Thursday, April 23, 2015

Where did I leave off?

April 17, 2015

We left Beaufort, S.C. in a light fog. It stayed with us for a couple of hours before lifting completely but the day was mostly overcast. We put in a long day, almost 12 hours, anchoring just south of Charleston in the Stono River where it meets Elliott Cut. We were in an anchorage with lots of current but the anchor held well.

April 18, 2015

The plan was to go to St. John Yacht Harbour for a pumpout in the morning and then travel for a few hours in the afternoon. Well, we didn't get to the Yacht Harbour until 1130, after travelling between the finger docks almost sideways with the current. Things were just so good there, we stayed all day. First the pumpout was free, as was the water, and showers. Then when we asked about tying up and going ashore for groceries, they offered us a slip free for the afternoon and a courtesy car free for 2 hours. How could we refuse? Needless to say, it was after 1700 before we left the marina so travelling any distance today was out of the question. We anchored outside the marina in a strong current, little sleep for Jorge.

April 19, 2015

It was race weekend in Charleston with some 300 sailboats participating. The Coast Guard was broadcasting restricted areas in the harbour during the day so we opted to leave Stono River at 0600 and get across the harbour before the races started at 0830. Mission accomplished! We motored and motor sailed through the ICW. We encountered some really shallow areas slowing right down to almost idle, as the depth sounder showed shallower and shallower water. We need it to read 3.3 feet before running aground and we were very near to that depth! Finally the water got deeper, the current was with us and the wind picked up so we put the genoa out. At one point we were doing 8.2 kts in a narrow channel in 7.6 feet of water! A little irresponsible? Maybe. It was another long day, almost 12 hours. We set anchor in Minim Creek just south of Georgetown. No sooner was the anchor set when it started to rain, complete with thunder and lots of lightening. A sailboat and a motor boat shared the anchorage with us and I am sure the other captains were quite as relieved as Jorge was when the storm ended.

April 20, 2015

We left Minim Creek just after 0900 and had a pleasant day, motoring past Georgetown and into the Cypress Swamp. We called it quits early and had the anchor set at 1530 in an anchorage we stopped at on the way south. The spot was perfect, little current, no traffic and no thunderstorms!

Early morning rainbow in Cypress Swamp, S.C.

Early morning anchorage in Cypress Swamp, S.C.


April 21, 2015

We left the anchorage just after 0900. Destination - Myrtle Beach, only 3 hours away. Shawn and Leanne took a slip there as Shawn needed to be away on business for a few days. We tied up a few slips away from them shortly after 1200. In the afternoon, Jorge caught a soccer match on t.v. while I walked to the grocery store. Afterwards we met up with Shawn and Leanne (and Daeyten) for happy hour and appetizers at the marina bar, then back to their boat for more happy hours.

Party boat on ICW from marina bar, Myrtle Beach.


April 22, 2015

Shawn left early for his business trip so Leanne and Daeyten joined Jorge and I for a trip to Myrtle Beach proper. The marina provided free transportation to and from the beach. We walked along the boardwalk sightseeing before walking back along the beach. We stopped for lunch at a beach side restaurant and then called the marina for a ride back to the boat. Jorge caught another soccer match on t.v. and I prepared supper, we were having Leanne and Daeyten over to have an early celebration of Daeyten's upcoming birthday.

L - R: Kim, Daeyten, Leanne in Myrtle Beach.

The boardwalk in Myrtle Beach.

Myrtle Beach.

She was sooo adorable!


April 23, 2015

We left the marina at 1250, travelling just 15 miles to anchor in Calabash Creek, right on the border of S.C and N.C., a very calm anchorage. I must say, most of our anchorages in the states have been very quiet and peaceful.

Lighthouse (non-working for decoration only) along ICW.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

April 13, 2015

We did indeed move to the Herb River this morning, anchoring just before noon. After lunch we dinghied to Bahia Bleu Marina where we tied up the dinghy and walked to the bus stop, catching the bus into downtown Savannah.

April 14, 2015

After breakfast, I packed a picnic lunch and we were off to Savannah again, retracing yesterday's steps via the marina and the bus for more sightseeing.

A taste of historic Savannah . . .

City Hall.
 
The Cotton Exchange.

Customs House.

Leading to River Street.

River Street.
 
City Hall Landing on the Savannah River.
 
Parks and monuments galore . . .
 

 
 


That's one big live oak!
 
Old police car outside the Savannah Police Department.

Typical tomb of the wealthy in Colonial Park Cemetary. 

Roman Catholic cathedral.

Inside the cathedral.
 
Many mansions now converted to businesses.




The community sign outside Savannah where we anchored and dinghied ashore.
 
 
 
April 15, 2015
 
We were up early and left the anchorage at 0700, on our way to Beaufort, S.C. The day was warm and sunny. We had an uneventful trip, very little wind until we got to Port Royal Sound where we were able to motor sail. The current was also with us at this point giving us SOG of 7 to 7.3 kts. I just love it when the current is in our favour lol! We arrived at the Downtown Marina in Beaufort at 1500. We got fuel and water before heading to the anchorage just outside the marina's mooring field when the skies opened up. It rained and rained and rained the rest of the evening and all night. 
 
April 16, 2015
 
It was still cloudy this morning and cool. I actually had to dig out the tootsie warmers (aka slippers)! We had another "head issue" which Jorge started to work on in the morning. As he needed to make a trip to the hardware store, we had lunch and then went into town. Actually, he went to town. I went to the marina and did laundry. We were back to the boat by mid afternoon. Head issue fixed and laundry put away.
 
Maybe moving towards Charleston tomorrow, depending on the weather.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

April 6, 2015

We left St. Augustine as planned at 0700. The tide was beginning to come into the inlet as we were trying to get out so there was a slight current against us. After an hour we were at the sea buoy and able to start making our way north. As predicted the winds were light but coming from the NE not the predicted E to SE. The seas were a little larger than predicted and hitting us broadside, again as predicted. Because of the direction of the wind, we were not able to sail and with the waves broadsiding us, it was not pleasant. We had that rolly condition going on. Jorge actually had a case of "mal de Martin" (Bill's seasickness on his first day out from George Town). This NEVER happens to Jorge so you know the conditions were uncomfortable, usually it is me with the queasy tummy! As we weren't making much headway, we changed our plans and upon reaching Jacksonville decided to enter the St. John River and make our way to the ICW. We tied up at a free dock just inside the ICW at 1700, the time we should have been arriving in Fernandine Beach some 25 miles away! The St. John inlet is known to have current up to 4 kts, don't we know it as it was 3 kts against us when we were coming in. At least we had lots of time to sightsee.

April 7, 2015

Up at 0700 to a very foggy morning. The plan was to leave at 0800 and lucky for us by 0745 the fog had lifted sufficiently we were able to depart.

CS'ta Time at free dock just north of St. John Inlet (Jacksonville) in the morning.

Along the ICW.

We motored to Fernandina Beach where we took on fuel before heading to Drum Point Island, Georgia.

Fernandina Beach Marina.

We set anchor at 1410 next to Shawn and Leanne on Suenos. We lowered the dinghy and went ashore. As it was late in the afternoon we just sat around the ranger station and waited for Shawn and Leanne to come back from their walk. We had happy hour with them before retiring early.

April 8, 2015

Jorge changed the oil this morning as well as fixed a leaky stuffing box and an antifreeze leak. After lunch we met Shawn, Leanne, their son Daeyten and their two dogs at the ranger station for a walk around Cumberland Island.



Wild horses on Cumberland Island.


Ruins of plantation house.


Cumberland Beach, pole showing height of tide.

(L - R) Daeyten, Micky, Oka, Leanne and Shawn on Cumberland Beach with the tide out.

More wild horses on the dunes of Cumberland Island.

The five of us had supper aboard CS'ta Time and had a great time (no the dogs were not invited!)

April 9, 2015

We left Drum Island Point at 0700 to do an outside run with Suenos. The first highlight of the day was seeing a real live nuclear submarine in the wild (not a tour) as we were leaving St. Mary's Inlet! It was escorted by two warships and about half a dozen smaller Coast Guard boats. How cool was that?




The wind and waves were a little more favourable today so we were able to motor sail off and on. Just north of St. Mary's Inlet, we discovered we had no charts on the chart plotter for this area!?! We figured when we unlocked (bought) the charts for the Caribbean while in Florida, we must have deleted the charts to make room for the new ones. Okay, we were not totally chartless. We did have charts on the computer on a program called Open CPN, we have Navionics on the phone and of course we have paper charts but it would have been nice having the charts right in our face on the chart plotter! It was approaching 1800 when we made the turn west to head into Sapelo Inlet. We saw the red buoy and kept it to starboard (red, right, returning) but because of the sun in our eyes we were unable to read the water and, yep, the shoal extended way left of the red buoy and of course, my favourite pasttime, I hit the shoal! Ouch! Jorge got us off (again) but this one caused us concern, it sounded nasty. No worries though, we were not taking on any water and things seemed good and it turned out they were. We anchored next to Suenos in the Wahoo River at 1725.

April 10, 2015

We left Wahoo River with Suenos at 0800. This time they ran aground getting out of the anchorage! Good, I'm glad its not just us! Welcome to Georgia. We motored along the ICW, without the chart plotter, but the ICW is well marked so no real worries. We anchored in Isle of Hope at 1450. Shawn and Leanne took a slip in the marina. This enabled them to get a courtesy car for 2 hours so we went shopping with them. We also got to use the marina showers thanks to them so pizza for dinner was on us!

April 11, 2015

Shawn and Leanne had a deadline to meet, having to be in Myrtle Beach by April 22, so they were on the move again. We stayed put. We walked into Isle of Hope (2 km) to the Verizon store to get our account and a few issues sorted out, then had lunch at a restaurant before heading back to the marina. A fellow in a truck driving by yelled out to us "I may be crazy, but are you cruisers?" Gee, is it that obvious? Turned out he was the captain of a sport fishing boat and he gave us a lift to the marina. When we got back to the boat, Jorge tackled the chart issue. The Caribbean charts were Vector charts and the North American charts were Raster charts. Once Jorge realized this, it was a matter of changing the program from Vector to Raster and there they were! Problem solved.

Local boat at Isle of Hope.

April 12, 2015

We were going to leave today and travel 5 nm to the Herb River, closer to Savannah with better access to shore however Jorge forgot the jet pack for the internet at the Verizon store yesterday so it was another walk back to town. We were lucky enough to get offered a ride back to the marina by a lady who had "cruised extensively for eight years" and she spotted us as cruisers! Great, friendly and generous people here in the states. We stayed put again as by this time it was raining and neither one of us felt like weighing anchor and traveling today.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

HAPPY EASTER!!

April 1, 2015

We left Titusville shortly after 0700. The plan was to go to Ponce de Leon inlet, anchor there and take the outside route to St. Augustine however the winds were forecast to be very calm and the inside route (ICW) was so enjoyable we continued up past Daytona and anchored in Flagler Beach, doing some 60 nm. It was a long day! We had some nice winds and were able to motor sail at least half of the day in the ICW, challenging for me because the ICW is quite narrow in parts with shallow waters all around and I was a bit paranoid of going off track and getting us stuck in the shallows, a favourite pastime of mine!

Along the ICW.

DJ's Bar to the left of the bridge (Jim and Karen's (HYC) hangout when they vacation in Daytona).
 
April 2, 2015

We spent a very peaceful night at anchorage in a canal in Flagler Beach, beside the Sea Ray (motor boat) factory. Luckily for us the plant didn't start work until 0800 when we were getting ready to weigh anchor. We motored only today, no wind, to St. Augustine arriving at 1400. We took a mooring ball and reacquainted ourselves with the marina and town, having stayed here on our way south. We love St. Augustine! We met up with Shawn and Leanne (Canadian cruisers from Vero Beach and Cocoa) and went out with them after dinner to a bar for drinks. They have been a few days ahead of us and are planning on leaving St. Augustine tomorrow.

Morning in canal at Flagler Beach anchorage.

The Sea Ray factory dock.

April 3, 2015

Didn't do much of anything today. Jorge checked out the anchorage north of Bridge of Lions as we were leaving the mooring ball and wanted to be north of the bridge, staging for when we want to leave St. Augustine via the inlet. The rest of the day, we vegged out on the boat.

El Galeon is here for St. Augustine's 450th birthday, a replica of a Spanish ship.

April 4, 2015

We left the boat before noon hour today, imagine that! We were at the cruisers' lounge in the marina just after 1000 inquiring about a new bus system. There is a "Cruisers' Shuttle" bus that runs daily from the marina to a grocery store and various marine stores. For $5 per person, one can ride the bus all day, going from shop to shop and then back to the marina. A great system! We did groceries in the morning but instead of doing marine shops, we opted to walk to the fort and check it out. We were back to the boat just before 1800 and before the rain started.

The fort . . .


Not very comfortable looking sleeping quarters!

Hey, that cannon is pointed right at CS'ta Time.
 
Their firing on us!
(Demonstrations happen a number of times per day.)




 
April 5, 2015

It was cool and overcast this morning. We decided to stay on the boat and go into town early afternoon to catch the Easter parade. It had threatened rain all day but luckily it held off and everyone remained dry throughout the parade.


Celebrating the upcoming 450th birthday in period clothes of Spanish "Conquistadores".

Ditto.

What's an Easter parade without the Easter bunny?

And a white tiger!

Tomorrow we are heading out the St. Augustine inlet to St. Mary's inlet. Fernandina Beach, Florida is on side of the inlet and St. Mary's, Georgia is on the other side, not sure which side we will anchor on, maybe the Florida side to stay a bit longer in Florida!