Jorge thought setting the alarm for half an hour before we were to leave was not sufficient time so the alarm went at 0600 this morning. Uggghhh! He was up before the alarm! The silence last night in the anchorage was deafening, it was sooooo quiet. I loved it.

We weighed anchor at 0700 and headed into Coosaw River. The current was against us a bit but we opened the geneo and gained 0.5 kts. (Every little bit helps.) How cold was it this morning? Well we didn't have any dock lines to judge by but I could see my breath inside the enclosure until 0800. Again the morning was bright with blue skies and lots of sunshine. By 1100 we were definitely warming up. We had the current running with us for most of the day, at times we got up to 7.8 kts.

An early morning visitor as we were leaving our anchorage - maybe looking for breakfast?

Right off our stern.

Hilton Head, S.C. Don't let the sandy beaches and palms deceive you, it's still cool!

 

The day was going very well and we were ahead of schedule. Only 7 miles from our intended anchorage, it happened! We were in a narrow part of the ICW, making our way between the red and green buoys when, you guessed it, we ran aground! There we were, minding our own business, doing what responsible cruisers do. Go figure, we were following the magenta line and were equal distance between the two buoys. I guess the tide and current had brought in extra silt. Luckily Jorge was able to power us out into deeper water and we were on our way again, only lost about 20 minutes. Good-bye South Carolina! But I hear the water level in Georgia isn't much better. Jorge says it is a good thing the bottom is muddy/sandy down here otherwise the keel would look like popcorn by the time we get home.

We dropped the hook just inside the Georgia border in St. Augustine Creek shortly after 1500. I was quite happy with our progress the past two days. My goal was this anchorage today and we made it, a bit ahead of schedule even with our grounding.

                                          Our anchorage in Georgia, looks the same as S.C.

No Jorge was not into the happy hour yet when he took this video!

Supper was early, taking advantange of the daylight and unfortunately no leftovers tonight :(. We are definitely in cruisers' mode - early for dinner, early for bed. Tomorrow I think will be a stay put day. Sunday is looking good for going outside the ICW into the Atlantic, we'll see.

The alarm went off at 0630 this morning. What a rude awakening! Outside temp a 1C. To put that in perspective, the dock lines which were nicely coiled on the deck after tying up, were frozen in their coiled position! However the skies were blue and we had amazing sunshine.

We left Toler's Marina at 0700 under a gorgeous sunrise.

Sunrise leaving Toler's Marina, S.C.

Entrance (or in our case, exit) to Toler's Marina, S.C.

Oops, not enough scope!

The day was pretty much uneventful with only one restricted bridge which opened on request so no delays. There were plenty of hot beverages this morning as we tried to keep warm and by about 1100 the sun was strong enough that it started to warm us inside the enclosure. We made excellent time with the current (as anticipated) mostly in our favour. We travelled 59 sm, about 5 miles more than we had planned on doing but as mentioned, the current was in our favour.

We anchored in Bass Creek, off Coosaw River (Morgan Island) at 1645.

There was a couple from Montreal travelling behind us and after making contact with them via VHF, they decided to anchor in the same anchorage. We invited them over for happy hour, then had a quick supper (leftovers, ya gotta love 'em) and to bed early. We are hoping to do the same number of clicks tomorrow and get just inside the Georgia border.

Sunset at Bass Creek, S.C.

Sunset again (with bottom of dinghy in the way).

We slept in until almost 0900 this morning, holy! The temp had dropped again - only 12C late in the afternoon and still windy although the tornado watch was dropped early this morning and gale warnings downgraded to small craft advisory. That means it was only blowing 20+ kts in the marina this afternoon. LOL.

Jorge and I concluded this morning it was definitely the ICW for the next couple of days. This nasty weather system stretches from Nova Scotia to half way down the Florida coast. We are hoping to leave the marina at 0700 tomorrow and do approximately 50 nm. Of course that will depend on what kind of winds we encounter but for the most part at least the current will be with us. We estimate doing 5 nm per hour so it will be a long day!

After lunch the dockmaster/part owner drove us into town. We had decided to buy more of the Argentine wine we discovered the other night. Unfortunately the store only had 3 bottles left. Too bad, we were going to buy a case.

After arriving back at CS'ta Time, Jorge worked a bit on the new weather system that he has to install and then we started preparing the boat for travelling. Lucky for me I did inside work and he was the one outside in the cold, yes wearing a winter jacket and toque again. I am sooooo glad we are at a marina with electricity and can use the electric heater rather than the Espar diesel heater. We keep the temp in the boat around 22C.

I like the name on this boat!

 

It was an early night.

Okay so now back to the blogging routine hopefully!

November 25, 2013

Neither Jorge nor I were too excited about getting out of bed this morning. The heater had been going all night so we knew it was going to be a cold day and we were right! And it was windy to boot. Winter coats and toques/headbands, boy you would have thought we were back in Canada. In the morning we unpacked and settled in. It felt good to be back in the boat but we already miss the kids.

After lunch we had one of the marina employees drive us to town for supplies. I had let the provisions drastically diminish so it was a large grocery order (including wine and beer, LOL). Good thing we had a ride and didn't have to walk with it all.

We spent a quiet evening, back on the slippery slope of happy hour (just the two of us tonight). We found a good bottle of inexpensive Malbec at the grocery store so celebrated how good life is (like we need a reason to celebrate!)

November 26, 2013

Jorge was on a mission this morning, up before 0800. Jobs to do. As there was a lull in the wind, we decided to pump out (desperately needed), filled up with fuel and water, and equalized the batteries. We took the marina for another two nights due to weather so hopefully we can get away from Charleston (finally) on Thursday. It poured cats and dogs here starting late morning although the temp was 20C today, big difference from yesterday but the wind had increased again, gusting to 25 kts in the afternoon. Apparently it is going to increase during the night. Makes one happy that there is no anchor watch for the next couple of nights!

The weather is not looking favourable for going on the outside, strong winds and seas 4 to 6 feet, so I guess it will be the ICW. Bluefin is posting gale warnings and a tornadao watch for the next 30 hours for this area. Yikes! Maybe we should get moving. Our goal is Savannah, Georgia by Friday evening. (Caroline and Michel, we are trying our darndest to "get down here", where are you?)

Tomorrow will be more studying of the weather and charts and planning our next move. LOL we were happy to have a bit of a break from constantly analyzing the weather while we were in Canada!

November 20, 2013

The morning was uneventful.

I had an appt with my internist who follows my heart problem and my diabetes. The ECG, specifically the area where the stent is, was normal. Since I had been having absolutely no symptoms I expected a normal result. She thought my diabetes control was too tight - meaning I have more than excellent control over my blood sugars. With all the happy hours (wine, cheese, crackers, etc.) I found that hard to believe! Guess the walking has helped.

Immediately after that appt, I had to go back to the hospital. They had called yesterday afternoon for a "call back" mammogram, a common occurrence but it has never happened to me. The last 24 hours had been anxious ones. Whatever the radiologist saw on the first mammogram was not there on the second so no need to worry. What a huge relief!

Jorge and I took a drive and ended up at my cousin and his wife's home by the Copeland Forest. We had a nice but short visit. We got back to Barrie in time to pick Jodi up from work, had supper and had a quiet evening watching the tube.

November 21, 2013

Again an uneventful morning.

Friends from the yacht club, specifically our president, Bill, and his wife, Gale, had invited us for lunch. We met them at a restaurant in Barrie and had a wonderful visit.

We had friends over to Jodi's house for dinner (Roy and Freda). It was great seeing them and catching up on their lives.

November 22, 2013

I had an early morning appt with my oncologist who again confirmed all the tests from Tuesday were negative. Next follow up is in June. Sounded good to me!

Friday evening we had dinner at Bogdan and Anna's house (previous HYC members). Too much wine, too much food but a great time. Jodi got to be the parent and Jorge and I the teenagers. She dropped us off and picked us up!

November 23, 2013

Jorge and I drove to New Lowell to visit with my sister and her husband. Debbie made it to the Bull and Barrel, twice, as I had not made the date clear on my originial email invitation. Her husband, Doug, was not able to make it to the Bull and Barrel so it was good to see them both on Saturday. However Barrie had been blowing a snow storm so driving wasn't the best.

In the afternoon Jorge and I had massages courtesy of a Christmas gift certificate from Jodi.

The weather was still ugly Saturday night as we drove to our good friends' home (Chris and Kari) for dinner but the meal and company made the drive more than worthwhile. (Easy for me to say, Jodi drove there and Jorge drove home.)

November 24, 2013

We were up relatively early, had showers, did some laundry, made a quick phone call to other friends from HYC (Dave and Diane) and then headed to see Steven at work before Jodi drove us to the airport. (Time ran out on us so many other friends could not be contacted. We had cancelled our Canadian phone and put our American phone on hold while in Canada so only had the use of Jodi's phone when she was with us.)

Jodi's garden in her backyard.

Not an inviting patio for lunch in November!

We were back on CS'ta Time around 2000 after uneventful flights. Funny how one can sit all day in a plane but be tired when arriving at the destination! I guess it was the accumulation of the busy 10 days in Barrie that had caught up with us.

The boat was fine albeit cold only 8.9C when we got on board. Jorge put both heaters on and within a short time the temp was up to 20C - quite respectable. We have our slip until Tuesday but because Jorge wants to do some work on the batteries and the wind is supposed to howl for the next few days, we will probably stay put until closer to the end of the week before resuming our trek south.

November 17, 2013

So Bill and Lynn, my sister Debbie and Jorge and I stayed until 1:00 a.m. at the Bull and Barrel and enjoyed Steve 'n Roy (the band). They were quite good and really got into the crowd later in the evening (we were the crowd!) Sunday morning was a real slow one. Lynn and Bill stayed at Jodi's with us so Sunday we had time for some one-on-one. They have recently come back from a month's vacation in Europe so we enjoyed watching a slide show of their trip with first hand commentary.

They left shortly after lunch, Jorge had a siesta and Jodi and I vegged out in front of the t.v. for the afternoon. We getting too old for such late nights. LOL.

November 18, 2013

Jorge had his eye doctor's appt in Sunnybrook in the morning so we were off to the city. He had been complaining of worsening in his vision and sure enough his scan indicated some fluid so an injection was required. His doctor is looking into contacts in Florida for us should Jorge require injections in the coming year and we will determine at a later date whether it is worthwhile to have the injections done in the states or whether to come home for them.

The girls I worked with had their Christmas party that evening and I was invited (nice to know I am still thought of). 21 ladies got together at one house and let loose! We ate, drank, laughed, had a Christmas gift exchange and had a great time. Plans are in the works for a June gathering with a birthday gift exchange. I have my next round of appts then so hopefully will be able to attend. It was snowing when we left the party at 2130!

November 19, 2013

I had to be at the hospital today for my annual check up for the breast cancer including an abdominal ultrasound, chest x-ray, bone scan and mammogram. Things went very quickly considering I had four appts and was out of there by 1130. Now I anxiously await the results. However the u/s tech (not allowed to give out any information) did tell me I was going to have a good trip - having told her what Jorge and I are doing, so that was a bit of a relief!

I picked Steven up shortly after lunch. We did some shopping and then got back to Jodi's late afternoon. Jorge found a soccer match on t.v. so opted to stay home and watch it. I made lasagna and caeser salad for dinner. We were celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas with the kids (I know - no turkey but hey its the get together that counts right?) Work tomorrow for both kids so the evening was early.

November 15, 2013.

Jorge and I had a relaxing morning, it felt good to only have to walk a few feet for real hot showers with unlimited water and to sleep in a bed that we didn't have to crawl into! Don't get me wrong, we are totally enjoying our trip but do miss a few "normal" things.

We had the use of Jodi's (our daughter) car for the afternoon so did some running around (no doctor's appts yet) but visited the banks, accountant, etc. and saw Steven (our son).

Today was Jodi's birthday, a big one, 30, my baby! I made Chateaubriand for dinner, a favourite of everyone but cheated and bought a birthday cake. Jodi's friend, Chris, joined us for dinner and we had a good time.

Jodi's 30th birthday.

 

November 16, 2013.

Jodi and I did some clothes shopping this morning and then I had a hair appt. It had grown quite a bit since the summer and was getting totally unmanageable!

As we normally did on a weekend, Jorge and I took a drive to HYC to check on the boat. Oops it wasn't there! We saw a few members winterizing their boats and chatted with them for a bit, then visited the clubhouse and the harbour before driving back to Barrie.

Empty cradle!

Yikes, is that ice forming at Diana and Gilbert's slip at HYC?

 

Bill and Lynn (friends, like family, from Parry Sound) arrived late afternoon and we chatted a bit before heading to the Bull and Barrel for the pub night. Jorge and I would like to thank everyone who was able to attend, it was very touching the number of people who showed up. Thank you to those who attended in spirit, it would have been great to see you in person but we understand. It was a busy night and we apologize for not being able to spend more time with everyone on an individual basis, maybe on our next visit.

 

Pictures of pub night at the Bull and Barrel. (You were missed Diana and Gilbert!)

Thank you everyone present and not for being such wonderful friends!