Sunday Summary #63

Blessing of the Fleet and March Budget + Stats

Hi ,

Welcome to Scho & Jo’s 63rd Sunday Summary. This edition of the Sunday Summary was written on a Monday aboard PIVOT who is docked at a free dock in Darien, GA. Nope. Anchored near Sapelo Island, GA. Not any more. Cruising to Savannah, GA!Make sure to read to the bottom to read our first ever month expenses report to see how much the Loop is actually costing! (link here)

Last Week.

Our last Sunday Summary was written on a Wednesday, so in the past half week, we’ve waited out a small craft advisory warning on St. Simon’s Island at Fort Frederica for two days. It was a great workday aboard PIVOT where we were able to enjoy sleeping in without alarms, working on our laptops the whole day, and not finding a new spot to take Ollie out. The only downside was the 30 minutes to an hour during slack tide when our boat was fighting wind versus current and didn’t know what to do. It was very rocky, but thankfully only lasted a short time.

Our last night at Fort Frederica was spent travel planning for where we were traveling the following day. We were both on our laptops looking at the Georgia map and just so happened to both be looking at Darien, Georgia. It was a small town, about 7 miles off the Intracoastal, which was an hour and a half in “trawler time” *with the tide,* making it a place that not all loopers visit. Since we’ve traversed this section of the ICW twice before, finding new places to visit was enticing to us. So we requested a spot at their local marina but didn’t get a spot because of their weekend festival...

It just so happened that we chose to visit Darien on their 54th Annual Blessing of the Fleet. This huge event is where a priest stands on a bridge and blesses the shrimping boats for the upcoming season. As we were slowly cruising into Darien, we could smell the scent of paint as people were applying a fresh coat of paint for the upcoming fishing season. We didn’t have a solid plan as to where we were going to anchor since our marina plan had failed until we passed the bridge that goes through town and saw a complimentary 48-hour dock with zero boats on it. Talk about PERFECT! It was meant to be. We were so happy to find this gem as Elliot’s mom planned to visit us the following day.

Visiting Darien during their 54th Annual Blessing of the Fleet was a pretty cool experience. We have never attended any event celebrating shrimping boats and the men, women, and families that run these boats and businesses, but it was quite a treat that we’re excited to share with you on YouTube. As we left Darien and cruised the 7 miles back out of the Darien River to the ICW, we were both taking in the moment as we cruised through the rising tide in the Georgia salt marshes. No music or audiobooks, just taking in the beauty around us, the amazing weekend we just had, and the true authenticity of Darien and its people.

As an added bonus to our amazing weekend in Darien, we met two of our subscribers, Bob and Wendy, who will actually be joining us on the loop this year in the next week or so. It always makes our day to meet the people who watch our videos. It was so special to get to hear some of their stories and hear about their boat. We are looking forward to crossing paths with them on the loop later this year.

This Week.

Today we are traveling north to Savannah where we might be meeting another subscriber. We have some windy weather for a few days, which will make for some great work days on PIVOT. Following Savannah, we’ll be crossing into our 3rd state on our Great Loop of South Carolina. Like last week, we have no plans. Our plans are to keep going. We hope to be in Beaufort, SC and Charleston this week, but we’ll find out.

"Time together as a family is a gift." -Joanna Gaines

 Videos. 

Incase you missed it, here are all the vlogs we’ve released since our last Sunday Summary:

A STRESSFUL MOORING at Vero Beach on the Great Loop (cruising from Stuart)

Feeling the VELCRO at the Vero Beach Mooring Field ( perfect for liveaboard boaters )

From VERO to the SPACE COAST of Florida on the Great Loop (day 17)

 Blogs. 

One of the frequent questions we're asked is what is our budget for the Great Loop? We decided to share our monthly expenses on America’s Great Loop in a comprehensive blog post each month. You can find our March budget and stats here:

• MONTHLY EXPENSES ON AMERICA'S GREAT LOOP - MARCH 2022

 March Stats. 

As March has come to a close, here is our Nebo travel log. We covered a lot of water in March from Key West all the way to St. Simon's Island, Georgia. 

Nights at a marina dock: 0

Nights on a mooring ball: 7

Nights on a free dock: 0

Nights at anchor: 24

 Great Loop Recommendations. 

We are looking for recommendations for destinations and spots along our Great Loop to go see, visit, and enjoy. It's been a real challenge for us to keep track and stay organized with the many wonderful recommendations we've received thus far. So we've created a Google Form to help us stay organized.

 Gratitudes. 

We are so grateful to have visited Darien for such a fun festival and weekend. We’re grateful to have shared all of these great memories with Elliot’s mom, Connie. We’re so grateful to be traveling in Georgia and taking in all of the birds and wildlife. We’re grateful to have met Bob and Wendy. We’re so grateful to have had a safe cruise thus far around the Great Loop. We’re feeling happiness, gratitude, and deep joy. Even with the long hours and late nights, we’re grateful to be doing what we’re doing.

Peace and love,Jenn + Elliot