I think the last few posts have been a little bit “boring” ?
But on our current fast paced trek north into the Chesapeake Bay, we have had many one night stands in some pretty small towns.
By the time we do all of our tasks after docking & then prepping for the next day, there is not much time for exploring, and the towns have been pretty small.
This post will be a little more of the same, maybe a little boring.
More interesting posts are coming in Solomon’s Island, St Michaels, Annapolis, Washington DC, and Baltimore.
BTW – we are also doing the blog to make a hard-cover book of our trip when we return, that is why we are so diligent about making a least 1 post in each town.
Todays trip, from Belhaven to the Alligator River Marina in Columbia North Carolina, started out very nice and ended with another “Alberto” induced rain storm.
We left the Belhaven Marina about 8am, in clear weather & calm seas.
We passed several nice pieces of waterfront real estate, on very remote pieces of land, just outside of Belhaven.
Then the ride became both very cool & very boring at the same time.
Most of the 52 mile ride was down a VERY STRAIT & VERY LONG CANAL.
The Pungo River in Belhaven is connected to the Alligator River in Columbia by a man-made 21 mile long canal.
The 21 mile ride up the canal was cool & boring at the same time.
We saw deer & gators (too slow to get the camera for photos).
The shore side vegetation started looking almost jungle or rain forest like.
Further down the canal, we were attacked by huge half-dollar sized horse-flies !
Nellie up took arms, brandishing the electronic bug zapper given to us by Dave Vrabel & Carol Perotta.
It works very well.
After a short while of killing off several horse-flies, the smell of burnt horse-fly wings was in the air, and the attack dissipated.
After we exited the canal and entered the Alligator River, we were hit with yet another major rain storm. The storm lasted about 45 minutes and was pretty hard rain. The rain cooperated and stopped about 30 minutes before we needed to dock at the Alligator River Marina in Columbia.
The Alligator River Marina is really a gas station, convenience store, & restaurant – with a few boat slips.
The docks & facilities are pretty good & clean.
It was the only marina option & worked fine for a 1 night stay to break up what would have been a 90 mile trip between Belhaven & Elizabeth City.
The Alligator River Marina is on an east/west highway 64 , which leads to the famed North Carolina Outer Banks (Cape Hatteras, Nags Head, Kitty Hawk), about 30 miles east of the marina.
The combination of more rain all afternoon, travel fatigue, and laziness resulted in the Murph’s staying on the boat for the evening, and fore-going the explorations for this day.
Our exotic dinner was supplied by the Alligator River Restaurant, the choices were endless !
Next Stop
> 2 nights, Friday & Saturday (yea), in Elizabeth City North Carolina, about 30 miles north of Columbia.
> This will be our staging area for our trip thru the Famed Dismal Swamp on Sunday !
May 30 – Wed
We continue our trek north through North Carolina with today’s move from Oriental to Belhaven North Carolina.
Due to storm Alberto ,the weather forecasts a few days ago projected rain all week and we have had a lot of rain, and expected to be traveling in rain today as we traveled 49 miles from Oriental to Belhaven.
But the ride today was awesome.
It was very cloudy, but dry with low wind, and calm waters.
The dark clouds & storms were in our sight, but all behind us.
The entire 49 miles today was in deep water, the lowest we saw was 9 ft, and it was an effortless, peaceful ride.
Along the ride we traveled thru some waters in which the tannins made the color dark brown/gold, like Tahquamenon Falls in Michigan.
We also went thru a section of water in which we saw hundreds of jelly fish, about 6″ in diameter. The pictures did not show the jellyfish well and are not attached.
We arrived at the Belhaven Marina about 1:30pm.
The marina is very small, but again the folks are incredibly friendly.
The town of Belhaven has about 1500 people, & Belhaven’s claims to fame are ;
> Formerly known as Jack’s Neck, then Bellport, and now Belhaven (beautiful harbor) the official name since 1899.
> Belhaven is the hometown of singer Little Eva, whose song “The Loco-Motion” was a #1 hit in 1962.
> It is also the home of Super Bowl XLV champion and Oakland Raider C. J. Wilson.
> In 1928, Belhaven was thrust into the national spotlight when it became the final link to complete the inland route of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, connecting Beaufort to Boston, making it an ocean seaport.
> It is home to Spoon River Artworks & Market.
Spoon River is a farm-to-fork style restaurant with a goal to source as much of the menu from the state of North Carolina as possible.
Spoon River was recommended to us by Looper friends Lab Partners (Beth & Rip), and as soon as we got tied up today the harbor master Craig said “do you want Belhaven’s best tonight ?”
I said ” well it depends, what is Belhaven’s best ? ”
He said ” why, it’s the award-winning Spoon River Restaurant”.
So that became the dinner plan for tonight.
After some nice showers, we headed into Belhaven.
It was another small quaint town. In spite of higher population than Oriental (1500 vs 1000), it seemed smaller than Oriental based on what we saw. It probably did not help that we did not walk through town until about 6pm.
Notice the Name “Tavern at Jack’s Neck”, Jacks Neck was the original name of the current town of Belhaven.
The Spoon River Artworks & Market was as advertised, a great meal with very nice ambiance. It almost seemed a little out of place in the small town.
The Entrees were $30-40, but the taste was awesome.
We ordered the Mahi-Mahi & the Pork Chop and shared each.
Both were really good, but the Mahi kicked butt over the Chop.
We also had the Shrimp Egg Rolls as appetizer. With the 3 sauces supplied, they were scrumptious.
What I liked the best at the Spoon River were the generous portions of food, we walked out of there stuffed.
Many fancy restaurants give you the little dollop of food with the fancy drizzle of sauce, and charge you $35 dollars for the artwork.
It was another quick glimpse of a cute small town.
There will be several more “quick – 1 day glimpses” as we make our way up to Solomons Island Maryland, where we will bed down for 4 days on June 6th, and welcome my great pal from junior high school Dave Noffert & his lovely bride Debbie.
Next Stop = 1 night in Columbia North Carolina at the Alligator River Marina.
May 29 – Tue
Well, since the Hinman’s left it has been pretty much non stop rain.
Hurricane season is starting early with storm Alberto causing a lot of havoc for many folks on the coast & rain for us on the North Carolina ICW.
While y’all were having 90 degrees & sunshine back in Michigan, it rained all day in Beaufort yesterday (memorial day) . The forecasts show the rain continuing thru to this weekend.
So we departed Beaufort today for Oriental North Carolina, expecting crappy weather. The day started out great with NO RAIN and even a little bit of intermittent sunshine throughout most of the 29 mile ride.
As we approached Oriental, I saw the rain clouds coming and kicked up the speed across the bay to 20 mph, attempting to outrun the storm – We ALMOST made it.
But just after we called in to Oriental Marina, vicious winds of 30-40mph kicked up quickly. We called the marina back and told them that we would ride out the storm in the bay vs attempting to dock in the violent wind.
30 minutes later, the storm passed, the winds died to zero, and docking was a breeze (pun intended).
After docking, meeting the very nice harbor master Tom & office worker June, we did the once around tour of the Oriental Marina.
Oriental Marina is a very small quaint little marina with only 11 slips.
It is actually called The Oriental Marina & Inn, and has about 20 rooms in the Inn.
It is a very cute place with a nice clean Pool, Tiki-Bar, on-site restaurant, & very clean showers in which the marina supplies the towels/shampoo/soap (a first on The Loop) !
The town also has a webcam over-looking the marina. Can you see the bow of Gettin’ Looped, just behind the blue building, on the webcam shot (sent by Beth Tyler).
After gettin’ settled in at the marina, we went for a short walk through the town of Oriental. I needed to mail some grad & birthday cards for my nieces, and we had to go to the ATM. So we combined our chores with a town visit.
Oriental is like the marina, a small quaint town of less than 1000 people. Office worker June says ” everyone knows everyone, and everyone knows your business”.
The town of Oriental was named after the Sailing Steamer Oriental, built in Philadelphia in 1861, the ship was used as a Federal transport ship in the Civil War.
It is said that the famous pirate Edward Teach or Blackbeard made his home in Bath NC, just North of Oriental.
As we started our walk, it started to sprinkle again, but we carried on with our umbrellas in hand.
We strolled by the various businesses, gift shops, stores, hardware, & churches.
EVERYONE we passed said hello or waved, it was a very friendly town.
We walked thru ; the Treasure Company, the Marine Provision Store, the Captain’s Quarters Gift Shop, & the Hardware.
We stopped and had lunch at the Oriental Deli & Subs.
Again, the folks inside were very nice.
We did not want to eat too much, because we had a special treat later in the evening – dinner with our ole pals Lab Partners – Beth & Rip Tyler.
We also got our mailing & ATM needs taken care of.
Even though the town was small, they did offer a Therapy Service that we could have used with The Hinman’s.
As we said above, tonight was a special night – a reunion dinner with Looper Friends Beth & Rip Tyler from Lab Partners.
I believe that we first met Rip & Beth way back on the Joliet Wall just south of Chicago, but started becoming good friends in Grafton Illinois, just north of St Louis.
I thought that they had completed their Loop, but we found out that they actually put the completion of their Loop on hold, due to the unexpected sale of their 36 Monk while they were in Punta Gorda Florida (an offer they couldn’t refuse).
They have now purchased their post-loop vessel, a trailer-able 27′ Rosborough, and plan to complete their Loop next winter, and then use the boat for future travels out west.
We started our night with reunion discussions on the Gettin’ Looped.
We then moved to dinner at Brantley’s Restaurant in Oriental.
After dinner at Brantley’s , we ended the night with drinks at the Oriental Marina Tiki-Bar.
It was wonderful re-living old times and talking about old mutual looping friends.
We also picked their brains about our upcoming trip thru the Chesapeake Bay, Annapolis, & Washington DC.
Next Stop = Belhaven North Carolina, about 50 miles north of Oriental.
May 25 – Fri
On Friday May 25th, we traveled from Swansboro North Carolina to Beaufort (Bo-Fert) North Carolina. Don’t call the city Bu-Fort, that is the South Carolina neighboring city with the same spelling.
The trip from Swansboro to Beaufort was a short 28 miles, but took us about 5 hours due to delays in gettin’ pumped out & fueled.
I knew that our Beaufort marina would not have fuel or pump out, so I called a few neighboring marinas and found one which offered both services. When we were very close to the initial marina I had spoken to, I called to let them know that we were on the way in, and they said that their dock was now full with big boys getting a lot of fuel and it would be a 1-2 hour wait.
So we had to scramble and find another marina prior to our destination of The Beaufort Yacht Basin Marina. We did find another fuel/pump out marina, but it was not so close, thus it was a 5 hour trip vs the 3-1/2 hours we had planned.
We did arrive at The Beaufort Yacht Basin about 1:30pm.
We were welcomed in to Beaufort by the harbor master & one of the nicest guys we have met on The Loop, a southern gentleman named Jerry Gaskill. We also met Joe, the owner of the marina. The marina is very new having been rebuilt in 2016. There is a very nice captains quarters, new floating docks, free laundry, and complimentary use of a very nice golf cart to check out the town upon arrival. Jerry & owner Joe showed us their plans for expansion in the coming years including a hotel & park type area
It was our last 2 days with the Hinman’s after their 11 day stay, so we wanted to hit the ground running in Beaufort. We took advantage of the golf cart that Jerry had offered us to get to know the city. The downtown Beaufort area was a short 3 blocks away from the marina, but the downtown Front Street was pretty long. The golf cart was a pretty sweet mode of transportation.
Our initial goal was to get some information about a nearby island which was supposed to have wild horses that are descendants of horses going back to early explorers of the British, Spanish, and French in the 1500/1600’s.
Jerry advised that we would probably be able to see the horses on Carrot Island, near the end of Front Street.
So we headed over to the main drag “Front Street” and went on a 45-60 minute ride. We passed all the downtown restaurants, bars, and gift shops. Then the sights turned into a nice residential area. All the while, we had the riverfront and nearby Carrot Island in sight.
About 45 minutes into the ride, we did in fact see the Wild Horses on Carrot Island. The video below is a little grainy because I had the zoom on 6 power.
After about a one hour ride down & back on Front Street, we parked the golf cart and went over to the riverfront boardwalk in search of a lunch venue. We ended up at a place called The Dockhouse. We ate lunch on the 2nd floor balcony.
The balcony offered great views of the riverfront & the nice boats in the Beaufort City Marina. I attempted to get in to City Marina, but had called too late. The Yacht Basin turned out to be the better choice anyway due to all the traffic on the main waterway rocking all the boats in the marina. The Yacht Basin where we were at, was only 3 blocks away in a protected harbor.
After lunch we went back to the boat, cleaned up, and then headed back into town on foot. While leaving the marina, we saw a private charter boat who had just returned from a successful fishin’ trip with some nice Mahi-Mahi. The lucky young fisherman said that it was his first big catch. He said that it took about 45 minutes to land it and that he almost had to ask for a tap-out for relief from reeling in the fish.
The walk into town was a short 3 blocks. We started out visiting a cool gift shop called Tidal Treasures, but had a goal of finding a hidden away “locals” bar called The Backstreet Pub.
The Backstreet Pub was as advertised , a hidden treasure – it took us about 20 minutes to find it in the back alley, behind The Clawson Restaurant. Even after finding it, it was in a courtyard surrounded by a large brick wall and gate, and seemed like it was not even open. The team was nervous !
Once inside, we ordered drinks, and sat along the old-time bar. The bar was very high, they must have had some tall cowboys back in the day. The bar also had a really cool mirror surrounded by exotic wood-working and marble.
Research on the bar says ;
A century-old former bakery, believed to be the oldest building in Beaufort built about 1870 completely of brick.
The Pub now hosts an interesting mix of locals, vacationers, sea captains, and deep sea divers. It remains a favorite stop among sailors who cruise along the Intracoastal Waterway. Over the years, pieces of nautical memorabilia from their journeys have covered the walls. It’s no wonder, The Pub has been called the “friendliest, funkiest little bar from Maine to Venezuela.”
In spite of supposedly being one of the main music venues in town, and being the host of a 30 year old music festival every year – they did not have music on this Friday night.
So we asked around about music, and ended up back at the place that we had lunch – The Dockhouse. The Dockhouse had a very good 3 piece band called Bobby Webb & Company, playing mostly new country but also singing some of their original songs. The crowd was quite lively, dancing along the boardwalk. My favorite song was a song that said something like “money can’t buy everything, but it can buy me a Boat”.
My dinner on Friday night was = 3 Captain & Cokes , a Reese’s Cup Pie, and half of Ginger’s Lava Cake.
We called it a night about midnight.
It was a long fun day with ; traveling from Swansboro to Beaufort, fueling/pumpouts, golf cart ride, wild horses, gift shops, the Dockhouse balcony lunch, the Backstreet Pub, a dessert-based dinner, drinks, and music.
whew !
bedtime.
May 26 – Sat
Saturday was a big day, it was the last full day of the Hinman’s visit.
We started the day with the normal coffee & showers (separate events).
While I was showering, Dave walked over to the fish company next door to the marina.
The fish company was called the Homer Smith Seafood Company.
The boat below, the Croatan, had just arrived back in port after 3 days at sea.
Check out the photos below of their bounty.
It was a beautiful hot day in Beaufort, so we decided to go on a dinghy ride along the Taylor Creek, which separates downtown Beaufort from Carrot Island. We also had visions on pulling up to Carrot Island in search of some more Wild Horses.
During the ride on Taylor Creek, there was a lot of boat traffic on the Memorial Holiday weekend. We saw several interesting vessels.
> The first one was a small 3 Man Viking Ship = https://youtu.be/GiJI7dLWxno
> The second one was a larger Pirate theme Tour Boat = https://youtu.be/6Y3dDrRhx64
Shortly after the boats above passed, we saw a long pier on Carrot Island, so we pulled the dinghy onto the island for some exploring.
Our first encounter with the island was hundreds of little crabs.
When we stepped off of the dinghy, we could see the little crabs scurrying away to their holes in the sand.
> Crab Video = https://youtu.be/WDFRG896X4Q ********* make sure to watch the Crab Video above , it is very cool *********
After playing with the little crabs for a while, we continued our exploration of Carrot Island, which we learned also was part of the Rachel Carson Nature Preserve (I believe no relation to our friends Jeff & Robin Carson).
I forgot to remove the key for the dinghy motor, so I had Dave run back to the boat to get the key. Have you ever seen Baywatch, does he look like David Hasselhoff ?
Ok, back to the story !
We walked down a long pier above the marsh and discovered several educational postings about the island and its inhabitants, sponsored by the Rachel Carson Program.
We found educational postings about the ; Living Shoreline, Birds, and the Wild Horses.
OMG – when we read the poster board about the wild horses on Carrot Island, we discovered that they were imposters, phoney ponies, not true descendants of the Wild Mustangs of the 1500’s.
The Hinman’s demanded a refund !
Further research on the subject reveals the following ;
The Wild Mustangs dating back to heritage in the 1500/1600’s is actually on Shackleford Banks Island, about 5 miles away, but the open water was too rough to go by dinghy on this day.
Shackleford Banks Mustangs The Shackleford horses have often been referred to as ponies because of their size, but they are true horses. DNA studies prove they are descended from the Spanish mustangs brought to the Carolina coast by explorers beginning in the early 1500’s. Turned loose from shipwrecks, or left behind when explorers had to flee failed attempts at colonization, they spread out all along the barrier island chain as they grew in numbers.
They have survived in the wild, isolated on Shackleford and other coastal barrier islands away from the mainland for almost half a millennium.
Carrot Island / Rachel Carson Reserve Wild Horses
Like the wild Shackleford mustangs, Beaufort’s wild horses can only be reached by boat, where they have free run of the main area of Rachel Carson Reserve. The reserve acreage is not suitable for human habitation and has extremely little fresh water, which is mostly ground water the horses find by digging.
Unlike North Carolina’s other three groups of wild horses, the Beaufort horses’ lineage is not isolated to the bloodlines of the Colonial Spanish Mustangs, though they surely carry some of that historic heritage. These horses are descended from stock kept on these islands in the 1940s by the Beaufort doctor who then owned the land. The original herd consisted of “Banker Ponies”, along with some domestic breeds – mainly Quarter Horses. Though they are today considered “feral” horses, many of them plainly exhibit the characteristics of the wild Outer Banks horses descended from the spanish mustang stock that first arrived on these barrier islands as far back as the early 1500’s. In fact, some of these horses carry the primitive markings of the most ancient of wild horse breeds and types.
These primitive markings consist of a “dorsal stripe” or spinal stripe, that runs along the spine from ears to tail, and sometimes leg bars as well.
There you go = No Refund !
After horsing around at the Rachel Carson Reserve, we loaded up in the dinghy and headed down Carrot Island to a location where there were MANY boaters having a fun day on the Carrot Island Shoreline (about 5 miles away from the Nature Reserve). I think me & Dave both pulled a muscle attempting to flex our biceps so hard for the photo-op.
We walked the beach for about an hour, visited with the locals, & tossed the football.
It was a wonderful day !
After a few hours on Carrot Island, we crossed over to the Beaufort mainland and had lunch at Finz Grill.
After lunch it was time for – guess what ? Si Senior, La Siesta !
We turned up the music on the boat quite loud, turned the AC systems on High, and had a wonderful refresher for the night-time activities.
> Mike took a 20 minute siesta.
> Dave took a 40 minute siesta.
The girls did not take siesta, they needed more prep time for dinner than Dave & I !
For dinner we headed in to downtown, to a place called the Clawson’s Restaurant. It is the biggest restaurant in town covering two large buildings. History of the Clawson Restaurant reveals the following;
The original Clawson’s grocery store was owned by Charles and Mary Clawson who were immigrants from Sweden and Ireland. Clawson’s claim to fame back then was as a bakery & grocery store. Its origin is where the Backstreet Pub is currently located, behind the current restaurant. The Backstreet is believed to be the oldest building in Beaufort built about 1870 completely of brick.
The original Clawson’s grocery store sold canned goods, fresh produce from local farmers and fresh baked goods from “The Bakery” out back. The reputation of these baked goods grew throughout the East Coast as sales to boat crews that navigated the Intracoastal Waterway increased. Local delivery was available to town residents in the form of a carriage drawn by horses known by such names as “June Bug” and “Dragonfly”.
Clawson’s Grocery & Bakery’s business prospered for many years until the Great Depression struck. Mr Clawson paid his creditors but his customers could not pay their debts to him, forcing the closing of Clawson’s Grocery & Bakery in 1934.
Clawson’s grocery building was purchased thereafter and served as home to several businesses including a hat shop (there is a picture of it in the stairwell), a dress shop, & a children’s clothing shop. By the 1970’s it was unoccupied and was sold on the courthouse steps to pay bills.
The building was bought and renovated into a restaurant in 1977 by Candy and Bill Rogers. The Rogers chose to use the namesake of it’s original owners as the restaurant name.
All of our meals were fabulous, I had a Grilled Swordfish with Shrimp, covered in a spicy sauce, with pineapple chunks. I don’t remember what the others had, but all commented that their meals were great. May 27 – Sun
Sunday was a sad day.
It was departure day for the Hinman’s.
We had a lot of fun in the last 11 days, with a lot of Mike & Dave acting young again.
The Hinman’s experienced a little taste of Looping Life, having participating in ;
> 11 days
> 6 Ports
> About 210 Miles
They were very generous guests, having paid many of the restaurant tabs & Uber fees, as well as leaving a large present hidden under the alarm clock in the bedroom.
A special thanks also to Ginger’s mother, who funded our last meal at The Clawson Restaurant, via Ginger’s birthday present – a card given to her by her mom before they departed Michigan.
Farewell Kids !
Thanks for the great visit & new memories.
I told Dave to make a Sad Face !
Next Stops
> 1 night in Oriental North Carolina (Tue)
> 2 nights in Bellhaven North Carolina (Wed, Thu)
> 1 night in Columbia North Carolina (Fri)
> 2 nights in Elizabeth City North Carolina (Sat, Sun)
> The Great Dismal Swamp !
May 24 – Thu
Thursday May 24th was a fairly long ride from Wrightsville Beach North Carolina to Swansboro North Carolina.
The ride was about 60 miles and included a very heavy rain storm about an hour after we departed. The rain storm lasted about 2 hours of the 7 hours we traveled.
The ride was fairly slow including 5 bridges & two pretty cool 12 foot clearance swing bridges.
Towards the end of the ride, before Swansboro, we passed a remote area where one of the armed forces apparently uses for training. We entered an area with signs that said “Stop Do Not Proceed – Live Firing When Lights Are Flashing”. The lights were not flashing, so we did proceed. But we did hear boom noises far off to the north.
Shortly after entering the intermittently restricted area, we also saw signs which read “Danger – Unexploded Ordnance, Do Not Enter”.
We did not go on the the island !
After we had passed thru the “restricted area”, we saw 3 boats racing towards us, I pulled slightly to the starboard side to give them room. 2 boats went to my port side & 1 boat went to the starboard side encircling our boat. They passed us at a very high rate of speed.
After we docked in Swansboro, I discovered that the area we went thru was a training area for the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base.
We arrived at Caspers Marina in Swansboro about 2pm.
I had learned from other Loopers that there was not so much going on here, so we had planned only a 1 night stay, using Swansboro only as a stop-over into Beaufort NC.
Casper’s Marina was just so-so, not high on our list.
It included fixed docks (not floating docks), had only 1 shower, and was really more of a boat rack storage place than a marina.
Swansboro turned out to be a pretty nice small town with gift shops, chocolate shops, & Ice Cream !
There were also a few antique shops, we spent a little time in a place called “the poor mans hole”. The prices did not appear to fit the poor mans title, but it was a cool shop. They had a LOT of nautical based knick-knacks.
Many signs in The Poor Mans Hole and other establishments made me and Dave feel welcome. It was a town that we felt very comfortable in.
Swansboro also had about 5-6 restaurants within walking distance.
We had some “welcome to Swansboro drinks” at a place called The Icehouse.
After the Icehouse, we came back to the boat, chilled for a while, listened to some music, talked, and took the late afternoon 15 minute nap. I believe that even Dave was now into the program.
For dinner we went to an Italian place called The White Oak River Bistro. They had GREAT cheese bread, lasagna, & a really cool back deck with excellent views.
We ate our Itailian entrees, and listened to Luciano Pavarotti while eating.
After dinner, it was time to start prepping for travel tomorrow to Beaufort, so we said farewell to Swansboro !
BTW – I’m not sure why they call the town Swansboro, we did not see any Swans but did see a large gaggle of geese !
Next Stop
4 nights in Beaufort (Bo-Fert) North Carolina, the last port for The Hinmans (boo) !
May 22 – Tue After our short 1 night stay in Southport, we headed further north to the Seapath Yacht Club in Wrightsville BeachNorth Carolina. Wrightsville Beach is a suburb of Wilmington , and we had a fun-filled 2 days planned.
We started our stay with a stroll thru the Seapath Yacht Club & Clubhouse, a pretty nice place.
After gettin’ settled in, we took an Uber to the beach at Wrightsville Beach, about 2 miles away from the Yacht Club.
We had a late lunch at a place called The Oceanic, a beautiful modern looking restaurant right on the Atlantic Ocean. We had lunch on the 2nd floor balcony overlooking the ocean.
After lunch we went for a walk on the Oceanic Pier and watched many surfers. The water had changed complexion significantly from our previous stops of Myrtle Beach & Southport, becoming a beautiful blue/green. There were many surfers and some were pretty good. The town was named one of the “World’s 20 Best Surf Towns” by National Geographic Magazine, and was one of only seven towns in the USA to earn the distinction.
I challenged Dave to a surfing competition, this is him flexing his muscles while surfing !
Like I said above, the water was really cool here in Wrightsville Beach, the photos don’t show it so well, but the blue/green water with white waves was very pretty.
We went for a pretty good walk on the beach, walking 1.8 miles from The Oceanic Pier to the Johnny Mercer Pier.
After walking to the Johnny Mercer Pier, we talked with some lifeguards and found out that most of the places to hang out at were inset from the beach, on the main drag and about a 1/2 mile back from where we came. So we walked up to Lumina street, and walked another 1/2 mile back to a set of pubs on the main drag in town. We ended up at a place called Loggerheads Tavern, which seemed to be the place with the most activity.
After a few beers, we went back to the marina and sat out on the Seapath Yacht Club watchtower for a while and watched the boats go by.
Boat watch tower in the center with the Red & Blue Chairs
After watchin’ the boats go by for a while, we ended the day/night with another round of competitive Euchre in the Yacht Club complimentary captain’s quarters lounge. The lounge was in the center of the marina and had excellent views of the marina, and had nice card tables and cable TV inside. While playing Euchre, Nellie did some laundry and we watched/listened to Atlanta Braves baseball.
The night ended with the Hinman’s executing their revenge on the Murphree’s victory the night before in Southport, with a rousing 2-1 Euchre victory. The Euchre series is now tied at 1-1, with the rubber match coming in the next few days.
May 23 – Wed
Wednesday May 23rd, we started the day with a trip into Historic Downtown Wilmington, about 9 miles & 20 minutes away from the marina. We used the complimentary car from the marina, an old Honda minivan, and saved $20 Uber fares each way, there & back !
We walked the riverfront and had breakfast sandwiches at a hole-in-the-wall place called Captain Tony’s, which had an awesome view of the Battleship USS North Carolina across the Cape Fear River.
After breakfast, we walked the Wilmington downtown area for a while and waited for a 10am horse-drawn carriage ride.
Tour guide John arrived with horses Prince & Don just before 10am, we departed on the tour about 10:15am. John was a very entertaining ex-New Yorker tour guide.
Wilmington North Carolina is a fairly large city, with population just above 100,000.
It is most famous for its Historical District, being on the Cape Fear River, and being the host to many movies & TV shows.
Wilmington is the home of Screen Gems Studios, the largest domestic television and movie production facility outside California. “Dream Stage 10,” the facility’s newest sound stage, is the third-largest in the US. It houses the largest special-effects water tank in North America. Numerous movies and several television series have been produced here, including; Maximum Overdrive, Iron Man 3, Fox’s Sleepy Hollow, One Tree Hill, Dawson’s Creek, NBC’s Revolution, and the TV series Matlock.
You can’t see it well in this photo, but here is the courthouse where many scenes from Matlock were filmed.
The carriage ride was filled with homes from the 1800’s (now boring for me & Jonell). But the oldest building was built in 1738. The building was almost lost due to structural degradation, but was propped up & reinforced with rods screwed into the building to straighten its structure. Look at all the decayed/repaired bricks. Also the rear yard wall was built with stones used as ballast on ships from England in the 1600’s.
There were many beautifully restored old homes and several restorations in process. Wilmington has about 900 historic homes and buildings.
Front refinished, right side not yet doneSame house, left side renovation is complete
Notice the horse carriage step stool & post for hitching up the horse.
After the carriage ride, we came back to the boat and chilled for a while. Then we took an uber over to the Wrightsville Beach and spent a few hours on the beach.
About 3pm the clouds started forming again, thunder was heard, and the lifeguards came out to warn everyone that lightning was within 5 miles. So we headed back to the boat after only a 2-3 hour stay. The photo does not show the nearby dark clouds coming.
We went back to the boat, took a siesta (at least I did, only 30 minutes), then headed back out for dinner in downtown Wilmington. We walked the Cape Fear riverfront boardwalk for a while. There were many fancy offerings for dinner places. We ended up at a pretty low-key place called Anne Bonny’s Bar & Grill. Anne Bonny’s is a floating barge along the Riverwalk in downtown Wilmington.
Dave, Ginger, and I had finally hit the wall with beer intake. Nellie’s moderation paid off , she was the only person drinking beer tonight !
After dinner, Dave & I found enough room for one more drink at the Embassy Suites Rooftop Bar. The drinks were expensive but the riverfront views were great.
The rooftop bar also had about 10 fire pits lighting up the night time sky.
While we were at the rooftop bar, I was wearing the Carol Perotta – “Gettin’ Looped” Jacket, and some of the other rooftop visitors noticed the jacket and commented about The Loop.
A short while later we were exchanging stories about the Loop and our backgrounds.
The 2 couples were ; Bill & Stacey from Annapolis, who own a 42 Catamaran, and Dave & Cindy (currently Looper Dreamers) who were visiting from Houston.
It was a lovely night, and a fun-filled, exhausting 2 days in Wrightsville Beach !
Next Stop = only 1 night in Swansboro North Carolina, on our way to Beaufort North Carolina this weekend.
Well, we are definitely gettin’ more northbound now.
Monday May 21st, we crossed from South Carolina into North Carolina.
It was a special day on 2 accounts; we had crossed into North Carolina, and it was Ginger Hinman’s Birthday. While underway on the ICW, we played Happy Birthday music over the Gettin’ Looped Stereo – while Jonell, Dave, and I gave our best Happy Birthday sing along.
The trip from Myrtle Beach to Southport was a short 44 miles, and we arrived about 1:30pm.
Our plan was only a 1 night stay in Southport North Carolina.
Our decisions on South Carolina & North Carolina ports were assisted by our Looper pal from Mother Ocean, Dennis Taylor. Dennis & Jan live in North Carolina, so I picked his brain on which ports to visit in both SC & NC, and how many days we should give each city, combined with the fact that we have to be back in Michigan by Labor Day for Dan’s wedding on Sept 16th.
So Southport was one of a few small cities we will see on the way from Myrtle Beach to Beaufort (Bo-Fert) North Carolina.
Southport was a cool little quiet town.
It has a population of only 3500, but is best known for hosting many television shows & movies.
The town can be seen in the Television Series; Dawson’s Creek, Under the Dome, Revenge, and Matlock. Movies filmed in Southport include; I Know What You Did Last Summer, Summer Catch, Domestic Disturbance, Crimes of the Heart, Nights in Rodanthe, A Walk to Remember and Safe Haven.
After we arrived and got tied up, we went for a 4 hour walk around Southport.
We had heard about some fancy restaurants, so I put on some nice clothing for our “Taste of Southport”.
We inspected the local pubs & restaurants. We found about 5 places within walking distance and had lunch at a place called The Fishy Fish Café.
The Fishy Fish was a laid back key west type waterfront bar, with all the humorous signs.
After lunch, we walked the town and local shops.
After the post-lunch walk, we were ready for more refreshments.
I became a new member of the exclusive American Fish Company.
For $1, you can become a member and enjoy refreshments at the private waterfront club.
After hobnobbing with the elite at the fish company, we headed back to the boat.
Along the way we passed several historical information pedestals. One of the pedestals described a building called The River Pilots Tower, a watch tower built in the 1750s, used by Southport mariners to assist transient ships through the treacherous Cape Fear River entrance.
The arriving boat would signal a cannon fire when they were ready for a pilot. A person from the pilots tower association would row a boat out to the incoming ship and take over the captains duty to bring the ship safely to port. The Pilots Tower & Association is still in use today.
The Pilots Tower
After touring the town from about 1:30pm to 5:30pm, we came back to the boat for siesta time for Mikie.
We walked to dinner about 7:30pm for a late Bday dinner for Ginger at a place called Oliver’s. Two of the locals had told us that Oliver’s was one of the two “fancy” places in town. I’m not sure that “fancy” was the correct description, but it was a pretty nice place for a small town, and they had a great Lobster Bisque.
Ginger also got a free Bday dessert !
That was about it for a long half day stay in Southport.
Next Stop = 2 nights in Wrightsville Beach North Carolina (just outside of Wilmington).
May 17 – Thu
On Thursday, we headed off from Georgetown to The Barefoot Marina in Myrtle Beach South Carolina.
It was the 1st leg of Looping voyages for Dave & Ginger Hinman, who had joined us in Georgetown.
The ride was about 50 miles, and about 5-1/2 hours.
We left Georgetown at 8:00am and arrived at Myrtle Beach about 1:30pm.
Historically poor weather has arrived on the entire east coast, and the ride to Myrtle Beach included about 1 hour of fairly heavy rain.
We got checked in & strolled the grounds at the marina.
Barefoot Marina is in North Myrtle Beach.
The marina is pretty nice – with cable TV, a very nice large pool & Jacuzzi, and great views across the ICW.
After gettin’ acquainted with the marina we went to lunch at a place called The Flying Fish. In spite of the rainy/dreary weather conditions, the lunch setting on the ICW immediately across from our marina, was very nice. We enjoyed a very nice ” welcome to Myrtle Beach” first meal.
Our Barefoot Marina is in the background, across the ICW
After lunch, we walked around the shopping / entertainment complex.
This is Bike Week in Myrtle Beach, and we spent some time walking around a large parking lot with the many Harley Davidson tents. We saw some pretty cool bikes.
Next stop was The House of Blues, for some country music.
We had a few drinks at the House of Blues outdoor music venue called The Deck, and people-watched the bikers (maybe they were people-watching us too, we looked more out-of-place than they did).
After The House of Blues, we went walking around the outdoor shops at The Barefoot Landingand just horsed around a bit.
As we walked around the Barefoot Landing complex, we saw an advertisement for a new work-out program. With me and Dave being Mr. Muscles, we are always on the lookout for new ways to maintain our health and good looks with an Innovative Fitness Program.
This Fitness Program fit the bill.
Next stop was drinks & lunch at Bully’s Pub & Grub, where we had lunch and also watched the local carp fish & LARGE Gators eating French fires supplied by the restaurant patrons.
After lunch, we had a little more walking around, and ended up at a place called The Wild Wings Café, where we played bag toss well in to the night.
We also had dinner at the Wild Wings Café, the same place as the bag toss game. There was a one-man singer who was pretty good. It was a nice waterfront setting with good music & great company.
It was a long first full day for The Hinman’s !
I told them that this Looping stuff is hard work.
Aren’t they cute !
May 18 – Fri
Friday morning started out with more rain.
The plan for the day was to go to a place called The Broadway Beach.
The Broadway Beach is a very large entertainment complex with restaurants, bars, shopping, boat rides, zip lining, museums, and more.
We arrived about 10:30am, there were not many people, the place looked like a ghost-town. But by about noon the place started to hop.
We walked around the shops & bars, and had a little more horsing-around !
After all the exercise, it was time for lunch at Good Time Charley’s, where Dave had a very Big Burger.
After a full belly at lunch, we did what you always do with a full belly, we went on a helicopter ride.
Jonell & Ginger passed, me & Dave enjoyed a great ride with pilot Dan !
The ride was only about 8 miles down to the beach and back, but it was still really cool.
Captain Dan gave us some good fast turns & dips during the ride.
After the helicopter ride, we headed back to the boat and had, guess what – Some Sunshine !
We took advantage with a rapid change into our swim suits.
We started with the nice warm Jacuzzi, but as the sun came out stronger, we started to have some real fun tossing the football across the very large Barefoot Marina Pool.
Friday ended with a very nice dinner at the Greg Norman Australian Grille.
While walking home from dinner, we stumbled across an ice cream joint called Sweet Mollie’s Creamery. It was a very unique process. I ordered some kind of caramel ice cream with different kinds of candy chips. The server scooped out what looked like vanilla ice cream, added caramel sauce and the candy chips, then mixed it all together by hand. It was very good. May 19 – Sat
Well Saturday was, guess what, ANOTHER RAINY DAY !
The weather has been unlike anything I recall from years past.
This has been the 5th day in a row with rain.
So we made the best of it again.
Todays plan was one of Jonell & Gingers favorite things to do – The dreaded Casino.
We departed the ss Gettin’ Looped about 10am, and headed for The Big – “M” Casino Boat(M, for money to be lost).
We arrived at the boat at 10:48am, with the scheduled take-off set for 11am, we just made it !
After departure, the ride out to the ocean was pretty cool, it was like being on a 43 ft Viking going down the ICW.
While traveling from the ICW to the Ocean, the ship had a pretty decent Buffet for $13.
We all took part in the buffet which included ; scrambled eggs, fresh danish, greasy sausage & bacon, some pretty good fruit salad, potatoes etc.
the dreaded money sucking slots appear in the background
The ride out was pretty uneventful, and took about 45 minutes to an hour.
Once out past the 7 mile limit for gambling, the ocean waters picked up a lot of energy.
The captain had warned the passengers about a “rough ride” when we were boarding the boat. About 2 hours into the ride, the waves picked up to about 6-8 footers.
The boat then became the ss Sea Sickness, with as many as 30 people in my sight sitting at the breakfast room tables & bar seats with their heads on the table. The group of people with their heads on the table included most of our Hinman/Murphree group (we won’t mention names to protect the identities of the ill).
To make matters a little worse, guess what – nobody won, we all lost money !
Oh well, it seemed like a good rainy day plan, and was actually an ok thing to do, minus the sea sickness.
After the Casino Boat, it was about 4:30pm.
We took the uber back near the boat to the Barefoot restaurant/bar complex, and had dinner at a BBQ place called – The Stillhouse BBQ.
It was STILL RAINING !
The food was just OK, and we decided to follow up the sea sickness feeling with some Moonshine. Dave & I shared a flight of 3 different flavors of Moonshine ; Raspberry, Apple, & Caramel.
They were all pretty ghastly !
Along with the moonshine, they also served some moonshine impregnated cherries. Dave had one and told me how good they were, that I really need to try one.
As usual, his advice was a little mis-guided, the cherry was awful – I spit it out !
Dave was quite proud of himself !
After the BBQ/Moonshine dinner, we went to The Alabama Theatre, where we enjoyed a Variety show called The One Show. The show was pretty good with great music, dancing, and acrobatics.
The best part of the show was a comedian named – Grant Turner, he was the funniest comedian we had all seen in a long time, and guess what – he did the entire act without one swear word !
If you ever have the opportunity, go see Grant Turner doing his Ricky Mokel Comedy Show.
The Theater did not allow photos, the photos below are Google Photos
It was a fun day, in spite of the rain !
May 20 – Sun
Ok, Sunday was finally a day with sun, or at least a day with NO RAIN !
We took advantage of the mostly overcast but warm day, with a trip about 10 miles south to Myrtle Beach City, where we enjoyed a full day at the beach.
We started “Beach Day” by renting our chairs from lifeguard Dominic.
Dominic is from Poland, and he has only been here in the USA for a few weeks, but his English was pretty good.
It seemed strange that the lifeguards would rent the chairs, but as Walter Cronkite said – “That’s the way it is” here on Myrtle Beach.
Once we had the beach chairs, we settled in and then we went for a long walk from Pier 14 to Pier 2, where we had brunch on the upper deck of The 2nd Avenue Pier Restaurant.
The view of the beach & pier was very nice from the upper deck restaurant.
After brunch Dave & Ginger took the beach path back to the chairs, Nellie & I took the boardwalk path. Jonell was looking for some new beach shoes at the boardwalk shops.
We met the Hinmans back at the beach chairs about 2pm.
The sun was now out and it was time for some sports.
The 2 athletes spent most of the next 2 hours tossing the Nerf football.
Dave also made some new friends, playing catch with some young football fans.
After the football toss, it was time to get the girls involved.
About 6pm, we had a very competitive bag toss game.
Team Murphree won round-1 a few days ago, at the Wild Wings Cafe.
Team Hinman bounced back with a 2-1 victory today.
After the highly competitive bag toss game, we had dinner at the same restaurant/bar that we had played the game, a place called Rip Tydz. It was a 3 story place, with the restaurant on the 2nd floor. The views of the ocean were very nice.
While we waited for dinner, I commented on how darkly tanned Ginger was after all the rain, and only 1-2 days in partial sun.
I also complimented Mrs Murphree’s tan, and thanked her for a valiant attempt during the bag toss game.
So after 4 rainy days, the Myrtle Beach visit was over.
A nice stop, but it could have been so much more fun with some dry weather & sunshine.
Oh well, maybe the next stop.
Next Stop = 1 night in Southport North Carolina
Yes North Carolina !
We are gettin’ northbound quicker than Mrs Murph is liking, but required to make a certain wedding in September (our son Dan & fiancée Megan).
May 14 – Mon
After the 1 night stay at the Leland Oil Company, we had a short 27 mile ride into the Harborwalk Marina in Georgetown SC.
The ride was peaceful, plenty of deep water, low winds, etc.
We passed several small fishermen, the one below seemed almost like a family event with Dad, Mom, and son pulling up crab nets.
It was a great way to start the day.
We left Leland at 8:30am and arrived at Georgetown at 11:30am.
It is supposed to rain for about 10 days in a row, so we topped off the fuel (108 gallons), while the sunshine was still showing its face.
After gettin’ fueled & set up in our slip, we went into work mode – prepping for the arrival of the Hinman’s tomorrow.
Nellie did 4 loads of laundry, and I washed the boat and went grocery shopping (had to buy extra beer for Dave).
We showered up about 6pm, and went out for dinner & a quick look-see of Georgetown.
We strolled down the Georgetown Harborwalk.
We stopped and ate at a place called Buzz’s Roost, a nautical sports bar place on the waterfront. The ambiance & service were good, the food was “ok” bar food.
After dinner we walked back to the boat on the main street in town called Front Street.
Not a whole lot happening today (Monday), it was pretty quiet, but it was about 8pm.
The Chamber of Commerce is right behind the marina, so when the Hinman’s arrive tomorrow, we will start there, and determine the Things-to-Do in Georgetown.
May – 15 – Tue Hurrah, it was the Hinman arrival day, visitors again !
We had not had overnight visitors since our neighbors Al & Roberta, way back in early April.
Dave & Ginger Hinman arrived about noon on Tuesday.
Dave is one of my life-long pals going back to about 1976.
I was best man for Ginger & Dave in 1981.
They will be with us for the next 11 days as we travel from Georgetown – Myrtle Beach – Southport – Wrightsville – Swainsboro – and Beaufort NC.
After arrival, we did the normal mandatory welcome aboard drinks & photos on the aft deck of Gettin’ Looped.
After gettin’ Dave & Ginger settled in, we went exploring.
We started at the local Chamber of Commerce, where we met city hostess “Susan”.
Susan gave us some maps and explained where to find the local museums & restaurants.
She was a darling woman with a great sense of humor, and lovely southern accent.
Our next stop was, guess what – a pub !
I didn’t want to start drinking so early, by now it was about 2pm, but Dave twisted my little arm.
So we started the adventure at The Big Tuna, with waitress Jodi.
We shared sandwiches with our 1st mates and had a beer.
Next stop on the Hinman Welcome Train was The Wharf, with waiter Patrick.
Somehow, the photographer was on vacation, no photos at The Wharf.
Stop #3 – The Castaway Bar, with waitress Della.
Stop #4 – Buzz’s Roost
So now after 2 drinks on the boat (3 for Dave), and 1 drink at each of ; Big Tuna, The Wharf, Castaway, and Buzz’s Roost, I was beginning to feel a little buzz’s roost myself.
So we went for some walking and exercise around town. They did not have a workout center at the marina, so we had to improvise.
After all that exercise, we were bushed and had to stop for another round at a place called The Seven Hundred Grill & Bar on Front Street, the main drag in town.
After refreshing ourselves at The Seven Hundred Bar, it was again time for some exploring. We were in search of The Oldest House in Georgetown. Built in 1734, the guide-book says that the Thomas Bolem House was a pre-revolutionary tavern and place of entertainment. Thomas Bolem was the tavern keeper.
The #40 in the photo below is a reference to the map of historic homes, it helps tourist find the various houses using the map.
Continued exploring found another cool looking house. The Crafton Kerwon House, built in 1737 !
Next on the discovery parade was The Town Clocktower, built in 1842-1945.
After all that history, it was time for dinner.
We went to dinner at a place called The Harborside Seafood & Italian Restaurant. We were entertained by very friendly waitress Jodi & met owner/Chef Chris Mitchel when we were leaving.
Oh, I almost forgot.
Within all the pubs, and site-seeing, we also got some exercise “Rooster Chasing”.
Dave lost, the Rooster won !
He’s not as quick as he used to be.
Rooster Chasing Video =https://youtu.be/wHrvkTJhZOI
May 16 – Wed On Wednesday, we started the day with some breakfast at The Thomas Café. It was a quaint little café which felt like you were back in the 1950’s
After breakfast we went walking to burn off the food. We walked the old neighborhoods, the new neighborhoods, looked at trees, and ended up at a local artisans place checking out knick-knacks made by local artists. We met wood worker and shop operator Tom.
Next stop was an attempted walk in the local waterfront park to burn off some breakfast, but the bugs were so bad , we had to abandon the park. The weather was starting to change a little so we went indoors to the Georgetown Maritime Museum. It was a 2 story building that had a lot of marine artifacts including; models of hand-made old ships, old lightower light lenses powered by whale oil, and poster boards of a lot of history we had seen back in Beaufort like the Hunley Submarine & Robert Smalls. It also had an interesting map showing the location of a whopping 37 shipwrecks on the South Carolina Coast over the years.
South Carolina Coast Shipwrecks
After the Maritime Museum, when we came outside the weather had improved. We watched a long string of bikers in town, who had come down for the day from Myrtle Beach Bike Week. We will see more of these fellows tomorrow when we move to Myrtle Beach. Really cool video attached below.
Dinner on Wednesday was at a relatively fancy place called the River Room Restaurant.
After dinner we went for a little walk back to the boat and noticed that the large prop that Dave had climbed on the night before was now fenced off to the public, thank’s Dave !
BeforeAfter
The night ended with a lovely socialization event with Captain Rod & wife Fran Singleton. Captain Rod runs the local tour boat, has helped the chamber of commerce make all the tourist maps, and is actively involved with the church. He & his church group, do 1 mission every year to Chernobyl Russia.
Rod was a wealth of history on things that had happened in and near Georgetown over the years. His charming southern drawl was just a delight to listen to all night.
That’s all for Georgetown South Carolina.
Remember the last long post from Charleston ?
This will make up, and be a very short one.
After a wonderful 4 days in Charleston, we continued to head north.
Next stop was a very small fishing town of 1000 people, called McClellanville South Carolina.
The 40 mile trip north was not w/o excitement.
We departed Charleston about 8:30am.
I had known before we left, that there was going to be some skinny water as we approached McClellanville. As we got within 10 miles of McClellanville, the radio chatter picked up dramatically about how low the water was at marker #37, one mile south of our marina.
Some radio callers said “it’s completely shoaled over” !
It was about 12 noon, the tide was still going out until 1:00pm (I knew this well in advance of the radio chatter), so we decided to anchor for about 3 hours. We dropped anchor in 6 feet of water at 12:30pm and picked the anchor up in 7.5 feet of water about 3:30pm (+1.5ft).
When we passed thru the infamous marker #37 @ 4pm, we saw 6 feet of water.
We draft only 3’/9″, but if we would have continued thru at noon, we would have been in about 4.5 feet of water (6ft – 1.5ft) and grounding would have been close, and it was not worth the risk of damaged props.
While we were anchored, we got some work done while waiting for the tide to come back in.
We cleaned all the Isinglass, checked the oil, the bilge, & the stuffing boxes.
And we plotted out our courses for the next 2 stops ;
> McClellanville to Georgetown
> Georgetown to Myrtle Beach
We are staying only 1 night at a place called the Leland Oil Company, the place is really a fuel stop that has power, water, and showers. The primary purpose of Leland Oil is to supply fuel for the large fleet of Shrimping Boats in the same harbor.
1 shower on the 2nd floor, behind the narrow white door in the centerThey only have space for 4 transient boats on the outer wall, all others are localsAt least 8 Shrimping boats seen from our dock
Tomorrow we will head to Georgetown South Carolina for 3 days.
We will meet Dave & Ginger Hinman on Tuesday afternoon.
They will spend 11 days with us (yea) !
The extended forecast looks like a bunch of indoor activities (humm, what will we do ?)
gettinlooped2017.com 