Skirting Storms

The intermitent camera is back again, so I'll share a few shots from earlier.

Sunset in Charleston

A picture Denise took to capture her sentiment.

The Provision Co in Southport, NC, which also offered a free dock for the night.

Wednesday was another casual day cruising from Southport to Surf City, NC, but with an eye on the weather, as it looked like it would rain all day.  The ICW in North Carolina is much different than what we've seen so far in Georgia and South Carolina.  Many of the barrier islands are undeveloped and remain just wind swept sandy beaches and dunes.

The ICW joins the Cape Fear river at Southport and we traveled up it 10 miles in choppy seas before exiting to the east.  The wind was on our stern, so while choppy, it wasn't rocking the boat, but the current and tide were against us and dropped our speed dramatically, early on only 5 to 6 MPH.  Its generally easy to know whether the tide is incoming or outgoing just by monitoring our speed.  We gain or lose about 2 MPH from the tide and when adding river current it can be 3 to 4 MPH.

Denise has been looking forward to yesterday's part of the trip for awhile now as it would take us past exclusive Figure Eight Island, which was the beach home to John and Elizabeth Edwards before his scandal and her death.  Unfortunately, there's a fairly wide marsh between the ICW and the island, so we didn't get very close and Denise had to settle for viewing the incredible homes through binoculars.   The biggest disapointment was that the island doesn't look like an 8, but more like a 1.  Its pretty long and the houses are very close together.  All along the ICW on the other side though were also large nice houses.

This one has an intersting lawn ornament.

We were also well aware of the serious storms west of here and with that in mind, decided if we were going to be holed up for awhile, it should be in a place where we could enjoy ourselves.  We chose a marina in Surf City, NC on Topsail Island.  It seems Surf City has hung on as a real beach side community with lots of mom and pop type shops and restaurants, but there a few chain type stores and I wonder how long it will be this way when the economy comes completely back. and everything very close to the marina, including the beach.

Topsail Island has an interesting history as the site of the first rocket testing by the US in the mid and late 40's.  It nearly became the Cape Canaveral, but eventually out grew the location.  Hundreds of rocket launches occured from here in the early days of rocketry.

Next time your at the beach, or anywhere on the east coast, for that matter, you may see a new fashion trend and you will know it was started by Denise.

Pajama pants can be worn anywhere, the beach, restaurants, shopping, wherever you go.  Denise has also gotten the most tan, at least on her face and arms than ever before.

This is her arm compared to her leg.

We are staying in Surf City, at least for awhile today and maybe tonight again as we watch the weather.  It appears the storms will stay to the north and west of us, but the area is under a severe weather watch until this afternoon and we don't want to get caught in one and having to scramble into a marina or anchorage.  Starting tomorrow, the forecast is for great sunny skies.

The South Will Rise Again

The night at anchorage was quiet and uneventful, the best kind.  We refueled and had lunch in Georgetown, SC, another historic city.  Denise got to talking to the dock hand helping with fuel and found out he had been trained by a dock hand she had talked to in Charleston two days ago who was from Georgetown.  Only Denise can get perfect strangers to start chit chatting and providing personal details about themselves.  She found out that this dochand was named Robert E Lee and in fact was a blood decendent of THE Robert E Lee.  By the time he was finished, she new what his E was for, what his father's E was for and how he was the only one left to carry on the name.  This is all the more interesting with this year being the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, which started at Ft Sumter, which we saw the day before.  It also reminds us to not talk up the fact that we're from "The North".

With a successful night at anchor in the marshes, I thought it best to not push my luck as the ICW turned from marshes to heavily wooded and seemingly unpopulated, so I opted for an inexpensive marina ($1/ft) at the south end of Myrtle Beach.  The Osprey Marina turned out to be a nice surprise with extremely nice people, clean bathrooms and showers and even a local Italian restaurnat that provided free pickup and return with dinner.  The lasagne and spagetti were excellent and we now have leftovers for a couple of lunches.  The restaurant was located next to a large grocery store, so we were also able to get a few things before going back to the boat.

Today's forecast was for scatterd thunderstorms in the afternoon and we departed the marina with sunny skies.  These lasted less than an hour and soon it was raining, sometimes very hard, but again without much wind.  I'm really glad I took the time earlier this year to follow Geo's advice and water proof the bimini with Thompson's Water Seal.  It really works and I was able to keep mostly dry as we progressed up the ICW through Myrtle Beach.  It really only rained for the first couple of hours and then we experienced on and off sun, but it seemed we were only slightly ahead of the rain the whole time.

A guy I met at the marina on Dakaw Island a couple of days ago had described the ICW through Myrtle Beach as "a ditch" and now I see what he meant.  Other than a few nice houses and numerous golf courses, there wasn't alot to see, certainly not the beach.  There is a light house, but it seemed in an odd place, not at an inlet or anything, maybe just decoration.

We had determined a target mile marker for our stop tonight and after consulting the charts and Skipper Bob's recommendations, identified the spot, just off the ICW in Southport, NC at the Cape Fear inlet.  When we got here, the suggested anchorage didn't look as good as described, but we had also read that there was a free tie up to a dock at "The Provision Company" if you also had a meal there. 

When I saw it, I knew it was a no brainer, plus a storm was still brewing and being tied to a dock always seems to be a good idea to me in these circumstances.  Plus, when I went in to the restaurant to scout it out, I knew it was the right place.  The locals were here.  The seafood was local too and the prices were incredible, but Denise had decided to eat light and had done so earlier, while in route.  She had already brushed her teeth and was ready for bed and suggested I walk up the dock and eat.  But first I took a short walk around town and came back and told her about the ice cream shop.  At that moment she decided she could brush her teeth again and maybe she could also eat something before ice cream.  She had crab cakes and I had locally caught grilled tuna.  Both were great, but then we found out the ice cream shop was closed.  Luckily, The Provision Co. had key lime pie. 

Storms are in the forecast for the next two days, so we may be trying more offerings at The Provision Co.

Marina Life

Sorry, Its me again.  Denise didn't want to post as promised, but says she will one of these days.

After experiencing our first little rain in Savannah we ran into a real rain storm on the way into South Carolina.  The forecast was for a chance of scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon on Friday and one popped up just as we were crossing Port Royal Sound, a rather expansive body of water that you wouldn't want to be in with thunder and lightning, but we were.  A sail boat that was ahead of us unfortunately turned back just before the storm started.  I would have felt better with his tall mast out there to attract the lightning.  I had just talked to a couple in the marina in Savannah the night before.  They have had their catamaran in the marina for repairs for nearly a year after it was struck by lightning.  It was such a direct hit that the gauges in the dashboard were blown completely out.  Ironically, the name of the marina is Thunderbolt.  As we were weathering the storm I was trying to remember how to calculate how close lightning is by counting the seconds before you hear thunder.  I couldn't remember if it was 1 second equals 1 mile or 5 seconds equals 1 mile.  I now know its 5 seconds equals 1 mile and I'm glad I didn't know it then because there were several strikes where the thunder was only a second behind.  Interestingly though, there was no real wind with the storm, which would have made it much worse.  And we survived.

The sun came out for awhile after the storm, but then it started looking dark and stormy again, so I decided another night in a marina would be a good thing and we pulled into Dataw Island Marina, which is just a few miles by land from Beaufort, SC.  It never actually stormed again and we had a very nice dinner at the Sweet Grass restaurant at the marina.

On Saturday as we were cruising up to Charleston, SC I realized that today (Sunday) was Easter and Denise wanted to go to church, so we made another marina stop.  This was the City Marina in Charleston, which offered a free shuttle, so Denise was able to go to Easter church at St John's the Baptist Cathedral in downtown Charleston.  After church we departed and took a short detour up the Cooper River to see the aircraft carrier the Yorktown, which is now a maritime musem. 

Ok, I didn't really take this picure, but the water damaged camera is not working again, so I borrowed this from the internet.

We then proceeded across Charleston harbor to continue on the ICW and had a good view of Fort Sumter. 

Another borrowed picture.

Since Denise joined me in Jacksonville, we've spent 4 of 5 nights in marinas.  I'm not complaining though, it is nice to get air conditioning and its been pretty warm and muggy, even at night.  Denise is being a good sport and has now had good practice at getting fenders in place and lines ready to toss to dock hands.

Tonight though, we needed to work on our anchoring skills again before we forget the routine and we are anchored in a marsh just off the ICW and across from the town of McClellanville, SC.

Moon River

I forgot to mention one of the highlights coming up to Savannah.  We passed by Moon River, the real one in the song, made famous by Andy Williams and written by Savannah native Johnny Mercer.  There is even a statue of Johnny downtown.

JFK Jr, Nuclear Subs, We're Gonna Die Here, Safe Harbor

There's not much to see on the coast of Geogia, it's mostly marsh and very shallow passages at low tide.  Luckily, we missed the bottom despite a few spots at low tide where the depth finder was consistently saying less than 4 ft.  Our draft is 3.5 ft.  There were a few areas of interest though.  Just north of Fernandina Beach, across the St Mary's River is Georgia and Cumberland Island.  Two points of interest on Cumberland are: 1. JFK Jr had his very secrect wedding here, where you can only get to by boat, usually by ferry from Fernandina Beach.  Denise knew all the details to make it interesting.  2.  There are wild horses on Cumberland and many times they are close enough to see.  The pictures I took don't really show them, but trust me, we saw at least 5 of them.

Another area of interest were the security warnings we were reading on the charts and the caution that we could be delayed by up to an hour if there was a nuclear submarine coming into port.  There is a sub base at King's Bay, which is accessible via the St Mary's River inlet.  I might have tried to get a closer look, but the security boat cruising the entrance and the 5 Coast Guard boats at the dock were sufficent deterent.

We continued to cruise the marsh lands of coastal Georgia, all the while looking at the charts and reading the guides looking for a good ancorage for the night.  I thought the one I first picked would be quiet and be interesting, as it has historical significance.

On one side was Fort Frederica, a national monument where the British defended the north from the Spanish in Florida.  On the other and up and down the ICW, nasty people were lurking, ready to capture and kill us.  Denise wanted me to get pictures so everyone would know where we died.  Of course that didn't happen, but only because we moved 3 miles up the ICW and anchored off shore of several very nice looking homes on St Simons Island, which Money magazine recently reported as the best place to retire in the country.  If only they knew of the dangers lurking nearby.

After surviving the night in the marsh lands, we motored up to Thunderbolt Marina, very near to Savannah, GA, which we thought would be a good place to plug in, get some air conditioning and do a little sight seeing in historical Savannah, which we did today.  We took the city bus to downtown Savannah, had lunch and then did the touristy Old Savannah Trolley Tour.  It was interesting and we learned alot about the city and its history.  Savannah is a major US shipping port and there is plenty of activity on the Savannah River, which also serves as the state boundry with South Carolina to the north.

On the way back from downtown on the city bus, we encountered the first rain drops since we left Madeira Beach on April 6.  It was pretty light rain by the time we got to our stop, about 6 blocks from the marina, which would have been fine, until a passing car went through a puddle and pretty well drenched Denise and got me a little too.  We shouldn't complain, I hear it has been snowing recently at home, while we have been showered in sunshine.

These birds only followed us looking for fish we might churn up, unlike the buzzards that moved in on Geo and me on the way back from the Bahamas.

By popular demand, the next couple of posts will be from Denise, who may have a different slant on things than me.

Sun, Wind, Sea Creatures, Dingy Motors and Crew Change

We've had incredible weather, in fact Tom and I made history.  In all the years we've fished and boated together, we've never been on a trip of more than one day that we did not have rain.  Temps in the mid to high 80's and lots of sun.  We did have a couple of pretty windy days and chose to stay on a mooring ball in St Augustine and again in Fernandina Beach.  You're likely aware of the damaging storms that went through the mid Atlantic states a couple of days ago and while we luckily missed those, we did get the wind.  On Saturday winds were over 25 mph with gusts over 40, but they were predominantly at our back, so the ICW wasn't rough going north.  It did get a little tricky catching the mooring ball when we got to Fernandina Beach, but we made it without anyone going overboard and even got compliments the next day from the audience of other boaters.

Fishing has been interesting with a few more catfish, an eel and two stingrays.  Tom caught all of them.

Previously I told you about the troublesome dingy motor, but when Tom came aboard he started it on the first try, so we didn't spend anymore time worrying about it.  With a down day at Fernandina Beach on a mooring ball, it was time to take the dingy to shore so we could go to the beach.  Before taking the motor from its rail stand, Tom started it again.  We put it on the dingy, but then couldn't restart it.  So back on the rail stand and Tom disassembled the carburateor and found some foreign substance.  The carburateor was cleaned, reassembled and was started again on the rail stand.  In fact, we each started it a few times, let it run, let it sit and start it again.  Confident, we put it back on the dingy and again it wouldn't start.  It was time to go to the beach, so we rowed ashore and asked about outboard motor sales, but the two dealers in town were closed (it was Sunday).  We walked the two miles to the beach, admired the Atlantic and walked back.  We had decided that the problem with the motor was bad gas.  It was old, being purchased before the Bahama trip in November.  The marina let us empty the tank and we refilled with new gas.  Again it wouldn't start, so we rowed back to Tranquility and put the motor back on the rail stand and prompty started it.  We were now convinced it would only run if not in the water.  I called the dealers today, ready to dump this motor, but neither had small motors in stock.  One of them convinced me that nothing could really go wrong with these little motors (Honda 2 HP) and that bad bas was probably the problem, so with the rental car I had obtained for airport transportation today I dropped it off. 

I took Tom to the Jacksonville airport and picked up Denise. 

Tom's time on Tranquility was a great time fishing and cruising and Tom was able to resolve several nagging issues, including troubleshooting the problem with one of the air conditioners.  Previously it was thought it needed a freon charge, but it turned out that only the pump had lost its prime.  We don't typically run with the airconditioning, but when at the dock for an extended period it can get pretty warm inside, so its good to know we can count on it if needed.

The outboard shop brought the dingy motor back and said it had been properly clean, tested and was running great.  I didn't bother to start it after putting it back on the rail stand because I know it usually runs in that position.  Can't wait to get it on the dingy and try my luck again.

First mate Denise is now back on board and after grocery shopping and returning the rental car in the morning, we are off to Georgia (4 miles north).  We are planning to be in Norfolk, VA in two weeks where we have plane reservations for a trip home.  Tomorrow is the start of Denise's real adventure, having so far only been aboard for two days before Tom and I went fishing.  Stay tuned.

Northern Florida

Wabasso to Titusville, Fl included the first fuel stop.  Having internet access is quite valuable as I am able to get fuel prices by mile marker and surprisingly there are very large differences from one marina to the next.  I found one 3 1/2 miles off the ICW on the barge canal through Merritt Island that was $3.67/gal.  Prior to that everthing I had seen was over $4.00.  On 233 gallons, that's a big difference.  Geo contacted me as he was preparing to head north for the summer in Michigan and we were able to meet up for dinner on the boat in Titusville.  With the couple of tools he brought along we were able to finish up the stereo installation and add musical entertainment to Tranquility's ammenities

Let's see, I think that was Wednesday, so yesterday we cruised to Daytona Beach where we anchored near downtown.   The spot proved to be a good one for fishing as we landed about 10 catfish, just like on the Rock River, except these are sea cats and it wasn't raining, which it always has every other time Tom and I have been fishing.

Today we came to St Augustine, where we tethered to a mooring ball at the municipal marina.  I was wanting to try a mooring ball before Denise comes back so I know what to expect.  Its pretty windy and there is a strong current, so this should be pretty secure.  During this writing session, Tom has already started catching fish, so I think I'll join him on the back deck.

A little good news on the camera, it is working well enough to get the pictures from it, but other than that its still no good.  So, I'll catch up with a few pictures from earlier in the trip.

Sunset at Pine Island just before Denise took her leave

The parking job at Sanibel Harbour Resort.  Tranquility is the smaller boat.

                                            

Along the Caloosahatchee, where it becomes very rural with cattle grazing and orange orchards.  This must have been the head cow in the herd.

The locks on the Okeechobee waterway are different than most others in that the doors are simply opened to let water in or out.  Since this drains water from Lake Okeechobee, the first lock on the Caloosahatchee side and the last one on the St Lucie side only operate every 2 hours instead of on demand when the lake level is low.  Since we were through there, I have read that these two locks are now only operating 3 times per day because the lake level has dropped further.

It may be hard to see, but there is an alligator in the water.  This was on the Rim canal around Okeechobee and is the first of many we saw.

Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the many manatees we've seen.  Its nearly impossible to get a picture because they barely break the surface of the water and usually you just see their back or tail, but we've seen many. 

On the ICW

Left Clewiston at the crack of noon (actually about 11:15) and took the three hour cruise across Lake Okeechobee.  At only 6 to 9 feet deep it can get pretty nasty in windy conditions, but that wasn't the case and in the middle there was hardly a ripple on the water.  In fact it was so calm, we put Tranquility on auto pilot and proceeded to install the new stereo, which is sounding great right now.  We left the lake at Port Mayoca, passed through 2 more lockson the St Lucie Canal and then the St Lucie river where we anchored at mile marker 13, 13 miles from the ICW.  Today was 60 miles to Wabasso, Fl on the ICW just north of Vero Beach where we are anchored.  We made one stop along the way for ice and bait, which Tom has already given up on, so we'll just relax a bit as the sun goes down.

Ft Myers to Lake Okeechobee, Bass Fishing

Catching up from the last post.  Denise and I took a short cruise out into the Gulf before going to the Sanibel Harbour Marriot Resort, where she is staying for a few days.  When arriving at the resort, we cruised past the docks to determine the best (easiest) place to park, but none looked very easy.  Docks were right on the channel and even though there was a no wake within 500 ft, boats were flying past creating very rough conditions.  As we approached the captain of the resort boat told me where to park and said "just back it in".  What he didn't know was I had never backed into a slip before, but after my panic subsided I gave it a shot and was able to manuever two turns backwards and stop squarely in the slip without touching the floating docks on either side.  I was planning to post a picture of the parking spot, but had a mishap with the new camera and cannot retrieve the picture.  Keep reading to find out about the mishap.  After seeing how I could park the boat, Denise suggested we could now stay in more marinas instead of anchoring.  Maybe I should have hit a dock.

Tom arrived at the hotel and we waved good bye to Denise on the deck and headed up the Caloosahatchee River, which is the beginning of the Okeechobee Waterway.  As it was already 5 PM when we left, we went just 24 miles and found an anchorage a few miles east of I75 and downtown Ft Myers.  Tom had brought some fuses I had requested and was able to get the upper helm radio working, along with the engine synchronizer and the cigarette lighter outlet.  He then discovered that the inverter I had just purchased to use in that outlet had a burning smell and a blown fuse of its own and was the probable source of the boat fuse trouble.  So two new fuses and three problems were resolved.   Before leaving the anchorage, Tom took a look at the belt issue on the starboard engine and determined the belt was bad, but the bolt hole that I had retapped was holding just fine.  He changed the belt and we were off towards Clewiston.  Its great to have friends who can solve problems.

64 miles later through three locks we arrived in Clewiston.  There is a 12 mile stretch from Moore Haven to Clewiston on the "Rim Canal", a dredged canal that circles the entire 487,000 acre Lake Okeechobee.  We got excited when we spotted an aligator on the edge of the canal and stopped to get some pictures thinking this would be a rare event.  By the time we got to Clewiston we had lost count on the number of aligators we saw.  Arriving in Clewiston Tom encouraged me to see if I could turn a 40 ft boat around in a 45 foot wide canal with rocks on one side and the dock on the other.  Still feeling good about my parking job in Ft Myers I gave it a shot.  Low and behold, I spun it around without hitting either side and we tied up for the night.  I'm getting a bit cocky with my driving abilities.  Tom collected phones, binoculars, the satelite radio and other miscellaneous items to bring back down to the cabin and in the process my camera slipped from his hand into the canal.  It was in its case and we were able to retrieve it before it sunk, but it appears fried.  It comes on, but then gives an error.  Maybe I will be able to save the pictures when I can put the card in another reader.  But Tom is also working on that problem and has been able to retrieve a couple.  If it works, I'll post a couple later.  I really want to post the one showing Tranquility safely parked at the hotel dock.   Luckily, I bought the protection package when I bought the camera because I didn't want to spring for the more expensive water proof one.  I think I can replace it when we find a Best Buy if it still has problems.  I do have a few pics from Tom's camera to share though.

Sunday we were up at 5:45 to meet our fishing guide Mark for a day of bass fishing on the world renowned bass fishing Lake Okeechobee.  We had great fishing in the morning when we were using live bait, but it slowed down in the afternoon when we went to artificial.  At $20 a dozen for large shiners, we only took 4 dozen.  None the less, we had a great time and caught the biggest large mouth bass either of us had ever seen.  I got two over 7 lbs and Ton got one that was over 6.  We stayed again at the marina and will head across the lake today.  Its a three hour cruise across the lake.  Since I'm the captain, Tom will have to be Giligan even though he's more like the professor.  We're looking for Mary Ann and Ginger.  Tom thinks we could probably only get Mrs Howel though.  Will be trying to get near Stuart, Fl where we join the ICW.

By the way, I've heard people have tried to post comments, but couldn't.  I changed some settings and was able to post myself, so if you're interested, try it again.  I also have heard no one gets an email alert from a new posting, but haven't figured out if I'm supposed to do something on this end.  I'll look into it some more.

Day of Departure

The idea to spend the first night at anchor proved to be a good one for more than one reason.  We got an unexpected dinner invite aboard the Clear to Close, which provided one more chance for advice for me and encouragement for Denise.  Of course it also exposed a couple of new problems which are yet to be resolved.  One with the upper helm radio all if a sudden not working and the other with more issues with the dingy motor.  It's a good thing my auto shop owner friend Tom is joining me tomorrow. 

Wednesday April 6 was the planned departure date, which we met promptly at 8:30 AM.  Cruising 76 miles from Madeira Beach to Englewood, Fl included a bumpy ride across Tampa Bay and continued uneventfully down the Florida west coast on the ICW.  Another very quiet and smooth night at anchorage in a cove off from Lemon Bay and just across from Englewood Beach, close enough to hear live music at a local spot.  It's a popular spot for anchoring boats and included a couple of transients like us and several boats which seem somewhat abandoned as they were the same ones anchored there when Geo and I anchored there on the way to the Bahamas in early November.

Thursday April 7:   Just 40 miles from Englewood, across Charlotte Bay and down to St James City on Pine Island.  Ft Meyers Beach is in view as is the Sanibel Harbour Marriot Resort where Denise is staying the next four days before heading home for a week.  Tom is joining me and we will head across Florida on the Calooshatchee River to Lake Ockeechobee.  We have a guide booked on Sunday for a day of Bass fishing on Okeechobee before continuing on to Stuart and up the ICW on the east coast to Jacksonville.

Preparing to Leave

Here we are on the eve of departure and it looks like everything is a go.  Of course we didn't get here without a lot of running around the past week, picking up last minute "needs".  We also ran into what I hope will be a non issue, but has the potential to be a bigger problem.  In the process of tightening the starboard engine belt, I discovered a stripped bolt hole.  Long story short, a piece of the collar where the hole is, broke off.  Geo and I tapped the hole and inserted a new, slightly longer bolt and it appears to be ok for now.  If it doesn't hold, however, I think it will be a costly and time consuming delay.

A thunderstorm is passing through this morning, but later today and the next several days look very good and hot, with temps forecasted in the high 80's by the weekend.  When  it stops raining, there will be one more trip to the grocery store and this afternoon we will depart the marina and move less than a mile to a bay near Geo's boat where we plan to anchor for the night.  Thought a first night at anchor close to help would be a good idea.  Departure tomorrow morning is the plan!