A Beautiful Thanksgiving Day

 

The Fort

 

Making Tracks

Had a great Thanksgiving Dinner at The Columbia Restaurant in Saint Augustine with Mo & George. We were more than full when we finished our meals. On Friday morning we weighed anchor at 0640 and headed south to New Smyrna Beach. Unfortunately, Mo didn't feel well; so they stayed in St Aug. for another day. We anchored in beautiful Rockhouse Creek, with a view of the Ponce Inlet & Lighthouse (the 2nd tallest in the U.S.). Today, we weighed anchor at 0630, and motorsailed 55 miles to Cocoa. Tomorrow we will stay here and enjoy the village, and get together with old friends from Sodus Point - Jim & Joyce Ebmeyer. Also, "Passages" & "Polar Pacer" will be here tomorrow & we will all go to Vero Beach on Monday.

"Kismet" & "Passages" on the Fort George River

 

Wild Horses on Cumberland

 

George Enjoying Cumberland

 

My Transportation on Cumberland Island

 

Thanksgiving in Saint Augustine, FL

Almost a week has past - Jekyll Island was fun; at least for Jim, since I was nursing my wounds on the boat. We did have a good time at "Trivia Night" at Seajays Restaurant at the Marina with Mo & George. On Thursday we went to Cumberland Island and spent two nights there. The Park service had some great all terrain wheelchairs available for the handicapped to tour the island - it was great! I got to enjoy the entire 4 mile loop from Sea Camp to Dungeness to the beach! Jim and George shared the driving. From Cumberland we went to the Fort George River, and on Sunday we arrived at the North anchorage in Saint Augustine, FL. We will stay here til Friday & celebrate Thanksgiving with Mo & George. It has been a week since my sidewalk Splat; and I am making daily progress! Yesterday, Ed & Karin from "Passages" came here by car to deliver our 3 new batteries; one of which Jim dropped on his toe (about 70 lbs)! They were on their way to Boca Raton to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Sunset At New Teakettle Creek

 

We're in Jekyll Island, GA

On Tuesday, we motored 56 miles to anchor in New Teakettle Creek. We weren't going to go that far, but we wanted to go through the Little Mud River on Wednesday morning at high tide, so that dictated our stopping point on Tuesday. Transiting Little Mud was no problem. "Passages" and "Kismet" decided to anchor by Fort Frederica in the Frederica River on Wednesday after a short 20 mile trip. "Polar Pacer" has decided to move South at a more rapid rate so we bid them farewell. Frederica is a very cool spot - this was a village of about 1000 residents in the mid 1700s. Only minimal ruins are left, but great stories of this historical area. The dinghy dock to access the Park was a big problem. It is only accessible from mid to high tide. We tied Porty up about 2 hours before low tide in very shallow water. We thought that we could just walk out in the mud when we returned. NOT POSSIBLE! Two hours later when we returned it was low tide and the mud was the kind that one sinks into quickly! No walking out the dinghy to deeper water. So.....we had to wait about 2 hours before we could return to "Kismet" in Porty. To make matters more difficult, while the four of us were exploring St Simons Island, we decided to run by a sprinkler that was watering a sidewalk. Well - I immediately went SPLAT on the sidewalk - with scrapes, a very sore knee, & ripped pants, we all walked back to the dinghy about a mile away. I was so looking forward to getting back to the boat, getting ice on my wounds, and relaxing - but now we had to wait for the tide to come up. Fortunately, the Park ranger gave us some ice. What an adventure! Today, we arrived in Jekyll Island. We were so looking forward to coming here; since we haven't stopped on previous trips. Jim is off exploring the island with Mo & George and I am sitting on the boat, resting, and icing my knee, that is pretty swollen & achey!

Enjoying Georgia

On Friday morning the weather did improve and the trio of boats left the Bull Creek anchorage. We motored across the Savannah River and went into the Herb River to anchor for the night. The last two trips on the ICW we bypassed stopping in Savannah. Our plan this time was to definitely spend a couple of days exploring the city. There is a dock right in downtown Savannah to stay at, but it is 8 miles up the river, and we couldn't be sure that there would be space for the 3 boats there; so we stayed at Hogans Marina on Turners Creek for a night. We hadn't touched land for 5 days when we arrived at the marina! We all took the local bus ($1.50) into Savannah for the afternoon, and celebrated my birthday with a lunch out at The City Market Cafe. We bused it back to the marina and ended the night with cake and ice cream on "Passages"! On Sunday, we went to The Isle of Hope Marina (we had wanted to stay here for the 2 nights, but they didn't have room). Spent the afternoon doing laundry, and other boat chores; then borrowed marina bikes and went to the Wormsloe Plantation, nearby to check it out, with Mo and George. Very beautiful spot. It was built in 1737 as a country estate for British colonist, Noble Jones. Today only the remains of the original tabby house are left. That evening, the six of us, used the complimentary loaner car, a Honda Odyssey, went to dinner at the Driftaway Rstaurant; very good, and then went into Savannah to enjoy some live music, dancing, and people watching at a couple of bars. A good time was had by all!

Waiting Weather in Bull Creek

We left Beaufort, SC, on Tuesday, and motored about 30 miles to Bull Creek, just beyond Hilton Head, SC, to wait out the bad weather associated with Tropical Depression Ida. We will be here til Friday when the winds are expected to subside. Fortunately, we were just to the south of the nastier weather. Winds were gusting to 30 knots, and the rain wasn't too bad. It is nice to have the company of "Passages" & "Polar Pacer" while anchored here. We have been doing dinner on each others boats, so that breaks up the day - lasagna on "Kismet" on Tuesday & meatloaf on "Passages" last night! Porty maintains his reputation as "Rescue Dinghy" - last night Jim had to tow Chris & Tom's dinghy back to their mothership because their motor wasn't working. Porty comes through again!

Mo & George - "Passages" & Chris & Tom -"Polar Pacer"

 

Southward Bound

We had a wonderful time in Charleston for 3 days. Our good friend Karen from "Blue Moon", that we met last year, came for a visit from Georgetown SC. We took another carriage ride, had lunch at Jestines Kitchen, had cocktails at "Big Johns", a local hangout, and dinner at Henrys. On Day 3, Jim and George from "Passages" went to the aquarium, and Mo and & I had an afternoon of walking & mostly window shopping. We have been traveling with "Polar Pacer" & "Passages - Vermont". Lots of fun having happy hours & dinners on each other boats. We all upped anchor on Friday morning, zipped through Elliot Cut at 10 knots, and found a great anchorage for the night at Tom Point Creek. On Saturday we arrived in Beaufort SC and decided to anchor in Factory Creek because it is closer to the laundromat, Publix, and the hardware store where we could refill our propane tanks. We did all of our chores by 1300, weighed anchor and motored a whopping mile to the anchorage by the Beaufort City Marina (closer to historic stuff)! We will probably be here for another day or two depending on the course Tropical Storm Ida takes.

A 25 Hour Sleigh Ride

While in Wrightsville Beach, we talked with friends on "Argonauta", "Polar Pacer" & "Passages" about going offshore from Wrightsville to Charleston, SC. This would be a 24 - 30 hour passage; involving an overnight. We have not done an overnight since we started cruising; so this would be a good opportunity to sail with other boats. We headed out at 0630 on Monday morning & decided to motor down the ICW to Carolina Beach and then motorsail down the Cape Fear River, and out the Cape Fear Inlet. We had the current with us & just flew - often over 9 knots! The conditions were near perfect for the entire trip - wind 15 knots close to our beam. Only one glitch - our inmast furler hiccupped for the first time ever. As it was getting dark, Jim wanted to reef the mainsail - the furler wouldn't budge. The tack of the sail had slipped off the connecting hook & the hook dropped down and blocked the furler from turning. Jim was able to make the fix just before night fall. The night sail was even better when the full moon peeked through the clearing clouds in the sky. We averaged over 6 knots for the whole trip. We arrived at the Charleston channel just before dawn and watched the sun rise as we entered the Harbor. By 0745 the anchor was set.