May 23, 2011, Mon

We went from Joyner Marina in Carolina Beach to Casper Marina in Swansboro, N.C. It was a long day with a lot of scheduled bridge openings, two opened only on the hour, one opened on the half hour and hour and one we could scoot under. We waited 25 minutes for one, almost a full hour for one and just ten miutes for the last one. The wind started really blowing by time we got to Casper Marina, which is an exposed marina, so docking was not fun. Deep Devocean and us were blown into the dock and Dreamchaser had a skinny slip. Waves slapped the hull the whole night, not much sleep after a long day. Fred & Ginny made porks chops for us all, a very nice dinner.

May 24, 2011, Tues.

We went from Swansboro N.C. to Oriental, N.C. and stayed at River Dunes Marina, for two days and we met up with Kate & Greg. This is the marina for those of you who knew JC & Judy, is the place were JC left Oxford for. It is absolutely beautiful, the attention to detail in everything that they built is unbelievable. We all said we could live in the cottages that they rent. Check it out online. I got some laundry done, and went to the pool. JC invited us to the restaurant for a drink, again beautiful and gave us some history of the place and showed us the cottages. A nice relaxing day. We now are four trawlers traveling, so when you call on the radio it would be---Jany K to Dreamchaser, Grianin, and Deep Devocean, we shortened it -----Jany K to the Trawler Train.

May 26, 2011, Thurs.

We left River Dunes, but definitely going back, for Dowry Creek Marina, which is near Belhaven, NC. Nice marina, but again exposed and of course by time we tied up it was blowing probably 15 mph. We needed five fenders to keep us off the dock again. The marina has a cocktail party every night, and then we had dinner on Deep Devocean.

May 27, 2011, Fri.

We went from Dowry Creek to Alligator River Marina. It started really blowing, when we hit the Alligator River. The Pungo Canal was uneventful this trip, other than a 40 foot log alert. Once we went under the Alligator Bridge we had to turn west to get into the marina and boy did we all roll with the wind and waves. Thank goodness it was a short ride. We got to the fuel dock and tied up and got fuel. Grianin went right to their slip on the other side of the marina, where the wind was really blowing. They had a hard time tying up. We moved when we were done fueling, was not easy, the pilings were too high to get a line over, so I had to stand on the flybridge back deck, put the line over the piling then hand it down to Bob while keeping the boat off the other pilings. Kate and I said we just had so much fun docking. Hahaha. Deamchaser tied up fine. Deep Devocean stayed on the fuel dock aafter watching us.  

May 28, 2011, Sat.

We all got slips at the free dock in Elizabeth City, although nobody was there from town, giving instructions on slip width and inviting everyone to the cocktail party, that used to be the charm of the city. Fred, Ginny, Kate, Greg and us walked to the CVS, walked the town a little. Everybody came to our boat for cocktails. We had the generator running and the AC on. We went to dinner across the street from the marina, Cypress Creek restaurant, very good.

 

May 22, 2011, Sun.

May 22, 2011 Sun.

We left  Dock Holidays around 8:15 and arrived at Joyner Marina in Carolina Beach, N.C.  a little after 2:00. We caught the tide right coming up the Cape Fear River and through Snow’s Cut. Once we got tied up, we walked to the beach with Fred and Ginny, and as far as you could see there were trucks parked and people set up right at the back of their truck with their umbrella’s, tents, pets etc. It was very different.  Rick & Tina had us all over for dinner tonight. A very nice evening.

May 21, 2011, Sat.

We left Georgetown around 8:30 am and traveled up the beautiful Waccamaw River. The closer we got to Myrtle Beach the more jet skis and weekend warrior idiots. It’s never fun traveling the ICW on weekends between Myrtle Beach, S.C. and Wrightstown, N.C.. We got to Dock Holiday Marina, and walked to the food store, CVS, and West Marine. We also ran into 2 boats from Nettles, Dilligaf and The Last One.

May 18th thru May 20th

May 18, 2011, Wed.

We did about 67 miles to Charleston. We couldn’t get into Charleston City Marina, but got slips at the Ashley Marina, which turned out to be pretty nice. We stayed in Charleston Thursday. The marina had an on demand shuttle into town and also did runs to West Marine at 2:00 pm. We went into town in the morning and walked the market, then took a carriage ride tour, another of my favorite towns. We had lunch at Magnolia’s on East Bay. Rick & Tina went back to the boat after lunch and Fred, Ginny, Bob and I walked past Rainbow Row and along the Battery. When we got back to the boat Richard and Liz Daniels (previous owners of Jany K, then called Sappho) stopped by. We had a very nice visit. It was great hearing  Richard’s stories of the Great Loop and experiences with Jany K aka Sappho. Fred, Ginny, Rick and Tina also came over, another fun night. Looking forward to getting together with Richard and Liz on our return trip south.

May 20, 2011 Fri.

We left Ashley Marina, Charleston around 8:00 am. It was hot and mostly cloudy. We got into Georgetown Landing Marina around 4:00. We all needed fuel and their price was $3.74 a gallon, which is hard to believe, but one of the cheapest we’ve seen. We arrived on empty, we now know not to trust the gauges, we took 220 gallons and hold 250 and we also left empty, empty pockets that is! Hahaha!! Bob made goulash  and we had dinner on Jany K for everyone.  Another nice evening.

May 15th & May 16th

May 15, 2011, Sun.

We went from Brunswick Landing Marina to Kilkenny Marina in Georgia. We crossed a lot of sounds today, a little breezy, but not bad. When we got in and cleaned up Bob made chicken chili and Fred & Ginny, Rick & Tina came over for dinner. A nice evening, tomorrow we’ll leave Kilkenny around 7:00 am, cause we have about a 77 mile day to Beaufort. We did about 66miles today.

May 16, 2011, Mon.

Left Kilkenny and got tied up to the inside of the face dock at Downtown Marina of Beaufort. Rick & Tina went into town and got pizza for us all for dinner, another very nice evening in one of my favorite towns. We stayed in Beaufort Tuesday and walked and shopped in town. Had dinner at Plum’s in town, (Very Good). Got some laundry and boat cleaning done.

Sat. May 14, 2011

A crazy day!!!! We decided to make a decision when we got to Ferandina Beach whether to go on. We listened to the weather, nothing severe, maybe rain. We decided to go 30 more miles to Brunswick Ga., although a little nervous with maybe some wind crossing St. Andrew's sound. We went about 15 more miles after we just passed Kings Bay, we started to hear thunder and then rain.We closed down the glass in the flybridge and were nice and dry. I shut the windows down below, but left the port open in the head, so there was air coming in for the girls. Then it really started, wind blowing, lightning, heavy rain, we couldn't see the bouys. The flybridge glass was steaming up and we couldn't see.We went down below and steered from the inside station and circled with Dreamchaser and Deep Devocean. We had the wipers on and had to turn on the generator and run the ac to clear the windows. During all this we got turned around and Fred called and said we turned 180. I also forgot about the head port was still open, the rug was swimming. We had one lightning strike in the water right in front of us, it shook the whole boat. That was a scary reminder of the Alligator River in Banshee. We could hear maydays and calls to the Coast Guard on 16. Once the rain slowed a little we started making headway again. By the time we got to St. Andrews Sound it started to clear. All turned out well, another learning lesson. Really nice traveling with two other boats.
Oh, and Ginny went  below in Dreamchaser during all this and made Shepards Pie for dinner for us all when we got in to Brunswick. Pretty Great!!!

Fri. May 13, 2011

Today we went from Palm Coast Marina  through St. Augustine to Palm Cove Marina in Jax Beach. A little shallow coming in the marina channel and then a tight turn into a slip. Fred & Ginny are on one side of us and on the other side is Rick & Tina from Canada on Deep Devocean, a 42 Benetau Swift trawler. We first met them in New Smyrna. We all walked to the food store (very hot) and got back, just as some very big raindrops were starting. The rain stopped as soon as we got to the boat. Cocktails on Jany K tonight. So far we've traveled about 232 miles from Nettles this week.

Thurs. May 12, 2011

We left New Smyrna Beach and got into Palm Coast Marina around 1:30. Which give us the afternoon to get done a few chores, then cocktails on Dreamchaser. We walked to the European Village to have dinner at Mezzaluna's. A Italian restaurant Bob & I stopped at many times. The weather has been Hot and Sunny.

Wed. May 11,2011

We left Harbortown Canaveral Marina, out the canal to the ICW and started north to New Smyrna Beach. When we crossed through Haulover Canal, which is at the north end of Cape Canaveral, we were invaded by Florida's famous lovebugs. It was like raining bugs. We were glad to get to New Smyrna Beach Marina and shower off the lovebug juice!!!YUK. Bob cooked pork loins on the grill and Fred & Ginny came over for dinner. Our first official dinner guests on Jany K.

Day One, Monday, May 9th

Left Jensen Beach around 11:00 am, by time we closed up the condo and got everything on board. Fred & Ginny with their new trawler Dreamchaser made it across the Okeechobee and are traveling with us. It's so nice to have our good friends with. We did a short day today and got to Vero around 2:30, we got some fuel ( $4.27 a gal.) enough to make it to Merritt Island where fuel is a little more reasonable and then tied to Dreamchaser on a mooring. Fred & Ginny made a delicious dinner for us. A very nice night.
Tuesday, May 10th, We left the mooring at Vero at 8:00 am. We've been having great weather. We traveled about 7 hours to Harbortown Canaveral Marina, about 4 miles east of the ICW. One of the more reasonable places for fuel!!!! $4.02 a gallon (hahahha, Last Nov. we stopped here on our way south and it was $2.93) We'll spend the night here and move north again tomorrow.

Starting North

Our Plan is to start North on May 9th.