On Monday, May 21st, after 9 months of traveling together, the TOWNKIDS are no longer together. Rick and Tanya have many more miles to travel than we do and they had to head on north without us.
We are at the Wild Dunes Yacht Harbor in Isle of Palms, SC. (The Charleston area) We arrived on Friday and will leave the boat here while we fly to California to visit family and attend an important birthday party.
Saying goodbye to our wonderful friends was one of life's most unpleasant experiences. Rick and Tanya have become family to us as we have adventured our way from Gloucester, MA to the Bahamas and back to Charleston together. We met them in Gloucester after talking on the marine radio as we sailed from Nova Scotia to the U.S. the end of last August. We liked them immediately and started traveling together, realizing that our agendas were similar and our boats traveled at the same speed.
Whenever I was having an off day, complaining about the wind, the cold or some other stupid thing, Tanya would tell me to just "Suck it up, Cupcake!". She is the best and bravest of cruisers that I have ever met. Nothing upset her and she never complained like I did.
It was fun having Canadians as best friends as all Canadians get excited when they see another boat with a Canadian flag and do their best to meet each other. And not only that, but Tanya never met a stranger and she also talked to every person she possibly could. That was real handy for Kirby and I - it gave us more friends. It also made us the Token Americans on occasion.
So, after nine months, our agendas are different. We talked to them last night and they were anchored at just south of the North Carolina border - planning to be in North Carolina by the end of today. We miss them terribly.
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Comments [6]
One year ago we untied the dock lines and took off aboard TOBIAS in search of adventure. We have had the most fantastic year traveling from Deale, Maryland to New England and on to Nova Scotia. From there we returned to Maryland and then headed south to Florida and then the Bahamas.
It is 8:00 pm and we are anchored in Beaufort, South Carolina after a 12 1/2 hour day - 73 miles. I think it is a record for us. We are pretty darned pooped but tomorrow will be a shorter day and by Friday we will be in Charleston! Grandsons! Hooray! Can't wait!
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Those of you who have been reading our blog since last summer will remember our great friends Steve and Mollie Odehnal from north Georgia. Steve and Mollie were in Nova Scotia with us last summer and we passaged back to New England together. Throughout New England it was Tobias, Sabbatical and Auriga going from anchorage to anchorage and adventuring together.
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While we were staying in Jekyll Island we called Steve and Mollie and sure enough, they were able to get away for the weekend and drove down to Jekyll Island and we all had a little reunion. We played so hard for 26 hours, hardly taking time to sleep. We sat on the boat and caught up on the past months and reminisced about last years cruising fun. We found the beach and walked and walked. We picnicked on steak and salads and just had loads of fun together. Steve and Mollie stayed until it was time for us to go and they untied our dock lines for us as we all gave hugs and kisses until next time.
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The Girls - Mollie, Suzie and Tanya
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While we were preparing for our picnic and barbeque one of our new friends from the marina, Jason, returned from a day of Shrimping. He had a cooler of fresh shrimp and we just couldn't resist - between us we bought 8 pounds of the beauties. Part of his payment was a freshly made "Bahama Mama" - a rum and pineapple drink we learned about while in the Bahamas.
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Jason enjoying his Bahama Mama!
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We pulled away from the docks after a wonderful week at Jekyll Island. I felt at home after so long in one place! I really do love it there - it has been just about my favorite place on our whole trip. We traveled for about 6 hours and made good time - anchoring at South Creek in Georgia about 5 pm yesterday. We barely got settled in and started cleaning our shrimp when the wind piped up and we have been having 25 - 30 knot winds ever since. So, we are waiting on weather again. Hope to be "on the road again" bright and early tomorrow morning.
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Here are Kirby and I at lunch yesterday at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.
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We are still at Jekyll Island waiting on "Andrea" - the season's first tropical storm. I am not really complaining though because I love it so much here. The weather has not been too bad yet - just a little rain today. We are quite protected from the winds - snuggled up tight.
Yesterday we took the marina bikes and rode to the Historical section of the island. It is so beautiful with the huge, sprawling, moss draped oak trees and the manicured lawns. We stopped at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel for lunch on the terrace and then continued our tour until our bottoms gave out. It was really fun watching all the "seniors" on bicycles - it was almost dangerous - myself included!
We have had two barbeques in the picnic area now. Last night we had just a little bit of sprinkles but not enough to drive us away.
We don't know if we will be able to leave tomorrow or not. It depends on "Andrea" and what she decides to do. Our friends "Smiles" and "Barefootin'" both had to give up their slips today and to leave in this storm. (a small cruise ship will be tying up where they were) We will call them later to make certain they are safe and hunkered down.
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This is my favorite trail - and the picture does not do it justice at all!
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Rick and Tanya checking out the sites.
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I am so in love with the big old oak trees with moss hanging from the graceful branches.
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We biked all around the area and stopped here at the lovely old hotel to have lunch.
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Here we are tied up at the Jekyll Harbor Marina. Mostly the weather has been great. We have cleaned the boat and stowed the dinghy on deck so we can go just a little bit faster.
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