Trip Diary for April, 2007

Apr. 1-5: Sunday-Thursday were spent in town with dental and optometry appointments plus finishing tasks needed before returning to the Lola Marie.  We enjoyed a delightful dinner at Hour Time with John and Carol Cox who are in early planning stages of doing the loop in 2-3 years.  Winter weather had returned before we departed for St. Simons Island, GA at 5:35 AM Friday with Keith and Sharon Hawks.  It was a long day of driving; we arrived in Brunswick at 7:30 PM for dinner at Applebee's before returning to the Lola Marie.  Saturday was spent showing Keith and Sharon around St. Simons Island and Brunswick.  We closed the day with dinner at Brogen's North.  Easter Sunday began with 11 AM services at St. Simons UMC.  It ended with a fine grilled pork chop dinner aboard.  We picked up an Enterprise rental at 8 AM Monday to drive it and Hawks' van 185 mi. to the Charlestown City Marina in preparation for Friday's arrival by water.  Returning via a slight detour to Bluffton, SC, we stopped at the Squat & Gobble for a unique "local flavor" dining experience.

Tuesday, Apr. 10: We departed Golden Isles Marina as soon as it was light, 6:45 AM, for Isle of Hope Marina in Savannah, GA.  The day was a bit cool, 64 was high, and mostly cloudy with a 10-15 mph NE wind.  Other than 45 min. of slight discomfort about the mid-point of the trip from a 2 ft. chop with 3 ft. swells on Sapelo Sound, it was a delightful voyage.  Birds and dolphins were abundant.  Larry enjoyed having Keith assist with piloting.  We arrived at 4:25 PM, in time to wash down the boat and borrow the courtesy car for excellent Mexican dinners at Jalapenos where we had dined before with Keith and Sharon.

Wednesday, Apr. 11: We covered 35 mi. to Skull Creek Marina on Hilton Head Island, arriving at 1:30 PM.  We had made phone contact with Bill and Barb Smith, chairs of the local Purdue Alumni group, before arrival and arranged to have dinner with them plus Charles and Mary Eanes (Barb's sister and her husband), plus Purdue alums Jim and Nancy Hawkins.  They came to the boat about 5 PM for drinks and munchies and then drove everyone to Crazy Crab for a delightful dinner and evening.

Thursday, Apr. 12: With only 19 mi. to travel, we departed at a leisurely 9:55 AM, arriving at Downtown Marina in Beaufort, SC just after noon.  Winds were 10-15 NW and building, but waves were only 1-2 on Port Royal Sound so we had a sunny pleasant ride.  We were assigned space on a dock providing only 5 ft. of extra space between two other boats; when combined with a 2 mph current, docking was a tense, but fortunately uneventful, operation.  After taking the courtesy car to McDonalds for a late lunch, the ladies shopped in the historic district while Larry and Keith worked on their computers.  The city has finally completed the major waterfront improvement project that's been underway for more than a year, so the area is now quite beautiful.  Several AGLCA boats were here converging on Charleston for the Rendezvous next week, so an evening dinner at nearby Paninis was organized for 14.

Thursday, Apr. 13: It was 67 mi. to the Charlestown City Marina so we dropped lines at 7:45 AM on a clear, sunny day, starting at 55 degrees on the way to 72 with 5-10 mph N winds.  We lead a flotilla of 3 other AGLCA boats all the way, arriving at 3:15 PM.  However, due to the congestion we waited 45 min. to actually dock!  After washing down the boat and showers, we took Hawks' van downtown for dinner at Sticky Fingers followed by ice cream at Kilwin's before grocery shopping and returning.  Laundry closed another delightful day.

Apr. 14-23; Charleston, SC: After breakfast Saturday we took the courtesy van to historic Charleston for an hour's ride on Classic Carriage Tours. Nice sandwiches at Mad River constituted lunch followed by ice cream at Kilwins.  We returned to the boat for fueling and pumpout before starting a new puzzle.  Grilled pork chops provided a fine dinner aboard.  Everyone then worked until 11:45 PM to finish the puzzle.  By 6:30 AM Sunday south winds had picked up to a sustained 30-40 mph with gusts in excess of 50!  Despite being on the inside of the MegaDock, the boat was pitching substantially, lines were groaning and the Charleston Harbor looked very boater unfriendly. Following the 11:15 AM service at Trinity UMC, the oldest Methodist congregation in Charleston's historic district, enjoyed lunch at Sticky Fingers.  We returned to begin laundry and weekly boatkeeping chores.  Strong winds continued Monday with the AGLCA Rendezvous registration plus a few technical sessions beginning at noon.  Tuesday-Thursday were devoted entirely to Rendezvous meetings and events.  Most sessions were focused on the loop segments north from Charleston and through Canada.  Since that is our next territory, we were quite interested in the many details and recommendations.  We also enjoyed time at the meeting with Rich and Lee Johnson and Lee's brother and his wife, Dennis and Mari Arfsten. Keith and Sharon decided to stay over Friday to enable visiting the ships at Patriot's Point.  We toured four WW II ships: the destroyer Laffey, the Coast Guard Cutter Ingham, the submarine Clamagore, and portions of the mammoth aircraft carrier Yorktown. Undoubtedly, the highlight was the Laffey because we were greeted upon boarding by Sonny Walker, former crew member and president of the volunteers' association responsible for maintaining that ship, for a personal tour.  He made the ship's history rich and brought it to life!  Hawks left for IN at 6 AM Saturday.  About 1 PM we took the courtesy van downtown for nail work, grocery shopping and a late lunch.  Sunday, following services at Trinity UMC, was time for R & R while planning the next leg of the trip north.  Monday experienced a new high in use of the courtesy van: three trips that included one to West Marine.  With provisions from the van trips and the laundry completed, we charted the first leg of the trip north toward New York and then Canadian waters!

Tuesday, Apr. 24: Slipped lines at 7:15 AM for the 67 mi. cruise to Boat Shed Marina in Georgetown, SC.  We had a nice view of Ft. Sumter upon exiting Charleston Harbor. The weather was nearly perfect with 10-15 SSW winds and a 75 degree high.  Larry piloted from the bridge much of the trip; one of the few times to date.  Uncommonly, tide currents were favorable almost the entire way with only numerous stretches of private docks and marinas to slow us; we arrived at 2 PM.  Lola had been feeling "under the weather" all day, so she took a nap before we set off to visit this delightful city.  The oldest house in the city, circa 1737, was only a block from the marina; other newer, beautiful homes were also common. We met loopers along the sidewalk who invited us to a 12-member plus a local couple birthday party at the Rice Paddy for two of the women.  The food and evening were outstanding!

Wednesday and Thursday, Apr. 25-26: With only 33 mi. to cover to Osprey Marina just south of Myrtle Beach, we departed at a leisurely 8:50 AM with several other looper boats.  Major debris in the Waccamaw River necessitated driving from the bridge; this was also desirable since temperatures reached 85 today.  It was nice to leave the vast low country marsh grassed plains and again enjoy the serenity and beauty of tree-lined banks. While not convenient to town (12 mi.), this marina is a popular stop for boaters on the ICW because of its relatively low fuel prices ($2.29 diesel) and $1/ft. dockage fee.  Thus, we had to wait for other fueling boats to clear before entering its narrow side channel from the ICW.  Overall, it took almost 2 hr. to fuel, pump-out and dock.  It was time for air conditioning, our first since Sanford.  We decided to stay Thursday to complete a thorough scrubbing of the exterior and cleaning of the interior of the Lola Marie.  We discovered one advantage of a location this remote: eating all meals aboard reduces the supply of left-overs.

Apr. 27-30; Friday-Monday, Little River, SC: We left Osprey Marina at 8:30 AM in order to make the 8:45 opening of the Socastee Bridge 4 mi. up the ICW (we timed it perfectly, saving a 30 min. wait).  We also wanted to beat the forecast 25 mph afternoon winds.  Success: a pleasant cruise past Myrtle Beach and the narrow, 4 mi. "rock pile" stretch to reach Myrtle Beach Yacht Club in Little River, SC at 11:40 AM while winds were still less than 20 mph.  Wayne and Judy Skaggs who are spending this weekend in their Sunset Beach home came by about 5 PM to take us to the GPS Store for the last of our needed electronic charts and to Ella's in Calabash for excellent seafood dinners.  Skaggs picked us up Saturday about 1:30 PM and drove to Myrtle Beach for great burgers and Chocolate Nachos at Cheeseburger in Paradise and for shopping.  We returned to the Lola Marie for dessert before calling it a day.  Following the 11 AM Sunday service at Seaside UMC  in Sunset Beach we enjoyed a fine lunch at the Boundary House in Calabash before returning to Skaggs' home to change clothes for walking Sunset's beach.  We rented a car from the marina for a 7:30 AM Monday morning drive to the Ocean Isle beach.  Following a 2 hr. beach stroll, we enjoyed lunch at Ella's before driving south to Myrtle Beach's Tanger Mall to finish Saturday's shopping.

Water miles traveled to date: 7216; this month: 344.

Questions?  Just e-mail us.