Showing posts with label South Carolina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Carolina. Show all posts

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Little River, South Carolina

We traveled 24 NM's today in a flotilla of four boats from Osprey Marina to the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club in Little River, SC.  Another perfect weather day to cruise up the ICW.  The Myrtle Beach Yacht Club hosted a poolside welcoming party to all of us, Loopers, in port today!  Then, we were all invited to the Private Commodore's Kentucky Derby Party!



Swing bridge opened for our convoy


Garmin chill'in


Many more golf courses along the waterway


Gondolas over the ICW


Governors Lighthouse, Little River, SC 


At port, our view from out boat,  Myrtle Beach Yacht Club


Garmin enjoying the balcony view at the Private Commodore's Kentucky Derby Party at Myrtle Beach Yacht Club


Sunset after a great day

Friday, May 1, 2015

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina - Day 4

Garmin hosted a dock 'play-aboard-my-aft deck' play date with his new buddy, Dylan!




Dylan wants a biscuit!

Who knew?!

The Intra-coastal waterway was originally built in order to be used as a secret passageway during WWII.

Myrtle Beach’s Kings Highway was an Indian trail long before European settlers arrived in the New World.  As the colonies grew, that Indian trail became the main route between north states and southern cities.

George Washington toured the area in 1791, while he was president.

Myrtle Beach’s first hotel was the Seaside Inn, built in 1901 at a cost of $3,813 for materials and labor. At first, the hotel had no plumbing or electricity and you could get three meals and an overnight stay for just $2.

There are 295.79 miles of streets inside the Myrtle Beach city limits.  That’s 1,561,782.40 linear feet, if you’re counting.

The city of Myrtle Beach has an ordinance that requires you to pre-pay for gasoline.

It is illegal for a driver to leave the engine running in an unattended vehicle or to leave the key in the ignition when leaving a vehicle unoccupied.

The city’s official reptile is the Loggerhead Sea turtle.

The number of golf courses along the Grand Strand now totals around 120.

Myrtle Beach is the birth place of Wheel of Fortune hostess, Vanna White.

Myrtle Beach received its name after the Sweet Myrtle (Crepe Myrtle) tree native to the area.

The dance called, 'The Shag" was thought to have originated on Ocean Drive in the 40's. It began as an attempt to do the Jitterbug but the Jitterbuggers had drank too much so the slowed-down version of this became known as "The Shag".

Oceanfront lots in Myrtle Beach were $25 in 1905. If you built a property for at least $500 you received a second lot for free.

The first people to arrive in Myrtle Beach were a group of Spaniards from Hispaniola in 1526 who established the first European settlement 30 miles south of the beach town called San Miguel de Cauldape; however it was abandoned one year later when the settlers returned to their homeland.

Myrtle Beach’s population is approximately 30,000 during the winter months and 350,000 during the summer.

Boiled peanuts are the official state snack food offered roadside May through November. 

There are over 1,400 restaurants in the area.


Thursday, April 30, 2015

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina - Day 3

We enjoyed the Boardwalk on The Grand Strand and the beach with friends!












Moe Moon''s for lunch.


Local law enforcement on a golf cart, now that's tough?!


Nice evening at port after a great day! The forecast was for rain and it turned out to be a perfect weather day to enjoy the beach and board-walk!

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Historic Charleston, South Carolina - Day 3

We ventured out this morning and visited the Historic Angel Oak Tree which is the oldest living tree east of the Rocky Mountains.


This Oak Tree is approximately 1,500 years old.


Beautiful drive.


Our Courtesy Car was a lovely Hyundai Tucson SUV

We then took a cab with our awesome friends to the Historic District, Downtown Charleston, SC. We enjoyed walking the streets through downtown,the river walk, and Battery Park.





Garmin did NOT like the horses on the horse drawn carriages today.  His first time ever knowing horses existed. 




Pineapple "Hospitality" Fountain



Transportation paid for by us and friends, provided by a local Cab company.


Docktails aboard our boat this evening and we so appreciate our new friends spending their time with us today exploring Charleston and then joining us aboard for some fun moments. Garmin did much better getting acquainted with Dylan, Craig and Donna's adorable dog.


Sunset as the winds are beginning to kick up.







Saturday, April 25, 2015

Charleston, South Carolina - Day 2

Rainy weather allowed us time to give our vessel some TLC.  Worked hard all day to keep her polished and spiffy clean both inside and out in between rain bands.



We did christen our new marine Magma gas grill with it's new custom bow rail stand/support that Lamb's Yacht Center custom built for us.


Best she may ever look, as all the salt water does take a beating on all our equipment over time no matter the maintenance. This grill, along with my Masterbuilt Electric Smoker, should keep us living as normal as possible.  We do love our smoked and grilled food! Several people have already inquired about how we have these cooking options in place.  My guess is they followed their nose to our boat while salivating! 


Grilling up some German Brat's with sauerkraut along with balsamic cucumber salad.



Who knew?!

The first shots to be fired in the Civil War came from Citadel cadets stationed on Morris Island, just west of the Charleston peninsula.

A flotilla of three small ships carrying 148 English men and women sailed into a harbor on the SC coast in April 1670 and established the settlement of Charles Town, named for King Charles II.

The Carolina Golf Club was established in 1786, thus becoming the site of the first golf course in the United States.

A sea captain would spear a pineapple to his fence post to let friends know he was home safely and to please visit so he could regale his guests with tales of the high seas. The pineapple today is a symbol of hospitality.
As early as the 1700’s, Limners (Traveling Artists) flocked to Charleston. Many were portrait painters like Samuel Morse, who eventually threw in the brush and invented Morse code.
Dr. Alexander Garden, a Charleston physician first imported “Cape Jasmine” from South Africa in about 1754. The flower was renamed Gardenia after Dr. Garden.
After the Civil War, it is said that the North donated black paint to spruce things up. But black was Yankee paint so they found mixing two parts Yankee black and one part Rebel yellow produced the signature Charleston dark green.
White Point Gardens, located in the Battery of downtown Charleston, derived its name from the English as far back as the 1670s due to the whiteness of the oyster shells that could be seen as they sailed by.

Although Georgia is commonly called the Peach State, the state of South Carolina is actually the largest producer of that fruit in the South.

Charleston was the first city in America to have a theatre.  The Dock Street Theatre, built in 1736, still exists today and is said to be one of the most haunted buildings in the city.

The historic district of the city has over 2,000 preserved and restored buildings.  More than 70 are from the pre-Revolutionary War era; over 130 dating from the 1700s and about 600 from the early 1800s.

Founded in 1773, The Charleston Museum is considered to be the country’s oldest municipal museum.

With construction completed in 1761, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church is credited as being the first church in the city.

Charleston boasts the first public college in the U.S.
George Gershwin composed his well-known opera Porgy and Bess while living on Folly Beach, SC. Porgy and Bess are buried in the James Island Presbyterian Church graveyard.
North America’s longest cable-stayed bridge spans the Charleston Harbor. The Arthur J. Ravenel Jr. Bridge connects historic Charleston and Mount Pleasant, SC.
The salamander was given the honor of official state amphibian.
South Carolina entered the Union on May 23, 1788, and became the eighth state.
The state dance of South Carolina is the Shag!
Before being known as the Palmetto State, South Carolina was known as, and had emblazoned on its license plates, the Iodine State.
Charleston calls itself the “Holy City” because of its many places of worship and skyline full of church steeples.
South Carolina was the first to secede from the Union and thus the federal postal system so; it had to print its own money and postage stamps.
Charleston’s first woman newspaper editor and publisher was Mrs. Elizabeth Timothy in 1739.
Charleston is the seventh largest container port in the U.S.
African slaves in the low-country created a language and culture they called Gullah. The word may have come from the Gola or Gora Tribes in Angola. The language was made official in 1939 and is creole-based with English as its main base.
The city’s first baseball team was the Sea Gulls, established in 1886, and now called the Charleston Riverdogs. Part owner and director of fun is actor Bill Murray.
The old city market was first a meat market. Buzzards “Charleston’s Eagle” once trolled the market for meat scraps and kept the place clean and were protected by law.
The Isle of Palms was originally named Hunting Island and then Long Island, it’s thought to be at least 25,000 years old, and was first inhabited by the indigenous Seewee Indians.

A few interesting boats here, pictures taken yesterday....



St. John's Fire Rescue Boat


Funky boat


Owners must be Cajun! (My Cajun family and friends will understand dat)

Friday, April 24, 2015

Charleston, South Carolina

We traveled 60 NM today under cloudless skies. The water depths on the ICW were deeper than the previous days of travel which made our navigating more relaxing.


Swing Bridge leaving Downtown Marina Beaufort, South Carolina


Narrow Channel but depths were 10' +


This is becoming expected of him.....


Oak trees.....


Palm trees...


Oak trees and Spanish moss......


Love these guys.....


...and Garmin smelled them...he finally woke up for a few minutes...


At port, St. John's Yacht Harbor, Charleston, South Carolina


Enjoyed time with fellow "Loopers" and Facebook "Live Aboard Group" new friends at port!
Dan, Janice, Craig, and Donna (and Dylan)....a great group of people!