated strong winds and current. The marina had a wall to block some of the current and the winds died down so it was calm backing in. Mike did a great job getting us in….as usual. Kelly has been learning to throw the lines to the dockhands and did a good job. No second try this time.

A couple hours later, the AGLCA Harbor Host, Bob Creech knocked on our boat to welcome us to Southport. Bob is known for welcoming every AGLCA looper and inviting them to his front porch for great beverages and conversation.  t was Memorial Day weekend so we didn’t want to bother him and didn’t take him up on the offer.  

We spent the afternoon walking around the streets and looking at the historic homes.  We stopped at “The Tiki Tavern” for a beer and margarita. It is a bar for locals that play pool.

Mike and Kelly were a bit nervous pulling away from the dock with Jennifer. Not having her help caused us to feel out of sync. The inexperienced dockhand didn’t help either. A neighbor saw us leaving and came over to help. They trickly part about pulling away from a parallel space is not crushing the swim platform as you turn the bow out. The dockhand didn’t understand the risk but the neighbor boat did and he was able to push the stern. Whew!!  At 7 am, the water was very calm and we were the only ones there.  

Our new friends on Bacchawhoppa followed us till they reached their next marina, Osprey Marina. We planned on anchoring but didn’t like the 2 anchorage options. It seems there aren’t a lot less anchorage spots along this route. Instead, we started calling marinas.  

This was a nailbiter for us without Jen. We found a marina that looked like and easy in.  A 4 hour drive turned out to be 9 hours to get to Barefoot Marina. While the morning was quiet and easy, the afternoon was crazy. Many boaters were out celebrating the holiday weekend. This includes inexperienced boaters that don’t obey boating rules and etiquette. Boaters would drive by fast and create a large wake which pushed and rocked us. Mike had to make sure we stayed in the channel and not wake into another boat. He also needed to steer to compensate for all the waking to keep the stuff inside our “home” from shifting around. We do a good job securing everything, but a bad wake will cause a lot of problems.

Funny moment out of the water today…. There were a lot of young people on what appeared to be a rented pontoon boat. One boat was crowded with young women.  When they passed by, they lifted their bikini tops and flashed us! We were confused.  It was funny, but why a us? lol

At 4 pm, we arrived at Barefoot Marina in Myrtle Beach, SC. The current in the marina was surprisingly calm. There were 2 dockhands waiting to help. As Mike pulled the stern in, Kelly tossed the first rope… and missed. She tossed a second time and the dockhand caught it. Missing is a problem, because Mike had momentum pulling in. The first dockhand walked the stern line back, second dockhand easily took the mid-ship line and Kelly watched the swim platform. Then Kelly let Mike know he could turn the motors off. Whew!  

Afterwards, Kelly took a shower at the marina, and we watched the Coast Guard ticket crazy boaters. After navigating the boaters today, it was satisfying to watch some of them get ticketed.  

Like the weatherman said, we woke to rain, thunder and lightning. Jen’s dog, Harley, doesn’t like the thunder. He spent the morning hiding. Kelly did laundry while Mike worked. After work, they walked around town and toured the Georgetown Museum.  For dinner, it was fried chicken leftovers. We called it an early night because we are leaving early the next morning

Weather is a huge factor in our travels. We were supposed to leave Georgetown the next day but storms were coming. Fortunately, the marina is able to accommodate us another day. Now, Kelly will need to reschedule a couple of our destinations out one day.

Mike and Kelly had lunch in town which is a short walk. We ate “Soco” outside sideway. It was a perfect lunch. We sat in the shade with a nice breeze. Kelly had southern fried chicken and Mike had a fried bologna sandwich. We really enjoyed the lunch. We discussed that we should do lunch more vs. dinner. It is a lot cheaper and we don’t order expensive alcohol. Kelly still had leftovers.  

Mike walked back to the boat to work and Kelly shopped. Downtown Georgetown is really cute with small town restaurants, shops and services. Kelly bought a sundress and found some clothes for Mike for him to come back and try on. Mike will be traveling to Chicago in June and needs some dress clothes.   

After work, we decided to defrost the freezer. It hasn’t been holding a freezing temperature. It has been fluctuating from 7 degrees to as high as 22 degrees. Because of that, we had some shrimp thaw and leak which was a stinky mess to clean up. We put the food in our backpack coolers and put a hair dryer on the coils to get the frost to melt quickly. It took 6 hours to get the temperature to 32 degrees with the freezer empty.  Seems defrosting it wasn’t the problem. More research is needed. Ugh.

At 7:00 am, started our engines and we pushed off from the dock. The calm waters made for great sleeping but tricky to pull away from the dock. We were parallel parked and turning out is a challenge to avoid hitting our swim platform on the dock. Kelly used a pole to push us from the stern while Mike turned us out.  

Once we got on the ICW, it was a beautiful morning – calm winds and current. No one was on the water … except birds, dolphin and horse flies! Jen sprayed the canopy and the horseflies left after they bit Mike.  

It was one of those days that energizes us on why we are doing this. This isn’t a vacation, it is a adventure. Many days, it can be stressful and hard work. Today wasn’t one of those days. It was a beautiful trip.  

Kelly drove while Mike worked and Jen did blog posts. Kelly prefers to help plan and navigate. She drives when the water is easy and calm.

Getting into Harborwalk Marina in Georgetown, SC was easy. It was another parallel parking but there was a wide open spot. Mike backed into the marina, Jen tossed the dock hand a bow line, then Kelly tossed him the stern line. Easy, peasy!  

Once we got settled, Kelly and Jen got an Uber to Enterprise car rental and drove Jen to the airport. We were all a little nervous about Jen leaving. We’ve established a routine with each one of us having our jobs. Our routine will be thrown off without her. We believe we can do it but still nervous. We will also miss Jen a lot. We love all love each other very much (Michael included) and it is hard to say good bye. So, instead, we said “see you soon!”

Jen’s Day 207: Leland Oil Company (McClellenville, SC) to HarborWalk Marina (Gerogetown, SC) to Charleston International Airport (Charleston, SC) to George Bush Intercontential Airport (Houston, TX) to Home (Cypress, TX)

Major travel day for boo boo Jen! Below are pictures from the rest of her day after getting dropped off at the airport.

At 6:30 am, we started our engines. It was too early for the dock crew and we were on our own. To understand the current, Mike put a piece of a popsicle stick in the water to watch its movement. It slowly moved straight back. Kelly and Jen each held a line and let it slip through the cleats. By doing so, it allows us to keep the boat close enough to the dock as we pull out to not drift in to the boat in the slip next to us. Mike turned the boat just like pulling out of a parking space and backed into the ICW. Kelly watched the stern which is a blind spot for Mike. When we plan carefully (over plan actually) we don’t have issues.

We scheduled the time we needed to arrive at each shallow area and used AquaMaps to help us zig zag through it. Low tide was at 10:30 so we anchored at 9:45 am. While we waited, Jen made lunch and we started studying the weather. 

Weather reports showed storms at our destination, Georgetown. We decided to stop 3 hours south of Georgetown at Leland Marina in McClellenville for the night.  

At 1:00 pm, we pulled up the anchor and headed for Lealand Marina. Jen drove and Kelly helped navigate the zig zagging needed to avoid shallow areas. It turned out to be a good decision. We had an extra 3 feet under the boat and didn’t see depth less than 7 feet. Whew!!

Staying the night at Leland Oil was a good decision because McClellenville was a nice surprise.  It is a small and quiet fishing town. While Mike finished working, Jen and Kelly walked to a seafood store and got some fresh shrimp caught same day. It was probably the best shrimp we ever had.

It was a quiet night with no wind or current, hoping for a good night sleep as tomorrow will be a long travel day for our crew mate Jen.