February 22nd - Home to North Myrtle Beach

We woke up to a windy, rainy day.  After consulting with the marina staff, we decided to take off for home at about 9:30 am.  The bridge of the boat is not normally heated or cooled which made for a little bit of a chilly ride.

A happy first mate with the ever present navigational charts and note pad out.

It rained on and off for most of the day.

We pulled into our home marina, the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club at about 3:30 pm....

Tied up the mighty CU Later.....

unloaded the boat....

unloaded some more....

and headed for the land based center of operations.  Thanks for sharing our adventure with us!

February 21st - Charleston to Georgetown

Sunrise in Charleston Harbor

Left Charleston City Marina this morning on the way to Georgetown, SC. 

Our route is taking us through the southeast/south central part of South Carolina.  This area is unlike any other that we have been through.  There is very little population here and vast expanses of low country wet lands that are truly beautiful.  In September 1989, Hurricane Hugo came ashore in this part of the state.  The eye of the storm made landfall in Charleston harbor and the main storm surge, reported at up to 20' in some areas, happened in this area of little habitation.  Hugo was slightly larger and more intense than Katrina.

The state was also conducting controlled burns of the sea grass as we passed through.

We pulled into Georgetown Landing Marina and tied up for the last night of our journey.  Georgetown is a historic seaport that was the rice capital of the US in the 1700s.










We walked from the marina to the historic downtown waterfront (~ one mile) and had a great dinner at the River Room restaurant.

Sunset Georgetown, SC

February 20th - On to Charleston

Sunrise at the marina in Beaufort.

On the Intracostal leaving Beaufort.

 
This morning we left Beaufort and headed to Charleston.  It was a beautiful day and we landed at the Charleston City Marina at about 4:30 pm just in time to see the local youth practicing their sailing in Charleston harbor and see a beautiful sunset.

We will say that the boats at the marina in Charleston were much bigger than at the other spots we had stopped topping out at 80 to 100 feet in length.  Beautiful boats and a beautiful marina.

February 19th - Heading Home

The SS Minnow is ready for our return trip to North Myrtle Beach.  Our plan is to travel today from the Isle of Hope in Savannah, GA to Beaufort, SC.

The day started out with good weather and a beautiful sunrise in Savannah.

But by the time we arrived in Beaufort the weather had changed.  The rain wasn't too much of a bother.  But the
wind made the crossing of Port Royal Sound a little hairy.  The smile on my face is gin and tonic induced after we made it to Beaufort.












The weather changed before we left Beaufort to head north and we were able to take these pictures of a great little city (Beaufort) on the coast of SC.

Home Port - North Myrtle Beach, SC

This is what our home port in North Myrtle Beach looks like.  Perfect for having friends and family come visit!  The house is in a development called Tidewater just about as far north in South Carolina that you can go on the coast.

This is the screened in porch looking.

This is the living room.

The kitchen and dining area.

Guest bedroom #1

Guest bedroom #2 or the computer room.

The master bedroom.

The stairs to the roof top cocktail hour deck.

February 16th - tour of the SS Minnow

A few of you have asked us for a tour our boat.  The boat is a 1986 38' Chris Craft Catalina.  It is called an aft cruiser because it has two bedrooms one in the forward part of the boat (bow) and one in the back (aft).

First though, sunrise at the marina.

The main entrance is on the back of the boat.  You step up onto the bridge area. The windows in this area roll up, weather permitting.

Bridge of boat with Captain's chair.

Back-seat Captaining and cocktail seating area.

Entrance to salon (kitchen, living area) are down these steps.

Kitchen, living area of boat as seen from stairs leading from bridge.

Living room area.

Looking back towards bridge.

Kitchen and breakfast bar.




Door shown leads to front guest bedroom and bath

.

Guest bedroom and bath (bow of boat).

Stairs down to aft bedroom (stairs up to bridge are visible on left).

Aft bedroom.  Bath is off to left just out of the picture.

CU Later aka SS Minnow

February 8th - Wormsloe Plantation

The sea trial went fine and the SS Minnow should be ready for her return trip to North Myrtle Beach in ten days.  Our plans now are to start heading back north on February 18th.

Entrance Wormsloe Plantation

We took a bike ride today over to Wormsloe Plantation, a historic Site run by the State of Georgia.  The entrance is only about one mile from our marina.  We hope we don't bore you with the history of Wormsloe and this area of Georgia but prior to today we knew nothing of this interesting story.  So here goes...

Almost exactly 280 years ago, on February 12, 1733, General James Edward Oglethorpe first set foot in Georgia accompanied by 36 British families consisting of 114 people.  They landed at what is now downtown Savannah on what is called Yamacraw Bluff.  Sort of the Plymouth Rock of Georgia.  This is considered the most historic spot in Georgia. In spite of this it is only marked by a hard to find white bench next to the Hyatt in downtown Savannah.

Long story short, within a few short years all of the original 114 colonists save for one family had succumbed to illness and died or fled Georgia heading back to England.  Only one family of the original group stayed and survived, that of Noble Jones.  They settled on 500 acres 8 miles south of Savannah on the Isle of Hope and started Wormsloe Plantation.  Wormsloe is named for the Welsh/English border area where Jones' ancestors originated.

Live Oak lined entrance at Wormsloe

The driveway, ~0.75 mile long, is lined with live oaks planted by a descendant of Noble Jones in the mid-1800s.

Ruins of the Tabby house and compound that Noble Jones built ~1740 where the family lived.  There are only three remaining tabby ruins in Georgia.  Tabby is a method of building that used oyster shells, sand, lime and water to form large (~2' x 2' x 4') bricks that were then used to build the walls.

 At Wormsloe they also have recreated a typical Georgia village from the late 1700s and have reenactments of some of the pre-revolutionary war battles that occurred nearby between the Spanish, who controlled Florida, and the English.

The descendants of Noble Jones have continuously retained part of the original 500 acres and continued to live on the site to this day making it the oldest site where one family has lived continuously in Georgia.