Vero post scripts

At one point we counted 53 dinghies at the dinghy dock. 
Last night we had a 45 foot sailboat from New Hampshire on one side and a 34 foot sailboat from Montreal on the other.  The Canadians spoke very, very limited English - we could have used Eileen and Harold as translators.
We got over an inch of rain last night, pretty much the first major rain we've had in several weeks.
And so people up north won't feel so bad, today we had to deal with a wind chill factor of 73 to 76 degrees!

We got a late start this morning (9:30) after taking showers, breaking up our threesome (the rafted boats), getting diesel, and filling the water tanks.  We had strong headwinds yet again, 15 to 20 knots right on the nose.  Originally we planned on a short day, but once we got started and looked at distances to stops up ahead we decided to keep moving.  Some of you might recall the bridge malfunction incident a few days back.  Today's bridge story is even better.  We were approaching a lift bridge that opens on demand - you call them on the radio, and they stop traffic to open the bridge for you.  As we approach a closed bridge we always watch to see when the traffic crossing arms start to come down so we can time our approach.  Today as I'm watching the arms start to come down I see a mini-van that is not slowing down.  Just as I'm thinking to myself the driver is going to beat the barriers and not have to wait for the bridge, WHAM!!  There were bits of the crossing arm flying through the air, just like in the movies.  Then, with perfect timing a cop car pulls up behind the mini-van.  At the same time the bridge tender is on the radio telling us there has been an "accident" and they can't open the bridge until the arms are replaced!  Never mind that the cop car is blocking traffic.  Initially the bridge tender said it would probably be an hour before the repair crew showed up and replaced the crossing arm - Bummer!  After about 30 minutes the bridge operator calls us back and says they are going to try a "test" opening with a flagman stopping traffic.  The "test" worked, and we got through.

Right now we are anchored just off the ICW in the St Lucie River.  The St Lucie River is part of the Okeechobee Waterway which runs through Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico on the west coast of Florida.  It cuts off lots of time getting to Fort Myers, Florida - if that's where you're going, and you don't have a mast taller than 49 feet.  Though apparently with creative use of barrels of water hung from your boom a 55 foot mast might make it under the bridge!

Another for "Strange and unusual boat" collection.

Typical double and triple boats moored at Vero Beach.

Our $7.50 solution to our leaking dinghy bottom.  The part that leaks is like an
air mattress that would go where the wooden slats are.
We still plan to try to fix the leak if we can, but in the mean time...

Visiting Vero Beach

As Sue said, we just caught the last bus Saturday afternoon for a quick trip to the grocery store.  We decided to stick around until Monday to try to figure out some way to fix our leaky dinghy floor.  Since the buses don't run on Sunday, and the closest stores are 2 to 3 miles, and Lowe's and Home Depot 8 miles, we didn't do much.  We dinghied through the mooring field looking at all the boats and their hailing ports to see where they are from.  One boat was from Muskegon, Michigan so we stopped to say "Hi".  Three boats rafted together were from Ohio, so we stopped to tell them how disappointed are friends back home are that Ohio State beat Michigan.  (Sorry, Brenda!)  One of the boats we saw was JoHee.  JoHee is the 20 foot boat we were stuck with when the lift bridge wouldn't open.    Roger is travelling with Kitty, so of course we had to stop and chat.  It turns out Kitty is quite a special cat, and is writing her own Blog. 
http://svjohee.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=11
I think Kitty's blog is much more interesting than mine, so I am hoping you will start following her adventures so I can quit writing this.  Skip, Kris, Eileen, and Harold who have seem my terrible typing skills will understand what a relief that would be to me, and how much extra free time I would have every day to do more boat projects for Sue.

And speaking of that, Sunday we finished a couple of small projects.  We also tracked down the leak in the  dinghy floor, and came up with a couple of ideas to maybe fix it.

This morning we caught the first free bus into town.  One transfer, and an hour later we were at Home Depot buying lumber.  I had to have the sales guy cut my boards to length so I could get them back to the boat on the bus.  Pretty strange waiting for someone to cut wood for me, while biting my tongue to not tell him how to do it.  You would also think with all the tools they sell they could have a decent saw blade for a nice cut.  But I digress...  We then went to Wal-Mart - cruisers never pass up a stop at Wal-mart.  Then we missed the bus.  We didn't know where or when the bus stopped, since we had gotten off at one stop, and then went to different stores.  When the bus did finally come it was jam packed, with standing room only.  Every time it stopped several people had to get off to let the person at the very back of the bus get off.  Then the first people would get back on, and then the new passengers could get back on.  Two or three people got off about four times, before getting off for good.  All in all, can't complain too much as the price is right.

Back at the boat, 5 and a half hours later, we had a late lunch.  By then it was raining so we couldn't try to seal the leak in the dinghy.  But we did put the wood slats that we bought under the leaking floor so now we aren't sitting in water.  And talking about projects, at Vero Beach you have to raft off with other boats.  So, yesterday a 45 foot boat came in an rafted off us.  It turns out the transom of their dinghy is breaking so the outboard motor is flexing.  I suggested a temporary fix, which they didn't have any wood to implement.  Now I've been to Home Depot, so I have wood.  And a saw.  I cut a couple of pieces of wood for them so they can stiffen up the motor mount.  Like I don't have enough projects of my own.

The plan is to leave tomorrow morning, and not get stuck in "Velcro" Beach - though it certainly isn't a bad place to spend some time.

What Holiday?

Monday afternoon - Sorry, somehow this never got posted after I added my comments.

We had planned a nice dinner out for Thanksgiving.  Had a reservation made, took showers, were all set.  Then Richard decided that, since we had most of the day free before going to eat, it was a good time to work on the water heater, which had been leaking.  It's leaked enough to start discoloring the floor and rotting out the access panel in the floor in front of the companionway, so it needed to be done.  He was hoping to be able to fix it after removing it.  However, Tartan apparently built the interior around the water heater, making its removal very difficult.  It involved removing the access panel, disconnecting the coolant system from the engine that heats the water when underway, disconnecting wiring to the propane sniffer, disconnecting plumbing, removing a shelf above the heater, unscrewing the water heater from the floor (four screws, only two of which were accessible), cutting off some fittings, then wrenching it out (it was slightly bigger than the opening).  There were tools and water everywhere, and lots of swearing.  We finished up about 6:00, having started at 10:00.  Our dinner reservation had been for 6:00, the latest the restaurant was serving, so we missed Thanksgiving dinner.  I was angry, he was apologetic.  Now we have no hot water and it turns out that currently manufactured water heaters are 1" taller than the one we struggled to remove, so we're not sure how we will replace it.  We'll probably be heating water on the stove whenever we need it for the remainder of the trip.  The good news was that the hardware store in town (Cocoa, Florida) let us dispose of the old heater in their dumpster. 

We left Cocoa the next morning and motored to Melbourne, only about 14 miles further south.  It was a 20 knot headwind and we got tired of fighting it.  Another boat that we had met earlier in the trip, Hairball, had said they would be in Melbourne for Thanksgiving, so we made contact with them and ended up anchoring near them.  (Richard wanted to get a picture of the name for all the people who thought he had made up the name.)  However, their anchorage was in a small creek that was very shallow and we grounded twice (in soft mud) before finally anchoring in a spot with just over 6 feet of water.  Now we are in Vero Beach, on a mooring, rafted next to a Catalina 36 from Wisconsin. Vero Beach has free bus service to shopping areas in town.  We had just tied up the dinghy and were going to go exploring, thinking we had missed the last bus of the day when one pulled up.  Turns out she was going past the grocery store and then returning there in 20 minutes, so we had just enough time to grab a few items and get back to the bus.  People sometimes call Vero "Velcro Beach" because cruisers get here and don't want to leave.  We'll see... 

Sue was a little miffed because I spoiled her holiday -  I pointed out we've been on holiday for over two months...  and things seem to keep breaking or wearing out.  She didn't mention that when we got in the dinghy to dispose of the water heater and buy a pair of adjustable pliers to replace the ones that broke getting the durned water heater out the inflatable floor has started to leak.  So now you end up sitting or standing in any water that finds it's way into the dink.  Sue doesn't want me to start any more projects, so I assume she will come up with a fix.

Cocoa, Florida

A rather short day for us today.  Last night we anchored in Mosquito Lagoon - how's that for a romantic setting?  No mosquitoes, but lots of no-seeums or chiggers so we really couldn't enjoy the evening outside.  Yesterday we had to wait while they got a lift bridge to work.  Today we had a close encounter with a barge in the bridge opening.  The tug operator pushing the barge said they would be there about 45 minutes, but if we felt we could get through we didn't have to wait.  He said there should be around 15 to 17 feet clearance.  We're just a little over 13 feet wide, so what the heck...   It turns out we had 5 or 6 feet to spare.

Our fried Mary has started collecting pictures of "interesting" boats so I sent these two which we saw today.

I've heard of ferro-concrete boats, and glass-fiber boats, but brick...?

If you can't read the fine print, LCBR is "Landing Craft Beer Recovery"

An early Happy Thanksgiving to everyone from the four of us.

Daytona daze

We spent Saturday afternoon until Tuesday morning in Daytona Beach.  Saturday evening Mary C. cooked us a wonderful meal, and then gave us the left overs, except for the Key Lime Pie!  Sunday Dave C. loaned us his car so we could do a little shopping!  This was only the first stop.

I'm not looking forward to getting the Discover Card bill for this shopping spree.  I'm glad Chris is paying our bills.  Somehow Sue managed to find a place for almost everything, though I wonder how long before we find some of it again.  Then Dave and Mary took us to a little family owned seafood place, which I think you must need GPS to find.

We had a couple of boat parts that we needed shipped to Daytona, so Monday morning we installed a new windlass gypsy (fairly easy) and swapped out a macerator pump!  Boat owners might  know about this project; I'll spare everybody else all the gory details.  I'm happy to report that eventually this _h___y project was successfully completed.  Then Mary took Sue to yet another grocery store, while Dave showed me the finer points of making an electric motor work.  Dave says this technique will work with other mechanical devices, so I might see about buying a 3 pound sledge hammer for our boat tool box.

With boat projects and shopping finished we all went sightseeing.  There is a long state park north of Daytona that follows the ICW which is quite pretty with all the live oak and Spanish moss hanging from the trees.  Then south of the park we drove out onto the beach.  You can drive over 30 miles on the nicest sand beach.

But even the roads in Florida have potholes!

A pretty cool sand castle.

  Dinner at a nice little Italian restaurant pretty much finished up our stay with Mary and Dave.  Thanks for the hospitality, the loaner car, the mail forwarding, and the wonderful meal (we finished the leftovers tonight).

Sue & Mary

We started a little late this morning, after finishing up our projects, and doing a little more hide-and-seek storage for some of the goodies we bought.  In about 3 months we figure we will have eaten enough food so guests will once again be able to sleep in the quarter berth.  We ran into about an hour delay today when one of the lift bridges malfunctioned.  Earlier in the day it had been stuck in the Up position, but when we got there they couldn't make it lift.  While we were waiting we met the smallest boat we have seen cruising so far, a 20 foot Pacific Seacraft.  The owner has been out since June, and is now on his way to Key West, and then Cuba.

These guys are maybe 100 yards away from the ICW!

A couple of days ago I think I saw a manatee, and tonight we are anchored in an area where they hang out, so maybe we'll see more.  We think we might be hearing them underwater from the boat.
Also, and I don't mean to rub it in, it was 80 degrees today, with full sunshine, as opposed to 21 and snowing in Seattle.

From Sue:  We had a wonderful time in Daytona Beach with Dave and Mary.  They were very gracious and accomodating hosts and went out of their way to make us feel welcome. 

Richard's been working hard on various boat systems, repairing the anchor windlass with a new gypsy, courtesy of Lewmar (who sent the part at no charge!), as well as the macerator.  However, as soon as those were done he determined that our mystery leak is probably from the water heater.  Unfortunately, the water heater is built in to a cabinet under the galley sink and refrigerator, making it almost inaccessible.  We may have to finish the trip without hot water!

So long St Augustine

St Augustine Lighthouse.
I'm not sure, but I understand they paint the black part red for the holidays.

The Ranger-Cannon master.

BANG!!

The new Bridge of Lions, without the lions.

An economic statement?

This morning we had real showers, (not the rain kind) something all of you take for granted!  Then we did a little more sightseeing while waiting for the 10:30 cannon firing.  Once again the park ranger and his volunteer cannon crew did a wonderful job.  There were a couple of visiting school groups who really got a kick out of the demonstration.  Tomorrow we should be in Daytona Beach.

Some of you might know about the "Three mile limit".  Some things (like gambling, and overboard discharge) aren't allowed closer than 3 miles to shore.  If the cannon ranger is to be believed, that's because that's how far large cannons could fire.  You could claim what you could protect.  He also said they used 8 ounces of gun powder, which was one sixth of what the cannon would have used firing a six pound cannon ball.  Ten to 12 ounces of powder would break windows a mile away across the river.  The gun crew was bummed that they were limited to 8 ounces!

Touristas in St Augustine.

We were going to take the entire trolley tour of the city first thing this morning to see where things were, and then decide what we wanted to see.  That plan fell through almost immediately when we realized the fort, Castillo de San Marco, was one of the first stops, and there weren't too many people there yet.  We spent an hour or so there.  One of the rangers dressed in period costume had a really interesting presentation.  After lunch we took the rest of the trolley tour, and then walked around looking at various points of interest.  The old historic district is pretty compact, so it doesn't take too long to walk from one end to the other.  I think tomorrow morning we'll go back to the fort and watch the cannon firing demonstration.

Park Ranger giving historical talk.

Old mortar (1700s?)  What I found interesting was the intricate art
work on a weapon of destruction.

600 year old live oak, in the Howard Johnson parking lot.
It's a "live"oak because it doesn't drop its leaves.

The picture doesn't show it well enough, but you can tell it's an "authentic old drugstore"
because of the ATM sign bottom right.

The next picture is "X" rated, so be warned!

One of two exact copies of Michelangelo's David,
at the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum.
 Anatomically correct, 17 feet tall, 10 tons of the same marble as used in the original.
It used to be covered with a blue plastic tarp
to hide it from view before the shrubs grew around it enough.

St Augustine, FL

Today was a much better day to travel than yesterday.  We made it to St Augustine this afternoon.  Settled in 1586, it is the oldest continuously occupied city and port in the US.  The population is only around 12,000, so rather a small city.  Tomorrow we plan to check it out.  From the water it looks very pretty, with a fort and what appears to be a big church.  Our friend Mary says they have a nice trolley tour.  The city has a huge marina and 2 large mooring fields.  One of the boats seen this evening was from England.

We loafed today...

The weather forecast for today was windy, with rain.  Sure enough, 20 knots for a while, and of course right on the nose!  The anchorages 20 or 40 miles ahead didn't look as secure, so we decided to stop early.  There was supposed to be a store here, but we didn't find it.  There were public restrooms with hot and cold running water, so we filled our solar shower with warm water and took boat showers.  That saved us a bit of our boat tank water.  We're trying to conserve as much water as possible so it won't be quite as big a shock when we have to buy water.  Places in the Bahamas charge for water - as much as 50 cents a gallon.  It also turns out the solar shower (gravity flow) uses less water than our pressure water boat shower.

Tomorrow or Thursday we will be in St Augustine.  It sounds like it will be a fun/interesting place to visit.  Then on to Daytona Beach.  Mary and Dave are North Cape members (the boat club we belong to where we keep our boat) who winter in Daytona Beach.  They have a free dock for us to use, an offer of a home cooked meal, a shopping trip to re-provision, a drive on the beach, a chance to do laundry, and an address where we are having a couple of items shipped.  What could be better than all that?

Today we saw a boat from Illinois, another Michigan boat, one from California, and we are anchored with a boat from Colorado.  The couple on the Colorado boat have a cat and two dogs.  With dogs you have to take them ashore a couple of times a day - makes having our 2 cats on board seem pretty simple.

Wildlife, and Florida (not necessarily related)

Yesterday we went ashore on Cumberland Island.  The little African-American chapel was a 6 mile walk (one way) so we walked to the ocean instead.  It was only 6 miles round trip, and we hadn't seen much of the ocean since Atlantic City.  We saw several armadillos, a few wild horses, and one wild turkey.  And of course porpoises.

This morning we got a late start, doing a project or two, and waiting for the tide.  We are now in Florida, and didn't see any submarines on Kings Bay.

Tonight Sue's family ccelebrated my birthday - I hope someone ordered chocolate cake AND ice cream!
And our across-the-street neighbor sent us pictures of our front yard to show us how the city street improvement turned out.  It was kind of odd seeing all our trees with no leaves, since everything is green and warm here.  Thanks, Anita.

Some of the "wild" horses on Cumberland Island.

We saw 6 or 8 armadillos on our walk to the ocean.

The former Carnegie Mansion, now maintained by the National Park Service.

Here is a link to the mansion on Cumberland Island:  http://www.samlindsey.com/plumorchard/PO_History.asp
It was a "simple house" of just over 21,700 square feet.  I guess you learn how to make do if you really have to.

Submarine "garage"





Cumberland Island, GA

We moved about 5 miles today to the National Seashore.  They have wild horses, one mansion, a mansion ruin, and a small African-American chapel.  The chapel is where JFK Jr. got married.  We haven't seen it yet, but it looks like it might seat 10 or 12 people.  We are also right across the waterway from King's Bay, which is a restricted nuclear sub base.
Pictures below...  blue background.

At low tide about 8 feet of post will be showing.

They look much wider when they are coming at you in a narrow channel!

I guess Tweedledee and Tweedledum didn't have law degrees!

Typical houses in the historic district of Beaufort, SC.

Fluff sometimes comes out now when we are motoring.

A different birthday

Today we got an early start, like most days recently.  On the agenda was going  through one stretch of the ICW that has the reputation of being the shallowest spot between Norfolk and Florida.  At low tide/water the waterway is 3 feet deep!  Luckily there is about an 8 foot tide, so you  plan your transit of the problem spots with hide tide in mind.  We were going to do one problem spot today, stop early for a relaxed birthday afternoon, and then do a second shallow area tomorrow.  Once we got through the first shallow section - seeing 8.8 feet as the low - we realized if we didn't also do the second low spot today we would have to wait until noon tomorrow to have enough water.  We made it through the second problem area with no problem, but the anchorage we were planning to stop at didn't work out for us because of the wind direction.  We made it into a well protected anchorage just at sundown, though we don't really like to cut it that close.

We got to motor-sail a lot today.  We also sailed just a bit on St Andrews Sound which opens directly to the ocean.  We also saw several shrimpers, one of which I think had run aground.  And right now Sue is baking a chocolate cake, though she tells me it won't have frosting, and we won't have ice cream!
We just finished the cake - with sliced,cooked apples for a topping.  Pretty tasty!!

Yesterday we slowed way down to make a 9:00 bridge opening.  We were idling around waiting the last few minutes before I called the bridge tender to request an opening.  It turns out since it was Veteran's Day, a federal holiday, the bridge would have opened as soon as we got there.  I guess it pays to always read the fine print.  And even missing that bit of information about it being a federal holiday, I still felt better than the guy who called on the ship's radio asking when high tide was so he could time his transit through "Hell Gate" - another notorious shallow spot on the ICW.

Once again we are in a remote area without enough signal strength to load pictures - maybe tomorrow.

Georgia - on my mind (Ray Charles)

We crossed the Savannah River into Georgia today.  It was another gorgeous day with nary a cloud in the sky, and the temperature reaching 80.  Not too bad for early November.  We left at 7:00 this morning and only saw 5 other sailboats and 2 powerboats - a slow day on the ICW.

Today was just under 300 hours motoring since we left North Cape.  To celebrate we did an oil change and transmission oil change on our Yanmar.  It also occurred to me that one or the other of us has been standing up pretty much the whole distance from Lake Erie.  I sure wish we could sail more - then you can sit down.

People

From Sue:  We did a little sightseeing and an errand or two in Beaufort, SC today.  There is a historic district with many beautiful, old houses there and we spent some times admiring them.  Back to the ICW tomorrow.  A few weeks ago Richard cracked a tooth and so needed to find a dentist to take care of it.  We finally got around to finding one who could see him quickly.  However, it turns out that his office was about an hour's walk from the dinghy dock, so we were pretty tired by the time we made it there and back.  We did find a grocery store, though, and some ice cream, so the trip had other benefits.  Unfortunately, when we returned to the boat and I was putting away my money, receipts, and credit cards, I realized I didn't have my Discover card.  Turns out I left it back at the grocery store.  They still had it and would hold it for us, but we had to make another trip over there to get it.  Too far to make another round trip walking, so we called a cab and retrieved the card.  We decided to walk back and stop half way at a Greek restaurant we saw on the way over before.  The food was good and the baklava was about the best we've ever had.  Of course, we were pooped by the time we got back to the boat!

From both of us:  It occurred to us recently that in the last two months we've only seen 9 people that we know from our past life.  A few people we haven't seen probably deserve a mention, as they are making part of this trip possible.  We drafted Sue's sister Chris, and her dad Bob, into taking care of business back home.  Chris gets our mail and sends us a mail inventory almost every day.  She also pays our bills and makes sure things get forwarded or attended to as needed.  Bob has been doing some banking errands for us.  A big thanks, Chris and Bob.

From Richard:  Late this summer I was helping Mark, another sailing friend of ours, do a little project for his boat.  I'm sure Mark must have thought I wasn't paying attention when he volunteered to check on our house, mow the lawn, and make the driveway look like someone was home this winter.  I didn't accept right away, thinking I should give Mark a chance to realize what he was actually agreeing to do, in case he wanted to change his mind.  I didn't hesitate to accept his offer the second time he mentioned it!  Our neighbors might be a little unhappy to see us come back home;  Mark is spending much more time with lawn care than I ever did.  Are you really supposed to mow the grass in November?  And Mark keeps mentioning chopping and raking leaves.  What's that all about?  Thanks a lot, Mark.  It's nice not having to worry about the house and yard.

Today as we were coming back to our boat we noticed a boat from Ohio, so I had to check it out.  It's from Jewett, Ohio.  And the gal, Chelsea, is from a town near the Tartan factory.  Some of you may remember Eileen's and my comments about ours being one of the smaller boats going south.  They are doing the trip in a Catalina 27!  Jake and Chelsea are in their 20s, so I'm sure they will have lots of adventures and memories to look back on when they get to be our age.  Oh, to be young again...

A tad nippy today...

When we woke up it was around 40 degrees!  Probably one of the coldest nights so far.  We debated sticking around for another day, but since the marina is so remote, and we didn't really want to go back into Charleston, we headed out again.  The first order of business was deciding what to wear.  I decided on long underwear and a down jacket under my foul weather gear.  Sue went with 2 layers of fleece, cotton jacket, down jacket, and foul weather jacket.  We needed fleece gloves most of the day, but it really wasn't that bad.  Tonight might be a different story, as we are anchored out, and won't be able to plug in the space heater.  It's supposed to drop down around freezing.  We start a warming trend tomorrow, so I think we can survive one cold night.

Today was full sunshine, without a cloud in the sky.  Tonight might be a perfect night to look at the stars.  I don't think we will have any clouds, and a couple of anchor lights will be the only thing destroying night vision. The only problem might be the freezing temps!

I'm not sure, but I think most people/boats decided not to move today because of the cold.  We saw one power boat and one sailboat on the ICW.  And there was only one sailboat already in the anchorage when we got here this afternoon.  The fewest number of boats we've seen in quite some time.

Charleston chatter.

We've been pretending we're tourists the last couple of days, but decided we can't afford it any more.  As we were arriving Friday Sue called marinas to get us a dock.  For some reason that we can't really figure out, the marinas near the downtown area were/are all booked.  We ended up in a nice enough marina, but it's $15 taxi ride into town.  It's also in the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) complex, so not everyone, including some of the cab companies, can drive to the marina.  I'm not sure what boat owners do...  Because of the location, and having to take a cab back and forth, this area seems more remote than some of the anchorages we've been in.

Yesterday afternoon Sue, Matt, and I took the boat over to Fort Sumter - the start of the Civil War and all.  Then we toured the USS Yorktown.  Matt treated us to dinner at a nice waterfront seafood place.  Really good food - thanks, Matt.  Then we walked around the market area a bit, but it was pretty much empty.  We found a really nice supermarket so we could stock up again.  Charleston has done a really nice job of integrating the new buildings with the old, and we would have never recognized the building as a big super market.  The same with all the hotels; even the big well known chain motels blend in with the older historic buildings.

This morning when we woke up it was cold enough that Sue dug out the space heater, one of few times on the trip.  It got up to around 60 today, but the north wind make it feel much cooler.   Pretty much the same forecast for the next two days, so I'm sure we will be wearing most of the clothes we brought.

Matt left us today - I hope he makes it home OK.  For some reason the gal who made Matt's reservation thought he was flying out of Charlotte instead of Charleston.  They both start with a "C" but I think only one is near the Atlantic Ocean!  Fortunately, Matt found a ride to the airport so he didn't have to take another cab.  And the ride left earlier than he was first planning to leave, so he had time to get things straightened out.  Unfortunately, he ended up leaving at noon, making 2 stops, and getting home around 9:00, instead of leaving around 4:00 and getting home around 9:00.  I guess it's kind of like sailing upwind.  It was fun having Matt on the boat for a week.  He was also a big help helping with the navigation in some of the tricky and shallow parts of the ICW.  The fact that he liked ours cats didn't hurt either.  It's interesting to think that Matt will be home in less than a day, and it's taken us almost 2 months to get here.

This afternoon one of the marina staff drove us into town.  Not only that, but he also drove us around a bit showing us points of interest, and telling us lots of interesting stuff about Charleston.  Then we walked around looking at the wonderful old houses, historic buildings, markets, and parks.  I found it amazing how many people were out, walking, shopping, sightseeing, and on bus and buggy tours.

One of the many private gardens in the city of Charleston.

A "Charleston Single."  The balconies always face the prevailing winds.
I'm not sure what the "single" refers to - maybe a single family.

No matter how large the ship/boat, the head is always small.
This from a post WWII submarine.

The V-berth/torpedo room on the USS Clagamore.
Yup, the crew slept wedged above the torpedoes, which are missing at about elbow level.

For all you other Capt. Ron fans.

Yet another interesting day...

We got up bright and early - actually it wasn't bright, and it was after 7:00.  We had intended to leave around 7:30 or 8:00 and get to Charleston.  As I looked out I though the ports were fogged up with condensation.  There was fog all right, but it was outside!  We could maybe see a quarter mile, or as Matt says, "less than perfect" for visibility.  We decided to wait for things to clear, though as we waited we saw boats crawling by in the ICW.  Around 10:30 we figured it was clear enough to leave; though by then the tide was falling.  We ended up spending the whole day motoring at low tide, and I do mean low!  At one point I saw 6.8 feet - we need 5.5 - so we didn't have much room for error.  We saw lots of 9 and 10 foot water, and when it showed 12 or 14 feet we were really relieved.  And the whole time we were dealing with navigating in the shoals the big power boats kept whizzing by.  It also rained for a while, with a little thunder and lightening.  We did see a few dolphins, though no good pictures yet.

I think I have made a change to the blog so people can comment without registering, or having a Google account.  I'm not sure if/how it works, but I know some of you have e-mailed wondering about posting comments.  I have also added a button that allows you to e-mail blog posts to people, though I'm not sure why you would want to.



Our anchorage 2 nights ago - a cypress swamp (though no swamp creatures.)



This morning.  The other boat was maybe 100 to 150 yards away.

I've never paid for a shower by the foot before.

I

PS from yesterday...

Finally enough signal to add pictures to yesterday's post.

Lots happening today...

First, apparently our signal strength is so low I can't add pictures today.  I at least hope the text gets on line.  I'll do the pictures later.

Our friend Matt showed up late Sunday night.  He said he enjoyed his first day on the ICW.  If you like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast, and napping all day you'd probably get along well with Matt.  Though this morning Matt figured out how to make toast - and we don't have a toaster!

Any SPOTers probably noticed that we are now in South Carolina.  One of the first things we saw today was the pontoon bridge.  It is the last such bridge over the ICW, and in a short while it will be history, replaced by a new high span bridge which is almost finished.  The opening part of the bridge, with the house, is on a steel pontoon which floats out of the way to let boats pass.  I am including a link if you want to find out more about a pretty interesting bridge.
http://www.okeefes.org/Barrier_Islands/Sunset_Beach/Sunset_Beach_NC_Pontoon_Bridge/Sunset_beach_NC_Pontoon_Bridge.htm

Coming into Myrtle Beach we saw a couple of huge boats.  One was coming towards us and Matt was sure there was no way it could pass.  The second one actually waited for us before it pulled away from its dock.  It's a good thing it did - this is what it looked like right after we got by.
Apparently (I haven't checked with my buddy Google yet)  South Carolina doesn't have gambling, but they have off shore gambling ships.  The one that waited for us before pulling into the channel was Aquasino.

Later in the day we came to a stretch of the ICW called "The Rock pile".  In this area the waterway was cut or blasted through a porous layer of rock.  There are areas where the rock ledges jut out into the waterway.  At high tide they are all hidden below the water.  We came through at low tide so we got to enjoy the view.  For about 20 miles before we got to the rock pile we saw maybe 2 boats.  Right in the middle of the rock pile we met 3 other boats all at the same spot.  The first was a big sport fishing boat doing about 20 knots!  If finally slowed down about a boat length behind us - reluctantly, I'm sure!  Then an on-coming trawler, then another overtaking trawler.  It's a good thing it was low water and we had seen the rocks or we probably would have pulled over too far in an attempt to let them pass.

We are now anchored in a really nice stretch of the ICW, though Matt says it reminds him of the movie "Swamp People" or maybe "Creature of Black Lagoon".  I'll probably have to rig a night light for Matt.  We had this anchorage to ourselves for about 20 minutes before 2 other boats showed up.

Today has been one of the coolest of the trip so far.  We were all wearing gloves and stocking/watch caps.  I can't really complain,  (ya, right) Sue's sister says it might snow this week.  And for any of you who know about our cats, Fluff came out in the cockpit twice today, on his own, when we were motoring.