2012-04-27 - in Myrtle Beach, SC


We had another great day together.   Tomorrow we head back out on the ICW!


2012-04-26 - in Myrtle Beach, SC

The boys loved MagicQuest so much they had to go again.....so, we did.  After another 2 hours - Connor finally became a 'Master Magi' and got a pin for his shirt.    He was very excited.  Connor ended up spending the night at the hotel and we went back to the boat.  We will meet up one more time tomorrow before we go!

2012-04-25 - in Myrtle Beach, SC

We had a great day together at Broadway at the Beach.  We ended up hitting WonderWorks first.  This is a great spot for kids.  (So much so that there were also 200 school kids there enjoying the day!)  It was a cross between the science centre and a kids museum - lots to do.  We finally got to MagiQuest where the kids continued on their wizard journey.    Ben ended up coming back with us to spend the night at the boat. 
Dylan loved the giant bubbles

fun with interactive screens
 
Kerry points out all the great spots in the Bahamas on the large Google Earth display


Astronaut Dylan

Connor and Ben get suited up for the ropes challenge course (Kerry and I even did it!) Awesome!!!

Good times back at the boat!

2012-04-24 - to Myrtle Beach, SC


We stayed on the town dock last and were joined in the morning by another boat, 'Scandia' and a boat we were on the dock with in Beaufort a couple of days ago, 'Kajon'.  We moved off at 9:00am to catch the current/tide up the Waccammaw River.  It is a beautiful piece of the ICW with thick forest running the full length of the river.  Turtles are seen in great quantities sunning themselves on fallen logs.  Now the water has turned the colour of Cola from the vegetation falling in the water and gives Hi-5 a lovely brown moustache!  We headed to Myrtle Beach today to join up with great friends from home Joanne, Sean and their children Ben and Sarah who are on vacation.  Connor is beside himself that he finally gets to see his best bud!
After we docked we contacted Enterprise Car Rental.  They come out all the way to the marina (which is about 25 minutes away from town) so it is a great service.  They had to come right away as it was getting late in the day so we quickly packed everything up and waited for the pick up.  We are on their external dock.  It is a dock that is separated from the rest of the marina and used as an extra dock, if there isn't room for larger or wider boats in their marina.  The best thing is they give you a golf cart so that you can access it - so this was a fun addition.  We finally got our car and then headed down to the hotel to meet up with our friends.  We had a great evening together catching up.  Tomorrow we plan to meet up at Broadway at the Beach - where the kids are dying to play at MagiQuest! 


2012-04-23 - to Georgetown, SC




 After retreiving both of our anchors we were off again ready to start another day.  As usual I spent most of the day inside doing school, etc. and Kerry handled the helm.  It was very gusty today - sometimes gusting to 25 knots.  From inside, I could feel the boat pull forward, move quickly for a minute and then slow down (Kerry later said that he saw 9.5 knots during the gusts). Later in the day we actually felt the boat heel over (just a little)!  We arrived in Georgetown at 5:30pm  
searching inside a tree for Geocache #8
and decided to land at the town dock.  We were here for last Hallowe'en and had fun in the town.   Connor and I checked the geocache website and found that there were 3 geocaches that were close by.  With GPS in hand...Connor lead me to each one.  He found all 3 as well!  We are so cold now that we are all digging out our long pants, sweaters and (gasp!) socks. 

2012-04-22 - to Charleston, SC (Wappoo Creek)

We woke up, fresh and ready to go.  Kerry made a quick radio call to the first bridge that we needed to go under to ensure that they would open up on demand.  We have a lot of literature that outlines the times and restrictions of bridge openings...but, they are never as up to date as you would want.  So, a quick call ahead to check things out is necessary -  especially since there are strong currents here and you just can't wait outside the bridge for any length of time as the current will quickly sweep you towards the bridge.  All was well, the bridge opened up at 7:30am and we were off.  It drizzled off and on the entire day but, with our enclosure, we stayed nice and toasty on the inside.  (I didn't mention that the enclosure went up a couple of days ago .... a harsh reminder that we are not in warm climate anymore (we hadn't had it on for quite some time)).
 We have now settled into a routine on the boat.  Once we both get the boat going, I retire to the inside of the boat to start on the days school lessons.  Connor quickly reminded me, however, that it was the weekend and 'I'...that's me...deserved a day off.  How sweet, I thought, but seriously...we are a bit behind on a few subjects...so, we really need to fill our days with catching up.  So, I manage the boys on the inside and Kerry manages the outside.   We cross paths only to pass up lunch and I take over for brief moments in the day.  We made it just outside of Charleston harbour by 5:30pm and anchored in a small creek using the Bahamian anchoring technique (2 anchors) to prevent us from swinging in a narrow passage.  Just as we dug in and turned off the engines, the skies opened up and it poured a bit more.  We have been out of the Bahamas for almost 2 weeks now and are certainly missing the warmer weather.  We just heard tonight from another cruiser that it was snowing in Upstate New York where they are going.  yikes.  What's the rush!