THE BEERS' GREAT LOOP TRIP ABOARD HUMBUG: Savannah To Norfolk

Intracoastal Waterway in Georgia

We had visited Savannah twice in the last two years by car, so we did not do our usual Grey Line/tourist thing and instead, just treated ourselves to a wonderful dinner at The Olde Pink House restaurant there.

Olde Pink House SavannahI

Instead of staying in downtown Savannah (where only MEGA yachts usually dock), we stayed just south of the city in Thunderbolt (I just love the name of that place...indian legend says it got its name after a lightning bolt split a rock that revealed an artesian well and the well produced water for several hundred years).

Swing bridge on ICW in GA

Our next port of call, was Hilton Head, SC to visit our friends, Carol and Stacy Wolfe, who had moved there from Barrington, RI after Stacy retired from Met Life.
We only stayed there one night, then moved on to Beaufort, SC. There, we hunkered down and read for three rainy, windy days .

Fortunately, Hiromi and Mike on "Off Leash," happened to be there, so the four of us went to Southern Graces restaurant in the Beaufort Inn one evening to help stave off our cabin fever.

After all the fun we'd had in Beaufort, we couldn't wait to get to Charleston. There, Pete had the oil changed and some other stuff done to the boat, and I went to a spa for the day (it's only right, huh?). Like Savannah, we'd been there twice in the past few years, so we din't play tourist and stayed only two nights.

ICW in NC

As we worked our way north, another of our other ports of call was Georgetown, SC which is a nice small town with lovely old houses that unfortunately, had a large paper mill looming over it which made the whole town smell like sulfur.

ICW near N Myrtle Beach sand dunes

After, Georgetown, we cruised up to North Myrtle Beach, where we stayed at the Barefoot Marina, home port of our friends Margie and Rick who had just finished the loop on their power catamaran, "Journey."

Leaving Southport at dawn

Next, we stopped in Southport, NC. We hung out there for two nights due to tornado warnings.

Southport is truly a beautiful little town that looks out over the Cape Fear River to Baldhead Island and where the locals drive golf carts instead of cars.

Us leaving Southport at dawn (taken by Island Time)

Because we'd lost a day due to tornado warnings, we left Southport at dawn and opted for a long day (81 miles) in order to reach Swansboro.

In Swansboro, we had dinner with Tom Goodman with whom we'd traveled off and on during the past year. He and his wife Melisa, and yellow lab, Mango, had just finished the loop and are the harbor hosts in Swansboro.

Also in Swansboro, our good friends from our Aetna days, Phyllis and Bob McDonnell, joined us. They now live outside Charlotte.

Upper bunk of McDonnell's cabin - good friends bring their own booze

Phyllis and Bob cruised with us two days to Oriental and Belhaven, NC, then the weather changed preventing us from moving for the next three days.

Our 89-yr old Enterprise driver (really)

Faced with three days of just staring at each other, we decided to rent a car and drive over to the Outer Banks.

Cute couple

While there, we visited the Hatteras Lighthouse.

Another cute couple

We also stayed at the very romantic White Doe B & B in Manteo.

White Doe Inn

The next day before returning to the boat, we drove up to Kitty Hawk to see the Wright Brothers monument and museum.

Wright brothers museum

In front of Wright brothers monument

A very large snapping turtle crossed our path while we were visiting the Wright brothers complex. We did not pet him.

Mr. Turtle

The weather cleared as soon as we returned to the boat and we set off for Alligator River Marina on the edge of Albemarle Sound, a very large body of water. Cruisers sometimes have to wait at this remote spot for days, sometimes weeks, for the conditions of the sound to be suitable for a crossing.

We were lucky and the sound was like glass the next morning for our crossing. However, we not so lucky on our way. We were swarmed by thousands of Midges (non-biting mosquitoes). It was totally gross and other boats crossing that day had the same problem.

We heard one boat was killing them with vinegar, so Bob went out into the cockpit and started spraying vinegar. Sure enough it killed the creepy little things, but what a mess - we had to scrub the whole boat with soap and water when we arrived in Elizabeth City.

Albemarle Museum

That afternoon, we visited the Albemarle Museum and walked around town.

Elizabeth City, is the jumping off point for one of the highlights of our trip, The Great Dismal Swamp Canal.

The Dismal Swamp was surveyed by George Washington in 1763 but it was not finished until 1805.

HUMBUG on Dismal Swamp Canal

It is 22 miles long and connects northeastern NC to southeastern VA and it is the oldest continuously operating waterway in the US.

Built by hand, mostly by slaves, originally it served as a trade route and later a means to get lumber to market. It also was a major (but yucky) hiding place for slaves seeking freedom on the Underground Railroad.

It's VERY narrow!

There are two locks on the Dismal Swamp Canal - one at the beginning that lifts you up 8 feet and one at the end that lowers you 8 feet. The two days we transited the canal, we were with 8 other boats so the locks were very crowed.

Crowd in the lock

There's a Welcome Center about half way through the canal, where boaters can tie up for the night for free. However, the wall there is only 150 feet long, so boats have to raft two or three deep.