A big change.

Perhaps the only good thing that came out of needing a new engine is that it caused to us to sit down and take a really hard look at what we want out of cruising and our post-cruising life. After all, we aren’t going to travel on Pegu Club forever. We were going along day-to-day on autopilot, but when Big Red died we heard the sound of a needle scratching on a record. We found ourselves looking at each other and saying, “What’s next?”

Last summer we decided to make Annapolis our cruising home base. It shortened up the travel time to get south and north which would allow us to have a bit more balance between traveling vs. staying in one place. I could drive the water taxi during the summers, and in a pinch we could stay over for the winter if a health issue prevented us from going south. We registered the car in Maryland, got our drivers licenses, rented a new UPS Store mailbox, and moved the items in our small storage unit from Groton to Annapolis.

With the need for an engine replace to the tune of $15,000, there was no doubt we were going to need to stay in Annapolis for a winter and fluff up the cruising kitty. Our savings were reaching a point we weren’t comfortable with, so it was time to work for a bit. But living on the boat in Annapolis? In the winter? Even plugged into a dock, this was NOT what we wanted. It was one thing to be forced into it for health reasons. We could suck that up. But for this? That’s not what we envisioned when we decided on Annapolis.

Long time readers of this blog know that our number one favorite spot is Beaufort, SC. From our first visit, we knew it’s where we wanted to buy a house when we swallowed the anchor, and our love for the area has only grown each year. In fact, we had decided to make it our home base last year, but my worry about hurricanes had us switching to Annapolis within a few days of that decision.

Well, it turns out my aversion to cold is MUCH stronger than my worry about hurricanes. So we decided to move our home base to Hilton Head. Why Hilton Head and not Beaufort? Because I could easily get a captain’s job there to pad our savings. That isn’t the case in Beaufort, but we would be less than an hour away so visiting friends and getting tomato pie would be easy-peasy. But then fate intervened.

I was offered – and accepted – a position as the dock master at Lady’s Island Marina in Beaufort. WHAT?? Yep!!

Back in 2020, we spent a week at Lady’s Island Marina. The owner touched on the idea of my working there, but we had only been cruising for two seasons and weren’t ready to give it up. Ever since then, I had wished the timing had been different so I could have worked at the marina. Well, now the timing is right. It’s my dream job in our dream location.

We are both thrilled with this opportunity. We love Beaufort – the low country scenery, the friendly people, the delicious food, the top-notch beach at Hunting Island State Park. We’re close to Charleston and Savannah when we want a taste of a larger city. We’ll get enough winter so that it feels like the seasons are changing, but not so harsh that I’ll spiral into my seasonal winter depression that I used to get in Connecticut. It will be hot as hell in the summer, but that’s what air conditioners are for. And I’ll take heat over cold any day.

So are we permanently swallowing the anchor? Not necessarily. We both feel we have a few more seasons left in the Bahamas, and we really like the idea of being so close to it. There’s no need to spend 6+ weeks just getting down to our jumping off point to cross over. We could dawdle, do nothing but day trips, and be in Lake Worth in around 10 days. So we’re going to take it year by year, just like with cruising.

And what about the blog? I have a few posts drafted that I still want to post, but obviously I won’t be posting as frequently as I used to. I started the blog as a “memory book” so to speak for Jeff and me, so I’ll keep posting with that in mind. Day trips by land, weekend trips on the boat (yes, we’ll still be using Pegu Club – she won’t simply be a dock queen), the occasional vacation, future trips to the Bahamas. We’ll see how it develops.

It’s all a big change for us, but morale is sky high on the Pegu Club. And we wouldn’t be in this position if Big Red hadn’t catastrophically failed. Talk about making lemonade out of lemons!

Big Red gave us all he had.

We spent a relaxing, wonderful eight nights in Beaufort before setting sail again for Isle of Hope. We hit all of our favorite spots, took care of a few small boat projects, and soaked up the energy of being in our favorite place.

Our classic charcuterie board to celebrate arriving in Beaufort. SV Infinity has named it a “Peguterie board.”

It’s not a stop in Beaufort without getting tomato pie from Low Country Produce. We were trying to remember how we learned about it and decided it must have been somewhere on the internet. All I know is that we’ve had one every time we’ve stopped here since we started cruising back in 2018.

It just doesn’t get any better than this.

It seems like whenever we’re in Beaufort, we always see a few classic cars parked downtown:

This was our second Thanksgiving in a row in Beaufort. There’s a Publix only a 15 minute walk away from the dinghy dock where we once again were able to buy the fixings for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner:

And proof that Beaufort just keeps getting better and better, there’s a Waffle House just down the street from the Publix! Yes! One chocolate chip waffle and hash browns scattered, smothered, diced, and capped please!

Finally it was time to reluctantly leave and head towards Isle of Hope to get the engine replaced. Once again, the weather gods were smiling on us. All week in Beaufort there either hadn’t been wind or it was in the wrong direction. But on departure day we had good wind for an easy sail to our anchorage at Bull Creek.

I think people must feed this pelican at the Bull Creek anchorage. He flew down, landed right by us, and hung around for awhile. We’ve never had that happen before. The different color gradations in his feathers was very cool to see up close.

All good things must come to an end, however, which it did on our last travel day. It was cold, rainy, and raw, and there was no wind. With the dinghy side-tied, the two-stroke Yamaha did a great job of pushing us along. Of course with only 4 hp, we were occasionally making 2 knots against the current, but at least we were moving. I don’t think the 2.3 Honda four-stroke could have pulled it off.

Ever since Georgetown we have been using the engine for only a few minutes a day. We’ve primarily used it to raise and lower the anchor, and then once to get in and out of the marina at Charleston. As we approached Isle of Hope Marina, where we were thankfully going to be on a face dock, we discussed our strategy.

The dinghy was side-tied on the wrong side of the boat for the face dock, so we were going to start the engine a few minutes away and move the dinghy so we could tow it behind us. We had very light wind and a current against us.

We started the engine and within a minute it started sounding even worse than it had been. Then there was a squeaking sound and it stopped running. We quickly scrambled to move the dinghy from the stern to the port side while I tried to eek out any forward movement with the jib. It was a hectic minute or two, but Jeff leaped into the dinghy, started the outboard, and we limped into the face dock without any trouble.

Big Red had clearly given us all he had. He lasted long enough to get us out of the marina in Charleston without colliding with any boats. He lasted long enough so that Jeff didn’t have to raise the chain and anchor by hand. And once Big Red saw that we were within spitting distance of our final destination, he gave up the ghost. RIP Big Red.

Next up: Son of Big Red gets welcomed into his new home, Pegu Club.

Beaufort, SC, and an outstanding overnight passage to St. Mary’s, GA.

We had a great stay in Beaufort – but when have we not? Over the past four years we’ve spent 33 days there, and to date nowhere has been able to knock it off of its perch as our number one U.S. choice to live when we swallow the anchor.

Beaufort has an abundance of Spanish Moss hanging off the trees.

Great classic car parked on Bay Street in Beaufort!

Tucked into our regular spot on Factory Creek, we enjoyed another week-long stay, walking around and hitting our favorite spots: Low Country Produce for tomato pie, The Chocolate Tree, Bill’s Liquor for great cider choices, Olde Timey Meats for excellent steaks to grill, and of course multiple runs to Publix. In fact, Publix was responsible for us having our first traditional Thanksgiving dinner on the boat since we started cruising.

There is NO way we would stop in Beaufort and not have our tomato pie. We start talking about it a few days before we arrive!

Our first year we spent Thanksgiving freezing in Carolina Beach, NC waiting out horrible weather. Thanksgiving dinner was some sad squash with sautéed onions. Not good.

Our second year was better. We were in Vero Beach where a local church hosted an annual cruiser’s Thanksgiving. The church members supplied turkeys, ham, and other meats (and some people brought sides), and the cruisers brought more sides and desserts. There were easily over 100 people and the food and camaraderie was wonderful. Of course, little did we know that Covid would upend everything a few months later, and to my knowledge the Vero Beach Cruiser’s Thanksgiving hasn’t yet resumed. Maybe next year.

For the third year we were in Vero again, but it was post-Covid so there wasn’t a gathering. We were scurrying to leave the next day to head to West Palm so we could cross to the Bahamas, so I have no idea what we did. My guess is nothing, since I can’t remember it!

But this year, since we had easy access to a Publix, we had a Thanksgiving with all of the trimmings. A thick cut of Boar’s Head turkey breast from the deli, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls, gravy, green beans, pie. It was great, and definitely felt like Thanksgiving on Pegu Club.

Even better than Thanksgiving though, was getting together with Anthony and Annette. Now land-based, they were long time cruisers on M/V Magnolia and we met them a few years ago when they stopped at Shenny to see their good friends Al and Michele from M/V Kindred Spirit. Magnolia, Kindred Spirit, our friends on S/V Minx, and Pegu Club had a very enjoyable evening back then, sharing cruising stories over snacks and sundowners.

Anthony saw we were in Beaufort, and he suggested a get together a few days after Thanksgiving. He and Annette kindly drove us to West Marine, and then we went to a local brewery before heading over to the Beaufort Yacht & Sailing Club and eventually wrapping it up at a great pizza place. They’ve settled down in Beaufort, and they patiently answered all of our questions about what it’s really like to live there.

Lots of laughs were had while we all shared cruising stories and just yakked away. We had a WONDERFUL time, and really enjoyed seeing a slice of Beaufort when you live there vs. when you just pass through on a boat. It was great to get together with them, and it will definitely be a recurring event whenever we stop there.

Eventually though, we had our weather window to hop outside from Beaufort to St. Mary’s. It wasn’t a great window – some sailing at the beginning and then mostly a motorfest – but it was the best we were going to get for a while so we decided to grab it.

We timed our trip so we could ride the current out of Beaufort and the Port Royal inlet, and then ride the current back in at the St. Mary’s inlet. As predicted, we had some very nice sailing for four hours or so, and then the wind died leaving us with VERY flat seas as we motored along. It made for easy sleeping for the person who wasn’t on watch, and it felt wonderful to set the autopilot and kick back.

The only thing that could have made it more perfect was more sailing, but as the sun rose I was literally dancing behind the wheel, listening to music and feeling SO happy and content. I LOVE being off the ICW. It absolutely has its benefits, but nothing beats being outside.

We hit 8 1/2 knots of speed over ground going into the inlet at St. Mary’s (sure glad we didn’t have the current against us), and instead of making a right to go to Cumberland Island like we usually do, we kept going straight and then hung a left to St. Mary’s. Yep, we were mixing it up again, keeping it fresh and going someplace new.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we live in Beaufort, SC some day.

After spending a week at Cumberland Island waiting for the weather to clear up, we finally decided that since we were in the south with summer approaching it simply wasn’t going to happen. Time to continue moving north.

Every day the forecast called for at least a 40% chance of thunderstorms, and every day we were lucky and didn’t have any. I bought a book about cruising in Georgia for the Kindle and it looks like there are SO many areas off of the ICW to explore. Unfortunately with hurricane season approaching we couldn’t really take advantage of it, but we are armed with knowledge of some new spots we’d like to see when we make our way south again in the fall.

In the meantime we mixed it up a bit. Instead of backtracking out of the anchorage at Cumberland, we continued winding up the Brickhill River until it rejoined the ICW.

Crossing St. Simons Sound near Brunswick, GA, we could still see the car carrier that had capsized and caught on fire last September. It carried 4,000 Hyundais and Kias, and is in the process of being cut into eight pieces and removed. The goal was to have it removed by hurricane season, but it looks like there is still quite a ways to go.

Continue reading “I wouldn’t be surprised if we live in Beaufort, SC some day.” →

A new addition to our “Could we live here?” list: Beaufort, SC

Our next planned multi-day stop after leaving Georgetown, SC was Beaufort (pronounced “Byoo-fert”, unlike the one in North Carolina which is pronounced “Bo-fert”). We hopped down the South Carolina coast, stopping in anchorages each night and sometimes for more than one night for – what else? – weather delays.

**The anchorages don’t offer much in the way of wind protection in South Carolina, but they sure are pretty.**

By now we were seeing dolphins every day which is so much fun! I don’t think we’ll ever get tired of it. We also saw our first alligator! I saw what appeared to be a log in the water and pointed it out to Jeff, and then we realized that it was swimming. Wow! Unfortunately it happened too quickly to get a picture but maybe I’ll get another chance in Florida. Continue reading “A new addition to our “Could we live here?” list: Beaufort, SC” →