We are on our way! Only 6,000 miles to go!

We are on our way! It still doesn’t seem real or that it’s no more than a couple of day trip. It will probably be the end of the week before it completely sinks in.

We finished packing the boat on Sunday, dropped the car back at the house, and slept on the boat. The wind overnight was pretty strong, and this morning, it was still 15 to 20 mph with gusts around 30 mph.

We got up at 6:30 and started getting ready for departure. Just as we were starting our engines, Michael Raynor from A&M Marine (our boat mechanic) stopped by to see us off and wish us luck! That’s great customer service!

We left our slip at 8:05 for the 300 yard trip to the fuel dock. The team from Wacca Wache were there to meet us, top off our fuel tanks, and wish us well. The wind intervened to try to keep us there by sticking us firmly to the fuel dock for a minute, but we were able to get away cleanly and at 8:30, said our goodbye to Wacca Wache as it faded away behind us.

Our next stop was in Myrtle Beach, where our friend Dave Harmond-Vaught, his daughter Sarah and her fiance Ryan stood by at the dock near their home on the waterway to wave goodbye. We made a few passes and handed off a goodie bag.

The Handoff!
Poe (the dog), Ryan, David & Sarah

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. Windy, but clear and only moderate traffic. We saw several other boats flying the “Looper” flag. Around 1:30 we crossed into North Carolina, and at 2:30 we arrived in Holden Beach our port for the night.

This evening we had dinner with Diane & Robert, boating friends of ours who live in the area. We arrived back in time to see a terrific sunset!

The Frog at Sunset Day 1
Sunset on the ICW

Tomorrow we continue our trip north in North Carolina. We will probably only post on a weekly basis, or if there is something special that happens. After all, how many dramatic sunrises/sets can you look at!


 Cheers!
 Tom & Brenda