Southern Express

We re-entered the US, from the Bahamas, on March 29.  Since that time, we have been working our way up the coast, stopping along the way for extended visits with our children and grandchildren.  We currently have 5 grandchildren, under the age of 19, and we got to visit all five during the month of April. 

Our trip up the coast has been a primary on the ‘inside’ route, sticking to the Intracoastal Waterway.  We have, however, been able to slip ‘outside’ a few times when conditions were calm, which allows us to cover more linear mileage since we aren’t twisting and turning through the marshes.  The ocean route also allows us to save a little on fuel since we aren’t beating against a tidal current.

This was our last fill up…

Add the number’2’ in front of the 384 for the total cost😬, and to think we are heading to Canada where we have been told that diesel is $9.00/gallon.

Planning to fill up in New York before entering Canada!

Even though we have traveled this route a total of 5 times, we still see interesting sites.

Have you ever seen a floating bridge?  The bridge actually pivots on that large black piling to align with the ramps on either side of the canal.

Who has a commercial lifeboat at the dock?  Maybe their hurricane survival plan🤷🏼‍♀️

Our first stop is outside of Jacksonville…

Captain in training!

Once again, we fought weather issues while visiting Anna, but luckily we were able to squeeze in a boat weekend to Cumberland Island.

The walking paths are beautiful.

Wild horses abound!

Beach days are the best.

As we continued north, we visited one of our favorite towns along this route…Beaufort, SC.  We love this town!

The walls of this, now private, home have an amazing story to tell.

Wow!  The history here is amazing.

From Beaufort, it’s only a one day trip to Charleston…where our next scheduled stop includes two more grandchildren.

Weather was better during our visit with Lucy and Maggie.  

We were anchored near very active park where people participate in all sorts of outdoor activities.  The girls named this the ‘buttcopter’.  This guy took off (seamlessly) right next to us, and flew over the boat.

The landing wasn’t as seamless, but still pretty impressive considering…

Pop and Maggie enjoy dance parties on the top deck.

I thought it would be fun to have boat races. Sounds fun, right?  Again, I failed to envision how this would really play out.  We had a great time constructing and painting our boats.  The the races were also super fun, with one exception…the current.  Each race, from the swim platform, actually meant that grandma was paddling feverishly in a kayak to retrieve all of the vessels.  Of course, Keith’s boat won most often, because he thought to double over his rubber bands to increase the tension…always wearing his mechanics hat!

I never tire of cruising with pelicans!

But clearly, sometimes pelicans get tired of flying😁. I count almost 100 hitchhikers on the shrimp boat we passed in an inlet in South Carolina.

Once back on the ICW, we are definitely part of the great northern migration.  Usually we are spaced out, as everyone travels at different speeds, but we inevitably pile up again while waiting for bridges to open.

After leaving Charleston, we traveled three days (yes, it would have taken three hours by car) to Southport, NC where we left the boat in a marina, rented a car, and drove to Atlanta for one final grandchildren visit.  That adventure will be included in the next post…

We will also get into some of the planning details for completing the Great Loop.  Did you know it was possible to circumnavigate the eastern third of the country?  

In our past three years of cruising we have completed all of the green, and most of the blue, but this summer will be dedicated to the RED!  We will be traveling up the Hudson River, then turning west across the state to follow the Georgian Bay route…I am sooo excited!!