May 3-4, 2014  Days 6-7  Heading North!

Barefoot Marina
North Myrtle Beach, SC

On Saturday at 0720, we left our anchorage at Church Creek and headed north through Elliott’s Cut which leads into the busy Charleston Harbor. It is always a treat to come through there and see the beautiful, historic homes on the Battery. We did not stop in Charleston this time, but continued on to make a longer distance.  We enjoyed talking with our friends on Salt Shaker again on the radio and hope to see them this summer in the Chesapeake.

By early afternoon we realized we needed to stop for a little fuel and we went into Jerome Creek to Leland Oil Co.  We had to wait at the entrance to the creek for several shrimp boats to leave. They were just coming from the “Blessing of the Fleet” Ceremony. It was fun to watch them parade out into the river.

We reached our anchorage on the South Santee River at 1620 and spent a very peaceful night there.

Sunday morning found us up and out early at 0705. We entered the Waccamaw River at 0820 and were soon passing Georgetown.  Our first stop was at the Osprey Marina in Myrtle Beach. They have the best fuel prices in the area and we filled all thee tanks. We left there and wound our way down to North Myrtle Beach to dock at the Barefoot Marina.  It was quite a ride – take a warm, sunny afternoon on Sunday and you will find every jet ski, pontoon boat, runaround boat, cruisers, and even a tow boat going up and down the narrow river. We arrived at the marina at 5:00 and our friends Rick and Margi, on Journey were there to take our lines.  Soon we were with other Loopers having Docktails!

April 30 – May 2, 2014  Days 3-5  Heading North!

At anchor, Church Creek, SC

On Wednesday, we left our anchorage at New Teakettle Creek (love the name!) and traveled eleven hours to reach an anchorage at Bull Island near Hilton Head. After traveling through a thunderstorm, we eventually arrived at our destination and actually spent a very quiet night at anchor.

On Thursday, we had a short, calm 4 hour drive and went to the Lady’s Island Marina. This is across the river from the historical town of Beaufort.  After 3 days at anchor we needed to get off the boat! We borrowed the marina’s courtesy car and went to Publix to provision our galley. We also got some laundry done. We found some Loopers there also. Randy and Sherri on Priorities are on their Californian, and before we all went to dinner we had them over for a visit. It is always fun to meet people on a boat like ours!  We had a nice seafood dinner at Dockside, a restaurant right behind the marina.

This morning, Friday, we left the marina and drove six hours to an anchorage in Church Creek, just south of Charleston, SC.   We had such a pleasant surprise when we heard the crew of Salt Shaker on the radio.  They are the former owners of our boat, and we enjoyed chatting with them on the radio!  It is such a small world. They are also anchored here with us.  We saw more boat traffic today than we have seen all week!  

Tomorrow we will continue our journey north!

 

April 28-9, 2014  Days 1-2  Heading North!

At anchor,
New Teakettle Creek, GA

Yesterday we said goodbye to The Marina at Ortega Landing after being there for 4 ½ months. It was a good feeling to be underway and we had a great day of traveling.  Carried Away performed perfectly!

We left the Ortega River and were soon in the busy St. Johns River, passing downtown Jacksonville and then passing the industrial ports with many container ships and the Carnival Cruise Line. We saw the newly boarded passengers in their life jackets receiving their safety instructions.

Six hours later we passed Fernandina Beach. The marina was full with pleasure craft as well as several shrimp boats. Their annual Shrimp Festival begins Friday and is a big event.

We continued on to our anchorage at Cumberland Island, GA and joined several other boats who were already there.  We had wine with cheese and crackers and celebrated our return to the water.  Then we cooked dinner on the grill and had a peaceful evening at anchor!

We departed Cumberland Island at 0720 and were soon passing the Kings Bay Naval Base with its submarines. We were fortunate to see both a Ballistic Missile Sub and an Attack Sub.  As always the Navy patrol boats monitor the boaters passing by!

We entered St. Andrews Sound at 10:00 and were so happy that it was fairly calm.  We arrived at Jekyll Harbor Marina at 11:00 to get fuel.  We enjoyed our stay there last year, but we needed to go farther today.

We continued up the ICW which quickly became marshland. We had some very shallow water at low tide but Bill skillfully maneuvered us through it.

We spotted many dolphin today along with one wild horse, an eagle, many pelicans, egrets, cormorants, and one heron!

At 4:15 we arrived at another good anchorage in a quiet creek.  We enjoyed a nice dinner fixed on the grill and then planned our route for tomorrow. We hope to get near Savannah and go to another anchorage.

April 14, 2014  Day 155  South for the Winter

The Marina at Ortega Landing
Jacksonville, FL

We have less than three weeks remaining here at Ortega Landing and we are staying busy getting Carried Away ready for the trip. Bill is chipping away at his project list.  He removed all the screens in the salon windows and washed them. He pulled the anchor chain out of the hold, reversed it, and painted new stripes to mark the depths.  That took a few days due to multiple coats of paint. He also refinished some wood trim on the side of the boat – another multiple day project.  We also had a diver check the bottom of the boat, and as expected, since we have been stationary so long, we have barnacles. The diver will return before we leave and remove the barnacles!

In the meantime we have enjoyed being with Looper friends, Rick and Margi on Journey and Bob and Janet on Harmony.  We have shared many meals – potlucks, cookouts, restaurants, etc.  We went to the beach one afternoon and thoroughly relaxed under the sun!  We have been to the Riverside Arts Market twice and hope to go back this weekend. It is a market of arts, music, and food!  The St. Johns River provides a perfect backdrop for it.  We attended the Southeast US Boat Show in Jacksonville this weekend.  We have also been on many walks, shopping and browsing through shops, including an enormous used book store that is nearby.  Another great outing was a trip to Gold Loopers, David and Barbara Doyle's home on the St. John's River just north of Jacksonille.

Joyce & Margi at the beach

One tradition here at Ortega landing (as well as other marinas) is the annual “Burn Your Socks” party to officially welcome in spring and warm weather.  After enjoying our catered meal of ribs and chicken, we all contributed our socks to the bonfire.



Janet, Bill, & Bob at the "Burn Your Socks" party

Joyce has one more follow-up with her Doctor and hopes to get the official release on April 24 that will allow us to leave within a few days after that.  We still have much to do but we are up to the challenge!

 



March 27, 2014  Day 133  South for the Winter

The Marina at Ortega Landing
Jacksonville, FL

We continue to spend our winter here at Ortega Landing until May 1st.  We were happy to have Bill’s brother Chuck and sister-in-law, Becky visit us in late February.  Their timing was perfect.  They joined us for the Mardi Gras party the marina hosted and brought us our masks and beads to wear! We had a fun evening. 



Decked out for Mardi Gras!

We were also happy to see Tom and Meliesa (on Journey Monk) when they arrived on their way north. More Loopers are arriving every week at Ortega Landing. Bob and Janet (Harmony) and Rick and Margi (Journey Power Cat) are here for a few weeks and we have enjoyed seeing them and catching up on old times!  We boated with these three couples last summer. 

Joyce had surgery at the Mayo Clinic on March 12 and has recovered nicely. Her only limitations are not to lift anything over five pounds. That has not been a problem!

Bill continues to work on his new hobby of bird carving and is doing well at it!  We also spend time reading, walking and tackling ongoing boat projects.   

Bill's curlew

We do have good news to share!  Our granddaughter, Abigail Joy Craig, was born February 20. We are so eager to hold Abby when we drive to Colorado to visit in June!

We will to update the blog again in April and once we are back on the water in May, we will return to daily updates.

February 18, 2014  Day 96  South for the Winter

The Marina at Ortega Landing
Jacksonville, FL

The best laid plans… as Dr. Seuss says (and we seem to be needing this quote again…)

“I’m sorry to say so but sadly it’s true that bang ups and hang ups can happen to you.”

We are more than overdue in updating the blog but with a good excuse.  Four days after our last post in January, Bill had a heart attack.  An emergency heart cath revealed two blocked arteries and Bill is now the owner of two stents.  He received excellent care at nearby St. Vincent’s Hospital and he is doing very well.  This was the first 911 call we have ever made and the response was immediate. We were grateful to be onboard the boat while we were docked, and not anchored out somewhere!

Then, in early February we drove to Virginia to attend the memorial service of our dear sister-in-law, Gennie Craig, who lost a courageous battle with cancer.  We miss her terribly!  We were in Virginia for almost two weeks, and Bill arranged appointments with our family doctor and also a cardiologist for follow-up care.  He had medications adjusted and is feeling great! We stayed with friends in Newport News an in Williamsburg while we were there and are so grateful for their hospitality.

It looks like we will remain at Ortega Landing until May.  Joyce’s surgery has been delayed until mid-March. In the meantime we have projects to keep us busy!  We also look forward to seeing Looper friends arrive on their boats as they began their journey north this spring!  We are enjoying the 70 degrees temperatures this week, knowing all too well what our families in the north and midwest are experiencing.

January 13, 2014  Day 60  South for the Winter

The Marina at Ortega Landing
Jacksonville, FL

The best laid plans… as Dr. Seuss says (and we have used this quote previously…)

“I’m sorry to say so but sadly it’s true that bang ups and hang ups can happen to you.”

We are just now updating our blog after a month’s delay.  We had a fabulous trip over the holidays visiting our family. It would only have been better if our son-in-law were with us and not overseas. But even then we did face time with him Christmas morning so he could watch the children open their gifts.  We spent a whole week in Texas with our daughter and four grandchildren, ages, 5, 7, 9, and 11! We welcomed in the New Year with Bill’s brother and family in Baton Rouge and had a wonderful time with them, including a visit to a WWII Museum and to a plantation.

We returned to Jacksonville on January 2 as planned and then started thinking about our journey south for the winter, including destinations along the way, and projects to do in the meantime.

And now it is January 13 and although our departure date was set for tomorrow, we will not be going any farther south this year.  We will stay here until sometime in April as Joyce will have surgery (probably in February). The recovery comes with a “no lifting more than 5 pounds” for six weeks, so we have decided that line and fender handling would not be a good thing.  We feel good about the decision to have the surgery here at the Mayo Clinic rather than be somewhere where options are not as good. It is also too soon to take Carried Away back to Virginia. 

In the meantime we are meeting lots of boaters who are also staying here for the winter. The marina has a beautiful clubhouse, hosts many activities, and has free laundry, a pool, etc.  We are happy here but will be even happier when warmer weather becomes constant.  We have seen quite a range of temperatures!

We will update the blog from time to time!  We are having overnight guests this week. (Gold Loopers Ricki and Carl (Quest) are arriving by car on Thursday, and we look forward to their visit!