11/18/2009, St. Simons Island, GA
We're anchored near St. Simons Island in Georgia, having spent the last two days underway offshore (in two day-long increments) taking advantage of some stellar weather to move down the Georgia coast line towards St. Mary's near the Florida state line. We motored from Beaufort SC out Port Royal Sound at first light Monday morning alongside Cheryl & Robin on "Just Imagine" and moved easily down the coast under power with a little help from some infrequent winds, but without the hassles of muddy shallows in the ICW, no bridges to wait for, no powerboats impatiently passing by with their wakes, and no running aground. We heard two calls on the radio from vessels aground in the ICW. It's great just reading and relaxing on deck while our trusty helmsman "AUTO" watches our course, enjoying the dolphin and the shrimp boats doing their thing. A much better way to pass the miles south to warmer weather and new horizons. The first night we entered St. Catherine's Sound and anchored in a creek just off the ocean, then underway again in the morning, making the second day trip down the coast to St. Simon's Inlet near Brunswick.
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11/13/2009, Beaufort SC
We have arrived in the "other" Beaufort (pronounced like "Biew-Fort") for a day or two after hiding out from some gale force (35-45 mph) winds left over from Tropical Depression Ida. We found a protected creek south of Charleston and spent 2 days snugged up there reading, watching movies and playing dominoes with our cruising friends on Just Imagine. Boy this cruising life is tough. We'll spend a couple of days here doing laundry, some grocery shopping, and perhaps checking out some of the sites and scenery here. Then we hope to hop offshore down the Georgia coast to St. Mary's inlet on the Florida border.
This picture is of us treating ourselves to dinner in Charlston.
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11/10/2009, Along the ICW in SC
You can't always believe what the 'puter tells you. Here's a picture of our chart plotter showing us clearly "on the beach" but I'm physically in the canal heading down the ICW. Too bad they didn't have GPS available when they surveyed for this chart. Just goes to show that you gotta check things out with the Mark I Mod 0 eyeball.
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11/10/2009, W'ville Beach NC - Charleston SC
We arrived in Charleston SC this morning after several days in the hinterland traveling the ICW. Tropical Storm Ida has made weather a real issue and we'll stay here tonight but want to get along tomorrow to find some shelter from forecasted 35 knot winds (38-40 mph). During this stretch we traveled the Cape Fear river, one big piece of water, and through a neat town on the ocean end of the river called Southport, where this restaurant decorates the waterfront. We're just passing by however to get on down the "road". Lots of other cruisers encountered along the way and clicking the miles under the keel heading for a Thanksgiving Cruiser's gathering in St. Mary's Georgia at the Florida-Georgia line. Warm weather here we come!!
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11/06/2009, Beaufort - Wrightsville Beach, NC
Upon leaving Beaufort we encountered an issue with the extremely high tide caused by the full moon that kept our friends on Just Imagine from fitting under the bridge in Moorhead City NC, so we pulled aside and anchored for several hours while the tide went down. Consequently we only made it as far as Swansboro, a neat little town along the way that we decided to stay through the next morning to explore (part of our Smell the Flowers campaign on this trip.) The next morning instead of moving down the line with the other boats anchored, we joined Cheryl and Robin and their friends Erik and Ellen on S/V "C:/[esc]" (Sea Escape) for breakfast at a funky little cafe called Yama's and then explored the town before getting underway just before lunch. That made it short another travel day so we anchored near the Marine Base at Camp Le Jeune where we were treated to a flight demonstration of the military's new tilt-wing aircraft. Pretty cool. The next day we fueled up and made good mileage to Wrightsville Beach NC where we walked along an Atlantic beach and were treated to yet another killer sunset. Life is tough.
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11/03/2009, Beaufort, NC
We're anchored in Beaufort, NC with Just Imagine for a day and a half to wait out some poor weather. We'll leave in the morning and head on down the ICW through the Carolinas with sun and Northerly winds forecast for the remainder of the week. While here we called up our cruising friend Rob Fricker who is working on his boat RobsJul III while his wife Juli works in Ohio in the medical field. Rob met us for coffee this morning and graciously provided transportation to pick up a few supplies and help Just Imagine repair the propeller on their dinghy. The dinghy is like our car and without it we'd be stranded aboard unless we pulled up to a dock (unless we swim ashore!). Thanks Rob and we hope to see you guys in Florida!
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10/30/2009, Washington NC
While visiting our friends Elizabeth, Morris, Anja and Bill, we took the opportunity to do some boat chores in between all the Farkling, eating and renewing of old friendships. The first three hours were spent changing the engine oil and filters, the transmission fluid and the raw water impeller. All of the above went so smoothly that Carl just had to say "This makes me nervous." So the karma wheel began to turn and show us just how nervous we could become. As we cranked the engine everything seemed fine, it wasn't until we tried to turn it off that our problems began. "The electric kill switch isn't working, where's the manual Kill switch?, I don't know, I though you knew where it was, I don't know where it is, go get the manual, go get Robin, do something." OK, we found the manual kill switch with Robin's help and discovered a badly corroded relay that Carl was able to replace with the help of a local parts store. Everyday brings us closer to fully understanding our engine.
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10/30/2009, Elizabeth City NC
Just outside the Dismal Swamp canal, we found one of the most cruiser friendly stops to date. With free docks (48 hours max) a Wine and Cheese Party a great Maritime Museum and townsfolk always willing to give us a ride. We enjoyed a movie in a theater that provided dinner as well. The movie was "Where the Wild Things Are." Left the next day for Washington NC where we have cruiser friends who live in a gated community with dock space. We are now enjoying good company, good food and a few days of boat chores to get ready for the first jump offshore. Hopefully that will be Beaufort NC.
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10/25/2009, Norfolk VA - Elizabeth City NC
We're behind on blog entries, but we're moving on down the line. Thursday and Friday we visited the Norfolk VA area staying at the Hampton YC to visit our friends Chuck and Tanda Eroh. Saturday morning we joined up with Just Imagine again and entered the ICW. We took the only alternate route in the ICW to visit the Dismal Swamp this time to see some new sites and escape from rough South winds. We stayed overnight Saturday at the visitor's center and squeezed in with 11 other boats, including two catamarans, in the South Mills lock Sunday morning before following Just Imagine out the south end of the canal where we docked at some free public docks in Elizabeth City NC Sunday afternoon. I spent most of this trip in bed weathering the flu while Carrie and Spike navigated the canals. We don't think this is Swine flu (everyone asks) but we've both suffered through it and it's no fun. My fever broke Sunday morning and I'm hopefully out of the woods.
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10/18/2009, Deltaville Boatyard, VA
There's always work to be done; chores and projects, but there's time for other pursuits as well. Nothing like sitting out cold rainy weather with a good book and Spike snoring on your chest. Yes, Spike the cat snores, although he denies it. We're reading two great books at the moment written by an aspiring author cruising with his wife on their sailboat Mr. Mac. Chris Jackson writes Science Fiction Fantasy and we've just finished his latest book "Scimitar Moon" with some great pirate action and a little magic mixed in. The other book we have is "Weapon of Flesh". We found both very enjoyable. Check him out at http://dragonmoonpress.blogspot.com/2009/08/scimitar-moon-by-chris-jackson.html
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