Southport, NC - Goat Island, Pasquotank River, NC - May 1-7, 2016

May 1 - Surf City, North Carolina.
Our beautiful morning motorsailing up the Cape Fear River morphed into a rainy afternoon before the sun peered out for a nice evening at anchor. Note that Kelly IV was the subject of a local drone.  We got a video of the drone which was taking a video of us!
Click here for the video we took of the drone.

Anchored at the Surf City Bridge

Kelly IV just passed this pipeline tow:  over 500 feet in length

May 2 - New River Inlet.  We passed this operation towing well over 500 feet of large, long pipes. There was a large towboat which you see pulling the pipes, along with 2 small towboats that were keeping the pipes in line.

Great sail for the entire length of Bogue Sound, north of Emerald Isle, NC!  15+ knots of breeze for the entire sound.

Bogue Sound sail, Bob at the helm

Doug's slip, Beaufort, NC

May 3 - Tied up at a wonderful slip yesterday (Thanks, Doug!) — in Beaufort, North Carolina.  Now we're letting some weather blow by before heading the short distance north to Oriental, NC.

Watching the weather clear 

This front just passed thru so now we depart for Oriental and points north.

At Oriental Harbor, tied up in a free slip.  Thank you Oriental!

Kelly IV dwarfed at the pier by a neighboring shrimp boat

An overnight visit by these two characters running back and forth on our pier.

Midnight visitors on the pier by Kelly IV

May 4 - Oriental, NC click Here to see who visited Kelly IV on the docks overnight.  We depart this morning for Belhaven, NC.


Hockey in Belhaven!  Click the image to read about proof that it's a small world!

May 6 -  After 2 nights in Belhaven, NC, Kelly IV is departing northward again. Although much cooler, the weather is forecast to be a bit less rain and fewer thunderstorms. Kelly IV's running lights are on for predawn departure.

Predawn at Belhaven, NC

Sunrise departure from Belhaven, NC

Slip at Alligator River Marina

Bob and Kelly IV and I are safe and secure in the Alligator River Marina. We're about 1 week from Annapolis.

May 7 - Our anchorage at Goat Island in the Pasquotank River, NC.

Goat Island anchorage

Savanah, GA to Southport, NC - April 24-30, 2016

April 24  Kelly IV has a new crew member! Bob Wagaman joined Kelly and I. Now I'm no longer singlehanding. :-)

Bob and Murph

April 25 - Thunderbolt Harbor.  Sunrise this morning before departure.

Thunderbolt sunrise

Noel Gasparin, guess who's sailing the ICW beside Kelly IV?

Will & Muffin aboard Antares!

First day with crew and we saw huge sea turtles, many dolphins and sailed across Port Royal Sound.  This turtle's head was as large as mine! He seemed to be at least 6 feet long.

Large sea turtle, Port Royal Sound

Factory Creek sunset

Sunset at anchor in Factory Creek. See the cargo plane that just took off from Beaufort Marine Air Station.

Beaufort sunset

Just another gorgeous sunset. — in Beaufort, South Carolina.

Our dinner after arriving in Beaufort, SC. The meal pictured is a low country favorite, frogmore stew, which contains no frogs.

April 26 – Kelly IV tied up at St. Johns Yacht Harbor, Charleston, SC

St. John's Yacht Harbor

April 27 – Bob and I played tourist in Charleston, SC today.

Sunset at St. John's Yacht Harbor

   Kelly IV safely tied up for 2 days at St. Johns Yacht Harbor, Charleston.

April 28 - We stayed in Charleston, SC for 2 nights then continued to McClellanville, SC today. Low mileage today as we departed late morning after performing some unexpected engine maintenance.  The sea water strainer was clogged and we replaced the impeller for good measure.






April 29 - Departed early from McClellanville, South Carolina.

Early morning departure from McClellanville, SC

April 29 – tied up for night at Osprey Marina, Waccamaw River, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

April 30 - Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  Bob steers Kelly IV below the cable cars in Myrtle Beach this morning.

Bob sails beneath the gondola cars

Southport, NC

April 30 - Southport, NC:  Kelly IV, Bob & I entered North Carolina today. We depart for Topsail Sound at slack tide on the 30th to avoid fighting the ebb tide in the Cape Fear River.

ICW Northbound Cruise, 962nm, April 18-May 14, 2016 (Click thru the "Newer Posts" at Bottom)

Titusville, FL to Savanah, GA - April 18-23, 2016

April 18 -

Daytona Beach

Kelly IV and I are safely anchored in the Halifax River north of the Sea Breeze Bridge in Daytona Beach. We've begun our trip north via the ICW to Annapolis, MD, ETAA (Estimated Time of APPROXIMATE Arrival) May 23.

Check out the neighboring boat in the anchorage.

Neighboring boat in Daytona Beach

BIG Fish   :-)

April 19 -

Liveaboard aground

A grounded ship used as a home and a very large fish made for interesting views today on our way north. Kelly IV is tied up in St. Augustine tonight.

Inlet Marina, St. Augustine

April 20 - Fernandina Beach, Florida.

Fernandina Beach Marina

Another Large Fish

Cool pics today: bald eagle, huge towboat, another large fish and 2 photos of freighters & marina near the anchorage for tonight.

Bald Eagle

Large Towboat                                   Fernandina Anchorage

April 21 - Yesterday was the 1st day under sail & today we had the jib raised almost all day reaching before the 15 knot southerly.

Kelly IV Sailing

Full moon over anchorage

Sunset over South Altamaha River

Full moon & sunset tonight.  Anchored in the South Altamaha River.














April 22 - Kilkenny Marina.

Kilkenny Marina

Low tide at Kilkenny

High tide at Kilkenny

The other pictures display the big tide (steep ramp), Kelly tied up for tonight and the full moon still high in the sky when we departed the South Altamaha River this morning.  You can tell from these trees that Kelly IV & I are in Georgia.

Kilkenny, GA trees

April 23 - Thunderbolt Harbor.

Bahia Marina, Thunderbolt, GA

Sunset tonight looking at Kelly IV's bow at the pier. We gain a crew member tomorrow!

College Roommate Cruises Florida - April 1-6, 2016

Rob Matthews spent four years with me as we negotiated the challenging waters of our college careers at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, IN.  We are both very proud of our Alma Mater, if not of some of our shenanigans while enrolled there.

Rob spent his first week of April visiting me in Florida, so I felt we should do a tour that included both coasts, sailing and rockets.  We drove south to Naples, then northbound along Florida's Gulf coast in hopes of finding CaptMurph's friend, Jim Clark.  Unfortunately, we missed Jim on this trip but we certainly didn't miss any watering holes!

Rob at pub view of the Peace River 

Murph with pub view of the Peace River

We enjoyed the drive along the Tamiami Trail (US 41) along the Gulf Coast and continued north after a night in Venice until we crossed the Sunshine Skyway into St. Petersburg.

We hung a left turn into St. Pete Beach to catch an old work buddy of mine who earns pocket money as a musician at the beach bars in St. Pete Beach, when he's not working his day job selling computers around the country.

Rob and Kenny at Sirata on St. Pete Beach

The evening in St. Pete concluded our Florida road trip, but not our Florida experiences.  Rob and I settled for his last couple days in Titusville where we went sailing, then visited the Kennedy Space Visitors' Center.

Rob and I sailing the Banana River

Rob steering our charter sailboat

This pic proves Rob wasn't sailing singlehanded!  :-)

This is the shuttle "Inspiration" built of wood and plastic for a tour
introducing the shuttle program.  This full size model was sitting on
 a barge waiting to be moved to its final disposition.  We sailed past on our
little boat as we went to and from the Banana River and marina.

Rob sets the perspective on just
how large the shuttle was

Rob enjoys the display of shuttle "Atlantis"

Rob "surfing" outside Fishlips restaurant

Kooser 2016

Bill braves the cold

Guy enjoys the traditional Kooser steak dinner