May 23 Charleston...

The cab picked up us at about 9:30 and by 10am we had a red car (REALLY red Chevy Cobalt) to drive. Our destination was the north western corner of South Carolina and our friends Scott and Meg.

After about 100 miles of crazy Memorial Day traffic we bagged the highway for a more sedate drive through the pleasant South Carolina country side. Our maps were questionable and we got turned around near Spartanburg, which made for a little more sight seeing than was necessary. As we neared our destination we made yet another wrong turn that added 10 miles or so to our trip...

Eventually we arrived and wasted time by the pool until some of us got hungry. We took golf carts to the clubhouse and picked up sandwiches for our evening ride around the course. Then we sat on their beautiful porch and talked some more.

When we returned it was late enough to call it a day.

May 24...Links of Tyron, SC

Coffee in hand, Scott and I returned a borrowed golf cart and then continued on to walk through a few of the new homes in various stages of completion in the area. We then spent the better part of the day working on house projects. During the morning Kathy and Meg also spent some time checking out the real estate that was for sale.

That evening we drove toward the mountains to a restaurant situated on a small lake. The place had been in business for a while and included Franklin D Roosevelt as a patron. I had crab stuffed trout ....and it was amazing. I could figure out how the scallops were prepared but the trout was impossible. There was a light dusting of finely chopped pecans and some type of faint basalmic vinegar reduction combined with butter in which it was sauted.... but it was too good to be able to copy.

May 25...

Happy Birthday Mason!

Scott and I were off early to Lowes to purchase the necessary items to build a rooftop system to heat their pool. It actually took another trip later in the day but by dinner time it was mounted and ready for testing.

Kathy and Meg did more house looking and spent some time by the pool reading. They also drove to Tryon, NC for coffee and bagels in the morning and stopped at a grocery store to get some things for lunch.

In the evening we drove over the border to North Carolina for some excellent pizza. We always enjoy Scott and Meg's company and are happy to just hang out together and chat. We had a great time.

May 26...

Kathy and I returned to look at one of the homes that the girls had found the day before packing up and heading back to Charleston. We worked on some boat projects and read until bed time.

May 27...Charleston... We still had a car and spent most of the day running errands loading up on fuel, food and some items on our list of "things we need." At about 4pm we drove downtown to return the car and got a taxi back to the marina. It's pretty far out of town and we have to go through check points near the old naval base, now a training center for Federal Law Enforcement. The taxi driver suggested that next time we come we stay in town. She does not enjoy driving out here.

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May 21 and 22... Fernandina Beech Fla. To Charleston SC.

Hearing nothing on the weather that would cancel our departure, we were underway before 8am. The wind was from the SW at about 18 knots and we had a perfect sail until about 11am when it backed a little and dropped to about 14 knots. At 1 pm there were thunder storms in the area and the wind went to light and variable.... to brisk depending on where the nearest cell was located. We motored most of the afternoon and had a little rain, but missed the storms completely.

During the previous night the open ocean had been wild with reported winds of 40 knots and waves of 12 feet. There were a number of boats in trouble. Most ended up being fine but one needed Coast Guard assistance. Their sails were shredded and their engine was not working. The boat in question was dead in the water about 60 miles off shore. Throughout the day we listened as the Coast Guard and Navy fliers came to the rescue.

By dinner time we passed the cold front that was the cause of the bad weather and wind shifted to the west but remained light. We altered course to the east a little to avoid unlit maker buoys and boat traffic before dark.

Kathy and I took turns at the helm throughout the night ... the wind went back to SW and picked up to almost 20 at about 1am so I put out the jib and was going faster than I wanted so switched it with the stay sail. At dawn (and it was a beautiful sunrise) we turned west and aimed for Charleston which was abut 20 miles away.

Just off Charleston I retuned to the cockpit to give Kathy a break and noticed that we were dragging a fish on our hand line. After getting it aboard we identified it as a King Mackerel of about 12 pounds. We didn't have the freezer space to keep it and the meat was reported to be a little oily so he went back overboard to die another day.

We worked our way through the ship traffic of Charleston Harbor without incident and arrived at the Cooper River Marina, where we had reservations, at about 10 am.

After checking in and eating some lunch, our first chore was to pump up the dinghy to see if our most recent patch job had held and to get it off the foredeck. As Kathy pumped I sprayed soapy water on the suspect area ... and was happy to find no bubbles.

In no time the dinghy was back on the stern where it belonged. .... and yes it is well past time to purchase a new inflatable but the Bahamas were not the place. We know what we want to purchase and will probably do so when we get to the Chesapeake...

With all the fresh water we wanted for the first time in 6 months, I started the process of spraying multiple layers of salt off Sapphire. I spent a couple of hours scrubbing while Kathy washed two loads in the rarely used marina laundry.

Our plans are to leave the boat here for a few days and drive across the state of South Carolina for a short visit with our friends Scott and Meg. I called the car rental placed to have them pick us up but found that we were beyond their pick up range. So we ordered up a cab for tomorrow am to drive us the 4 miles back to downtown Charleston.

I marinated and grilled a flank steak for dinner which we had with some wild rice and a medley of vegetables that needed to be out of the refrigerator before our long weekend.

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May 20th.. Fernandina Beach

We will just keep patching the dinghy with duct tape and 5200 and see what happens!

We are thinking we will head out in the morning for Charleston which will be a two day-one night trip. So if you don't hear from us tomorrow- you know why.

The dinghy still was leaking this morning so I worked on it some more. Kathy went to town with Jim, Nancy and Beth (who still had a car, because you do need a car in this town) to run some errands and fax some insurance info. On her return we checked the dinghy again and ....surprise surprise, it was still leaking.

So.... I ripped off yesterdays patch with the pliers and started all over with better glue and a more professional attitude. It took a while, but before too long we had a new patch that at least looked better.

I called Jim (Solitaire) and begged him to take me ashore to top off our fuel tank before our planned departure tomorrow morning... He was there in a short time even though he knew that it was going to be a salty ride over and back.

A little later they... Jim and Nancy, came over for drinks and a semi- good game of reading trivial pursuit cards.

We bid farewell to "Madcap" who are here for a few days to complete some electrical work and hauled in one of our two anchors .... (which was easier said than done) before we relaxed with some garlic sautéed shrimp and long-grained and wild rice for dinner.

May 19...Fernandina Beach.

Jim (Madcap) picked us up around 9:30 to taxi us into shore to locate some glue to attempt to put our dinghy back in one piece. After four days on the boat it was nice to walk around a little. Jim and Beth had a rental car and were kind enough to run us around town most of the morning.

On our return, we started on our repair project. First, Kathy sewed that tear together and then I cut out the patch. After cleaning and applying the glue ....we waited for the required two hours to check.

With dish soap and a spray bottle I checked the patch and found one set of small bubbles. The problem was that the tear ran right up to a seam. I cut some small right angled pieces of fabric to glue against the old patch and seam. Once in place, I added a third patch over the junction of the first two.

We worked on some other boat chores and in the afternoon and made plans for dinner with "Solitaire" who had just arrived in the anchorage, and "Madcap" who knew of a good Mexican Restaurant.

After a great meal, Jim and Nancy were kind enough to haul us back to "Sapphire." It was a great night with wonderful friends.

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