Beautiful Beaufort SC 5-13-09

This is beautiful Beaufort SC as opposed to Beaufort (pronounced bo-fort) NC—folks in this area are pretty particular about the difference. This town is always on the list of historical towns to visit and has earned its place through the diligent work of the Beaufort Historical Society and homeowners preserving over 200 homes. If you are here in late October, you can attend the House and Garden Tour and gain entrance into these magnificent homes. The John Mark Verdier House Museum is open all year and you can see the historic renovation of this Federal-style home.

There is so much history in this compact town. Beaufort was a hotbed of sedition advocating that SC secede from the Union and it is ironic that when the Civil War started, Beaufort was taken quickly and used as a regional Union Army Headquarters for 4 years, but this spared the town from being gutted. It is fascinating to walk through the St. Helena’s Episcopal Church cemetery which became a hospital during the war and its tombstones were used as operating tables.

We took a carriage ride through the historic district and our tour guide, Bill, made history come alive. His horse Duke was quite taken with Bob and wondered if he was going to get a carrot for all his efforts. Here’s a picture of the Joseph Johnson House (The Castle) which occupies an entire city block, is surrounded by lush gardens and reportedly sold for a reduced price of 2.65 million. The last picture is the Party House which was a club for wealthy landowners.

One of our favorite authors, Pat Conroy, was born here and it is easy to see why Beaufort would be used as a backdrop when his books (The Great Santini, Prince of Tides) were made into movies. The town was also featured in The Big Chill and Forest Gump.

Sightseeing in Savannah 5/10/09

Here’s a picture of the flattop salt marshes of the GA ICW at sunrise. It is quiet here in the morning except for the distant call of birds, dolphins snorting as they surface and fish jumping. We split the trip to Savannah into 2 parts with a longer 66 mile day to Kilkenny with a rising tide and had no problems with Mud River. The next day was a short hop to Savannah through Hell’s Gate which was being dredged so this section should be much better in the future.

Savannah is another southern city rich with hospitality, food and history. James Oglethorpe founded the city in 1733, planned it around 4 squares which subsequently expanded to 24 and thought that it would prosper if there were no lawyers, whisky, slaves or Catholics. Things have really changed as modern Savannah has the second largest St. Patrick’s Day in the nation complete with a Mardi Gras style party for 400,000. Savannah also bills itself as America’s Most Haunted City and has the ghost tours to prove it. With its tragic and violent past history of war, fires, epidemics and sensational murders (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil), spirits are here if you are receptive.

Summer has definitely come to Savannah this Mother’s Day weekend with temperatures in the 90’s and we cold blooded Minnesotans were wilting a bit. We took the Oglethorpe Trolley tour to get orientated and then over the next 2 days, took 3 Savannah Walks tours highlighting Civil War history, the amazing Colonial, antebellum and Victorian architecture, the gardens and ghosts. To cool down, we toured the air conditioned Maritime Museum and Savannah Museum as well as grazed in restaurants on fried green tomatoes, grits, collard greens, and anything pecan. Paula Dean, the fabulous GA cooking show host, was in town but we could not get a table at her restaurant, Lady and Sons. Next time.

Since we had a rental car, we had time to go to the Sea Turtle Research Center. Only 1 in 4,000 hatchlings live to reproductive age and it is amazing to see the work the center is doing with sea turtles that have been injured or ill.

We were glad to catch up with Dan and Deb on “Freedom” and will probably see them again soon in Charleston. We stayed at Isle of Hope Marina which worked out well. They even sponsored a barbeque lunch on Saturday.

Jekyll Island 5/5/09

We bid farewell to Florida today. We first saw the ‘Welcome to Florida” sign on the ICW on 11/19/08 on our way to Pensacola. It seems like yesterday but yet light years ago. Since then, we have traveled the entire Gulf of Mexico west coast of FL, went down to the Keys, and then after the Bahamas, journeyed up the Atlantic Ocean east coast. It has been such diverse and interesting boating. Florida municipal marinas have been great and the Florida State Park system is #1 with us. We’ve walked, at least, a hundred miles of FL beaches, eaten 50 pounds of grouper each and had the best winter ever. As if scripted by Hollywood, the palm trees start to thin out and the ICW water turns a darker brown when you cross over to Georgia on the ICW.

As I mentioned in the previous posting, the 7-8 foot tides on the Georgia section of the ICW command respect. Put this together with the lack of dredging of the GA shoal areas and you get a recipe for going aground. Our strategy for today was to leave Amelia Island at 11:30 am on a rising tide and only go 32 miles through the difficult sections of King’s Bay and Jekyll Sound. Here’s a picture of a Trident submarine being accompanied by tugs near the King’s Bay base—security boats track your movements and if you veer, they will definitely get your attention. There was some shoaling at G75 and R76 where we did see 5 feet on our depth sounder but we did fine. Our biggest problem was a war party of huge black flies surrounding us, attaching themselves to the flybridge bimini and periodically attacking. Bug magnet Bob was camouflaged in his Buzz-Off shirt, long pants and was wearing Deep Woods Off cologne so they started to notice me…… oh…….no……

Jekyll Sound Inlet is similar to the Whale Passage in the Bahamas as it is open to the Atlantic Ocean and today was mild with only a 3 foot chop and no breaking waves. We had to do a 90 degree turn to port and our speed shot up to 11.7 mph with the following sea. Wheeee!

We pulled into the Jekyll Island Marina at 4:10 pm, registered quickly and took the courtesy bikes out for a 2 hour ride to explore this 19th century playground for the rich and famous. The Jekyll Island Club was established by millionaires and luminaries who built mansion “cottages” to enjoy the Georgia seashore and the tranquil island beauty. It is now a National Historic Landmark District and can be accessed by carriage, tram or walking tours.

We enjoyed meeting up again with Dan and Myla aboard “Kairos”. We last saw them in Marathon and had a great evening talking about our collective Bahamas adventure.

Amelia Island 5-4-09

I have not mentioned much about boating in the ICW so far as it has been pretty easy—just connect the numbered red and green buoys and stay in the channel. It got a little more exciting today with shallow water due to 7 foot tides and even with our draft of 3’9”, we bumped 3 times in 5 seconds at red buoy # 43 in the Little Amelia River section. That definitely got our attention. We’ve been doing 50-60 mile days, leaving at 6:30 am so that we could do the most distance which would also allow us time to visit towns if we could dock by 2pm. The tides have been cooperating so far but not with the upcoming section of GA—stay tuned for our strategy.

Amelia Island with quaint downtown Fernandina Beach is right on the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) and is also a good entry port from the Atlantic through the St. Mary’s Inlet. With its deep harbor, it can even accommodate submarines headed for base at King’s Bay. The downtown historic area is a 4 by 10 block area filled with registry homes, restaurants, parks, a museum and unique shops—how about a Trailer Park Collectible store? We walked 2 miles to the Amelia Island Lighthouse only to learn that it is only open on the first and third Wednesday of the month. There were some serious “No Trespassing” signs so this is the best picture that I could get.

The town is recovering from last weekend’s 100,000 visitors for Shrimp Fest where everything had a shrimp on it. If you are in the area the weekend of May 15-17, you can go to the Wild Amelia Festival which features nature tours. The wild horses of Cumberland Island are right across the Inlet. We did not get to the southern part of Amelia Island which features luxury resorts, Amelia Island Plantation, Summer Beach Resort and the Ritz-Carlton, where you can get pampered and spoiled –not for me this time as I am a working boater and might stab myself with those fancy nails.

Weekend in St. Augustine 5-3-09

Old St. Augustine, rich in 400+ years of Spanish, French, British and American history, is a boating destination and a good place to get away from the weekend crowds on the ICW. Its old town section has narrow cobblestone streets lined with historical registry homes with courtyards and overhanging Spanish moss-laden trees and the air is fragrant with flowering jasmine. We took a tram tour late Friday so that we could get orientated. The tickets are good for 3 days and when there is so much to see and do and only 2 days here, the tram is the way to go. We had dinner with Peg and Dave from “See Ya” at O.C. White’s which is right across from the St. Augustine Municipal Marina. Even though there is still construction on the Bridge of Lions, it is a good marina with helpful staff and a great location.

On Saturday, I toured the Dow Museum of Old Homes which has 8 homes from the 18-20th Century—the coral jewel is the Murat House which was once occupied by a nephew of Napoleon. The décor is simple compared to Henry Flagler’s Ponce de Leon Hotel, now Flagler College. The elite dined in an exquisite room lined with Tiffany glass windows and imprinted with gold-leaf murals depicting religious and nautical themes. Flagler developed 3 luxury hotels in the area and also built the FL railroad to transport the elite here for the winter season. Stepping back in time, Bob and I toured the Castillo de San Marcos which is a 17th Century Spanish fort that withstood many sieges but never surrendered in battle. The National Park Service oversees it now and volunteers reenact battles complete with cannon fire.

Our tram tickets included a bus ride to Anastasia Island and so early on Sunday morning, we packed up for the beach and went out to Anastasia State Park, rented beach chairs and an umbrella, read the Sunday paper and enjoyed a brunch on the beach—heaven. In the afternoon, we toured the Leitner Museum which has displays of the Flagler hotel opulence, including the 3rd floor Ballroom and the Turkish baths. We definitely enjoyed the San Sebastian Winery tour as an experience but their wines are very young and a bit sweet. The winery does have a Jazz Bar on the upper floor deck and it was a great place to spend Sunday night.

Got zincs????? Here’s a picture of a new zinc (used to protect the underwater metal parts of the boat) and here’s our old one eaten away by the warm salt sea water but hopefully, sacrificially sparing our boat parts.

I couldn’t resist this picture of Bob in front of the Bob t-shirt display.

Daytona Beach 4/30/09

We’ve been doing 50 mile days on the ICW and today’s journey took us to Daytona Beach. If you are into Harleys, NASCAR and tattoos, this is your place. It is such a motor culture here that you can pay $5.00 and drive your car right on the beach and set up your umbrella. Are you missing the pictures of the beautiful Bahamian blue water and isolated beaches—we are too. Daytona Beach does have 50-70 yard flat packed beach sand at low tide which was just great for a long walk.

Space Age back to Time of Columbus 4-29-09

“See Ya,” “Freedom,” and “Baby Grand” departed Fort Pierce on 4//27 and had a wonderful anchorage in the lea of 15-20 knot winds at Milepost 918.2 north of the Melbourne Bridge. Plenty of stars and a great night’s sleep which is perfect as far as we’re concerned.

“See Ya” and “Baby Grand” journeyed to Titusville Municipal Marina on 4/28 so that we could tour the Kennedy Space Center. However, at 3am, the inverter alarm sounded and it we lost power and thought that we might have to forego this trip. Bob had the foresight to order a replacement panel for the inverter, and after installing this and rebooting, the batteries recharged and we left the boat. However, when we got back from the Space Center, “Houston we have a problem”-- power was off again so back to the drawing board. It turns out that the Titusville Marina was generating 130 volts and our inverter was set to shut-off at that level so Bob changed the default setting to 131 and voila’, power again.

The Kennedy Space Center tour was very impressive. The next NASA launch is the Atlantis scheduled for lift-off on 5/11/09 at 2:01pm. It is the last service mission to the Hubbell Telescope which has been orbiting for 19 years, 350 miles out in space. Scott Allman, who did the real test pilot flying in the movie “Top Gun,” is the Commander. This rocket land tour takes you from the initial fledgling failures, the space race with Russia, the Apollo moon landings, the Space Shuttle programs, International Space Station to the new Constellation program which will again put astronauts on the moon.

One astronaut described his spacecraft as “a butterfly flying on top of a bullet.” We had the chance to experience some of the thrill of this on the Shuttle Launch Experience. You get a real appreciation for the genius and dedication of the NASA employees and how much the space technology they developed have changed our lives (satellite navigation and communication, water purification systems, medical advances in lasers, ultrasound scanners, programmable medical devices—the list is endless).

I was washing the boat later when this beautiful, gentle, 8 foot adolescent manatee appeared and cavorted in our neighbor’s reverse cycle water stream. Manatees are 6-10 feet long and are herbivores that graze along the grassy bottom and surface every 3-5 minutes for air. They were mistaken for mermaids long ago by Columbus and crew, but when you see their jowly, Rubenesque frame or 200-300 lbs., you know these sailors probably had rickets and had been too long at sea. Still, there is something very hypnotic about them and we would have followed their siren song anywhere.

Fort Pierce 4-26-09

We only stayed one night at the Riviera Marina in the Lake Worth area as the tiki bar band played loudly until midnight but then the morning crew came in at 6:15 am to dry stack boats (boats stacked on racks with a fork lift in a big boat barn) and we need just a little more sleep. We moved on to Fort Pierce Marina with “See Ya” and “Freedom” on 4/24 and it was great to be on the easy ICW again. We have had winds of 20-25 knots for the past few days but don’t have to worry about it.

Ft. Pierce Marina is worth a stop. This is a great marina with helpful staff, 2 tiki bars but without the morning dry stacking stuff, clean restrooms, as well as laundry facilities that work and are only $1.00 per load. After paying $4-5.00 per load in the Bahamas, we felt that we were making money.

Ft. Pierce has a fantastic Farmers’ Market complete with a Latin jazz band every Saturday from 8am to 12 noon. This was perfect timing for us as our supplies are very low and we were craving fresh fruits and veggies. I was even dreaming about fresh ripe cantaloupes. Selection is pretty limited in the Bahamas and prices are often 2-3X as much if you can even find decent produce. I filled up my boat cart with fresh and frozen fish as well and, of course, tasted lots of bakery items and free samples. We are missing the laid-back pace of the Bahamas and have felt some culture shock, but are glad to have the abundance America provides.

We rented a car to do some major provisioning at Target, West Marine and Publix so our bowline is looking pretty low in the water again. After giving the boat a good wash, as well as laundering all the rugs and bedding, we are ship shape again and ready to cruise.

We visited with my cousins, John and Maggie, in Stuart and were treated to a sumptuous brunch at their golf club. It is wonderful to see family along the way and catch up on all the news. We were also delighted to see gold Loopers, Mickey and Doug, on “Bucket.” They completed the Loop in 12/08 and Ft. Pierce is their home port. It was fun to reminisce about our time together on the rivers as well as get some suggestions for the trip north.

The BIG Crossing 4-23-09

Whenever we have a big body of open water to cross , our senses begin to heighten subtly, we become attuned to the slightest wind shifts and start scanning all sources of weather data (NOAA, passageweather.com, Caribbean Weather net, etc. ) rather obsessively. The problem is that they do not necessarily agree, or you think you have a great forecast for the next day and then overnight big winds and waves blow in. You are so ready, and then have to stop abruptly and inertia sets in. You second guess yourself that the forecast for the day before that you rejected as too dangerous “wasn’t so bad.” It can go on like this for a few cycles. This is the hard part of cruising.

It was great to have the company of Loopers, Dave and Peg Miller aboard “See Ya’” and Bill aboard “Tortuga” as well as non-Loopers, Deb and Dan aboard “Freedom.” We’ve been together here at West End for the past few days reviewing all the data and possibilities as well as sharing refreshments and fun. We all agreed on Wednesday night that this would be our last Captains’ Meeting here as our lucky day would be tomorrow. We adjourned to our boats for a restless night (waking up hourly to make sure the wind was still from the east and not the dreaded north—still east, listening for crashing waves in the distance--none, answering the questions about whether we were ready to face the 2,000 foot deep ocean in a 1985 single engine, 32 foot boat???).

It seems that we finally got to sleep when the 5am alarm clock rudely rang calling us to action. We sleepily looked at each other, consulted NOAA one more time (east winds, 5-10 knots and 2-4 seas) and then got excited that it was a “GO.” The adrenaline kicks in and you start battening down everything, run the checklists, check with your accompanying boat buddies and cast off the dock lines.

We are the slowest boat in the flotilla and left the dock at 6:30 am just before sunrise and noticed immediately that the Bahamian blue water changed to the darker Atlantic Ocean blue rather quickly. We did have east winds 7-9 knots but had 2 foot swells from the S/SE initially. We were pleased to be going west as the blazingly bright sun was not in our eyes. The other boats joined us rather quickly and the Captains’ had ongoing discussions about boat everything—course for the day, whether to go to Lake Worth or Fort Pierce, who has the biggest caliper—they are guys and it is a long day. Bob and I do 1 hour shifts watching the GPS and autopilot but I am not one to talk much on the radio.

We swung into the Gulf Stream at about 9am and it started pushing us north so a boater has to compensate by steering slightly south to make landfall. We all decided to go to Lake Worth (67 miles) as it was the shortest time on the water and it provides more convenient Customs check-in for the boaters in our group who did not have the Local Boater Option. However, the swells increased from 2-4 feet to 5-6 feet from many directions but they were far apart and not breaking. Some of our buddy boaters had not been out in conditions like this so it was one of those learning experiences.

As the FL shore condos came into view at 3pm, we felt the elation and tiredness that overtakes you when you pull an all-nighter for a very important final but we passed!!!!!!

Heading to West End 4-17-09

On 4/17, the windlass lifted a very heavy anchor and rode full of marle, chunky sand and grass—great holding ground and we slept very soundly. We have 35 miles to go to Great Sale Cay where we anchored previously on 3/12. We are following “Antares” and Sea Dog” and have had a lively discussion of all the weather parameters. We have Single Side Band and can listen to Chris Parker on the Caribbean Weather Net at 6 and 8 am and we share this with other boaters.

The highlight of the day was passing a pod of 6 dolphins at 1pm on the northwest corner of Great Sale Cay. They rode our bow wave for about 10 minutes and here are the best shots, however, the pictures do not capture the sense of play and acrobatics. There was a baby dolphin just learning how to do this and he/she did very well and was line leader at times. We took it as a good omen that they greeted us and ushered us on our way.

After 5pm Captains’ Meeting on “Sea Dog”, the winds started to increase to 20 knots with some rain. There were about 30 boats at the anchorage and with our anchor alarm set, we slept very soundly.

On 4/18, we raised the anchor again covered in marley sludge and we followed “Antares”, “Sea Dog”, and a Mainship trawler, “Lady J” the 35 miles to West End. We had 15+ knots of wind on the rear quarter with 2 feet seas, and at times, we were surfing from 6.5 to 8.5 knots. The sailboats were motor sailing as it is important to get to the Indian Rock shoal section just before high tide. Depths go from 14 feet down to 6.7 and with their drafts of 5 feet, every inch is important. Our Chartplotter had a hiccup but we had a backup with Explorer charts, a handheld GPS and way points so did fine.

We started this trek toward West End now as the winds were clocking to the north and there are good anchorages for these conditions. Another factor was that east, south or west winds were forecast for 4/19-4/21 so the jump to FL would be very doable. As any cruiser knows, planning is great but Mother Nature will dictate what you really get.

It was great to get to West End again on 4/18 to enjoy the lounge chairs, hammocks, pool, Bahamian band and beach glass hunting at Old Bahama Bay Resort and Marina. We have had to gulp hard at the high price of $106 per day.

At 5pm Captains Meetings, we've had ongoing discussions about the optimum conditions: the sailboaters are fine with beam seas (waves on the side of the boat as they have weighted keels and the sails counteract the rolling seas); we trawler types are not. So on 4/20 and 4/21, a number of sailboaters, some with 1-2 dogs on board, left for FL with a forecast of 15-25 knots of wind, 4-6 foot seas + swell, and possibility of squalls.

We trawler types are waiting for W/SW seas (waves on our stern or aft quarter). At this moment, I am listening to distant thunder and hoping that the front comes through so we can leave tomorrow. Looper boats, “See Ya’” and “Tortuga”, came in today and we will be traveling with them and other trawlers. It will be a long night and a very early morning.

4/21 Update: Remember that I was saying that Mother Nature is in charge--squalls and winds this morning so we will not be going until at least Thursday so back to the beach and lounge chairs after the squalls pass.