Tuesday April 30: Edisto Island and on to Charleston

 So we're sitting at the marina near Beaufort, SC yesterday morning watching the weather map on weather.com. Nice string of storms predicted to roll through ... and we were in the path. Go or not go? Go early and fight the current the whole way or stick to the plan of leaving at 11 am to catch the currents almost the whole way to Edisto Island? We are at the small 2 in the picture!

We ended up leaving just 10 minutes early at 10:50 am and thought we could make it to the south of the South Edisto River to a marina that was just 5 miles from Jim and Linda's home on Edisto Island before the rains and storms hit.


This was easier than traveling the 5 miles or so up Store Creek to their dock. No markers - just a GPS path that Jim showed us the first time in! Quite the nerve racking trip for sure.

Luck. The storm held off until almost 6 pm and we were at the marina and tied up by 3 pm - right on our calculated time! A quick shower to clean up, relax a bit, pack our backpacks for a night away from the boat and we were ready to go.

Jim and Linda (from Selah on the Great Loop travels) picked us up at 4:30 for the short trip back to their home here on Edisto Island. By 5:30 it was pouring rain with thunder and lightening.

It was SO great to see Jim and Linda again. It seems that no matter when we call (going north or south) they always have time to spend an evening with us.

It was an enjoyable dinner out with Jim's brother Jerry and his sister Betty. We had met Jerry before but were never able to spend much time with him. Betty is the youngest and only girl in the family. It was really nice getting to know both of them.

The rest of the evening we spent catching up and finding out Jim and Linda's plan for traveling in their new boat, Symmetry II. We had hoped to travel a bit with them as they head north but with plans not to leave until a couple of weeks, guess we'll have to catch up with them later in the season.

We passed Jim and Betty as they were headed the opposite direction as us on the North Edisto River - Symmetry had a new bottom job so they were headed back home to the South Edisto River and we were headed to Charleston.


 There was a great breakfast place on Edisto Beach called the Seacow Eatery. It had the funnest pictures! We thought about getting Tom (my brother) a t-shirt from here but it didn't have a very neat picture on it. Sorry, Tom .....

Breakfast was great to boot!








Saw an alligator today - a first for us in South Carolina. Just sort of swimming calmly across one of the narrower channels.








The travel here is still on rivers that wind through the marshes but instead of the smaller rivers of Georgia, these are very wide rivers. The day was pleasant though cool and the rain clouds sort of floated around us - especially as we neared Charleston.

It was another fairly long day of 55 miles but with the current we averaged an unheard of 8.5 mph for the day! Saved about an hour and a half of travel. I don't think we could have planned it any better.

Steve made a quick trip to the store about a mile away and then made a wonderful stir-fry.

I even like peppers now! and hot stuff. and avocados. What in the world will tomorrow bring :-)

Sunday April 28: Beaufort, SC

The birds in the creek were up and fishing long before the sun was up. The tide was rising again (after having fallen at 3 am) - time to go!

The plan was to catch the current - seems like this is a reoccurring theme - coming in major sound about 5 miles north of us. It contained the last notorious shallow spot in Georgia: Hell Gate! What a name. And probably pretty accurate but it was no issue with a tide that was 2 feet up and rising. So it was breakfast on the flybridge - coffee and oatmeal.

Somebody asked how we find an anchorage that is suitable. Well, two ways. We check ActiveCaptain for suggestions from other boaters and then we look at the chart and see what seems to be a good place given the wind/weather conditions.

At left is a picture of the chart we used yesterday. The red line is a distance of 5 miles to give you some perspective on the size of the rivers in Georgia. This sound (St. Catherine's) is one of the smaller ones.

Anyway, Steve thought the Big Tom Creek looked good so we checked it out and like it. (Where we anchored is circled in red.) This must have been a good place because 2 sailboats pulled in and spent the night as well. Fortunately we were up and moving before them so I didn't have to pass them again (as I had earlier in the day).

It was a really pretty morning - forecast to be cloudy all day. Mmmm ... guess the forecasters missed it again! Ok by me.

We passed a couple of other boats that we've seen traveling over the past couple of days. Both had also pulled over in a small creek right off of the main Intercoastal route.

The bottom is mostly mud so the anchor tends to stick pretty well. Besides, it's hard to get into TOO much trouble when you're in a creek that is maybe 200 feet wide and 15 feet deep even with tide swings of 8 feet and current that is always running - either in or out at a pretty good clip.

You can tell it's calm out when you're not sure where the real post ends and the water begins :-)


It was crazy bright this morning as we head east into the sun. This was approaching Hell Gate - good thing this was a wide open area as it is very difficult to look into this reflected sunshine and then try  to read the gps and depth finder.

Never did rain today. Steve even put ALL of the flybridge enclosure up as it was in theory going to rain at some point ... maybe saving it for tonight.

Regardless, it was a good 74 mile day (10 hours) and we are tied tonight at a marina (Port Royal Landing Marina) just south of Beaufort, SC. I'm not exactly sure when we left Georgia though - most likely on one of the sound crossings.

Plan for tomorrow: leave here at 11 am (gotta catch the current!) and head to Edisto Island to visit Jim and Linda Murray. I'm sure it will be great to see them again - last time we were there was at Thanksgiving when they graciously invited us to celebrate the holiday with them and their family.

Saturday April 27: Big Tom Creek - Georgia

It was up early again today to catch the current going our way. Thankfully a peaceful night at anchor.

Currents are a funny thing. For this part of Georgia, half the time you are going 9 mph and the other half 6 mph. I guess that averages out but it's still hard to travel 6 mph so we avoid it whenever possible!

Our travels today consisted of crossing 4 large sounds (these open to the ocean) and many rivers. Along with a few dug canals connecting rivers which allow us to made a continuous path on inland waterways rather than having to travel on the ocean side.

Our plan for Little Mud River was successful! It was close to high tide when we went through - definitely a good thing :-) One spot I went over was about 10 feet. Take away a 7 foot tide and we are sitting in the mud ......

Traveling along this part of the intercoastal is almost all marsh lands. We passed a couple of sailboats and a few power boats passed us but for the most part it was very quiet - even though it was a Saturday.

The weather continues to hold for us - thunderstorms are due in early next week. We'll see.

61 miles today and 45 miles yesterday. North Carolina is some 500 miles from Fernandina so we are slowly making our way north.

Plans for tomorrow are to be somewhere near Beaufort, SC.

Tonight we're anchored in a nice little creek called Big Tom Creek. The tide swings in this area are 7 feet or so. This picture (left) was taken at not quite low tide. As I write this, the mud is now all covered and the water is part way up the marsh grass. We stopped early today so we could catch the current going our way tomorrow morning instead of fighting it for another hour or so this afternoon.

We've turned 180 degrees from when we first anchored in the then falling tide. Fun things when anchoring in Georgia but I've finally gotten used to the change in tide and the constant current - either in or out.

I had to wait until the boat was higher on the horizon in order to get a signal for the internet! Crazy place .....

Friday April 26: Georgia on My Mind

The last minute shopping was done, the rental car returned and good-bye's said to Kathie and Werner on It's About Time. We likely will not see them until the fall - they are hoping to be able to get a dock at Banana Bay for some of the winter months and then go to the Bahamas. If all goes well, we will join them and hopefully Surona also.

The power chords are the last thing to be unhooked before casting off. The day started overcast and cool. All of the plastic went up on the flybridge before we even left the dock!

Fernandina was a good stop and is the northernmost port we visit in Florida. Within an hour of leaving the dock we crossed the St. Mary's River and were in Georgia.

All went according to plan except for the wind! There were 3 large sounds and/or river openings to cross today and we hit them great current wise but the wind made for interesting travel. Current going OUT + wind blowing IN = very large not fun waves. Lets hear it for the flybridge cover or it would have been a wet day with many waves breaking over the bow - and then wind blown spray up all over the place.

It's a full moon so the marshes become either super full with really high tides or super low with not enough water even for our short 4' draft. The red triangle in the picture is usually at least 6 feet out of the water, but not at a super high tide.

Fortunately we made it through Jekyll Creek - one of the notorious low areas - with 2 feet left on a falling tide.

If we had not made it to the entrance of the Creek in time, we would have had to just anchor there for the night and wait for the next incoming tide.

We passed a small ship cruise in a relatively narrow spot. With the high tide it wasn't a problem but this was where I ran aground a year or so ago. Seeing the ship coming didn't make me happy!

Like with everything, experience makes such a difference. This is what the GPS look like as we passed by the cruise ship. The blue area means shallow!...Danger!  White is nice and deep, therefore safe.  Was it any wonder I ran aground? I was mostly watching the GPS telling me to go in the white at the time and the placement of the markers was very confusing. Little did I know the white was really shallow water and the blue was where I needed to be! Now I know the solution is ignore the GPS and just look at the markers :-)











You know it's been a long day in the swirling winds when the flag looks like this at the end of the day :-)







But we're now tucked safely away in a spot off of the channel. Still windy but it's supposed to die down somewhat overnight. There is an 8 foot tide here so we let out extra line - I really like lots of swing room when we anchor. Especially since Peter and Cheryl on Surona (with their 5.5 ft draft) aren't around to keep us off the shore should the anchor drag!

Tomorrow: the challenge of the Little Mud River - another notoriously shallow spot in Georgia. We have a good plan for it .....

I can't hear a Ray Charles (Georgia on My Mind), Brook Benton or Nat King Cole song without thinking about my Mom. As a kid every Saturday we cleaned the house (not MY choice of things to do for sure) and her choice of music playing (LP's of course) were one of the above. Pleasant memories ..... though not pleasant at the time :-)

Thursday April 25: Back Home

It was a nice drive back to Fernandina Beach FL with no issues. Sadly I was very bad about taking any pictures while we were in NC - the only one was Steve on the phone in the yard.

The Neuse River is in the background and looking very placid this day compared to what it was for the prior 3 days.

VERY windy day and night. It was a good time to NOT be on the boat! We were able to catch up Saturday with some friends on Good Tidings from Banana Bay who were hunkered down at River Dunes Marina - about 1 1/4 hour drive from Matt and Wendy's place.

It was great to see Kiera and Jeff again - their plans were to stay until the weather was decent enough to travel. Which ended up being Tuesday. In the meantime we relaxed and enjoyed being landlubbers for a few days time.



Matt (as the CO of his communication squadron) designed a special recognition coin which he awards to marines under his command for special achievement or recognition. We thought it was really cool. Here's the front and back of one.



It was, as always, a nice break from being on the boat. Time now to head north to NC by boat. What took us 8 hours in a car will take us about 2 weeks by boat :-)

Friday, April 19: Road Trip to Havelock, NC!

 So we arrived Monday to Fernandina Beach FL - home of the 2013 MTOA Southern Rendezvous. The theme? Pirates of course! This region of Florida was home to many notorious pirates and privateers so it must have seemed to be a great theme for the organizers of the get-together.

There were a number of sessions on topics which are relevant to just about any boat owner in general but to the trawler owners in particular.

The event drew a total of 68 trawlers (mostly) for the 3 days. The marina here at Fernandina Beach was quite full.




The picture at left doesn't really do justice to the size of the marina and the number and variety of trawlers that were in.

We had a great time getting to know our 'mentees' Kathie and Werner.

They even had matching pirate shirts and head wear for the pirate pizza party on the second night. Kathie and Werner are also living on their boat having sold the house and stuff. Their plans include traveling to the northeast this summer and then returning to Marathon for the winter. Just one more great couple we've met boating.




Some of these folks are REALLY pirate crazy though. One person likened it to people who do the civil war reenactments - only this is with pirates rather than Union or Confederate soldiers stuff.





One of the ones I liked the best was the guy with the wooden leg! If we come back next year I may have to actually come up with a pirate costume - it really WAS a fun thing and this coming from someone who truly hates costume anything. Even Halloween was just a chore (sorry kids :-) )




Steve tried to convince me that he was just as much a pirate as was John (a friend from Banana Bay). Didn't work though - especially as I didn't even recognize John when I first looked at him!

Maybe next year ......





At right: Werner's pirate look :-) Note the earring: he and Kathie shared a pair!





Then the next thing I know we're in Havelock NC at our daughter Wendy's and son-in-law Matt's place on the Marine Corps Air Station at Cherry Point.

We left Fernandina Beach yesterday morning (by car) in time to spring Fozzi from the kennel. Kids return back here on Sunday or Monday. We'll stay until Thursday and then head up this direction by boat.

Is it any wonder I don't know where we are sometimes???

Monday April 15: Fernandina Beach - MTOA Rendezvous

After leaving Marineland our destination for Saturday night was Vilano Beach - very near St. Augustine. We're almost at the top of Florida! And we are definitely in the land of folks that don't believe that signs are posted for a reason :-) Good luck getting that truck unstuck!

The beach was fun to ride on with our bikes but part of the beach was nothing but shells - totally shells and no sand. It was pretty neat.

Sadly we rode by our breakfast place only to find it was out of business. Maybe in our next life we'll own a breakfast joint!

It could serve only vegan food. Guess how long that would be in business  ...




We saw the Vilano Beach bird last time we stopped but then it was sitting in a yard. Now it's on the pier. Steve commented that it must have migrated ....








Regardless, there were plenty of real birds that enjoyed getting their picture taken!

This pelican just sat there very patiently while I took his picture. It almost seemed as though he was laughing at me :-)





The next morning, Steve took advantage of the thoroughly wet deck (from the dew) and hosed the salt off of the boat. It's just in the air and ends up being everywhere - just waiting to rust our our stainless :-)





We're traveling now through mostly salt marshes and the wildlife is everywhere. Saw a couple of eagles sitting on the shore and tons of osprey, white pelicans, egrets, herons and many kinds of small shore birds.

Then we arrived at our marina yesterday to a very different view: the local 'yoga on a paddleboard'. Apparently it's quite distracting to both boaters and dock workers alike as there have been near crashes and one dockhand almost walked off the end of the dock!

Jacksonville Beach also allows bikes on the beach so it was another nice ride down the beach.






Things were going so well - and then I turned around and looked behind us!

It was definitely time to head back to the boat. We just about made it before it started sprinkling. The real rains didn't come for another hour or so - it rained most of the evening and night.

It was a good night to be tied up to a dock in a well protected marina!

 It was breakfast on the run this morning as we wanted to make the currents flowing our direction. On the water by a record 6:50 am this morning!






The sunrise was amazing. Just a slight touch of wind. How truly beautiful ......






The 3 hour trip was peaceful with very few boats on the water this early. Steve managed to coax 4 dolphins into staying in our bow wave for a few minutes. For a while I thought he was going to try to lean out and touch one! I think they really like to hear him talking :-)

We're now in Fernandina Beach at the Marina Trawler Owners Association (MTOA) Rendezvous. There are 68 trawlers in for the gathering so it should be a good time.

Believe it or not, we are actually mentors to a couple that are new to MTOA. Man, they must let ANYONE do this!!

We actually met Kathie and Werner (our mentees) at Marineland Marina when we were there. Now they are docked right next to us here. They are a really nice couple - it'll be fun getting to know them over the next couple of days.

 The kicker? Steve is on the SOCIAL committee :-)