05/22/2010, Charleston, S.C.

May 13th Cumberland Island Ga, to Charleston SC

We weighed anchor at about 8:30 to catch an out going current through the St. Mary's River to the ocean. The first obstacle was to work out way through the fleet of
shrimpers who were working the waters just to the north of the channel entrance. After an hour we were clear and headed northeast to find some sea room.

The trip is usually about 24 hours and this one was no exception. We sailed from time to time, but for the most part kept the engine running to keep our pace. We had an uneventful trip and found ourselves in Charleston the next morning. Savage Son had reserved a slip at the City Marina but when we called we were told that there was no room. So anchoring seemed to be in our future which was fine. We gave them a call as we approached the Megadock and they had room there so, with about a ton of laundry to tote, we signed up for a spot.

Just as we finished tying up, Steve and Kim wandered down to say hi after a month of traveling our separate ways. We made a date with them for later in the afternoon ... and I went to bed for a much needed nap.

At about 3, the crews of Sapphire, Savage Son, and Fine Lion took the shuttle downtown for a little happy hour entertainment. Our first stop was the Blind Tiger for a drink and then it was on to Pearlz for oysters, mussels, oyster shooters, and more.

We left with a little money still in our pockets and moved to the Roof Top Bar for the view and then hiked down market for some ice cream. Everyone had a great time and it was still early when we called the shuttle to return us to the marina.


May 14th 2010 Charleston, SC

Our main goal today was to get some laundry done so Kathy packed everything up and after coffee we got a cart and rolled it in to the laundry, which is located next to a restaurant know for its breakfasts.

On the way we ran into Bob, Bev, and Brian who were on their way to find something to eat, so after loading the washers we joined them for a nice meal. I had fried green tomatoes on cheese grits with shrimp. Most of the others meals were more normal but Bev had something called the "Low Country Hashbrowns", which looked promising for another day.

I had refueled earlier this morning when one of the dock boys delivered our paper and so that job was finished. Yesterday, when I checked in they said that we could move to a slip if we chose, so Steve, Bob and I moved Sapphire to the other end of the marina and into a slip that was closer to our friends'.

I plugged in the boat to power and screwed on the hose but when I checked below there was not external AC source showing on our panel. I rechecked all the connections and still had no power. It wasn't the end of the world because we haven't been plugged into anything for about 6 months... but something wasn't right.

I spent some time washing the decks before Kathy returned with clean clothes and then we were off to catch the 11 a.m. shuttle to West Marine and the grocery store.

After our return about 2 p.m. we stashed our purchases and jumped back into the van for another trip downtown. We had a late lunch at the King Street Grill with Kim and Steve and then split up to shop. Steve and I had to make a trip to the hardware store and the girls were on their own. We met up at the Noisy Oyster at 5, walked up through the city market and then called for a ride back to the marina.

May 15th 2010 Charleston, SC

One of our purchases yesterday were new speakers for the cockpit .... but they didn't fit so I worked this morning on enlarging the holes to make them fit. At 11 we caught the shuttle back to West Marine, but spent most of our time in the grocery picking up a few things that we'd missed yesterday. The most important of which was a rotisserie chicken for our trip to Cape Lookout tomorrow.

In the afternoon I finished the speakers and solved the power problem and then joined Steve, Kim, Bob, Bev, and Brian on "Fine Lion" for cocktails and to say good by to our friends on "Savage Son". Brian was heading to Kitty Hawk for some kite-boarding with a friend before taking a job on a new yacht and Bob and Bev were leaving their boat in Charleston to visit family for a month before moving further north.

We had a nice time as usual and got to bed early for the passage tomorrow.

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05/16/2010, Columbia Island, Georgia

May 11th, 2010 Cumberland Island, Ga

After breakfast I began the process of removing our waste pump to figure out why it wasn't working and quickly found that one of the valves was not working properly. After digging out the rebuilding package, it didn't take long to get it working and reinstalled. Unfortunately though, in the process I found that the switch on the wash down pump had finally given up the ghost.

I worked on removing the switch for an hour or so and finally quit to go ashore with Kathy, Bev, Bob and Brian for a hike and to watch Brian "kite-board" on the ocean.

The island is beautiful-tons of live oaks with Spanish moss trailing from the branches. We hiked the beach while Brian ran his kite up and down the beach.

Back on the boat we had some lunch and I put together escalloped potatoes and ham to have one the trip north to Charleston tomorrow. Brian was able to remove the bad switch and amazingly, I found one that fit the bracket perfectly. It took a while to rewire things but after a time it was back in operating order.

By the time I took care of all the tools and took a shower, it was approaching 5 p.m. and time to run over to "Savage Son" for some chart work and some of Bev's Texas chili.

The meal was excellent and we returned early to get things together for a morning departure.

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05/16/2010, Columbia Island, Georgia

May 10th, 2010 St. Augustine, Fl to Cumberland Island, GA

We were off at 7 a.m. heading north up the Intracoastal with a our head sail up, giving us about a 2 knot boost which made up for the foul current we encountered.

The day was uneventful until we approached Nassau Sound where I got a little close to a green marker and ran us aground. It was dead low tide so all we had to do was wait but that was boring so we radioed the first north bound trawler asking for a wake. When it hit us we bounced off the bottom about three times and made some forward progress toward deeper water but came to rest again about 10 feet short. (bouncing off the hard sand bottom was not at all fun.)

A few minutes later some kids in a ski boat ran by us and once again their wake lifted us. We made about 5 feet of progress when the bow hit the edge of deep water and we the rest of us followed. We were on the road again. Nothing damaged but our pride.

Arriving at Cumberland Island about 4:30, we anchored and got busy preparing dinner for "Savage Son" and "Journey" who was still on their way. I had promised Bob fish tacos someplace back in the Bahamas and we were finally getting around to making them.

Kathy made some Spanish rice and as soon as "Journey" pulled in we had a great meal and a nice time with all.

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