Sun at last, sun at last, thank God Almighty, we have sun at
last.
It was almost freezing at the marinas in Belhaven and
Beaufort North Carolina. By the time we got to an anchorage just north of
Charleston, it was almost warm. But it wasn’t until we arrived in beautiful Beaufort,
SC that it was FINALLY warm enough to take off our sweaters. Getting to
Beaufort, however is what this story is about, so let me go back to the
beginning.
We left Beaufort, NC the day after Thanksgiving. We could
barely walk after stuffing ourselves with Ann’s Thanksgiving meal, but we
didn’t have to walk, we were on a boat and we were on our way to anchor at Mile
Hammock Bay, which is just outside Camp Lejeune, NC. Mile Hammock is one of our
favorite anchorages and we have stayed there a number of times. There is
nothing to do, it is just a protected place to spend the night. There are
usually at least a half-dozen boats with us and there have been as many as
fourteen. This year, however, there was only one other boat – showing that we
left Maryland later than we should have.
It was c-c-cold at Mile Hammock, but we do have reverse
cycle air conditioning which can provide heat, so we turned on our NEW EXPENSIVE
GENERATOR and the heat to take the cold bite out of the air. (Four years ago
when our son was with us we seldom turned on the generator. We did that to show
him how tough we were and to make him suffer (Shhh, don’t tell him.) Since he
wasn’t with us this year, we turned everything on and were toasty warm. Anyway,
in the morning when we got ready to turn on the engines the starboard engine
went “Crank!” just like it should have. The port engine when “CR” … Oh oh, the
engine didn’t start. Again it went “CR” ... again and “CR” … yet again. Since I
had a similar problem last year, I figured (and hoped) it was the batteries. Luckily,
I have a switch set up which allows me to put all six starting batteries to
work starting either engine. After I threw the switch I heard the appropriate Crank!
coming from the port engine. Yessss. Okay, the engine is now running. We went
down the waterway a few miles and came to the marina where we had planned to
get fuel (the lowest price on the ICW, by far). The question was, dare I stop
the engine and have to start it again or do we just drive on and find a fuel
stop later. Most of you know that I am both a cheapskate and gambler at heart,
so we stopped … refueled … and the engine started right up again. Yesss. |
| Jim and Bess Treadwell as well as your truly and his OAO. |
A few days prior to the engine incident I had been e-mailing
with a friend of mine. Jim Treadwell was three years behind me at West Point,
but was in the same company that I was. Moreover, he was a platoon leader and
later the executive office of the company I commanded in the 82d Airborne
Division. It turns out that, although Jim lives in Florida, he has a summer
house in Ocean Isles North Carolina AND he was going to be there for a week or
so around Thanksgiving. We had to link up. And we did.
Originally we were going to re-connect at St. James Marina,
but we ended up going to Southport. Southport, you see, has mechanics just in case
I would have needed them for my difficult-to-start engine. Anyhow, we met, had
a drink, went to dinner and generally had a blast. As is so often the case with
my West Point contemporaries and/or my former Army colleagues, our conversation
started up where we left off 20 years ago. Ann, of course, knew Jim (but hadn’t
seen him for 40+ years. Neither of us had met his wife, Bess, but when we did,
we decided she was the perfect woman to keep Jim under control. It didn’t take
much calculating … they have been married for 30+ years.
 |
| In addition to my toes (unintended) you can see how difficult it is to check the vents without moving the cables. |
While at Southport, I also gave the batteries a good once
over. As you can see by the enclosed picture, many of the cables cover the vents
and vent caps. To check the water and electrolyte level, I had to take off some
of the cabling to get at the vents. It was a time consuming process. Since I
did replace quite bit of water, I am assuming that it was, in fact, the
batteries (plus the cold weather) that led to the slow start on the port
battery. We didn’t need a mechanic after all, but I am glad we stopped at a
place where we could have found one if needed.
Because we had lost two days at Top Rack waiting for the Albemarle
to calm down, had lost a day at Beaufort to enjoy Thanksgiving, and had lost a
day at Southport for our battery problem, we decided we would “pick up speed”
for the next several days to get back on “schedule.” Actually, we do not have a
schedule per se. We have the chart you can see below. It tells us how many miles we have to go, the
average number of miles we have to achieve and, most importantly, the number of
60 mile days we have in front of us (we generally travel around 60 miles per
day when in the “move out” mode).
Night of
|
Location
|
ICW Mile Marker
|
Miles covered
|
Miles to Destination
|
Days left
|
Avg miles Required per day
|
Number of 60 mile days left
|
23-Nov
|
Beaufort, NC
|
201
|
813
|
22
|
36.95455
|
13.55
|
|
24-Nov
|
Mile Hammock
|
244.4
|
43.9
|
769.6
|
21
|
36.64762
|
12.82667
|
25-Nov
|
Southport
|
312
|
69.7
|
702
|
20
|
35.1
|
11.7
|
26-Nov
|
Southport
|
312
|
0
|
702
|
19
|
36.94737
|
|
27-Nov
|
Enterprise
|
375
|
63
|
639
|
18
|
35.5
|
10.65
|
28-Nov
|
Adendaw
|
435
|
60
|
579
|
17
|
34.05882
|
9.65
|
29-Nov
|
Toogoodoo
|
495
|
60
|
519
|
16
|
32.4375
|
8.65
|
30-Nov
|
Beaufort, SC
|
538.3
|
40
|
475.7
|
15
|
31.71333
|
7.928333
|
1-Dec
|
Beaufort, SC
|
538.3
|
0
|
475.7
|
14
|
33.97857
|
7.928333
|
2-Dec
|
Beaufort, SC
|
538.3
|
0
|
475.7
|
13
|
36.59231
|
7.928333
|
 |
| The beautiful Enterprise Anchorage off the Waccamaw River in South Carolina |
On 30 November we docked at Lady’s Island Marina in beautiful Beaufort, SC. We love Beaufort, it is a beautiful town with a lot to see and do, PLUS we have good friends here in the person of Captain Mark Covington and his wife Becky aboard their boat Sea Angel. Seeing them again was great – and the fact that they lent us their truck and went out to dinner with them was icing on the cake. We used the truck for a trip to Walmart, Publix, and the local hardware store, Grayco (one of Ann’s favorites).
Tomorrow we are on the way to St. Augustine. Yes, we will
have several stops along the way, but we are looking forward to a few days at
one of our favorite cities along the waterway AND to watching Army beat the
hell out of Navy on 9 December. GO ARMY!
Ann’s Notes: This is the first entry on the blog I have done
in a while…I was not fast enough for the first one Michael sent.
We had a busy summer full of doctors’ appointments, dentist
appointments, a few medical procedures, a surgery on me, meeting neighbors at
our condo and still settling in to our new home town of Solomons, MD. We were
also busy preparing for our presentations at the Hampton Snowbird Rendezvous.
We had to drive there and stay at a hotel, that was not as much fun as going by
boat, however both Michael and I did a good job and I am glad we went.
I am glad to be back on the waterway and heading south. One
morning I went out to do my normal anchor job and there was a thin layer of ice
on the bow and deck of the boat. Good thing I walk slowly, I was able to feel
the difference on the deck and did not slip. At that point I had to agree with
Michael that we needed to get further south.
Meeting old and new friends is such a blessing, we always
meet the nicest people while we are on Traveling Soul.
I heard the cutest statement while we were at Top Rack
Marina in Chesapeake, VA. This couple was on a forty-ish foot sail boat, their
home port was somewhere in Canada and they were only at the marina to get fuel.
The dock hand asked them where they were going, her response was wonderful…she
said, “ I want to go south so my butter is soft in the morning” That really
made me chuckle. And THAT is where we are going.
Thank you for following us.
Traveling Soul…OUT
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