Waccamaw Never Disappoints

...Radeen helms the boat into the river...

We have been slow keeping up with the blog because we are working on a massive server upgrade and web site move of 11,500 photos from my www.IPphotos.com site into my other site at www.IPYOA.com. I have been working on this challenge for years and at the Annapolis Boat Show, this year, I began the final process. The task has turned out to be far more complex than first expected and now after a new server, triple the storage space, expanded bandwidth and working with programmers in Romania, Singapore and the UK, we are slowly moving ahead. Every day, this task is consuming my blogging time. Working on web servers and web sites while onboard using a cell connection and a hotspot is a real challenge. We hope to be testing the roll out soon, where there will be nearly 20,000 sorted photos of Island Packet Yachts in our IPYOA.com community site. That will be amazing!

Back in Southport, we shot this Sunrise

Trying to catch up on the blog, here are some photos of the Waccamaw River Passage, which is never disappointing. The trip this year was in flat lighting so the shadows are not there, but I still see and capture the beautiful in this river. We decided to spend the night in here because we are in no rush and this is one of the most beautiful and most unique places on the entire ICW. Stopping in the Waccamaw River is a very special opportunity and we are so glad we took the time. Our buddy boat, IP 380 PRIORTY is doing a fantastic job on his blog and he is blogging every day. Plus Reuben and Molli also have a live position tracker that reports their position and track 24/7. Please check out their blog and you will see exactly what we all have been up to. Reuben and Molli's blog is here: http://svPriority.Blogspot.com

Here are photos to catch up on

The massive homes of Myrtle Beach

380 Priority enters the Waccamaw at Socastee Bridge

Spanish Moss in the trees

Happy Halloween, almost

Reflections

Markers in cypress trees

Markers in cypress trees

Beautiful reflections I never tire of

Fall foliage in the swamp

Beautiful even in flat lighting

380 Priority rounds a bend

Island Spirit pushes the tannin stained waters

Contrast

Our Stop for the night, Cow House Creek

Buddy Boat PRIORITY in the anchorage

A great place to spend the night, current is 1 knot

Tomorrow with the rain and winds coming in, we will take our lay day at Georgetown, SC and dock at Harbour Walk for a day of NOT MOVING the boat. Thank you for traveling along.

Always Home at Greg and Kates

...Team Selfie Beaufort NC...

Our first visit with Greg and Kate was in 2008 when we were moving the boat from Vero Beach Florida to Block Island RI and involved in Drexel's Online Graduate School at the same time. I first met Greg via our Island Packet Yachts email server and discussion list. Greg and Kate previously owned IP350 Ei'lean and now cruise in a serious land yacht, a 40 foot Tiffin Motor Coach, to far flung places such as The Yukon and Alaska.

Kate, Eric, Patricia, Greg

Now 7 years later and many visits north and south we count this stop, along the ICW, as one of our "Homes" because Greg and Kate make us feel so welcome, so comfortable and are such wonderful friends.  We visit, chat, eat a fabulous home cooked "Momma Kate" dinner, drink fine wines, play with The Doodles, go shopping, examine the motor coach upgrades and dock our boat at their home. Our buddy boats dock one mile down the road at Town Creek Marina and we all gather at the "Homestead." Our tradition is that Kate spoils us with her wonderful home cooking and then the next night we try to spoil them at one of the fine restaurants of Beaufort, NC on the waterfront. Buddy boat IP460 Cutter Loose with Eric and Patricia and IP380 Priority with Molli and Reuben completed our team visit. Thank you so very much for taking your time to spoil us so thoroughly. We really enjoy our time at "The Beaufort Rest Home for Wayward Sailors."

Kate and Patricia

IP460 Cutter Loose Eric and Patricia

Greg is a mater Barista with his wonderful coffee

Island Spirit flying the IPY and Whiteaker Yacht Sales Flags
The Office Open

Island Spirit, the office

Radeen and Kate

One of several fine wines Greg shared from his wine cellar

Love the DOODLES, this is LUCY, she will play catch all day

Doodle Lover Hayden holds GRACIE, sooooo much fun

Greg and Kate and the Doodles with "The BUS"

 Sadly we will be moving on south towards our planned stops, next stop Wrightville Beach after Mile Hammock Bay. Why Wrightsville? Why Not?

MD to NC 7 days

...7 Days down the ICW...

We left the Annapolis MD Boat Show on Monday and here we are 7 days later in River Dunes North Carolina. The run south, as usual, is a motor run plus a jib sail when this can be added. This is a casual run, but at the same time, you are running 8-10 hours every day and you need to cover the distances. For example, here are the legs we ran so far. Annapolis to Solomons. Solomons to Dymer Creek, VA. Dymer Creek to Hampton VA. Hampton to Coinjock. Coinjock to Alligator River/Pungo Canal Deep Creek Point. Deep Creek Point to River Dunes, NC. We traveled 150 miles down the Chesapeake Bay and 173 miles down the ICW. That makes a total so far of 323 miles divided by 7 days equals 46 miles a day average! So, you can see it takes time and effort to make the run down the coast.

25 knots gusting 30 knots

We are working on the Spot mapping integration and interactive map. We use an old simple SPOT satellite transmitter that sends our position reports to our blog when we press a button. We also use a service called SpotWalla.com that picks up where the SPOT company dropped the ball. SpotWalla takes our positions and then creates trip maps for us within any date range we set up. Our current SpotWalla map will run from Oct 1, 2015 to June 1 2016 and it will be archiving and drawing a line connecting every place we travel. We find this really interesting and a great way to share the trip. Since we do not have our transmitter report on an automatic bases, we simply press the button at key points along the way and at every place where we spend a night. Below is the link to our current SpotWalla live map.

Thank you for sailing along. Onward towards Florida and the Bahamas....

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=f20b561d8e66779d8&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes

Here are some photos as we motored VA to NC

Our first cold front, 42 degrees F, brrrrrr

The view from the helm, notice the full enclosed cockpit, keeps the wind and spray down

Some day we will enjoy the fire pits at River Dunes

...and the sofas and fireplace as well

Radeen at the helm

Sunset at Deep Creek Pungo River Canal

Radeen and Hayden out with the team in Oriental NC

Southbound 2015 MD-FL

...Required selfie off Thomas Point Lighthouse...

Running south on the AICW, Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway is always a fun trip that is far easier than you expect before you go. This is our 5th year of making this run from Maryland to Miami Florida and we now know the various stops and the route south. Each day is usually different with so may fascinating waterfront homes, towns, bridges, locks and turns in the rivers that we never seem to get bored. With our boat running at 6 knots through the water, we can usually cover about 50 miles in a day. (Imagine jogging from MD to FL, it takes lots of time)

460 Cutter Loose out our porthole makes us happy

Figure 1,000 miles to Miami and we plan 20+ days minimum of moving to reach the goal. Schedule in weather days where you simply do not want to move due to high winds and this will push the trip to 30 days. Oh and don't forget to add in stops at our favorite towns and places like, Beaufort NC at Greg and Kate's, Wrightsville Beach NC, Charleston SC, Fernandina Beach FL, Vero Beach  FL, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, FL and you extend the travel time even more. Or primary targets are Charleston Nov 1-6, Vero Beach, FL for Thanksgiving, and Miami early December with Christmas #5 at Harbour Cay Club in Marathon Key Fl. After that, we are still planning.

Thank you for sailing along with us once again, please leave us your comments or use the contact us link, both send directly to our phone and our email box. We love to hear you.

Here are some photos Annapolis MD to Great Bridge VA

Radeen enjoys our first sunset off Solomon Island MD

20-25 knot Headwinds as we push south

Salt spray and waves over the upper windshield

Sunset Reward on anchor in VA

Sunrise over 380 Priority and 460 Cutter Loose, Dymer Creek, VA

Sunrise leaving the creek

Typical rush hour sun glare

Radeen gets "Locked Up" at Great Bridge lock

Island Packet Mini-vous
420 Tile, 35 Island Spirit, 460 Cutter Loose, 40 Dream Catcher

Dropping anchor 460 Cutter Loose

Sunrise, Cutter Loose

My best photo this trip, sunrise Dymer Creek, VA

380 Priority at sunrise

I really enjoy taking this early am photos

Going to work, Norfolk VA

Left to Great Bridge, Right to Dismal Swamp
We took the Great Bridge route this year

Once again, we are running our SPOT MAP which shows where we are with our latest position (SPOT) showing up on our home page top right. Then we also use Spotwalla.com which is building a total trip archive map Oct to June as we travel. Enjoy the adventure.