The Adventures of Monk's Vineyard - The Great Loop and Beyond: Osprey

11/7 – It got very chilly overnight. Linda was still under the covers when Gerry decided we needed to leave to get through the “Rock Pile” (a stretch on the ICW that passes through a channel with rock ledges along both sides). So, we were up and raising anchor and underway shortly after 7:00 a.m. Our passage through this area was pretty uneventful and our only hang-up of the day was the Socastee Swing Bridge. It operates “on demand” instead of on a set schedule. Usually an “on demand” bridge will open within a few minutes of your request. However, as we got closer we saw several sailboats waiting. We called the bridge tender and he indicated he would be opening in a few minutes. Well, we arrived and when we looked back we saw about 10 other boats heading towards the bridge. The bridge tender decided to wait until all boats were close enough to go through. One of the sailboats that had been waiting before us, later said he was there well over half an hour. Oh well, it was a nice sunny day and we weren’t in a hurry.

Our destination today was the Osprey Marina. We’d heard a lot of good things about the marina and decided to stop for a couple of days. Upon arrival we topped of the fuel tanks. Osprey is known to have the lowest priced diesel in the area. We took 200+ gallons at $2.67/gal (you do the math – not cheap, but cheaper than most places we’ve seen along the way). We met a fellow looper, Joseph Kozak, at the marina. He was singlehanding a 25 ft sailboat and had completed the loop in 2005. He wrote a book entitled: America’s Great Loop: One Man’s Experiences. It’s over 600 pages – WOW – and I thought I did good with my blog.

We spent the rest of the day doing chores and watching football.

11/8 – Burrrr – it was chilly this morning – in the low 30’s and there was frost on the dock. However, once the sun came out it warmed up quickly to the low 70’s in the sun and it was a beautiful day. We spent the day cleaning both the inside and outside of the boat. This was our first real chance since leaving home to wash down the boat. It really needed it!

We made arrangements with a local restaurant, Scatori’s, to pick us up for an early dinner. They are located next to a nice grocery store, so the restaurant picks you up, you eat dinner, walk next door to provision and then they bring you back to the marina. The food was wonderful and the staff very friendly and helpful. It was a great evening out after a day of working on the boat. Tomorrow we head out with plans to anchor in different spots the next few days. We spend way too much money when we’re at marinas.