1-15 January 2009
North Myrtle Beach, SC to Fort Pierce, FL.
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| Date | Location | Log and Pictures | |
| 1 Jan 2010 | Dock Holidays, SC | Up early for a 7:30 am underway we heard voices; two men were swimming up the waterway. Claimed this was there 3rd year swimming this portion of the waterway in wet suits on New Years' Day. The water temp was 47 degrees and they were well over 47 themselves! Ouch! We headed out towards the Carolina Beach Inlet shoal area and passed it at 9 am with 9 feet of water- that's high tide with 5 feet of tide. That meant 4 feet at low water, what we would have experienced last evening, so we're glad we paid attention & were cautious. Shoaling here is drastic, caused by recent storms. The rest of the day included viewing some unique homes, a boat parked in an odd fashion, and, after mooring at Dock Holidays in Myrtle Beach, some Food Lion shopping . We had to make passing of Sunset pontoon bridge at 1pm or we would have had to wait until 4 pm as the bridge does not open at low water. We made it with a minute to spare, pushing Apolonia at 17 mph for most of the afternoon. We're expecting 25 degrees this evening and mid 30s tomorrow during the day tomorrow, but it will be dry and sunny so we'll head out for Georgetown, SC tomorrow. Sometime soon we'll get to warm weather and leave the mprnings' icy decks behind. Casting off is tricky each a.m. | |
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| 2 Jan 2010 | Georgetown, SC | Up to 30 degree cold. Ouch! Wind was strong but we decided to move south anyway. Underway at 9 am we headed into increasing winds, but in the protected ICW waterways the 30 knot winds were not a problem. Wesurprisingly found over a dozen boaters moving south and north. Amazing! We traveled just over 50 statue miles to Georgetown and landed in 30 knots of wind at Hazzard's face dock. The 53 foot Hatteras just behind our landing site must have tightened his jaw, as I did, moving alongside the boat to our landing spot. Safely we moored and turned on the heater. After tying up we had the choice of a Manhattan or cup of coffee ... the coffee lost out. Later, after Carey surveyed one of our favorite marinas and we walked to town for dinner. | |
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| 3 Jan 2010 | Charleston, SC | It is not cold. It is frigid! The temperatures are 25 degrees below normal. We're generally traveling with a dozen boats headed south and VHF conversations show that all of us are really tired of this cold weather, especially the sailboaters. Our enclosed cockpit keeps us comfortable during the day, but getting out on deck for underway and tie up are getting old in this temperature. Lines are generally frozen in the a.m. The weather man says the arctic weather will last until Wednesday. Hurry up Wednesday. We made 53 miles today from Georgetown to Charleston. Lows tonight expected to be 25 and highs tomorrow in the low 40s. During our travels today we passed a sailboat carrying people we met last evening at dinner in Georgetown. The owner made his money on Wall Street and is now enjoying his new sailboat (first picture at left) and his first trip to the Bahamas. He's 42 and retired. I should have worked on Wall Street. We pulled into Charleston at 4:30 pm after our 9 am departure from Georgetown. Some of the most beautiful boats we see on the waterway are always parked at the Charleston City Marina, where we are tied up. The Offshore Yacht "Grits" (top picture at right) is Carey's favorite. She first saw it at Ocean Marine in Portsmouth. Underway tomorrow for Beaufort, SC. | |
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| 4 Jan 2010 | Beaufort, SC | No pictures today. Too cold and we paid attention to the waterway. Still cold, we got underway from Charleston in 28 degree temp, just ahead of a predicted snow storm. During the trip south the sun was shinning and the cockpit was comfortable ... no jacket required. Pulled into Lady's Island Marina in Beaufort, SC just before 5 pm, a 63 mile trip, and had the required cocktail. Went to dinner at a local and nearby Japanese restaurant. We've come just over 600 miles since leaving the Potomac and are at mile marker 536 on the waterway (the numbering starts at Norfolk). We are headed for mile marker 960 (Fort Pierce, Fl) where we will leave the States and head toWest End, Bahamas. Just 424 miles to go before Fort Pierce. The weather forecast says cold weather until Friday so we'll keep moving. We're shooting for Brunswick, GA by Wednesday night. Snow is forecast for Thursday and if that happens we'll take a weather day. Carey was smiling as she removed a major splinter under her thumb nail that was giving her a problem. We're now enjoying a local TV show and glass of wine in a nice warm boat ... the heat pump is working great! | |
| 5 Jan 2010 | Isle of Hope, SC | Every day on the water is better than a day elsewhere but today was a test. Underway at 8 am in 28 degrees. An hour later we passed thru Port Royal Sound, 35 degrees, 3 foot seas, and 30 knots of wind! Finally in protected waters we only occasionally felt the force of the 25-30 knots of winds until landing at Isle of Hope, just outside Savannahwhere we tied up in 25 knots of winds at 2 pm, after a 51 mile trip. We're in the low country of GA where tides range 8 feet. At low tide the channel has very little water. At high tide it's hard to tell where the channel is as the 8 feet of tide covers a large expanse of the "low" country. It's interesting to hear boaters argue whether traveling at low or high tide is best. We enjoy both and, than the wind, had a pleasant but cold travelday . The birds were hiding in trees as we passed, but the homes on the streets of the small towns look beautiful. There were some handsome boats tied up at Isle of Hope. Most amazing sight to us was the University of North Carolina crew team practicing on the ICW near Isle of Hope in mid 30 degree weather, with high winds. And, they were all females! I guess they came down to practice and practice they must! | |
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| 6 Jan 2010 | Brunswick Landing Marin, Brunswick, GA | 7:30 am underway, we pushed the throttle forward and traveled 90 miles to Brunswick, GA. Saw the sun rise after we were underway in 30 degree temps. Just after underway we noticed the sad sailboat in the mud on the starboard shore. It is definitely abandoned. Later in the day crossing one of the 5 sounds we transited today we enjoyed watching a tug and barge moving on the horizon across our path. The forecast is for a hard freeze and snow on Friday, so we'll leave mid morning tomorrow, to allow for low water in Jekyll Creek and stop in Fernandina Beach Florida tomorrow night, a short 37 mile trip. We'll stay two days, giving us a lay day to do some minor chores and let the snow go away. |
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| 7 Jan 2010 | Fernandina Beach, FL | Late underway, 9:30 am, to avoid low water at Jekyll Creek shoal area for 5 hour trip to Fernandina Beach. We're in Florida ... had a heat wave, 54 degrees this afternoon ... able to wash the melting salt off the boat ... but snow expected tomorrow! We'll see what weather prediction is tomorrow but will probably take a lay day. Just after underway this morning we passed a large cargo ship going backwards up the Brunswick east river channel, being pushed by tugs, an interesting way to move ship. | |
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| 8 Jan 2010 | Fernandina Beach, FL. | Up to 20 knots of wind and rain with sleet predicted. By 9 am two of the boats we've been traveling near headed out and just minutes later the sleet started along with 30 knots of wind. Glad we stayed. We noted several anchored boaters coming ashore by dinghy in warm jackets. I read most of the day. Carey spent the day cleaning, doing laundry, and shifting inventory between storage places; the side of cruising that is tedious. Tomorrow more laundry, cleaning and a few routine maintenance chores. The full-sized dryer we installed works well to do laundry on board; especially nice in this cold weather. Late in the day we hooked up the Wii we got from Santa. Carey beat me at bowling, but we tied in baseball. A good day. We'll probably stay here tomorrow if the weather does not improve. Supposedly the arctic chill will be gone by Monday or Tuesday. We hope so as we're hoping to cross to the Bahamas next weekend. The weather there today was 70 degrees. | |
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| 9 Jan 2010 | Fernandina Beach, FL. | No pictures today. We slept late, cleaned the boat, did more laundry, and completed a few simple chores on the boat. Sky was cloudy early with rain and sleet and 30 degree temps. Late afternoon the sky cleared, the sun was shinning and the temps climbed into the 40s. Sunshine is predicted for tomorrow so we're off for St. Augustine. The long range plan is to make it to Fort Pierce by Thursday. From there we will be ready to cross to the Bahamas depending on the weather forecast. SE winds at 5 knots is ideal for the crossing., | |
| 10 Jan 2010 | St Augustine, FL | Underway at 8 am in 25 knots of wind and 30 degree temperatures. At least there was some sun. We made a 7 hour 58 mile trip to St Augustine, with beautiful views along the way, including big homes, river scenery, and doll houses on piers. The trip was delightful as the sun shinning through the isinglass kept us warm. After arriving at 3 pm, we settled the boat and good friends Randy and Barbara Semper joined us from Green Cove Springs, where they are staying on their boat for the first part of the winter. They've lived aboard fulltime for over three years. After drinks onboard, we went to out for dinner. We asked a fellow diner to take a picture. His hand was not to steady, but the thought was there. We always enjoy visiting with Randy and Barbara. We retired to the boat to plan our trip to Daytona tomorrow traveling through the very worst shoaled area on the ICW, Matanzas's Inlet. | |
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| 11 Jan 2010 | Palm Coast Marina, FL. | Decided to leave St Augustine at noon to get a rising tide at Matanzas Inlet. Just before leaving we watched a sailboat try to get underway who got caught by the running tide. 4 strong men had to hold him off as he got in trouble. Finally underway, we followed him south, traveling the 15 miles to Mantanzas Inlet. Carey driving and water good most of the transit, then water started dropping fast in mid channel at the inlet. Because of extensive storms, shoaling is even worse at this inlet and is the site of multiple groundings by cruisers in recent months. Carey pulled it back and we moved to starboard to find water to get through. No water. We stopped when it got to 4.5 feet. Finally, we noticed the dolphins jumping to the left (east) of the channel and decided that if there was enough depth for diving dolphins, there should be enough water outside the channel for us to transit.. Lo and behold, this was where the water was - 9 to 13 feet depths) and we moved through the inlet outside of the channel, east of the green markers. Great experience. An unmarked shoal parallel to the channel in the center of the channel is being formed so you have to go outside the marked channel to get good water. We safely passed this inlet and are now moored at Palm Coast Marina, a short 25 mile trip today. Very friendly spot. The weather hit 55 degrees today. What a relief! |
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| 12 Jan 2010 | Titusville, FL | Underway with ice on the deck at 8:15 am, temps at 30 degrees. It warmed up to the mid 50s but the wind started blowing hard. We had a pleasant day but there was a lot of no wake area so we didn't make good time. Spent 8 hours underway to go 70 miles to Titusville. The cabana in the first picture has frost on the roof, which is really black. The little home built boat below might just be satisfactory for Carey, as she always wanted to live literally on the water. We enjoyed some pretty sites, including nice homes and pelicans socializing on a rock bed as we passed by. We are now out of the 8 foot range of tides of South Carolina and Georgia and into the 1-3 foot tides normal for Florida. We're almost to our crossing point, Fort Pierce and may make it tomorrow; if not by the 14th. We're looking forward to visiting with Tom and Bonnie Scanlin and Jo Ann Jarman (Toby is up north visiting his mother). | |
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| 13 Jan 2010 | Fort Pierce, FL | Underway at 7:15 we made the 81 mile trip to Fort Pierce in just over 8 hours, an easy trip. This was the first day I unplugged the electric and handled lines without a coat, even though there was a light coating of frost on the deck. The weather was beautiful, in the 60s. Tomorrow we'll visit with old friends, Tom and Bonnie Scanlin, re-provision the boat and stand by for good weather to cross. If we don't cross from here, we'll move a short distance south to Lake Worth at West Palm Beach, when we're crossed from twice before. We have an electrician coming in the morning to look at the new electric stove we installed, and had repaired at Jarrett Bay ...still not working properly. Carey hated the old convection/microwave oven. | |
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| 14 Jan 2010 | Fort Pierce, FL | No pictures today. We slept in and welcomed the stove repairman at 9 am. He found the problem with the broken stove and we're hopeful the part arrives as promised tomorrow. Tom and Bonnie came by for a visit and dropped off one of their cars so we could do some re-provisioning. Each time we're in Pt. Pierce they take wonderful care of us! We had a few glasses of wine, some lunch, and a great visit. We'll shop tomorrow and finalize the stove repair. Otherwise I'll be going to restaurants every night! I wonder why Carey is smiling! We'll stay at least through tomorrow night and move to an anchorage in Stuart to wait to cross. Does not appear to be a good day thru the weekend. | |
| 15 Jan 2010 | Fort Pierce, FL. | Up for our day of provisioning. The stove part arrived at 9 am and the electrician was here by 10. The stove was repaired by noon. Good news for us. While I stayed with the electrician Carey did most of the shopping. In the 70 degree weather I got to clean the outside of the boat and do a few maintenance items. We'll shop and visit with Tom and Bonnie another day, then move on to a mooring ball in Stuart. Crossing weather will not be favorable until Tuesday. Apolonia is safely tied to a long pier just 12 steps away from a thatch-covered restaurant and rows of boats in sunny weather. A manatee lounges in the slip by the bow. | |
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