Underway to Charleston

We actually pushed away from the dock in Isle of Hope, Georgia and got underway this morning. Yesterday, Memorial Day, we managed to get some mechanical help and a fellow small enough to crawl behind the starboard engine. The starter now works and life is good again.
Cruising north about 110 miles, we pushed hard, trying to make up some of the lost time. The problem is there are some many slow and no-wake zones where your speed is restricted to about 6 miles per hour. The views are of the Georgia and South Carolina low country and marsh grass as far as you can see. We didn't take any interesting pictures, although Judy keeps trying to snap a picture of dolphins which we see all the time. She's alway too late and the pictures are of just a splash in the water.

Still at Isle of Hope, Ga.

Well we had another minor setback. Yesterday morning as we had checked out and prepared to head for Hilton Head, the starboard engine didn't want to turn over. We had planned to meet our St. Louis friends, the Connells and Meyers. After spending most of the morning trouble shooting, unsuccessfully, we had to cancel our trip and remain at this marina. We consoled ourselves with a trip to town in the loaner car for food and marine supplies, followed by a good home cooked meal with several glasses of wine aboard the boat.

Because of the holiday weekend, there were no mechanics available, so we relaxed and waited. The Meyers and Connells drove down from Hilton Head before noon and we had a good lunch together. It's always good to get together with old time friends and we appreciated the fact that they had to drive an hour or more to get here.

Early this evening we walked around this quaint little historic town and enjoyed the old homes and the moss covered trees. The folks here at the marina have been most accomodating and friendly. We could not have been stuck in a better place.

Report from the First Mate

Greetings from the “first mate” also known as the first wife! We are at Isle of Hope Marina which is just south of Savannah. After a rough start, we have had some very pleasant days on the water even though the strong winds out of the east kept us from going on the outside
We have stayed at some very nice marinas and met some great folks along the way. Last night at St. Simon’s Island, a boat pulled in and the fellow told us he was taking the boat to Ft. Myers to put in a dock at a place called Gulf Harbour (on the B Dock) .He said he bought the boat up north and lives in Naples. About that time his phone rang and then it started to rain so we never got his name. He was gone early this morning.

Because we have done this trip before (ten years ago on Sunchaser, the first of our Last Boats) we are not doing a lot of repeat sightseeing. We want to get further north and closer to Baltimore where Herb and Mary Jones will be joining us on June 8th.

The pictures taken today show a “shrimper” in a sound south of Savannah and some of the pretty homes we saw approaching our marina.

Tomorrow we will be at Hilton Head and will see Ruth and John Meyer and Dottie and Jack Connell, long time St. Louis friends.

Judy

LATER THAT NIGHT ADDENA...

After Judy wrote a quick note in the blog late this afternoon, we cleaned up and went “to town” for dinner. Had such an interesting experience, that we wanted to add a late addenda to today’s message. Just as a reminder, we’re moored at a marina in Isle of Hope, south of Savannah, GA, and town is about a mile plus from the marina.

We thought it would be good exercise to walk to town and have dinner at the Driftaway Café, so we were standing in the street trying to figure which way to town, when a local fella stopped his car and offered to take us there. We accepted his ride and appreciated it, since the marina’s idea of a mile was pretty generous. It was probably two.

Dinner was great and I had an entrée of fried green tomatoes with crab meat, asparagus, and hollandaise sauce (southern dish) and Judy had fresh fish, followed by fresh strawberries and cream. When we asked for someone to call a cab to take us back to the marina, the owner came out, leaving the Friday night dinner crowd of probably 60 to 80 people to drive us in his car. He proceeded to give us an tour of the town including the entrance to an old anti-bellum plantation called Wormsloe, which with it’s tree lined entrance, looked like Tara from Gone With the Wind. They planned to produce silk, and the project was a total failure. The homes lining the waterfront here are old colonial style homes in the multi million dollar range. By the way, the restaurant owner, who is also a multi generation resident, was named Robin Quattelbaum. We loved that old southern name and the town.

Ned

More Excitement

Because of our ”speeding" ticket and dragging anchor on Monday, we assumed that our troubles were over…..Wrong!!
On Tuesday we left Ft. Pierce and headed north to Daytona. After trying to go outside in the Atlantic and finding 5 to 7 footers, we returned to the Intercoastal and had a great cruise until late in the afternoon. About ten miles south of Daytona, the “impossible” happened. The Captain managed to miss a temporary buoy marker at an ocean inlet about ten miles south of Dayton and we ran aground as the tide was going out. The shoaling at ocean inlets is always a problem and we managed to find an unmarked shoal. Well it was midnight before the tide came in and we were finally pulled off by TowBoat US ( the triple A of boating). At 7am the next morning (Wednesday), we had the boat hauled at Daytona Marine yard, our spare set of props installed and we headed north by 9am. Really great service.

Spent the night in St. Augustine at Camachee Island Marina which is a new and wonderful marina just north of town and away from the bridge construction and pile driving at the old “Bridge of Lions” bridge in the heart of St. Augustine. Beautiful evening dinner outside listening to live music and watching the sun set over the water. Amazing how things change in 24 hours.

We Meet "Deputy Dog"

Monday, was an interesting day. As we mentioned in the previous blog, we had anchored out and thought everything was snug as we went to bed. Fortunately we kept the GPS turned on and set what is called a anchor alarm, never figuring that we would need it. It's designed to sound an alarm if we moved out of our anchored position. Well about 4:30 am the alarm sounded and we found that our plow anchor and chain did not hold very well in the fine sand of Florida. Of course there were winds of 20 knots and higher gusts. We were able to use the anchor to move into deeper water. But we were up, so after a quick breakfast, we were heading up the waterway at 7am.

Figuring that we had our excitement for the day, by noon we were moving through Jupiter Island and apparently going too fast in a Manatee zone. These zones are everywhere and usually poorly marked. The water patrol came roaring up to us north of town in a very narrow channel area, tied up alongside and began demanding paperwork. He was an over zealous fellow, who even carried a weapon. It took over an hour get our lecture and citation. We docked that evening in Ft. Pierce with a speed zone ticket and much frustration.

Life in the slow lane

Today started out in Miami in an unbelievable rain storm (they said 3-4 inches in an hour), just about the time we pulled up to refuel early this morning. After both getting soaked we changed clothes and waited at the fuel dock for the storm to pass. Then because of Home Land Security which protects the cruise ships, we had to chug around through the port area of Miami, to reach the Intercoastal Waterway. Because of the storm, we had decided to stay inside on the Intercoastal, rather than run up the coast and make good time.

Instead, we worked our way up through Miami and Fort Lauderdale in almost continuous "slow" zones and under thirty-three bridges. About twelve bridges were so low that we had to wait for the next scheduled bridge opening, sometimes half an hour later. The scenery was great, with impressive homes lining the waterway. The picture is from Ft. Lauderdale, and is typical of architecture.

We made as far as Palm Beach and anchored in a cove off the waterway. After a bottle of wine and good dinner, the world looked good. On we go.

Ned & Judy

Hello Miami

We traveled yesterday, Friday, up the Hawk Channel outside the Keys from Marathon, FL to Miami. It was an uneventful trip with beautiful seas, and sunny skys. Arriving in Miami, we came in the Government Cut to the Miami Beach Marina. What a change from our previous night. This is a large marina with really big boats (see picture of the 150 ft. plus or minus) on the next dock. We're located in front of high rise condos and Marty's, the Raw Bar which was jumping with young people on a Friday night until the wee hours.

By the way, I forgot to include a picture of a visitor we had on the trip south the first day. A small bird, similiar to a finch, flew into our bridge area and rode along for quite a while. Always good to have company.

Have experienced some engine problems with smoky exhaust and felt that we should stay in port today, (Saturday) and investigate. Hope to move North tomorrow.

Ned & Judy

Finally Underway

Finally, after several days delay, we pushed away from the dock in Ft. Myers and headed South and around the tip of Florida. Leaving at 7 am, we passed under the new Sanibel bridge and pointed AWEIGH toward the Keys.
Tuesday and Wednesday were days of frustration solving last minute boat problems, such as a misbehaving air conditioning unit, which little barnicles had decided was a good place to live in the cooling water hoses.
Today we cruised about 136 miles to Marathon in the Keys, where we are tonight in a rather marginal marina. As we backed into the slip, we forced several very large and angry pelicans to take flight. They later returned to sit on our boat railings and express their feelings by leaving a large deposit or two.
Got our first fuel price shock today and realized that trucking diesel fuel down into the Keys adds even more cost. Ouch. Plan to head out early tomorrow for Miami running in the Hawk channel which is outside the Keys in the Atlantic. Weather and waves look good. Pictures will be coming later, since the Captain managed to forget the cable for downloading pictures from the camera. We'll try and find one in Miami.
Ned and Judy

Where are we going?

Here's a map, which may be hard to read, but if you double click on the picture, it should enlarge and be easier to read.

We leave Ft. Myers, FL and head South around the tip of Florida (map is wrong), head up the East coast to the Chesapeake. There we cruise with our Gulf Harbour Yacht Club for a week, then goNorth past New Jersey and into New York harbor. We continue up the Hudson River to the Erie Canal and into Lake Ontario. Entering Canada, we cruise westward on the Trent Severn Waterway to Georgian Bay and to the northern tip of Michigan. Finally heading South down the coast of Michigan to Chicago. There we proceed down the Illinois river to St. Louis for a stop to see grandkids and friends.

After leaving St. Louis we go down the Mississippi to the Ohio river and into the Kentucky Lakes. Down the Tennessee river and the Tombigbee waterway to Mobile Bay. Following the coast, we cruise East to Carrabelle, FL where we jump 170 miles over to the west coast of Florida near Tarpon Springs. Then down the coast and back to Ft. Myers. There we will have traveled about 6,000 miles and as the cruisers say, " we'll cross our wake", completing the "Great Loop".