North Carollina

Greetings from NORTH Carolina!

We have moved on north and left South Carolina and Georgia low country behind, but thankfully there is low country cuisine still to be had here in Southport, NC. We dropped Ricky and Drew Little in Charleston after a few days of touring and good eating. Then we moved on to Georgetown, SC to pick up the Robin and Seth Jones, Steve’s nephew and his wife.  We have enjoyed their company and youthful energy. Our set of Mexican Train dominoes has been given a workout – all future guests beware. Georgetown was another town of antique homes and historic shops.  We enjoyed our tour of the rice museum where we learned how rice was grown in the low country using tidal rivers to flood the fields. The wealth produced by the rice crop earned it the name Carolina Gold! The museum store took some of our gold when we bought an antique rice measure and several pounds of heirloom rice and grits. Mercifully, I have edited carefully the photos of this lovely town!

We took Robin and Seth on the scenic Waccamaw River with a stop a Wacca Wache (how could be pass it by?) – and an anchorage in Cow House Creek complete with a swamp tour.  We enjoyed libations at Hannah Banana’s Sunshine Cabana (seriously the name of a real place – you doubters can google it.) before we headed to Myrtle Beach and the shopping mecca of Barefoot Landing where Robin and Seth left us for parts west and their work. We tried not to gloat about the no work thing.  We hope they can squeeze in another visit as we “work” our way around the loop. Blowing on northerly we have landed here in Southport in the great state of North Carolina.  The antique stores here are first rate, but fortunately for Steve we don’t have room for all the treasures to be seen here. Again, this is a town of charming cottages  - actually many of them are even cottage size – decorated with lots of Victorian gingerbread. The town seemed fully of people in the two days we have been here so we figure someone must be on spring break even though the temperatures feel more like winter – at least our winter. While I wandered tourist shops, Steve made repeated visits to the Napa Auto/MARINE store and the bakery. Heading to Bald Head Island tomorrow- weather permitting – a mere 30 minutes across the river….  We struggle on.  Next post is dependent on a strong WiFi signal. Cheers

 

 

Stopping to enjoy Beaufort, SC

 

Stopping to enjoy Beaufort, SC in spite of the rain and BIG CHILL!                                                                                           

Due to our early, early start from our anchorage on Bryan Creek (necessitated by the close proximity of the marsh to our aft end and aided by a high tide) :) we arrived in lovely Beaufort, SC about lunch time. Dropping the anchors in front of the historic town center we hopped in the dink for a damp ride into Paninis for Sunday brunch.  I forgot to mention that it was raining with thunderstorms and lightening until just before we pulled into Beaufort where it turned to a drizzle. While the rain finally gave up, the temps were way below normal in the 50s with a 20+ knot breeze. Bundling up, we walked the streets of the historic district.  The numerous pre-civil war buildings here were preserved because the town fell to the Union early in the conflict with nary a shot fired although, ironically, this is where the articles of succession were drafted. Also, we learned on our carriage ride tour, this was not a commercial port but more of a party town.  This is where the wealthy had summer homes on the river to capture those breezes when elsewhere in the south it was hot and humid. The wealth here over the years is clear even from the outside as many large (20-40 room) mansion style summer homes are concentrated along the river.  I insert only a few of the photos we took to give you a small TASTE of Beaufort charm:

 

 

This period feel also accounts for the many films made here such as The Big Chill and, my favorite, Forrest Gump.  We also sampled the chocolates from The Chocolate Tree, the store featured in that movie. 

 

 Not surprisingly, all the Pat Conroy connections are touted since he spent some of his growing up years here and set several of his novels in this area.  Previously we had passed by Daufuskie Island where his book The Water is Wide (the story of his year as a teacher in a two room school for black children) is set, and on the tour we passed his boyhood home. Several movies based on his books were also at least partially filmed here in Beaufort. When the sun finally came out we could see why this attractive town has become a popular stop for tourists and the American Cruise Line Southeastern Intracoastal Waterway Cruise (www.americancruiselines.com/Find-a-cruise/southeast-us ).

 

We, (Steve, Ricky and Drew Little, and me) spent another day roaming about this corner of SC.

 

 

The boys went to the Parris Island Marine Base museum while I perused the shops and the Verdier House museum. After seeing the outside of the plantation architecture, it was interesting to see the inside and feel the high ceilings, tall windows, and stout walls.  This house was built in 1804 and embellish on the outside with elaborate moldings as many others in town were as well.  The owners wanted everyone to see their wealth even before they entered.  The public rooms were also heavy with crown moldings, doorway pediments and frieze encrusted mantels. One room even still displayed the original wall papers found under plasterboard during a recent renovation. The house is also used to display art exhibits, and I enjoyed the current showing of the silhouettes by Carew Rice – his work included the small typical heads cut from black paper, but more amazing were the large landscapes -  poster size scenes of the area cut from one piece of paper. The detail was both inspiring and amusing. Studying a larger work revealed animals hidden among the trees and swamps. Even his smaller works displayed his sense of humor with the whimsical pictures of everyday life. I was not allowed to photography his work, but check the link from Google if you are interested. The series on Charleston gates must have required the patience of a saint and the steady hands of a surgeon.

www.ricegalleries.com/gallery_carewrice.html

The boys supply some photos of the marines on parade – lots of hoorahs have been flying around here since they returned.

 

  friends from Saudi will get the reason for this one!

Ricky and Drew with Erben Renewal in the background - from the shores at our mooring on South Edisto River

 After windy nights on the hook.....

Headng to Isle of Hope

After Jekyll heading to Isle of Hope (Savannah, GA)

We are tardy in posting since we have been hiding out in the remote sea islands of where cell coverage is not “strong” enough to hook up my computer.  We enjoyed a few restful days before heading to the big city of Savannah.  Well actually, we are skipping lovely Savannah in favor of quiet Isle of Hope – a suburb where the marina includes loaner cars, bikes and old world mansions on bluff drive. Since the weather has been brisk – as in COLD for us Floridians – we did not suffer from the dreaded marsh bug attack other than the odd no-see-um.  The pictures of the marsh are fewer than the Victorian architecture but no less inspiring.  The flat lands are just hard to photograph from a boat. The vast sky and rippling water are separated by a tiny strip of yellowish brown stuff resulting in unattractive photos which do not capture the peaceful magic of this area. 

 

 The ICW is shallow in several spots here – we actually bumped along through Jekyll Creek but made it on a rising tide nonetheless.  The helmsman had to stay awake since this whole area is prone to high tidal changes of 5 to 6 feet which can create challenging currents and unexpected shoaling. I stay glued to my Ipad app from Garmin while in the pilot seat and perhaps too much as well when I am NOT (according to Steve).

 

 

However, we were lucky to have the old Ipad since our main chart plotter is finicky and occasionally just does strange things like drop the depth data or our GPS position. We do have another plotter, but it is handy to have that sweet Ipad up and running. I have to mention this because there was some reluctance on the Captain’s part when I purchased this “extravagance”! 

Rest is not really in Steve’s vocabulary, so you can be sure he worked out the heat gun at every stop and then there was the hose and heat exchanger he swapped out ONCE again.  He has the hose change down to less than 30 minutes.

Back at the Kennedy Space Center we were IMAXED, but in the last few days we have been WAKED…. Now this has nothing to do with celebrating a life long lived and everything to do with rearranging my frig, glassware and any tip-prone object on board. A few FAST boats fail to slow down when they run by us slow pokes and the result is rock and roll without the music (if you don’t count the sub-vocal swear words). We have been fortunate that our reflexes have been up to the challenge, but would like to post a HUGE no wake zone on our bumper!

 

 I include a few photos so you know I have not been sleeping the last few days.  The homes of Isle of Hope will be coming next post….