Got up and at it early - need a long day today to make it out of Florida (otherwise have to buy an insurance extension). Went out the St Augustine inlet about 7a.m. Headed north, then pulled back into the ICW at Saint Mary's about 10:30 looking for a little go-go juice. Found fuel finally at Jekyll Harbor Marina (Jekyll Island) at 1:30. It's still early, so after fueling we went back out again at Saint Simons Sound at 2:30. 4:30, tried approaching Doboy Sound to come in again, but the inlet was NOT very user friendly! Not well marked, and shoaling was evidently pretty bad. Bumped once and that was enough - turned north again to find something better. Two inlets up and Saint Catherine's Sound was the place to go in - nice and wide and deep, marked (though not a lot - thankful for electronic charts!), we made it in fine at 6:15. Thought we'd anchor just inside the inlet, but suffered the attack of the biting flies. Decided to try to get away from them and headed north in the ICW. Thought we'd anchor by Raccoon Key, and tried it out a while. Great location, but waaaaay too much rocking! Moved north another mile or two and dropped the hook at Possum Point at 8:00. Very quiet and mostly empty - just 2 shrimp boats at anchor. One seems abandoned (anchor and part of the boat is stuffed in the marsh), and haven't seen signs of life on the other. Some boats came thru, apparently heading out to see the fireworks. After dinner (elk kabobs - yum! had to do some food pics in Rene`'s honor!) we had distant fireworks displays all around. Planning on a bit of a shorter day tomorrow, as we more than made up for that today - we put 180 miles behind us (please don't ask about fuel consumption!).

Left Possum Point and headed up the ICW at 9:30, aiming for Beaufort (that's "byew-fort") SC. Sometime overnight the aft A/C stopped working (naturally). Matt checked all over but couldn't come up with a reason. Mostly uneventful on the trip north, got another 60 miles taken care of. Met some nice folks at the Downtown Beaufort Marina - one guy came on board to help Matt troubleshoot the A/C problem. They finally realized the unit wasn't getting power and traced the problem to the wiring at the switches. It was corroded, and one wire had become unattached. Ship's store didn't have wire crimp connectors, and a couple of boat neighbors came up with some to help out. A little sanding, a little crimping, and the A/C is back in business - hooray!! Went for a walk downtown, and had dinner at a nice little bar overlooking the ICW. Fabulous shrimp and crab dip!!! Nice little town to walk thru - will probably have another walk in the morning before we depart. More fireworks after dinner - really long show!

Headed north out of Beaufort and reached Charleston via the ICW. Another uneventful day cruising, though we did see some pretty fantastic South Carolina estates along the waterfront. We got into the Charleston Harbor Marina (very nice facilities) and were directed to our assigned slip. As we're pulling in, Matt points out the boat next to us - it was Jerry and Karen, our boat neighbors from Beaufort (who had recommended Charleston Harbor Marina to us)! Sounds like we may be hooking up with them at our next couple of stops, too. Had a quick but yummy dinner at the Reel Bar at the Marina, then went back to the boat to continue our search for an old Army friend whose last know whereabouts was Charleston. After almost giving up on the internet, Colleen used three different web sites together to track down the right "Tony" and Matt tried to give him a call. Voila`! It worked! Tony and Karen came to the boat, and we sat around yakking 'till 1 a.m. - really great to see them again! Don't know how early we'll be pulling out in the morning after that, plus we're out of beer (yikes!!!). We'll set appropriate priorities in the morning and take it from there. . . . .

Headed out of Charleston - didn't bother to fuel or pump out (were actually still good to go on that note!), and aimed for Georgetown. After such a late night on Tuesday, we didn't get exactly an early start, but got underway by a little after 10a.m. Jerry (the "boat next door") mentioned that the ocean was going to be behaving a bit uncomfortably today, so we followed his lead and went up the ditch. Worked out very well, had a lot a places where we could throttle up a bit and make some time. Did about 60 miles, and stayed at a little dive of a marina ("Boat Shed Marina"). The folks were wonderful (that good ol' southern hospitality goes on around these parts!), and we found a little seafood outlet a block away where we bought a pound of local shrimp for only $6. Went quite nicely with the steak on the grill for dinner! Walked the riverfront for a bit, and finally saw our first alligator of the trip - he was hanging out by a waterfront bar, and munching on french fries that a kid was dropping off the dock. Figuring that meant it must be a good bar, we stopped in for a beer. Yes - it was a cool bar! I realize that I've been slacking off a bit with photos, but there hasn't been much to document lately. Will try to pick back up again. . . . Out for now!!

Took off at the semi-reasonable hour of 8:30 a.m., continued up the ICW, and pulled into Barefoot Landing at about 3:45 this afternoon. Last time we were here, it was free dockage - they assumed you'd hit all the stores and tourist stuff and spend money. Now it's "Barefoot Marina" - they built a marina on the west side of the ICW, where none of the stores or attractions are and they charge $1.25 per foot; the east side of the ICW, where the free dockage used to be, is now owned by the marina and they charge $1.50 per foot because you're in walking distance of everything. We have electric and water here, bathrooms are a bit of a walk, and there are no shower facilities. Oh well, we'll ruff it. Spent a few hours walking thru all the stores and such, picked up a couple of things here and there. The marina package included a $5 coupon if you ate at one of the 2 big restaurants, so we dined at the Flying Fish (another yummy meal - neither of us could finish!). Came back to the boat and are now going to scour the charts and cruising guides to try to figure out where tomorrow will take us. Before we got into this task, we met up with Art who lives here on his trawler. He and Matt had to spend a good 20 minutes or so over a beer exchanging jokes. They're a pretty good match! Now, I know you're just sitting on the edge of your seat and can't wait to find out what's in store for tomorrow, but you'll have to wait for tomorrow's paragraph to find out!!!!

Had ya wondering, huh? Just waiting in suspense for what's next?! Here we are on Friday! Pulled out of Barefoot Landing in the rain, and it rained almost all day. Oh Joy. Wasn't too bad though, I didn't think I liked the Eisenglass enclosure too much 'till today. (For the non-boat savvy - Eisenglass is a very thick, clear vinyl that looks like glass. They make boat enclosure windows out of it - it zips into place to form windows, but then unzips and can be rolled up and secured to be out of the way to leave the opening, well, open!) What a blessing! Kept us dry and comfy the whole ride north today. Passed some very nice real estate again today, but the wonderful place that caught our eye for something different to document was the wonderful waterfront Trailer Park at Brantley Island. Quite the place for those who may be financially challenged but are pulled by the love of the water. . . . Pulled into an anchorage we've been to before between Harbor Island and Wrightsville Beach in NC for the night. Saw the vessel "Rod Shop" tied up at Marine Max on our way in - assuming they must have stopped in for some work or something and went to a local hotel for the night. It sounded like Karen likes to get away from the boat now and then anyway. . . . Went for a dip in the water - air temp is about 84 and water temp about 77, so it felt pretty good. Rain has finally let up and the sun's trying to peep out a bit. This is a great anchorage - with the exception of the locals who seem to have zero respect for anchorages. They're zooming thru here at high speed - jet skis, small craft, and small craft doing circles towing tubes or wakeboards around boats anchored. They're all rocking the shit out of everybody! Think we'll post this info out on the cruisers' info net. Some re-con over our charts showed that we're in reach of Beaufort, NC (that's "Bow-fort", like a Christmas bow, unlike the "Byew-fort" in SC - wondering if I'll ever remember this. . .). Called up the Beaufort Dock and made a reservation for tomorrow night (gotta love the southern hospitality - they are so great to deal with on the phone, over the radio or in person.

Managed to get up and get moving just before 7 this morning under cloudy skies. Got a few pics on the way up the ICW - gotta say, we've seen some great wildlife (real and imitation) on our way up and down the coast over the years, but I think this is probably the very first time I've seen a giraffe. And the "Pink House". I've taken a photo of this one before, but just could NOT resist snapping it again. What a great place!!!! Tied up at Beaufort, NC (Beaufort Docks) at about 1:45 this afternoon - just in time to close the windows and covers before the skies opened up and dumped on us! Thankfully, for a change, we didn't dock in it instead!!! The locals are very thankful for the rain, though - they haven't had much at all recently. The Marina has courtesy cars, so we borrowed one and drove up to the local grocery, "Food Lion", to do some minor provisioning (especially some fresh berries for some more homemade sorbet!). Hit an Ace Hardware/Home Center on the way back for a couple of other things. Back at the docks, walked thru town, enjoyed the shops, had a beer and crab dip at the local dock bar (while the laundry ran it's cycles across the street at the General Store). Gonna do some dinner somewhere (many restaurants here!) and see what tomorrow brings. Maybe another week-ish or so before home?