We have had a wonderful couple of weeks catching up with friends and relatives along the coast of North Carolina.

After departing Southport NC we initially ran into some “skinny water.” Normally we are referring to depth but in this case we are referring to width of channel.  There are places on the ICW that have shoaled in so much that boats can hardly get through!

We anchored and spent the evening at Camp Lejeune.

The Marine Corps provided a bit of an air show for us in the anchorage.

Here is a picture of Magnolia underway proceeding along the NC ICW.

We stopped in Swansboro NC to visit Annette’s cousins Beth, Val & Becky.

We were rewarded with a true southern boil..yum!

We made into Morehead City, NC

and visited with our friends on Amici whom we met last summer in Block Island. (Picture via Amici’s Travels)

This is what we call heavy traffic!

Next stop was Oriental, NC on the Neuse River just up from Morehead City.

This stop was scheduled in so we could meet with fellow Pentagon Sailing Club members Roger and Leslie Hammer who have recently relocated to NC. I guess this would be the Mid-Atlantic outpost of the PSC!

Also pictured is MareEllen from a boat named “Looper” based out of Holland MI.

They are doing the Great Loop Route aboard  their Ranger Tug. Always meeting such interesting people out here!

I know my writing comes and goes and this time is worse than most…must mean we are having TOO MUCH fun! We arrived from the Abacos right into Port Royal SC just down river from Beaufort.

Beaufort is one of our favorite stops but its even better now since the neighborhood has some new residents! Specifically Pentagon Sailing Club members Jerry & Winnie. Also known as PSC South!

After a couple of days in the “Low Country” of South Carolina it was off to Charleston!

We took the back roads up the coast and enjoyed a spectacular anchorage in a marsh in the middle of no-where! As we arrived though the weather was not as nice has we could of hoped for….

None the less we visited with our Mims & Vickie. Vickie was even kind enough to drop a car off for our use..very very kind! Transportation gave us the opportunity to go and visit Fort Moultrie which is the sister fort to Fort Sumter

We enjoyed our stop in Charleston but it was time to head off for Southport, NC. The weather forecast was going to be a little sporty but we wanted to push ourselves a little .

Boy did we push ourselves…well actually the wind pushed us….really really fast! We arrived Southport after an overnight trip, took a little nap and then met our friends Joe & Christine for dinner. Not only that but we conferenced our mutual friends Jack & Kathy in as well.

We rode favorable currents all day today as find ourselves anchor in Mile Hammock Bay which happens to be part of Camp Lejeune. We have Marine helicopters flying around and if its like last time here we will have some poor grunt swim past the boat tonight and check us out!

Tomorrow we continue on to visit Annette’s family in Swansboro, NC. Always something going and yet we are having more fun and more challenges than any couple deserve!

Our last stop in the Bahamas was Hope Town Abacos. It is the easiest place for us to be in all the Bahamas. Mostly because though the water is a little prettier here than the Florida Keys but that is the biggest difference! 

Magnolia was here!

The Admiral is very happy in Hope Town, not just playing bingo!

But it was time to go so below was the plan.

Magnolia completed her longest passage to date of 456 miles.

A picture from the “office.”

Ok, perhaps the weirdest picture ever of this blog. I was brushing my teeth and looked out the port in the Head (bathroom). I just said this is amazing, below is the view out of the Head’s portlight.

We are in Port Royal, SC and have caught up on chores. We are looking forward to a visit from Pentagon Sailing Club friends, Jerry & Winnie, tomorrow. We will be getting underway Tuesday to be in Charleston next weekend and South Port, NC the following week! Vessel and crew are well. 

We have been in Hope Town Abacos going on 3 weeks now. It makes my head spin thinking we have been in one place for such a long time! Hope Town is the easiest place in my opinion to be of any where we have gone. The weather is perfect, water outside the harbor is spectacular. Provisions, nightlife and secure moorings are all right here. What not to love? In addition it is a great place to catch up boat chores like sorting screws on a Sunday morning while watching the talking heads on TV. This is one of the few places we get television, well we get it sometimes here…welcome to the Bahamas.

It was also time for fresh lines on the anchor bridle. Those are the hardest working lines on the boat and now that I think of it the most important so deserve a freshening up from time to time.

Hope Town it seems also where I get caught up on my teak maintenance. It does not show very well but there is before and after. None the less Hope Town Harbor is not a bad place to take care of maintenance.

Then there is always cleaning too!

But then again its not all work! We enjoy a good home made dinner. Here is the bread dough coming out of the engine room after a couple of hours

Here is the bread off the charcoal grill…has to be charcoal for the best flavor!

and of course the main course….

There is time for beach walks.

An occasional happy hour….

Dinner aboard Magnolia

Even bunny gets out to occasionally rock the boat but like us, he is ready to start moving…

We have a weather window opening up this week so we are going to make our longest offshore passage to date, just over 400 miles up to South Carolina. We have a couple different bail out ports we can go into if our window closes expectantly.

See you on the other side!!!