Jacksonville FL to Charleston SC 2023

 The first month of our summer trip is in the logbooks and we're about 440 miles further up the AICW than where we started from. Hardly a blazing pace but that was the idea for this trip in the first place, slow down and explore more. We have over 500 miles on the chart plotter so we have done a few side trips. Truthfully, we should be a bit farther north by now but have had several weather delays. Several places we've stopped have been worth a 1 day visit but turned into 2 or more. Okay, enough about that and on to the pictures....

Sister Kathy joined us in Jacksonville for the first leg of the trip. She had planned to travel with us to Charleston but the aforementioned weather delays had her jump ship a bit short in Hilton Head. We drank a Chasing 80 Painkiller in toast of a successful summer cruise. New Chasing 80 happy hour bell was a gift from our friends on MV OLOH and we have gladly adopted their tradition!

The next day we were off after a bottom cleaning from a local diver (water was still too cold for me). After a stop in Fernandina for a quick overnight and fuel we moved on a few miles to Cumberland Island GA. for an anchorage and tour of the island. 

The island is only accessed by boat and has fantastic scenery as well as the ruins of Dungeness which was an estate built by Thomas Carnegie back in the 1880's. 

Wild horses are seen all over the island and don't seem too concerned about visitors.

The next day we traveled to Brunswick GA where we had our first weather delay. It worked out well as we were able to attend the First Friday event in town.

On Saturday we backtracked a bit for a stop on Jekyll Island over Easter weekend. This turned out to be another weather delay as a cold front moved through the area. Jill planned an Easter Egg hunt on the boat which was a fun way to pass a cold rainy morning.

The marina has a loaner golf cart which we used to explore the island a bit each day.

Jekyll Island Club

We made a stop at the appropriately named Driftwood Beach and were reassured on our decision to stay in port.

The wind and surf made for some surreal pictures.

Once able to get underway again we traveled to Midway GA. and the Sunbury Crab docks and restaurant. This was one of those off the beaten path stops and the meal was worth the extra miles.

After what seemed to be a too short visit Kathy left us at Hilton Head just a few stops before Charleston. The next day we made a short hop up to the charming town of Port Royal SC. We got the bikes off and rode to a brewery and were lucky to find that they were having their annual Soft Shell Crab Festival.

  A couple of days later we made it to Charleston for a planned six night stop. It's a fun town to explore and we made use of our new electric scooters to cover some ground. We decided to add the scooters this year as a compliment to the bikes which are more heavy and cumbersome to unload but great for covering longer distances. We stayed at the Maritime Center this time and it's location is perfect for getting into town. 

The large freighters always amaze me as they travel right past the marina on their way up the Cooper River. One RORO came particularly close to the marina before performing a pirouette and backing into it's berth just above the Aquarium.

We had planned our stay to be in town on Saturday when they have their very large farmers and craft market. Unfortunately it was canceled due to strong storms in the area. They were also having the sailboat regatta that weekend. I imagine the sailors appreciated the fresh winds behind the front.

We left Charleston early Sunday for a very short day to Isle of Palms. Along the way we passed the USS Yorktown museum and Fort Sumpter.

 We arrived at the dock and were greeted by a very nice example of a Chesapeake Bay Buy boat. This one appears to be set up for charter and apparently Skeet shooting from the bow!

 So I'll wrap up here and hopefully get another post out on how the rest of the AICW treats us. We have a few more side trips planned. You can always keep up by using the Locate Us link to the right or following on the NEBO app. I'm also trying to keep the map of our stops updated. 

One last picture for the boater who wants the ultimate safe boat....

2023 "Plans"

 Just thought I'd get a brief note off as we prepare for our most excellent adventure this summer. 

After finally getting our roof installed last week the post hurricane repairs are complete. We buttoned up the house and returned to Chasing 80 last Thursday and spent a few days on final provisioning. Today the rental car gets returned and we'll be underway tomorrow for points north with First Mate Kathy along for the beginning of the trip.

We plan to take about a month to get from Jacksonville to Norfolk and then spend a couple of months enjoying the Chesapeake Bay including a side trip up the Potomac River to Washington DC. This should get us to about mid July. After that we'll continue north but the plans get a bit fuzzy from there. Depending on when we get to NYC we may divert up the East River and explore the Long Island Sound a bit before coming back and continuing up the Hudson River and maybe Lake Champlain. The ultimate goal will be winter storage in a heated facility along the Erie Canal around mid September. This timing will give us a bit of wiggle room before the closing of the canal on October 11. This plan should allow us to slow down, travel shorter days and explore more than we did in 2016 while doing the Great Loop.  

As always, the "locate us" link to the right will be live when we are moving and we can also be found on NEBO for those of you using the app. We look forward to meeting old and new friends along the way. For those of you familiar with the "Friend Bucket" don't worry....you're safe!