Life on Lailia

Swansboro to Oriental Marina, Oriental, NC (docked)

July 13, 2022

So many people told us we would like Oriental, which bills itself as the “Sailing Capitol of North Carolina.” Maybe we didn’t explore enough, but this place was my least favorite place of all…

After we left Swansboro, we were able to get our sails up for a bit. This gave us a nice boost in speed for a while (until the wind died down).

I have gotten over worrying that we won’t clear under bridges – we need about 55 feet and most of the fixed bridges are 65 feet. There’s no way that Lailia’s mast got taller although we definitely take up more room when the sail is up but it was a momentarily strange feeling.

Our slip was right across from where some shrimp boats were docked. This isn’t a new experience as we also were near some when we were in McClellanville. What was very different was the very strong smell of fish in this area. There was also a lot of trash floating in the water.

We also had poor service in two restaurants we tried – the first handed us menus but seemed to forget we were there. We left that restaurant after waiting for 10 minutes to order and went to another = three servers did not acknowledge us when we waited to be seated. It was better to eat on the boat.

Tomorrow is a shorter run to Belhaven, NC. There is a small coffee shop close to the marina where we will try to get breakfast before we go.

Little River, SC to Southport Marina, NC (docked)

July 10. 2022

The Southport/Oak Island area is a long-time favorite place for us and our families. We sprinkled my dad’s ashes at the beach here, my brother had a house here, and we have many great memories of spending time with members of the McLean and the Senbertand families here.

When we plan our movements, we usually just figure out how far we want to go and then look for anchorages and marinas in the area. We usually call marinas as we are on the move. Today, though, our goal was to get to Southport and to make sure that we spent the night within walking distance of the Provision Company, a restaurant we have frequented since it opened in 1992.

For most of our northward passage we have been really fortunate with the weather; we haven’t had a lot of rain or clouds. Today was different – it was very overcast.

The riverscape opened back up shortly after we left the Little River area: there’s more small islands and hardly any signs of people. The water gets saltier here and we started seeing dolphins again. There were also no restricted bridges.

I was watching Google Maps so we could mark when we crossed the line into North Carolina – it would have been cool to see a welcome sign like the ones on the highway, but that didn’t happen.

The North Carolina stretch of the ICW is over 250 miles long. There are far fewer anchorage locations along the southern part of this stretch than we have seen in states like Georgia, mostly because the area is so narrow. Although there aren’t as many yachts and powerboats here, it reminds me a little of central Florida.

As we got closer to Southport, we started to see familar places – places that we had visited from the land, like the point at the western part of Oak Island. When I was in middle school, I went clamming here with my dad. Our sons have challenged themselves to swim across the inlet here (with a worried mom watching them the whole time).

When Hurricane Isias hit Southport Marina in 2020, it took out all of its docks while the boats were still attached. The docks have been rebuilt and there is a new owner. Work is still being completed on the decking around the marina, though.

The Provision Company always has a line so we headed out early to grab our meal. We just made it inside the door before the deluge hit. This restaurant is right on the water and has a really simple menu that has not changed in years: shrimp, crabcakes, tuna, chicken, and burgers (and amazing onion rings). The drinks are self-serve so when you check out at the end of your meal, you just let the cashier know what you had. It’s delicious and it was a perfect way to celebrate getting to North Carolina.

Tomorrow we are going to head towards the Wrightsville Beach area. Part of our travel will be across the mouth of the Cape Fear River, with its cargo ships heading to Wilmington and its ferries heading to Bald Head Island and Fort Fisher.

Heritage Plantation Marina to Myrtle Beach Yacht Club, Little River, SC (docked)

July 9, 2022

What a long, really hot day on the water. We traveled over 40 miles and waited (albeit briefly) for three swing bridges to open. There was also an interesting moment when a faux paddle steamer made a u-turn right in front of us.

The Waccamaw River section of the ICW is pretty at this time of the year. There are all kinds of trees and flowers that grow in the water, so it’s like traveling through the woods. Because I have a very active imagination, I like to pretend that John and I have gone back in time and are exploring this river as new settlers. This only works on the sections that aren’t filled with speedboats whizzing by us…

There were three swing bridges today. You can see how the riverscape changes as we move towards the Myrtle Beach area – the Socastee Swing Bridge has lots of trees and is in a relatively narrow section of the river. A small powerboat goes past us as we wait for the opening, but it’s at a pretty respectful speed.

We had been following behind the Barefoot Queen – a faux paddle steamer – for a few miles. As we approached the Barefoot Landing Swing Bridge, we assumed that it was slowing down to await the bridge opening. We were somewhat surprised when it made a sudden turn into a marina on the other side of the ICW. We are guessing that their VHF radio was not working.

There’s a definite change in the riverscape at this point along the ICW – there’s far fewer trees and far more boats. This section is really “touristy.”

The final swing bridge has a wonderful name: Captain Archie Neil “Poo” McLauchlin Swing Bridge. It’s only 7 feet above the waterline when it’s closed, so it has to open a lot. This section is busy with all kinds of boat traffic and lots of stores, restaurants, and houses on both sides of the river.

The Myrtle Beach Yacht Club is one of three marinas wedged into a small basin just off the ICW. The basin is crammed with boats but it’s a safe place for the night and we can run our air conditioner (plus the narrow nature of the ICW here makes it difficult to find an anchorage).

We’ll be crossing into North Carolina tomorrow and plan to go as far as Southport, which is one of our favorite vacation spots. We’ve spent so much time on land there in the past, it will be interesting to see it from the water.

McClellanville, SC to Heritage Plantation Marina, Pawleys Island, SC (docked)

July 8, 2022

Since we planned to go about 35 miles today, we took our time leaving. The days we don’t need to use an alarm are so much more relaxing.

We passed a “floating bridge” today – it was basically a large barge that can move vehicles across the ICW. It stays in an open position so there was no waiting for it to move.

The day was pretty mundane (which is good – we don’t need a lot of excitement). Most of the trip was through a narrow channel of water with some trees on the shoreline. This stretch is different than the Georgia ICW with its many creeks and winding ways. There are also much fewer anchorages as the channel is so narrow.

The ICW merges with the Waccamaw River near Georgetown, SC. The Waccamaw is much wider with stronger currents. This river begins as fresh water at Lake Waccamaw in North Carolina and must be a lot less saline than what we have been traveling in so far. There are trees and lillies growing right in the water here, plus signs for alligators (the first we have seen on the ICW).

When we were in the marina we saw large (2.5 – 3 feet long) fish jumping straight out of the water. We have no idea what they were but they were pretty cool to see.

This marina is pretty small BUT it has a very nice, very air conditioned lounge for boaters. This was a lovely place to wait for Lailia’s air conditioning to kick in. Plus, there was a very cool swing in the cupola at the top.

There is a nice breeze here since there is a large fetch (open water) but we are still very, very happy that we have air conditioning. I can’t imagine how long it would take to get our cabin cool after running the motor all day.

We plan to get past Myrtle Beach tomorrow – it’ll be a longer day as we plan to go about 45 miles.

Leland Marina, McClellanville, SC (docked)

July 6 & 7, 2022

There’s not a lot to do in McClellanville, especially when it’s so hot that we don’t feel like walking during the day – except go to the shrimp boat docks to get some fresh shrimp.

The road to the shrimp boat dock follows Jeremy Creek and it’s lined with old live oaks and beautiful houses. It’s almost as if we are in a movie set for the Low Country. Almost every live oak has at least one swing hanging in its branches.

Fresh shrimp is so delicious – it’s sweet and really plump. Cooking it on the grill means that we don’t need to heat up the galley, too. It’s so good we had it both nights.

We did cross some tasks off of our lists – laundry and vacuuming, as well as some reorganization of supplies. John changed the oil in the generator, replaced a joker valve in the aft head (this is a crappy job), and got the propane regulator on the grill to work again.

Once again, we are so happy that we have an air conditioner on Lailia; the temperatures are in the upper 80s with “feels-like” temps of around 108. There is some breeze on the water, but it doesn’t do much until the late afternoon, which is when we strolled a bit through town.

The churches here don’t lock their doors. The Chapel of Ease was built in 1890 and is beautiful inside and out.

After all of the rocking at the Charleston Maritime Center, this peaceful and quiet marina has been really refreshing. We wound up staying an extra day as we waited for my laptop charger to be delivered and were not unhappy that we did so. We will start heading north again in the morning, with a goal of getting to a marina in Pawleys Island for the night.

Charleston Maritime Marina to Leland Marina, McClellanville, SC (docked)

July 5, 2022

How wonderful to move again! After eight days in Charleston, we’re ready to explore further north on the ICW.

It was pretty cool to see the rain line ahead of us as we crossed Charleston Harbor. The rain bouncing up makes it look like a fog bank.

We had to motor under another swing bridge today. We have been in the line of traffic waiting for other boats to go by in the past, so this is a different view.

It was hot and still for most of the day. We could see rain in the distance but managed to avoid it.

This marina is down a short creek where shrimp boats dock. Tomorrow we’ll take a walk to the shrimp dock and get some fresh seafood. We’ve also heard we need to try the crab dip…

We took a short walk tonight. There’s a thousand year old live oak near the marina. The neighborhood is very pretty, too.

We will be here for a few days as we wait for our Amazon package. We’ll do some more exploring of this low country town, too.

Charleston Maritime Center (docked)

July 4, 2022

I bought a universal replacement laptop charger cord that has six different charging tips…unfortunately it does not fit my laptop!  I can order a new, free tip but it will take a week or more for it to arrive.  I have ordered a new cord from Amazon but will need to have an address for delivery.  We need to head out tomorrow to open a spot up for the next boat in the marina.

---

We are so very fortunate to have great friends in Johns Island who invited us to celebrate Independence Day with them.   Ali and Missy are some of our favorite folks and we love spending time with them.

The marina is right across the river from Patriots’ Point so we had a front row view of Charleston’s incredible fireworks show.

We’re leaving in the morning and heading north to McClellanville.  There aren’t a lot of anchorages and marinas between here and Georgetown, but we have found one.  We’ll need to be there for a couple days until our Amazon package with my laptop cord arrives.

Charleston Maritime Center (docked)

July 3, 2022

Once I caught up on my sleep, I discovered that I left my laptop charger in Lake Tahoe. If we lived in a house, this inconvenience would be minor – I could order a new charger from Amazon and have it delivered in a a couple of days. We have to leave the Maritime Center by 11:00am on July 5, as another boat is coming into that spot. Luckily, my best friend, Samantha, is visiting me today.

Samantha, John and I had brunch and then Samantha and I set out on a huge Charleston adventure that included Best Buy (for a replacement charging cord), Target (we were looking for shoes), Caw Caw (my favorite park), ice cream (needed to cool off after the park), the post office, the Dollar Tree, Auto Zone, and Harris Teeter. I haven’t driven since January 12, but it wasn’t difficult to remember how to do it.

I have missed spending time with Samantha. Being able to walk and talk for an entire day was pretty perfect. We pretty much fixed all of the problems in the world, even if it was only for a few seconds.

Our meander through Caw Caw was rewarding (as always). We even got to see a yound armadillo doing its thing.

There was an adolescent gator on the path; she was probably 3 feet or so.

There were all kinds of cool spiders handing out in the park which is probably why the toad we saw was nice and plump.

John had a well-deserved easy day, too. He spent some time hanging around downtown Charleston and came home to a very happy wife.

Charleston Maritime Center and Reno, Nevada & Granlibakken Resort, Tahoe City, CA

June 27 to July 2, 2022

Living in such close quarters for the last 5 months has bonded us very tightly. We haven’t been apart for more than a few hours since January until I left to lead a workshop in Tahoe City, CA. After all of our time together, it feels very disconcerting to be away from one another for an extended period!

This is also the first time I have flown since early December. I gave one of our sons my suitcase when he visited at Christmas and we never pulled John’s out of storage. It didn’t make sense to Uber to the storage unit from the marina to get the suitcase, so I practiced minimalism when I packed for my trip by getting six days of clothes into packing cubes and then into a totebag. The Tahoe area gets cold at night so I had to bring a coat, too (even though Charleston temperatures were in the 90s).

Getting to Tahoe from Charleston is not direct – I left a day early to fly to Dallas/Fort Worth and then on to Reno, Nevada. I met up with some other workshop leader friends there. We walked around downtown Reno which was surprisingly pretty with its public art and the Truckee River running through it.

For years I have been hoping to see a bear in Tahoe. I still haven’t seen one but I did get to see a cool statue of them downtown. The “fur” is made from coins inset on their sides.

Lake Tahoe is huge, cold, and calm. It’s surrounded by mountains and the air is really dry. It’s a great place for a workshop because we can use the patio for breakout groups and enjoy the weather all day. The food is very fresh, too.

Back in Charleston, Tropical Storm Colin blew up. This storm sort of appeared unexpectedly (which is weird in this day and age of computer models for weather forecasting). Charleston Maritime Center is not very protected, so the wind and wave action was dramatic. There was no danger at the marina but John added more lines to keep Lailia secure. It was definitely bouncy.

I did get to spend a little time on the Tahoe Rim Trail before I headed to the airport. This was good since I was in airports and planes for about 24 hours on my way home – going through multiple time zones isn’t easy.

John did a massive amount of boat maintenance while I was gone. He cleaned the raw water strainer which had a collection of detritus. The raw water system uses sea water to cool the fresh water in the engine. The strainer catches all the stuff before it clogs this system.

John replaced the Raycor fuel filter. Sludge from the fuel tanks would ruin the engine so this is very important. Diesel tanks can get water from fueling or condensation in the tank. Algae and other bacterial life grow in the water.

John also replaced the secondary fuel filter.

As if that wasn’t enough, John changed the oil filter, too. It’s also in an awkward location and requires him to pump the oil out of the dipstick holder. I have helped John change the oil filter in the past – it’s a job that really takes four hands in two places. He somehow did it solo.

Lailia has a 160 gallon water tank that we refill pretty regularly. Now that we are are out of the Bahamas (with the crystal clear water) we use water from marinas. We filter it as it is going into the tank, then through a whole-house filter. We also have a Brita filter mounted on the sink. John replaced the whole-house water filter, too. Our water does taste a lot better.

In between all of the work that John and I did, we were able to see some of our friends. John was able to walk from the marina to downtown Charleston, which was a bonus. I was able to catch up with workshop leader friends. We both wish we were able to be in both places together, though.

Port Royal to Charleston Maritime Marina, Charleston, SC (docked)

June 26, 2022

It’s a hike from Lailia to the showers at the Port Royal Marina, especially since we were tied at the fuel dock at the very end.

The trip from Port Royal to Charleston was one of our longest yet – over 65 miles and 10 hours. Since we never stayed at this marina in Charleston, it was important to us to get there before they closed so we could get assistance from the dockhands there. This meant leaving very early.

One of the few swing bridges on our route is just outside Port Royal. Although this is an “on-demand” opening, we had to wait for a bit to get an opening.

A wonderful thing about traveling on this stretch is the big sky views. Sometimes it looks like we’re in a movie set.

As we got closer to Charleston, we began to see familar landmarks like bridges we used to travel daily. Since our former marina was unable to accomodate our timeline, we only saw it in the distance before following the ICW towards Charleston Harbor.

We have crossed our wake and are now further north than I have ever been on Lailia.

Elliot Cut connects the Stono River to the Ashley River. It’s a narrow creek that can have currents flowing as fast as 4 knots. On summer weekends, there’s a lot of powerboat traffic in the area. We had a pretty rolly time heading through this cut.

Those of us who live in Johns Island or James Island are very familar with the Wappoo Creek Bridge. I have probably waited for the bridge to close a minimum of 50 times in the past five years even though it does not open during morning or evening rush hours. This time, we were the ones holding everyone back! The bridge tender here was very friendly. She was a great representative of Low Country charm!

The Maritime Center is close to the Ravenel Bridge and the SC Aquarium. There’s a lot of fetch here so it was pretty rolly. A benefit of this location is that downtown is easily accessed on foot.

Our friends Missy and Ali took us out for drinks. We have missed our people so much!

John will be staying on Lailia while I travel to Tahoe to lead a workshop. This is the first time since January he and I have been apart for more than a couple hours. All of the hours we have spent in our little living space have pretty much bonded us for life.