Inching up the east coast

We left Charleston and hopped out in the ocean to go as far as Georgetown, SC, where we celebrated Father's Day and David's birthday :)  After that, we took the ICW to Osprey Marina near Myrtle Beach and continued north the following day to Coquina Yacht Club in Little River (both in SC).  We spent five relaxing days visiting my aunt and uncle in Calabash, NC, and left this morning for the ocean and Southport, NC.

Freighter leaving Charleston Channel with us

Another came out just after we made our turn north

Georgetown Light

Shrimp boat

These are portable chairs we use in our cockpit.  On David's birthday, a pop-up thunderstorm came through and blew this chair right out of the boat!  We watched it float across the river in the pouring rain.

Second storm cloud

One of the dockhands took David over there to retrieve the seat (he appreciated the nice tip and we appreciated getting the seat back :).

Coming back to the marina with the portable seat...yay!

Birthday dinner at the River Room

Brownie sundae with one birthday candle :)

Finely crafted paddles on display at the restaurant

Long walk out to the transient dock

Heading north on the ICW from Georgetown to Myrtle Beach

Lots of osprey nests

Old tree, new tree

Some interesting sights along the way

The scenery along this stretch was beautiful.

Very noisy air boat

Rounded a corner and were surprised to see this!

Lots of turtles at Osprey Marina.  This was taken in the early morning hours before the sun was shining in the harbor.

We weren't the only ones motorsailing from Little River, SC to Southport, NC today

Rollers welcoming us to the Cape Fear Channel.  Storms stayed at bay today.

"Tonka" trucks on the Bald Head Island beach

Bald Head Light (I want to take red and white paint to that lighthouse!)

Ferries zip right by!

Freighter exiting Cape Fear as we were entering

We have never seen water discharging from the anchor locker like this

Now we are tucked into Deep Point Marina in Southport, NC this evening.  Fish tacos at Loco Jo's were very tasty!

Hilton Head > Charleston

At Hilton Head, we got up nearly at the crack of dawn for long day in the ocean.  We were happy when the wind picked up in the afternoon and we turned off the engine!  We actually sailed for the first time in THREE weeks.....yeeeha!

The highlight of the day was a pod of dolphins that swam with us for a long time.  I edited down my 280(!) dolphin shots and just posted a few here.  What beautiful animals.  Wow.  At one point, I could almost reach out at touch the ones swimming next to our hull.

Sunrise leaving Hilton Head, SC

Leaving Skull Creek and heading to Port Royal Sound

Lots of dolphins coming in with the morning tide

Pelican perch.......leaving Port Royal Sound and heading to the Atlantic

Sails up. Oh happy day!

Lots of dolphins. They were swimming along at 7.5 knots.

Do you see two dolphins?  One is to the left of the anchor, barely visible.

Storm clouds brewing to the north.  Thought we might make it overnight to Southport, NC, but we ducked the storms and entered at Charleston.

Front edge of storm

Thankfully, the storms didn't hit downtown Charleston.

Fort Sumter at the entrance to the harbor

A freighter leaving as we were entering

Almost at Charleston City Dock

It's 94 degrees today with a heat index of 104.  These sailors inflated a pool next to their boat!