Georgetown, SC to Ft Pierce, FL
1 December 2006 to 15 December 2006
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| Date | Location | Log and Pictures | |
| 2 Dec | Charleston, SC | Underway at 9 am for easy 6 hour trip to Charleston. Saw our first sailboat in the ICW with its sails up! Moored at Charleston Maritime Center and had the best seat in the house for the Christmas Lighted boat parade. Over 35 beautifully decorated boats paraded past our slip and then were backlit with 30 minutes of fire works from the water. Prior to the parade we ate too much chili at a local cook-off at Marine Center. After the parade we made the easy 5 minute walk to down down, walked the local market and had a bowl of Charleston's famous She-Crab soup. | |
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| 3 Dec | Beaufort, SC | No pictures today. We stayed inside the boat and "enjoyed" our coldest day underway. Clouds and rain came in with the low pressure system and the temperature never touched 55 degrees. Easy traveling day though and we made the 70 miles to Beaufort by 3 pm. Bill took some time to tour an Elco moored at the City Marina while Carey and I relaxed and did a few chores. A relaxing afternoon for all. They are predicting freezing temperatures tonight so the heat will be on. | |
| 4 Dec | Isle of Hope Marina, near Savannah, GA | Morning dawned sunny and only slightly cool. We decided breakfast and a walk around town was the order of the morning. We found a great breakfast place and then toured Beaufort SC on foot. A great morning. A beautiful town. Underway at 10 am, we made good progress for an hour and then the engine high temp alarm sounded. A water hose had split. Bill steered and Carey navigated toward Savannah while I replaced the hose. Two hours later we were back to normal and arrived at Isle of Hope at 4:30, just slightly later than planned. I worried the rest of the crew as I decided to fix dinner. One way to get out of doing dishes, that's sure. | |
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| 5 Dec | Jekyll Island | Underway at 7:45 and moored 8 hours later at Jekyll Island. A great trip through the shallow water and low country of Georgia. After tying up we used the marina loaner car for a trip around the island, enjoying the Christmas decorations. Most of the homes were built some time ago, nice but not ostentatious. Our dog Sophie, you might think, is relaxing, but actually she's studying the charts, preparing for her navigation duties. | |
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| 6 Dec | Fernandina Beach, Fl | Every day on the water is better than any other, but today tested me! We were underway at 7 to make St Augustine. The companion water hose to the one I replaced two days ago, planned for replacement in Ft Pierce, did not make it. At 8:30 I was replacing the second hose. A piece of cake. An hour later I checked for leaks and yet another one was discovered, but the location was hard to determine. We stopped at Fernandina Beach City marina at 10 am to find the leak. A little dis-assembly showed that a cast iron piece of the engine connecting the radiator water to the exhaust manifold had developed a pin hole leak. Ouch! Repairs took the better part of the afternoon, repairs we'll test tomorrow. Add to the leak problem, I got a tooth ache. Luckily there was plenty of scotch. Bill, Carey and I walked into town late in the day and enjoyed a local country group at a bar, along with chili hot dogs and "bar chicks." Bar chicks are dinner rolls stuffed with chicken, tomatoes, and sweat pickles. Couldn't have been a better ending to the day. We even enjoyed Kalik beer, a local favorite in the Bahamas, available at this local watering hole. | |
| 7-8 Dec | Fernandina Beach, FL | Still here. The repairs to the engine part failed so we have ordered a new part for installation. Some engine disassembly required but this is the better way to fix the problem. A strong weather system roared into the area on the 7th so sitting here is ok as far as the weather goes also. I got by tooth problem fixed and Bill and I installed a new radar on the boat. The old one had been acting erratic and the replacement was going to be done at the first weather stop of the trip. This was it. We are all relaxing now and waiting for the new engine part and for the weather to abate. Then we'll be on our way. | |
| 9 Dec | Fernandina Beach, Fl | The "red tag" Saturday delivery of the engine part did not happen, so we'll enjoy the weekend here. Not a bad place to be stopped and the weather is still not great. We're enjoying the town. This morning we found a breakfast place called T-Ray's, a converted Exxon gas station that had a line to order breakfast. Our kind of place. The food was great and inexpensive. | |
| And more | Bill's fourth grandchild, Charlie is 1 year old tomorrow the 10th, so Bill and Carey made a little sign to wish Charlie Happy Birthday. |
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| 10 Dec | Fernandina Beach, FL | Enjoying Fernandina Beach, but Carey and Bill could not help playing by hanging on to the local town anchor to demonstrate that we are stuck here until the part arrives. After some chores a mid afternoon walk around town found a drink, some ice cream, and beautiful homes just off the old town main street. We drank the drink, ate the ice cream, but you can see the old homes below. |
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| 11 Dec | Fernandina Beach, FL | UPS said they lost the part we were waiting for, but it showed up at 9 am anyway. Just a couple days late. It was installed by 1 pm and we're up and running. Carey and Bill did a run on the super Wal Mart so we are stocked for the Bahamas. We'll be underway in the morning for St Augustine and finish the trip to Ft Pierce by Friday. We are thinking of making the crossing to the Bahamas from Ft Pierce, but that will depend on the weather. | |
| 12 Dec | St Augustine, Fl | We returned the rental car we used yesterday to shop, then pushed the start buttons on engines and continued our trip south at 9:30am. The clouds cleared and we traveled in sunshine and 70 degree weather for our easy 6 hour trip to St Augustine. Randy and Barbara Semper, moored at Green Cove Springs, Fl, drove over to visit and have dinner. Barbara knew of a great Cuban restaurant and we all enjoyed the food, friendship, and conversation. | |
| 13 Dec | Titusville, Fl. | Moving smartly today, we traveled 100 miles to Titusville. Beautiful trip, with Carey on the bow just enjoying the waterway, passing a small red sailed sailboat traveling at a princely speed of 3 knots, and for almost an hour watching dolphins play around the boat. The picture at bottom right might be hard to make out but it is a shot straight down from the bow of the boat, watching a dolphin swimming just under the bow, while we were at 10 mph. I just could not get the reflections of the bow and picture taker out of the shot. We finished the evening with a Smoked Salmon appetizer followed by a main course of shrimp, crab cakes, and oysters. Carey is a great cook. | |
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| 14 Dec | Ft Pierce, Fl | 7:30 am start got us to Ft Pierce in an easy 7 hours, just 86 miles. The weather forecast was for 75 degrees and light winds, good cause for thinking we could cross to the Bahamas on Friday. No way. We walked into 20-25 knot winds and heavy rain. Storms across Florida that moved faster than NOAA predicted. We are safely moored and enjoying the hospitality of Tom and Bonnie Scanlin, We'll see what the weather brings in the next few days. Bill Bowman may have to return to Virginia before we cross, but we're hoping he can make the crossing with us. | |
| 15 Dec | Ft Pierce, FL |
The weather forecast is in and we're in for 4-5 days of waiting until we can
cross to the Bahamas. Here in Ft Pierce the weather is cloudy and
rainy, with strong NE winds. We're going to take some time to do some
repair work, ensure we have everything we need for the Bahamas, and enjoy
the area. Tom and Bonnie have provided us a car to use while we're
here, so it's easy to get things done. I've had trim tab problems for
as long as I've owned the boat, and pulling into Ft Pierce a tab actuator
broke again. We'll work with a local expert and try one more fix
before I just pull them off. The weather, keeping us in the area,
allows this easy slow paced attack on the tabs. The area near the
marina is beautiful and a real commercial area outside of that. A nice
place to stop and enjoy.
And tonight we want to say a special Congratulations to Bill Bowman and his wife Val who will be celebrating their 39th wedding anniversary tomorrow. |
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