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Georgetown to Isle of Palms

By on November 28, 2010 in Grateful
November 18-23, 2010
Georgetown is almost midway between Myrtle Beach and Charleston, and was founded in 1729 after Spain unsuccessfully attempted to settle the area in the early 1500s. It is the third oldest city in South Carolina. The area flourished as a seaport because of the ease of navigation to the Atlantic. Rice and indigo were grown on the plantations and the area provided half the U.S. crop at the time. The Georgetown region became the largest rice exporting port in the world up until the Civil War – and the abolition of slavery.
Porter and I enjoyed walks to the park and playing with sticks. I know that you get to see many pictures of houses on this blog but I still had to include a picture of one of my favorite homes in Georgetown.

As we travel, Porter “assumes his position”. He typically stays at one end of the couch or the other. While the motor is running, he doesn’t eat or drink much.
We started later than originally intended because of fog and traveled to Isle of Palms (just north of Charleston) on the rising tide with flood tide being at 10:30. As we neared Isle of Palms, the tide was ebbing. This means the channels were narrower and the areas where shoaling occurs have greater impact on the channel. Captain Mark reads the waterways well and Grateful is powerful enough to not be pushed off course by currents and wind. We passed a sailboat that ran aground just out of the center of the channel. Sometimes captains will ask for a boat to go by giving a wake so that it might lift the boat and with power the boat may become unstuck. But as we passed we went slowly. This sailboat will wait for the tide to rise so that they can resume their trip.

We covered 55 miles and arrived at Isle of Palms in a little over 6 hours. Mark calls Isle of Palms “Grand Central Station” as there seems to be something coming and going all the time. The marina is at the junction of MorganCreek and the ICW. The Dewes Island Ferry runs hourly from here and there are ferries that carry trucks and cars. We are also by the boat ramp and it is a busy place! Certainly entertaining.
We met John and Paulette (m/v Seamantha) and visited about crossing Florida on the Okeechobee Waterway. They have done it twice and enjoy it very much. Their boat also has a draft of 5 feet. We had heard that the Okeechobee could be shallow, but John and Paulette assured us that there is 7-8 feet and that is plenty of water. We hope to see them along the way.

Georgetown to Isle of Palms

By on November 28, 2010 in Grateful

November 18-23, 2010Georgetown is almost midway between Myrtle Beach and Charleston, and was founded in 1729 after Spain unsuccessfully attempted to settle the area in the early 1500s. It is the third oldest city in South Carolina. The area flourished …

The Grateful is Back in the Water

By on November 19, 2010 in Grateful

We arrived in N Myrtle Beach on November 9th after spending the weekend with Bob & Dianne at their beautiful Wisconsin cabin….Sammy, Port & Sadie waiting for a treatand traveling through the Great Smokies…..The Grateful looked beautiful wit…

The Grateful is Back in the Water

By on November 19, 2010 in Grateful

We arrived in N Myrtle Beach on November 9th after spending the weekend with Bob & Dianne at their beautiful Wisconsin cabin….

Sammy, Port & Sadie waiting for a treat

and traveling through the Great Smokies…..

The Grateful looked beaut…

May 26 – June 7, 2010

By on June 12, 2010 in Grateful
A quick note before you launch into this very long blog entry. Mark, Porter and I are back in Minnesota. We want to take care of some business here during the summer rather than come back for a Minnesota winter. We have Grateful “on the hard” in N Myrtle Beach. I think this will be the last entry for awhile, but start checking back in October. Our plans are to go back to Grateful then and spend the winter someplace warm. Till then…..



Leaving Charleston, Isle of Palms, Georgetown,  and Myrtle Beach, SC
We left Charleston a day sooner than planned – partly because I forgot to extend our stay another couple of days and another boat was due in to take our spot. Charleston Maritime Center Marina said they would accommodate us, but that we would need to move to the fuel dock. Mark and I both decided that if we had to move, we would move on to another marina rather than move just to another slip. This was one of the harder marinas for us to get into a slip – combination of current, tides, and wind. The marina staff was very pleasant and the marina was a great base from which to see Charleston, but we were ready to leave the rocking and rolling behind. We intended to leave the next day anyway.
So Isle of Palms, 9 miles further up the ICW, had a space on their fuel dock and we reserved it. We gave Mom a tour of the Charleston harbor before we started up the ICW. She could see the Battery from the water side and she was able to get a closer look at FortSumter. The weather wasn’t the best, but it was a short ride.
I didn’t get pictures of Isle of Palms, but it was a nice place. What I remember was an incredible ship’s store that you have to see to believe. No pictures.
We were up early the next morning to go to Georgetown, SC. The trip was about 50 miles through marshes. Again, we had the giant flies swarming the boat, but this time we had the “happy swatter” keeping the flies from biting Mark – for some reason these flies LOVE him. Mark gave the helm to me for a short while and this is when Mom and I saw an alligator swimming in the ICW – yep, I guess the water is fresh enough. The salt marshes stretched out all around us, but were gradually giving way to more trees.

Georgetown, SC is the third oldest city in South Carolina and again we enjoyed beautiful old homes, streets lined with moss-strewn live oaks and magnolia trees in bloom, and wonderful hospitality. We did not rent a vehicle while we were here so our sight-seeing was limited. We walked to town our first morning and enjoyed a breakfast at Thomas’ – a recommendation from several folks at Hazzard Marina. We used the Captain’s lounge at Hazzard to play pinochle and watch golf. Saturday, Mom and I went to the farmers’ market. Of course we walked away with more to eat – terrific tomatoes and homemade pimento/cheddar spread.

A highlight on Saturday was seeing the motor vessels, Emily E and Queen Ann’s Revenge, come in to GeorgetownHarbor. We had last seen Jim, Debbie and Emily (Emily E) in Ft.Lauderdale, and hadn’t see Hank and Ann (QAR) since November. We all arranged to have dinner at Portofino’s Italian Restaurant. It was great fun to catch up on all our adventures. Unfortunately, no picture as I was too busy visiting.

Monday morning we left for Myrtle Beach with a stop at Osprey Marina midway. The ICW along this part is along the WaccamawRiver and was beautiful. The water was deep from side to side and scenic. Because it was Memorial Day, the river was busy with recreational traffic.

We got to pretty Osprey Marina early afternoon and picked up fuel. We had pushed to get here because their prices were advertised to be low and they also gave a Boat US discount. We needed 380 gallons and paid only $2.45 per gallon. We continued to check prices as we traveled along the ICW and we saved at least $.45 per gallon compared to all other prices.

From Osprey Marina, Myrtle Beach on to N Myrtle Beach (about 25 miles) the waterway is narrow and carved out of shale. Homes ranged from modest to spectacular and of course there were golf courses. One of the more unique courses is Waterway Hills with gondolas on cables that cross over the waterway.



We played tourists in Myrtle Beach. Unfortunately, Mark had been fighting his annual cold and he managed to get us to the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club, but then it was “lights out” for him for two days. So Wednesday Mom and I drove all over and figured out where we were golfing, where the airport was and picked up stuff at West Marine. Thursday, Mark tried but could not generate enough energy to golf so Mom and I went. We had a great day and the River Hills Golf Course was very nice and friendly – think I only lost three balls in the water. Signs near the water warned not to try to retrieve any golf balls that went in – hmmmm, I wonder why???

Once Mark recovered enough to stand up, we toured more of Myrtle Beach, walked on the beach, had an early bird special at the Chesapeake Grill for seafood and then we went to play miniature golf. There are 49 miniature golf courses in Myrtle Beach area and some were pretty spectacular. We played at the course where they play the “Masters” of Miniature golf. We look forward to going back and playing the other 48 courses. I just hope it turns out better than this time as I owed both Mark and Mom $4.00 each once we were done. I will have you know that I pay my bills – between the two of them they owed me over $50.00 from playing pinochle that I have yet to seeJ


May 26 – June 7, 2010

By on June 12, 2010 in Grateful

A quick note before you launch into this very long blog entry. Mark, Porter and I are back in Minnesota. We want to take care of some business here during the summer rather than come back for a Minnesota winter. We have Grateful “on the hard” in N Myrt…

May 10-17, 2010

By on May 22, 2010 in Grateful
Hilton Head and Savannah

It’s been awhile since I wrote – busy and then too tired. Grateful is in Charleston right now – Mark is in MN to go fishing with friends and my Mom is visiting Charleston with me.

Mark and I spent a very pleasant week in Hilton Head. It is all the good things you hear about it. There is a lot to offer for any interest. We stayed at the Palmetto Bay Marina which ended up being a good choice for us. It was quiet and had great walking areas for Porter – a park not too far away where he could be unleashed.

Our first evening there, we had dinner with Tony and Joan (m/v Destrier). We had spent some quality time in Mobile with them in November. It was fun to get together with good food (at the Black Marlin restaurant) and even better stories.

We rented a car for a couple of days. We toured much of Hilton Head and re-provisioned, but sadly I took no pictures. Mark and I were most impressed with the maintenance of the natural beauty of the island. By that we mean that it was difficult to find restaurants or shopping malls because signage was minimal and trees, shrubs, and flowers hid parking lots. Just lovely.

We also drove the 40 minutes to Savannah and toured that beautiful old city. General James Oglethorpe originally laid out the city in a grid pattern that included lush, green parks every few blocks. No matter where you are in the old city, there is an oasis within walking distance. The city is charming.

There is the capitol building at the end of “Bull” Street.

This house where Hollywood stars stay when visiting the city,

And other homes that were just beautiful – too many to publish them all.

This little building with original facade is now a Christmas store, but was originally a Ford dealership.

Another grand home that I placed in the wrong place and can’t change

We stopped at this church – impressive both inside and out.

The fountain in ForsythPark.

We enjoyed our day in Savannah and topped it off with what else but good food and chocolate. Yes, we found a wonderful chocolate store and purchased original pralines – among other things. We then went to Paula Dean and Sons restaurant for a late afternoon buffet lunch of good old southern cooking that included fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, mac ‘n cheese, cornbread and peach cobbler. Can’t you just feel your arteries clogging???

On Sunday, we were pleased to spend some time with Adam and Teresa (niece and husband). They arrived in Hilton Head to vacation for a few days. It is always good to visit with them.


May 10-17, 2010

By on May 22, 2010 in Grateful

Hilton Head and Savannah It’s been awhile since I wrote – busy and then too tired. Grateful is in Charleston right now – Mark is in MN to go fishing with friends and my Mom is visiting Charleston with me. Mark and I spent a very pleasant …

May 5-10, 2010

By on May 11, 2010 in Grateful
Before I had a chance to tell you about Georgia, we had moved on to South Carolina! We aren’t traveling that fast – Georgia only has about 110 miles of coast line, but the ICW is approximately 140 miles because of the convoluted passage. So I will start with our trip from FernandinaBeach to Jekyll Harbor Marina and then our stay at JekyllIsland. Oh what the heck… I’ll throw in the rest of the story just to be caught up. You all can read at your leisure.

Fernandina Beach to Jekyll Island, GA

Now this is the way to cruise. We were only going 32 miles so we could start out later. We were also gauging our departure and arrival times to take advantage of the tides. We are finding that the currents seem to be quieter at flood and/or ebb tide. Flood tide at JekyllIsland was 2:45 so we left FernandinaBeach at 11:00.

We were excited to pass by King’s Bay. This is a submarine base for the US. We read that when these subs enter at St. Mary’s Sound, often they are on the surface and throw huge wakes. Well, all we saw was the submarine dock – empty – and the patrol boat on alert. The ICW passes very close to the base and we saw a patrol boat start toward us right before we made our turn into the ICW channel. They definitely were ready in case we had continued straight.

We arrived at Jekyll Island Marina very close to our planned 2:45 and experienced no difficulty with the current. I suspect Mark’s great driving had something to do with this also.

Jekyll Island

What a pleasant stay we had at the Jekyll Harbor Marina, Georgia – a clean marina with accommodating staff and the first courtesy car since Mobile, Alabama. Our four days here were quite hot – high 80s to low 90s – and very humid – about 85%. The locals say this is pretty normal for this time of year.

I was captivated by this place as soon as I took Porter for a walk. The live oak trees were gigantic and bearded with Spanish moss. As we walked further the vines covering the trees created giant sentinals along the road. . Later we found a nature trail and both Porter and I were happy.

The marina has a restaurant on premises, Sea Jays, and we ate there with Edy and Lorne (m/v R-Hope) on Thursday evening. Of course we compared stories and because they are from the east coast, we asked lots of questions about what to expect ahead and good places to stay. (I haven’t been very good about carrying my camera with me so didn’t get a picture).

Friday we made reservations and played golf at PineLakes, one of the four courses on the Island. I am not a good golfer, but I enjoy the game – That day was better than normal and I almost broke under 110.

The marina shuttled us to the golf course and then after a lunch at the clubhouse, they came to bring us back. As we approached the marina office, our driver complained that a van was in the courtesy van parking spot, but then noticed that it was a florist van and said, “Well it is Mothers Day, after all.” This detail would not be something I would typically write about except that when we parked and were hauling our clubs back to the boat, the marina staff said that the flower delivery was for me!! I was very surprised that the kids found me, and my flowers and chocolates were fantastic – What a perfect day I had.
Did you notice that I didn’t mention Mark’s golf score? He’s starting to talk about quitting golf again. I hope not as I truly enjoy golfing with him. I told him before we go golfing again, that he needs to eat a good breakfast instead of the one he had :-)

Saturday we got the bicycles out and rode around the historic district. We stopped at the Jekyll Island Club for quick meal with tame squirrels in attendance. On this day there was a croquet invitational on the front lawn of the Jekyll Island Club. It didn’t look much like the way we used to play it as kids.

We then rode around the beautiful “cottages” (now museums) that were on the island. These cottages were owned by influential bankers in the early 1900s who were eventually responsible for the Federal Reserve System that we still now have. Check out this article and the many others at this site.

http://www.jekyllislandhistory.com/federalreserve.shtml

JekyllIsland also has a sea turtle exhibit and hospital on the island – very interesting.
Jekyll Island to Kilkenny Marina to Hilton Head

We left JekyllIsland Sunday morning and cruised 70 miles to Kilkenny Marina. Originally, we had planned to break it up with a shorter stay, but we would have needed to travel a ways off the ICW and there was a questionable shallow spot on the charts that made us feel uncomfortable. There aren’t many marinas to choose from along this stretch of the ICW so Kilkenny became our next choice. There were mixed reviews about Kilkenny – some have loved the peace and quiet and the sky full of stars while others commented that they thought they heard the banjo pickin’ from “Deliverance”.

As it turned out, we liked this place. The people were friendly and dolphins came up the river to feed in the evening and there really was a sky full of stars. Also, since it was Mother’s Day and Sunday evening, we were entertained by the many fishing boats returning from the day and by the unique way of trailering the boats. The marina has a system that lifts a boat out of the water while its trailer was positioned under the boat. The boat would be lowered onto the trailer away they would go. Very efficient.

We were pleasantly surprised to have a fellow traveler come upstream and also stop at the marina. Tony and Joan (m/v Destrier) were looking for a place to anchor, but saw us and decided to stop. We met them in Demopolis and we were in Turner Marina in Mobile, AL during Thanksgiving. We did some brief catching up and then planned to stay in the same marina at Hilton Head. We love these kind of surprises.

Monday morning started out with Mark changing the fuel filters and by 8:00 we were off. There had been notices to mariners on line about several passages that were very low during low tide. We were trying to plan around the tides but we are not quite sure how long it would take us to travel the many twists and turns of the ICW. Because of the 8-9 foot change from low to high tide, there was plenty of clearance under the two bridges that would have typically needed to open for us.

However, the narrow cuts from one river to another became very shallow. Mark’s knowledge of river currents and where shoaling occurs came in handy for this leg of the trip and he kept us in the deeper water. We also had one local captain volunteer how to navigate a particularly tricky cut entrance -very helpful indeed.

For most of the trip our scenery was marsh grass with trees in the background. We had to laugh after cruising for 3-4 miles (half an hour), we looked across the marsh grass to see Kilkenny Marina – this is how the miles add up on the GA ICW.

As we neared Savannah we passed through towns with the names of Isle of Hope and
Thunderbolt,

and the homes became more plentiful and beautiful.

And there were plenty of dolphin sightings. Happy dolphins!!!

Finally we were in Hilton Head and the Calibogue Sound. As we crossed the sound, we saw Harbor Town Marina with their big lighthouse. We are not staying there, but rather Palmetto Bay Marina on Broad Creek. I just love lighthouses.

Porter continues to be well-adjusted to our new life.


May 5-10, 2010

By on May 11, 2010 in Grateful

Before I had a chance to tell you about Georgia, we had moved on to South Carolina! We aren’t traveling that fast – Georgia only has about 110 miles of coast line, but the ICW is approximately 140 miles because of the convoluted passage. So I will …