Second Wind on the Great Loop and Beyond

Sunday, April 15. The wind is howling, just as it did throughout the night, with gusts to 50-plus mph. More wind and thunderstorms are on the way. But we are relatively safe and secure on our boat, which is tightly tied up to the Charleston City Marina MegaDock. The water looks wicked -- confused seas, whitecaps, and spray -- so we’re glad we aren’t anchored out. Bob and I drove back to Charleston on Thursday, the 12th, stopping for a too short lunch with daughter Susan in Atlanta.

Shortly after we arrived, a cruise ship pulled up to the other side of the dock. It was the American Spirit from American Cruise lines, getting ready to take on passengers for a week’s cruise down the Intercoastal Waterway. They were going to the places we’ve been only recently: Beaufort, Savannah, Hilton Head, and Jacksonville. The ship holds about 50 people, and they do tours of Maine and points north in the summer; South Carolina and Florida in the summer. Might be a fun way to see some of the northern waterways that we will miss on our route. Anyway, they dwarfed us! We looked like a peanut beside an elephant.

We’ve spent the past couple of days trying to find storage for all STUFF we brought from home: clothes (mostly mine) and new equipment (mostly Bob’s). We have also re-stocked groceries, cleaned a ton of pollen off the boat, and picked up two new collapsible bicycles from the local West Marine store. The bikes are cute. I feel like I’m riding on a toy, but they are really lightweight and easy to get onto and off the boat. Bob and I took a short ride into Charleston yesterday and again we loved seeing the charming old Charleston houses with their fancy ironwork, dark green shutters, and lovely gardens.

The best part about being back, of course, is that we are getting to see old Looper friends again. All of us are here for the Spring Great Loop Rendezvous. Registration and a few events begin tomorrow, to be followed by a full schedule of speakers who will share their expertise about cruising from North Carolina through Canada. Our brains will be overloaded in a few days, but it will be time well spent, with plenty of revelry interspersed among the more serious topics.