Great Loop Cruise Video

I went over to Moorehead City one night for dinner. Quite frankly I wasn't impressed. It's very industrial & fishing oriented. Lacks the charm of Beaufort IMHO. Ate at the Ruddy Duck. That was nice, but I still like Clawson's better. Beaufort always just makes me feel like I'm home.

Wilmington

The City docks were a pleasure, and very convenient walking to dinner. From the people I passed I quickly realized that the security warnings were nothing more than a small city knowing how a single incident can ruin a reputation. They want River Walk to be a destination. I wasn't even bothered by Lookie-Lous beyond the occassional "Hello", unlike places like Oak Bluffs in the Vineyard where it's a constant stream of tourists. Here just people strolling and some joggers. Worst thing that happened was that a blow came through at about 0200 that got me out putting on extra lines and fenders. Sure they probably have crime, and yachts can always be attractive to criminals, but I've felt more concerned walking to dinner from Chelsea Piers in NY. I'd stay here anytime. And except for the refacing going on at the Hilton, the view is really nice.

Won't be seeing that area again until March.

The work is indeed underway. They've got an old Hatt man there, and he'll be in charge. He jumped right on to assess things and I've already learned several things that will serve us well and save us money. Now of course there's no telling until things are finished, but at this point I must say that I have warm and fuzzy feeling towards Bennett Bros.

Depending how the work, the weather and our schedules line up, we may cruise a few days in December. But we're really dedicating that month to the yard, and plan to get back to moving south in early January.

Valhalla underwent quite a bit of work at Bennett Bros. in Wilmington, repairing a leaky water tank, correcting our electrical problems, and a bunch more. They did a great job and were a pleasure to deal with. All their people were great, but they have one guy there, Dale, who has an absolute love for these old Hats, and it shows. I was thoroughly impressed. (This from a guy who's gone nose to nose with a few yard managers).

We then cruised her south to Georgetown in the middle of the ice storms a few weeks ago. All repairs seem to be holding. We're now underway again heading south to Charleston today. We've decided to make Charleston the end of our shakedown cruise and In a couple of days will head back north beginning the Great Loop in earnest. Towards the end of next week we'll again lay up at Bennett Bros. for an oil change and a few detail items before moving north through March & April looking to make the Erie Canal when it opens. Enjoy the view from our bow cam at Valhalladoestheloop.com and follow along on Marinetraffic.com.

Haven't seen a boat or person all day. Only dolphin, a gator, king fishers, etc. Truly beautiful.

Floridians lose their ability to tolerate anything but heat. Since living there I can't go swimming in water less than 85*. Anybody watching yesterday saw what I was wearing (a light vest over a T-shirt) despite combined winds of probably 20 mph until about 1500. It was beautiful. Beat the heck out of the 28* up in NY. Cruising for hours without seeing a single person, moving boat or pretty much any other sign of man was wonderful. Only thing that could have made it better would have been more water under the keel. The more shallow areas were transited at low tide. That kept one eye on the depth finder and our speed down.

We're laying up for a day or two at the Charleston Maritime Center waiting for a part. Nice location, small marina, nice people. However, shallow. I told them I was 60' and they gave me a spot 60'. So trying to get in was a bit tricky. With the wind pushing me off the dock I was having one heck of a time getting my stern to the dock. It wasn't until I went back out to make another entrance that I saw the mud and realized that there's a hump in the middle of the basin, and that (along with the wind) was keeping me off. My keel was catching it. So on my second entrance I just powered in and threw my stern at the dock. The hump must have been 5' at low tide. It's now a little deeper. Fortunately with this boat the bow and keel are the deepest parts, not the running gear.

Not sure what's going on with the video. I'm able to get the live feed on my Samsung S4, my wife gets it on her laptop, but I can't get it on my Surface Pro. I'll put in a call to my IT guy, but in time if there are any computer genius' out there I love any suggestions or ideas.

P.S. We got done what we needed here. So tomorrow morning we'll be pulling out and pointing our bow north. Hopefully we'll have this camera thing figured out by then.

P.S. We showed 1' to 2' under the keel at several spots in Isle of Palms. that means 6' to 7' depths. Tomorrow we'll be running with the tides in our favor. Much more enjoyable I should think.