Yes, we're still Looping! - Dataw Island, SC, SC
Dataw Island, SC, SC
Where I stayed
Dataw Island Marina
What I did
Lots
Greetings from Dataw Island, SC. It's been quite a long time since our last blog and we have traveled a long way up the East Coast. We made it to Wilmington, NC and that’s as far north as we are going this summer. We are now on our return trip to Jacksonville, FL where we will keep the boat this Fall and head home for about three months.
At the time of our last blog, we were headed for Savannah, GA. We contacted the AGLCA harbor host in the Savannah area, Steve Westgate, who invited us to stay on his private dock while we were there. That was a real treat and Beth, Steve’s wife, and he were wonderful hosts! They let us borrow one of their cars so we explored downtown Savannah a bit, as well as Tybee Island. The "hop on-hop off" trolley ride was a great way to hear about the history of Savannah and we are thinking it would be fun to return next spring when we can spend more time exploring the city and surrounding area.
From Savannah we traveled to Hilton Head for the Fourth of July holiday. We were greeted by friends, Kate and Ed McClure from Hickory, NC who were vacationing on the island with their family. It was great to be with the McClures for a few days. They invited us to join them for a few traditions they’ve established for their July 4th celebration, including all-you-can-eat crab claw night at a local restaurant, and Frogmore stew (a low county shrimp boil) they prepare at their rental house. We saw fireworks from our dinghy platform atop the boat, so we avoided the crowds that arrived at the marina to view the same.
Our next destination was Beaufort, SC where the dockmaster let us use the marina truck to pick up provisions. We also drove to Paris Island Marine Training Base, but the Marines were few and far between. It was a weekend, so hopefully they were enjoying a little R&R. Beaufort is another quaint, historic coastal town with pretty antebellum homes to visit. We strolled the waterfront and returned to the marina to turn in the truck just in time to pick out some fresh tomatoes one of the slip holders brought by to give away. Yum, yum.
Next, we cruised from Beaufort to Charleston up the ICW. We were excited to get to Charleston where we lived when we were first married 43 years ago. But, wow! - Charleston has changed and it’s now one of the top US tourist destinations. We stayed at the Charleston Maritime Center where we had a great view from our stern of Ft. Sumter and the Cooper River. While Satisfaction was safely docked in the marina, we went back to KC for a visit and to attend our niece, Ali’s wedding to Jordan O’Grady. Ali was a beautiful bride and their wedding was a wonderful time to see friends and family.
My sister, Cheryl Ferguson, returned to Charleston with us and stayed aboard for several days. We toured Charleston visiting the Battery area, the market, Ft. Sumter, the aquarium, two plantations and several restaurants – a pretty full agenda. When Cheryl left us, we readied the boat to head further up the coast and our next stop was Georgetown, SC. At Georgetown we met another Looper boat, Blarney Castle, with Denise and John Lillis aboard. We met up with them, again, at North Myrtle Beach and then in Wilmington. It’s always great fun to be with other Loopers to compare notes and share cruising information.
Continuing on the ICW, we stopped at The Reserve at Pawleys Island to see Dan and Elise Green who had been our guests on the Bahamas leg of our Loop. The Greens entertained us at their beautiful home and hosted us at The Reserve Yacht Club where we docked for a couple of days. We had a fun time here and toured Brookgreen Sculpture Gardens as we helped Elise celebrate her birthday! We enjoyed a sunset by the ocean before dinner at a local restaurant where we competed in a rousing game of Trivia with fellow diners.
We continued to Osprey Marina for an overnight stay and refueling, then cruised on to North Myrtle Beach. We had our first alligator sighting about 30' behind the boat while tied up at the Osprey Marina. He was about 6' long and was just checking out his domain that day. While we were docked at Barefoot Landing in N. Myrtle Beach, we met Ben Muller who stopped by for a closer look at Satisfaction. We asked Ben to stop by later with his wife, Truss, to tour the boat and struck up a new friendship. They returned our hospitality by inviting us to their beautiful penthouse condo, overlooking Barefoot Marina, the next evening. The Lillises were with us and we had a wonderful evening visiting and eating pizza!
It was on to Wilmington and The Cape Fear River. We stayed at the Cape Fear Marina and Bennett Brothers Boatyard. One of our air conditioning units needed to be replaced, so we chose this location to get the work done. In Wilmington, we were visited by Dave and Joyce Laws, friends whom we knew during early Navy days and who now live in Charlotte. We traveled to Bald Head Island with the Laws onboard for an overnight trip. It was fun to spend some time getting reacquainted and we all enjoyed riding around the island on a golf cart because Bald Head doesn’t allow cars. Enjoying a glass of wine on the beach with the ocean breeze was a welcome relief from the hot, humid weather on the southeast coast, too.
The Laws departed and more friends, Blake and Donna Baker, arrived from New Hampshire. The Bakers rode with us back to Charleston which took three rather long days on the ICW. When we arrived in Charleston, we docked at Charleston Harbor Marina in Mt. Pleasant. We opted to rent a car so we could show the Bakers the area in and around the city. They had never visited Charleston, and with the exception of the heat and humidity, appeared to enjoy Charleston's history and restaurant offerings.
Our next visitors were Purdue classmate Rick Parker and Susan Huppert who drove to Charleston from Indianapolis. We really enjoyed their company for three days and continued to explore Charleston's historic sites.
The day after they left, we left Charleston Harbor heading south to John's Island and Bohicket Marina (another pretty spot). While we were staying at Bohicket Marina, we bumped into Steve and Janice Kromer, the Executive Director of the AGLCA (American Great Loop Cruising Association). We were happy to tell them what a wonderful experience this has been. They are busy planning the Fall Looper Rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park in Alabama, which we attended last Fall. They agreed that taking two years for the Loop was a good idea because there is so much to see.
Thursday, Sept. 12, we arrived at Dataw Island Marina located near Beaufort, SC. Dataw Island is a gated community with lovely golf courses and one of the most picturesque settings we've seen on the trip. We have enjoyed wonderful sunsets from the stern the past couple of evenings and thought about keeping the boat here while we go back to KS, but are pushing southward to Jacksonville as originally planned. We will definitely be back here next year, though.
As you can see from our activities, we've had a busy summer and unfortunately blogging has taken a back seat. We are really enjoying our Loop!