We're partway along on our journey to Jacksonville. We're purposely "dawdling" along the way, seeing the sights, staying a few days here and there. We've had some interesting times along the way, both good and bad.
We left New Bern and headed down the Neuse River and then turned south on the Intracoastal Waterway. Here is a sped-up video of leaving New Bern.
We have stopped at several places so far along the coast of North and South Carolina - Beaufort NC, Surf City, Southport, Myrtle Beach and Georgetown. Both at marinas and overnight secured to our anchor.
The weather has been mostly chilly, but is now starting to warm up. Several days early on we experienced ocean fog after particularly cold nights. One morning, the marina in Beaufort, NC looked like something from New England!
I had an "incident" with an overly-large dock splinter and my foot that required and ER visit while in Surf City. This was one of the most "not-fun" parts of the trip so far. I'll spare you the pictures.......
Going through the port at Morehead City was a bit nerve-racking with all of the container ships, tugs, and barges running around. All of the red markers in on the chart plotter image below are commercial vessels capable of running us down!
One of the most memorable stops so far was an anchorage called "Bird Island", a national bird sanctuary/refuge. The sunrise on the morning we left was stunning. I spliced together a few video clips from the drone (from 6:30am!) in the video below.
Lots to see along the water going through Myrtle Beach and some of the narrower parts of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).
Some of the other areas of the waterway were more remote and have some great natural beauty. I used the drone underway and took a brief video along one of these remote stretches on the Waccamaw River in SC. I hope to get more "underway" videos as we continue on and I get more expert at operating the drone.
We really appreciated having some family take the time to drive out and visit us while in Myrtle Beach! It was a good visit. Still waiting on those photos ;) ......
While at Isle of Palms near Charleston, in lieu of the Great Loop, we got in our kayaks and did a "mini-loop" (2.3 miles) around some marsh near the marina! We'll call that good for now ;)
We decided not to stop in Charleston since we had visited many times by car and the marinas are expensive and crowded. We did pass by Ft. Sumter and the Battery as we transited across the harbor and the port's very busy shipping lanes.
We are currently anchored somewhere off the South Edisto River in South Carolina. There is nothing here for MILES around. We have cellular service, though! Go figure. Looking forward to taking some drone footage of the area if/when the wind dies down.
Best to all,
r.