Day 11, Year 10: ICW–Carolina Beach, NC to Little River, SC
Date: Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Weather: Sunny and Warm (70’s F daytime), Winds NW to SW 10-15
Latitude: 33 51.713 N
Longitude: 078 38.297 W
Total Miles Traveled: 715 Nautical Miles
Miles Traveled Today: 48 Nautical Miles
Location: R Dock, Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC, Mile 346 on the ICW

I always love it when I get to say, “We made it.” Just after 5 pm today we pulled into a slip on the R Dock here at Lightkeepers Marina with my sister Patsy and brother-in-law Joe and friends Lee and Lynda Kaufman on the dock to greet us. Lynda and Lee invited us down the dock to their boat, Sea Turtle, for an ‘anchoring’ beer and then we all went out to dinner. It was wonderful to see all of them and it feels great to be here. We consider Lightkeepers Marina to be our home away from home.

We made a last minute decision to go outside today rather than to stay in the waterway. And unexpectedly, we actually got to sail for the last part of the trip. We knew we were going to have winds right on the nose if we went outside, but the prediction was for winds of 10 knots or less. So given the option of motoring in the narrow and shallow waterway or of going outside to motorsail into light winds, we chose the latter. It felt great to be outside of the confines of the Intracoastal, and then the winds moved just enough to allow us to sail. That was the perfect way to end our passage from Cape Cod to here. I know I said in last night’s log that we would stay inside as we saw no advantage to going outside with winds against us. But I was wrong. There was great advantage, not the least of which is that it just felt good to be out there. Mark got a call from the Coastal Cancer Center at some point during the afternoon. It still feels strange to me to get phone calls when you are out sailing in the ocean. But we were glad to get this call and find that he has an appointment next Monday. We are so glad to have the appointment, but Monday is our 40th wedding anniversary. We’ll just have to figure out how to weave some fun into the trip to meet the new doctor.

I wrote my log early last night and didn’t get to mention a phone call we got from Heather, Jonah, and Ollie. Heather called to have Jonah read something to us he had written in school, but we wanted to see his writing as well, so we did a Skype video call. Jonah could barely write his first name when he started kindergarten this fall, but all of a sudden he is writing and reading back what he has written. He is so excited about it and his enthusiasm is certainly infectious. Jonah, we are so proud of you. And Ollie got to show us his Halloween costume. He is going to be a puppy dog with big, floppy ears and he looked so adorable. When we ended the call, Ollie gave the computer great big hugs and kisses. Cyber hugs and kisses never felt so good!

141021 Day 11 Passage to SC, USA–Carolina Beach to Little River