Guest post this week by Annette, the Admiral.

Plum Orchard – a Carnegie $10,000 “starter” home. Lucy Carnegie’s 19 year old daughter-in-law thought it was too small and spent an additional $50,000 to enlarge it.

The  house is six feet above sea level.  Vents in the foundation allowed rising sea water into the foundation where it was funneled it out through this trough to the river.

Indoor heated pool 9’ deep

This is the first Black church in the Settlement started by Cumberland Island freed slaves.  It also was where John F. Kennedy Jr. was married.

Dungeness – Lucy Carnegie’s home

From the Dungeness cemetery. Harry Lighthorse Lee, a VA civil war hero,  died in GA. VA stole his body back and left this stone.

Magnolia enjoyed our short stay in Moorehead City with the highlight getting to visit Annette’s cousin.

We just happened to depart the morning after the Presidential Election. The moment I started under this bridge I thought it was the perfect metaphor for the morning. I wonder what the future will bring?

Magnolia had pretty good weather in-shore but off-shore conditions were not suitable for us. This kept us traveling the Inter-Coastal Waterway.

We had prepared ourselves for some long days and the first day out of Moorehead we made it as far as Camp Lejeune, NC. There is a well protected basin just off the ICW. We are not allowed to go ashore on the base but we are welcomed to anchor as we please.

We have seen many different things while anchored here and this time no different. It appeared there was some kind of small boat driver training going on…okay, maybe not that small.

Another long day brought us down the Cape Fear River where there was a HUGE dredge working along the river. The scoop could pick up a whole Volkswagen Beetle!

Another long day brought us to Southport NC. Annette is a long time contributor to Hank Pomeranz ICW Status seminars. 

We had never anchored in Southport Harbor before but did remember our friends Al & Michele from Kindred Spirit had. A quick message provided a couple of suggestions and we were quickly anchored. While Annette attended Hank’s seminar I needed to run a couple of errands. On the way back, on the way back I noted I could see Magnolia right through the waterfront restaurant.

As I headed back to Magnolia the sunset light, the rising moon and calm waters provided one of my favorite pictures of our girl.

Our friends Joe and Christine were out of town during out visit so we just waved as we passed St James Plantation.

We spent a couple weeks at Osprey Marina in the spring and looked forward to our brief return AND their great price on diesel fuel!!! Departing on a cold wet morning only further motivated us to get this girl moving.

We anchored in Winyah Bay about 50 miles north of Charleston and prepared Magnolia to go off-shore early the next morning. We always do some cooking so that we can have hot meals offshore. We also rig lines and tethers to secure ourselves while we are working on deck at sea. We also test and take an extra look around at all the gear might need while offshore. Things are never perfect but to minimize risk, we want things to be as good as we can make them!!!

Of course when we got up early the next morning it was dark AND foggy. We decided to drag our feet a little till atleast the sun came up and shortly the fog was lifting too. We fired up the radar were off. By the way, Winyah Bay is also set up so the marks appear as AIS objects which is also helpful for navigating in low visibility conditions.

We happened to be offshore the day AFTER the most SUPER of the super-moons but ours was not too bad. I had never experienced being underway and having a moon so bright that for the first couple hours after coming it was like having a truck following us with its headlight shinging behind me. It was REALLY bright.

The 33 hour 200 mile offshore leg was pretty good except for a surprisingly strong chop from the SW that added a good coating of salt to Magnolia!

We arrived the St Mary’s River which is the dividing line between Georgia and Florida and made our way up river about 10 miles to Cumberland National Park.

Cumberland Island Ferry – Currently the only way to visit but more about that in the next post….

Before departing Herrington Harbor in Deale MD we did have a couple last minute items. One was to meet up with my cousin George & Julie (Magnolia Crew Members) whom we missed in the spring visit! Always great to catch up.

We also had the matter of Anniversary #12 to celebrate. Annette being a crab cake coinsurer we were able to find the perfect little corner place!

It was finally to get Magnolia off the dock and get ahead of the cold!!

The first portion of the trip was right at 400 miles from Deale, MD down to Moorehead City, NC.

As we were pushing off the dock I saw the below and took it as a good omen. My friend Greg gave me that name a long time ago…thankfully its been fairly accurate!

Out first day out found us with fabulous conditions.

We intended to sail down to Solomon’s Island but the 20knts in flat water made for a fast passage and we continued down to Reedsville. That was even with the shorter fall days!

Smith Point Light marks the south point of the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay.

We arrived in Hampton VA in time to attend the Old Point Comfort Yacht Club Halloween Party with Greg & Marie. Not new tag (#dummytooknopicts).  The following night we met up for a lovely Anniversary follow-up dinner. Thank you Greg & Marie! (SV Second Sally)

Magnolia moored Sunset Marina, Hampton VA.

#dummytooknopicts – this is where a picture of our visit with Annette’s Aunt should have been!!!

As we started on the next part of our journey we departed Hampton and noted an Aegis Destroyer anchored in the harbor. Never see Navy ships out here so I can only guess the crew was too big of a Liberty Risk and and had to be isolated!!!

Great Bridge Lock is located on the Atlantic Intercostal Water Way. In the past we have used the Dismal Swamp route but the route is currently closed to the damage caused by Mathew and the other fall floods. 

Magnolia secured in the lock.

Since the ice cream store in Hampton, with great sadness we were able to score at the DQ nearby the Great Bridge Lock Free Dock!

Our friends Pat & Becky from MV Turas were nearby Great Bridge having some boat work done. Always great to catch up along the way.

The mornings around Great Bridge always look like the water version of I-95 at rush hour. Things open and spread out pretty quick thankfully.

Magnolia continued to Broad Creek where we were rewarded with a very quiet fall anchorage.

Departing Broad Creek in the morning we expected a “brisk” north winds for the trip across Albemarle Sound and down the Alligator River. We were not disappointed. Magnolia was pushed to her limit of where things go from comfortable to uncomfortable, thankfully we did not get to the “uncomfortable” level. 

The entrance to the Alligator River from Albemarle is a little tricky and sadly two boats were aground awaiting the Coast Guard and Tow Boat.

Pictures never represent the conditions very well, wind is blowing close to 30 knts and 3-4 foot short cycle waves. Our girl is solid and takes it all in stride.

The next day we arrived in Campbell Creek to visit Beth & Rip (MV Lab Partners) and Mike & Kathy (SV Braveheart).  We had a lovely little breeze all the way into the creek and Magnolia arrived in style under her main.

#dummytooknopicts – this is where a picture of our visit with Beth & Rip should be! Argh! Thank you Beth & Rip and for Mike & Kathy, hope your time in the Caribbean aboard Braveheart is going well.

Beth did get a fabulous picture of Cally workig to convert Annette from a Cat to a Dog person….it is amazing how many dogs have taken this on as their mission.

Shrimp boat in Hoboken, NC

Next in line was a stop in Oriental NC.

There is supposedly a West Marine and a Piggly Wiggly grocery store down here. We spend a lot of time WALKING long straight roads like this one…like the curvy ones better.

#dummytooknopicts – this is where a picture of our visit with SV Scout and also Pentagon Sailing Club Members Roger and Leslie Hammer

Early the next morning we had “crisp” conditions to cross the Neuse River head down Adams Creek to Moorehead City.

We arrived in Moorehead City with hopes of heading off shore towards Wrightsville Beach. Weather conditions did not allow that but we did get to visit with Annette’s Cousin Beth.

#dummytooknopicts – this is where a picture of Beth’s visit would go! Argh!

I am going to do better on pictures….I promise!!! Really mean it this time!…be well, be safe!