June 14 WE CROSS OUR WAKE, COMPLETE THE GREAT LOOP AND RAISE THE GOLD BURGEE

June 14

Final day of our Great Loop adventure.  Woke up to a nice sunny morning as we hoisted anchor and got moving at 7:30 after a quick cup of coffee and some nice and healthy yogurt and granola.  Slack low tide at the marina was 10:58 and we were determined to hit it exactly.    With John raising and securing the anchor, Martha assumed her duties at the helm taking us out of the anchorage and putting us on a heading upstream.

Leaving Toms Point Creek anchorage behind

Captain, my Captain...

The run up the North Edisto and Wadmalaw Rivers were uneventful.  Tidal marshes, wooded islands, and more and more houses built on the water’s edge with long docks extending through the low-lying marsh lands and sticking out into the water. Outgoing tidal current was surprisingly strong in a few places for the first two hours and we pushed the rpm’s up a bit to stay on time.   Once behind John’s island the water quickly turned to a favorable current as the water was still outgoing but now being pulled out the Stono River. It was time to idle down the rpm’s a bit to keep within that eta window.   Suddenly we were back in familiar waters as the Limehouse Fixed bridge came  into sight, then  came Ross marine where we had the boat bottom painted last year, and finally we started coming around the last corner and saw the Johns island/Stono River bridge and right by it’s side our final destination.

Heading up stream

Docks along the river

Back in civilization as we pass a working yard

St. Johns Yacht Harbor in our sights

Winds were still blowing from the NE at a good 10-15 so we at least didn’t want to add any tidal currents to our final docking maneuvers. There’s a saying regarding docking in a marina – “Sometimes you WATCH the show, and sometimes you ARE the show”.  We knew we would have some spectators waiting to help us celebrate our crossing so definitely did not want to BE the show this time around.  Our approach was sound  going down the fairway, then a quick hard turn to port to get us aligned with the slip, a few blasts with the bow thruster to fine tune our position , finishing up with  reverse engine for a nice  stern  in  portside tie at our  home port of  St. Johns Yacht Harbor Marina here in Charleston, SC.  With cheers from the marina staff and our assembled friends we gave two blasts on the air horn to signal our loop completion.

Heading down the fairway  with fenders deployed and dock lines at the ready

Our “dirt home” friends Shane and Sandy had made the 4-hour trip that morning to be here for our crossing. We had unsuccessfully tried several times to get them aboard during the trip but the timing never worked out.  We finally had them stay with us overnight as the only overnight guests we had the entire trip.  We look forward to spending some time with them over the summer back up on Lake Hartwell.

Shane and Sandy offer a champagne toast to start  the festivities

Russ and Jax on “InQuest” (previously on “Cat and Dogs”) have been special looper friends since our first encounter on the day we left Charleston and grounded. We crossed each other’s wake multiple times over the next few days before formal introductions and the start of a year long journey as boating buddy’s.  We helped celebrate their wake crossing down in Longboat Key,FL and were honored that they made the special effort to be here for ours as they continue their cruising.  As almost always happened during our times traveling together, they would arrive first and get secured and then help grab our dock lines as we came in.   Today was no exception as they arrived in Charleston an hour before us (having to  fight the current as they docked) and were standing ready to grab our dock lines one more time. 

"InQuest" departing to continue their journey  - fair winds and calm seas until we meet again!

Jamie and Trish from “About Time” made the drive up from Jacksonville to help us celebrate.  Another special treat.  Our relationship took a long time to develop despite the fact we met early on at the 2019 spring rendezvous in Norfolk, VA. where we docked alongside each other.  Going through some older pictures we were struck by how often our paths crossed but we always thought of them as being with another group of loopers so never made a special effort to socialize with them.  We later learned from their perspective they kept wondering what they had done so that we didn’t like them.   Once we got all those incorrect perspectives ironed out, we’ve enjoyed our times together and were glad to be in St. Augustine back in April for their wake crossing.

Gene and Paula who are additional “dirt home” friends that now live here on John’s Island were also able to help us celebrate.  They’ve been good friends always making their home here available to us as we were prepping for our journey and giving us sound recommendations for marine services in the area.

With the changing of our white AGLCA “in progress” burgee to the gold “loop completed” burgee we toasted with “little beers” to a successful Great Loop circumnavigation and the new and old friends we are so fortunate to have in our lives.

Showing off that gold burgee

"Little Beers" for everyone!!

"As You Wish" showing off some new bling on the bow

Thanks  to my brother Paul who graciously was the keeper of our daily float plan.  He always humorously responded to my morning and afternoon text messages outlining where we were going that day and when we safely completed the days transit.

And the biggest thanks of all to my wife Martha for supporting and participating in my years long obsession with doing the Great Loop. She made my dream hers and together we made them come true.  The trip wouldn’t have been possible without her by my side, nor would I have wanted to do it without her there.

Journey for June 14

Some stats from our trip:

5852 miles

1 year 1 month and 28 days (includes 2 month unexpected COVID-19 stopover in Jacksonville, FL)

1793 gallons of fuel

$5,138 cost of diesel

819.8  engine hours

116.1 generator hours

150 actual  travel days

Averaged 39 miles per travel day

Averaged 2.187 gallons per hour

Averaged 3.26 statute miles per gallon

Averaged 7.14 statute miles per hour

Average diesel fuel price $2.86 per gallon

Low fuel price $2.055/gal Brunswick Landing on 6/5/2020

High fuel price $3.76/gal Midland, Canada 7/31/2019

Alcohol consumed – way too much !!!

Best craft beer – still trying to find it.

Best quote on the trip – “Bad decisions make great stories”