We stayed in a marina on Lady’s Island for a few days and Maggie and I decided to take advantage of the nice air-conditioned lounge which had room for us to do some Pilates and weights. I was in the throes of lifting my weights when mum and two cubs appeared, racoons. We must have watched them for about 10 minutes. Mum wanted them to go down underneath the pontoon but the two little ones didn’t have long enough legs to be able to reach down to the next rung. So, in the end mum literally, got them by the scruff of the neck and took them down.
There are a lot of big cars and trucks here but this was a bit of a surprise when you park up next to this. It looks like something out of the space age or something one of the kids would draw, all square Tesler !
Beaufort, South Carolina (there’s also one in North Carolina) hold a Dragon boat racing festival every year which is an all-volunteer non-profit organization dedicated to assisting cancer patients who live, work, or receive treatment in Beaufort County.
We wanted to be somewhere for the 4th July, Independence Day, as this is a big celebration. 4th July commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, declaring the thirteen American colonies’ separation from Great Britain. We decided on Southport, North Carolina. They had a parade and then music, food stalls and of course fireworks.
We had to start moving north pretty rapidly, as we wanted to get to Canada and arrive before it gets too cold. We were behind schedule so that meant long days. Going through the Inter Coastal Waterway has many different views, you go through some areas where it is green, others where it is full of houses and jet skis and pesky speed boats who send you rocking from side to side.
Rather than go outside into the Atlantic we decided we’d go along the New Jersey Inter Coastal Waterway which is very narrow and shallow depths so you have to pay close attention. We arrived at Margate Bridge and asked for a lift time. We were told we can open for you but unless you have less than nine feet vertical clearance you won’t get through the next bridge. The Dorset Bridge was broken and there was no estimated time for repair. So after very little debate between us and Colin and Maggie on Serafina we turned around, thankfully not too far to go and weather conditions were ok, to the inlet out into the Atlantic. Someone else had been listening to us on the VHS radio and asked “is that the BBC on here?” We never thought anyone would think we sounded like the BBC!!
Our next stop was going to be New York. This is something of a pinch you moment when you see the New York skyline coming into view. As you would expect marinas in New York require a mortgage, there are no anchorages so we opted for a mooring buoy on Staten Island at a yacht club. We have a lovely Sunday afternoon with a couple of drinks chatting to the locals. You know you are near a city as there was public transport, buses, trains and ferries. We took the bus to the local shopping mall and found none other than Lidl!!
To get into New York we walked to the train station and took the train to the Staten Island Ferry. We were told by one of the Yacht Club members you must take the ferry, as it’s the only thing that is free in New York. The ferry takes you into the financial district of Manhattan which is where the 9-11 Museum is. The last time we came to New York it was two years after 9/11 and there was nothing at Ground Zero. The museum was definitely worth visiting and was very well put together.
We left Staten Island and made our way up the East River which was amazing to be seeing all the iconic buildings along the way. We had to get our timings right to go through Hells gate which can have currents up to 5 knots.
We hopped along the coast making our way to the Cape Cod Canal, again a strong current. The Canal is about seven miles long and took no time at all to get through with a max speed of 11 knots, woohoo!! It was a lovely sunny day at the entrance and thick fog at the end of it.
July 2025