Sophia Bramhall

BIG DAY! 60 miles of motoring on the intracoastal. It was a beautiful day and we took turns at the helm and at the computer. We opened multiple bridges along the way and cleared a few fixed bridges as well. We also passed what we thought was an army training center because there were warning for unexploded material everywhere and signs that said we could not pass when light lbs were flashing. Must be some type of military bombing range (right in the wetlands). Gotta love the US military… Tomorrow looks like a windy/rainy day so we are likely going to stay in this area and explore the land! Let’s see what NC has to offer!

We anchored in a very populated area near Carolina Beach last night. We needed to restock at Publix and I was also able to pick up some Deisel engine oil since we are about ready for another oil change. It was a great town with a few dinghy docks and easy access to the beach where we saw a paraglider (with a fan motor) having fun in the sky! Duggie also very much enjoyed the walk. People in the south have been quite friendly and we have had nice conversations with a number of strangers. Today we are hoping to get to Emerald Isle and have some weather coming in tomorrow so we might take a break for our 4th anniversary on Thursday!!!! Stacy, if you see this, can you believe it has been 4 years since you married us?!?! It has been a wild adventure and we have been loving every second of it. Thank you again for making our special day truly incredible 🥰.

Started the day with a nice morning beach walk on the oyster shell beach then headed out to sea. Motor sailed up the coast around Georgetown towards Myrtle Beach. The wind didn’t pick up as expected so used our motors more than we would’ve liked but it was still a nice relaxing day with northern progress. Anchored inside two long jetties right now with big beautiful beaches on both sides! Time for an evening beach walk with Duggie :)

Relaxing morning motoring along the ICW to Charleston! We had the current in our favor for most of the ride so we made good time! Lots of big beautiful houses along the river with long docks and multiple boats per house. Arrived at a draw bridge with two mins to spare before the scheduled 11:30am opening 👌 Just anchored outside downtown Charleston, the wind is picking up for the rest of the day. Going to see Liza and Pete LJ this evening and enjoy a dinner out! Time for lunch and to go exploring :)

Another nice motor up the ICW. We had a lovely evening yesterday exploring the cute historic town of Beaufort SC! Built right along the river, it had a wonderfully maintained waterfront park with lots of flowers, landscaping, and swinging benches. We also walked the main st where there were lots of art galleries, shops, and restaurants. Enjoyed some apps and a drink on the patio of a waterfront park restaurant, with Duggie on leash waiting patiently. He got to chase lots of squirrels so was a happy tired dog! We had a calm night for sleeping. Walked the warerfront park again in the morning before taking off through the 9:30am bridge opening window. Weaved through skinny rivers all day with some intermittent wind and clouds. A storm loomed on the horizon over land all day and finally creeped too close to us to continue. Were anchored amongst a couple of salt marshes right before the rain started. Lightning and thunder are in the distance but getting closer. Guess this is home for the night! Hoping for a clearing in the rain to get to a mud flat nearby for a quick walk. On to Charleston tomorrow!

We made it to a new state today! Crossed from GA to SC and will hopefully be in Charleston tomorrow. It was a long day on the Intracoastal but we made good progress. We are currently stuck behind a bridge that will not open until 7pm because they don’t budge during rush hour. Our plan is to get through it tonight and anchor on the other side then take off without hassle tomorrow morning. Last night we walked on a beautiful beach for sunset! Duggie found a lot of crabs and there were a ton of sea birds as well. We are quickly learning that we need to time the tides as much as possible on the intracoastal. Depending on the current we can be moving 8 knots or 4.8 knots with the same engine RPMs. We did a pretty good job today and averaged 6knots. We also had an incredible lightning display last night. They were isolated thunder heads lighting up the sky on all directions and we had one directly over us around 11pm. Luckily we were not hit by lightning but we saw streaks all over the night sky. The wind picked up to almost 20knots at one point but we held strong and had a good nights rest. The anchor was deep in mud this morning which made it tricky to pull up but after a little work we got it. I would not be excited to dive on the anchor in these waters…visibility is about half a foot! Missing Bahamas a little 😢

We motor-sailed the Atlantic on the coast of Georgia today. Had a few calls so we needed to set the autopilot and get some work done 👌 It was a calm but somewhat lumpy ride and we made it about 40 miles up the coast and are now very close to Savannah. We have some bad weather coming on Friday so we are hoping to get to Charleston by then. As soon as we dropped anchor we were greeted by Dolphins which has happened almost every day over the past week. We are close to an enormous beach so we are going to take Duggie for a LONG walk the rest of the afternoon!

Motored along a windy part of the ICW between marshes and rivers. Had a green fly invasion at one point (which kept Duggie busy) so we found an anchorage with a sea breeze to keep the bugs away. Could see a storm in the distance the whole time but looks like it’s going to stay parallel to us and pass 🤞Lots of shoals and tricky navigation spots. Pretty and fishy the whole time. Spotted an alligator in the water along the grassy shore! Time for an evening walk on Sapelo Island :)