From Civil War to Modern Marines

I am starting this episode while sitting at a dock on a cold, rainy night in the Dismal Swamp. Where might that dreary sounding place be, you ask. Well you're not going to find out now because I have too much catching up to do on where we have been since my last post which left off back in south Georgia. There have been so many stops since then I will have to go through them somewhat briefly with the highlights. Our first stop in this blog was Savannah. A beautiful city she is, with 22 small tree-filled squares and open spaces. One of these parks once had the bench on which Forrest Gump was sitting as he described why "life was like a box of chocolates." Unfortunately, the city had to relocate the bench to a museum to protect it. The river front area is a great place to stroll and view the harbor although you must also watch your step on some of the streets paved with bumpy ballast stones from old cargo ships. Along with our friends from "Rykher" and "Lucy 2", we took a dessert tour one evening, having 8 small desserts at 8 different restaurants! We were so sweeted out we had to go out for a late dinner to wash down the sugar. The next day we went out for lunch at Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room. Located in an old boarding house, this restaurant offers family style dining at tables for 10. Upon entering, the table is already set with an incredible variety of southern foods. The "strangers" you are seated with become your family as you pass the food around the table. And did I mention the fried chicken? Incredible. Karen says this is now the best meal she has had at a restaurant. If you find yourself in Savannah with a hankerin' for good southern food, you must stop in!

Back at our boat, we saw some friends on "Bella Gatto" motoring by in the channel. We yelled out to them to see where they were headed and the reply... "Wexford Plantation on Hilton Head....2 free nights for loopers!" We thought "free" sounded pretty good so Karen got on the phone and rearranged our schedule and the next morning we were off to Hilton Head, SC. Wexford Plantation is an upscale private yacht club/country club community. Their harbor is protected by their own private lock. While there we swam in their pool, I played a round of golf, we had Cinco De Mayo dinner and used our dinghy to tour the harbor and see the magnificent homes. Their hospitality to us as loopers was incredible. We certainly enjoyed our two days living like 0.0001 percenters! With 5 looper boats all together on their dock, Karen and I also got our first taste of looper "docktails".

Next stop... Beaufort, SC. (pronounced b-yoo-fort). This was a quaint little southern town that was one of the first on the trip that Karen and I felt like we would consider moving to. Despite being one of the older cities in SC, founded in 1711, it had a young vibe and a marked military presence with Parris Island Marine Base close by. The weekend we were there the city was having a "taste of Beaufort" festival with dining and entertainment on the waterfront. The fist night was highlighted with a Journey tribute band. The next day featured a great set by a Marine Corps Rock Band! Beaufort was once one of the wealthiest towns in America with slave cultivated crops of rice, Sea Island Cotton, and indigo. The revolutionary war brought an end to the slavery and many of the slaves were able to purchase lands once owned as plantations, but the towns prosperous days were over. Karen and I find it interesting to learn a little of a towns history by strolling its grave sites. One prominent burial site in Beaufort is that of Robert Smalls. A former slave, he became a maritime pilot for his "owner". During the civil war he commandeered a condfederate supply ship and surrendered it to the Union navy. Having escaped his slavery, he returned to Beaufort after the war and eventually was elected as a representative from SC to the US Congress. For our visit to Beaufort, we docked across the river spanned by a large swing bridge. This bridge was featured in Forrest Gump with a "Welcome to Mississippi" sign. Many of the Vietnam jungle scenes from the movie were also filmed near Beaufort.

Our next cruise along the AICW low country brought us to Charleston, SC. Being a relatively new "captain", Karen tries her best to be protective of me by asking marinas for easy access slips or, preferably, side ties. As we sailed into Charleston harbor and contacted the marina we were told to proceed 800 feet up the inside of the Mega Dock and then further up a smaller fairway to our dock! Gulp!!! There were a lot of big fancy yachts we had to pass in a current filled harbor! Fortunately, all went well and we took our place alongside some of those incredible yachts that made us feel tiny. We mostly explored Charleston on foot but started with a bus tour of the city that included a look at The Citadel, a public military college founded in 1842. Unlike the US Military, Naval, or Air Force Academies, cadets from The Citadel are not required to serve in the military after graduation but they are required to join ROTC. Charleston is a relatively large city but like other colonial towns in the south, it is teeming with history and charm.

Moseying along up the AICW we arrived in Georgetown, SC, on the shore of a quaint little bay. In the early 1700's, this town prospered with indigo plantations. Indigo was prized as a clothing dye. In 1755 an elite group of plantation owners established one of the first free schools in America. The Revolutionary War brought an end of the indigo trade with England and the plantations shifted to growing rice. By 1840, The Georgetown district was producing more than half of all the rice in the country, became the largest rice exportation port and the wealthiest area in the original 13 colonies. Subsequent industries were lumber, paper and, much later in the 1960's, steel. In 1936, a paper mill was built that became the largest in the world! We visited both the Rice Museum and the Georgetown Maritime Museum. Althought the Maritime history is vast and varied, you cannot escape the realization of how much the slave trade was tied into our history. What I had not realized before is how these slave trade routes took the ships first to South America and the Carribean islands before the ports of North America. The majority of Africans that survived the Atlantic crossing were sold to slavers in Brazil and the Islands before the ships arrived in North America. Wandering through the town we met some new friends, Kevin and Ellen on "Perfect Match" and Jib and Teresa on "Make It So". We enjoyed some nice meals, indulged in some ice cream and even took in a local performance of "Murder At The Howard Johnsons". Not the best play but it was a good slice of small town America.

Leaving this peaceful little town, the rising tide carried us up the Waccamaw River. The scenery once again changed from lowland marsh to lush green forest. This stretch was one of the most beautiful of our trip. Nature at it's finest. The shores are periodically dotted with small communities - we even passed the local school "bus" (a boat)! We made an overnight stop in Myrtle Beach and the next morning continued north to Southport, the most southern port in North Carolina. Southport is a very popular stop for Loopers and, although it is another nice little town, the bulk of our time here was spent interacting with friends, both new and old. Bob and Kay Creech are the local 'harbor hosts" for loopers and a sweeter couple you could not find. They open their front porch every night to host any loopers in town for "docktails". There were 23 of us on their porch one night! They even tossed us the keys to their car for us so we could head to the local Walmart for provisions! New friends here... Don and Sylvia on " Anne Marie" and Chris and Preston on "The Salty Peacock".

We continued north with an overnight stop on a mooring ball at Carolina beach and then continued the next day to an anchorage at Mile Hammock Bay which is part of Camp Lejeune Marine Base. Several other loopers, including our friends from "Rykher" joined us in the anchorage overnight. Although it may not be the most picturesque site it was very peaceful - at least until the helicopter training maneuvers started up. Fortunately the choppers stopped before it was too late and with the quiet conditions we were able to get a good nights sleep... despite being on anchor. We did however start a new protocol. When on anchor we sleep up in the salon area rather than down in our stateroom.... less noisy and easier to keep an eye on our surroundings. It was actually quite cozy. We weighed anchor the following morning at 6:45 AM and just as we started to get under way we heard a securite broadcast on our vhf radio advising all boaters about to leave the anchorage that the river heading north would be closed due to live fire exercises until 9 AM. So the anchor went back down and we sat awhile. We eventually got under way and proceeded to where the military was blocking traffic. Along with 6 other boats we were held up there for about 30 minutes during which time the live fire explosions were literally vibrating our boat! A bit of discomfort and inconvenience but a cheap price for us to pay for the freedoms we have in our country!

I am not yet caught up to our current travels but I fear I have already written enough for one blog. I hope it won't be so long until my next update.

Georgia On My Mind

Well, a lot has happened since my last update over 2 weeks ago. Life on a boat stays pretty busy. Not always easy to carve out time for writing. In a nutshell… we finally made it out of Florida, through Georgia, and are now in Beaufort, South Carolina! Due to ongoing winds, we ended up staying in St. Augustine, FL for 5 days. Our friends, Ginny and Mark from our veterinary ski group ( SVMA ) not only hosted us at their home for a lunch of home-made pizza, but they also loaned us one of their cars to help us get around their great city. It was really great spending the afternoon with them. While in St Augustine, we toured the Castillo de San Marcos. This is the oldest masonry fort in the US. There had been other forts at the same location built of wood that were destroyed. This fort was built from Coquina which is a rock formed almost wholly from shell particles. It took 23 years to build the fort but the coquina proved to be impenetrable, even to cannon balls. The fort was never taken by force but was eventually given up by the Spaniards through a treaty with the Brits.

Also in St Augustine…. We walked up the 219 steps of the lighthouse for a great view of the area and visited the Alligator Farm. As interesting as the alligators were… their star alligator Maximo is huge…. The real highlight was the wild bird rookery in the park. With all the alligators there to ward off the small predators that would typically raid their nests, hundreds of egrets, spoonbills, blue herons, green herons and tri colored herons make their nests in the trees… some so close you could almost touch them. It was an amazing site to see.

With all the wind and tight quarters of the marina, we were worried for the entire time we were there about how we were going to get Off Leash off the dock. Well, it ended up being pretty easy… we just let the current and wind help us around. From St Augustine we traveled north to Jacksonville Beach for one night and then set off for Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island where we stayed on a mooring ball for the night. Amelia Island is the northernmost barrier island in Florida. We took a 10 mile bike ride on our folding clown bikes to see the beach on the eastern side of the island and down a tree lined road to Fort Clinch on the northern tip of the island. From this location we could see across an inlet to Cumberland Island in Georgia… Our next stop.

A funny thing happened on our way to Fernandina! About 1 hour north of St. Augustine, the engines suddenly bogged down and we came to a stop. Our props were in mud on an uncharted sand bar! Fortunately, we were going slow at the time and caught it quickly and we were able to back out of the soft, silty mud. Physically we were OK but mentally we were shaken up. I guess we have joined the club. Apparently, along the east coast, there are 2 types of boaters… those that have run aground and those that have not YET run aground. It turns out, 2 of our friends also ran aground in that same spot that day! With much anxiety, we finally tried anchoring again at Cumberland Island. If you recall, our first experience with anchoring in Miami did not go so well. Fortunately, this time there was no drama and the anchor held well all night. Cumberland was wonderful. It is home to wild horses which can often be elusive. We not only saw over 20 of them, we even saw a mare with her very young foal wandering among the ruins of Dungeness Mansion. We hiked across the island with our friends Katja and Swen and Bret and Suzanne. Bret and I took a short swim on the Atlantic side of the island…. The gulf stream waters are so nice and warm compared to what we have at home in LA… but no real waves.

The next day we were off to Jekyll Island. Unlike the mostly deserted Cumberland, Jekyll is a beautiful island that has been a stomping ground for the wealthy. We took a golf cart ride into the town to see the beautiful old homes set amongst the huge moss covered oak trees. We also went to see the lobby of the Jekyll Island Club which is truly magnificent. It was in one of the rooms in this lobby that a group of wealthy men, including JP Morgan, met in secrecy to draw up the legislation for what would become the Federal Reserve Bank. Ostensibly meant to stabilize the economy and prevent future financial panics, once pushed through congress the day before Christmas break, it protected their assets and kept them very wealthy. There is a book about this, The Creature From Jekyll Island, that I intend to read.

That night we had a pot luck dinner with Katja and Swen on Bret and Suzanne’s catamaran, Lucy2. Loopers will tell you it’s the people you meet that make the trip so worthwhile. I know these are two couples we will be able to call friends for life! Below is the Catamaran Lucy2 belonging to Bret and Suzanne and Rykher, Katja and Swen's Mainship.

After Jekyll, Karen and I spent 2 days at St Simons Island, another of Georgia’s barrier Islands. Another bike ride. We noted how much the vegetation has changed since leaving Florida. The sparse Florida landscapes made up mostly of scrub and palm trees has been replaced by lush green trees and shrubs. In particular, the majestic oaks. After St. Simons, we continued northward along the Intracoastal Waterway and then made a 6 mile detour up Blackbeard Creek to The Sunbury Crab Company. In the late 1700s, Sunbury was a major port city that rivaled Savannah. However, the town was captured and later burned by the British during the revolutionary war and later faced further devastation by hurricanes and Yellow Fever. As far as I can tell, the only thriving business there now is the crab restaurant. Accompanied by another Looper we met on the dock, we had a great meal there that night of crab, oysters, shrimp and flounder. We spent the night on their dock and set sail again early the next morning. That morning at Sunbury had a magnificent sunrise with flat calm seas. When the seas are so calm and glassy, it is almost difficult to tell where the sky stops and the water starts. As we prepared to pull away from the dock we were accompanied in the channel by both dolphin and manatees!

Although this does not get us caught up to our present location…. This is enough for one blog. Will catch up again later!

On the AICW

Hello From St Augustine!

We are now 15 days into our loop and have covered approximately 350 miles. Since our last post, we have completed the Okeechobee Waterway and started our way up the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW). We have made stops in Fort Pierce, Eau Gallie (Melbourne), Titusville, New Smyrna, Marineland and are now in St. Augustine. We have met some wonderful people - both fellow loopers as well as just other fellow boaters. In New Smyrna we got our first taste of true looper camaraderie when we were invited to join four other couples for a nice dinner out.  Loopers come from all over the US and the world and from all types of backgrounds. Some are very experienced and some are newbies like ourselves.  It makes interacting with other loopers both fun and educational.

Along the way we have seen alligators, dolphin, egrets, pelicans, turtles, sand pipers, and iguanas. On our tour of St. Augustine today, the guide was excited to point out peacocks....oh ho hum - we have seen way too many of those at home! We have seen run down old Florida shanties and multimillion dollar estates. We have also seen amazing yachts as well as rotting hulks of vessels abandoned on the river banks. We even got to see a launch of a SpaceEx rocket! Fortunately, we have had mostly clear skies and flat seas although there is a good thunder storm display right now.  

Karen and I are getting more comfortable on the boat although we still get nervous docking, especially in wind or current. I am still doing most of the driving and Karen is working the lines.  At our last two marinas, we were told we looked smooth and competent as we came in. Boy - I wish I could say that was how we felt! Once we are tied up and engines are shut down it's time for a high five and big sighs of relief. Tonight is our second night on a mooring ball. We love these as they offer the serenity of being away from a marina but without the worries of being on an anchor. They are also far less stressful to tie up to than a dock. 

Some of the highlights of the last 10 days...

The Navy Seal Museum in Fort Pierce was fantastic. Fort Pierce was the site of the training of the original navy "frogmen." You cannot come out of that place without feeling patriotic and inspired by the courage, fortitude and skills of these highly trained soldiers.

Riding our bikes on New Smyrna Beach was a lot of fun. We did it twice! Cars are allowed on the beach there, like in Daytona. When the tide is out there is a large expanse of smooth hardened sand that works great as a riding surface, even with thin road tires. On the second day we rode about 4 miles each way on the sand to see the light house at Ponce de Leon inlet. Juan Ponce de Leon was the governor of Puerto Rico and the first European to explore and chart Florida in 1515. At 4"11" tall he was actually above average height for Spaniards of that era. He ultimately died from wounds suffered in a skirmish with native Americans who did not share his enthusiasm for European settlement of Florida.

The marina at Eau Gallie was a picture perfect setting.  It looked more like a small town in the north east than Florida. The marina locals were as friendly and helpful as could be. If we had come through here a few years ago we might have been tempted to stay. 2-3 years ago you could have have purchased a nice waterfront home here  for $350,000.  They are now well well over $1,000,000.

Although we just got here today, St Augustine is shaping up to be a highlight as well. Originally founded in 1565, this picturesque city, it is the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in North America. The old fort and the Bridge of Lions are just two of the many highlights of the city. We are moored tonight just south of the bridge which is beautifully lit up at night. 

And of course.... the miles and miles of beautiful, peaceful scenery and fresh air. Still beats a day at the office.

On the negative side.... No See Ums.  These 1 mm devils are next to impossible to see but they have a vicious bite. So far Karen has been pretty much left alone by them but my legs are a bumpy itchy mess. Just picked up some repellant so looking forward to less buggy nights.

Our amusing anecdote ... On New Smyrna Beach we met a guy from Indiana. He was in Florida to deliver an antique truck he had restored. When I asked what year the truck was... 1973! If a 1973 truck is an antique, what does that make us?!!!

Too many pictures to post but here are a few.  And check out our Relive videos linked below.

https://www.relive.cc/view/veqzmm2Q476

https://www.relive.cc/view/v7O9BBNEVQ6

https://www.relive.cc/view/vwq1BRXPZBv

https://www.relive.cc/view/vMv8JgLM8N6

We Have Started Our Loop!

Pardon me my friends, it has been over 3 weeks since my last blog. Yep, a lot has happened! We spent all of March living on our boat at the home dock of Martin, the salesman who sold us our boat. We cannot thank him and his wife enough for their hospitality. This time gave us an opportunity to get used to living on the boat and learning her systems. Martin is also a licensed captain and he took us out a few times to help us learn to maneuver and dock Off Leash safely. It can be very tricky docking a boat her size, especially if there is wind or current. Large power boats are a totally different beast from the sail boats I am used to. It seems different captains have various preferences for how they like to handle dock lines but the one consistency of docking among all experienced captains is...slow and easy. I can do slow... but it's not yet easy! Our plan is for both Karen and I to learn to handle the boat but, until I feel very comfortable handling the boat, we are concentrating on me driving and Karen handling the lines.  She is doing great and handling the lines is far more physical than driving. I cannot say she doesn't panic now and then but, for Karen, that's normal and she bounces out of it quickly.

We also continued to spend a fair amount of time with Alison, keeping her company and helping her with her house and dogs while she was waiting for Dylan to finish his work in Eugene and join her in Florida. And Hooray - he finally got here this week, just in time for us to leave. Karen's brother, Jack, and his wife, Kathy and dog, Twill, joined us on the boat for a few days.  It was great having them aboard. Jack is very knowledgeable about boats and was helpful to us in getting the boat ready.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate for us and we were never able to take them out for a cruise on Off Leash but we did at least take a dinghy ride to lunch!.

The Big News.... We finally cast off our lines and started our Great American Loop at 9:29AM on Saturday, April 2, 2022! We were getting antsy to leave and had been waiting for the right weather window. We monitor 4 weather apps and for the whole week they were predicting winds and thunder storms and we would wake up to clear skies and mild winds. So, we finally declared Saturday would be the day. We were up at 6 am to get an early start only to be socked in by fog. So we waited and waited and waited until the fog lifted and made our get away! 

We are now 4 days in and so far, so good! Our first day was  a 38 mile run from Cape Coral to Port Labelle. On this run we got to experience the first of the hundred plus locks we will transit over the course of the loop. We were pretty nervous about it as this was our first lock but this lock only raised us about 18 inches so it was pretty easy. Labelle is only 12 miles from Alison's house so she and Dylan  joined us for the 22 mile 2nd leg up to Moore Haven. Day 3 presented us with the challenge of crossing Lake Okeechobee, the second largest fresh water lake in the US. We had heard plenty of stories about how difficult it can be if the weather gets bad and, like every day, there were potential thunderstorms forecast. Fortunately, the weather cooperated and we had a beautiful, safe and easy crossing. By the time we tied up on the St. Lucie river we had been on the water for 7 hours and traveled 62 miles. But we had fun rocking out to tunes and Karen even got in a little yoga on the bow. 

We are also using the Relive App to video document our travels.. You can follow us on Relive and we will post some of those videos on our blogs. Links to our videos for day one and three below...

DAY 1 VIDEO

DAY 3 VIDEO

The Grand (Mini)Tour - Off Leash!

We have continued to live onboard Off Leash for the past 10 days while still docked in Cape Coral. We have been getting used to her systems, organizing and making minor upgrades. We had promised a tour of Off Leash so we finally spent a day sprucing up our 45 foot hole in the water to the point we are not embarrassed to show her off. On the other hand, cleaning up a boat in the Florida heat left me and Karen a little grimy. So, don't expect much of us in our video.  In the hopes of not taxing the upload. system, I have split the tour into 4 short videos. I do not expect any Academy award nominations for my work! 

I must admit, in light of the current events happening in Ukraine it seems a little trivial to be blogging about our new boat and adventure. My family history traces back to Ukraine and, like many of you, our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Ukraine as we hope for a speedy and less violent resolution to the conflict.

The Adventure Begins!

Hard to believe its been 17 days since our last post! Since then, we moved onto the boat, gave her her name, and were surprisingly able to fit most of what we brought with us into one of the many nooks and crannies in our beautifully designed boat. We spent about a week living aboard in Fort Lauderdale organizing things, and then took off with our training captains, Jerry and Jean Coleman, on Monday afternoon to make our way through the keys and up the west coast of Florida to Cape Coral which would be our final staging area for starting our loop. Our first stop was going to be south of Miami, but as we left Port Everglades and were about to throttle up heading south, we saw a submarine (nuclear?) performing operations and were subsequently stopped by the US Navy and told to go back into the intracoastal waterway in order to head south. What that meant was we had to motor slowly and therefore were only able to make it to Marine Stadium, an anchorage across Biscayne Bay from Miami. By the time we got there, the place was crowded, jet skis were zooming everywhere, and the rap music was blaring. We found a little window of space and were able to set our anchor, turn off the engines, and then relax, make dinner and hit the sack early, after our maiden voyage. That all sounds really good, right? Nope.... about 5:00am we get a knock on our stateroom door, and Jerry, one of our captains, told us that our anchor had slipped and that we needed to get up, start the engines and get the heck out of there. Say what??? Rob moved a lot faster than I did, and eventually everyone managed to get the boat safe and secure and anchored out in Biscayne Bay south of Miami to await the sunrise when we could make tracks to Key Largo.

The rest of our trip took us south to Marathon and then a 110 mile cruise north along the west coast to Marco Island. We had great flat seas and Off Leash performed magnificently, her shiny aluminum diesels purring like kittens. We had to move quickly as there were more significant winds forecast through the week. Along the way we got to experience the crab pots we had heard so much about. If you catch a crab pot in your prop, you are in for a bad day. The pots were everywhere! Most were white, yellow, or red and relatively easy to spot. Some crabbers however think it is a good idea to use marking balls painted the same turquoise as the waters of the keys. Dodging the pots is basically the boating equivalent of a video game! We were also joined along the way by a few hitch hiking dolphins.  You just can't help but smile when Flipper is playing in your wake. The docking in Key Largo and Marathon were very tricky due to the building winds so Rob had to let Jerry handle much of the maneuvering. Marco Island was our first stop where Rob was able to dock the boat on his own. 

Our first trip came to a close on Friday afternoon when we docked Off Leash at the water front home of the salesman, Martin, who sold us our new floating  fiberglass villa. We parted ways with Jean and Jerry and made our way back to Ali's house for a couple of days in a real bed, long showers and a full size washer and dryer. We will load up the rest of our gear and head back to Off Leash tomorrow. 

Next up... once we clean her all up... a tour of Off Leash!