What Next?

Tuesday 4/26/11    With the threat of rain in the air we departed Charleston and headed out across the harbor to find the ICW once again. Along the way we detoured just a bit to take a picture of Fort Sumter before heading into the narrow, shallow, ICW.

Fort Sumter. Where it all began 150 years ago.

Shortly after entering the waterway we passed under the Ben Sawyer Bridge.

Ben Sawyer Bridge at mile 462.2 on the ICW.

Since rain was forecast for the afternoon we decided to fuel at Isle of Palms Marina. Without much signage to indicate it's location I nearly drove past it. We spent a half hour fueling and emptying the holding tank and then off again. Fuel was $3.77 with our Boat US discount.
Our decision to fuel early in the day proved to be the right one because it started to rain by mid-morning and continued to our anchorage in Bull Creek which turned out to be a very peaceful anchorage. For the first time in a long time we had trees around us at an anchorage! The rain quit and we were able to do steaks on the grill!

Wednesday 4/27/11    Still the threat of rain when we pulled anchor and rejoined the channel. It wasn't long and it started to rain again. Our timing was off as we arrived at the Socastee Bridge. He had just opened 5 minutes prior and wouldn't open again for 10 minutes. At a clearance of 11' I couldn't make Tourist short enough to fit under the span.

Socastee Bridge mile 370.9.
Our travels continued on past the Myrtle Beach area. Kind of an East Coast Branson with a beach and golf courses all over. One of the courses requires an aerial tram ride over the ICW from the clubhouse to the course.

Aerial Tram for the golf course. Don't drop your balls!

Continuing north we entered the Cape Fear River and picked up a nice tidal current as well as a tail wind which at trawler speed made Tourist wander around like an old drunk. Since Tourist does have twin 660 hp Cummins engines I applied a bit more throttle and made Tourist look a bit more respectable.

One thing I forgot to mention is that prior to entering the Cape Fear River our chart plotter froze up so my Chapman's training came in to play. Paper charts to the rescue! I've spent a big portion of my life reading road maps so the paper charts are like an old friend. Onward we continued and arrived at Joyner Marina in Carolina Beach, NC. Hey! Tornado warnings for tomorrow. Guess where we'll be?

What were they thinking?

A word about instincts. Before we left Legacy back in Ft. Myers I had two concerns heading out on our trip. One was that I should replace the inverter batteries which came into play. The other was that I should replace the plotter which hasn't had a stellar history among the Sea Ray owners who purchased them. In fact one owner told me I should use it as an anchor! Trouble was,  ours was working. I knew how to use it and I had everything loaded into it for our trip. After sitting for a night it started up again and seems normal. We'll see what happens as I look into new plotters.

Plotter update:    We are now still sitting in Carolina Beach, NC. awaiting a new depth transducer. What? Yep. Upon refiring the old plotter a couple more times it refused to work any longer. We made the decision to install a new Garmin 5212 plotter. Partly because of price. Partly because it will fit in the space available. And partly because it was in stock at West Marine. Why a new transducer? Because the old one would work only with the Sea Ray Navigator and wouldn't interface with any other brand of plotter. Of course no one has this creature in stock and can't get one in until Tuesday!!! And we wonder why the Chinese are kicking our butts!

Cathching Up

Friday 4/22/11    Well, the batteries finally arrived. Got installed, and charged and without any further strings holding us back we broke loose from the dock and continued north. Our destination for the day was Bass Creek to anchor overnight before proceeding into Charleston. We made Bass Creek by 3pm and after securing the boat sat down for cocktails. All went well until we tried to start the generator. No Go ! The code said it wasn't getting water. After spending time checking strainers and all hoses to make sure they were clear we decided to pull up anchor and head into the nearby Dataw Island Marina. Since they were closed,  we found a spot on their face dock and settled in for the night.

Saturday 4/23/11    The marina opened at 8am so Pam got to sleep in from our normal sunrise departure time. We paid our dockage and continued on to Charleston, SC.

We passed Hilton Head and Harbortown Golf Course where they were playing the Heritage Golf Classic at the time.

We also cruised past Paris Island Marine base.

Once we popped out of the ICW onto the Ashley River it was just a stone's throw to the Charleston City Marina (http://www.megadock.us/). Fortunately our dockage was on the inside of the face dock which kept the waves from the passing boats and wind to a minimum. Another thing that helped was a huge private yacht which was tied opposite us on the channel side.

Our neighbor while in Charleston.

Our neighbor behind us.

The dock is 4,000 feet long!

We spent three nights in Charleston exploring the historic downtown. Taking a carriage tour. Visiting the USS Yorktown and the USS Clagamore at Patriots Point. And enjoying the variety of food offered on Bay St. A person could have none of their senses and still find food on Bay St.! Unfortunately it wasn't until Monday that I discovered that they only do tours of the Confederate submarine Hunley on the weekends. Bummer!

Some of the sights of Charleston below.

John & Cindy, did you move from Dubuque?

Of course Pam had to tell our horse what a good job he did.

USS Yorktown

USS Clagamore diesel submarine.

All in all we had a great time in Charleston. There is so much more to see and do than we even scraped the surface of. And the marina worked out just fine for us with their courtesy van shuttle service to the historic district. The only drawback is it's a long walk to shore.
As for the generator problem, I found time to take the whole pump off and discovered an O ring that needed replacing.

Needless to say we spent Easter in Charleston and had what has become our traditional holiday meal on Tourist. Cornish Hens. Excellent as always when Pam makes them! I don't know what I'll do if we ever spend Christmas on the boat. It would be hard to give up our traditional meal of KFC!

Cheers! (I look like I'm half popped already. Thank god you're all looking at Pam!)

Company from the West

Friday 4/15/11   Boating at it's finest. A beautiful day for our short ride to Isle of Hope Marina for our next stop to meet friends from home and pick up 2 new batteries for our inverter. That's when the phone rang. It was the marina on the phone telling me that the battery supplier had made a mistake and didn't have our batteries in stock and since it's a week-end couldn't get them until Tuesday. (grumble, grumble) What would we like to do?
What else can we do but wait. Anyway Kurt & Tina were do into town that evening for a short stay. We arrived at the Isle of Hope Marina and started hoping that our batteries would come as promised.

Kurt & Tina were on a road trip to any destination outside of Iowa when they remembered we were travelling up the coast. We became their destination wherever we were. They rolled in Friday evening in their 2 seater and after getting situated on the boat we put the top down and pretended we were in the homecoming parade on the way to dinner with the girls sitting on the deck behind the seats.

Saturday after a great breakfast on Tourist we decided to head into Savannah. This time we opted for a more conventional method of transport. The city bus which picks up a block from the marina.

Waiting for the bus.

Our ride. #31 route.

The bus was clean and the driver was friendly and the route is what you'd expect. Several stops, not always in the best section of town, and twice as long as it would take you to drive there yourself. A fun experience none the less.

Once in town we walked around for a bit. Had cocktails in a couple different watering holes and decided to take a carriage tour of the city.

Visitors from the west.

By the way. You can drink on the streets in Savannah!

Our view on the carriage tour!

Our tour lasted an hour and was full of information about the history of Savannah. Once off the buggy we thought it would be wise to check out places for dinner. Of course Paula Deen's restaurant came to mind. Oops! Too late. The sign out front said sold out for supper.

Lady & Son's     Paula Deen's restaurant complete with line waiting to get in.

After a couple more strikeouts we found a place that suited our needs. It was after dinner that the true quest of the day began. One member of our group had a craving for bananas foster. Our restaurant didn't serve it. Try Ruth's Chris. Nope try over there. Nope. Try that place. No again. Apparently no one in Savannah has bananas foster on their menu. We settled for chocolate martini's in a hotel bar looking over the Savannah River along with a couple substitute deserts.

Marilyn couldn't tell us where to find bananas foster!

Our day in town was fun, informative, and filling. Time to head back to Tourist. This time we took a cab with a driver named Romeo. The girls had fun with that one!

All too soon it was Sunday and time for Kurt & Tina to head out. But not before another homecoming queen ride to a local breakfast dive where we were too late for breakfast. Oh well. Guess we'll have lunch. And then it was time to get the car packed and say so long. It was a fun filled couple of days. Thanks guys for making us your destination!

Heading home.

Who Drained the Pool?

Tuesday 4/12/11   With our mission complete at Jekyll Island we decided to continue our journey. Only problem was the forecasted thunderstorms that were to move through in the morning. After waiting for the rain it finally came but not with the severity of the forecast so at 10:30am we said so long to Jekyll. It didn't take long to realize how much the tide had dropped. This area has a tidal range of 7' to 9' and we were on the low part of the shift. At one point shortly after leaving the marina we registered only 3' under the keel of Tourist which meant about 5' total depth. Tourist draws just over 4'. Needless to say we were stirring up the bottom.

Who drained the pool?

It was shortly after transiting the shallows that the rain we had been waiting for set in. Fortunately it was minus the thunder and wind originally predicted, and so we continued. Somewhere along the way we picked up these hitchhikers in the short video below who followed us for a few miles. Turn up the volume.

Of course one got too close and pooped on our dinghy outboard!

The rain didn't last long and by afternoon the sun was back out but with cooler temps. It wasn't long before we pulled into our anchorage for the night just off the channel in New Teakettle Creek.

New Teakettle Creek anchorage.

That night the temps dropped into the 50's for the first time in a long time making sleeping very comfortable. Wednesday came and we slid out at around 8am. Cool enough that I had to wear a jacket while eating my Cheerios.

Eating breakfast. Actually not Cheerios but a "Complete Meal" prepared in the microwave.

As we approached Johnson Creek we could see what looked like a cruise ship in the distance. With the skinny water on the ICW it just didn't seem possible. I was beginning to think Pam spiked my breakfast juice! Sure enough. Our eyes weren't playing tricks on us. Winding down the channel towards us came the M/V Independence. Certainly not a cruise liner like we passed in Miami a couple years back but still bigger than I would have imagined seeing out here in the Low Country.

M/V Independence as we pass on the one whistle.

Around 12:30pm we passed through a short passage between islands known as Hell's Gate. Shallow and strong currents but not cantankerous today. Once through we were just outside the entrance to our destination. Delegal Creek Marina on Skidaway Island. Being in VHF range I called them on the radio for entrance instructions since it looked a little confusing on the charts and we were just coming off low tide. I was told the channel was marked but that we should wait about an hour for the tide to raise since there was a low spot midway in. So we dropped the hook across the marsh from the marina and waited.

Delegal Creek Marina across the marsh.

Delegal Creek Marina as we entered.

The marina is small and not a normal stopping point for the migrating boats transiting the ICW. None the less it is in a very quiet setting on Skidaway Island and part of the Landings resort development which was started by the Brannigar organization which is the same company that started The Galena Territory back home some years ago.

Our reason for making this stop on our trip was to visit with a transplanted friend from Galena who now lives on Skidaway. Faye and her husband Dave showed up a couple hours after we checked in to the marina bearing the gift of food. Would you believe a whole meal of fabulous food! We visited for awhile and even had a visit from her son Matt and his son Cash. Shortly after the boys left one of us got hungry (I wonder who?) and we all sat down to dinner on Tourist compliments of Dave & Faye. It was good right down to the last shrimp. It was a great evening of catching up on what's been going on in our lives for the past years. All too soon it was time to hit the sack but not before plans were made for the next day.

Thursday morning our hosts picked us up at 9am and whisked us off to their home for breakfast. Once again delicious! Following that we went for a bike ride around part of the island which Pam liked immensely since there are no hills like back home to peddle up. The bike paths wind around the golf courses and the homes on Skidaway Island making for a very pleasant ride. While passing one of the golf holes we noticed a gator sunning himself in a sand trap behind the green while two ladies were putting.

Don't hit it long!

Bike ride completed we headed into Savannah for a little touring along the waterfront and around the many squares before heading out to Tybee Island for a walk on the beach.

Pam, Dave, & Faye at Tybee Island.

While driving from the beach we noticed the sign below indicating how high the storm surge would be in the different category hurricanes.

I'm long gone if a hurricane comes!

Before leaving Tybee we stopped for an early dinner at Stingray's restaurant for grouper & scallops. Nothing fancy but oh so good!

The crew at Stingray's.

Back to Tourist for an after dinner drink before saying so long to Faye & Dave. Thanks for a wonderful time and the great southern hospitality!

Friday morning came and before we left we had a surprise visit from Dave & Faye who brought sweet rolls and strawberrys to the dock. Fanatastic! I had to wake up Pam to partake of the bounty but it was worth it. She wasn't cranky at all!

St. Augustine and Beyond

Friday 4/8/11    We pulled anchor and rejoined the northward migration of boats heading out of Daytona. Somewhere near Palm Coast, Fl. Pam decided to get online and check our credit card statement. "When did you go to California" she asked me. Seems we had charges at a gas station 3 times, a McDonald's once, and a Western Union charge on our card. That's all it took. Pit Bull Pam was on the phone getting it straightened out. By the next day we had new cards delivered to the marina in St. Augustine.

What's This?

With a crisis averted we rolled into St. Augustine Municipal Marina in the heart of downtown.

For the next day and a half we explored St. Augustine as well as changing the sea water impellers on the main engines of Tourist.

Pam at the old city gates.

Oldest School.

Pam & Ponce

One of the many restored buildings.

One we didn't go in!

St. Augustine is one of the oldest cities in the states. One that shouldn't be missed. We finished off our 2 night stay with a great dinner at O. C White's. Just across the street from the marina.

Sunday we continued on to our last stop in Florida. Fernandina. We tied off to a mooring ball across from the marina and went in to walk the streets. Pam and I aren't big shoppers but it's fun to look at the different types of shops that make up a tourist town. Fernandina has done a good job of restoring the downtown area. Of course we had to stop in the oldest continuous operating bar in Florida, the Palace Saloon.

 Pam found a Pirate outside the bar.

Once again we had another great meal at Pablo's Mexican restaurant in Fernandina.

Our view as we dinghied back to Tourist.

Monday 4/11/11 found us saying so long to Florida. Time to put that chart book away for awhile.

Until next year.

Our travels took us past the Kings Bay Submarine base before we split off onto the ICW again. We were hoping to see a sub coming or going but it wasn't to be.

Kings Bay Naval Base.

Not long after passing the base we crossed St. Andrews Sound before arriving at Jekyll Island. While crossing the sound we ran through thousands of jelly fish. Not a good place to go swimming.

Really. There were thousands! They must be camera shy.

Our reason for stopping at Jekyll Island was two fold. One was free loaner bikes to explore the island. Two was to hook up to cable so we didn't miss Dancing With the Stars! We enjoyed our ride around the island and even were able to pick up some half and half for Pam.

A scene from the south.

The Jekyll Island Club.