We left Little River on Friday the 29^th in crisp but beautiful, sunny weather. Got underway a bit later than we had planned (because we had to finish cleaning and close up the condo before leaving!) and made great time on a wonderful passage through Myrtle Beach and down the ICW in the middle of the land of swamp fox to Bucksport, SC. We stopped at a great marina there – a price that couldn't be beat. We were the only people there (except for some winter / year round campers in their campground). We were glad to have power so we could run our Espar heater all night! It was cold – got down to 39 degrees!

The sunny, warm weather was short lived – Saturday was just dreary as we proceeded down the ICW to the middle of nowhere!! Spent the night in an anchorage in the south Santee river – it was so desolate but beautiful. Another cold night!

We arrived in Charleston, SC at about 3:30 this afternoon and are readying for an overnight on the Atlantic tomorrow. We have a good weather window for an overnight on the Atlantic tomorrow night so we will be heading out early in the morning. We expect to arrive in Fernandina Beach, FL Tuesday morning. So we have been getting our boat all set for the trip; making sure everything is set for sailing. We should have a relatively easy trip – the winds and seas are not expected to be heavy – however, we expect to be motoring into some headwinds for a good portion of the time. Will let you all know on the other end how it went!!! 

   The swing bridge just south of Little River. (Taken from inside our cockpit enclosure!) 

    The gondolas that take the golfers across the ICW in Myrtle Beach!

      The marina at Bucksport!

    At Bucksport we were on the dock right in front of the Seaweed Restaurant.

   Second night out of Little River we anchored in the South Santee River.  Lots of current but absolutely in the middle of nowhere.  There are very few places you can go and not hear any sounds of civilization.  This is one of them.

         This is where we were able to take Gracie ashore.  It is a Wildlife Refuge dock.  Not supposed to be for the public but it was the only place we could get Gracie ashore.  Tide ran about 5 ft!

      We tried to get her to go on sod we have on the boat!!!  Sits, lays but nothing else!  Poor little doggie!!!

     Above is where we stopped in Charleston, SC.  Just around the corner in front of us is Tohlers Marina.  We readied ourselves here on night three for the 30hr crossing the next day.

We are still here in Little River, SC about ready to resume our trip south! We arrived here, as you may recall, back in the beginning of November 2015. The plans were to get the boats here and then for all of us to return to Vermont for the holidays. The Botulas left by plane from Wilmington, NC on November 10th and we drove home leaving on November 16^th. We had Thanksgiving in Maine with Joan's daughter, Lindsay; and Lindsay's husband, Noah, and daughter, Lucy. We then returned to Vermont to have Christmas with them as well as with my son, Bert, who came in from Seattle, WA for the occasion! Christmas in Vermont was a bit unusual this year – it was record setting warm – 68 degrees on Christmans day having not had any snow yet for the season! That didn't last, unfortunately. Because before we left to drive back down to South Carolina on January 4, 2016 – we got cold temps and about 5” of snow just in time for the drive!

The Botulas arrived in Little River the day after we did and proceeded to make ready as early as possible for departure from Little River to get to warmer temps in Florida as soon as they could. Joan and I, however, have had to wait until the end of January to resume our trip – doctors orders following a hernia repair for Whit while home in December. We are now re-provisioning the boat and getting ready for departure, however we are keeping an eye on the weather. We may have to wait a bit longer than next week for our departure. The weather is the big deciding factor. (Note that today, we have had a few flurries – all a part of the big Nor'easter that is slamming NE today!!)

A few cool harbor notes! Pictured below is our Irwin 38 in our slip here in Coquina Harbor.  Along with our boat are two other Irwin sailboats just across from us on the next dock! “Powerless” is a 52' Irwin cutter and “Distant Drummer” is a 68' Irwin cutter. Both of these other boats are owned by the same person and the 68' used to be Ted Irwin's personal boat. I think this was the last boat Ted built. So, in our little harbor, the three Irwin sailboats are just like the "papa bear", the "mama bear",  and the little "baby bear"!!! :-)

 Our boat (the "baby bear") in our slip on "O" dock

 

And just to our stern on "P" dock are "momma bear" -"Powerless" and to the right with the blue hull is the "pappa bear" - "Distant Drummer".

The mama bear - "Powerless"





The papa bear - "Distant Drummer"

Home for Christmas in Vermont

 

The mess we left just leaving from Vermont to come back down to SC.