Bald Head Island to New River

April 30 We left Bald Head Island on a clear, calm day (much calmer than when we arrived). It was Day 166 of our Loop. Here we are passing a shrimper going out to sea. And, passing what was once a military fort on Oak Island which has now been sold to a church group which uses the land and buildings for a retreat. As previously said, no vehicles except for a few service vehicles are allowed on the island. Here is a ferry bringing a few cars and some delivery trucks to the island...one is a Lowe's truck, supplying I suppose, some of the building materials for the contstruction which is going on.
As we get back on the ICW, past Southport, we pass the remains of another lighthouse for this imortant port.
Here is another newer looking ferry................ There seemed to be many of these from the mainland to the various islands.

Passing through the Carolina inlet, there are cars on the beach of this outer island.
For a while, I wondered where we were when I saw this statue of the giraffe on this lawn ! It had to be 12-14 feet tall !
Many of the channel markers had the osprey nests on them. The birds didn't seem to mind the traffic close by.
We anchored for the night in a bay which the Marines have a dock and an old landing craft on the shore. The helicopters did maneuvers until about 10 pm but then the rest of the night was quiet. It was a nice anchorage with about 12 boats here....

Myrtle Beach-Bald Head Island

Leaving Coquina Harbor in North Myrtle Beach...this lighthouse is at the entrance. We left allowing enough time to get to the first bridge for the 9 am opening ( we wanted to be there in time since it only opened on the hour). On the way, we spotted these wild goats on one of the outer islands.
We were able to get to this pontoon bridge in time for the 9 am opening. This is the only remaining pontoon bridge on the East Coast. Here, the boat in front of us is waiting--see how the road dips down since we were at low tide.
The bridge is open.....see the part of the road on the pontoon. The bridge tender took down the names of the boat that went through for his record...
Here we see one of the inlets to the Atlantic Ocean.

And still another inlet. At these places, we experienced the tide changes. On one side of the inlet the tide was against us, on the other side, it was with us...
Here is the lighthouse on Oak Island which is on the south side of the inlet from Bald Island.
And here is Bald Island Lighthouse as we were entering the harbor. This lighthouse top is off set from the center. This inlet was another major fortification for the country during the Revolution and the Civil wars...

We spent the afternoon and night on Bald Head Island. There are no cars allowed on the island except for service vehicles. So after lunch, we walked to the lighthouse and visited the museum. Then we asked directions to the Maritime Market and a woman gave us a ride there on her golf cart. After walking back the 2 miles back to the boat, we were ready to call it a day. It's an intersting place. There are houses surrounding the marina and many, many houses on the island are available to rent.
A closer view of the lighthouse so that the off set could be seen clearly.

Charleston to Myrtle Beach

View of Charleston skyline as we were leaving on April 26.

Cruise ship in the port next to where were docked...

This is a view of the Spirit of Charleston double masted sailing vessel which was at the end of the dock where we were.


Here is a picture of container ship bring cargo to the US.....

from Singapore !!!
As we entered the ICW rounding Sullivan's Island, this old seawall with a fortification still remained
Traveling down the Wacamaw River part of the ICW was said to be the prettiest part of the waterway on the East Coast. While not as pretty as some of the midwest areas, (predjudiced), it was pretty. Lots of woods similar to the north woods and wildlife. Here is a nest with osprey.

These trees with the overhanging moss and hole were interesting along with the cypress knees along the waterline.

This was just one of the bridges we had to wait to open along the way. We spent one night in Georgetown and bought some fresh shrimp and crab from the local seafood place on Saturday afternoon just before it closed. We had hoped to spend more time in this quaint town, but as in many small towns, absolutely nothing was open on Sunday so we moved on......Nearing Myrtle Beach, this is a privately built and privately maintained 65' bridge across the waterway leading to a gated community on the ocean side !Also in Myrtle Beach is the overhead cable car system which transports golfers from one side of the waterway to the rest of the golf course on the opposite side !Arriving in North Myrtle Beach, we rested at a marina which has its own resident alligator. Looks to be about 8' long. There still were some ducks swimming around here though.......

Charleston Harbor Cruise

On the day after the Rendezvous, we were on a History tour of the harbor. Here are some of the older homes on the water. The city was first a walled city to protect themselves from the Spanish and the Indians. This part of the city is the Historic District.


Here is the pilot boat from Fort Sumter. It was here that the game of baseball originated about the time of the Civil War.
And a view of Fort Sumter where the Civil War began. During the tour, the biologist pulled up a crab trap to show us the blue crabs. These were mostly females crabs--an easy way to distinguish the females is with the painted nails ! Another way to distinguish was by the round thing on the bottom of the crab.

Here is another view of the Ravenal Bridge across the Cooper River.

This is a view of the Charleston lighthouse on Sullivan's Island. The houses on this island have a problem getting hurricane insurance except from Lloyd's of London..............
This is Fort Moultrie on the northern side of the Charleston Harbor. Charleston is a major seaport with cruise ships as well as cargo ships coming and going. It has a colorful history with pirate lore, some stories pretty gory, early battles, etc. We were told that the chief of the Seminoles, Chief Osceola is buried at Fort Moultrie.

Charleston and the Yorktown

During the Rendevous, we became friends with other "loopers". Darrel and Beth, David and Adrienne (New Mexico), and Bruce and Bonnie(Ft. Myers) and us all went out for dinner on our "free night". During the Rendevous, all our other meals were with the group. On our last night of the Rendevous, we had a tour and dinner on the Yorktown, an aircraft carrier used after 1942 (after the first Yorktown was sunk). Here we are entering the ship. You can see the planes on the flight deck.

This sub was docked along side of the ship....
Here is a view of the Ravenal Bridge from the ship. In the foreground is the area of the ship where the planes were launched...
The plaque explaining the launch..............

Another plane on the launch deck.....

I would be remiss if I didn't tell you about the dinner. It was first class and we had a choice of spinach stuffed chicken or fillet mignon. Bob had beef and I had the chicken---both were EXCELLENT. We also were served a wonderful salad and a rice medley (wonderful). And the dessert--a rum chocolate topping on cheesecake was to die for. It was a memorable ending to the week.
This island was in Charleston Harbor
View of Charleston from the Yorktown--across Cooper River.

An example of houses in Charleston....they have the south side facing porches. Most of the older homes seemed to be built this way.
A woman in the Market Street market making and selling the sweet grass baskets. I learned that the basket that we bought years ago from a woman on the side of the road (we were on a road trip) was worth much much more than we paid. So, from now on, I'll take much better care of it !
Here is a view of the beginning of the market on Bay Street. It extended about 3 blocks with many different vendors. Some have permanent spots, others come intermittently and if there's an opening, they can be assigned to that spot and sell for the day.

Charleston Marina and Plantations

These docks seen on our cruise to Charleston, seemed to stretch forever. And each house had their own dock, stretching forever. We wondered why they wouldn't join together and share one.....
This was our first view of Charleston as we entered the harbor from the south...There were other large ships carrying cargo from all over the world as well as cruise ships.
This was the view from our marina...we were at the Charleston Maritime Center which was right in the historic district. A great place to dock, as we could walk to the farmer's market on Saturday, and to the Market Street where there were local crafters and vendors.

This was the view of the new Ravenal Bridge crossing the Cooper River. Our first tour was to two plantations--the Drayton House and the Middleton Place. The first was the Drayton House which was a preserved site meaning that there had been no restoration. The building was only being maintained to its original state. There were no furnishings. This picture is of the grounds looking from the second floor. The driveway coming in is from the Ashley Road which is narrow with huge overhanging trees--now a Scenic Byway.

And here is the house.......The rear of the house faced the Ashley River which was often their route of transportation to Charleston.

Next we visited the Middleton Place which has America's oldest landscaped gardens first landscaped in 1741. One of the Middletons was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, another was the President of the first Continental Congress, another a governor of South Carolina, with successive family members equally active politically.

This building on the property was to store dairy products and foods because the spring water kept it cool. It was also used as a chapel for the family's slaves until the Civil War.

Sheep grazing on the front lawn........... Another view of the pond looking from the house.

This was the Octagal Sunken Garden which was of the three formal gardens on the property. Originally, the gardens where shades of green and eventually, successive Middleton's added colors with azaleas, gardenias and roses.

I don't remember which flower this was but it was used by the slaves who picked the flower and then held it over the mistress's head to shade her !!!!

Here is the Butterfly Garden overlooking the Ashley River. To the left side (not shown) were the rice beds. I was surprised to learn the this area was the largest producer of rice during the 18th and 19th centuries. The slaves who were brought from in from Africa were knowledgeable about growing and harvesting the rice--thus, this was their main crop, not cotton.
This tree is the known as the Middleton Oak and is believed to be over 1000 years old. Indians used this as a landmark when navigating the river. 85' tall, with a circumference of 37' and a limb spread of 145'.
This is the only remaining part of the residence to survive the burning of the plantation in 1865. Because Middleton was an advocate for secession, the Union soldiers were told to destroy this and other properties on their march to the south. We toured the home which is filled with family heirlooms.
We also had lunch at the Middleton Place Restaurant. Southern fried chicken--best fried chicken I've ever had, great pulled pork , rice (of course) and corn pudding which I just tasted and wished I would've taken more. Ended with yummy pecan pie !