November 28 - November 30 Fernandina Beach to St Augustine

On Monday the 29th the mechanic at the marina pulled Cool Change out of the water to take a look at the damage to our props.  Just watching the giant sling lift our 30,000 pound boat up overhead was a sight to see.  Bad news - we did have a damaged prop.  Good news - it can be fixed and we just happened to have two spares already on the boat, left by the previous owner.  So, within about two hours we were back in the water with the spare props in place and the damaged props sent out for repair.

We decided to wait to leave Amelia Island until Tuesday so we could catch a high tide and not worry about the shallow entryway to the marina and warnings of problem areas just to the south on the ICW.  While the boat was up in the air we inspected the hull and running gear for damage and barnacles and found no damage from the groundings on Saturday.  Our bottom paint has done a great job of protecting us from marine growth.  We did, however, find a few places where the peson who applied the bottom paint missed smalll areas around some through hull fitings.  We scraped away the few barnacles at those places and from the depth transducers and stainless drive shafts. We found the trim tabs to be completely coated with barnacles because there was no bottom coating on them.  The barnacles were easily removed.  We also found that there were live oysters growing on the trim tabs and the actuator cylinders.   The oysters were quite difficult to scrape off cleanly but Wayne was more determined than the oysters.

To our pleasant surprise, our close friends, Roger and Marcy diverted  from a business trip to visit with us just as the boat was coming out of the water.  Roger has offered to pick up the damaged props after repair and transport them to Cocoa to meet up with us.  Thanks, Rog.

We motored on to one of our favorite cities, St. Augustine, on Tuesday.  For $20 the city offers buoys that boats can tie up to near the city docks and we had arranged to have a space on one of these.  The hard part was Colleen trying to snag the buoy with a boat hook.  Wayne says he did not hear all the cussing and fussing I was doing as I tried to get hold of the buoy loop in bouncy seas and attach it to the cleat on the boat.  I told him he might need to trade me in for an agile 35-year-old before this trip is over.

We plan to stay here for three or four nights, motoring in to shore in our dinghy or using the water taxi that runs through the bouy field four times a day.

                                        "Captain" Colleen takes the helm

                                   One of St. Augustine's dock's regular residents

Part of the famous Bridge of the Lions, as seen from a bouncing boat

The real Captain

 - a good bit more relaxed than Colleen when it comes to driving the boat

Saturda,y Nov 27th and Sunday, Nov. 28th - On to St. Marys, Ga

On Saturday Nov. 27th we pulled the anchor at 8:10 AM at our anchor site in a creek just off the ICW near mile marker MM651. That means that the location was 651 miles from Norfolk, Va., the start point of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.  That also means that we had broken the 300 mile mark and had traveled 307 miles by water from our home port of Little River, SC. at MM345.  This anchorage was in the middle of nowhere yet near St. Simons Island.  As we travelled south we encountered almost no boats heading north and very few heading south, most of which were sailboats under power.  It was a beautiful but chilly day and we left the front curtains zipped closed all day except for when we needed a perfectly clear view with the binoculars to find and read the numbers on some channel marker.  Our destination was St. Marys, GA., the home of new friends Jane and Mark who offered a dock to us for that night.  Roger, Wayne and Michael stayed with them at their river home on the initial trip north from Florida to SC. after we bought Cool Change. 

Along the way we saw porpoises and we even caught sight of some wild horses on Cumberland Island.  In our travel we motored to the ocean inlet of St. Simons Sound and at  Jekyll Sound inlet we actually went into the Atlantic and rounded the first offshore sea buoy before turning sharply back west into the sound.  The ICW does this at 6 or 7 inlets to avoid the silting across the breadth of these sounds.  We seem to do a lot of the waterway every direction but south!

We stopped at Golden Isles Marina on St Simons Sound, MM675, to get fuel, pump out our holding tanks, and to fill our water tank back to the 70 gallon level.  This fill up gave us our first truly accurate information on fuel usage (see below).  There was a restaurant at the marina and we ate lunch and got our land legs back for a while.  We continued to wind our way down the ICW and through Jekyll Sound on our way to St. Marys.

We never made it to Jane and Mark's home in St. Marys.  We ran aground on a sand bar about a mile short of their place with a swift outgoing tide threatening to leave us stranded and darkness falling.  Not wanting to be laying on our side when the tide came back in six hours later, we powered off the bar and subsequently developed a vibration in the drive system (denoting propeller damage).  Once free we decided not to risk another grounding and headed back on Crooked River toward the ICW to anchor for the night where the river is 20 feet deep.  We again ran aground in water that we had just passed through on our way to the first grounding.  It was supposed to be 15 feet plus deep according to our chart.  We backed off this second bar, moved over 50 feet in the channel and proceeded to deep water and anchored for the night knowing that we probably did damage to our props. : (  Sunday morning dawned a cold 40 degrees and gusty.  We pulled anchor about 7:30 and proceeded out of Crooked River without incident.  We passed the submarine base at Kings Bay and travelled into Cumberland Sound right up to Fort Clinch, the north most part of Florida.  The day was turning to a mild day from the chilly start.  We called ahead to Amelia Island Yacht Basin, MM720, to arrange repairs on Monday and that is where we are right now.  Tomorrow the service center will lift our boat out of the water and repair whatever was damaged.  Hopefully only the props are damaged as we have a spare set aboard.  In the meantime we have visited Fernandina's old town shops and washed our laundry and ourselves thoroughly (boat showers do leave something to be desired) and walked extensively on land for the first time in days.  Monday we've planned an excursion to our all time favorite grocery store - Publix.  Yippee!!!

Statistics:
At MM675 we took on 172 gallons of fuel at Golden Isles Marina
Total Miles from Little River, SC = 330 miles
MPG = 1.99 including generator run time
Engine hours at start:  1076 port   1079 starboard
Engine hours st MM675:  1116 port    1119 starboard
Total trip run time:  40 hours
GPH = 4.3
Boat weight:  30,000 lbs. +
Length: 42 feet overall
Width:  13 ft - 4 in
Clearance
Height:  17 ft - 5 in
Power: 2 each 330 Cummins turbo diesels
Generator:  9KW Kohler diesel

Where is that buoy?  I don't want to go out any further into the ocean!  This is supposed to be a river.

Birds feeding on whatever comes up behind our boat whenever we are moving.  They fly along with us constantly.

The brown speck is a wild horse on Cumberland Island

Fort Clinch 

The submarine degaussing (static charge) facility at Kings Bay.

Friday, November 26 South of Savannah, GA to twenty-five miles north of Jekyll Island, GA

Last night's anchorage turned out to be a busy spot.  We had lots of local fishermen buzzing our boat in the evening and after dark the wind and waves picked up to slap the sides of the boat and swing us all over the little bay we were in.  Neither of us got much sleep but we have the comforting knowledge now that the plow anchor held through three tide changes and high wind and waves so we can sleep easy in such conditions in the future.  We dropped anchor pretty early today after deciding not to try to outrun some storms off to the west.  The rains came soon after we anchored but we are tucked in snug and warm and are just enjoying the occasional sound of raindrops on the cabin roof as we sit in calm waters.

Watching the rains developing on the horizon was quite a sight.  We are on very low marshland as we travel now and can see for miles all around.  Often there is no sign of civilization anywhere near us.

We talked to our Portland grandgirls on Skype last night.  We are so glad that technology is at the level to allow us to stay connected to our friends and family members while we're on this journey.  Thank you for staying in touch.  We've enjoyed hearing from several of you today.

                                Looking behind us, trying to outrun the storm

                    Several homes were on this spit of land, in the middle of nowhere

                      Ready to drop the anchor just before the storm reaches us

November 25, 2010 Beaufort, SC to just south of Savannah, GA

We pulled up the anchor in Beaufort and motored past Parris Island, the Marine training base and Hilton Head Island until early afternoon to an anchorage just a little south of Savannah.  Finally we're out of South Carolina - six days on the water and 240 miles. 

Fixing Thanksgiving dinner was a little bit of a challenge - very small oven and can't turn the oven and the stovetop on at the same time because it uses too much power but we ended up with a great feast.  No turkey because of the small oven but we baked a chicken together with stuffing.  Oops!  Forgot to pick up celery yesterday and can't make a quick grocery run.  We peeled and chopped up potatoes and cooked them in the microwave; then mashed them with LOTS of butter and salt and pepper and half and half.  Fresh green beans steamed in the microwave, chilled cranberry sauce, the apple pie we cooked yesterday and a little wine.  It was all delicious and we were pretty proud of ourselves.  All this in the middle of a river on a boat.

Our cruise today was beautiful.  We spotted an eagle perched in a dead tree and saw lots of sea birds and some porpoises along the way.

                           A little summer cottage on Hilton Head Island

                         Come on over to my house for mashed potatoes!

November 23 & 24, Beaufort, SC

We traveled from Charleston to Beaufort on Tuesday in chilly weather and dropped the anchor just outside the city docks and decided to stay for two nights.  We needed a trip to the grocery store on Wednesday to get our Thanksgiving fixins'.  It's a little more complicated to make a grocery run when you live on a boat.  This is the procedure - prepare the dinghy to launch; load up the shopping bags (don't forget the insulated shopping bag for the ice cream!); hop in the dinghy and motor to shore; use the car GPS to locate a grocery store; walk to the store (the Piggly Wiggly was about a mile away); get the groceries and walk back to the dinghy.  You can't hang around too long or the ice cream will melt and you can't buy more than you can carry in a backpack.  It all worked well, though.

We had a relaxing time quilting, watching other boats and the birds on the water, and enjoying the almost full moon.  We had to go ahead and bake the Thanksgiving pie and try it out because there was no room for it in the freezer.  It was very tasty.

Back to the boat with Thanksgiving groceries

                               Beaufort's waterfront featuring a long walk lined with porch swings

November 23, 2010 Charleston, SC to Beaufort, SC

We stayed in Charleston for two nights and were parked on what they refer to as their "Megadock."  Very aptly named as most of the boats docked there ranged from around 75 to 195 feet - unbelieveable.  We looked like a dinghy parked alongside them.  Yesterday we watched a crew work all day to spit and polish the largest one.  We wanted to include some photos but these boats were so huge we couldn't possibly fit them into the camera's viewfinder.  Just think, private yacht, Queen Mary sized.

Wayne and I had a great time reconnecting with Bart and Sherri, long time friends of Wayne's sister, Judy.  They picked us up at the marina and we all took a great walking tour of old Charleston all yesterday afternoon.  We had so much fun we are laying claim to them as our friends now too.  Thank you both for your hospitality.  We look forward to seeing you again on our trip back.

Today we cruised south to Beaufort, SC.  I must tell you that it's pronounced long u Beaufort.  This is important because there is also a Beaufort, NC, pronounced Bow-fort and the residents of both states really get their noses out of joint if you don't say it correctly.  We anchored out in the bay off the city dock and plan to stay here either one or two days.  The whole idea of having no schedule, no to do lists, and no set time we have to be anywhere is a little disorienting and takes some getting used to but we are working on it and expect to master the challenge with little effort.


Tugboats and a navy landing craft along the ICW


Six or seven docks, each about 700 feet long




View of Beaufort from our anchorage on 11/23

Sunday Nov. 21, 2010: Georgetown, SC to Charleston.

We left the marina at Georgetown, SC at 9 AM traveling south through Winyah Bay at Georgetown and back into the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway).  Much of our passage was through marshland sprinkled here and there with higher land allowing for beautiful pine and oak forests.  Much of the marsh both coming into the Georgetown area and traveling south from Georgetown was once devoted to growing rice that was renowned around the world.  Rice growing prospered from slavery and was the financial mainstay of coastal South Carolina from the 1700s until the end of the civil war.  Knowing that history, it saddened us to think of the many slaves that toiled and died hand digging the canals and clearing the marsh grass to permit the rich way of life afforded the slave owners. 
As we continued our motoring south we passed a few remote cabins along the ICW.  These cabins were accessible only by boat and were built on higher hammocks close to the waterway.   There also were several upscale housing areas that we came upon.  Some had dock walks that were up to 1000 feet long to get over the marsh to the water's edge.  As we approached the outskirts of Charleston,  the housing became quite dense as people have been tempted to live by the water.  I wondered what kind of damage another hurricane like Hugo would wreak on these wood framed homes all built since Hugo.  We saw just how strong a tidal surge can be in the remains of a concrete bridge that was close in to Charleston.  The concrete road surface was carried away by the tidal surge of Hugo and the concrete piles were twisted and broken.

We arrived at Charleston City Dock about 4 PM and tied up for the night.  We decided to stay in a marina so that we could meet up with Sherry and Bart who have been very good friends of my sister Judy for over 40 years.  We will spend two nights here before heading south again on Tuesday morning.  We are in no hurry to get anywhere and want to spend more time touring when we can.

Some of the coastal forest

An island barge

We saw a lot of open marsh

Marshland cottages

November 20, 2010 The trip begins - Little River, SC to Georgetown, SC

We're on our way!  After a few days of stashing and provisioning Wayne and I left Cricket Cove Marina in Little River, SC and spent the day speeding our way down to Georgetown, SC, 60 miles away.  Speeding is probably not the right word; we averaged about 8 miles an hour.  Cool Change's optimum cruising speed is 8-10 miles per hour, a pace that is ver-r-r-ry relaxing but takes a bit of getting used to.  We definitely have a chance to view the scenery and the wildlife, take photos and chat.  The first part of our journey south from Georgetown was through the "Rock Pile".  This canal was appropriately nicknamed as it was excavated from hard rock and is very narrow with rock outcroppings encroaching on the channel.  Luckily we met no northbound boats and took our half out of center channel.  After 15 miles we entered the Waccamaw River with its many homes and docks with cypress, oak and pine trees everywhere.  We could also see McDonald's, Burger King and many other businesses which parallelled the waterway along highway 17.



Upon arrival in Georgetown we checked into the Harborwalk Marina.  We don't plan to stay in marinas very often (way too pricey!) but we hoped to spend some time in Georgetown and also had arranged to meet some friends from home there.  Penny and Bruce were at their beach house for a few weeks and we all went out to dinner together.  We enjoyed showing them around Cool Change.
Next stop is Charleston, SC.

This new chapter in our lives is underway.  It's exciting, scary, exhilarating and novel.  A few weeks ago a friend asked how long we have been married.  We said, "Forty-two years"  He said, "I wonder if you'll make it to forty-three."  So far, so good.


This is a 14 foot tug pushing a 50 foot barge



 A very old cypress on the Waccamaw River

One of the swing bridges that opened to allow our 17 foot height to pass

Getting things in order

Colleen and I have stepped up our efforts in planning, boat provisioning, equipment installations, repairs, financial conversions to e-service, and much more over the past two months.  Next week is our planned time for departing Cricket Cove Marina in Little River for points south. 
We have established e-accounts with everyone that we do business with.  What a task!  We are trying to become paper invoicing and mail free while on the boat.  It is quite difficult to try to live a totally e-life..  We are now e-dependant: no land phone, no internet, no mail except monthly forwarding by our friend Joanne, and no cable TV.  We will be using a Verizon MiFi router for email and internet along with our two cell phones and a wireless printer. For us to have an office space, I have built a fold-up desk to cover that open cabinet where an original picture tube TV was located.  We have placed a printer in the master stateroom for when we absolutely need a paper document.
I have installed a 2000 watt inverter for all the 120 volt circuits on the boat. When we are not docked or running the generator the inverter produces 120 volt power from a bank of golf cart batteries that we also installed.  When we are connected to shore power or fire up the generator, the inverter then changes function and becomes a high amperage battery charger to replenish the battery bank.   All this so that Colleen can quilt in quiet without the sound of the generator running.  Lucky for me, a side benefit of producing 120 volt power from batteries is that I can watch TV and we can use the microwave and other appliances in silence.  That is until the batteries run down, duration unknown at this time.   I have installed extra shelves in almost every cupboard and closet on the boat so that we can store all of the items that we will need to make "Cool Change" our second home.  Although the boat was virtually turn key, we have supplemented the galley, the spares aboard, the linens, and of course the tools aboard.  Every trip to the boat was accompanied by a task list of 30 to 40 jobs for each visit.  One of those jobs was to cut out all of the gasketing and lousy caulking from the large front windows to stop some leakage that was occurring.  The new caulk is so much more pleasant to look at....and the leaks are gone.
Since we purchased Cool Change in late May (actually on our wedding anniversary date) we have spent about 40 nights on the boat.  It has begun to feel like home to us albeit a second one.   During that time Roger, my best friend from age 12, and our oldest son Michael, who lives in Portland Oregon and I motored "Cool Change" up from Florida.  It was a trip of some 504 miles and "Cool Change" performed flawlessly as the twin diesel passed the 1000 hour mark.  Since arriving in Little River several friends have visited us on the boat.  In early October Al & Marla, friends from Florida, drove their motorhome to Little River and visited us on the boat.  We spent a great weekend with them and had a wonderful cruise north on the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway).  We passed through the historic Sunset Beach pontoon swing bridge and continued on to Ocean Isle Beach, Calabash and Holden Beach areas on the ICW.  The pontoon bridge is the last remaining cable-drawn swing bridge in the US, I am told.   The bridge's cable system jammed and we were trapped on the wrong side of the waterway for almost 3 hours and could not get back to our marina until it was repaired.  A high rise concrete bridge was being finished when we were on the boat 3 weeks ago and the pontoon bridge is most likely gone now.  On that trip we met up with Annette and Jim, friends in Charlotte.  They have a home on Sunset Beach and invited us over for a shrimp feast.  The next day they joined us on the boat along with Jim's brother and sister-in-law for a chilly cruise south on the ICW into Myrtle Beach and back.  Jim took the helm and is an excellent skipper.
We now have a big pile of final things to pack into the car and take with us next week.  The panic of getting all of the last things and tasks completed has now passed and we are ready to shove off next week.  We just have a few commitments in Charlotte early next week to take care of.  Then off we go.
Please send us your postings for the blog.

Wayne

Michael Thrailkill & Roger Fleck piloting from Florida to Little River, SC

Marla and her very smart and well behaved dogs, TeeDee & Chloe

Annette Morton aboard Cool Change

Jim Morton at the helm

Colleen taking charge of the ship on the ICW near Sunset Beach.

Al Glover relaxing on the flybridge