Beaufort, SC was awesome. We wished we had planned to stay an extra night. But our goal was Charleston, so we got another early start and headed north. We had a fairly uneventful trip. There were lots of dolphins accompanying us on our route. I think this was the most dolphins we have seen on any day. At one point they were jumping in front of our bow. It was really fun to watch. The boat traffic definitely picked up…
Our departure from Isle of Hope was at 6:15 in the morning. It was right at low tide, so the water was calm and glassy smooth. We quietly idled out of the marina and out of the area before speeding up to our 8 knot cruising speed. As the tide came in we were headed into the current, so that meant that our speed was reduced to 7 knots much of the morning. It was a beautiful ride as we…
The trip from St. Simons Island to Savannah was to be our longest so far. 78 nautical miles over nearly ten hours. It involved some tide swings as well as a very shallow section called Hell Gate. So we got another early start and headed north on a rising tide. It was also our turn to take the lead for the boat convoy, so I had to pay attention. The majority of the day was uneventful except for dodging an…
Today was supposed to be a difficult travel day because of the types of water we were going to encounter as well as the potential for trouble. First there are the tides. They create currents. There are areas where the sand at the bottom of the waterway has moved, creating shoals. Take a waterway at low tide that has shoals and you can potentially run aground. So we were careful to leave on a rising tide and arrive at our…
St. Augustine was fun, but it is time to press on. We left early once again and enjoyed a very quiet and peaceful ride for most of the day. The landscape in this area was sparse but beautiful. There are miles and miles of marsh grass that is captivating to look at. Our route took us through the entrance to the port of Jacksonville, and fortunately we didn’t see much traffic. We did see some big ships, and we had…
Our plan was to make the short two hour cruise north on the ICW to St. Augustine. In order to arrive during slack tide, we prepared to leave by 11am. This gave us some time to visit the beach one more time and also to shop at the Sunday farmer’s market that was set up next door to the Marina. Weekends are crazy on the water, and we saw all sorts of watercraft and shenanigans. We kept our course steady…
As we begin what we call Phase Two of the great loop, we are changing our pace a little. We will now be visiting places that we want to spend some time exploring, and in some cases we will spend multiple days before moving on. Phase two is more of a time box than a target destination. We have four weeks. So we will see where we are on July 18 and decide what to do at that point. Departing…
Phase One of our Great Loop Adventure is complete. The goal was to simply travel from our home port on the west coast of Florida to a corresponding marina on the east coast of Florida. Our plan was to see how it went and make a decision on how to proceed once we completed this portion of the trip. I can say that phase one was a big success. We both really enjoyed the trip and we learned a lot,…
On the final day of our mad dash around Florida, we eased out of Melbourne Harbor Marina at 6:30am and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise as we continued north. Today we took advantage of the boat’s ability to cruise at a faster speed. We spent several hours cruising along at 14 knots. The fuel economy is the same as when the boat is running at about 9 knots because at the faster speed the boat is planing on top of the…
We spent the night at Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart. This was maybe the second fanciest Marina we have stayed at so far, and definitely the most pricey. Once again we found ourselves a bit intimidated by all the big and fancy boats, but as it turns out the Marina is within walking distance to downtown Stuart, and there is a nice waterfront walking trail that we took advantage of. We planned a long trip for the day, so we…