A Slow Ride Home. but oh so Enjoyable

The blue markers indicate places we stopped

This year while we were docked in Marathon, Bill passed the test to become a ham radio operator. He enjoyed the weekly luncheons and the camaraderie with other marine radio hams. One of many nice features which we have enjoyed because of this is the ability to map our stopping points along the way by sending position reports by ham radio. The map to the left shows all of the stops we made from Marathon to our home in Wickford, RI. Judging by the number of pins posted you would think we made it home in a relatively short time because there are only about sixty pins showing. However as is our fashion, we managed to stop and explore each of these areas and visited many friends along the route. It is hard to imagine we took five months to complete this cruise. but we learned a lot and had a wonderful time. Luckily it was good weather all the way!

Our last posting left us part way up the east coast of Florida heading north on the Intracoastal Waterway. Our next stop was Marinaland, FL, a two night stop. It is considered "the world's first oceanarium" where you can swim with the dolphins. We spent a day exploring the rock covered beach, looking but not swimming with the penned dolphins and then enjoyed a sunset kayak tour through the estuary waters. We had been passing through lots of estuaries where the fresh water river meets the salty tidal water and thought it would be interesting to go farther up the river. This particular area is too shallow for our boat, so a kayak tour was in order.

Marinaland beach

Playing at the beach

A heron and a lighthouse in the sunset

The next boat is a reproduction of an older style boat, similar to some of the Columbus boat reproductions.

Boat docked near St Augustine on a river, possibly the Pinta

St Augustine, FL is a town that features many historical buildings and is home to Flagler College that has many of its buildings in the early Spanish style. There are many interesting walks, tours, and places of interest. We could have spent many days exploring this scenic town.

Roadway entrance sign

Lightner Museum

Statue on the Street

El Galeon, a sixteenth century Spanish reproduction ship similar to the one Ponce de Leon sailed

St Augustine harbor view

Nao Victoria , reproduction of first Spanish ship to circumnavigate the world

Memorial Presbyterian Church in St Augustine

St Augustine's view from the harbor

The northernmost Florida town on the waterway is Fernandina, a town that friends had raved about. It has many historic houses and is located near the open passage to the Atlantic Ocean. We investigated the historic village and enjoyed some of the fresh seafood.

Research vessel with its anchor pilings down

The wind picked up the next day, so we spent several days at anchor. Water can get quite shallow here, so some boats have an unusual way to anchor.

As the weather improved, we passed by the open passage and went north to Cumberland Island National Seashore. It is an island most of which was owned by Lucy Carnegie, the sister-in-law to Andrew Carnegie, and there are several ruins of their mansions. Many wild horses and wild turkeys can be seen there. It has extensive nature paths that entice visitors to explore its many facets.

Shrimp boat entering the inlet near Fernandina

Cumberland Island nature path

The National Seashore

Wild flowers at the beach

What can be better than fresh shrimp?

North from here the waterway meanders between islands with many creeks leading to small towns. The water gets shallow in many areas, so a watchful eye and prudence helps. Many shrimp boats work this area and many claim that the shrimp here is tastier than in other areas.

One of the towns which we visited is Darien, Georgia. It is home to a fleet of shrimp boats and to the well reconstructed Fort King George. The views of the lowlands is amazing from the Fort. In 1721 Fort King George was the southern most part of the English Empire in North America. In 1736 it was abandoned by the British and Scottish Highlanders took it over under the guidance of General James Oglethorpe.

Blockhouse at Fort King George

Notice the cannons facing the river to protect entry from the water way


Cannon firing from blockhouse

Musket firing

A reconstructed Indian village outside of Fort King William

Invading boats would have few places to hide in the estuaries surrounding Fort King George

The beaches along the Atlantic Ocean have many different characteristics due to the weather and the natural roll of ocean waves. In contrast to the two previous beach pictures this area suffered from trees falling and washing along the shore. It adds a different kind of beauty to the scenery.

Blackbeard Island

On the inside part of this beach we met some very interesting people practicing their golf strokes. They were hoping to golf on all the nearby islands. It is the first time we have seen golfers on the beach, but what a good idea as long as your stroke is is relatively straight.

Isle of Hope is another historic town on the waterfront. The road at the marina has beautiful homes and flowers.

A perfect hydrangea blossom

The city marina in Beaufort, South Carolina is filled with many transient boats and those of residents.. This classic older boat, belonging to a local boater, caught our eye on our walk through town.

The city provides a welcoming waterfront park and maintains it as a place for all to enjoy the waterfront. They have a long walkway lined with trees, bushes, and comfortable swinging benches. They even went one step farther to preserve areas of natural beauty for all to enjoy.

Interesting sign in the historic section of Beaufort, SC

We had never thought that rice was a major export item in the south. However, from the eighteenth century to the Civil War days, Georgetown, SC was the second largest producer of rice in the world. The Rice Museum in Georgetown helps to make visitors aware of the importance of this crop.

A busy weekend near Charleston, SC

Many businesses like to decorate their walls with signs which will entertain their customers. We don't always relate to the published sentiment, but theses two signs in Southport, NC really talked to us, perhaps we won't show these to our doctors.

Legend has it that the tradition of dragons started in Oriental more than forty years ago when a man named Joe Cox felt that a town named Oriental should have a Chinese dragon to celebrate New Year's Eve since the Chinese use a dragon to celebrate Chinese New Years. It has become an annual event on New Year's Eve to have dragons running through Oriental. A dragon appears in several locations throughout the town year round. We have seen one floating in a pond near the town dock and one hiding under a bush in someone's yard. Knowing this is the case, all visitor's should adhere to the sentiments of this sign.

It was now June 24th, the temperature was warm, and we were near one of our favorite stopping places, Cape Lookout National Seashore. We decided to enter the anchorage and stay for a few days. The water there is warm and clean, the beach is nothing but clean white sand, and the lighthouse is always a good place to see the waters around the island.

View from Cape Lookout lighthouse

Helicopter taking pictures of new boat models maneuvering for advertising purposes

After a few days the skies got dark and we headed back to protected water. It was also time for us to leave the boat for a month, get the van from Mississippi where we left it in October, and to help our daughter move from Michigan to Maine. We entered the marina on June 28th and prepared the boat in case of bad weather while we were away.

New Bern, NC across the river from where we left our boat for a month

The next day we began our 6200 mile journey by car and plane to take care of necessary business. The day after we left a hurricane hit Cape Lookout where we had just been and headed up the east coast, thankfully bypassing the upper river where we had left our boat.

Returning to the boat a month later, we decided we really had to head home a little more quickly. We went through the dismal swamp waterway

Dismal Swamp, but really quite pretty

These next pictures are scenes from along the way. We visited several friends in the Chesapeake Bay area and then went overnight along the New Jersey coast.

Boat from Newport, RI off Norfolk, Virginia

A home made boat perhaps

An interesting waterfront construction

Cruising through New York City is always a thrill. The Statue of Liberty,
city views, many domes and towers, helicopter landings and take offs from right by the water, and other interesting scenery make this a special cruise. While cruising through Hell's Gate and then into Long Island Sound we kept hearing about a boat burning and eventually sinking at the gas dock of a marina in an unknown harbor.

Our plans were to pick up a mooring ball off Port Washington for the night.
Once we got settled for the evening, we looked around and saw lots of Coast Guard boats, fire boats, and busy people. We were in the harbor where the boat fire had been. The next morning when we went to shore for some groceries we saw the sad remains of someones treasure.

Long Island Sound is always busy. Before we reached home we wanted to visit a few of the places we enjoyed the most before we had taken the boat south. Hamburg Cove, Mystic Seaport, Block Island, and finally Wickford where we had made reservations to store the boat for the winter in a covered shed were the next stops.