05/22/2010, Cape Lookout, N.C.

May 16th and 17th, 2010 Charleston SC to Cape Lookout Bight NC

Sapphire backed away from the dock into the current of the Ashley at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday with the help of Bob, Bev and Steve. Although we're getting better, backing up with current is always a big question mark. As it turned out the prop walk spun us directly into the river where we belonged.

It takes about an hour and a half to work out of Charleston Harbor and through the channel to the ocean. Once there, we set a course for the outer edge of Frying Pan Shoals 114 miles away. We had about 10 knots of wind from the south .... and if we were purists like some of our friends we could have sailed ....but we're not so we didn't. We got all the sails up but left the motor on to maintain about 6 knots.

The weather stayed that way for the 31 hours that we were underway. It was a very pleasant trip. The boat was happy all the time with moderate waves and a nice breeze.

The atmosphere is unsettled with a front dying to our north and there was some lightening in the distance. By daylight the only clear skies were over head. We watched storms on land ( about 25 miles away) but they stayed there all morning.

We arrived at Cape Lookout around 2 p.m., worked our way through the entrance and anchored in about 24 feet of water. There are thunderstorms forecast for tonight and tomorrow so we'll stay and try to get a walk in on the beach tomorrow.

May 18th, 2010 Cape Lookout Bight

The morning brought threatening skies so we spent time reading and picking up the boat. Around noon it cleared and we all headed to shore for a walk. There are more shells on this beach that anywhere we've traveled. We crossed over to the ocean side and walked until it was time to stop and them returned to the dinghies.

I made some bread in the afternoon and worked on making a necklace our of some of the broken shells that we'd picked up ... spending most of the afternoon doing that and reading.

Later we took one of the prototype necklaces and a loaf of warm bread over to "Fine Lion". We decided to leave tomorrow morning, weather permitting, for Oriental.

We had pork tenderloin for dinner which Bev had given us in Charleston. She was in the process of cleaning out their freezer in anticipation of leaving their boat. It was delicious.

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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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