July 25,2011

On from  Myrtle Beach to Southport NC.  Arrived  July 11th.  Great Marina but to far to walk to town.  The Marina had a great pool which we took advantage of.  The Marina was next to the Ferry terminal which took passengers to Bald Head Island.  Bald Head is a no car Island.  The only transportation on the island was golf carts and bicycles.

The Island is nothing but summer homes, many that can be rented.  Very expensive to live on and expensive  to visit.  Only two restaurants and one small grocery store.  Had a few shops mostly bike rentals etc.

This is a picture of where the original light house sat.

This is the main attraction on the island, Bald Head Light House.

This is the entrance to the Bald Head Island.  There was a marina there but we left Miss Ellen in Southport and took the ferry.

We left Southport and headed to Wilmington SC.  Following is the first restaurant we ate.  This is a picture of handmade guitar's costing upwards of $30,000 each.

Most of the homes in Wilmington were built late 1700.  This is a typical home of the period.

The old folks taking a horse drawn tour of the historic district.

The North Carolina battle ship is here in Wilmington.  We didn't go on because it was to hot in side.

One of the main streets of Wilmington.

We docked at the city docks which was at the foot of the historic district.  Short walk to many restaurants, but too far to reprovision.  We took the city bus to Walmart and a taxi back.  The bus took us through parts of Wilmington we would not have seen if we had just taken the taxi both ways.  Meet some nice friendly people on the bus.

On Friday night the down town comes alive with free music on the docks.  As we were docked right at the action we got to sit on the front of Miss Ellen and enjoy the music and activities.  A lot of people came as you can see by the picture.

Picture leaving Wilmington.

Cona and I sitting on the front of Miss Ellen enjoying the sights and sounds of riverstreet in Wilmington.

Next stop, Beach House Marina in Surf-City NC.

 We happened on this place by luck.  It was a stop on the way to Beaufort (pronounced Bow fert).  We were one block from the beach so we took advantage and went swimming.  The water was perfect.  Bright Blue, and clear.  You could see your feet in heads deep water.  The dock was close to at least 6 restaurants, and some shops.  The facilities at the marina were perfect and friendly staff.

Another stop was at Wrightsville Beach.  This is a sun set from Miss Ellen.

Cona getting ready for the sun set.

On the was to Beaufort we saw wild animals grazing the banks,  a giraffe if you couldn't tell.

Surf City NC.

The city of  Surf City.

Cona sat on the bank at the beach at Surf City.  She sat next to a small hole in the sand and didn't think anything about it.  How many time have you seen small round holes dug in the sand and wondered what made the hole?  Well check the next picture and see what came out to greet who was sitting on their hole.

Thats right.  Mr. Crab.  He was not too happy as you can tell by his expression.

We made it to Beaufort July 20th.

This is a picture of a door in one of the  historic homes built in the 1700's.  The door is pine but was painted to  look like different species of wood. 

Another picture of Surf City, out of sequence.

The home where the city doctor lived in Beaufort.  He was also the dentist, and pharmacist.   Our tour guide showing Cona the different medicine's that were recovered and preserved.  Most of the medicine's contained over 50% alcohol.

The Herb garden behind the doctors house.

My favorite house in Beaufort.  This is where Black Beard stayed.  Black Beard is well represented in Beaufort and the local stores were full of books and stuff about Black Beard.  Even the Maritime Museum dedicated most of the artifacts and space to Black Beard. 

 

Me and Johnny enjoying a brew.

This was interesting.  This is a grave of a 17 year old girl who died on the way back to America after a visit to England with her father.  The father promised the mother he would bring her back so he bought a barrel of rum.  He put the daughter in the barrel of rum and returned to Beaufort where she was buried.  People visiting the grave continue to leave items in memory of the girl.

From Beaufort you can take a ferry to the Outer Banks.  This is the first of the islands.  The water was extremely rough and you can see why over 1700 ships were lost during the 1600 and 1700rds attempting to enter or leave the inlet.  This is also the place where Black Beards ship the Queen Ann's Revenge was sunk.

 

We arrived in Oriental NC July 23rd.  Not what we expected.  Mostly a shrimping port as you can see in the below picture.

Three restaurants,  and a hotel, not much to speak of.  However the meals were good. 

Picture of Pamlico Sound.  We have had a southeasterly wind and the dockage has been rough.

Weather kept us here a day longer, and if weather permits we will leave for Ocrocoke Island tomorrow.



July 10,2011

ON THE ROAD AGAIN, as Willy sang,  We're on the move at last, after docking in Charleston for a month.

We made it to Charleston which turned out to be a great place to dock Miss Ellen.  The Harbor Master from Lake Murry, where we had our old boat, was now the Harbor Master at the Charleston Marina and Resort.  He took good care of us and we plan to dock there for the winter.

We had planned to make it to Myrtle Beach where we were to meet our kids but couldn't make the date, so we stoped in Charleston and rode with our son Eric to Myrtle.

A great week with our family. 

This is Eric (our son) and our daughter- in- law Becky and grandson Jackson.

Our oldest, Kevin and daughter- in- law Vicki along with Grand daughter and our newest addition Grand son Finn.

Sun set in Charleston Harbor.

 Our dockage was located next to the USS YORKTOWN.  A great tour.  We took our grandson Jackson and wore him out running through this ships displays.  We also toured Fort Sumter, and the Children's museum.  This was the best Children's museum and Jackson had a ball.  There were so many activities for the kids they stayed occupied the whole time.  Jackson didn't want to leave. 

We have very few pictures from Charleston as stupid me hit a wrong button on the camera and lost a whole weeks worth of pictures with our grandson.  These pictures were taken after losing the pictures. Here's Cona with the Yorktown in the background.

We stayed a few days longer and Eric and family were able to join us for the 4th of July and the fireworks shot off from the USS YORKTOWN.  This is one of the fireworks.

Leaving Charleston we headed north and stoped at George Town.  This is a great stop filled with history  One of the first settlements in America and was the largest producer of rice in the word at that time.  The area was the richest colony before the civil war.  The plantation owners had so much money they didn' know where to spend it.  The entire state of South Carolina was rice fields.  The owners had homes on the plantation and  in Charleston (where the partied) and traveled to Europe yearly. 

This is a picture of the Marina where we docked.  Close enough to walk to the historic town.

Cona's brother Jim and sister-in-law Jane, joined us for a day.  They were headed south from New York.   This is a picture in front of part of the town. 

We toured a rice plantation.  Here is Jane and Cona in front of the house.

The husband and wife that own the plantation house now live in it but open it to the public.  Adjacent to  the plantation house they built a tea room (pictured here) where we had a wonderful lunch.

Cona and Jane in front of the fire place where the meal were prepared.

Brother Jim in front of the kitchen house.  Of course these buildings were located away from the main house due to the risk of fires.

Picture of the river that ran behind the house.  The rice fields were on the other side of the river.

Plantation house.

After leaving George Town we headed for Myrtle Beach.  Docked at Barefoot Landing.  Cona was very happy, over 142 shops and several restaurants.  Here we are feeding our selves at Joe's Crab Shack and had an old low country boil.  Crabs, Shrimp, potato's, corn, sausage,  MMMMgood.

The dock was right at the Barefoot landing, here Cona stands with her back to the landing.

I love shrimp and here I am expressing my affection.

Cona with one of her friends.

Tomorrow we head for Southport NC.