Just Ducky

Just Keep on Movin’, Movin’, Movin’…

Just Ducky on the waterway in Little River, SC

If you are reading this, you have found our new blog. Mat spent many hours putting this all together and I love what he did. He’s my favorite techie! Hope you enjoy it and give us comments so we can improve it or just bask in the afterglow of your compliments.

The last time we chatted, we were in Savannah, GA and now 16 days later, slowly but steadily Just Ducky is about to enter Virginia tomorrow. Not bad for us slow pokes who have been held up more times than I want to count for stormy, windy weather. Everyone, either natives to the area or snow birds, have commented on how unsteady and out of character the weather has been for this time of year. North winds should have crossed over to gentle southerlies by now.

We did have the opportunity to visit Charleston, my personal favorite, on the way home. We stayed outside of the city at one of the best marinas we have ever stayed in. They were ½ hour outside of Charleston, but drove us into the city for the day. St John’s Yacht Basin, if anyone is headed that way. When you have been on the road (water) for as long as we have we appreciate all the things we take for granted at home, like clean, hot showers, shower stalls not erected for pigmies, availability of fresh fruit and veggies and the hopefully close-by liquor store. Not necessarily in that order. Again, I digress. We toured Charleston in an open horse-drawn carriage and had the best southern vitals in the Low Country Café.

Since going out into the ocean was out of the question with sustained waves of 6-7 feet, we tackled the low water in McClellanville in the ICW. We used the high tide to go through, followed the magenta line and we were golden. Actually, that’s the “we” that means Mat did the work and I watched. We all have our strengths.

We stopped in Little River, SC to visit with friends we met in Marathon, Jane, Dave, Mary and Larry. Jane and Dave had us overnight and it was the first real bed we have slept in since we were in Texas for Christmas. And it was king size!! It poured rain while were there and it was fortunate that we had not planned on moving that day anyway. Dave took pictures of Just Ducky as we passed in front of their house; what a great location on the ICW they have. Mary and Larry gave us use of their unoccupied slip at the marina. Thanks to all of our South Carolina friends.

We had planned to visit with our friend Mark in Wrightsville Beach, but he was in Kansas City as we arrived, so unfortunately it didn’t work out.

The last time we were in Morehead City, the tail-end of hurricane Tammy (’05) and 30-50-mile an hour winds kept us there rocking at the dock for a few days. I think we are the only folks that remember the effects of Tammy. Having said that, we arrive in Morehead City and the next day the winds started howling and blowing like crazy. Déjà Vous all over again!! One boat came in from the ocean with both his sails in tatters as well as a broken gooseneck that attaches the boom to the mast. We took down our bimini and awning just to be sure we wouldn’t have any canvas damage. We didn’t get a chance to leave Morehead City until late morning and had a rough ride up the Neuse River. This is the part of the trip that requires passage through 4 large rivers or sounds with direct access from the Atlantic. So we had it rough on the Neuse, not too bad on the Pamlico, so-so on the Pungo and wonderful on the Albemarle. one out of 4 ain’t bad!

We have seen that the days start out nice and with little wind, so our strategy right now has been to leave very early, 6:30 or so, and be at our destination before the storms hit. So far, it is working well except when we got to Belhaven and the skies opened up as soon as we wanted to dock at the marina. The timing still needs some work… But, on the bright side, we did see a couple of rainbows.

Oddly enough the weather seems to be warming up as we move north. I know it’s not logical, but it really is. My layers of clothing are diminishing and that is a good sign. I even had shorts on for a few hours yesterday. We are in Coinjock, NC which is the last stop for us in North Carolina. They seem to be famous for their 32oz prime rib, but we are opting for the 16oz and will be sharing it. I don’t think I want to even picture the person who can eat the 32oz by himself.

After passing through the lock in Great Bridge, we will be meeting up with some friends in Hampton, VA tomorrow and then will start our trip up the Chesapeake Bay, down the Delaware River, up the coast of New Jersey and through Manhattan that will lead us back to the Long Island Sound. It sounds like a lot, about 700 more miles, but we are up for it. It’s truly been a great trip.

More to come…