Author: ortolancat

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North Thru Georgia & the Carolinas

Fully vaccinated, it was finally time to leave Florida to begin our trek north. We’re looking forward to having a little more fun after this long COVID nightmare!

The “wild” horses on Cumberland Island, Georgia looking pretty tranquil

Always a surprise to see an American Cruise Line ship passing by on the ICW. Although micro-sized at “only” 194′ long with 100 passengers, the waterway isn’t always spacious or deep in many spots. There are many areas WE avoid at low tide & we only draw 3′!

You’ve heard of Georgia mud? This is a Georgia reed dam against the bow of our boat after being anchored overnite. Took over 15 minutes to get our anchor chain & bridle clear.

Yeah! Got Lori on a bike while on Jekyll Island. Extremely scenic & flat!

One morning at 6:41, captured both the moon setting & turned around for the sun rising.

Photo bombed! While stepping back to photograph our first almost indoor dining in 1 1/2 years, our waiter Marques casually cruised right in! Joseph’s Italian Bistro in Southport, NC, is our favorite Italian restaurant and Marques always makes it fun & memorable!

Lori is still busy with her Etsy Shop jewelry creations, even if getting them shipped out sometimes requires long walks to a postal box. Check her out her latest at: Lori’s Etsy Shop Craft MadeIn

Rewarded with back-to-back donuts! Britts Donut Shop on the boardwalk at Carolina Beach, NC is often rated in the top 5 of all donut shops in the U.S. For 82 years, serving only one variety of donut (glazed, with a slight crisp). We even adjusted our schedule, skipping Charleston, just to make Carolina Beach on a weekend when they’d be open.

Wanting to support ALL donut shops, we continued walking to Wake & Bake Donuts just past the Post Office – how convenient!

A beautiful sunset the night before we depart Carolina Beach for  just one more stop in North Carolina at the little town of Belhaven.  We’d really, really like to stop at our two favorite Belhaven restaurants, Spoon River and The Tavern at Jack’s Neck, but the timing may not work out.  While COVID restriction have been lifted, we’ve learned they can’t get enough staff to work to fully open – a huge problem everywhere from what we’re seeing up the east coast.

Thunderstorms every few days are also ruling our travels, especially in North Carolina. In the coming days, we’ll push thru to Virginia, passing thru Norfolk & then head up the Chesapeake Bay.  Our rough plan is arriving in to Connecticut around the first week of June.

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Crossing Back Across Florida to the East Coast

Crossing Florida has been a great trip with many unusual sights.  Central Florida is completely unlike the east or west coasts & certainly not Disney World!

Smoke on the water. Florida is big on controlled burns to prevent wildfires.

This little guy near our boat slip kept on eye on me – likely hoping I would fall in!

A graveyard of abandoned dreams. There are several large boatyards in central Florida (semi-hurricane protected) used by seasonal boaters who haul their boats for the hurricane season while spending summers in their northern homes. While many are indeed re-launched the next fall, others appear to be sadly abandoned perhaps forever. Some were especially eerie as they had been hauled with no preparations at all, appearing as they had just come in from a sail with everything on deck, canvas, dinghies, outboards, flags, water jugs.  Now several years later the deck is black with mildew, the canvas shredded, the dinghies flat, outboards a corroded hulk, flags just a stub & water jugs dissolving in the intense Florida sun.

Our return trip thru the Port Mayaca lock was unique. The water levels had nearly evened out so no need to lock thru – he simply opened the gates & we cruised straight thru. This time we also noticed this “Pull Signal” – a “doorbell” for use by small boats who may not have VHF radios to call the lock tender.

This is the St. Lucie lock (the final one going east). This shot gives you a view of the entire system including the spillway. All are operated by the Army Corp of Engineers, many with adjacent public campgrounds & some with a few boat slips. It was so peaceful here & since ahead of schedule, we’ve extended our stay to nearly a week. It doesn’t hurt that it’s so inexpensive – only $15/night including power with a National Parks Senior Pass – at marinas we often pay nearly $15/night for power alone.

In a few days we’ll stop back in Vero Beach to receive our 2nd vaccine shots, have our mail mailed to us & stock up for our departure north to Connecticut & eventually Maine.