The Alligator River

Yesterday, Tuesday, May 17, 2016, we left Belhaven and went up the Pungo River, then into Alligator River-Pungo River Canal.

The Alligator River-Pungo River Canal is about 20 miles long, man made. 

Cypress Swamp is on both sides of the canal. We were told to watch for bears and alligators! But we didn't see any.

Then we went into the wide open Alligator River. It wasn't too bad, light chop. We are following Kenny in his Nordic Tug.

This is the Lindsay C. Warren swing bridge, right before the marina. It was on demand, and luckily, we didn't have to wait very long for it to open.

As we turned toward the marina, we waved good bye to Kenny, who was continuing on to Coinjock. Safe travels, Kenny! 

 We are now in the Alligator River Marina about 2/3 up the river, near Columbia, North Carolina.
 After we arrived, it rained all afternoon and the wind just kept getting stronger.  At first we were one of two boats here, but they have been pouring in. Today, May 18, it is blowing like it's winter, raining again, and I can see white caps on the river. We are not going anywhere today, but there are still boats coming in! We think they are a little crazy to be out there in this!

It's so cold, I am making a pot of chili for lunch!

Movin' On Up

We have been moving every day, and the marinas are starting to run together. We left Dudley's Marina in Swansboro on Sunday, May 15, arrived in Oriental, spent the night, and headed for Belhaven, North Carolina today, Monday, May 16. We stopped at the River Forest Marina in Belhaven. Tomorrow we will head up the Alligator River, weather permitting, where we hope to stop a few days.

Cormorants, they often dry their wings on these markers. These markers guide us through the
Intercoastal Waterway and keep us in the channel.

This Blue Heron flew around in circles before he landed.

This is Kenny's Nordic Tug, our new friend we have been traveling with for the past two days.

Dinner with Kenny in Oriental, NC

Today we were on some very wide rivers; the Neuse River, the Bay River, the Pamlico and the Pungo. They are huge. On the first part of the trip, the water had a "moderate chop" which to me, is rougher than a cob. But then we went through a canal, and on the other side was a different river, and it looked like this!

This is FLAT, love this. 

Kenny's Tug coming into the marina today. 

Lunch at Farm Boys

The marina has a loaner golf cart, so we went to lunch, the grocery store, and of course, the drive through at the bank.

Our home sweet home for tonight.

Southport to Swansboro

We spent two extra days in Southport, North Carolina, waiting for some weather to blow through. But it gave us more time to visit with Hank and Lisa Pomeranz, attend Hank's lecture again, and look around Southport a bit. They had us over for a lovely dinner Friday night,
and I forgot to take pictures :-( We had a lot of reminiscing and stories to tell after 20 years!
It would be worth a stop in Southport, just to see the presentation Hank does every night at 6pm in the Southport Marina. He is a Meteorologist, so he shares the best ways to determine the weather, a huge deal to boaters, and he has Army Corps of Engineer surveys of the waterways north of here, showing all the shallow areas. We used them all day today.

We had some Mexican food on the boat.

All over Southport, there are old homes, built in the 1800's. They all have plaques on the front beside the door,
telling when it was built, and who it was built for.

Downtown Southport is set up for tourists, lots of shops with beachy stuff to buy.

The extra time also allowed me to start the slipcovers for the chairs that Maggie has destroyed. She was more than willing to help.

We had a great thunderstorm Friday night.

Saturday, May 14th, we left Southport and went about 75 miles to Dudley's Marina in Swansboro.
It was a very long day, beautiful weather, perfect water, but we had some delays.

Because it was Saturday, we saw many boaters, they were everywhere.

This bridge only had 17 feet of clearance, we weren't sure if we could fit under it, but if we didn't, we had to wait almost an hour for the next opening. The boat behind us radioed us and said,  "You can make it!" And he was right!

We just missed the opening of this bridge (12 ft. clearance, no way) and had to wait 45 minutes for it to open!

We had to go past the Marine base, Camp LeJeune, and called ahead as instructed, to make sure they weren't having target practice today. They shut down the waterway when they do.

Some gorgeous clouds today, I think I love them because I haven't seen them in 9 years,
Phoenix just didn't have that many cloudy days! 

North Carolina!

This morning, May 10, 2016, we left the Wacca Wache Marina, after taking some early morning photos.

This boat has been anchored across from the marina. Someone is living on it. 

We're the only ones left, time to go!

 We headed North, planning to go 70 miles, further than we normally travel in a day, to reach Southport, North Carolina. It was a beautiful day, cool and cloudy.

We had two swing bridges that had to open for us. 

We reached Southport, North Carolina, and are staying in the Southport Marina. Our friends, Hank and Lisa Pomeranz live here, we know them from when we were stationed in Bermuda. Hank is a Meteorologist and does a talk every night at the marina on weather and the Intercoastal Waterway. We attended it, and it was so interesting! It's really going to help us!
We had a lovely dinner with them later. 

We ate at Provision Company. I had grilled tuna, it was great.

This was the view from our table. Great food, great friends, beautiful place, we're so lucky.

Old Friends, New Friends

Sunday, May 8, 2016
We left McClellanville and after a lovely, uneventful ride, we arrived in Murrell's Inlet about 1:00 on Mother's Day. The marina was busy, the restaurant was full, it was buzzing.

 Mike and Maureen Ward came over and took us out to dinner. We knew them in Spain 28 years ago, and I had one of their daughters in my Gifted class.

Monday, May 9, they took us to the beach for lunch, then to Brookgreen Gardens, an old rice plantation that is a spectacular series of gardens and bronze and marble sculptures. 

Charleston to McClellanville, SC

Saturday, May 7, 2016
We left Charleston early, trying to maximize high tide as much as possible.

Charleston, SC

The Battery from the water.

We went past Fort Sumter, where the Civil War began. 

After Charleston was out of site, we were in miles and miles of rivers with marshes on both sides,
and more pretty houses with docks.

These three dolphins breached in a perfect row. They breed in threesomes, two males and one female.
It's breeding season, most dolphins we see are in groups of three.

Great Egret

It was like the movie, The Birds, for a little while, behind our boat.
Apparently we were kicking something up that they were eating.

Coming into the marina at McClellanville, we saw the decorated shrimp boats. Saturday was the annual Shrimp Festival, and the blessing of the fleet.

After we got tied up, the shrimp boats started parading past us, loaded with people. They were headed for the festival to be blessed by a priest. This one has a sign on it, in memory of a shrimper who was lost.

We ate here, all the locals said it was the best. These people are waiting for it to open.

The sign says this tree is 1000 years old!