Great Loop Adventure

Great Loop Adventure Solomons MD Days 179-181

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This is only our third stop in the Chesapeake but one thing is really clear – it’s very boaty here!!! Yes, Boaty is a word in my dictionary. Here in Solomons, boaty is an understatement.

Can you even imagine the escapades that would have happened if Lucy and Ethel had done the Great Loop!

There isn’t one area around Back Creek, which is quite big, that there isn’t a marina or a boat yard. Solomons even has a Yacht Club which hosts Loopers – except for this weekend of course. But no worries, we found funky Beacon Marina run by Captain John to be very welcoming and he even gave us a very nice AGLCA discount. Captain John and his wife are also planning to do the great loop in a few years and he really enjoys chatting with loopers.

Marinas are like hotels in that some are basic no frills, like a Holiday Inn Express and some are high end like a Ritz Carlton. We tend to go for no frills but sometimes it’s nice to splurge, which is what we are likely to do in NYC. Who doesn’t want to stay at the marina across the river from NYC with crazy beautiful views of the skyline and a ferry right into Manhattan!!!


Our cruise from Kilmarnock Virginia to Solomons Maryland was 53.1 nm and a bit sportier than all the reports indicated. Those dang weather gnomes were at it again.

Escapade handled it well but the wind on our beam makes for a bit of a rolly ride plus we had some rain to make it more interesting! We did get her up on plane for a bit to work the engines. I told Wally to look out the back of the boat to see the dollars flying out the exhaust!

At 10 knots, the boat is fairly economical and burns about 8 gallons a hour… as you can see from the cruise report below, we run at 10 knots most of the time. At 16 knots, we are burning about 25 gallons an hour. Do the math, the break even for time vs fuel burn definitely isn’t at 16 knots. That said, sometimes we need to get up and go or just work the engines a bit harder.

53 nm in rolly conditions is tiring so when we got into Beacon Marina in Solomons on Friday, we took a walk, chatted with some fellow loopers and just relaxed later with a glass of wine.

Saturday was dreary and rainy… almost all day. So while Wally did inside projects, I placed a Harris Teeter Instacart grocery order and did some trip planning for north end of the Chesapeake.

Instacart is awesome, go online, fill up your virtual grocery cart and schedule the delivery. Boom, done! 99% of the time I am very happy with the shoppers and the quality of produce they pick out for me. My shopper Brenda who is a lifelong local in the Solomons area was a great communicator and delivered the grocery’s right to the marina parking lot. All I had to do was put on a rain jacket, walk up and get the bags. The app tells you when they are shopping, you can discuss a substitute if your first pick isn’t available, when they have checked out and their arrival ETA.

Wally worked on getting our Boston Whaler, Hyjinks recommissioned. It is our tender for Escapade and it rides snuggly on top of the back of the flybridge. We have a lift to get it off there and into the water. Turns out the original battery that came with it passed away over the winter (not sure how this happens but things on a boat can be mysterious). No fear, the Napa Auto part store 3 miles away had the exact marine battery we needed. Bummer was, it was raining and a trip on the ebike with a 40lb battery strapped to the cargo rack seemed dicey.

Well, Kim St. Laurent, AGLCA Harbor Host extraordinaire came to the rescue and drove Wally there and back. What is a Harbor Host??? Harbor Hosts are volunteers who lend a helping hand to other Loopers as they pass through their home ports.  Members in need of local knowledge or assistance, or who just want to say hello to a Harbor Host on their way through, reach out via phone or email. Harbor Hosts provide advice and information on local services and things to see and do.  Some go above and beyond by offering rides for provisioning, or will meet you at a marina to enjoy Docktails.  Many Harbor Hosts have also provided written Harbor Guides about their areas. This is just another example of the great support we loopers get from the AGLCA.

We had a great time chatting after the parts run and I gave Kim a tour of Escapade. Kim is planning to do the Great loop in 2030. She is enjoying meeting Loopers and learning about the lifestyle – THANK YOU KIM!!!!!


The history here on the Chesapeake is fascinating and I am so glad I read the James Michener book “Chesapeake” before we started our cruise in this area. Reading any Michener is a commitment and he can be very verbose but the history in his books is solid and he has a gift of bringing you right into it the lives of people and places he wrote about.

We spent Sunday morning at the Calvert Marine Museum where pre-history, natural history, and maritime heritage come together to tell a unique story of the Chesapeake Bay. This is a wonderful museum, located in Solomons, Maryland, at the mouth of the Patuxent River. It offers an aquarium, live animals, fossils, interactive exhibits, daily activities, and a furnished cottage-style lighthouse which you can tour. I love the aquarium exhibits and the seahorses were so cool!

Okay, how cool is that!
This is a white Snapping Turtle… boy did he snap up the dead mouse they offered him for breakfast!

The natural resources in and around the Chesapeake Bay were incredible in the day, so many waterman made a living on the bay and some still do. Work hard, play hard… this is evident in history of the bay as well. Showboats plied the bay and offered entertainment of all kinds!

It was very easy to spend the entire morning in this museum and I felt myself being drawn back to the book Chesapeake over and over. I love that feeling of being pulled back into the history of an area and the way things resonate in a place like this museum.





This area of the Chesapeake is rich with fossils and the Calvert Cliffs have yielded some amazing finds. The skeletal remains of such land fauna as tapirs, mastodons, rhinoceros, horses, and dogs have been found here.


The Drum Point Lighthouse which now resides at the Museum was fascinating.. I don’t think I have ever been in a cottage style light house. It is beautifully restored and seemed cozy, until the docent told stories about the second level kitchen being flooded when the windows were blown out in a fierce storm.

This screwpile, cottage-type light is only one of three remaining from forty-five that once served the Chesapeake Bay at the beginning of the twentieth century.  Decommissioned in 1962, the lighthouse fell victim to vandals until moved to its present site in 1975. Beautifully restored, complete with furnishings of the early twentieth century, it has become the waterfront’s main attraction and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.



After our delightful stroll back in time at the museum, we took a walk to Solomons Island, stopping along the way for lunch at the CD Cafe. The food delicious and the strawberry mimosas were very refreshing.


To walk off a bit of our lunch, we continued on foot seeing some interesting old homes, loads more boats, the happening Tiki Bar, a fox and a water snake! Not a dull walk. Strolling the boardwalk along the Patuxent was a lovely way to meander back to the marina.

We enjoyed our final evening in Solomons with a light dinner and glass of wine on the flybridge. Water fowl and birds were abundant, the water was like glass as the sun slowly crept into the horizon.

Next Stop…. Annapolis Maryland.

Great Loop Adventure Charleston to Myrtle Beach SC – Day 48 – 54

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Since leaving Charleston SC we’ve done a series of short cruises stopping at a mix of small rural marinas and small town marinas. We are currently in Myrtle Beach at the Barefoot Marina. So far on the loop, I would say this last stop is my least favorite. It’s very commercial and touristy here… over priced restaurants with mediocre food, arcades and loads of people. MEH, Just not my cup of tea.

Took this video heading out through Elliot Cut which takes you to Charleston Harbor.

More pictures in the Elliot Cut and of the Charleston Harbor.

Leland Marina in McCellanville was our first stop after leaving Charleston. It’s rustic… fuel, docks, power and water but no other real amenities. It was also $80 a night – PERFECT. There is also a small restaurant within walking distance (we did not go but others have said it was good) and some great places to buy local shrimp. I loved the sunset from the flybridge and seeing all the shrimp boats coming and going.

We had front row seats to this cool birdie ballet show on our cruise to McCellanville

Over the years the village of McCellanville would become known for growing a great variety of produce, the distillation of salt during the Civil War, timber harvesting, the production turpentine and tar, and in recent years, harvesting of its famous Bull’s Bay oysters, clams and shrimp.

Our next stop was at Harborwalk Marina in Georgetown, SC. We had a great spot on the outside dock where we could see all the boats come and go and watch the glorious sunsets. Just across the street from the marina is a lovely, tree lined residential area full of beautiful old homes, some dating back to the early 1700’s. We got a walking map from the visitors center that listed all the historical homes and any known historical information.

The harbor walk takes you along the quaint historically district and right next door to the marina is an awesome fresh seafood vendor. Yep, more fresh shrimp!!!

Met these two dudes while we were out walking.

Wacca Wache Marina which is near Murrells Inlet was our next stop after Georgetow. This one nighter was definitely one of my favorite stops so far. Sitting in a beautiful stretch of the Waccamaw River, this small rural marina is a slice of boating paradise. The onsite restaurant overlooks the river and is the ideal place to relax and enjoy a leisurely lunch.

We really enjoyed getting the kayaks off the boat and paddling the numerous creeks around the marina. We found an area where there is a Great Blue Heron rookery. Talk about noisy!!! The adults are squawking and the chicks are beeping for food. I saw two big nests and there were loads of herons in the surrounding area, protecting the rookery. It’s fascinating as usually herons are quite solitary but during nesting season they band together to protect the babes. So sweet!

Turn up your volume to hear the heron’s chattering.

I also got to meet Charlie, the resident alligator at Waccha Wache Marina while kayaking. He was sunning up on the bank inside the marina basin when I spotted him. I might have yelled at Wally – “alligator”!!! This woke Old Charlie up and he proceed to charged right down the bank and back into the water, lighting fast. WEEHA… Literally, right in front of me – YIKES!!! Wow, did I paddle fast to get away from there. I don’t like alligators… nope, not one little bit.

The cruise from Leland Marina to just outside Myrtle Beach was gorgeous … the topography had really changed. Still low country, with marshes and abandon rice fields but in this section the cypress trees are lining the water creating a beautiful, mysterious affect. I saw loads of Osprey nests and saw one Osprey carrying a huge fish back its nest. That family of birds ate well! It was a privilege to be cruising this beautiful area most of the day with no other boats. Well until Myrtle Beach… then the bloom fell right off the rose.

The picture with the sign number 385 is actually an old ICW mile marker.

The intent was to make it a one night stop in MEH Myrtle Beach just to break up a long section of the cruise to Southport NC but it turned into a 2 night stop to wait out the rising wind. This part of the ICW is all man made and is really just a big ditch that was blasted out with dynamite. When we leave Barefoot Marina, the well know 3 mile rock pile starts and the rock ledge that lines the canal in this portion is somewhat narrow and very unforgiving. If one stays in the main channel, all is well. Stray out of it and your running gear and props could get damaged. With that in mind, we did not want to cruise this portion of the ICW with gusty strong wind.

We have really loved South Carolina, the waterways, the history and the people have a special place in my heart. This will be our last stop in South Carolina … Next stop Southport NC.

Just an FYI for all of you following our Great Loop Adventure, I created a private FB Group called Escapade on the Loop. I am posting there almost daily. If you would like to hop onboard Escapade and join the group, here is a link you can follow. https://m.facebook.com/groups/169381679353553/?ref=share

Also, can you let me know if you are NOT receiving notifications via email when new posts are published. A few people have let me know that they are not receiving email notifications anymore. If you have a word press reader, you can change the settings to receive email updates but I am not sure why the auto updates are not happening anymore.

Great Loop Adventure Day 26 thru 28 – Beautiful Beaufort

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Beaufort SC has all the charm of a fine southern lady and was a delightful three day stop for the crew on Escapade. We stayed at the Safe Harbor City Marina which was the perfect place to see all of the historical areas and stroll along the pretty waterfront.

The marina itself was adequate as far as facilities, the docks are a bit long in the tooth but the marina has all of the basic amenities such as a fuel dock, pump out, restrooms, showers, laundry area and a ships store. The staff are all great and the location is perfect, so no car is necessary to explore all the historical parts of town. We were also happy to be put on the end of the outer dock… it was a bit windy when we came in but Captain Wally did an excellent job of turning us in to the current and the wind pushed us right onto the dock. We also had the best view in the marina…PERFECT!!!

Escapade sitting on the outer dock

And explore we did… the highlight of our stay was a 2.5 hour walking tour with Janet. One of the friendliest and most knowledgeable guides I have ever toured with! Janet has a witty sense of humor and makes the history of Beaufort so much fun and so interesting. You can’t help but get caught up in her enthusiasm for Beaufort and it was perfect to do her tour on our first full day there. I had no idea what an important role that Beaufort played in the revolutionary and civil wars.

The area had been subject to numerous European explorations and several aborted attempts at colonization. Scottish immigrants founded the short-lived “Stuart Town” in 1684 and the British successfully founded the city of Beaufort in 1711, the second-oldest in South Carolina (behind Charleston). The city initially grew slowly, subject to numerous attacks from Native Americans before flourishing as a regional center for the Lowcountry plantation economy up through the Civil War. The community rebounded in the later half of the 20th century and is today recognized as one of the most livable small towns in the country.

Beaufort has retained much of its historic character through its renowned architecture and historic preservation efforts. We also toured the John Mark Verdier House , walked by the house where the Big Chill was filmed and just enjoyed strolling the oak lined streets and seeing all the beautiful antebellum houses. These beautiful homes are tucked into winding, historic streets framed by natural foliage and centuries-old, moss-draped live oak trees. Beaufort is definitely a low country gem.

Beaufort is home to several beautiful antebellum homes that take you back in time to a different era in our history. Each of the popular spots are as unique as the owners who originally built them, and a few stand out as much as Tidalholm, perhaps Beaufort’s most popular historic home.

Tidalholm was built in 1853 by Edgar Fripp. The Fripp family owned a great deal of property in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Some of the Fripp plantations on St. Helena Island that were mentioned in records during the Civil War included Oliver Fripp’s plantation, Thomas Fripp’s plantation, Hamilton Fripp’s plantation and John Fripp’s plantation that was also named ‘Big House’.

Fripp reportedly built Tidalholm to use as his “summah” home when the heat and mosquitoes made life at his plantation home on St. Helena Island intolerable. Apparently, most notable plantation owners had summer homes in Beaufort. Before the Civil War broke out he sold the house to his brother, James Fripp.

In November 1861, Union Navy and Army troops invaded Port Royal and most of Beaufort County subsequently was occupied by Union forces. Owners and overseers fled area plantations in the wake of the oncoming Union troops, and thousands of slaves were then free. During the war, Tidalholm served as Union Hospital #7 dedicated to the treatment of officers of the occupying Union Army.

According to local lore, when James Fripp returned to Beaufort after the war he arrived just as the house was being sold for unpaid taxes by the U.S. Tax Commission, but Fripp was not able to bid on the house due to his current financial situation. Then, a Frenchman who had been living in the area and who was sympathetic to the plight of the South in the war, purchased the house and is said to have walked over to the former owner, presented him with the deed, kissed him on both of his cheeks and walked away. It’s said that the kind Frenchman returned to France before Mr. Fripp had a chance to repay him.

Over the years, the private residence was used as a summer retreat by Fripp and his family. It was also used as a guest house from the 1930s until 1974 with many artists, authors, professors, and statesmen staying there.

Hollywood came knocking in the late 1970s and Tidalholm went on to become the setting for the films The Big Chill and the Great Santini; which is why many of the locals here in the Beaufort area also refer to Tidalholm as ‘The Big Chill House’.

Beaufort has no shortage of great restaurants and cute shops to pop into. We had a great dinner at Saltus, and delicious lunches at Wren and the Low Country Produce Company.

We spent the evenings on the flybridge of Escapade with our friends Ken and Joyce, sipping wine, enjoying dinner, playing Five Crowns and catching up. We really appreciate our friends who are willing to travel to find us and stay onboard Escapade to share our adventure. I hope we didn’t get to many demerits for the hot water incident!!!

Of course, no stop is complete with out a few boat projects… the hot water heater thermostat went out but Captain Handy aka Wally found the part locally and rode his bike there to get it. Never a dull moment on a boat!

The Beaufort waterfront is beautiful day and night… such a great place to stroll or relax on one of the swinging chairs for awhile.

Next stop Charleston SC.