We Have Arrived

We departed Sanibel, Florida early last week and after a fairly quick trip across Lake Okeechobee and up the east coast, we have arrived in Ocracoke.  We made a stop in Charleston, SC to visit our best friends Ron and Robin Terry. 

Rainbow Row in downtown Charleston as seen from Southern Style as we came into the harbor

 Robin just retired in December 2020 and they moved to Charleston in February.  Keith and I were so excited to see their new home and spend some time with our friends.  We had an absolutely wonderful week and were able to get off the boat and actually stay in the house with them.  

The front door of their new home welcoming us as we arrived

From Sunday through Thursday we were social butterflies.  In addition to the Terrys, we also got to visit with their daughter Lacey and her husband Davis, his parents Scott and Carla Toney, Carla's brother Gary and his wife Lauren, and Mike and Deb who are boater friends of ours that were passing through town at the same time.  What a great crowd.  One afternoon we got everyone together and took a lunch cruise on Southern Style over to Ron and Robin's neighborhood dock.

Here is Southern Style tied up at the Terry's neighborhood dock 

View from street level in the development

We had quite a lunch spread on board thanks to Miss Robin

The lunch cruiser crew from left to right.....

Mike, Deb, Gail, Keith, Scott, Robin, and Ron.  Carla took the picture of us.

Captain Keith doing the captain thing

Ron, Robin, Keith, and I also went to visit Middleton Place Plantation one day during our visit in Charleston.  This plantation residence dates to the early 1700s.  It is located along the Ashley River near North Charleston.  The main house and approximately 500 acres was the dowry of Mary Williams in her marriage to Henry Middleton in 1741.  Henry Middleton improved the property establishing gardens and added flankers to the main house.  The north flanker contained a library with over 10,000 volumes, a music conservatory, and many paintings, prints and other artwork.  Union troops set fire to Middleton Place on February 22, 1865 burning the main house and north flanker to the ground.  The south flanker was less severely damaged by the fire and was restored by the family in 1869 to be their residence.  Today the south flanker is a museum containing many heirlooms from the family during this period.  It has been open to the public since 1975.

Front of Middleton Place (South flanker)

Rear view

Stables (they give carriage rides around some of the property)

There are numerous animals on the grounds just as the family had in the time they resided here

They had water buffalo on the Plantation as the family used these to work the rice fields

Some additional pictures of the grounds around Middleton Place

It was a great week in Charleston, but the fish were calling us back to the outer banks.  We headed north on Friday April 23rd and cruised from Charleston to Morehead City, NC.

Friday morning heading out Charleston Inlet 

The ride up to Morehead City went well and Saturday morning at 6:00 AM I left with our Jeep to catch the 7:30 AM ferry from Cedar Island to Ocracoke while Keith took Southern Style across.

Me in the Jeep squeezed onto the ferry beside a big camper

Around 9:00 AM Keith caught up to me with Southern Style.  Here he is approaching the ferry from the stern.  He is the little speck in the distance.

And here is Southern Style passing the ferry on the way to Ocracoke.

It was a cloudy, gray day with rain and wind predicted for later in the afternoon; however with the early start we both made it to Ocracoke before the weather moved in.  It is great to be back "on island".  We are excited for fishing and beaching and visiting friends here.  We will have access to a new fishing boat for the summer and I will keep y'all up to date with that in the next several posts.  It's going to be a good summer.  Stay tuned.

Back By Popular Demand

 

Hi ya’ll.  I am back from several weeks in PA.  My mom’s knee surgery went well and she is continuing to improve.  I got back to the boat in Sanibel on Wednesday, April 7.  Keith and I did a few remaining things in preparation to head north to Ocracoke for the summer.  We were able to get the oil changed on Southern Style and we put the Jeep on a car carrier heading to friends in New Bern, NC.  On Tuesday morning April 13^th we pulled out of Sanibel starting our trip to Ocracoke.

I will miss the miles of shells on Sanibel

I will not miss our resident, marina osprey screaming in the mornings at first light.

Our vacant spot at the dock in Sanibel as we pulled out Tuesday morning.

Going out the small channel leaving Sanibel Marina

Good-bye Sanibel Lighthouse

Our first day took us up the Caloosahatchee River and through two locks.  There are a total of three locks on the west side of Lake Okeechobee spaced out over about 20 miles.  The locks progressively raise the boat from sea level up to the level of the lake which is essentially in the middle of the state.

Approaching the first lock on the western side of Lake Okeechobee (the Franklin Lock)

 

Arriving at our second lock (the Ortona Lock)

Passing through the first two locks brought us into Moore Haven, FL by around 5:30PM..  They have a nice town dock along the river and we overnighted there.  

This sign near the docks reminded me to make sure to check the swim platform in the morning for visitors

I also celebrated my birthday in the evening with a birthday cake protein bar

Moore Haven put us in a good spot to pass through the last lock on the western side of the lake first thing in the morning.   Wednesday morning was pretty and we were off the dock at 7:30 AM and entering the last lock that would put us out onto Lake Okeechobee.

Beautiful morning

Look what we saw in the water on our way out to the lake

Sugar cane being burned as visible while crossing Lake Okeechobee

The trip across Okeechobee was uneventful. The lake is approximately 30 miles across and we were across in about 1 1/2 hours.   As we approached the east side and the first lock to start back down from the lake; we realized the lock was shut down for maintenance.  There were several other boats also waiting for the lock to reopen.  The lock master said it could be up to 3 hours so we threw out the anchor and waited.  Luckily it was only about two hours total and we were all off again.  There ended up being 9 boats including us waiting to pass through to the east.  This finally put us out onto the St. Lucie River and heading toward the Florida East Coast.  We thought this was the last of our delays for the day; however, when we arrived at the last lock on the river it was also having problems.  We waited an hour and finally squeezed into the lock with three other boats.  At last Southern Style was back on the east coast after a long day on the water.  We stayed at Sailfish Marina in Stuart, FL overnight. 

 We will be continuing north, stopping for several days in Charleston, SC to visit our friends the Terry's and Toney's.  Much fun is expected.  I will post again in about a week.  The plan is to get to Ocracoke by May 1st, but hopefully this brings everyone up to date.  All is well on Southern Style and we are looking forward to another summer in North Carolina.