We take a month-long break in the Hampton Roads area to travel to Australia and get some routine boat maintenance done. Then it’s a mad dash down the Atlantic ICW to get to Florida by Christmas, with Jack Frost nipping at our stern.
Open in a separate window to click on the various icons and see pictures and route data.
After a wonderful summer up north, it was time to turn our attention to our southward trek for the winter. November is also our time for a break from boat life for a bit of a ‘mental reset.’ It’s also our ‘upkeep period’ – both human and boat. While we don’t have a home port, we do consider the Hampton Roads area in Virginia our ‘home base’ where we can take care of all that.
Part of the timing is to let hurricane season finish out. We are required by our insurance to stay north of Cape Hatteras (North Carolina) until Nov 1, but we’ve seen plenty of named storms in November the last few years so we prefer to give Mother Nature lots of wiggle room. Additionally, by waiting until later in the month we avoid the peak migration on the waterways and at marinas.
Best of all, this was our opportunity for a trip to Australia to see the new grandson! We had a sitter for Roxy to stay with and See Level would be going to our friends at Atlantic Yacht Basin, getting her own boat ‘spa treatment’ while we were away.
Norfolk and Chesapeake VA
Oct 23 – Nov 5, 2024
Little Creek
Atlantic Yacht Basin
We did a quick two day stop at Little Creek Marina, mainly to check out some potential ‘after-boat’ housing options as we continue to plan for transitioning back to living on land this spring. We toured a new-construction apartment complex we really liked. Of course, after living in 400 sq ft for the past four years, 1200 sq ft seems palatial!
It’s a short trip from Norfolk down the Elizabeth River and through the Great Bridge Lock and Bridge to Atlantic Yacht Basin, where the boat would be ‘stored’ for a month. The plan was for her to be hauled out for a week or so during that time to get new bottom paint, and hulls waxed and polished. The thing with most boatyards is that their schedules are pretty loose – as in non-committal until the last minute – so we were pretty much in a holding pattern for the first week as the haul out date kept getting pushed back.
But with a long to-do list ourselves, we were not idle. The use of son Scott’s truck while there, which was being kept at Dave’s brother’s house while Scott is deployed, enabled us to knock out visits to doctors/dentists/vets, hang out with family, and even drive out to a big RV dealer (because that’s on our list of potential after-boat adventures) to look (a Dave first: managed to ‘just look’ without coming home with anything). We also got to have dinner with some Navy friends we hadn’t seen since our time in Bremerton, the Lahtis.
Our view from the AYB dock right on the ICW was a constant source of entertainment, with the boat parade during peak southern migration. Every hour we would hear the blare of the horn signaling the nearby bridge opening, and a line of boats would slowly pass — sailboats, power boats, big fancy yachts and small older cruisers, sport fishers and the occasional commercial boat or barge and tow. We even recognized a few from our travels!
Finally just two days before we were to leave for Australia they came to the boat and said they wanted to haul us out in about 20 min. After a week of waiting, it was ‘gotta go!’ frenzy. Fortunately we had spent the weekend packing and and prepping the boat for the work. We moved it around to the lift dock and quickly offloaded packed bags and other stuff into the truck. An hour after the knock on the boat, See Level was up on blocks and we were on the way to a nearby hotel for a couple nights before dropping Roxy off with the sitter and flying halfway around the world.
Melbourne, VIC Australia
Nov 6 - 19
Ah yes! The lllooooooonnngg trip to Australia. It was Norfolk to Atlanta to LAX to Sydney to Melbourne, then a bus ride to Geelong where Danica & Fab picked us up to take us to their house in Ocean Grove. Amazingly, every flight was on time and our baggage arrived with us. Airports are always exciting places to me – full of energy, excitement, a promise of adventure, organized chaos, and multiple languages heard. The Sydney airport I particularly find to have a happy energy, with such a mix and mass of people passing through as a gateway to both east and west travel. And of course, there’s no better introduction to Australia than a Krispy Kreme Donut in the bustling food court of the Sydney Airport. Don’t ask me why this has become our tradition. Probably because we do donuts everywhere we go. But in Australia, even the Krispy Kreme has really good coffee – the kind made individually with a fancy espresso machine – that complements even a sugary Krispy Kreme exceptionally well.
It was ten days at Dan & Fab’s, where we finally met Asher — such a happy baby! He quickly warmed up to we alien beings and it was so fun to engage with him in … everything. Our sole goal was to just live everyday life with them – and we were quite successful. The day after our arrival Dave enjoyed spending the day as a judge at Fab’s CrossFit competition. I earned my Child Car Seat Insertion and Extraction certification pretty quickly, but the child locks on the cabinets and doors proved a little more challenging to find the right place to wave the magnetic thingamajig. There was much reading of children’s books, of course. We helped Dan put up their Xmas tree, and Asher was more interested in sliding doors and the dog bowl than Christmas Tree Demolition.
Of course, there was the inherent Tyranny Of The Nap that all Infant Masters of Their Respective Universes impose on their subjects, but in between we had beach walks and little mini-excursions. There’s an abundance of wineries and farm-to-table restaurants in their area, and we had several fantastic meals overlooking a vineyard or farm, frequently with the ocean in the distance. We drove to nearby towns to explore a beach or park or bakery, and stood in line to see a huge stinky flower when we found out there was a rare blooming of a Corpse Plant at the nearby Geelong Botanical Gardens. It was a fun, relaxed visit and went by way too quickly, capped off with celebrating Asher’s first birthday.
Back to Chesapeake VA
Nov 19-28
Our plan had been to return to the boat after Australia and spend several days doing all that was needed to head south for the winter. But we discovered shortly before we left Australia that See Level was still out of the water. The bottom paint was done, but she was still awaiting the hull detailing – something about the yard neglecting to inform the contractor about the job. So we spent the next five days in a hotel waiting and recovering from jet lag (always hits me harder on the return). We were really impressed with the detailers – a group of young men who were their own company, and they did a phenomenal job.
They said they would put us back in the water first thing Monday morning, so we checked out of our hotel early – then sat in the shade of big tree by the fuel dock watching as they finished the detail job. Dave’s brother Jim and wife Tammy were in town, and they waited with us. And waited. And waited. At least it was a nice day to be outside. Finally they got us on the lift and we splashed at 4 pm – just enough time to for us to reconfigure all the lines and get her moved around and settled at the outside dock before dusk.
So the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, bright and early, we went from idle waiting to off-the-charts frenzy: desperately needed boat wash after sitting in the industrial yard, reprovisioning, more cleaning, prescription refills, laundry, necessary admin. All was done not only in the face of impending Thanksgiving closures, but while keeping an eye on the weather forecast. The extended forecast was showing cold fronts, one after the other, that could make travel difficult – one of the perils of leaving this late in the fall.
Dashing Through the Frost
North Carolina
Alligator River NC – Nov 29
Oriental NC – Nov 30
Hampstead NC – Dec 1
Southport NC – Dec 2
South Carolina
Murrell’s Inlet SC – Dec 3
Charleston SC – Dec 4-5
Beaufort SC – Dec 6-8
Georgia
Thunderbolt GA – Dec 9-11
Jekyll Island GA – Dec 12-15
St. Mary’s GA – Dec 16-17
We saw a window to get past the major Sounds in North Carolina and into the more protected ICW, so after a lovely Thanksgiving Day with family we cast off from AYB. The temp had dropped dramatically overnight, and it was a frosty deck and docks. Thus started what would turn out to be a week of long transits with freezing sunrise starts in a futile attempt to stay ahead of the cold front gripping the entire East Coast.
Shortly after leaving AYB and crossing into North Carolina, we saw our first dolphins– a good sign! Crossing a calm Albemarle Sound, we could feel the benefit from the clean, freshly painted hulls and props. Our sunrise start from Alligator River Marina was even colder than the day before. I’m on deck doing the lines, and the cold is tough on my hands; I can’t wear full-fingered gloves because I then don’t have the dexterity I need. Halfway through the Alligator-Pungo Canal, an updated extended weather forecast indicated we needed to get past all the bigger water crossings ahead sooner than planned. So we quickly went to fast cruise in order to go an additional 30 miles than planned to Oriental, getting us across the Pamlico Sound a day earlier. We rarely – maybe never – reroute like that while already underway because so much planning goes into each day’s travel and change on the fly is how mistakes happen, but since this was our seventh time along this route we felt comfortable. The next morning, we were able to get through the Onslow Bridge at Camp Lejeune on its regular Sunday schedule, as opposed to an apparently top secret weekday construction schedule that even the weekend bridgetender didn’t know when we called.
Once past the Neuse River and Bogue Inlet we were in the protected ICW, which would allow us to continue moving on some upcoming windier days that otherwise would have kept us pinned down in Beaufort. But despite our quickly changing latitude, the temps were ironically getting colder, as a polar vortex hovered over almost the entire East Coast. That’s just not right.
We stopped in Southport to spend the afternoon and evening with my college roommate Sharlene and her husband Kevin, having dinner at a local joint over on nearby Oak Island. We had originally planned to spend another day there, but weather forecast was again not in our favor and we needed to keep dashing. So on to South Carolina! When what to our wondering eyes should appear? Oh look! It’s snowing! Didn’t last long, but it was definitely snow flurries.
The last several miles before Wacca Wache Marina is on the Waccamaw River, one of our favorite stretches. The late afternoon sun paved a sparkling path on the water, and oaks, pine, and cypress trees with their ‘knees,’ line the banks.
Departing Wacca Wache was one of our coldest mornings yet, but a low-lying mist on the water as the sun broke the horizon made me quickly forget I had been unable to feel my fingers on either hand for the last 10 minutes. Our long day took us past our usual stop of Georgetown (with its unmistakable paper mill aroma, the Estherville-Minum Canal with its many dolphin sightings, and the quirky homes on Goat Island. The late afternoon saw us crossing Charleston Harbor in a light chop with Ft. Sumter off to port.
We spent two nights in Charleston because of really high winds the next day, but it was a welcome break from the daily travel. We love Charleston. There’s an elegance about the historic downtown, like an elderly aunt in pearls and cardigan serving you tea on her porch. Even the Xmas decorations were simple and sophisticated – wreaths of magnolia leaves, pine garland, and simple white lights. Our day there was one of the warmest we had seen in awhile – in the 50s. We window shopped among the boutiques on King St, took in the elaborately decorated lobby of Charleston Place Hotel with its model train, found a French Patisserie for one of our signature coffee breaks, and watched a short light show to music at Cistern Yard.
It was another big hop to Beaufort SC. We were well ahead of schedule now, so could spend the entire weekend in this quaint town. Serendipitously, this weekend turned out to be their big holiday celebration. Our first night there was First Friday and despite the cold the main street was absolutely packed with people listening to a lively Marine Corps Band concert, drinking hot chocolate, and wandering through the many shops and art galleries before the lighting of the Xmas tree. The next night was their boat parade, and we had front row seats from our dock! Then Sunday was their town Xmas Parade. Nephew Matt drove two hours from his home to spend the afternoon with us, and we discovered that a great way to watch a is to walk against the flow of the parade to get to a burger joint near the start of the parade – we saw a 90 minute parade in about 45 minutes. It was great to catch up with Matt, and the parade was an impressive classic small town affair.
By the time we left Beaufort, the relentless cold had finally… relented…and the 40’s and 50’s felt positively balmy. Held up by a storm at Thunderbolt GA, we Uber’d into nearby Savannah one day just to walk around, taking in the familiar squares and holiday decor. We found a diner whose specialty sandwich was a BLT with fried green tomato and pimento cheese – it was very Southern cuisine, and very delicious. Then onward for a long day slowly winding through the beautiful marshes and waterways of Georgia, where our speed fluctuated up and down as the strong current reversed as we passed tributaries.
Our Jekyll Island stop coincided with yet another storm making conditions worthy of waiting it out. The Historic District there was a high-society winter destination during the early 20th century, with the big homes now preserved as a tourist attraction. My high school friend Robin visited one day and we walked through their big holiday light display, which included alligators pulling Santa’s sleigh and giant shrimp hanging alongside the Spanish moss on giant oak trees.
While we were at Jekyll, the cold temps were replaced with…FOG! But we were still able to safely move on to St. Mary’s with our radar and acceptable visibility. Literally right on the GA-FL border, this was a new stop for us on this trip. It’s a small town of giant oaks and post-Civil War architecture, having been burned after Union occupation. Nearby Kings Bay Submarine Base is the stable employer for the area, but they are working hard to attract tourism, starting with incredible hospitality at the new city marina. We visited the Submarine Museum, checked out the downtown businesses, hunted for the seven brass owl sculptures hidden around town, and had dinner with some more old Navy friends, the Heilmans. We also went to the local Kraken Coffee House not once but twice for their amazing goodies baked on site.
Florida
Jacksonville FL – Dec 18
Palm Coast FL – Dec 19
Daytona — Dec 20 to present
Our next two stops were just a means of breaking up the 120 or so miles left to our destination of Daytona Beach. A big fog bank hovered just offshore at the inlet where we officially crossed into Florida, but the Sunshine State lived up to its nickname that day all the way to Palm Cove Marina in Jacksonville. It was clear the next morning when we left at sunrise, but we didn’t get far before the fog moved in. A boat ahead of us radioed to ask if we had radar and wanted to follow us because they didn’t. Five miles later we popped out into bright blue skies. Passing by St. Augustine, we continued on to Palm Coast Marina – a new one for us. A fun surprise was the large network of well maintained paved trails that we scootered to a shopping center, then past many parks, along a ‘canal’ under dense tree canopies, and eventually along the ICW and back to the marina just as fog was rolling in for the evening.
One final short day to Daytona and it was clear and sunny the whole way. The ICW widened as we got closer, the houses bigger, and then more high-rise condos. Soon the series of tall bridges that is a hallmark of Daytona Beach appeared, and we passed under them all before pulling into our home for the next month at Halifax Harbor Marina.
Our luck continued with weekend holiday festivities. We have seen Riverfront Park develop in the time we’ve bene coming here, and the now-finished Esplanade is a couple miles of a wide multi-use path along the water, with beautiful landscaping, playground equipment, water features including a splash pad, and plenty of lovely views from benches and swings. We wandered along the route admiring the trees wrapped in lights and assorted colorful light sculptures, random vendors, and an outdoor screening of Polar. Then the next night was the big Daytona Boat Parade with two dozen highly decorated vessels.
We enjoyed a nice quiet Christmas on the boat, with a fancy dinner at Charthouse on Christmas Eve and grilled burgers for Xmas dinner. Our Christmas tradition is to go shopping on Dec 23 to a dollar store or equivalent. We each have $25 for stocking stuffers that can be any combination of goofy, fun, edible, or functional. It also was Hanukkah, so we lit candles and had latkes with our burgers.
We will be here for a month, relaxing and starting on some easy boat projects to get See Level ready to go on the market in the spring. We’re also, I’m afraid, watching as Roxy is really showing her age. We’ve adapted routines and the boat as best we can for her increasing limitations, and that will determine if we go to the Bahamas or not next month. She’s been our joy and loyal companion for over 14 years, and we’ll do whatever we can to make her comfortable in her old age. So we’re not quite sure where we’re going a the end of January. But between our mad trek south and all the holiday festivities, we’re ready to just relax and enjoy some warm Florida weather.
Happy New Year to all! Stay tuned for lots of big changes for us in 2025!
Final Thoughts
Our departure from AYB marked our 400th sortie (cruising day) since we started this nautical adventure in 2021.
We made the trip in just 13 travel days, and probably could have done it in 11. This being the seventh time on this route made it easy, and since almost all were places very familiar to us we were good with a quick ‘hit and run.’ But six consecutive long travel days is more commuting than cruising.
We finally hit the jackpot on boat parades after three years of always being in a town on the wrong weekend!
New realization: our time in Chesapeake showed us how land-based living can mean a lot of time spent in a car. Not what we want and it will take conscious effort to keep from easily falling into that trap. So we will be looking for a place to live that walkable/bikable for life’s daily chores because that is an aspect of this lifestyle we really like.
Reinforced old realization, in case we forgot: We are too old for cold!
Pops’ Stats Corner*
- No of Days: 64
- Travel Days: 13
- Miles Traveled: 867.33 (754.2 nm)
- Days with snow flurries: 1
- Days I feared frostbite from working the lines: 5
- Boat Parades: 2
- Street Parades: 1
*Pops is the family’s affectionate name for Dave’s dad. He had a mind for sports statistics, earning him the nickname Numbers from the coaches of several Stillwater teams with whom he worked. This regular section of the blog is in his honor, because it’s the kind of thing he would love.
This is one serious globe traveling report, so awesome to spend time with Asher! As you contemplate your next phase we simply marvel at your amazing accomplishments and memories you guys have made as Loop Cruisers.
Going to be hard to say goodbye to Roxy, know she will always be loved. Like her sister Jazzy and all good doggos