It was going to happen some time. I walked away from a vessel I loved, fighting back a few tears but at the same time relieved to move on. We turned her over, pending the final closing, to Doug, and seeing his excitement at taking on this great boat and this fun lifestyle abated the sadness. Now I do love What If, my home now, just as much, but this little PDQ has a special place in my heart and memories. She was our first liveaboard and the commencement of a life we had dreamed of for years, and she is such a fun boat to cruise on whether sailing or motoring.

Not only are we saying "Goodbye" to the boat, we are saying "Goodbye" to the name Sea Soul, a term that was in my heart long before we ever owned our first cruising boat. Many years ago, I happened up on a sign that fit what has always been in my heart, On the Sea my Soul will be. We were visiting Dahlonega, Georgia, in the mountains. I found it very odd to find a nautical theme there, but the instant I read that phrase, it expressed a lifelong feeling that I had no words for and became my mantra. The sign still hangs on What If, but we kept the name on our current home because it spoke of the future possibilities we have taken on with this nomadic life that Sea Soul began.

Congratulations, Doug! I hope you enjoy her as much as we did. And thanks a million times to Tom Morton of Edwards Yacht Sales for bringing us together.

You can follow us on our new blog page at WhatIfAdventures.blogspot.com.

She is now stored on the hard at St. Augustine Marine Center. Call our broker, Tom Morton, for more info and to make an appointment.

The worst of the work on Sea Soul is behind us. We spent last weekend washing the scum off the hulls, and then waxing then to a mirror shine.
Ed is now working at sanding/painting the sail drives then changing the zincs and the boat yard is sanding/painting the hull bottom. We repaired two thru-hull valves that were broken, but that is all we could come up with that needed repairing. She should be back in the water within days to live a life of leisure waiting for new owners. We do plan to continue to care for her and take her for sailing runs when we can. She is such a fun, nimble sailing vessel, and we want to enjoy sailing her EMPTY. She gained several inches of waterline when I got finished taking our belongings off. She should be a lot of fun to sail, and using her will keep her in good shape until someone else falls in love with her.

Read more about our new home at www.whatifadventures.blogspot.com.

Last Sea Soul Voyage Photos--Four days from Charleston to Jacksonville

Our final voyage for Sea Soul was hard and slow. The winds and weather were not in favor of us sailing in the Atlantic, so we slepped down the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW) the entire way. Now, I sound prejudiced against taking an inland route, but I am not. Doing so at a slow, leisurely pace stopping at various ports for several days for sightseeing sounds wonderful, but this trip was about getting from Point A (Charleston) to Point B (Jacksonville) so we could get to What If to finish up her work. The AICW adds miles and time to the voyage, and it is very, very hot without the ocean breezes. The South Carolina-Georgia AICW is a long and winding road. One must look out closely 100% of the time for other boats, shallow water, navigation markers, flotsam, etc. Moving out in the open ocean allows us to sail or at least motor sail enjoying the ocean breezes and autopilot. It is definitely a much more relaxing ride for making longer passages.

We left Charleston the first morning with plans to run until almost dark. We got a call from someone in Myrtle Beach wanting to look at the boat in Charleston. Well, too late. We suggested they meet us in Beaufort, South Carolina where we would stop for the evening cutting our miles short for the day but giving us an opportunity to show the boat in a town I've always wanted to visit. They said yes, and we met there about 4:30 that afternoon after we took a mooring in the City mooring field. They are both teachers preparing for retirement and loved Sea Soul, but they are just beginning to look at boats to live aboard so we will have to wait and see if she sticks with them. We had a delightful visit with them after they toured the boat and asked all their questions. There is a Beaufort, South Carolina, pronounced BU-fort (long U) and a Beaufort, North Carolina, pronounced BO-fort with a long O. We took a long walk through the main street and back through the waterfront park back to the marina. Beaufort is the second oldest city in South Carolina and has a unique historical display in their Waterfront Park with plaques placed in a circle around the flag pole giving a historical account of each historical period. Feast and famine seems to have become their destiny over their 300 year history, but at present historical tourism and the local military establishments (Parris Island, Marine Air Station Beaufort, U.S. Naval Hospital) seem to be the mainstay of the economy. There are beautiful antebellum homes along the streets near the water and the scenery from the town streets and park is breathtaking. The City has done a fabulous job integrating the Waterfront Park along the Beaufort River with the downtown businesses. The park features dozens of porch-type swings overlooking the river, playgrounds, amphitheatres, and a broad, concrete boardwalk for walking along the river. We didn't have much time, but it is definitely a place I would like to return to for a longer visit.

The next day started at daylight and took us from South Carolina into the many curves of the Georgia AICW. Sawgrass and more sawgrass with very little civilization makes for a gorgeous scenery with many marine birds and animals to view, but it was HOT, HOT, HOT! With little wind, high humidity, and high temperatures, we were both exhausted from the heat by the end of the day. The AICW along the Georgia coast runs out to the ocean in several places so we were frequently moving along nicely with an outgoing tide then suddenly hitting the wall of current when we had to make almost a 180 degree turn past the inlet. The tides are large here making the currents run fast. Going with a tide or against a tide can be the difference of 3 to 4 miles per hour. Our dumb luck that day was to have more tides running against us than with us causing us to not make the number of miles we hoped. We anchored just off the waterway after sunset in a very open area to ward off flying pests and called it a day.

Our third day was more of the same. We passed up other places we would love to spend time at--St. Simons Island, Jekyll Island, visiting our cruising friends Joyce and Fred at Brunswick, Georia, Cumberland Island, and Fernandina Island hoping to get to a free public dock near the St. Johns River by end of the day. That would stage us for the ride up the St. Johns River to our final destination at the Jacksonville NAS Marina. More cruising friends, Tammy and Bruce, has stopped at the free dock earlier in the day, we hoped to join them for sundowners. Where the AICW crosses the Nassau Inlet we heard the Coast Guard warn by radio of a large and dangerous thunderstorm in the area headed our way. I checked Weather Underground and figured we had about 25 minutes before it hit so we found the first deep spot off the waterway with enough swing room, dropped the anchor with lots of rode out for a good swing, and battened down the hatches. Just as we finished, the winds picked up and the pounding rain took over. We saw 35 to 42 knot winds, a little hail, terrifying lightning and tons of rain for about 45 minutes. Then it was gone. A video of what a storm like this feels like is here. So we upped anchor and kept going. We made it for sundowners after all.
We took it easy the fourth morning as we did not have as far to go, but I had to coordinate with one of the downtown Jacksonville bridges with construction going on to plan on our arrival at least two hours in advance so we would not have to wait two hours for an opening. Once past that bridge, we were home free to NAS. We docked up late afternoon and enjoyed the AC again. We kept the first Sea Soul here in 2010-2011 after we left the Gulf Coast because of the oil spill. They've made improvements to the docks, but it is wide open to the south winds and can get mighty bouncy at times. The price is right, however, so we will use this facility to move aboard What If and keep Sea Soul safe until we find a buyer.
Check out the photos from our journey down the AICW. Moving at five to eight knots gives one an opportunity to view the beauty and take some photos along the way. I also took a short video during the storm. It sounds horrible, but if you are safely anchored, it can also be a beautiful sight to behold (except for the lightning--I HATE LIGHTNING).

Sea Soul will stay at NAS while we work on What If in St. Augustine. Then we bring What If to NAS to meet Sea Soul and move aboard. Our new blog location for What If will be at WhatIfAdventures.blogspot.com. It has been a short but beautiful ride on our PDQ named Sea Soul.

Our two months in Charleston passed like lightening, but it was a wonderful visit. How lucky we are to live this vagabond life! We saw many of the local sights and enjoyed visiting with the kids as much as we could. Since the grandbabies are all still so small (3, 2, 2 and 7 months), we mostly used the marina pool to entertain them, but I saw toddlers move from barely sticking toes in the water to swimming across the pool and back alone (with life jackets, of course) and jumping in with no fear of going underwater. I had the wonderful experience of helping three-year-old Caleb take his first underwater swims without his life jacket on, teaching him how to come up and take a breath, then keep swimming. The satisfied look on his face when he made it by himself four or five feet without sinking was amazing to experience. Hilary often cooked dinner for us, and Greg entertained everyone from the miracle of his Big Green Egg yesterday. Funny that my kids are such great cooks--I guess they had to learn because I never was that great at it.

We also made new friends of the liveaboards and transients at the marina. One couple came in last week on a Manta 40, 9 Lives, a two year newer version of our What If. The only difference between the 38 and 40 is extra length in the sugar scoops in the stern. The layout is identical to ours. They very graciously allowed us to walk through their vessel and compare notes. They are fairly new liveaboard cruisers so we shared some tips with them as well.

The marina at St. Johns Yacht Harbor was amazing--clean, fabulous facility and that wonderful pool--all at a very reasonable price. It was not where we could walk into town, but we did have a car that allowed us to get around. We were only about 10 minutes from downtown Historic Charleston by car, and about 15-20 minutes from the kids. Charleston is a lovely city, and we very much enjoyed visiting downtown often. We didn't see everything, but we will get back there again I'm sure. Oh, and the Ye Olde Ice Cream Shop was on the way to everything--we highly recommend that one.

Now on to the St. Johns River aboard Sea Soul. We will then complete our work on What If, get her back in the water, and then move her next door to Sea Soul so we can move aboard. We will stay nearby to care for Sea Soul and show her to prospective buyers. It's a bit bittersweet because I love this boat so much, but I am sure we will be very happy on What If, too.

Unfortunately, I went swimming with my phone where most of my Charleston pictures were, but I do have a few left.

Charleston May 2014

Charleston June & July 2014

With a new boat comes a new blog page. This page will remain active for now because there are so many wonderful memories here, but I will begin moving over to Google Blogger for coming adventures on What If. I like the page layouts and features on Blogger, and I need to keep the old brain learning new things so I jumped into it cold turkey. It's been a little bit of a challenge, but the learning curve is getting a bit smaller now. It's not quite finished yet, but there will be more to come in the near future.

For now, we are still on Sea Soul in South Carolina finishing out our visit with the kids here. The weather has turned brutally hot during the day so we have enjoyed the St. Johns Yacht Harbor pool immensely both with the grandkids and for ourselves. We have visited some Charleston sites with kids and by ourselves and we hope to hit more before we leave. We will stay here until around July 4 when we will take Sea Soul down to Jacksonville where she will stay until sold. We are receiving some good calls and e-mails so the online listings are working. We hope to have her good to go well before the fall buying season when folks begin thinking of sailing off the to islands for winter. We will remain near her once we move aboard to keep her maintained. She is a lovely and hearty boat, and it will be sad to leave her empty. Our hope is for someone who needs a tough ocean going sailing cat to find her and put all these gadgets to work that we have not used.

You can follow our new adventures at whatifadventures.blogspot.com.