Friday, June 3 - Tug LeeLoo and crew are now in New Bern, North Carolina! It was an interesting 19 days to cruise from Ft. Pierce, Florida to New Bern. Seventeen of the 19 days were travel days. We did layover an extra day in Beaufort and Charleston, South Carolina. Two really cool places to visit.
There was always the threat of Tropical Storm Bonnie on the horizon so we kept going north to stay ahead of the bad weather. Our timing was perfect because we didn't have any major rain until we were docked safely at the New Bern Grand Marina on Memorial Day. Then the sky opened up and it poured!
Relaxed and Happy!
We were fortunate to be traveling for the last 19 days with our friends Vicki and Tom on Grand Baron. It is so much fun to cruise with another Looper boat. Vicki and Tom are Gold Loopers (they have already finished the Loop once) and are a wealth of knowledge for us. There is so much to learn with tides, currents, skinny water, great anchorages, hooking on a mooring ball, etc. The list goes on and on. Sadly, we will be separating from Vicki and Tom as they continue north to Norfolk, Virginia. We will stay in New Bern for a couple of weeks as we have some work done on Tug LeeLoo. We are also meeting with friends John and Linda Opfer for a couple of days. It feels good to stay in one spot for a while!
Here are some highlights of our trip north to New Bern on Tug LeeLoo:
Cumberland Island National Seashore in Georgia - Awesome is the only way to describe this beautiful island. It is known for the wild horses that inhabit the island and, yes, we saw a lot of them! We anchored for the night just off the island and went ashore by dinghy. We hiked through an amazing maritime forest with Live Oaks and Spanish Moss. There is also ruins of Dungeness Mansion, an estate that was built in the late 1800's by Thomas and Lucy Carnegie. A short hike across the island also brings you to a beach on the Atlantic Ocean.
Anchoring - We anchored for 9 nights on Tug LeeLoo as we traveled north. The anchor is much bigger (bigger boat) and while anchoring is pretty much the same as on LeeLoo, there are some differences. For one thing, we now have foot pedals by the anchor windless on the bow of the boat so we can drop the anchor from inside the boat or on the bow. The first time we put out the anchor, we realized the anchor was all tangled up in the anchor locker so Carey had to access the locker (through our master stateroom and pull the very dirty chain onto our bed. Nancy hurried and found an old blanket to put under the chain. Once the tangles were sorted out, we continued putting the anchor down. Another change in anchoring is we now have a washdown hose on the bow so it is much easier to wash the chain and anchor as it comes out of the water. Often, the anchor is full of mud. When we pull up the anchor in the morning, Nancy now stands at the helm station while Carey stands on the bow giving hand signals to Nancy to go forward, backward or whatever it takes to pull up the anchor.
Mooring Ball - We tied up to a mooring ball for the first time in Beaufort, South Carolina. It was a first for us and another skill to add to our list! The mooring field was pretty full and every time we positioned ourselves to catch a mooring ball, someone in a neighboring boat came out and "yelled" at us that we couldn't be there. We finally radioed the marina only to find out that when the mooring field was designed, it was not done correctly and about 1/2 of the mooring balls could not be used. The dockmaster directed us to the last mooring ball available. Our friends on Grand Baron came over by dinghy and supervised our successful capturing of the mooring ball. While being tied to a mooring ball is secure, anchoring is much easier! You pay to be on a mooring ball, so you have access to all of the marina's facilities.
We were sitting at an outside restaurant when a man with a macaw on his shoulder seated himself at a nearby table. The macaw was very tame - not something you see every day! Most people come in with their dogs!
Beautiful Sunset in Beaufort, South Carolina
Charleston - This beautiful city continues to be a favorite of ours. We spent 2 nights at the Maritime Center Marina and spent our time walking the city, going for a carriage ride, and re-provisioning our supplies. Having a grocery store within walking distance to the marina is a real plus. Nancy wanted to spend one more night, but with the threats of bad weather, we decided to move on.
Carriage Ride in Charleston
Captain Carey Working on Tug LeeLoo
Going Aground - Ok, so now we have gone aground on both LeeLoo and Tug LeeLoo. We were anchored in Swansboro and, when we set the anchor, we were only in 8 ft. of water. As we deployed more chain we drifted back to about 6 ft. of water (we didn't realize how shallow it was at the time), There was also a very strong current. Little did we know that by morning we would be hard aground as the current and wind took us into very shallow water; and then the tide went out. Tom, our Looper friend on Grand Baron, brought his dinghy over to push the bow while Carey stood at the wheel and used what little bow thruster we had. It turned out the bow thruster was working better than we thought because after about hour or so we were finally floating again! Whew!
Turtle Sunning Himself in Swansboro
Southport Marina - This continues to be one of our favorite stops. The marina, which is along the ICW, is very nice and it relatively easy to get in and out. We had scheduled to have Tug LeeLoo pulled out there so that her bow thruster could be inspected and zincs replaced. We also had a bottom wash so we could really get a good look at her. It turned out that the bow thruster was fine mechanically so that was a relief. Tug LeeLoo has such a deep hull compared to LeeLoo that the bow thruster responds differently than what we were used to.
Wrightsville Beach - A gem of a town that we passed up our first time around. This time we anchored with Grand Baron and they took us to shore in their dighy. There was a great beach along the Atlantic Ocean that was very crowded with tourists. We walked on the beach for a long time and really enjoyed being tourists! The anchorage was a good one, although there were a lot of boats going by so Tug LeeLoo was constantly in motion. When we got up the next morning, Tug LeeLoo was surrounded by paddle boarders - it was a sight to see!
Paddle Boarders Surrounding Tug LeeLoo Early in the Morning!
Free Town Dock in Oriental, North Carolina - We were going to anchor in Oriental, but the anchorage was very shallow and we didn't want to take a chance at going aground again. Instead, we went to a free town dock which was great - except there was no electricity so we couldn't plug into shore power. And, running of generators was not allowed. So, we sweated all night - and it was HOT and HUMID! Since we've been traveling on Tug LeeLoo, we have gotten used to running our generator at night when we anchor or do not have shore power. We were running everything off our batteries instead and that is when we realized that our batteries were not holding a charge. We literally turned everything off except for the refrigerator. We transferred our frozen food to Grand Baron's freezer and turned our freezer off. And sweated through the night - no air conditioning.
Tug LeeLoo (left) and Grand Baron (right) Docked at Oriental's Free Town Dock
Foliage - There were flowers everywhere we went! With the warm, humid air of the south, the flowers are gorgeous!
New Bern - We are now in New Bern Grand Marina and have been working on Tug LeeLoo. We had her batteries all checked and we indeed do need new house batteries. It is a shame because we put all new batteries in LeeLoo before we started on the Loop! The
new batteries have been purchased and will be installed on Monday.
Since we are hooked up to shore power, everything is running on the
boat. We plan to stay at least another week before we move north. This time we will be traveling by ourselves.
In the meantime, we are enjoying being in New Bern. The historic homes here date back to the 1800's and there are a lot of them. It is a delightful place to meander about and look at the old homes and the beautiful flowers. The town, complete with restaurants and small tourist shops, is a block away from the marina. We will rent a car next week and explore more of North Carolina.
One of the Historic Homes in New Bern Built in the Late 1800's
June 2 - Good morning. Our apologies to all who received emails from us yesterday with "Horrible News". Our email was hacked yesterday and a message went out to everyone on our address list. We have heard from a lot of friends asking if we are ok. We are, indeed, just fine docked here in New Bern, North Carolina. Thank you for checking on us.
We are working on a blog update and hope to publish it soon. Since we spent so many days without internet on our cruise from Ft. Pierce, Florida, there was no opportunity to update our blog while underway.
Docktails on Tug LeeLoo with Looper friends from MazelTug, Grand Baron and Dream Catcher in New Bern.
Saturday, May 14 - So much has happened in the last 2 weeks! We made our way to New Bern with LeeLoo successfully, stopping at Sloop Creek to anchor overnight and then Morehead City before we pulled in to New Bern Grand Marina where LeeLoo will stay. We arrived in New Bern on Friday, May 6 and spent the next two days moving our belongings from LeeLoo into a rental car and cleaning her before we drove back to Ft. Pierce to Tug LeeLoo! It was bittersweet to say goodbye to LeeLoo, but we will see her in three weekends when we stop in New Bern with Tug LeeLoo.
LeeLoo's New Home At New Bern Grand Marina
We had planned to spend about a week in Ft. Pierce learning about Tug LeeLoo's features and systems, but our plans changed once again. (The life of a Looper!) Instead of spending a week in Ft. Pierce, we decided to start our cruise north to New Bern on Tug LeeLoo on Tuesday, May 10. We are traveling with friends from 2 other Looper boats (Sum Escape and Grand Baron). Since we haven't traveled with other Looper boats for a while, it fells great to have some traveling companions!
Captain Carey In His New Pilothouse
Tug LeeLoo And Her New Crew!
Our first night on Tug LeeLoo was at an anchorage. We've anchored a lot on LeeLoo but we had to learn the ins and outs of anchoring on a larger boat. Everything went well and the anchor held through the night.
Since the dinghy blocks the boat's name and hailing port on the transom, your options are to paint the name of the boat and hailing port on the bottom of the dinghy or to make a name banner that attaches to the upper railings. We chose to have a banner made. It's important for boats (especially law enforcement vessels) that are following you to be able to radio you by name.
Tug LeeLoo At Anchor
We are now in St. Augustine, still traveling with our Looper friends from Grand Baron. Tonight we are staying at a marina so we were able to wash Tug LeeLoo and get some laundry done. Tomorrow (May 15) we will continue cruising north and possibly anchor out again. It will take us a couple of weeks to get to New Bern, but at least now we know where are the skinny water is since we did this trip on LeeLoo!
Monday, May 2 - Time to catch up on our blog! We go for days and are either anchored out and have no internet service or we are at a marinas with marginal internet. We are finally at a marina with great internet so we will update the blog as best we can.
On Sunday, April 24, we pulled into Fernandina Beach Marina on Amelia Island after traveling 60 miles. It was a fairly easy day of cruising as we had enough water in all the shallow spots. The marina was right next to downtown Fernandina Beach so we were able to walk around the town. Carey found an ice cream store - a highlight of our visit! Fernandina Beach is a touristy little town and had a fair number of shops and restaurants. They were getting ready for Shrimp Fest that was being held the following weekend. Apparently, the marina had been booked up for months for Shrimp Fest.
One of the Historic Homes in Fernandina Beach
Historic Courthouse in Fernandina Beach
Papermill in Fernandina Beach
Monday, April 25 - We left Fernandina Beach at 7:00 a.m. to get a good start to our day. We cruised 76 miles and at 2:30 p.m. pulled into the Crescent River to anchor for the night. It was a challenging cruise as we had many problem areas that promised skinny water, but we never saw depth less than 8-1/2 feet. Our anchorage was very isolated and the tide was a rather dramatic 7 foot tide. When the tide was out, we had a lot of bugs and had to close up the boat as evening arrived. We did see a few dolphins that were looking for their dinner!
Tuesday, April 26 - It was another early departure. We left our anchorage on the Crescent River in Georgia at 7:10 a.m. We had a couple of problem areas (skinny water) when we first started our cruise and we left early so we could travel on a rising tide. We pulled out of our anchorage and were soon being followed by a big commercial shrimp boat in a fairly narrow channel of water. The shrimp boat stayed directly behind us and did not attempt to pass us. The water started getting very shallow (3.9 ft) and we looked back and realized the shrimp boat had gone to the opposite shore. Once we drove to the other side (now directly in from of the shrimp boat) we had deeper water and we were fine. Lesson learned . . we should have let the shrimp boat go in front of us so we could follow it! Local knowledge is always valuable!
Shrimp Boat
The rest of the day proved to be uneventful. We had plenty of water along the way and didn't have any major areas of concern. It was a long day, though. We cruised 60 miles and stopped at 2:15 p.m. to anchor in the Herb River near Savannah, Georgia. Our anchorage was nice and there were a couple of other boats nearby.
Wednesday, April 27 - We wanted to leave on a rising tide, so didn't leave until 8:00 a.m. As we were leaving the our anchorage we drove right by Thunderbolt Marina where our Looper friends Monica and Rick on Moni Jean had spent the night. We texted them that we were passing by and they came out and waved to us. It was nice to see familiar faces again, if only for a few minutes. It was another long day of cruising. We traveled 62 miles that day.
The highlight of the day was seeing 5 (yes, 5!) loggerhead sea turtles as we cruised along. Seeing 1 is rare, but seeing 5 was amazing! They were as big as garbage can lids. And no, we did not get pictures. Their dark shell is visible and then their huge head pokes up to get air, but then they dive down again. They did not want to pose for pictures!
Dredging Work on the ICW
We had planned to stay at Beaufort, South Carolina, but as we passed the marina we realized the current would make docking difficult. Several bigger boats that were waiting to dock at this marina were talking on the radio about how they didn't like the slips they were given. We decided to continue on to an anchorage for the night. We stopped at Sam's Piers about 10 miles further up the ICW. It was a good anchorage with many other boats, but the wind was really strong. Our anchor held ok, but we had a lot of bow slap that night!
Thursday and Friday, April 28 and 29 - We left Sam's Piers at 8:00 a.m. and traveled 58 miles for the day, destination Charleston, South Carolina! On our way we were passed by fellow Loopers Sax and Sherri on Red Eagle that we had met back when we were on the river system in Tennessee. We chatted on the radio a bit to "catch up" on our travels. It was great to see them, if only passing by boat!
Loopers Sax and Sherri on Red Eagle
One of our favorite cities is Charleston. We stayed at the Charleston Maritime Marina which is just a short walk to a full-size grocery store and to the heart of the city. We spent 2 nights there and enjoyed walking and seeing the sights. We had been there a few years ago with friends Hal and Wendy (Hawk Valley Retreat in Galena) and had always hoped to get back. Now we were missing Hal and Wendy, but we did our best to uphold the spirit of our friendship as we ate at a couple of our favorite restaurants and walked through the historic section of the city. We would have liked to stay one more night, but bad weather was moving in and we needed to get north as quickly as possible. We will be back on Tug LeeLoo!
A nice surprise when we arrived at the marina was that fellow Loopers Rodney and Sherri on Sasified and Pete and Pam on Endoxy were there. They are from Door County, Wisconsin and we met them while we were going down the river system. One of the interesting things about doing the Loop is how many times you "run" into other Loopers that you met months ago. You have a short visit, then we separate again as we travel.
One of the Old Historic Homes Along the Battery Park
Beautiful Tree in Battery Park Along the Waterfront in Charleston
Carey in One of the Alleyways in the Historic Section of Charleston
Saturday, April 30 - We left Charleston a little later (for us) because we needed to get to some problem areas on a rising tide. We traveled 71 miles and anchored out at Butler Island north of Georgetown, South Carolina. Our first trouble spot for low water was 20 miles into our cruise, but once we got through that the water depths were good. A highlight of the day was seeing 2 Bald Eagles!
Sunday, May 1 - It was another early day. We were on the water by 7:05 a.m., but cruised for only 45 miles. We stopped at Barefoot Marina near North Myrtle Beach, SC. We had a problem area coming up just past the marina called The Rock Pile. We decided we wanted to cruise The Rock Pile on a high tide and it was low tide by the time we got there. Fellow Loopers Rodney and Sherri from Sasified and Pete and Pam on Endoxy that we had seen in Charleston docked at the marina directly across from us on the ICW. Their side of the ICW had restaurants, so we hiked over a swing bring and met up with them for dinner.
Monday and Tuesday, May 2 and 3 - So, The Rock Pile awaited us! it turned out that it was a non-event. Fortunately, going through this dangerous section of the ICW early in the day and during the week paid off. We did not come across any other boats and made the trip easily, staying in the middle. However, we still had 2 additional very challenging areas to go through. One was Shallots Inlet and the other was Lockwood's Folly (both are inlets from the Atlantic). They were very shallow and the markers were confusing. We made it through the Shallots Inlet, but when we got close to Lockwood's Folly we were at low tide. We slowed down to give the tide a chance to rise. As we neared Lockwood's Folly, we could see up ahead that a sailboat had gone hard aground. Two sailboats were coming up behind us and after radioing them, we realized that they had gone through Lockwood's Folly many time. We let them go ahead of us and we followed their route through the inlet. Again, local knowledge in invaluable! We think the sailboat that was aground was waiting for the tide to rise so they could float off.
We decided to spend the night at a marina in Southport NC, rather than going further to an anchorage, because storms were predicted for the next few days. The plan was to leave on Tuesday, but the weather did not cooperate. We decided to stay another night and hopefully we will leave on Wednesday. There was a boat that came into the marina today (Tuesday) that had been hit by lightening during a bad morning storm. It reinforced to us that we made the right decision!
Southport is a pretty community with a lot of history. There are several shops and many restaurants - and Carey found ice cream!
Lovebirds!
Shore Along Southport, North Carolina
Nancy Enjoying the View In Southport
