Every “Looper” we have met has emphasized to not have a schedule.  We have experienced that right from the start. We had planned to begin the Great Loop Journey on Monday, March 25.  Due to my “dinghy dilemma” I was not able to install the dinghy davit system until Tuesday.  Re-Scheduled departure to begin the Great Loop Journey was Wednesday March 27. Checking the weather Tuesday evening showed Wednesday to not be a pleasant day on the water – high winds and waves. 

Thursday we awoke to fantastic weather – scheduled departure for 9:30.  Many things to do as we were leaving our dock, and Vitamin Sea’s homeport.  On our training cruises, we knew we were coming back to our dock. We left our electrical cord, water line, and welcome mat on the dock.  This was different; all this had to come onboard – leaving nothing behind.  After topping the fuel tanks, and emptying the black tank it was time to go.  A big moment for us!

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We passed under the Ladys Island Bridge in Beaufort, our technical starting point, at 9:42 am.  A quick kiss with the Admiral and we were underway.  Needless to say this was a very emotional moment for both of us – after years of planning and learning.  Within forty minutes we were in unfamiliar waters.  We had met another Looper couple, on Wild Goose, who were going our direction on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), so we were invited to follow them for today’s journey.  This put us at ease to know that someone was leading the way for the first day.

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Lots of twists and turns along the way. The ICW is a series of rivers and cuts in this area.  The low water alarm sounded during one turn so we had to scramble to find deeper water. (Two alarms on the boat: the low water alarm means the water under the boat is “skinny”, the high water alarm means water is in the bilge area of the boat.  You have to immediately react to both of them.) 

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We anchored for lunch just north of Fenwick Cut, which was our intended anchorage for the night. There was so much boat traffic going past us that we decided to moved past the cut to South Fenwick Island to anchor for the night.  We noticed the Fenwick Island WMA (Wildlife Management Area) had a dock so we put the dinghy in the water. While getting the dinghy ready, two dolphins approached to check it (us) out – within two feet.  It was like having a welcoming committee! We motored over to the island and walked around the protected area for birds and “critters.” It was beautiful.

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Being on the water is usually relaxing to me, but is sure wasn’t today.  That will change because everything is all new to us.  We had calmed as night fell and the end of the day brought a beautiful sunset and a perfectly clear night sky with numerous stars. Only two lights were visible and they were navigation buoys. We stood outside on the boat and had this thought – if it all ended today, the one perfect day would have been worth it.

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