Wrightsville Beach

Today, Sunday, we had to pass "the rock pile" before we exited Little River Inlet. We ran outside and came back in through Southport Inlet and the Cape Fear River to the the ICW on up to Wrightsville Beach, NC (about a 115 mile day).

The "rock pile"...

Little River Inlet...Up close and personal through the Cape Fear... Bald Head Island...

Snows Cut...Wrightsville Beach...

Steve and Mare on the boat behind us celebrating their anniversary( 2 bottles of champagne)...

Myrtle Beach

From Charleston to Myrtle Beach we ran inside (the intracoastal). Being Saturday we had a lot of small boat traffic as we approached Myrtle. A lot of no wake zones but a good day (120 miles). We arrived about 6 PM. Cleaned the boat and explored Barefoot Landing.

Jay's expert knowledge of Miller Lite trivia won us 5 beers and 2 cozies from the Miller Lite girls. Another good day on the water...

Charleston

The run from Hilton Head to Charleston was great. Since we are moving everyday I don't have a lot of pictures except as we enter or leave a harbor. Here is Jay at the helm...

We had dinner with Terry Allen and Buster. Terry is a sailing friend from Knoxville that has moved back to Charleston. He knows everything about Ch...ar...les...ton (I can't drag the word out as long as he says it)!

Hilton Head

These are pictures that I took during the ride from Jacksonville to Hilton Head. I was by myself on the water in the Atlantic for about 7 hours so I took pictures of myself, the instruments, the buoys, and passing boats on the way to Hilton Head.

I docked the boat at Harbour Town right in the center of Hilton Head. Great spot... Jay arrived from Knoxville and we had dinner with Denny and Chris, freinds from the Bahamas that live in Hilton Head. Shame on me for not getting pictures of them... Jay and I left Hilton Head Friday AM an went outside to Charleston, about a 100 mile trip.

Goodbye Jacksonville

Rain, rain, and more rain. Jacksopnville had more rain in one week that it has had all year (almost 20 inches in one week).

In spite of the rain, Jacksonville has been fun and I have got a lot of work done on the boat... waxed, bike repairs, bike covers, blue cockpit lights, ect, ect...

Had a great dinner with Rick, Linda, and Robbie Strachan at their Ponte Vedra oceanside condo.

Today I am leaving Jacksonville for Hilton Head. I plan to run "outside" for the 130 mile trip. This will be my first run alone on the trip... hope I survive so I can continue to keep the blog up to date. Weather is supposed to be great in the AM. My friend Jay Watlington plans to join me in Hilton Head and we plan to move the boat north until Lynn can rejoin me next week.

Rainey weather...

Mess in the boat...part of projects

Wax job...

New blue lights...

Rainbow from Strachan's patio...Great dinner with Strachans...

Hope to see you in Hilton Head later today!

Jacksonville

We left St Augustine a day earlier than planned due to a cold front moving through and gale winds predicted. We left in the rain for the short run (30 miles) to Jacksonville. We passed the Pinta and Nina that had been in St Augustine for the last week. With the bad weather we steered most of the way from the lower station... nice and dry!

Pictured is the rainy dock at Palm Coast Marina at Jacksonville Beach where we will be for at least a week. Lynn leaves Thursday to return to Knoxville for her "grand child fix" and I will get a few projects done on the boat. Great day to chill and enjoy a pot of beans...maybe even a nap!

St Augustine

St. Augustine has been great this week....despite the noise of all the construction on the bridge.....construction began 2005 and is scheduled to be complete in 2010. The "temporary" bridge will be dismantled when the Bridge of Lions renovation is complete.

I suppose I had forgotten it is the oldest city in the United States...and many old beautiful buildings....

We docked across from two of the tourists boats...one a Pirate boat and the other a sail boat..both were busy this week with tourists and school children.....Also the Pinta and the Nina were here all week and got many visits......

Our local dock bird......enjoyed walking the docks daily...occasionally fishing for lunch as he walked.....allowing picture taking as he ate.....


Flagler College, a once five star hotel, is unbelievable....beautiful Tiffany class adorns the lunch room windows, the fountain in the courtyard welcome the students and visitors who tour....and as you can see no expense was spared in the building of this structure.....

We made a point to enjoy the local musicians as they gather every Thursday nite for a jam session......amazing talent featuring an 80 year old sax player.

One small restaurant/bar offered every kind of beer known...from $3 to $200 per beer. Also the wine was on tap....

The trolley took us thru town to our destinations several times....pointing out all of the historic buildings and attractions......

Once again lunch...this time Greek........and I wonder why we are looking larger every photo......weight watchers ..here we come.

Amazing cross can be seen for miles.

Once again...lunch .....this time at Harry's.... great little out door place...and also nice trees well lit for dinner.

We visited the Fountain of Youth...we can hope can't we?? There we saw the interesting birds and colorful peacocks......

Jerry's sister Linda came for the day with her friend Joyce.....just in time for Junkeroo Festival!

They gave us a tour of the local beaches, some of the park areas with large old trees and also the busy beaches...of course we again had a wonderful lunch at one of their favorite places!

The day ended with a street party advertised locally ......good music and several hand made crafts were offered! A great end to a beautiful day!

We took the dingy to the lighthouse and a great shell beach. Of course we couldn't miss lunch at the Conch House just before Sunday reggae

We had a great time in St Augustine and did a lot ,but we could not do it all, even in a week. Next Jacksonville...