Wednesday, October 27, 2010 – Isle of Hope – at anchor next to marina

Much of the morning was spent on the computers. Gale also switched out the anchors and exchanged the Danforth, which we had been using as our main anchor in the Chesapeake Bay, for the heavier Delta anchor, which will serve us better in Florida. We had to vacate the slip before 1 pm to allow for the new cruisers arriving but before going out to anchor, we stopped at the fuel dock for diesel and gasoline. After fueling up, we traveled only a few hundred feet before dropping the hook for the night where we could still use the marina’s WiFi signal and be out of the channel and in good position to leave early in the morning.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010 – Isle of Hope Marina near Savannah, GA

 
We had signed up to use the loaner car from 9 to 11 am to make a run to Walmart. Before leaving, Gale took the power cord up to the marina office to have it looked at and tested, if possible. The young man who had been on the dock last night told Gale he had seen the lightning strike the mast but was not aware of the power cord problem. About two feet of the yellow plastic outside insulation had been sliced or torn open but the electrical wires inside the cord were all intact and the current was flowing properly. It just needed to be taped up and could still be used. Before the trip to Walmart (in case we needed to pick up anything for repairs), we checked all of the electrical loads on the boat and found no damage. Hooray!

 
 
 
We used the car to have a propane tank filled, to return some items to West Marine, to pick up other needed items at Walmart and a quick stop at the Post Office before returning to the marina at 11:45 am. At 1 pm, we walked to the nearby bus stop and took the shuttle into the city. Our first stop was the Visitors Center where we watched a short film on the history of Savannah and signed up for a 90-minute trolley tour. We got off at the last stop of the tour and walked along the riverfront where we browsed in a few shops, sampled some fresh pecan candy and boiled peanuts, and then stepped into One-Eyed Lizzy’s for dinner. Afterwards, we called a taxi who delivered us back to the marina before the sun went down.


 
 

Monday, October 25, 2010 – Isle of Hope Marina near Savannah, GA

Surprisingly, we did not experience any thunderstorms last night. We had put out two bow anchors yesterday and had some difficulty getting them up with the strong current, the wind and the location of the anchors. All of these things were working against our ability to retrieve them easily so we ended up tying a float to the line of the second anchor, letting it go and then returning to fish it out after the main anchor was brought aboard.

We were on our way shortly after 9 am and arrived at the Isle of Hope Marina an hour later where we took a slip. Life’s 2 Short was still on the dock, but they were preparing to leave within the hour and head to their friends’ dock about 50 miles further south. After we were secure in our slip, we gave Todd and Brenda a hand as they maneuvered out of theirs. The boats were packed in pretty tightly and it took an experienced captain and some help on the dock to overcome the current and get away safely.

After we were checked in, we borrowed one of the marina’s loaner cars to do our provisioning. While Maureen was at the grocery store, Gale drove to West Marine to pick up several items, not the least of which was a spare water pump that we believed will need to be installed soon. Our current pump has been sounding “funny” so it probably won’t last much longer.

We were back at the marina by 3 pm and took some time to stow things away. After that, Maureen gathered up the laundry to use the marina’s washer and dryer and Gale continued on with boat chores. We finished our tasks around sunset and just before a severe thunderstorm hit. During a big surge of water, our shore power cord was yanked out of the connection to the boat and the breaker on the dock’s power pedestal was tripped. This proved to be quite fortuitous since almost immediately following the surge, the boat was struck by lightning. We were not aware of the lightning strike at the time – we only knew we were without power – but there had been a dockhand out in the storm assisting a boat into the slip next to us and witnessed the strike on our mast which arced out from the spreader bars and sideways to the boat that had just arrived.

Sunday, October 24, 2010 – Turner Creek, GA (ICW mile 585.5)

 
 
 
The primary concern for the evening anchorage was to be able to get an NBC television station so we could watch Sunday Night Football, the Vikings vs. the Packers. We pulled out of Bull Creek at 8:30 am and headed out to Turner Creek where we planned to anchor near Hogan’s Marina. Hogan’s is located adjacent to a Publix grocery store and we were in need of some provisions. Todd and Brenda were bound for Isle of Hope Marina, about five miles further down the way, and were going to stay one night there. We told them we’d probably see them next at the Blackbeard anchorage next weekend.

On our way, we passed the famous cemetery in Savannah where some scenes in the movie, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” were filmed. About that time, the skies were beginning to look very dark inland and we thought we might get caught in a thunderstorm.

We avoided the storms and arrived at Turner Creek shortly after noon to find good holding near Hogan’s Marina. The only problem was we were swarmed by no-seeums. We could tell that it was not going to be fun at all, so we pulled up anchor and left the creek to anchor out in the wider Wilmington River where we were in a much more open area. We even had a bit of a breeze which helped to keep the pests away. The skies were still looking a bit “iffy,” so we chose to forget about provisioning for another day and just relaxed on the boat.

Our team didn’t win the game. We were counting on Brett Favre to take the Vikings through to another victory against their Packer rivals, but it wasn’t to be. The Vikings lost, 24-28.

Saturday, October 23, 2010 – Bull Creek, SC (ICW mile 565.5)

 
Sometimes our dirt dwelling friends ask us, “What do you do all day?” Check out that first photo of us enjoying our morning coffee on the front deck. It would be nice if it really was like that all of the time – and we know we experience more than our share – but we truly do savor these wonderful moments.

Since we were in such a lovely anchorage and the guys were enjoying the fishing so much, we decided to stay right where we were for another day. A few more redfish were caught, a few more pages in our books were read, we watched a little TV toward evening and relaxed the day away.

 
 

Friday, October 22, 2010 – Bull Creek, SC (ICW mile 565.5)

 
 
 
 
At 8:45 am we had the anchor up and were waiting for the 9 am bridge opening. We cruised by L2S and spoke briefly with Todd to let him know we would look for them along the waterway and meet up at the anchorage later this afternoon. Todd and Gale were both hoping for some good fishing in Bull Creek.

Just before we arrived at the turn off into the creek, L2S passed us and led the way in. Both boats were anchored at 1:15 pm and after a quick lunch, Gale and Todd were in their dinghies and heading towards a small floating dock on shore. Within moments, the ladies could here whooping and hollering that made them believe the fish were biting! Todd caught a nice flounder right off the bat and Gale was into the redfish or red drum. It wasn’t looking like we would need the chicken and potatoes set aside for our evening meal. Gale brought home about eight nice-sized redfish.

Late in the afternoon, a local fisherman stopped by L2S to see if any of us would be interested in some nice fresh shrimp for $5 a pound. We ended up with two pounds of the biggest shrimp we’d ever seen! Gale pinched off the shrimp heads, filleted the fish and we washed and packaged our catch for later.

Imagine this meal: stuffed flounder, redfish fillets, and shrimp all caught today and grilled slowly on the back of the boat with a side of long-grain wild rice and a nice lettuce salad. Mmmmm…..

Thursday, October 21, 2010 – Factory Creek, Beaufort, SC (ICW mile 535.9)

 
 
The destination of the day was Beaufort (say: “Byou-fert”), South Carolina. We had invited Todd and Brenda over for hors d’oeuvres; however, we just missed the 4 pm opening of the bridge at Beaufort and ended up anchoring in Factory Creek below the bridge. During the week, the bridge has restricted openings for the morning and evening rush hours, so it would not be opening again until 6 pm. L2S was already tucked in above the bridge and even though we weren’t that far apart, we decided to do our own things that evening and plan to get together at tomorrow night’s anchorage.
 


We were anxious to see the town of Beaufort, so since we weren’t having guests, we took the dinghy into the town dock to see what we could see. We walked into the parking lot and found a couple of horse-drawn carriage tours waiting to take their last spin around town. We had a lovely tour of the city and our guide had a real knack of giving us the history of the area with a lot of her own personality thrown in.
 
 
 

After some photo opps with the horse guide, Doc, we enjoyed a good meal at Luther’s on the waterfront before heading back to Blue Heron for the evening.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Wednesday, October 20, 2010 – Tom Point Creek, SC (ICW mile 495.7)

 
As we came into the Charleston City Marina yesterday, Todd of Life’s 2 Short hailed us on the VHF radio. They had just left Charleston and were heading for an anchorage at Tom Point Creek where they planned to stay a couple of nights. Our plan was to join them there so at 9:30 am we began the 15-mile journey to meet them. By noon we were anchored a couple of miles up the creek and after a little lunch, both Todd and Gale were out in the dinghies seeing what kind of damage they could do the fish population of Tom Point Creek. It turned out that the fish were not in too much danger that afternoon.

That evening, we joined Todd and Brenda on their boat for drinks, dinner and a round of “Think While You Drink.”

Tuesday, October 19, 2010 – John’s Island, SC (ICW mile 480)

 
 
We had an early start to the morning and were off by 7 am. At 1:30 pm we stopped at the Charleston City Marina where we could tie up to their dock for $5 an hour. Since all we really needed was to pick up our mail, we paid for two hours, walked up to the shops near the marina and picked up some wine and rum for our stores. We were very happy both envelopes of mail and all of our packages (including the replacement control for the windlass) had arrived before us.

On our way again at 3:30 pm, we found a nice anchorage near John’s island and set the hook. Gale wanted to see if he could do any good fishing, but didn’t have a lot of luck.

Monday, October 18, 2010 – McClellanville, SC, Five Fathoms Creek (ICW mile 430)

Another ten hours of travel brought us to McClellanville where we fueled up at the end of the day at Leland Oil and then anchored in Five Fathoms Creek on the other side of the intracoastal waterway. We had difficulty finding a good place to anchor due to the narrowness of the channel and poor holding. After trying three different spots and two or three times in each spot, we finally settled in next to another catamaran that had come in about the same time we had. We were concerned that there would be heavy commercial fishing traffic during the night as per the guidebook, but found that not to be the case.

Sunday, October 17, 2010 – Waccamaw River, SC (ICW mile 375.0)

It was a beautiful day to cover 80 miles. We left Carolina Beach just before sunrise and traveled nearly twelve hours before anchoring in the Waccamaw River. Four bridges had to be opened for us along the way.

Saturday, October 16, 2010 – Carolina Beach, NC (ICW mile 295.1)

 
 
 We hung out at the marina in Masonboro for as long as we could and then set out for Carolina Beach at 3:30 pm. On the way into the anchorage, we were hailed by Bill and Margie of Tortuga, another Gemini, whom we had met in January 2008 when we were in Crystal River, Florida, with our friends from Toronto, Ken and Nancy. We couldn’t make contact on the radio that night, evidently their VHF was turned down too low, but we did talk by radio the next day and learned they were on their way down to Florida as well.

The windlass control failed when we dropped the anchor – it was stuck in “down” mode so all 100 feet of chain was pulled out at once. We had to disengage the control and go back to the “old fashioned” manual way of doing things. Fortunately, it was only 5 pm and not dark yet. It would have been a little dicier had we been trying to manage it in the dark.

Gale was able to take the handheld control apart and make a temporary repair. The “up” switch was worn out so he switched the wires to make “down” into “up.” This repair got us through until we could order the replacement part and have it shipped to Charleston.

Friday, October 15, 2010 – Masonboro Marina near Wilmington, NC

Josh, the mechanic, arrived shortly before 9:30 am to check the engine valves – routine maintenance only. He found that two of the four valves needed adjustment and had that task taken care of in about 25 minutes. At 10:30 am, Craig, the dockmaster, gave us a ride into town and dropped us off at the Super Walmart in Wilmington where Maureen started on the grocery list and Gale walked over to the nearby Radio Shack to take a look at their televisions. He ended up purchasing a 19-inch digital flat screen TV that would fit nicely atop our refrigerator. We gave Craig a call and he was back to pick us up and take us back to the marina before 1 pm.
 
 


By 4 pm, the staples were repackaged and stowed, the fruits and vegetables were cleaned, salads were prepared for the next five days and the meat was repackaged into serving-size portions. While Maureen started the laundry, Gale worked on boat chores. It is always so busy when we come into port!

Maureen had been craving pizza lately, so we had a Hawaiian pizza delivered to the dock around sunset and settled in to watch a movie on our new TV! It was hard to believe that we’d been without a television set for sixteen months.

Thursday, October 14, 2010 – Masonboro Marina near Wilmington, NC (ICW mile 288.1)

 
It was a rough night on the hook. The current and the wind worked against each other at times which gave us a bumpy ride and made it difficult to sleep. We were also anxious about getting up extra early because we knew we had a long travel day ahead. We didn’t waste much time when the alarm sounded at 5:15 am and by 5:45 am, we had the anchor up and were motoring through the channel. Even with Maureen at the bow with a flashlight, we felt the channel was too narrow to be navigating in the dark so after about 20 minutes, we dropped the anchor in the channel and waited another half hour before getting underway once again. The sky brightened up by 7 am as we moved down the waterway.

We did get a little rain in the afternoon as we waited for the 4 pm opening of the Wrightsville Beach Bridge. With the isinglass enclosure over the cockpit sides, we were very dry and cozy in our shorts and tops as we sat back and relaxed. The two other sailboat crews waiting at the bridge were not nearly as lucky. They were all in their full raingear and getting pretty wet as the squall passed through.

 

We arrived at the Masonboro Marina just before the 5 pm closing time and were assisted into our slip by the dockmaster and a couple of other neighboring boaters. We found out the essentials for the night; i.e., WiFi password for the marina, access codes for the laundry and shower facilities, etc., before the dockmaster left for home. We settled in for a nice, quiet evening in a very friendly marina.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010 – Swansboro, NC (ICW mile 229.0)

Double yuk! The boat was covered with dead mosquitoes when we got up. At least we didn’t get the green slime all over like the fish fly hatch. We were counting on the breeze blowing away most of the carcasses, but we were still in need of a good fresh water scrubbing to get the boat cleaned up properly.

We were on our way by 8 am and heading out into another lovely day. It took eleven hours to travel sixty miles with a stop in Beaufort (say: ‘BO-fert’) North Carolina for fuel and water. We had hoped to take about two hours in Beaufort to walk around the city and get a feel for its history, but during the afternoon we set up an appointment with a mechanic to meet us at the Masonboro Marina on Friday morning at 8 am with a cold engine. The only way we were going to make it to Masonboro by the time the marina closed on Thursday was to keep moving.

We arrived in Swansboro as the sun was setting and dropped the anchor just outside of the channel. There was a lot of current and we had some difficulty getting the anchor to set. Finally, at 7 pm we had good holding and made our dinner. The lights in town were very pretty at night and the traffic on the waterway died down after dark.

 

Tuesday, October 12, 2010 – Neuse River near Maw Point Shoal (ICW mile 170)

 
 
 
 
 We spent the morning walking around town (which really didn’t take long) and then stopped in at SmacNally’s on the waterfront for a bit of lunch. It was a lovely day with temperatures in the upper 80’s and a nice southwesterly breeze. Seemed like a good afternoon for a sail, so we pulled up anchor at 1:30 pm and left Ocracoke and the Outer Banks of North Carolina to reenter the Intracoastal Waterway.

At 7 pm, we dropped anchor near Maw Point Shoal in the Neuse River and settled in for a nice evening. Remember the fish fly hatch we had Saturday night? Right after sunset we were driven inside and under the covers by hoards of mosquitoes! They were relentless and managed to find their way into the living quarters. Lights out because of the bugs at 8 pm again!!
 

Monday, October 11, 2010 – Silver Lake, Ocracoke, NC

 
 
 
It was another long travel day – 60 miles in 10 hours against a strong SSW wind. It was clear and sunny with a temperature of 68°F to start the day rising to the mid-80’s by afternoon. At 5:30 pm, we anchored in beautiful Silver Lake on Ocracoke Island. The most famous former resident of the village, Blackbeard the pirate, met his demise here in 1718 when the Governor of Virginia sent troops to Ocracoke to capture him. It took twenty sword wounds and five gunshots before he was killed and beheaded. His body was tossed overboard and his head tied to the bowsprit of the schooner Adventure, which then returned it and hung it on display in Hampton, Virginia, to warn other piratical types.

After settling in, we hopped into the dinghy and rode over to a couple of other boats anchored near us to inquire as to the “lay of the land.” We learned where the dinghy dock was but did not get much information on where we might find a sandwich place. Not to worry – the town was so small, we parked the dinghy, walked a few blocks and found Dajio’s where we enjoyed a great meal and a nice conversation with a couple who used to cruise on their sailboat.