Finally I get to write to a new place! This was our first time on the Chesapeake and the first stop was Yorktown, Virginia. We had a mostly uneventful trip up the Elizabeth River and out into the Bay. The waves calmed down some as we got further into the bay and by the time we made it into the York river the water was calm. Yorktown is the place where the final battle of the revolutionary war was fought,…
We chose to take the Dismal Swamp route again this year. This time it was even better than before because of the cooler weather and the lack of bugs. Also the water was much cleaner with no evidence of the duckweed that clogged the canal last year. We spent the night at the Dismal Swamp Welcome Center / Rest Area.
On Wednesday we stopped in one of our favorite places so far: Southport, North Carolina. As soon as we had the boat tied up, we walked over to The Provision Company for lunch. There is nothing better than eating freshly caught and prepared seafood while sitting at a table overlooking the ICW. Thursday we departed early and made our way to a place we haven’t stayed at before. This is Surf City, North Carolina on Topsail Island. The marina is…
Today we spent the day cruising along the Wacamaw River in South Carolina. It was beautiful and peaceful and very enjoyable. Check out this cool time lapse video Melissa took as we went through the Socastee swing bridge.
We had a calm and relaxing 60 mile ride as we moved from Beaufort to Charleston. It was overcast for much of the day, but the waters were calm and we were able to ride the current for most of the morning, which is always a blessing. The end of the trip included a bit of stress as we attempted to navigate Charleston Harbor with about 20 other pleasure boats of various sizes scooting back and forth. Our route took…
These were repeat visits from our trip last year. The trip from Jekyll to Isle of Hope was a long travel day of over 80 miles. We hope to avoid doing these long days, but there aren’t many places to stop on the Georgia coast, and we still aren’t doing the anchor out thing. So that left us with a trip where we departed in the pre-dawn light and didn’t stop until 4pm or so. Overall it was a good…
Our first stop was Jekyll Island. It was a nice 70nm trip from Jacksonville on a perfect weather day. The morning started slow as we had to wait 15 minutes for a railroad bridge to open, but after an Amtrak train sped by the bridge was opened and we were on our way. We had a nice slow boat ride through downtown Jacksonville, and then made up some time in the wide open waterway between downtown and the ICW. This…
Once again we begin our trek north. As you may recall, last fall we made the decision to move the boat down to Florida for the winter to avoid the freezing temperatures and to take care of some maintenance issues. It took about three weeks to travel from Portsmouth, Virginia down to Sanford, Florida. A few weeks ago we made the trip up the St. John’s River to a boat yard in Jacksonville. Now as we restart our Loop travels…
At the end of our last trip I had assembled a list of things I wanted to repair or replace on the boat. Since I enjoy doing projects I decided to tackle as many of these by myself, and hopefully save a little money along the way. So I started right away on the most difficult items with hopes that I could get most if not all of them finished by the time we set sail in the spring. Here…
One feature I like about our travel trailer is the solar setup. The system keeps the batteries charged all the time, even when stored. We have 450 watts of solar panels on top of the trailer, which is enough to recharge the battery bank fully in one day of full sun. The boat batteries are normally charged while underway, when running the generator, or when plugged into shore power. So for normal day to day use, I don’t have to…