4/20/13 - North Carolina

Greetings from the Tar Heel state!  

Mooring on Calabash River

Girl Time

After leaving Osprey Marina in Myrtle Beach, we headed for an anchorage in the Calabash River.  The anchorage was right along the NC/SC border.  Very nice and protected, although we are still 'working' with Heidi to use her pee pad.  :o(  

The next morning we headed on to Bald Head Island, NC and spent a couple of days exploring.  OK, I found out that they call it Bald Head Island because many years ago as sailors approached the island, it had a large hill that had bare with no greenery on it.  The sailors said it looked like a bald head....and it stuck.   It is a very pretty island with Old Baldy, the oldest lighthouse in North Carolina.  

The marina is well protected from the Atlantic and ferries run continuously until late in the evening.

View of marina atop Old Baldy

BHI is a fairly large island with paved trails all over.  They only allow golf carts or bikes, so we opted for our bikes.  It is also a dog-friendly island.  Heidi was able to have some fun on the beach swimming and attacking a crab (which was dead, but don't tell her).  

Miss Braveheart fighting with dead crab

After leaving BHI, we ventured up the Cape Fear River and that brings us to where we are now.  Wilmington has a boardwalk in the historic downtown with lots of shopping and restaurants.  As the weather changed last night with a cold front and wind, we are hunkered down.  But guess what??

On Thursday, as we were returning from a long bike ride, we saw a very familiar face walking down the dock.  It was Joe Sadler!  Joe & Ginny's boat, Slow Gin was docked right next to us.  

Slow Gin

What a nice surprise.  We're still not quite sure how they caught us but glad they did.  They will be tied up for a couple of days too, as we wait out the windy conditions.  







That's it for today.  The adventure continues.....

Buds on the beach at BHI

  

4/14 Update From Myrtle Beach, SC

Hey Ya'll! (still in the South :o} )

Historic downtown Charleston

Charleston was a great town!  On the last half of our stay there, we toured Ft. Sumter and took in a historic carriage ride along the Battery and Rainbow Row.  Randy and I found a new ale that is pretty tasty.  It is called 'Son of a Peach' and it is yumo!  Perfect spring/summer ale.  

Patriot's Point Maritime Museum

Famous ironwork along gates

Federal flag returned to Ft. Sumter after the war

View of Pinkney's Castle

On top of Ft. Sumter

 Barefoot'n is now at the Osprey Marina in Myrtle Beach, SC.  It is tucked in off of the Waccamaw River.  Very quiet and lots of tall cedars and pines.  We have seen lots of ospreys and turtles along this river.  We again decided to rent a car to see the sites of Myrtle Beach, Murrell's Inlet and Socastee.  It just so happened that fellow Unsinkables, Bud and Patrece aboard Almost Perfect, were already at Osprey Marina.  It was so nice to spend some time with them, having dinner at Ruth Chris' Steakhouse and getting some valuable tips and recommendations on what to see and do on our trip north.  

Bud & Patrece at Osprey Marina

As for Heidi, she celebrated her 9th birthday on the 12th, with some vanilla ice cream and singing.  And!  It just so happens that there is a goat farm adjacent to the marina.  Needless to say, she was super excited to go for a walk here!  :o)  

Hammin'
 it up at House of Blues in Myrtle Beach

Anchor out -
Morning mist over Graham Creek

Historic Georgetown, SC


Tomorrow morning, we will leave the great state of South Carolina and head for North Carolina.  And the adventure continues.....

Barefoot'n in Charleston, SC

Hey Ya'll!

Barefoot'n is now located in Charleston, SC.  Randy and I loved Savannah.  If you haven't had a chance to see this city, you should put it on your list.  We enjoyed it so much, we stayed a week.  It was wonderfully southern and so much to see.  I lost count on how many orders of shrimp and grits I have had! Everyone says 'Yes Ma'am'.  Wow.  We stayed at the Isle of Hope Marina the whole time, which is very quiet and the houses on Bluff Drive are gorgeous.  They had a courtesy car, but we ended up renting a car just so we could spend more time sightseeing.  We had to buy the movie, "Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil", so Randy could see Lady Chablis.  She is back in town and performs on occasion.   

Tybee Lighthouse

Definitely in the South. (See flag)

 From Savannah, we headed for Hilton Head, which was a short run.  We stayed at the Sea Pines Resort and Marina and our slip was right under the lighthouse.  And, they bring you a  complimentary bottle of wine right to your boat!  How cool is that~  We had dinner at the Crazy Crab and I think it could have been the best oysters we have ever had!  You had to shuck them, but we ordered one dozen steamed oysters and got 2 dozen brought to the table in a bucket.  Yumo!  If you look at the bottom of the lighthouse, you will see Barefoot'n docked.  

See us?  Hilton Head Lighthouse  

After Hilton Head, we motored on to Beaufort and took advantage of the horse drawn carriage ride through the historical part of town.  Even Heidi got to ride in the carriage.  After the ride, we enjoyed Easter dinner at Plums Restaurant.  

And now, we are in Charleston, SC!  We are tied up at the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina located in Mt. Pleasant which is right across the river from downtown Charleston.   We are right next to the Patriots Point Maritime Museum and have a great view of Fort Sumter.  There is a trolley that runs every 2 hours right into Charleston, so no need to rent a car.  And it's free!  

Customs Bldg in Charleston

Patriots Point Maritime Museum, Charleston

The Adventure Continues..........

That's it for now.  

Barefoot'n Adventures in Georgia

Hey Ya'll!
We are in Savannah!  Georgia has been lots of fun.  We arrived in Isle of Hope Marina, GA (which is right outside Savannah).  The weather was quite stormy yesterday, which made out trip on the Atlantic 'interesting' coming into Wassaw Sound Inlet.  The storms continue today, but hopefully we will get out this afternoon and do some exploring.  The island is quite charming with lots of beautiful houses.  The marina provides complimentary cars, bikes and are very friendly.  

Here are the places that we have visited in Georgia:  

• Cumberland Island - Saw the Dungeness Estate, the beach with all the sand dunes, wild horses & turkeys, and lots of trails

 

• Jekyll Island
• Brunswick Island - Walked thru the old downtown, paper mills nearby
• St. Simon's Island - Lighthouse, lots of restaurants and shops.  Used taxi to get into town.  Ate at Brogans.

• Isle of Hope & Savannah - Where we are currently.  

Tuesday, March 19 - Today is our last day in Florida!  We stopped yesterday in Fernandina Beach, FL.  It is a very quaint town and the marina is nice.  Tomorrow, we will head for St. Simon's, GA.  

March 14th Update

Hi Everyone!
Barefoot'n is now at the Titusville Municipal Marina.  We will leave at the crack of dawn for Halifax Yacht Club (Daytona Beach).  Randy heard that there was a little event called Bike Week going on .  From there, we will head to St. Augustine and be there for a couple of days.  The weather has been pretty typical for this time of year.....BREEZY!  But really, it has been nice.  The marinas along the way have all been great.

So, in order, here is where we have visited in the last 2 weeks:  Field Club, Pelican Bay (on anchor), St. Charles YC, Royal Palm YC, Owl Creek Boatyard (for some minor repairs), Roland Martin at Clewiston, Sunset Bay Marina at Stuart, The Moorings YC in Vero Beach, Vero Beach City Marina, Eau Galle YC, Titusville Municipal Marina (at present).

Heidi is doing well.  She has been lucky in that we have only done one anchor out so far.  We are still trying to convince her to use her new 'on-board facilities' (pee-pad).

Until next time, we miss everyone and hope all is well back home.

Randy, Vicki & Heidi
Barefoot'n

Well, here we are!  Barefoot'n has started the Great Loop and we are on day 3 at St. Charles Yacht Club in the Fort Myers area.   All is well, but a bit windy and chilly.  Our plan is to make Owl Creek Marina on Monday morning for some minor repairs.  After that, we can slow the pace down and enjoy our trip across Okeechobee.  More later!