Called to a Higher Porpoise

Vessel Name: Higher Porpoise
31 October 2016
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24 December 2016

The rest of the story - part 3

We left Savannah on November 11 and continued down the ICW. We had to be very careful to know the state of the tide - there are places in Georgia where the route has shoaled badly, and you need the tide to help you through. We made it through the worst of them, a section called Hell's Gate, with less [...]

24 December 2016

The rest of the story - part 3

We left Savannah on November 11 and continued down the ICW. We had to be very careful to know the state of the tide - there are places in Georgia where the route has shoaled badly, and you need the tide to help you through. We made it through the worst of them, a section called Hell's Gate, with less [...]

18 December 2016

The rest of the story - part 2

We departed Charleston on November 7, headed inside down the ICW because conditions on the Atlantic were not favorable. We journeyed as far as the Fenwick Cut just north of St. Helena Sound, found a good anchorage, and spent a peaceful night there.

18 December 2016

The rest of the story - part 1

We apologize to everyone who was trying to follow us via this blog - it takes a lot of time to keep this up to date, and as most people were following us on Facebook we found a short post every day or two to be a much simpler solution.

31 October 2016

Adventures on the ICW

We have been neglecting our posts and we apologize, but it has been an eventful couple of weeks! We are posting this from Myrtle Beach, SC where we are staying a couple of days for some R&R and to work on boat projects. (Yes, we still have them!)

18 October 2016

Ready for the ICW!

We left Annapolis on October 12, ready to head south on Chesapeake Bay. We went to St. Michaels, MD on the eastern shore and we spent two nights there, taking a rest day to tour this beautiful town and and the great maritime museum at the harbor entrance. Sandy and I had the chance to make good use of [...]

The rest of the story - part 3

24 December 2016
We left Savannah on November 11 and continued down the ICW. We had to be very careful to know the state of the tide - there are places in Georgia where the route has shoaled badly, and you need the tide to help you through. We made it through the worst of them, a section called Hell's Gate, with less than a foot of water under our keel, and the tide was just a foot below high!

That evening we anchored in a very remote section, in a place called Big Tom Creek.

The next morning we awoke to find a very high tide - so much so that without our Navionics charts we would not have known where the channel was!

We continued south, and on the advice of friends we put in at Brunswick Landing Marina in Brunswick, GA. It is near downtown Brunswick, and it has free laundry and free beer! That's right - free beer! While we were there they had ice cold PBR on tap 24/7! The photo shows the big cable-stayed bridge at Brunswick.

The rest of the story - part 3

24 December 2016
We left Savannah on November 11 and continued down the ICW. We had to be very careful to know the state of the tide - there are places in Georgia where the route has shoaled badly, and you need the tide to help you through. We made it through the worst of them, a section called Hell's Gate, with less than a foot of water under our keel, and the tide was just a foot below high!

That evening we anchored in a very remote section, in a place called Big Tom Creek.

The next morning we awoke to find a very high tide - so much so that without our Navionics charts we would not have known where the channel was!

We continued south, and on the advice of friends we put in at Brunswick Landing Marina in Brunswick, GA. It is near downtown Brunswick, and it has free laundry and free beer! That's right - free beer! While we were there they had ice cold PBR on tap 24/7! The photo shows the big cable-stayed bridge at Brunswick.

The rest of the story - part 2

18 December 2016
We departed Charleston on November 7, headed inside down the ICW because conditions on the Atlantic were not favorable. We journeyed as far as the Fenwick Cut just north of St. Helena Sound, found a good anchorage, and spent a peaceful night there.

On November 8 we continued to Beaufort, SC (That's BEEYOO-fort, not BOW-fort like the one in NC!) and we stayed at Port Royal Landing Marina. It was a nice stop and they even had a courtesy car so we could pick up a few needed things!

On November 9, we reached the Georgia State line and the City of Savannah. We stayed at Savannah Bend Marina and caught an Uber ride in the next day so we could do some exploring. Savannah is beautiful - it is a "City of Squares" and each of the squares has historic significance. River Street is a long stair or elevator trip down from the main part of the City, and it's well worth it as seen in the photo.

The rest of the story - part 1

18 December 2016
We apologize to everyone who was trying to follow us via this blog - it takes a lot of time to keep this up to date, and as most people were following us on Facebook we found a short post every day or two to be a much simpler solution.

To make a long story short, we completed our voyage - but we're going to pick up where we left off and give you a series of posts that will bring us home. This is part 1, beginning in Myrtle Beach.

We left Myrtle Beach and continued down the ICW, and with a good weather window in the offing we anchored in Winyah Bay near Georgetown Inlet. After a peaceful night at anchor, we raised the hook before dawn and headed out to sea to sail down to Charleston, SC. We had great sea and wind conditions and made the Charleston Inlet in the late afternoon. Getting into the inlet took awhile as the tide was going out and the current was against us - but at last we were passing by Fort Sumter and making our way to the Charleston City Marina. The Marina is enormous, and it features the "Megadock" where you see large yachts, both sail and power, from all over. The one in the photo is the three-masted British schooner Adix, 213 feet on deck with an added 30 foot bowsprit.

We were in an inner slip, and we stayed a few days to explore this beautiful city and to reprovision before continuing southward.

Adventures on the ICW

31 October 2016
We have been neglecting our posts and we apologize, but it has been an eventful couple of weeks! We are posting this from Myrtle Beach, SC where we are staying a couple of days for some R&R and to work on boat projects. (Yes, we still have them!)

Traveling on the IntraCoastal Waterway is quite an experience! There is incredible beauty, periods of tense navigation through shoal areas, waiting for bridge openings - and with all of that, a lot of marvelous fellow travelers on sail and power alike.

We entered the ICW at Norfolk, VA and traveled past an enormous Navy presence. It was most impressive - and then suddenly we were "in the ditch" as they say. The character of the lands changed as we proceeded south and by the time we reached Albermarle Sound, marshlands and Carolina pine forests were common.

Between the sounds, we traversed the long, straight Alligator/Pungo canal. We did not see it, but the marine radio crackled with reports of a black bear swimming across!

We stayed near Belhaven and then near Oriental, where Stan from Beta Marine met us and took us to dinner. Delightful!

Then it was on to Pamlico Sound and to the Neuse River, and finally back to the coast at Morehead City.

From there, we traveled south to Carolina Beach, stopping along the way at a great anchorage by the Camp Lejeune Marine Base. From Carolina Beach we continued and ended up here in Myrtle Beach.

In days to come we will likely use any good weather Windows to head outside and bypass some of the ICW. We'll try and keep the posts coming!

Ready for the ICW!

18 October 2016
We left Annapolis on October 12, ready to head south on Chesapeake Bay. We went to St. Michaels, MD on the eastern shore and we spent two nights there, taking a rest day to tour this beautiful town and and the great maritime museum at the harbor entrance. Sandy and I had the chance to make good use of the folding bikes we carry aboard!

On Friday October 14 we sailed down the bay to Solomons, MD and anchored in a snug little harbor there. It was a chilly night but we had lots of blankets (and stormy) and were quite comfortable.

On Saturday we moved on again, and we ended up at Dozier's Regatta Point Marina on the south shore of the Rappahannock River. It had very nice facilities and when we left on Sunday to head for Hampton, we had a full water tank, a full diesel tank and an empty holding tank.

We finished the Chesapeake Bay part of our voyage when we arrived in Hampton, VA late Sunday afternoon, October 16. We have spent an extra day here, resting up and doing minor boat projects in preparation for the next phase - the IntraCoastal Waterway! (ICW)

This morning, October 18, we'll slip the lines at Hampton and head across to Norfolk and then down the Elizabeth River to begin the ICW adventure.
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