Florida to South Carolina on the ICW

It's been a month and a half since our last blog page, and I am not completely sure why it has been so long .... but we have been busy ... lots has happened. We left Charleston, SC this morning, hoping to anchor tonight in Awendaw Creek near McClellanville (just south of Andersonville), but there is a storm approaching from the west that looks pretty awesome, so we shall push on for Georgetown, an historic town at the ICW mile 402, where we can tie up at a marina. Fortunately, the sunset comes later now, so we should arrive in the daylight around 6:30 pm. We are sorry to be leaving Charleston, as we have loved getting to know the city better. If we did not love Charlottesville so much, we would move there in a heart beat! So many beautiful old homes on the market, it was hard not to look "just for fun"!

After leaving "the Palm Beaches", we did stop in Stuart to see Jackie and Brian with their new boat "Gotta Smile" ..... remember, we need a picture with her name on the stern, J & B! It was great fun, and we all treated ourselves to a very fancy Easter dinner at Olive Garden! Then we were on to Vero Beach, where we had a grand time with Georgia, my college roommate, & Jeff, Peter's friend from college, who entertained us royally with dinner at their home and then their club! A very special highlight was seeing their son Alex, daughter-in-law Andee and meeting their muppets Avery and Ryder. We had a day on the water with them all, cruising the ICW and admiring all the beautiful homes and nature preserves. Then after we left Vero, G & J Joined us a few days later for a night on board in Cocoa, Fl. We all went to the Kennedy Space Center, did the bus tour of the launch pads, the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) and the main exhibit of the space shuttles and their booster rockets. We learned more than we shall ever remember, but the highlight was an Imax movie on the Hubble Telescope. OMG. If any of us think we are significant, we just need to check out the galaxies upon galaxies that are out there ...... with millions of suns, where distances are measured in trillions of light years. If the Hubble film comes to an Imax near you, we highly recommend it! After Cocoa, we stopped in Titusville, Daytona, and then Palm Coast, where we stayed at a wonderful marina at Hammock Beach Resort. We were missing our friends, Rachel & Peter, who were supposed to join us around Daytona ... real estate contracts and life got in the way ..... and to cheer ourselves up, we spent time looking at condominiums at Hammock Beach. We quickly decided they were not for us, and we moved on to St. Augustine, which we had also hoped to share with R & P. Very nice town, but much more touristy than we had expected. We did find one of the best restaurants on our trip, Collage, having asked a taxi driver where we should go. Should have given him a bigger tip! After St. Augustine, we travelled to Jacksonville, FL. We left the ICW and motored up (down?) the St. John's River, which was lovely. We were even able to find Ann & HB's home along the river .... and took a few pictures to prove it!

We left Moon Beam at Lamb's Yacht Center, a wonderful boatyard where mechanics finally diagnosed a persistent & irritating low fuel pressure problem, which had plagued us forever in our port engine. We found "Pet Paradise" for Tigger & Kitty ... and flew home to Charlottesville for 3 1/2 days to attend a beautiful wedding for a gorgeous bride, Elizabeth, and her beloved Chip. (Pictured here ... the morning after!) It was magical, and we felt as though we had stepped out of our land of shorts and visors into a fantasy world. What a treat to be there!

Once back in Jacksonville, we headed north, stopping at Fort George Island where we anchored in a lovely oxbow and toured Kingsley Plantation with its slave house ruins. In Georgia, we travelled through miles and miles of marsh lands ... for as far as the eye could see, in every direction. In fact, all of Georgia on the ICW was marsh land, and we were delighted to see that at least in some part of the country the wild life has it pretty good. Birds of all kinds, fish and of course alligators live a very rich life there. We had heard for years that shoaling was a huge problem in Georgia through lack of dredging, but we did not find any sign of it. Of course it did help to hit Mud River at high tide by accident, so we sailed through there. We may have "bumped" once, but nothing like what we had expected. We passed Kings Bay Submarine Base, home of 6 Trident class submarines and coast guard patrol boats with bow mounted machine guns!!!! Poof! Then we crossed Jekyll Sound to Jekyll Creek, where we stopped at Jekyll Island for the night and biked around to the Jekyll Island Club. Very attractive! Next, we stopped outside of Savannah at Isle of Hope Marina, along the Skidaway River, and visited for a day with my dear aunt, Margaret Anne. We had lunch with her at The Marshes and then spent the afternoon/ evening aboard Moon Beam. The picture of dinner on board is way out of focus, but I want her included in the blog! It was so lovely to have her on board ... we had been talking about it for 2 years. Also, this was the day Geoff sold his condominium in Charlestown, MA .... in one day! (And in no small measure on Jaimee's part in making it gorgeous!)

From Savannah, we motored north past Hilton Head, SC .... without stopping, as we know that area very well since Peter's mother and step-father lived there so long. It was fun to see it from the water, which is always so different. We saw the beach where Tigger played so many times .... as well as waterside restaurants we had visited .... and of course Harbor Town. The weather was gray and cloudy, but we were able to pick out a lot of places. From there we went to Beaufort, SC, (the town which woke up Confederate and went to bed Union) which we loved. Barry joined us for the night, as he was en route from Jupiter FL, being the good son in driving his Dad's car back to Long Island. As always, we had a nice, but too short, visit with him. And we were docked next to the Nina & the Pinta ...... I am sure you have all heard the story of the Nina, the Pinta and the Moon Beam! We took an extra day to explore Beaufort, which was good fun, clopping around in a horse drawn carriage, listening to the lore of the town. Every southern town boasts the oldest this or largest that, and it is fun to hear the qualifications. We saw the field where the football game in The Big Chill was filmed ... but unfortunately not that beautiful house, in which, it turns out, one of Peter's fraternity brothers grew up!

Then ....ta da .... on to Charleston, SC. Oh my, I think I have already said how much we loved it! No tours here, as we had done that before, but we did spend an awful lot of time just driving and walking through the historic district. What a great city. So manageable to walk around ... and so exquisite. We also had time to see Phil and Barbara, who live in Charleston. Unfortunately I neglected to take a picture of them on board! Phil is an old friend from Hamilton College, and we spent a wonderful evening reacquainting ourselves ... reminiscing with college stories, but also catching up with life in the following 43 years. Another huge treat .... once again with no picture (grrrrr) .... was seeing a very dear friend of mine from Dana Hall, whom I had not seen in over 20 years. Lynn, and her partner Jane, came for dinner on board ..... and we laughed as hard as we ever did in the Wee Tass Club at school. (Got it, Lynn??) I shall be sure to not lose touch like that again ... but it is difficult to know where someone is when they leave to go to China for a few years to teach English!! Poof. Such adventurous friends. Moon Beam stayed at The Charleston Maritime Center for at least two weeks, as we flew from Charleston to Los Angeles for Sarah's graduation from her MBA program at USC. That was a thrill ... and Geoff and Jaimee joined us, making it a wonderful family celebration. I could fill three pages with photos from our week there, but this is just one of the five of us. Congratulations dear Sarah on all you have accomplished!
While in LA, we learned of the death of Peter's sister-in-law, Donna, in Loveland, CO, so we stopped on the way back to Charleston to be with his brother, Dartt, for 4 days. We were able to attend Donna's beautiful service and meet D & D's neighbors and friends, which was a lovely experience. The following day we drove into the mountains to place Donna's ashes with those of their two sons and her mother. Donna had been sick for so long, and Dartt took such wonderful care of her. She will be missed by all who knew her, and we feel Dartt will be able to move forward with the support of his community, which he in turn supports so generously. Just after we left, Dartt purchased a touring BMW motorcycle .... and as of today, Peter says he has already had his 600 mile check. Happy travels, Dartt. Come see us in Virginia!

Once back in Charleston, we took another long look around ... and then chugged out, heading for Georgetown, SC ... where I shall continue on our next blog page. Hopefully sooner rather than later. I will add one more very happy note to this blog .... Geoff and Jaimee are engaged! After getting back to Boston, following Sarah's graduation, Jaimee's sister was married the following weekend. Then they took off for another sailing trip to their beloved BVI's, and Geoff said he was leaving with a ring in his pocket! He asked Jaimee's Dad for permission to marry his daughter .... on the morning after Jaimee's sister's wedding. We suggested he bring smelling salts for the poor Dad! But the joy is that Jaimee said "yes" on the patio at Caneel Bay, and we are thrilled!

As of this morning, we crossed the state line back into Virgina. We shall be staying in Norfolk, VA tonight, at ICW Mile 0, where the ICW ends in the Chesapeake Bay. We have come 400+ miles since I started this page. When we cross into MD, we shall also cross our wake, completing the Great Loop!