Happy Halloween!

Osprey Marina. Myrtle Beach, SC

We have reached Myrtle Beach and we are staying at Osprey Marina, one of our favorite stops. This marina has a small restaurant, beautiful and clean facilities, an outside picnic deck, and lots of fields and roads for jogging. We are planning to leave our boat here next Nov and Dec so we can come home for the holidays. In this photo Walt and Steve just finished their ice cream cones, yes we needed ice cream because it was so hot and sunny ALL day today! Tomorrow we head to Charleston where we will visit with the Pfuntners-our neighbors from home.

Sunset Beach Pontoon Bridge

This is the only pontoon bridge on the ICW and it floats, of coarse! However, it is being replaced by a new 65' high expansion bridge which will make all the sail boaters very happy. No more waiting for this bridge to open.....

Carrot Island

Carrot Island is across from the Beaufort waterfront. Like Shackleford Banks, Carrot Island is home to a herd of horses that descended from Iberian stock carried by Spanish supply ships. Some are believed to have swum ashore from shipwrecks, others were left by an abandoned Spanish colony. I walked Ranger on the Island but I was unaware of the sand nettles that are so very sharp. Within two minutes he was limping...... We pulled several out with tweezers but he is not a happy dog. There are also small prickly cactus that we have to watch out for-different from NYS!

Northern anchorage

Town Creek is the anchorage on the northern side of Beaufort. You can access it from the ICW by taking the Russell Slough Channel to the Gallant Channel. To get to our anchorage on Taylor Creek you must then pass through the Beaufort Bridge.

Beaufort, NC

We have discovered the historic town of Beaufort, North Carolina where the waterfront has two dinghy docks, a park, two public bathrooms, lots of quaint shops and the NC Maritime Museum. The anchorage here is large and it is located between the Front Street marinas and boardwalk of Beaufort and Carrot Island. We spend three days here exploring the sights. Blackbeard, that famous pirate sporting a long black beard that covered his chest and all the way to his eyes, was killed in the bay here after he tried to come in and ran his ship-Queen Anne's Revenge, aground. He was beheaded and his head was mounted on the bow of a sailing vessel for all to see.

Pungo River Sunset

We put in 77 miles today and anchor in the Pungo River about 6 miles north of Belhaven. Just as we are ready to back down on the anchor Walt discovers we can't go into neutral or reverse.... But the anchorage is quiet for the moment so we shut off the engine, hope the anchor will hold, and take Ranger to land for a run, and then have one of Magaly's recipes-Shrimp Alfredo. Delicious! Walt problem solves for an hour and fixes the gear shift. The guy is amazing! Six other sailboats pull in and three trawlers. We are heading to Beaufort, NC tomorrow to spend the week-end as it looks like a great place to spend some time.

Exercise on the Alligator River

Steve stays in shape by doing handstands and one-armed push-ups on the bow of our sailboat.....it's nice to be young!

Coinjock

Another beautiful day with sunny skies and warm temps. We head into the ICW this morning and motor to Coinjock, North Carolina, where we stay at Midway Marina with lots of other cruising boats. We visited with our dockmates, helped other boats in, and Walt rescued another boater's dog that fell in the water while trying to jump on his boat. Never a dull moment! We had to wait for two small swing bridges today: Centerville Turnpike Bridge and the tiny North Landing Bridge.

Norfolk

It's a beautiful, WARM, and sunny day today so we set sail from Deltaville and head into Norfolk. The size of this harbor always amazes me. It is lined with Navy Vessels and container shipyards. We try hard to make the Gilmerton Bridge but miss the last opening by 20 minutes...... It doesn't open during rush hour traffic from 3:30-5:30. But not to worry - we are in good company with several sailboats and two trawlers waiting to pass. We'll spend the night on the west side of the lock.