Peter Searles 5/15/24 Peter Searles 5/15/24

Oriental, NC

It was nice to get away from Morehead City this morning after a bumpy night at the marina. We had a short day today, covering only 25 miles. We arrived at Oriental, NC (population 886 in 2022) and anchored before thunderstorms hit. There are reportedly 3 times as many boats here as people which I cannot explain.

As it turned out, the predicted storms turned out to be a bit of a dud which was fine with us. In fact, the afternoon cleared up enough that we took the dinghy ashore and walked around town a little bit. We didn’t stray too far because the weather was still a little questionable. The Oriental harbor is really nice but there wasn’t much in the immediate dock area to see/do. We had dinner on the boat - boiled shrimp as an appetizer, followed by baked ham and Caesar salad. Yummy!

Three amigos in the dinghy heading to shore

Mark and Pete relaxing after a long, hard day of doing nothing

Part of the Oriental shrimp fleet. They have the nicest looking shrimpers here!

Peter Searles 5/14/24 Peter Searles 5/14/24

Morehead City, NC

The engine service at Wrightsville Beach yesterday morning didn’t finish until about 12:30 so we got a later-than-usual start. While waiting for the engine technician, Mark and Pat walked to a local grocery store to pick up a few things. Pat was also able to do a little laundry too. We tried to find an anchorage or marina near Topsail, NC but there was nothing available. Mark knew of a seafood market in Topsail that had a dock so we made a pit stop and bought 4 pounds of uncooked shrimp for appetizers. After Topsail, we found a great anchorage last night with a number of boats including 3 other Loopers.

We had our first dose of nasty weather today with rain and wind for a significant portion of today’s voyage. Our marina tonight is at Morehead City and it’s windy and choppy with no real protection from the south wind gusting to 39 MPH. On the walk to the restaurant tonight, we saw puddles with white caps. That’s windy! It’s going to be a rough night!

1 pound of shrimp, boiled to perfection and seasoned with Old Bay. Mark made a great cocktail sauce, Delicious!

Our anchorage last night with the other Loop boats.

The Onslow swing bridge opening for us and two other boats.

A cargo ship docked across from up tonight.

Peter Searles 5/12/24 Peter Searles 5/12/24

Wrightsville Beach, NC

We had a nice, easy day (26 miles) from Southport to Wrightsville Beach (except for the aforementioned yahoos with fast boats) where we will get the engine serviced so we’re good for another 200 hours. There was a tremendous amount of boat traffic which we hope was due to today being a Sunday.

The Southport, located near the entrance to the Cape Fear River, was explored in the 1500s by Spanish explorers but it wasn’t until 1792 that Southport was founded as the town of Smithville after Benjamin Smith, a colonel in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Smithville grew as a fishing village and through supporting military activity before being renamed to Southport in 1887. Today, Southport is a town of nearly 4,000 residents and boasts a long list of movies being filmed there including, Weekend at Bernie’s, Safe Haven, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Dawson’s Creek, The Summer I Turned Pretty, and many others. Of all the places I’ve been on the Loop so far, Southport is my favorite.

The Fairchem Fortitude, a chemical tanker of DWT of 26,000 metric tons (carrying capacity) inbound toward Wilmington. We thought that was pretty big compared to Schuyler.

Then we saw this monster, the Al Riffa, a 1,200 foot long container ship leaving Wilmington. The Al Riffa has a DWT of 146,000 tons. We felt the wake from the bow before we had fully passed. That’s a long ship!

The Al Riffa and the Fairchem Fortitude passing each other just ahead of us.

Peter Searles 5/11/24 Peter Searles 5/11/24

Southport, NC

A generally quiet day except for the weekend yahoos who think that it’s important to go as fast as their boat can go no matter what else might be happening around them. Not all that different from driving on the highways in Houston I suppose.

There is a group called the AGLCA (America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association) whose function, is to (surprise!) support Loopers. One of the things that the AGLCA does is provide Harbor Hosts around the Loop. These hosts, numbering in the hundreds, provide local information, can help with finding repair technicians, or even provide transportation to the local grocery store. We met the harbor host for Southport today at the marina and he invited us and another Loop couple to join him on his front porch for “docktails”. The guy was a wealth of information! He encouraged us to seek out other harbor hosts along the way and engage other Loopers. Being largely antisocial, I’m not sure how much I will follow his advice but knowing the information is out there is something to remember.

It’s on to Wrightsville Beach tomorrow where we will get the main engine and transmission serviced on Monday morning.

A pirate with a cannon protecting the back yard

Nighttime at the Southport marina. Moon in the upper right.

Peter Searles 5/10/24 Peter Searles 5/10/24

On the Road Again

As Willie Nelson sang: “On the road again, Goin' places that I've never been, Seein' things that I may never see again”

I arrived at Murrell’s Inlet on Tuesday, May 7th, to pick up Mark (my college roommate) and his wife, Pat. Mark and I did some boat repair on Wednesday and played golf on Thursday. This morning we got an early start on our way north toward Norfolk, VA, where they will disembark.

Our stop tonight at Barefoot Landing, SC is a great place with plenty of restaurants and shopping. A little touristy maybe, but fun to walk around. We had a nice dinner at Lulu’s which is owned by Jimmy Buffet’s sister.

The three musketeers at Barefoot Landing, SC with Schuyler in the background. Compare to the picture below.

Mark, Pat, and me in 1977. What a difference 47 years make!

Mark and Pat on the dock in front of Schuyler

A swing bridge in our path. Bridge operator was slow to respond but we finally got through without difficulty.

Peter Searles 5/5/24 Peter Searles 5/5/24

Charleston, South Carolina

We arrived at Charleston this afternoon just in time to grab lunch at a local deli and catch the last boat to Fort Sumter, where the Civil War began in April 1861. There was a very interesting narrative from a volunteer/history buff explaining the geographical and historical issues leading up to the outbreak of hostilities and during the war and beyond.

We spent last night at a beautiful, secluded anchorage in Toogoodoo Creek (I have no idea how to pronounce that). The horseflies that had plagued us for the previous couple of days largely left us alone which was nice. Maybe word got out to the horsefly community that we didn’t appreciate their presence and that they were subject to extermination.

Matt leaves tomorrow and I’ll be on my own until Murrell’s Inlet when Mark and Pat will join me. I have really appreciated Matt’s company and help from Jacksonville - we’ve covered a lot of water in 5 days.

Sunrise over our beautiful anchorage at Toogoodoo Creek.

Passing U.S. Marine Corps. base at Parris Island - The water tank says, “We Make Marines”. Semper Fi!

Peter Searles 5/3/24 Peter Searles 5/3/24

Desolation, Death, and Sacrifice

We managed to put 72 miles of the intracoastal waterway behind us yesterday. After leaving our anchorage at Jekyll Island, we saw just one single house along the way. Otherwise, there was nothing for miles in any direction - just desolate salt marshes for as far as we could see. Most, if not all of the wetlands seemed to fall under the protection of the State of Georgia and many of the islands were only accessible by boat. Good for Georgia for limiting development in these sensitive areas.

The death of countless horseflies continued at a feverish pace yesterday. Between us, we killed over a hundred of these miserable pests. Every time we thought we had rid ourselves of them all, another wave appeared - only to face almost certain death. A few of the more crafty critters escaped through open windows and doors. (open doors and windows because it’s hot)

Let’s all take a moment, bow our heads, and reflect for a moment about Matt’s hat which was sacrificed in the service of ridding ourselves of the flies. It was a good hat and had a long productive life keeping the sun off Matt’s face. Alas, whacking of flies proved the hat’s undoing when the adjustment clip in the back broke after a particularly vicious thrash. I was worried that Matt was having a seizure and considered shoving a wallet in his mouth to keep him from hurting himself.

Schuyler anchored at Jekyll Island (taken by a boat directly ahead of us)

Docked at the Kilkenny marina in Richmond Hill, GA. That’s Schuyler at the very end. This marina was described as “rustic”.

Clouds reflecting off the dead calm water.

Peter Searles 5/1/24 Peter Searles 5/1/24

Goodbye Sunshine State - Hello Peach State

For those of you who have looked forward to the next episode of “As the Prop Turns” with great anticipation, here you go!

Everything went well for me in Houston. My blood is now within normal ranges and I only have one more treatment to do back in Houston on June 3rd. I’ll be happy when they are all finished.

Four weeks ago today Dave and I left Pensacola and headed east across the Florida panhandle on the Great Loop. Today, Matt and I departed Jacksonville to continue the voyage northward. After more than 1,000 miles, we finally said adios to Florida and howdy to Georgia. Traveling through Florida was an awesome experience, full of beautiful waterways, lots of wildlife, remarkable waterfront real estate, friendly people, and lots of bridges. So far, Georgia looks similar to Florida except more natural and with tons of horse flies. We wear hats to keep the sun out of our eyes but they also double as fly swatters. We’ve had burials at sea for all the flies that met their maker on the boat. Kind of like an Irish wake.

We passed the King’s Bay submarine base in southern Georgia, complete with a scary-looking security boat to make sure no tourists decide to head in for a closer look. We didn’t see any subs but the infrastructure to support them was very impressive. There is plenty of dredging going on in Georgia. I guess there is a lot of shoaling. Our tax dollars at work!

A U.S. flagged car carrier. I didn’t know that any of these existed.

A wood pulp plant in Fernandina Beach, Florida

Peter Searles 4/23/24 Peter Searles 4/23/24

Arrival at Jacksonville

I had fully intended to anchor somewhere short of Jacksonville last night, get up early this morning and be here at this same anchorage in time for the Zoom meeting I have with the probate judge for Colleen’s estate. Well, that plan fell apart quickly when the anchorage that I had chosen was way too shallow for comfort. Depths were around 3-4 feet and Schuyler draws 2.5 feet - not a good situation at all! I called an audible and just came to the anchorage in Jacksonville. It turned out to be a good decision because there is not a lot a boat traffic here and also because it offered pretty good protection from the fresh breeze that was blowing from the NNE yesterday.

More real estate that I will never own (and that’s OK). But it’s fun to look at!

This barge owner makes a political statement - note the name of the barge in the next picture

A Jacksonville shipyard with ships in dry dock

Length 610 ft, beam 105 ft, deadweight, 49,000 tons

Napoleon Bonaparte Broward bridge at night

Peter Searles 4/21/24 Peter Searles 4/21/24

St. Augustine - Day 2

Decided to stay at St. Augustine another day since there are not many anchoring options between here and the 50 miles remaining to Jacksonville and I have time to kill. I did some boat housekeeping in the morning and took a walk over the draw bridge in the afternoon to see what was on the other side and have a late lunch.

So far, I’ve completed 930 miles of the Loop which is about 18% of the total expected mileage. Or, as Dave would say, “there is still 82% left to do!”.

The Spanish Galleon I mentioned yesterday

St. Augustine waterfront street and restaurants

17th century fort Castillo de San Marcos

Peter Searles 4/20/24 Peter Searles 4/20/24

St. Augustine

Arrived at the Marker 8 Marina in St. Augustine into a back-in slip and didn’t hit anything! That makes 10 days since the mangroves attacked the boat in North Venice for those keeping score at home! I’m still finding twigs and leaves on the boat from that little encounter. It’s a subtle reminder of past mishaps and to not get too cocky.

St. Augustine lays claim to being the oldest city in the U.S., founded in 1565 by Spanish admiral, Pedro Menendez de Aviles. For my British friends, that doesn’t sound all that old. But, for us “bloody colonials” (as my friend Roger once called me in jest), it’s old! From what I’ve seen the city looks modern and clean.

The waterfront here is really hopping during the day. Maybe that’s just because it’s the weekend but there are boats of all shapes and sizes zipping around and making the marina a little “bouncy” with all the boat wakes. There are Spanish Galleon replicas, large sailing ships, party boats and, of course, the booze cruise. Tonight it’s settled down quite a bit.

I have to be at Jacksonville on Wednesday, the 24th for my monthly trip home for treatment and I only have about 50 miles to go so I might just stay here another day and explore St. Augustine a little.

Peter Searles 4/18/24 Peter Searles 4/18/24

And then there was one…

As expected, Dave and Pam left Schuyler this morning to return back to Houston so they can prepare for their next adventure to Italy. I was sorry to see them go and the 2 weeks that we’ve been on the Loop has gone quickly. Doing the Loop solo is certainly doable and has been done many times before but it’s certainly easier with at least one extra pair of hands. There is no question at all that I would not be this far along without Dave’s invaluable assistance.

I will be solo until April 30th in Jacksonville when I return from Houston and my penultimate IV treatment. I expect to have additional help from there all the way to Wilmington, NC which should be around Mid-May. Looking for anyone who might be available from there to Norfolk, VA or further up Chesapeake Bay. Any takers?

Pumping out the waste tank before departure

The NASA railroad bridge. I took this in honor of Pam who was fascinated with bridges.

One of the many abandoned and derelict boats we’ve seen along the way

Peter Searles 4/17/24 Peter Searles 4/17/24

Lift Off!

We witnessed the launch of Space X Falcon 9 Starlink 6-51 today at 5:24 this afternoon from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. See video below. We were about 12 miles away from the launch pad but the sound of the rocket reached us about 50 seconds into the flight - it was an impressive show. Dumb luck that we happened to be here at the right time.

Dave decided that he would try fishing by dive bombing like the pelicans.

Pam multitasking as Dave’s personal masseuse.

Dave and Pam leave the boat for Houston tomorrow morning and I’ll be solo for a week. We’ve had an amazing time and enjoyed the adventure together. I will miss them terribly but hopefully they will return again toward the end of the Loop when they finish all their other adventures.

Peter Searles 4/16/24 Peter Searles 4/16/24

Cocoa Beach

We had a relatively quiet and uneventful day today. We left our cozy little anchorage around 8 this morning and made an unexpected pit stop at the Melbourne Harbor marina for Dave to get some things at a nearby store. In the meantime, I topped up with 80 gallons of diesel and filled the water tank. We found space at a free dock in Cocoa Village which allowed us to go into town for a stop a hardware store followed by dinner. The dock was nice and the price (free) was hard to beat but the wind shifted to the south so we decided to leave the dock and find an anchorage that was better protected than the dock which was completely exposed.

We may get to see a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral tomorrow at 5:25 PM local time. This would be a nice way to cap off our time together.

Tomorrow afternoon we will arrive at Titusville where Dave and Pam leave the boat and head home to Houston. (Sad face) We’ve had such a great time and I would never have gotten this far, this quickly without their constant help. I know that they will enjoy their next adventure but I’ll miss them on this one a lot.

Sunrise over our secluded island anchorage

Pam doing a DIY facial - Looks like a character from Halloween 4

Pam talked Dave and I in to do “Bro Masks”. Notice there are no pictures of Dave? He did it too - you have to take my word since there is no photographic evidence. Instead of “Bro Masks”, they should be called “Dork Masks” because that’s what we looked like!

The view of Cocoa Harbor from our rooftop restaurant at dinner

Peter Searles 4/16/24 Peter Searles 4/16/24

Picture Perfect

We had a beautiful day from Fort Pierce to our anchorage just south of Melbourne. The wind finally died down after 10 days of pretty steady 15-25 mph winds for the trip so far. It was our best weather day of the entire trip so far. We anchored behind a little island just 100 yards from shore. Dave rowed the dingy over to check it out and found that it had a picnic table, grill, and campsite. We have been treated to a show from the local dolphins right next to the boat looking for their next meal.

Tonight’s dinner was Caesar salad with avocado dressing, spaghetti with tomato sauce (doctored up by Pam) and garlic bread. It was delicious! We don’t have the ambiance of a five star restaurant but they don’t have this either - there’s no place I’d rather be.

Our very own secluded and private island

Peter Searles 4/13/24 Peter Searles 4/13/24

Almost to the Atlantic

Another long day with two locks but made it to just west Stuart which is almost to the Atlantic side of Florida! Lake Okeechobee was windy and choppy but at least the boat was showered with spray from fresh and not salt water. There was a lot of napping going on today but I’m not going to mention any names (but there could be a picture).

For those in the “when will Pete hit another piling pool”, no incidents to report today. If you’re counting, that makes 3 days in row without any close encounters with pilings.

Only 4 more more days with Dave and Pam. so will try to get as far as possible while I have the extra hands. Always looking for additional crew.

Remember the dumpy marina? Here are a couple of picture to support my description.

Pam handling lines at Port Mayaca Lock at western end of St. Lucie Canal.

Another day comes to an end on the Great Loop

Peter Searles 4/12/24 Peter Searles 4/12/24

From Riches to Rags

Some of you may be wondering why no posts in the last couple of days. Well, sometimes there just isn’t that much interesting happening to write about. Yesterday, we had a long and windy run from Venice to Fort Myers where we stayed at an amazing marina. It looked and felt like a very upper-class resort which made us wonder why they let us in. We were in tall cotton, as they say.

Today, we are in the dumpiset of dumpy marinas. We are currently moored to a wooden dock in Moore Haven that, had I hit it too hard (like I have been known to do), I think it would have crumbled into the water. To call this place “no frills” would be an upgrade from what it truly is. All that being said, the people were really nice and allowed us to use their golf cart to head up to the local restaurant for dinner. The food was actually very good.

The Caloosahatchee River had a variety of bridges and we transited our first 2 locks of the Loop today. We also saw our first alligator of the trip.

For those keeping score at home, I have not had any encounters with pilings in the last 2 days. There is a pool to see how long I can go before ruining my string of successful dockings. Anybody want in?

Fuel pump in Fort Myers - What a difference!

Dave supervising the fueling at the high-class marina in Fort Myers

Peter Searles 4/10/24 Peter Searles 4/10/24

Tidbits from the Loop

Here are some miscellaneous stories from the Loop that didn’t make the original posts:

Pam’s fascination with bridges cost her the new “crew” hat she bought when a gust of wind caught it and blew it into the water. The good news is that she got a great video of the draw bridge opening for us.

One of Dave’s bottles of coke exploded in the refrigerator creating a mess of everything inside. We had the temperature cranked down a smidge too much and it froze.

My docking skills are called into question constantly because of my penchant for having allissions with pilings of various sizes. I will get better (I hope) with backing in to docks with strong winds and windy conditions eventually. I only hope that my ability improves before I do serious damage to the boat or the dock.

Turns out that Pam like to nap too! Dave is rubbing off on her.

Peter Searles 4/9/24 Peter Searles 4/9/24

Easy Day

After the Gulf crossing, today was a piece of cake! We had a easy day cruising south on the intracoastal waterway from Tarpon Springs to an anchorage near Gulfport, FL. Pam loved the numerous bridges we passed. We will take the dingy ashore a little later to find a place to eat dinner.

On the dock before departing Tarpon Springs

After some instruction from Pam, Dave took the wheel.

The Florida Intracoastal waterway. Check out that sky!

Dave and Pete filling dingy engine with gas prior to exploring ashore

Peter Searles 4/8/24 Peter Searles 4/8/24

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Yesterday and today was a tale of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

On the good side, we anchored late on Saturday after picking up Pam at Panama City at a beautiful anchorage at Searcy Creek Oxbow.- an incredibly quiet, serene place that had fish jumping near the boat in the morning.

On the bad side, we were looking for a place to pump out our holding tank before beginning the Gulf crossing later on Sunday. We found a pump out location at a municipal marina in Apalachicola but it was quirky and had a difficult valve to open. Dave managed to open the valve before the hose was seated in the boat opening. The result was that we both got sprayed with “effluent” from our holding tank. This is an interactive blog (for today) so feel free to insert the poopy joke of your choice here.

Finally, the ugly. The Gulf crossing was a nightmare! NOAA marine forecast called for 1-2 foot waves and 5-10 kts of wind which we felt made the crossing of the Gulf doable and comfortable. It wasn’t bad until about 1 AM when I thought about renaming the boat “SS Minnow”. Waves were more in the 4-6 foot range and the winds were around 25 kts. Pam was wondering what she signed up for! Everything that was loose ended up on the deck and even things that were stowed away broke loose. It was not a pleasant trip and none of us ever want to do anything like that ever again.