Great Loop & Cruising Adventure Blog

We arrived in Morehead City, North Carolina today for a much anticipated visit with our friends Louis and Diane Wade on Bella Luna (bottom-left). We have traveled with them on and off during our trip and some of our fondest Loop memories involve these two amazing people. They had graciously invited us to stop for a visit at their beach house in Morehead City, when we were traveling through, for some R & R off the boat and we knew that we could not pass up this offer.

Charlie and Linda on Freedom’s Turn had arrived a few days earlier and they all turned up at the dock to catch our lines and help us secure our boat before we took off for a fun few days at their Beach House talking about our trips and learning about what southern hospitality means.

Helicopters, and other assorted aircraft, practice landings, bombs heard in the distance… it’s all a part of anchoring near Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. This is a popular spot for boaters to anchor as there are not a lot of options in this stretch between Carolina Beach and Morehead City.

Cruising this morning to an anchorage in Carolina Beach and saw this tug pulling a LONG load southbound on the ICW. It just kept going and going. At the end there must have been about a block long of dredging pipe dragging in the water. The things you see while traveling by water.

We remember traveling through this idyllic stretch in 2006 and today we just could not get enough of it. Lisa kept running outside to take photos of the mirror-like water reflecting the clouds and shoreline. Today, for the most part, was mostly uninhabited territory with dreamy fields and woods lining the ICW.

Tonight we sat on the flybridge in our anchorage on Calabash Creek, off of Little River, watching the tide go up with our Kismet now  almost hugging the state line that runs through SC and NC. Since we are about to enter North Carolina we are anticipating a reunion with some dear friends, Louis and Diane Wade, on Bella Luna, in their homeport of Morehead City. For a long time they have been talking to us about visiting them at their homeport when we travel through this area, so we have to make a stop for our “Bella Luna fix.”

It was a little rough getting into this anchorage since low tide was at mean low water. We almost got stuck but eventually found the deeper water way in with the help of some of the other boaters already settled in the creek. We are anchored with five sailboats sharing with them a calm night on the hook while enjoying the chatter of birds and the sound of an occasional fishing boat zipping by.

Here we are (below) entering Prince Creek where, last time through, we saw lots of alligators. We didn’t see any this time though. Just not the right time of day, we guess, but still this is a nice detour off the ICW for a couple of miles.

The third oldest city in South Carolina, following Charleston and Beaufort, Georgetown was founded in 1729 and became an official port of entry in 1732. Prior to this, all foreign exports and imports had to pass through Charleston.

Our intention was to anchor in Georgetown’s harbor tonight, but finding the harbor occupied by many boats already anchored or moored we decided to tie up at the Harbor Walk Marina right in the downtown area.

Jim and Barbara, on Golden Lily and Charlie and Jeanette, on Highlander arrived just a little ahead of us today and helped us tie up when we got there.

We didn’t have much time to explore since it was a long day and we got in late afternoon. But as soon as we got cleaned up we headed downtown in search of fried green tomatoes and dinner. We found exactly what we were looking for and more at the Goat Island Grill.

We always love to go to Farmer’s Markets. and today Pam and I arranged to meet and spend the day at the market as we still had more catching up to do. I picked up a lot of good looking produce and found some cilantro to replenish batch I had that was looking kind of sad.

Charleston is known as The Holy City due to the prominence of churches on the low-rise cityscape, particularly the numerous steeples which dot the city’s skyline. The community was established by English settlers in 1670 on the west bank of the Ashley River, a few miles northwest of the present city. Charleston’s name is derived from Charles Towne, named after King Charles II of England.

Subject to attack from sea and from land, eriodic assaults from Spain and France were combined with resistance from Native Americans, as well as pirate raids.

By the mid-18th century Charleston had become a bustling trade center, the hub of the Atlantic trade for the southern colonies, and the wealthiest and largest city south of Philadelphia. By 1770 it was the fourth largest port in the colonies.

We were fortunate to get Rebel as our buggy tour guide. She has a lot of knowledge of the city and those who lived there.

Lisa has not seen her friend Pam Baugh Trudeau for almost thirty years. That’s a long time but when you live on different sides of the country, Pam lived in Washington State until a few years ago, time just kind of slips by. As always is the case with good friends, we seemed to pick up right where we left off after catching up on the general details of the years in between.

Pam and her partner, Mike met us at the boat for Happy Hour before we went to Cru Cafe for dinner.

And while we are talking about reunions…

Surprise for Us - Drake’s Dream Arrives

We last saw them at our homeport in Charlevoix, Michigan at the end of our Loop, during the middle of theirs, Jerry and Melissa Drake on Drake’s Dream. So, it’s been three years since we have laid eyes on them and all of a sudden, as we are catching up with Pam on Kismet, we see them entering the Maritime Center harbor. What a surprise.