We made it safe and sound to the marina.  The only ominous thing was that they told us that they gave away our originally reserved spot "on the inside" and now we had to tie up "on the outside."  I didn't complain because I didn't really know why it mattered.  It turns out that when you are on the outside, every stupid working boat that goes by throws off a big wake and you bounce like a ping pong ball up and down, squeaking fenders and rolling around.  If you have the option, you very much want to be "on the inside."   Dragonfly chilling "on the outside"        The marina itself is very friendly, whenever they see you making the walk back to shore, they offer to give you a ride in the golf cart and they have the basic sailor supplies (wine, beer and bottled water) at the office.  They will handle packages and they are absolutely fanatical about taking any empty cart you leave on the dock even if...

       Our final leg is from Georgetown,SC to Charleston, SC. We had been watching the weather closely and we had a pretty good idea it would be either one day or the next for about 6 days. Unfortunately, we didn’t communicate our desires so well and the marina gave up our slip the day before we preferred to leave. The distance between the two cities was just a bit awkward and the daylight hours too few, so we were going to need to arise before dawn and make our way out of the harbor in the darkness anyhow. We talked to some locals and figured out that there was a very nice anchorage just at the mouth of Winyah Bay, so in a way the marina did us a favor. We headed out in the afternoon and made our way to just inside the bay, where we’d be able to reach the ocean in just 30 minutes instead of 2 hours. We had an uneventful journey to the anchorage. However, when Lisa went forward to drop the anchor, she reported that the windlass was unresponsive and she cou...

      Georgetown, SC is another boat-centric little harbor town.  In some ways it reminds one of Beaufort, NC but not in others.  There is more of an actual town other than the waterfront and some industrial factory type buildings surround the harbor.  It has a quaint little waterside strip with a boardwalk and we enjoyed our time there, but given a choice, I'd say I'd rather spend more time in Beaufort.  Its also quite a distance from the ocean to the town, such that it adds a lot of time to get up into the docks. The Georgetown historic waterfront district      We did meet some very nice folks.  There was a guy who had a little gourmet store and a separate cupcake shop that we met who was trying to figure out how to be more helpful to yachties.  He offered to drive us around to the grocery or any other provisions we needed and gave us the lowdown on where to eat and where to avoid.  Dining was a bit uneven...

       A lot of what I learned about sailing in classes and from YouTube and from my prior sailing experiences is a list of things I’d rather avoid. I don’t like sailing into the wind, I don’t like when there is far too much wind, I don’t like when there isn’t nearly enough wind, I don’t like coming into a new harbor in the dark, I don’t like sailing out of a narrow and confusing channel at low tide, I’d prefer to avoid really heavy cross current, etc. The problem when you have a collection of rules is that sometimes the rules come into conflict and you have to pick which one you care more about. This is made more complex when there are a lot of these rules, to be sure. However, even a very simple rules system often runs afoul of itself. The best example I can recall is when we were in Alaska watching grizzly bears gorge themselves on salmon. There was a mandatory bear safety course, from which we both graduated with honors and received a shiny pin to prov...

      Our next trip south was a very easy hop down the North Carolina coast to a beach town called Carolina Beach.  It had a pretty protected harbor, the only real downside was that it was a bit of a long haul from the ocean to the spot where we stopped.  It was one of the easiest trips I've ever made.  We could do the entire journey in a single day and the seas were as calm as could be. Barely even a wrinkle of the surface of the Atlantic today We did have one technical problem where the wind gauge refused to indicate anything.  Because there are so many redundant systems, we could see the correct wind speed and direction on several other displays throughout the boat, just not on the main one you use at the helm.  This wasn't really a problem because the win was like 2 knots, so we were motoring anyhow.  But it was one more thing to add to my to-do list.  Fortunately I "fixed" it by rebooting because the next time I turned eve...

      Beaufort is a really charming little seaside town.  It is quite well known to sailors because when you are heading north towards Cape Hatteras, it is the last chance you have to duck into harbor and wait for favorable weather before you try to round the cape.  Of course, when you have just completed passing through from the north, it is also the first place you can stop safely.  We were more than ready for a break from the cold and lumpy sea and a storm was rolling over later in the day once we landed. Beaufort is really very charming and lies oh so close to the ocean.      It is quite possible to anchor and avoid paying the marina fees, but we were happy to have a secure spot and didn't regret paying the fees.  There is a fantastic entrepreneur who has converted one building into a restaurant, a pizzeria, a craft cocktail bar, and a shop with ice cream and wine and beer.  Pretty much everything a sailor could w...