Well folks, after a crazy summer and fall complete with two Major Hurricanes making life more exciting, we are off south again! For Florence we left the boat that was in Osprey Marina, and headed to St Augustine and stayed at Dan and Kath Craigs house for 5 days. It was looking pretty grim for Myrtle Beach but the storm eye came a shore a hundred miles north and the City and Marina was spared. Winds were only in the 30's and we got very little rain. But not so fast, after we got back, the water rose 10+ feet over the course of two weeks! All that water came down the Waccamaw River from North Carolina where they got 2 ft of rain. The dock ramps were impassable and we had to dinghy to shore for 2 weeks! Of course our dinghy decided to fall apart from all the heat and UV light we get down here. So even though it was only 3 years old, it had to be replaced. After some heated talks with West Marine Corperate, we got $600 towards a new dinghy....$2200 later! We borrowed our neighbors dinghy or had Larry from Wanderin L&M pixk us up and take us to shore. By the time we got the new dinghy, the water had receded enough to walk off the docks. Well at least we have a new taxi which is what our dinghy is. Osprey is trully a hurricane hole with floating docks and 360 degree protection. This was proven by Michael who came a couple of weeks ago.This time we stayed because it didn't look too bad since land fall was in the panhandle of Florida. It still came over with 50 mph winds and some rain. The Marina hardly felt it! We do love Osprey Marina for so many reasons...fresh water, (no salt damage), no mosquitos or no seeums! ( tannic water), hurricane hole, great folks running the place and taking care of Mighty Fine when we're not there, Larry and Margie on Travelin' L&M, ( two of the best folks we know) Larry has taught me so much about boat systems and how to fix things! Margie is a sweet, funny lady and we love hanging with them and going out to dinner with them....a lot! Dawn and Gary who live in Myrtle Beach have become very good friends and they also like to eat out a lot! Lol. We do have alot of fun while here. All good things must come to an end and today we headed out to Georgetown on the gorgeous Waccamaw River....like the Disney jungle cruise! Very pretty as it winds its way south for 30 miles to Georgetown. We are here with Adirondack and Glory Days who showed up at Osprey yesterday! Great to see Jeff, Sally Joe and Pat again. Thats whats cool about this trip if you do it enough, you see the same folks migrating every year. The boat ran well excepr for a balky autopilot and a lwaking hydraulic hose which I replaced after getting the name if a guy in town who makes hoses! Short cab ride to and from a true sothern charecter that "fixed me right up", I reinstalled the hose after a telephone call with....you guessed it, Larry! I rebooted the autopilot and it seems to be working...we shall see! Tomirrow we head to the other side of Charleston to St John's Marina for the night. We planned it so we would have high tide through McClellanville tomorrow, a notorious shallow section! Gotta plan these shallow cuts and creeks all the way to Georgia! On the road again...year 6! Oh, I almost forgot. While at Osprey our friend Greg Smith, redid our canvas....it looks fantastic! He had a lot of help from,..you, you guessed it. Larry kept Greg on the straight and narrow and they finished a week ago.Thanks guys, you done good...between the dinghy and the Canvas, its been an expensive month! So much more happened this fall like helping our friends Yasmine and Roy emty out a storage unit with 3 feet of water in it! Crazy! By the way, we still miss Brian and Jane on Mar A Lago...best boat buddies ever!...someday again, right guys?
Thats all for now!

Fair Winds and Calm Seas