0 miles traveled, more pictures

More pictures from our trip. Rocking chairs waiting for the Bennett's.  They have a long wait.

River Dunes Marina

 Many of the homes along the ICW had a nice view, but didn't have a dock or boat. I guess if you live on the water, you don't need a boat.

The sign says "feed the fish"
not the birds.

My new hang out

Another nice home, no boat!

Annapolis Waterfront

We spent a day at "Broadway on the Beach" with a large lake, and hungry fish, and me with no fishing pole.

    Another from the Dismal swamp

No traveling for a while, but the pictures will continue.

Thank you all for joining us on our trip. We hope you have enjoyed the pictures that we have posted, and we promise more will follow.

Happy Thanksgiving Day

   So today, the day after thanksgiving, Sharon and I are sitting on the beach. I have shorts on, Sharon is playing with bare feet in the sand. Later we stop and get something to eat at Chic-Fil-A. They are playing Christmas music, its 68 deg. and I am still in shorts. This just ain't right. But I'm not complaining.
  We are still at Osprey Marina in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The weather is fine, the marina is beyond hospitable, so we are planning on staying until the weather or the marina manager chases us away.
  We decided to post some of the most notable pictures that Sharon took along the way.

We didn't leave this morning

Osprey V-22 flyover

One of the many bridges we
passed along the way

Looking for dinner

Today we will post pictures of the lower Chesapeake Bay and a couple of the Dismal Swamp. The swamp is an experience that is hard to explain. Very narrow, sometimes dark, But oh what fun. We talked later and determined that is was probably the best 50 continuous miles that we travelled. The water was described as root beer (very fitting).  The water was deep from shore to shore, so there isn't much of a danger of hitting bottom along the way if you get out of the middle. They have a rest area that is for cars on one side and boats on the other. You should have seen the looks on some of the driver's faces when they come around the corner and saw a bunch of large boats along side the road. 

Red skies at night: Sailors delight
Red skies in the morn: Sharon's delight

New navy SES (surface effect ship)  conducting firing
exercises, this is as close as we could (wanted) to get.

All tucked in for a few days



Myrtle Beach Yacht Club

Lightkeepers Marina
Reminds us of our home marina

Bun found Barnacle Jim

Compliments of Ms. Irene

Osprey Marina

 There are so many beautiful houses along the way, the miles just click by without even noticing. With every house having a dock attached, you don't want to go too fast to create a wake and possible damage. We pulled into Osprey Marina in Myrtle beach about 1:30 this afternoon. Completed some cleaning and then relaxed. We are planning on spending a few days here. The temperature during the days is upper 70's and the evenings in the lower 60's. Looks like shorts and sandals for a few days. We spent a night at Carolina State Beach Marina but didn't make it to the beach. After a long 9 1/2 hour day, we just relaxed on the boat with a glass of wine. Next day we made it to Myrtle Beach Yacht Club and took a berth at the Lightkeepers Marina. The weather has been great since leaving Morehead City. We have been travelling slower, but we have enjoyed the trip so much.

Oh Oh, we went aground! It was the navigators fault!

The Navigator

As we continue along the ICW (the ditch) the trip has been uneventful until mile marker 260. We went aground. Soft landing. We just waited a few minutes.The tide was coming in, so it floated us off with a little reverse. Just soft mud bottom, but it got our attention. I think it was the new navigators fault. She was suppose to paying a little more attention. We stopped in Carolina beach State Marina. I'm not a fan of a state park competing with private marinas, but a flat fee of $30. makes it attractive. They remodeled this marina in the last year, The slips were top rate. Carla the Park Ranger was very nice and Doc, the assistant helps us get tied up for the night. We will stop back and spend a few days in the spring.
      We finally departed North Carolina today and entered South Carolina. We spent quite a few days or weeks in North Carolina, I thought we would have to file a change of address to the state after a while.The houses lining the ICW are beyond explanation. All of them have windows covering the walls facing the canal. I can only imagine when the cold winter winds blow off the Atlantic. One house that stuck out was large, pink with a accompanying light house the same color built right on a point. It got both of our attention. Now a few days in North Myrtle Beach to relax.



We were just reviewing the stats for our blog. We have 1000 visits.
We are doing our best to post pictures and stories that would be interesting and fun to look at and read. We would like to thank you all for coming along with us on our trip. Please consider leaving comments. 
When we do spot a pod of Dolphins, you can be sure that Sharon will have her camera in hand and get plenty of pictures that will be posted. Until then, we will do our best to keep updating whenever we are able. Thank you all again.
Jim, Sharon, Daisy Bennett
and Bun

River Dunes Harbor Marina then the rain, the fog, the wind

We spent a couple of days at River Dunes Marina to collect our mail and Chart Chip to continue our trip.

River Dunes Harbor Marina
Oriental, N.C.

We received a "Care Package" with a "Special Treat".. a bag of candy and some beautiful handmade cards from Kayla and Aidan.  We know that someone cares!!  Then a little further south, we looked at the weather a last time before leaving. NOAA said winds light, seas less than 1 foot until afternoon. We decided to take off to make it to the next scheduled stop before the rains started. Just like clockwork, 12:00 noon, the winds started to blow right on the head and waves started crashing over the bow and the bikes were holding on dearly to the front of the boat's hand rail. Then the fog bank rolled in. I thought a stiff wind would blow the fog away. Not a chance!
Sharon with camera in hand was stationed in front of the helm and was told to look for a "Green" one or a "Red" one. So down Adams creek we went at less than 2 kts. Out of the fog ahead of us popped a sailboat. I think he was as surprised as us. Do we continue or pull into one of the marinas that are along the way? We had about 1/8 mile visibility. I radioed ahead to the marina that was only 5 miles away and checked his conditions at the marina, they were the same and likely to get worse as the day goes on, so we continue. Around the turning basin in Morehead City, N.C. and the marina was directly ahead of us. Then Sharon yells out "DOLPHINS"!!! I'm looking for a marina and she is looking for dolphins. We spot the marina and get tied up in 20+ kts winds and both breathed a sigh of relief. I walked into the office to register and the Portside Marina owner asked me how the ride was and then he handed me a beer.(Jim deserved it!! as per Sharon)

Weight room at River Dunes Harbor Marina

We got company

There is a sailboat
in the fog

At least someone is
getting some exercise

Sharon was still on the flybridge looking for the dolphins. We also saw Pelicans flying around and diving for fish and Jelly Fish swimming all around the boats. So the last hour of the trip was fun and a change from the occasional boredom. We never felt that we were in danger, just a good adrenalin rush. The winds blew throught the rest of the day and the evening. Its good to be tied up to a concrete dock in 30 kts wind gusts. We turned in with the boat occasionally rocking us to sleep. About 2am, Sharon wakes me up and says "we got company" I look over and see Daisy in bed with us. The hard rain, thunder, lightening and the winds convinced her that she should crawl in bed with us. First time that happened, but we have lots of firsts on this trip.

A couple of days at Dowry Creek Marina




 From the porch of the Dowry Creek Marina

   Another beautiful sunrise over the Pungo  River.                    



This is Linda. She is sailing from Maine to the west coast of Florida on a 22 foot Pierson. She was in Annapolis a couple of days before us and she pulled into Dowry Creek yesterday. We think the inspiration for her fast travel is the colder nights. She is what real sailors are truly made of.  A wisp of a woman with more guts than most people could only imagine or read about in books. As I watched her tiny vessel go off to sea into the rising sun this morning, I silently hoped a safe journey for her.



More from the Dismal Swamp

The dance in the morning

The Dance continues

How do you put nine 40 foot boats on 150 foot of dock space?

The person responsible for most of these pictures. Plenty more to follow.