Hopping Up the East Coast (Again)

16 days ago, we left St. Augustine, FL. Today (Sunday 4/20/25), we are driving through the Chesapeake Bay, en route back to Maryland! We have been putting in some serious cruising time lately – after work and loooooooong days on the weekends! Dustin even used some PTO to drive a bit longer last week and I was off for Good Friday, so we really made some good distance this weekend! With 2640 miles to go from our starting point of Jensen Beach, FL at an average cruising speed of 7 knots, we really had our word cut out for us! We are trying to make our way up to New York by time the locks on the Erie Canal open in mid-May. That’s also the point where things become “new” for us again, since we have never traveled that stretch before, and that is very exciting after repeating the East Coast for so long now! However, there’s a fine line between going fast enough to get there on our timeline and slow enough that we don’t catch up to the brisk northern temperatures by arriving too early. We’ve already encountered a few mornings that were way chillier than we’d care to experience! Since I've already posted about most of these places individually in previous years, I'm going to just lump the last couple of weeks into one big post! :)

After Cumberland Island, GA, we continued north on the ICW as the marine forecast out on the ocean that day was calling for 6+ foot waves. The Georgia ICW is notoriously shallow, so we had to time it just right with the tide timetables to make it through Hell’s Gate (the shallowest point) but we made it through just fine. That’s one nice thing about our boat, that we have a pretty shallow draft of only 3’9”! The trip was pretty uneventful, despite having to battle the zillions of viscous green-headed horse flies along the way!!

The day before we had seen a bunch of wild horses and then the next we saw a bunch of wild donkeys on an island and even an island called Salt Water Cow Island and it was indeed full of cows, and nothing else. It was so strange! Not a building in site, just a bunch of cows on an island!

We anchored just outside of Savannah along the ICW and then got up to get fuel early the next morning. We usually stop at Thunderbolt Marina on the way through for diesel but after many tries, they did not answer VHF or phone calls and another boat told us they had just stopped there and that there was no one in sight on the property, despite their hours indicating that they were open! The Safe Harbor next door had allowed a bunch of small boats to spend the night on their fuel dock and said we’d have to wait for them to move before we could fuel up. We tried one last marina called Savannah Bend and thankfully, they were already moving the boats on their dock and it was quickly free for us to pull up on. After a quick fuel up, we continued on to Beaufort, SC. The ICW in South Carolina is so pretty to me! It's full of peaceful salt marshes, draping live oaks crawling out over the water, lavish plantation homes, and charming houses with long docks out to their boats.

There is a town in both SC and NC named “Beaufort” which gets a little confusing, but in South Carolina, they add a little southern draw and pronounce it “Bu-furt” whereas in North Carolina, it is “Bo-furt”. BeaUfort, SC is a regular stop for us when we are traveling up and down the coast because it is a charming little town with a lovely waterfront park, and we like to make use of their free city dock to pick up more provisions on our way through. The town is situated near Hilton Head Island almost right between Savannah and Charleston, which makes it a just about an idyllic place to live. This time through, we decided to anchor on the other side of the bridge at Lady’s Island just for something new!

While we were there, Dustin found a boat nearby for sale that he wanted to go see just because he has always liked the layout, so we grabbed an Uber and went to check it out. The boat was a mess, but we did like the layout. We briefly contemplated buying it and remodeling it since the price was so low, but quickly came back to reality and decided to hold off on that for now. Ironically enough, the boat was docked on Lucy Creek, which just so happens to be where the Forrest Gump shrimp boat scene was filmed. The owner of the boat pointed across the river to the docks where Lieutenant Dan had been sitting, and then to “Bubba’s” house down the way. I Googled it after we left, and it was indeed the filming location for the movie. How ironic to end up there by chance!

After restocking our groceries and having Bella’s Fresh Pet food delivered all the way from Hilton Head Island (she’s so bougie lol), we kept on towards Charleston and anchored for the night near Edisto Island. Each time we travel through this way along the Wadmalaw Creek, there are a couple of cool attractions along the way. One is the Martin Point Plantation, which was the home used in the movie, “The Notebook”. I’ve posted about this before in more depth.

The other, is an old barge that has a very cool story. One could easily miss this unique piece of history, mistaking it for any other barge on the river. However, this one is labeled “American Waterways Wind Orchestra” which perked our interest. We did a little research about this vessel and learned that it was once a floating concert hall designed by Louis I. Kahn. It has traveled all over the world putting on concerts along the waterways and even spent 3 years in Europe! Apparently it was supposed to be moved to Pennsylvania a few years back, but it’s been sitting in Wadmalaw Creek, SC for at least 2 years because we always see it when we pass by. It’s got some cool history and you can read more about it here if you’d like:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Wind_Symphony_Orchestra

The next day, we anchored for one night in Charleston Harbor and it got extremely bouncy out that night, so first thing in the morning, we pulled up anchor and decided to head out for a reprieve from the waves. As we were leaving, a Viking cruise ship was pulling into port! We’ve been through Charleston 5 times now on the boat and there just isn’t a great way to get to shore there (that we know of) without dropping a ton of cash on a slip, so we haven’t been able to explore there yet, which is a shame because the city is beautiful!

After Charleston, we stopped for a few nights in Georgetown, SC. Georgetown is such a cute little town, and it is always a nice stop. The people there are super friendly, they have a fantastic harbor walk along the water, a very protected anchorage, and a well-manicured and walkable downtown area.

We spent a couple of nights in Georgetown and on Friday night, we decided to go out for dinner. We chose a lively spot called “Rollin Local” which was very aptly named because inside, we met a bunch of very friendly locals! There was a wait for a table, so we decided to just eat at the bar and we are so glad we did because we got to know the couple next to us and they were super nice people! They finished a bit before us and when it was time to leave, the man ran out to his truck and came back with 2 dozen eggs for us that he had brought from his farm. How cool is that? Southern hospitality is something that is still alive and well in South Carolina and no one is a stranger for long there. After this couple left, another couple came in and we got to talking with them as well, and they were equally awesome people! We paid it forward and gave them one carton of eggs since they wouldn’t all fit in our tiny little fridge anyway. Georgetown has such a nice hometown feel and it was nice to be in a cute little small town with such friendly people! Rollin Local has awesome food! We ordered the hibachi and mine was served in a cored out pineapple with beef, chicken, shrimp, fried rice, pineapple and of course, yum yum sauce! Both of our meals were delicious! Ironically, the bartender’s name was also Dustin and he served up some excellent cocktails!

On the way back to the boat, it started to downpour! We got absolutely drenched and then a really cool thunderstorm rolled in right as we got back to safety! The thunder clouds were tinted by the sunset and it was really dramatic looking! I love watching thunderstorms!

After Georgetown, we made a quick stop at Wacca Wache Marina on the ICW. This marina is widely known to have the cheapest diesel around, so we always try to coast in on fumes so that we can get the most for our money there! Diesel was only $3.14/gallon so we even filled up our 4 jugs! The people who work there are super friendly and very helpful so if you find yourself in this stretch, definitely stop here over any other marina in the area!

On the way, we passed an area that is so far out on the water, that they actually have a school bus boat for the kids! How cool is that?

That night, we passed the super cute town of Southport where we had stopped a couple of years back.

Then we anchored for a quick sleep at Carolina Beach, NC and then got up and continued on to Beaufort, NC. We had always heard that Beaufort was a cute little town, but had never stopped, so we decided to check it out! As we pulled into Taylor Creek, we saw more wild horses on the shore of Carrot Island!

The anchorage in Beaufort is very tight and there were already a lot of boats there. We tried anchoring twice in the best spot available, but our anchor wouldn’t grab because the bottom was super squishy soft mud. We ended up going right to the front of all the boats on the edge of the channel and managed to squeeze ourselves in with just enough scope out to be safe, and the anchored caught perfectly there! We have learned that if the anchor doesn’t hook after 2 tries, then it isn’t worth pushing it and we just go somewhere else. The next morning as I did my work out on the boat, I was able to watch dolphins playing and chasing fish in front of our boat and I just felt grateful that this was my front yard that day!

After work, we took Bella to shore and walked around the town. It’s a super tiny little town, but full of cute little surf shops and restaurants.

We had planned on staying longer and going to the island to go hiking, but some guy came in that night on a little monohull and dropped his anchor waaaaay too close to us and then hopped in his kayak and went to shore and never came back. We kept a close eye on his boat as the tide shifted and it got uncomfortably close to us a few times. The next morning, he seemed to be drifting, so we decided to do the prudent thing and just pull up anchor and move. Unfortunately, there was nowhere else to anchor, so we just decided to head out a little earlier than planned that day. As we were leaving, the police came by and took photos of his boat so I’m sure he’ll return to some nice fines to remind him to be a more responsible boater!

That night, we anchored just before the Neuse River and enjoyed a peaceful anchorage.

Then the next day we crossed Pamlico Sound. Pamlico, Albemarle and Currituck Sounds can each get quite sporty, so we always triple check the weather before crossing them. As usual, the weather said “Go ahead it’s fine” and Pamlico said “Haha, gotcha suckers”. The waves were bigger than forecasterd and very close together which made for an uncomfortable time trying to cook dinner, but we made it through just fine!

That night, we anchored just east of Belhaven, NC. It grew dark before we anchored, so we got the spotlight out to scan for crab pots and obstructions. The night sky was absolutely gorgeous that night without any light pollution! All of a sudden, Dustin yelled for me to come outside and I looked up to see a trail of dozens of Starlink satellites marching across the sky! We have only ever seen this once before and it was back in 2020 when we went camping for the summer. Back then, I didn’t know what Starlink was, and I thought we very well might be getting invaded! LOL. We watched as the satellites traveled across the sky and then each of them seemed to disappear into the darkness in the exact same spot. They just kind of disappeared into thin air. The night vision on my camera requires complete stillness to get a clear capture and we were underway when I took these photos, so they are blurry, but you get the idea. It was really neat to see!

From Belhaven on the Pungo River, we cruised on the Pungo-Alligator River Canal. I always like this stretch because it is completely undeveloped for the most part and it’s pretty much a straight shot for a couple of hours, so you don’t have to pay attention so hard.

We always pass this little property there that is just idyllic. They have a carport with a motorhome parked under it and a dock with a little sailboat at the end of it and a nice private property to enjoy nature. What else would you really need?

I drove for most of the day since I was off for Good Friday, but Dustin still had to work. I started an audio book while I was behind the helm that morning called “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. The book captivated my interest so well, that I listened straight through the entire book in one day! The book talked about creating good habits and how to break bad ones for a more productive and successful life. I highly recommend giving it a read (or a listen)!

https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits

That night, we crossed into Virginia and found a nice little private anchorage to spend the evening. I could hear Red Winged Black Birds chirping in the saltmarsh nearby and there was this one stand alone tree growing in the grasses near our boat. If you have ever been to the Florida Keys, you have probably heard of the tree that locals have named “Fred”. It is growing out of the pavement on the old overseas highway and they even decorate it for Christmas each year! Google it if you haven’t heard of it. Because of this, we named “our” tree in this anchorage “Ted”. Haha.

Saturday, we woke up, and barely made it by the skin of our teeth through the opening of the Great Bridge Bridge and Great Bridge Lock that morning. Had we missed it, we would’ve had to waste an hour waiting for the next opening, but the good Lord got us there just in time! All of the boaters leave their boat stickers on the lock walls so we added one to leave our mark 😊

After the lock, we traveled through downtown Norfolk again. Norfolk is always a lively port with a lot going on and yesterday in particular, had a lot to pay attention to. There was a Carnival cruise ship in port, there were Navy ships coming in and going out, a large dredging operation going on to our port side, a massive container ship approaching our aft, airplanes landing nearby and some decent sized waves mixed in just for fun. Dustin did a great job calmly navigating us through the chaos!

The Navy ship that was coming into port as we were leaving was the USS Mitscher, which is a guided missile destroyer that has a history of deployments to the Mediterranean and Caribbean. It looked to be returning after a long voyage, as all of the crew were standing out on the decks as they came into port. It was pretty cool to see up close!

Upon leaving Norfolk, we entered back into the Chesapeake Bay, which we now endearingly call Chessie. We made it as far as Kilmarnock, VA. If you’ve been following our travels for awhile now, you’ll recall that this is where we spent a few months 2 summers ago at Chesapeake Boat Basin and it’s a nice little town. We tucked into a protected little cove on Henry’s Creek for the night last night, and then continued on bright and early this morning, not quite sure of our final destination today!