Charleston ( 8 May - 15 May)

In case you were wondering, it is pronounced Chahhhlston. (draw out the ah, there is no “R” and only a hint of an “L” – at least that’s my read on it.

Anyway, if you will recall, in the last entry we told you how we safely arrived in Charleston, SC despite the tidal currents which can run 2-3 MPH. For the past several days we have been “doing Charleston” with our good friends Dave and Joan Wolf. They came to visit from northern Virginia as some of our other friends should be doing (Hint, Hint). The four of us have been to Fort Sumter and the Old Market Place, we have been to see the Hunley (the first submarine to sink an enemy ship), and we did a tour around Charleston’s battery. But I am getting ahead of myself.

The first day we were in Charleston Ann and I did a little boat cleaning, a little bit of this and a little bit of that before renting a car and heading to two of our favorite places, West Marine and the grocery store. We controlled our expenditures at West Marine (a first!) and bought only what was on Ann’s list at the grocery store. When we got back, Ann spent her time doing the wash and I spent my time trying to find someone who would come to the boat to look at our dinghy davit (which, as you will recall is, to use a technical term, busted). It really took some looking – actually calling – because some marine repair people are notorious for not returning phone calls.  Eventually I did find someone, Heath Hackett, from Captain’s Choice Yacht Services, who said he would come by the following day and see what he could do.

On Wednesday Ann went out with her friend Elaine, whom she has known Elaine since Elaine lived in the DC area. She now lives in Beaufort, SC. (It is pronounced BOO-fort, which is not to be confused with Beaufort, NC (pronounced BOW-fort) and is a travel agent at the Marine Base at Paris Island. (Both Beaufort and Beaufort are real Cruiser’s destinations that we unfortunately missed on our way north; we hope to catch them on our way south in the fall.) Ann had a great time with Elaine – about which I will let her tell you in her notes.
Me? What was I doing? I was, of course, waiting on Heath … and waiting … and waiting and ... Finally, I called him again and he said that he had just got a big job and he wouldn’t be able to come by until Friday. I reminded him that he made a commitment to me and that we were leaving the following Monday. He hemmed and hawed and said, “OK,” that he would call back and give me a time that he would be able to drop by. Again, I waited … and waited some more, until finally I called Heath, told him what I thought of him and Captain’s Choice Yacht Services and left him a rather terse message to the effect that I really didn’t want to work with people who couldn’t keep their promises. In the recreational marine industry you find a lot of people like Heath – folks with the ambition of a turtle and the brains to match. That is why when you find a good one, you hold on to him.  Whew! Thanks. Having vented, I feel better.

Mike, Joan, Dave and Ann at Juanita Goldberg's Nacho Royale.
Really, that was the name! 

On Thursday our friends Dave and Joan Wolf arrived. We picked them up at the airport and took them to the boat. They are boat people and had stayed with us for nine days in the Bahamas so I didn’t need to give them the whole boat briefing. We dropped off their luggage and the four of us headed off for downtown Charleston. The first thing we did was to find a place for lunch. We looked at several but finally decided on Juanita Greenberg’s Nacho Royale (World Famous Margueritas), no less.  In case you are wondering, the food was okay, but it was the name that was the real attraction. Who could not eat at an establishment with that name??

That afternoon we took a carriage tour around Charleston with twelve of our best friends – anyhow we were packed on the carriage like they were our best friends. Here are a couple of interesting facts we learned about Charleston (according to our tour guide).

On the carriage ride in Charleston.
We were in the front seats -- right next to the horse's er .. uh..

· The city has a law that any building over 75 years old is considered “historical” and cannot be torn down. That is the reason for so many old houses, and why so many “fixer-uppers” are in the middle of a block full of ritzy houses. There is even a low income housing project that cannot be torn down because it is now 75 years old.

· After the War, the North refused to help reconstruct Charleston because it was Charlestonians that started the War. Among the many shortages city residents faced was the lack of paint. The only color they could get in quantity was Army surplus black. Charlestonians, in turn, added one part yellow to ten parts black and called the result Charleston Green. To this day it is used on many of the doors and shudders on the fanciest homes in the city. It is even an official DuPont color.

· Some very fancy houses that sit now in the middle of the Charleston Peninsula were once waterfront property. But as the city fathers filled in marshland to expand the city’s footprint, many of the then-waterfront properties lost their waterfront status and new waterfront property was created.

The next day we got serious about being tourists and headed for Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter is on an island in the middle of Charleston Harbor so you have to go to one of two places (the Charleston Maritime Center or Patriot Point) to catch a boat that will take you out to the fort. Once on the island, you get a little over an hour to see everything before the next group arrives and you have to head back home.  An hour was almost enough but I sure could have used another 30 minutes or so. Here is a fun fact that I didn’t know: the flag that was raised over Fort Sumter when it was re-occupied by the Federals in 1865 is the same flag that was taken down at the start of the war in April 1861 – and that flag is today in the fort’s museum. Walking around the fort was interesting, but the visuals were kind of destroyed by a huge black structure that sits squarely in the middle of the fort that was put there in 1898 as part of the nation’s coastal defenses. It kind of takes away from the Civil War ambiance I was expecting. Ann thinks the huge structure looks like something from Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Battlestar Galactica and I am inclined to agree. Still, I am glad to have been there.


Approaching Fort Sumter by boat. The huge mass in the
middle of the fort looks like it is from Close Encounters.

On Saturday we went to see the CSS Hunley – the first submarine to sink an enemy ship. The Hunley, nearly 40 feet long, was built at Mobile, AL and launched in July 1863. It was then shipped by rail to Charleston. The Hunley sank in August 1863, during a training exercise, killing five members of her crew. After being salvaged, it sank again on another training exercise in October 1863, killing all eight of her second crew.  Again, the Hunley was raised and returned to service. On February 17, 1864, Hunley went out on it first and only combat mission when it attacked and sank the 1240-ton sloop Housatonic on blockade duty in Charleston's outer harbor. After the successful attack, Hunley sank for unknown reasons, killing all eight of her third crew. This time, the ship was lost. In fact, it was lost for 131 years until being discovered at the bottom of Charleston Harbor. There are several mysteries surrounding the Hunley – most importantly, how did she sink? Anyway, at the Hunley museum, you can see the sub sitting in water as preservationists try to keep her in her present condition

On Sunday, Dave and Joan headed back to Virginia, and Ann and I prepared the boat for going back out to sea … or the ditch in this case (it just sounds so much cooler to say, “going back out to sea.”) While in Charleston, I had e-mailed several friends and talked to fellow cruisers around Charleston. I found that most of them did, in fact, anchor out, and that maybe the reason we hadn’t seen any anchorers was that we were looking for them too early in the day. Folks don’t drop the hook until 5 PM or so and by that time we were usually in a marina for the night. So, we decided to get bold. We were going to anchor Monday night come hell or high water.

I know it is a bit gruesome, but war
(especially against vicious, biting flies) is hell!

Ann wielding our new secret weapon.

Our day on the Waterway was better than some and not as good as others. Yes, there were attack flies, but they didn’t bother us as much as they had in the past for two very good reasons. First, it seems to us that the South Carolina flies are better behaved than their Georgian cousins – anyhow they didn’t swarm as much and certainly didn’t seem as aggressive. Second, and most important, we had a secret weapon. Dave and Joan had brought us an electric flyswatter! All you have to do is touch the fly and it gets electrocuted. So, Ann spent part of the day wreaking revenge for all the bites we had received to date. Maybe two dozen flies fell to the zapper. Good on ya, Ann!

Looking at the charts the previous night I had found a location that I considered to be a near perfect anchorage near Winyah Bay in South Carolina. I checked our chart that lists popular anchorages and yes, it was in there. I then checked Active Captain, a wonderful web site that lists marinas, anchorages, boatyards etc., gives information about them and asks users to review and rate them. Winyah Bay had received several reviews – most of which were pretty good. Moreover, it was very close to an inlet that would allow us to go outside to the Atlantic the following day (which we wanted to do for reasons that I will explain below). Anyway, it was getting close to 4:30. I could see on my XM Satellite weather gizmo that the atmosphere was unsettled and the weather was starting to deteriorate to the point where a lesser forecaster might have predicted that we were going to catch a bit of a thunderstorm. For my part, I thought it would miss us (and it did), but I was nevertheless antsy because – if I were wrong – I knew that winds and waves can be higher in thunderstorms and the result might not be pleasant. About that time, a power catamaran passed us. On the radio we asked where they were headed that night and they said they were going to anchor just a short distance ahead in Winyah Bay. Yes! We wouldn’t be the only ones there. Well, a few minutes later we dropped anchor. We turned on the generator to recharge the inverter batteries and also turned on the air conditioner, not so much to cool us down as to allow us to close all the hatches and windows so the damn flies couldn’t get in. Anyway, after we had been there for about an hour another boat came by and dropped anchor – a sailboat named Outpost that we had passed earlier in the day. We will have more to say about Outpost later. Anyway, apparently I had done well, as there were three boats in the anchorage that I had picked, there appeared to be good holding and there was lots of swing room.

We awoke the next morning and the water was almost perfectly still; the currents hadn’t carried us away, the tides hadn’t left us high and dry – even the flies were gone. It had been a wonderful night. Ok, Ok, maybe the anchor chain was a bit muddy (well, maybe more than a little), but who cared? We had survived our first night at anchor on the ICW. My anchorage-picking confidence was on the way back up.

Now it was time to pick up the anchor and head outside, into the North Atlantic. If you take a look at the coastline between North and South Carolina, you will see it is kind of concave. The ICW, of course, takes you around Long Bay the long way, whereas if the weather cooperates and you are willing to go outside and cut across the Bay you can almost go in a straight line, saving many miles, much time and beaucoup gallons of fuel. So, outside we went. For us it was a 92 mile day – one of the longest we have had – but it probably saved us 100 miles and at least one, maybe two days.

Originally we had planned to cut right across, going from Winyah Bay, SC to Southport, NC, in a straight line. But that morning I had heard on the radio that the weather 20 miles out was pretty nasty. We weren’t going 20 miles out, but I decided that if we kept a little closer to shore, the weather might be better. So, instead of a straight line we took a kind of lazy, sideways “v” course. The first leg of the “v” was kind of north-northeast wasn’t too bad. In fact, since the winds and currents seemed to be out of the south we had some following seas that pushed us forward a little faster than we might have otherwise moved. However, when we made the turn to catch the other half of the “v” we were heading almost due east and those southerly seas and winds were coming straight at our starboard beam (the waves were coming at us directly from the right side) which made the ride a bit rolly. Now the seas were, for the most part, only 3-4 feet and rolling side-to-side wasn’t that big of a problem. Once in a while, however, we would catch a big 6 foot+ roller that tilted the boat from one side to the other. It wasn’t technically “uncomfortable,” but it did cause me a bit of pause. I don’t know how far the boat can roll from one side to the other without tipping over and really don’t want to find out! (Actually, when I looked at it later, I doubt we tilted more than seven or eight degrees. But when you are in the flybridge, 20 feet up, the feeling of being thrown from side to side is exacerbated.) Anyway, we arrived at Southport Marina at about 5PM and were safe and sound.

My God, why can't North Carolina
coordinate the timing of those openings darn bridges!
Anyway, here is one of those swing bridges for which
we had to wait.

The next day we headed north on the ICW. Although there were fewer flies, we ran into a problem on which we hadn’t counted. We arrived at Wrightsville Beach at about 11:10. In and of itself, that is not an issue, until you realize that the Bridge – with a vertical clearance of 20 feet (we need 23) – opens on the hour; that means we had to waste 50 minutes until the bridge opened. We drive forward, we drove backwards and we drove around in circles. We did everything we could to waste time. Eventually the time came and they raised the bridge and let us through. Then we had to move quickly to make sure we could pass under the next bridge – which was five miles away and opened on the half-hour. Whew! We made that one, but then we had a choice to make. The third bridge was 18 miles away and it, too, opened only on the hour. We couldn’t make it in 30 minutes, of course, and could be there in an hour-and-a-half only if we traveled for an hour at 12 MPH. We had never gone that far that fast, especially through residential areas, and weren’t about to start now. So we made the only possible decision – we decided to go 7 ½ MPH and spend 2 ½ hours to get to the next bridge. In short, we wasted almost 2 hours waiting on North Carolina bridges. NEVER AGAIN! When we come south next fall, we will probably go outside.

We arrived at our anchoring site, Mile Hammock Bay, at about 5PM. The neat thing about Mile Hammock Bay is that it is next to Camp Lejeune and you can sometimes see Marine Corps aircraft flying around. We did. In fact, I saw my first V22 Osprey while at anchor. When we arrived at the anchorage, there was only one other boat. By the time we went to bed there were another five. It was a great anchorage and a fun night.

On Thursday we were on the last leg of this portion of our trip. We were approaching Morehead City, NC, which is near Cherry Point Marine Air Station and our daughter Lisa’s house (the same house also holds our son-in-law Dave, our granddaughter Maddy and our two grandsons, Nik and Trent). We immediately put Lisa to work driving us around to various stores, etc., but we really put Dave to work on many boat projects. However, I am not going to write about that until next time.

ANN’S NOTES: I know this addition is late...so I will keep it short so Michael can post this tonight.

Our visit to Charleston was fun... it was sort of a  history lesson weekend. The carriage ride through the city was good, it gave us an idea of what the city was like back in the day, and how many times the waterfront property changed as they kept filling in the swamp and making more land. I would
not want to live with a swamp at my front or back door but I guess other people did.

I spent a wonderful afternoon with my good friend Elaine Hyman, we had a good lunch at a local waterfront restaurant, to which I later took Dave, Joan and Michael after our tour of Ft. Sumter. Anyway, Elaine drove me all over creation and I got a lot of errands done. If you are reading this Elaine, thank you, and I am so glad we got together. I think the next time I visit Charleston I will tour the Plantations. My treat to myself was that I bought a "seagrass basket" that I bought in the Visitor's Center. I met the woman that made it, and she gave me a short history lesson on the basket. It was a little pricey, but what the heck, I love it. I also found the perfect hat in a little shop next to the City Market ... it has a wide brim that covers my ears and is open at the top. I was a happy boater :)

Ok... now for the wildlife count ... just an FYI ... the world has a lot less biting flies :-)

14 May 2012    10 dolphins      2 sets of 3    1 set of 5    1 set of 6   Total 27
Bonus 10 ducklings and one mom

15 May 2012  in the Atlantic  8 dolphins   1set of 2      1 set of 7   total 17
Bonus 1 Turtle          1 reported gator not seen by us but the boat next to us (Thisa is Mike, I R

16 May 2012     2 Dolphins

17 May 2012      1 Dolphin                I know, where the hell did they go?

Blessings to all our readers....

Traveling Soul....OUT

St Augustine and the ICW (29 April - 7 May)

St. Augustine is probably my favorite city in Florida. It has tourist kitch (the Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum, for example), historical sites (the oldest continuously occupied city in the US and the National Park at Castillo de San Marcos) and a bunch of neat stuff (the shops in the historical old city).  So, after successfully mooring at one of the City Marina’s mooring balls, we lowered the dinghy and went ashore. The first day we planned on just wandering around, so we bought a couple of passes on the Old Town Trolley, which is one of those bus/trains that allow you to get on and off an unlimited number of times while the driver takes you on a guided tour of the city. We learned all about some guy named Flagler who practically built Florida, about the Spanish occupations of Florida, about the English occupation and reoccupation, etc. Then we got off the train and went shopping in the Old Town. They had all kinds of shops – including a jerky shop. You got it, they sold all sorts of jerky. I, of course, had to try alligator jerky. Although I am usually not a shopper, I do like cool, weird things. Ann and I both had a good time. I bought a wooden sign that has one of my favorite sayings:

Twenty years from now

You will be more disappointed

By the things you didn’t do

than by the ones you did do.

So throw off the bowlines!

Sail away from the safe harbor

Catch the Trade winds in your sails

Explore.Dream.

Discover!

Mark Twain

Mike and Ann at Castillo San Marcos with the
Tall Ship Bounty in the background.

The second day at St. Augustine we each picked an attraction that we wanted to visit, and used the Trolley to get to them. Mine was Castillo de San Marcos, the National Park. It is quite an example of 17th century fortresses. Everything is very well preserved and you can see the walls as well as the rooms that existed within the walls. It was besieged twice by the English – once for nearly two months – and did not fall either time. For one of the sieges, there was something like 1500 souls living within the confines of a fairly small fort (I am guessing here that the inside might have been 2-3 acres. Anyway, the only times it changed hands – from the Spanish to the English, then back to the Spanish, then back to the English again, and finally to the Americans – was as a result of various treaties.
For her part, Ann wanted to visit the Lightner Museum. The museum is unusual for two reasons. First, it seems to consist of a bunch of different collections. Not only were there the usual expensive (and beautiful) collections of porcelain, dolls, watches, etc. but there were also collections of matchboxes, cigar bands, and sea shells. In other words, it was quite an eclectic collection of collections. The second odd thing about the museum is that it is housed in a former hotel. The hotel had various kinds of baths (Russian, Turkish and so on), an exercise room, a swimming pool and quite a few other attractions.  Now, there are exhibits in those rooms. Kind of weird, huh?

Ann loves samplers. This one is from ...
I can't actually read the date ... but a long time ago!

Also on the second day we met some folks we had seen before. Remember the people in the Viking that we had seen at Daytona Beach? They arrived in St. Augustine shortly after we did aboard their boat Bel Lair and also took a mooring ball. We stopped by their boat to say hello and introduce ourselves and were promptly invited aboard. We got to talking about our plans and they had some good advice for our trip up the ICW. We also drank some of their booze. For those of you who are thinking that maybe I drank a lot of their booze, you would be wrong. Ann and I had planned to go out to dinner that evening so I was very good. Anyway, we invited them to come over for drinks the following night and we all had a great time.

Okay, there is something that I have to admit – actually I wouldn’t admit it if Ann hadn’t sworn that she would blab it in her notes if I didn’t say something about it. Okay, here goes. Whew (deep breath). Whew (another deep breath). I made a little bitty mistake. I mean all of us make mistakes, right? Okay, here is mine. I think the last one was in 1960-something. Anyway, just before we went to see Bel Lair, I went out to start the dinghy. As usual, I had the keys in my pocket. But just before starting down the ladder I looked down towards the swim platform and … the dinghy wasn’t there. That’s right, the dinghy wasn’t there. Now, I don’t know if any of you have been in a store or a mall and walked back to your car only to find it missing, but of those of you who have, know what I am talking about. What did you do? I suspect, like I did, you looked all around to make sure you had the right parking place near the correct store and yada, yada, yada. Well, I knew I was on the right boat and the boat has only one stern and I knew the dinghy was supposed to be tied off to the stern, but it wasn’t. I was dumbfounded. “Ann,” I said, “the *&@#^$& dinghy is missing; I can’t believe it, the frigging dinghy is gone. “ (I am sorry if that offends you, but on this Blog we tell it like it is … especially if one of us threatens I looked to tell the world that the other of us made a little bitty mistake.) Anyway, I looked to the left, I looked to the right and it wasn’t there. I mean my God, where was it? Then it was clear to me, someone must have stolen it. I remembered that earlier that day I had seen a small craft cruising slowly past Traveling Soul. At the time, I thought it was just someone admiring the boat. Now I realized they might have had more nefarious intentions.

Meanwhile, Ann, who happened to be the itsy-bit more rational of us on this particular matter called the marina office to see if they had seen anything. Nope, “but wait a minute,” the person on the other end of the phone line said as he looked through his binoculars. “Is that a Boston Whaler down by the big house?”  We got out our binoculars and – sure enough – the dinghy was aground about 400 yards away aground in some reeds by what St. Augustinians call the "oldest house". The marina staff brought up their little flatboat and took me over to the reeds. I heaved a little and ho’ed a little, and eventually got it ungrounded, cranked it up and took it back to the boat. Now, some of you are wondering why this was my fault? Well, maybe, just maybe, I didn’t tie the dinghy to the back of the boat as well as I should have. I mean that's not "for sure" but maybe it happened that way. And maybe the current in St. Augustine harbor was enough to tear it off the cleat and maybe the current was strong enough to float it away in the direction of wind and current. (Deep wistful sigh.) Mea culpa I guess.

A Tiffany lampshade from the Lightner museum.
Kind of cool of I do day so myself.

After St. Augustine, our next big stop was Charleston. Our plan was to head up the ICW at about 8-9 knots, covering 50 or 60 statute miles each day, then to anchor each night. We would then get up and repeat the process. We had intended to follow this pattern for five or six days until we needed to take on either fuel or water. When we did, we would stop at and spend the night in a marina. We bought a couple of books that told us where several good anchorages were located along the ICW and we were ready to go. Anyhow, that was the plan.

The first day after we left St. Augustine we experienced part of the “real” ICW. It was winding, in some places it was very shallow, and in some places the charts were absolutely, positively inaccurate. To cap it all off, a full moon was rising – that meant that high tides were unusually high and the low tides were unusually low. Now, in the Chesapeake, the Bahamas, or southern Florida – or any other reasonable place on the planet – that wouldn’t mean very much. But in northern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina regular tidal swings can be 10 feet or more without a full moon. So, you can zip over places during high tide and they might be 15 feet deep, but if you try to zip over the same place at low tide, they are five feet deep. Our draft (the depth of the boat below the waterline) is 4.5 feet. (I suspect most of you know me well enough to know that I am not going to “zip” over any place where I have only six inches of clearance.)

Okay now, in some parts of the ICW, you can imagine seeing me at the helm. I am gazing intensely at the chart plotter, hoping that that the charts it contains are accurate for this particular stretch of the waterway. Simultaneously, I am trying to steer the boat between the red and green day marks that are maybe 1000 meters ahead of us. And at the same time I am hunched over the depth finder (which works most of the time, but once in a while decides to go wacko – but I never know when it is wacko and when it is correct). This stance, consisting of staring at charts, hunching my back to see the depth finder and twitching – because I can’t do anything else – will be forever known as the “ICW hunchback position.” Meanwhile, Ann is trying to help by keeping track of where we are and letting me know when we will be out of this particular stretch of ICW hell. (Later in the journey she had another mission: to keep the goldarn flies off me – but more about that later.)

One of the many floats at the Shrimp Festival.

With all this going on, we found out that the first place we had intended to anchor – Fernandina Beach, FL – had put mooring balls in our anchorage. Now that wouldn’t have been so bad, but the mooring balls would not handle a boat over 50 feet. Darn! So, we decided to look at the other anchorages as we passed them that the books had recommended.  Hmmm., There did not appear to be anyone at any of them. This did not bode well for our plan of spending most nights “on the hook.” Since we didn’t see anyone anchoring anywhere on the ICW – except near the big towns and cities – I began to get cold feet. Why weren’t they anchoring? Was it the tidal swings? The current associated with the tidal swings? I wasn’t sure, and though none of my cruising friends had said anything about not anchoring, I certainly wasn’t going to be the first to try it.

 Since we couldn‘t anchor or moor at Fernandina Beach we didn’t have much choice but to spend the night at the Fernandina Beach Marina. That, of course, meant that we were part of the annual Shrimp Festival!!! Actually, the Shrimp Festival started the next day, but it kicked off the night we were there with the Shrimp and Pirate Parade. It was a typical small town parade with school bands, homemade floats representing every business and civic organization, people running for office in local elections, etc. The other good thing that happened in Fernandina Beach was that we re-linked up with Scott and Teri Miller on Miller Time. We had met Scott very briefly at Treasure Cay in the Bahamas. At the time the two of us thought we might be the only boats in the Bahamas whose “Hailing Port” (the name of a place you put on your stern under your name – supposedly where the boat “hails” from) is Occoquan, VA. Scott and Teri were on their way to Charleston for their daughter’s graduation and put into Fernandina Beach as a stop along the way.

After talking with Scott and Teri, we decided to go outside the following day. We figured it was the smart thing to do for several reasons. First, although it would be a long day, we could cut a day off our trip. The ICW winds around so much that by going in a straight line we would be cutting the distance we had to go, would have no bridges at which we had to wait, and we could go a little faster. Second, I could change out of the ICW position at the helm so I didn’t become a permanent hunchback. And third, the weather was supposed to be great.

So we were off. The Next morning we followed Miller Time out into the Atlantic. It was just a little rolly early in the morning, but by 10AM or so, the seas were about only 2-3 feet and we were doing 9.5-10 knots. The day was good. About 4PM we headed inside and found the little marina where we had planned to spend the night. It was the Kilkenny Marina at the former Kilkenny Plantation near Richmond Hill, GA. It was a pretty small marina but there were two other ICW cruisers there. In fact, we had met the captain of Azure Skies in the Bahamas. Bob is single-handling his boat up the coast. According to him, he goes north until it gets too cold in the summer and then heads south until it gets too hot in the winter. Also, if you will recall, Ann spent a couple of weeks in the Bahamas baking bread. One of the recipes came from Azure Skies.

Mike's ankle as a result of the attack of the
dreaded Georgian Marsh flies.

The next day we went back to the ICW. People had told us how pretty it was and we really did want to experience it. Pretty? Okay, maybe, if you could see anything through the attacks of the vicious, swarming Georgian marsh flies. And they sting! Man, it was bad. I hate putting on bug repellent, but Ann was smearing that Deep Woods Off all over my legs, neck and arms. Now you understand the twitching part of the ICW position. After having been stung once, you are paranoid and are twitching or shaking the flies off everything you feel something that might possibly be a fly. Besides rubbing bug repellent on me, Ann was also the designated fly killer. We didn’t have a fly swatter, only a little pad of note paper, but she made that thing the instrument of death for a dozen or so of those little suckers. Ann is now officially an Ace; I am proud of her. I think I will get her a fly swatter for Mother’s Day.

Dead flies .. all as a result of Ann's handiwork.
God I am proud of her!

We spent the night at a nice marina at Hilton Head. There were some restaurants close by, but we decided to eat on the boat and get to bed early so we could get a start early ion the AM.

The next night we spent in the Edisto Marina on Edisto Island, SC. It was about five miles from the ICW in a place that, at one time, had probably been a booming vacation community. There was a nice beach and several condos -- some high rises and some low rises -- a couple of aging restaurants and a lot of small, older boats. It was kind of a C+ vacation community with a C+ marina. It did, however, have water and power – and that is really all we needed. We mentioned it to other people along the ICW and we got kind of a wistful response. It was clear that Edisto had been "the place" to go at some point, but wasn't any longer. (Another deep wistful sigh.)

The next day we were back in the ICW headed to Charleston, SC. Before I write about getting to Charleston, I need to thank several people. I have told you that the charts aren’t very good in many parts of the ICW. As a result, most cruisers try to keep track of the potentially dangerous points and pass the information on. Andy and Sharon on Finally Fun, Stan and Nancy on Bel Lair, Chris and Mike on Missing Link and John on Vulcan all provided us invaluable information on navigating the ICW.

Some of the commercial traffic on the ICW.

Okay, now back to Charleston. Several people had told us about the currents in Charleston Harbor and had warned us to arrive around slack tide, otherwise our boat could be moving with the current at 1-3 MPH –going someplace we did not want it to go. (Slack tide is when the tide is either at its minimum or its maximum; during the period around slack tide, there is very little water rushing into or out of the channel – hence, there is little current). We know of one person who damaged his own boat moving into a Charleston marina, and we heard of another who caused several tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage to other boats. Anyway, one of the pieces of information my Garmin Chart Plotter provides is the estimated arrival time at our destination. Since slack tide was at 4PM (or so), I really didn’t want to get to Charleston before 3PM; even then, I figured we might want to put-put around the Harbor before trying to move into a slip. So, while on the way to Charleston I was constantly trying to slow the boat down. But there were some places that the current was flowing so freely that I was having a problem going slow enough. At the end of the day, because of our prior planning, moving into the slip in the "Harborage at Ashley Marina" was kind of anticlimactic – a perfect ending for the second leg of our trip.



Sunrise at the marina in Hilton Head

ANN’S NOTES: Michael has an expression that some times drives me 'crazy'...if he has been to a place once and I want to go back and revisit it and he does not want to go back ,he will say "I did not leave any thing there that I need to get". My thoughts so far on cruising the ICW is "been there, done that"...so I think Michael and I agree that cruising the ICW so far has been interesting but not much fun. I spend my time killing biting flies, watching the water for crab pots and tree limbs, spraying Michael with bugs repellent and keeping track of where we are on our paper charts. I have this system that works well for me and us. I use a large chart and a special ICW book/chart . I move little pink sticky book markers from marker to marker. The yellow makers tell me when we are going to stop for the night. The blue sticky tell me were the bridges are and the cuts (sometimes very narrow openings that go from one river to the next that usually have pretty shallow water). I  must say I do feel like I am helping Michael...sometimes the Garmin is really off and the paper charts are correct. I am still counting dolphins and will give you the count at the end of my notes.

Ann's sticky noes (and even a green one!)

It has not been all bad...we had a wonderful time in St. Augustine and meet some wonderful people. The dinghy floating away was a good thing...now I can tease Michael about this little event. I do have a picture and he did not tell you about him coming back to the boat with one very wet shoe :) I am still in the market to find a perfect hat to wear when we are out and about town. Since I am letting my hair grow out the hats I have make my head hot. I found one in a little store that is like a visor...you can see it in the picture above...but it does not shade my ears. So my mission is to find the perfect hat for my 'hot head'...wish me luck :)

Dolphin count with other wild life
3 May        7 single      2 sets of  2    Total 11            Bonus  1 very large eagle
4 May        2 single      1 set of  4      Total 6    We were in the Atlantic that day
5 May        9 single      3 set of  2     1 set of  3    3 sets of  4    1 pod of  7  plus 2 swam by our window while we were eating dinner      Total 39      
Bonus  Michael saw a Turtle
6 May        10 single    4 set of  2      1 pod of 6    Total 24    Bonus Michael saw another Turtle
7 May         5 single

Traveling Soul...Out

Up the ICW From Palm Beach to St. Augustine: The Story of the Great Tarp Monster (April 24 - 29)

(A voice begins reading the Blog; a voice that sounds oddly like a narrator of one of those 1950s science fiction dramas):

It began like any other day I had experienced in my 60+ years of living. The sun was shining and life was generally good. Little did I know what the day would hold for me – and potentially for the rest of mankind. The creature that attacked us had tentacle-like strings hanging from its limp but surprisingly strong body. It was … But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you the story from the beginning.

I woke up at 0630, Ann a few minutes later. Although the sun wasn’t completely up, I was sure it was going to be a beautiful day. There were about five knots of wind, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the water was as smooth as a baby’s bottom. The weather was perfect and so was the crew. Ann and I are getting very good at getting the boat ready for cruising. She works on the inside and I work on the outside. (I am sure you remember my checklist –curl up the hose, bring in the electrical cord, retying the lines, etc. so I won’t repeat it here.) And today, the first day of our trip north, we were especially good. The fuel dock was supposed to open at 0800 so we left our slip at 0730 to be the first in line. With no wind, I maneuvered like a champ (if I do say so). A dock hand had even arrived at the fuel dock a little bit early and helped us tie-up. We docked, refueled and headed out - all in about 20 minutes.

The glorious day on which we left.
Little did we know what loomed ahead

We got to the ICW in about 2 minutes and I was right; it was a glorious day. The sun was out and a gentle breeze was blowing. The houses we were passing on both the left and right were those magnificent dwellings with huge boats out front. It was great and life was good. We arrived at the first bascule bridge on our route, the Parker Bridge, almost exactly on time. (For those of you who don’t know, bascule bridges are draw bridges over the water (in our case the ICW) that stop traffic to open the bridge and let boats through. Some open on demand and some have a schedule they follow. I hate it when bridges have a schedule and we have to wait for the bridge to open, especially if there is a strong wind; it can blow you all around.) We had to wait only about ten minutes, then the bridge tender opened the bridge for us and we and the big sports fisherman behind us. Thirty minutes up the ICW was another bridge, the PGA Bridge (no, I am not kidding you; they take their golf seriously in Florida.) If you time your travels right, you don’t have to slow down for the PGA as it opens fifteen minutes after the Parker. We had to slow down a little, but not much. Under the bridge we went.

This isn't the home of the Tarp Monster,
but it is a Bascule Bridge similar to the
Monster's Lair

 Then, as we were passing under the bridge, we both heard and felt it: Kathunka, thunka, thunka. (Actually, Ann and I are debating whether it was a kathunka, thunka-thunka or a whoopa-whoopa-whoopa. But this is a technical issue that we won’t get into right now.) At any rate there was something seriously wrong making the boat vibrate. Something seemed to be wrong with the port engine. I put the engine in idle and the kathunking stopped. Then, with the engine idling, I turned up the throttle and still, there was no vibration. It only vibrated when we were in gear. Ann went down to look at the engine and it wasn’t spewing oil or falling out of its mount. So, although I wasn’t sure, from these indicators, I figured it wasn’t the engine, it had to be somewhere else in the drive train. But where? Was it the shaft? Or maybe the propeller? I didn’t know, but whatever the cause there was some serious kathunking going on. At any rate, we could still move at about six knots on the starboard engine. So, Ann got out the Cruising Guide and started looking for a nearby marina that might be able to help. We called a couple of them, then found one close to our position – near the Donald B Ross Bridge over the ICW – and we pulled in.

We pulled into the fuel dock and the dock master and I looked at the engines. They looked good to both of us, so we ruled the engines out as the source of the problem. The next alternative was that something was wrong with the props. To check that out, we had to get a diver to look under the boat. The trouble:  no divers were available until 3PM. We really didn’t have a choice, so we took a slip at the marina and waited. At about 2 PM a diver – named John – showed up.  He was a nice guy who had no idea what was waiting for him under our hull. He went in and stayed down about 15 minutes. When he came up he was covered in … well, I am not sure what it was. Because he carried it draped over his body it looked other worldly, but it wasn’t. John told us that when he first saw it he had to convince himself that it wasn’t the creature from the Black Lagoon or something. Anyway, it appears to have been some sort of tarp that is brown on one side and has some sort of silvery lining on the other. Because our props had chewed it up so badly, a lot of the silvery stuff was hanging like tentacles from the body of what we will forever remember as the unforgettable “Tarp Monster.” The cost for the diver? Less than .075 Boat Units (of course that didn’t cover the cost of the marina, but we were hoping our “boat unit” luck was changing.

The Grizzly Tarp Monster.

Okay, the next day we got ready to go. I woke up at 0630, Ann a few minutes later. Although the sun wasn’t completely up, I was sure it was going to be a beautiful day. There were about five knots of wind, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the water was as smooth as a baby’s bottom. The weather was perfect and so was the crew. Ann and I are getting very good at getting the boat ready for cruising. She works on the inside and I work on the outside. (I am sure you remember my checklist –curl up the hose, bring in the electrical cord, retying the lines, etc. so I won’t repeat it here.) And today, the first day of our trip north, we were especially good. (I know, you have read that before, but it was kind of déjà vu for me, as well.)

 Anyway, the second day was wonderful. We went past Jupiter Island and the properties were even more magnificent than they were at Palm Beach. One of the dock hands told me that a national magazine reported that the people living on Jupiter Island controlled nearly 10% of the nation’s wealth. And Tiger Woods supposedly has a house there.  The real story of the day, however, was the dolphins.  They were all over the place. We saw singles, duos and even a pod of four. We even had a couple come and play alongside the boat. One would come to the surface and kind of roll over on it back, exposing its underside to the sun and possibly the bow wave. That one would then right itself, move to the outside and let its partner do the same thing. It only lasted for three of four minutes, but as you can imagine, Ann was in heaven.

We arrived in Vero Beach, our destination for the day at about 2:30. We headed straight to the mooring field. They have kind of an unusual setup at Vero Beach.  You are assigned a mooring ball, but you could be assigned a ball with two other boats. You would then “raft-up” with your new best friends by tying your boat to the first one there; the first one, in turn ties to the mooring ball itself. Although we saw a couple of boats moored in this manner, we were assigned our own mooring, #20.

Before the attack of the dreaded “Tarp-Monster,” our plan had been to spend two nights in Vero Beach. The mooring balls are secure and inexpensive, and the marina has a number of excellent facilities, including a shuttle bus that will take you to the beach on the ¾ hour and to town on the ¼ hour.  Ever since Ann heard that, she figured she would be able to get back to the Red Onion. As some of you may recall, the last time we were in Vero Beach, Ann’s friend Bill took all of us to the Red Onion for lobster rolls – and delicious lobster rolls they were. Since then, Ann has wanted another. Moreover, we had not really taken our dinghy down since getting the davit motor fixed. I really wanted to test the motor in an area where we could get some mechanical help if we needed it – and Vero Beach seemed like the place.  So, down came the dinghy (which worked like a champ, by the way), and off we were to catch the shuttle to the beach (where Red Onion is). Darn! We just missed the shuttle, but all is not lost. According to the young man at the marina, it is a pleasant four block walk to the beach. Well, off we went. And went. And went. And went. My God, the woman took me on the Vero Death March just so she could have a lobster roll!! After all was said and done, Ann had a new blister on her toe and some sunburn on her face; as for me, my right heel was killing me ( a perennial problem that keeps me from my third favorite activity, running), but we did each have a lobster roll – and it was good.

We got up the next morning and headed out. I must admit, though, we did touch bottom a little in the channel heading back to the ICW from the marina. I am not sure what the problem was (me, the charts, the markers, or a combination of all of us) but I don’t think we are any worse for the experience (i.e. I don’t see any additional boat units in the immediate future).  Anyway, today’s scenery was much like yesterday’s with one exception. We saw so many dolphins yesterday, that Ann decided that rather than try to keep track of each individual dolphin, she would track the total number she saw. Today’s total? Hahaha. You have to read Ann’s Notes later in the Blog because she won’t let me tell you.

Just one of many cottages on the "Rodeo Drive-ness"
portion of the ICW

It is difficult to describe the terrain as we traversed the ICW. It seems to be a combination of Rodeo Drive, Route 1, I-95, Route 66 and La Rue des Idiots in the following sense. I have already described some of the magnificent houses and boats. I won’t duplicate that here other than to say that my descriptions and even the pictures we took can’t really capture the grandeur of parts of the waterway primarily because there wasn’t just a cool house or two, but there were miles of them. And, as a waterfront groupie, I found them especially beautiful.

Some of the "Route 1-ness" of parts of the ICW

That said, parts of the ICW were more like Route 1 in the eastern US. Along the waterway, there were trailer parks, shanty towns, campgrounds, anchorages for derelict boats, etc. I didn’t see too many 7-11’s, but there were plenty of bait shops that sold soda and munchies; I think that is the equivalent of a convenience store for fishermen. And I didn’t see any places that advertised Girls! Girls! Girls! But maybe that’s just because I didn’t know where to look. Seriously, in addition to the upscale areas, we saw a bunch of commercial establishments and some pretty beat up trailers and shacks. 

The ICW is also, of course, the primary north-south route for boaters – and for locals trying to get somewhere and do something with their boats. It can get very congested at times.  Power boaters may not want to wake us and other, slower boats, but they have places to go and people to see – and only a weekend in which to do it.

And finally, kind of like I-95, the ICW is La Rue des Idiots. Imagine someone waterskiing down the middle of I95 – we don’t have to imagine it, we saw it. In fact, we had to slow down one time because a young man fell into the water about ¼ mile ahead of us. Imagine an old man sitting in a small rickety-looking boat just off the center span of a major bridge across the ICW, complaining that every boat that passes rocks his boat with their wakes. He conveniently forgets, of course, that it is illegal to tie off to a bridge, to fish in the main channel of the Intracoastal and to impede the flow of traffic under the bridge. I guess he thinks that those particular rules don’t apply to him.

Okay, enough philosophizing about the ICW, we anchored that night at Coco, near Coco Beach. It was an okay anchorage. If there would have been a stiff wind, we wouldn’t have had much protection from the west or the south. But luckily for us, there wasn’t much of a breeze at all. In fact, by morning, the boat had drifted to a position that was almost on top of the anchor (which means we did more drifting than dragging). Anyway, about an hour after we arrived, another large motor vessel showed up. (We will meet them ;later in St. Augustine)

We left Coco at 0800 the following day. Because we had traveled so long and so far yesterday, this was a relatively easy day. The Intracoastal produced more of the same, except that we passed more sailboats headed north. There was also quite a bit of the waterway – maybe 10 or 15 miles – that was almost literally a ditch. The Intracoastal went from shore to shore with presumably enough depth not to go aground (I pretty stuck to the middle of the channel). Anyway, we arrived in Saint Augustine on Sunday 29 April. We are going to spend three days here on a mooring ball (.021 of a Boat Unit per night), then spend the last night at a slip in the marina so we can get some water (I mean “take on” some water – that’s the more nautical way of saying it), clean the boat and get some fuel before we head on north.

Meanwhile, we are looking forward to seeing St. Augustine’s Old Town and the 450 year old fort and taking the bus – which costs $1 for you youngsters, but for us “seniors" defined as over 60, we get half fare! I will try to file our next report before we leave St. Augustine, but if not it will probably be from Hilton Head.

ANN’S NOTES: Michael has pretty much told you about traveling down the ICW...The views vary mile to mile. Not everyone in Florida went belly up when the ecomomy went south...pun is intented :)

I think I need to explain my morning routine since you know what Michael is doing on the outside of the boat...and I do get pulled away from the inside to help him adjust the lines so I can handle the lines by myself while we are pulling away from the dock. I apperciate the efforts he puts in to make that happen. Anyway...back inside the boat I am busy with all sorts of smaller but inportant details. And more details are being added. First I have to make the bed...a small ritual to keep me centered and remind me this is our home and needs to be treated as one. Then the following...get dressed...apply sun screen...make sure ALL HATCHES are closed and secured. FYI...we have a lot of hatches to close. Then there are the windows in the salon and galley...all have special locks that keep the windows from rattling and sliding open. We have little plastic capes on them that have been replaced ... I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dave and Joan for finding them at Fisher's hardware store in Springfield. The latest detail of which I have take control is that we now take our 'snacks' and drinks up in a cooler. The "amp nazi" (hey, I resemble that remark!) thought this would help with saving the inverter while under way ... it seems to be working since I don't have to open the fridge during the day. Then I make the coffee, wash, dry and put all he dishes away. Okay, we are almost all done. I have a blue computer bag that I keep all the needed First Mate/Navigator stuff in. What you may ask would be in such a bag? You may ask ... well... Charts, ICW book, anchorage book, my cell phone, camera (where do you think all these pictures come from?) and a few personal items...sun block, chap stick, fan, spray bottle, etc. and my PINK and two Yellow sticky page remakers. I will tell you about the way I keep track of our location in another posting. And of course a navigators friend -- a good part of binoculars. All of the items need to go up to the second deck...Than we can GO!!!!


When Tim was visiting us he showed me how to tie and store my lines the way most sailors do. I had wanted to learn how to do that since moving onto the boat. As you can see I have got the 'hang'of it...again pun is intented :) and THANK YOU TIMOTHY WILLIAM BROWN for showing your mom how to do that...I love you :)

 

A couple of the many dolphins included in the Dolphin Count

Last item...my happy annoucement...the Dolpin count...

27 April 2012         28 dolphins

28 April 2012          27 single dolpins   1set of 3 dolph9ins for a total of 30

BONUS: 2 Mannatees

29 April 2012: 7 single dolpins     2 sets of 2 for a total of 11

I was a happy boater!!!
Traveling Soul...OUT

Preparing for the ICW (18 - 24 April)

Well, tomorrow, we are securing our lines and heading back out to sea … actually we are heading out to  the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, called variously the ICW, the Ditch, and the “Inside” by our fellow cruisers. In general, our plan will be to cover about 60 miles per day, anchoring out along the way, then, once in a while, when we get to someplace we really want to see, stop at a marina and smell the roses. Our plan is to stop at St. Augustine, FL, Charleston, SC, near Cherry Point, NC and maybe Virginia Beach before heading up to the Chesapeake. We think that will take us about six weeks, but it may be a little bit longer. We shall see.  So the next several Blog entries will be about our travels. However, before we can start that journey, we had to get some things fixed, so this entry is more for those of you who are gear heads, geeks and mechanics than it is for those of you who are reading this Blog for the destinations rather than the journeys.

But before I begin, I have to announce a stunning realization. Over the past month or so, in dealing with the electrical systems on the boat I have had to use the equations E=I*R and P = I*E and a few others.  The fact that I had to use these equations would not be particularly surprising to most engineers or even some repairmen. But what is absolutely stunning is that I learned them about thirty eight years ago when I was taking EE 301 – or what cadets called “Juice.” Now Juice wasn’t my best subject and I am not sure how well I knew and could use these equations back then, but I am amazed that I can remember them all these years later without having used them much in between. And to think, we cadets used to complain about all the trivia we were learning. How was Juice going to help me be a better Army officer? How was it going to help me lead men into battle? Little did I know that while it may not be essential for an infantry officer, it is absolutely crucial for a retiree setting out on a cruising adventure.

Ok, now back to the mundane. Most of this entry is going to be about maintenance and repairs. I may have mentioned in our last entry that we had three major items that we needed to get fixed: the heads, the steering and the winch in the dinghy davit.  Each of them has a story (of course, or I wouldn’t be writing about them).

First, the heads. I wish I could tell an entire, start-to-finish story about our heads. Sadly, all I can do is to recount the current chapter in the continuing saga. Before Tim, Carrie and crew arrived our heads began to act up. We knew what to do as a stopgap (put salt in the water with each flush) and we executed that plan very well. But after we came back from our house-closing trip, the heads began showing yellow and red lights again – and anything other than green is bad. However, this time the problem was with not one of them, not two of them, but all three of them. Well, we managed to last a few days with minimal functioning in the heads, but as soon as we arrived in West Palm Beach we called a marine plumber. The owner of the company was very responsive. He showed up the same day, looked at our heads and promptly told us that while he might be able to fix two of them, we really should buy three new ones. He proudly told us they were only $1300 each, plus the labor to put them in, of course, and he would be happy to order them for us that very day. Now what I should have told him was that he was wrong. What we really needed to do is to buy a brand new ten million dollar yacht with working heads, but we weren’t going to do that for the same reason we weren’t going to buy three new heads; because it costs too much money.

This is one of the dreaded Lectra San units.

Anyway, once he understood that he wasn’t making a big sale, he sent one of his technicians out to take a closer look. The technician, Bob, decided he needed to take our heads back to the shop for testing, repairs and an overnight muriatic acid bath. We pointed out that if he took both of them that we would be headless (so to speak), so he agreed to take one, give it an overnight bath, then return to re-install that one while he picked up the other one. Well, about 3PM in the afternoon on Friday we hadn’t received our head back and hadn’t heard anything from Bob. He had said he wanted to give them an overnight acid bath, not a weekend bath. So we called to ask what was going on. The phone person said she would check with Bob and have him call back. To make a long story short, after a few more phone calls to them, someone knowledgeable did eventually call back and said that Bob still had to do this that and the other and that we could probably have our head back on Monday. I was not a happy camper and let them know that wasn’t the proper answer. The lady-who-answered-the-phone must have detected an unhappy customer and had some influence within the company because I got a call shortly afterwards that saying that both heads would be disassembled, bathed in acid and returned on Saturday. And you know what? They were.

We know we are going to have another issue with the heads when we get to the Chesapeake. The Chesapeake has brackish water; it doesn’t have enough salt in it to make the Lectra Sans work. So, our plan is to have one Pura-San put in (the new, sparkling, updated really cool Lectra San-type head that doesn’t require salt) and to add an ounce of salt to the other heads until we head south again. Then maybe next year we will have to buy yet another head and so on. So that was one boat unit. (Boaters don’t like to talk about the cost of things because we all know that boating is an expensive hobby/lifestyle. So, we talk in euphemisms. One Boat Unit is … well, let me put it this way. Do you know what the B.O.A.T. stands for? Bring On Another Thousand. I think you get the picture.)

Ain't she a beauty?
And look, she is no longer leaking hydraulic fluid!

The second issue was the steering. I don’t remember whether I wrote about it before, but both the upper and lower helms were leaking hydraulic fluid and the steering on the flybridge was – in technical terms – “squishy.” Now I could live with it in the Bahamas, but in some places the ICW seems less than 100 feet wide. If you get two boats coming at one another, and throw in an idiot or two who insists on passing while all this is happening, then you want to make sure you can pilot the boat through the eye of a needle. Ok, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. I don’t want my steering to fail when we are close to other boats. So, Ray from Florida Rigging and Hydraulics came on board and fixed the steering and told us a lot about our steering mechanism that I didn’t know. In short, I learned a lot at the same time I got the steering fixed and spent another boat unit.

 Now we had people working on the heads and the steering, but we were having trouble finding someone to work on the davit’s winch. We weren’t sure whether the problem was mechanical or electrical, so who do we call? The problem was that you could raise the dinghy with the remote, but when you took your finger off the “up” button the dinghy started going down. It seemed to me that it was a mechanical issue – maybe the brake wasn’t engaging or the clutch was slipping, but I wasn’t sure. We finally got hold of Scott at Ramsey Marine. He told us he thought it was electrical, but he wouldn’t have time to work on it until the middle of the following week. So, he thought we should try to fix it ourselves. He said he thought it was one of three things. It might be dirty electrical connections on he davit, so we should clean those up. Alternatively, it might be a bad remote switch. If cleaning the connections did not work, he said, he could test the remote for us because his workshop was only a few blocks away. Or it might be a bad motor. If that was the problem, we would probably be here a while until the motor arrived. He then left and asked us to call him if we had any questions.

What I really appreciated about Scott was that he didn’t try to “up-sell” us. Like certain marine plumbers did. He gave us some expert advice and suggested we use that advice – free of charge—and save some money. Well, we cleaned the connections and in the process discovered that one of the connectors had broken. As is usually the case, however, knowing what is wrong is not the same as being able to fix it. I tried to solder the broken prong into place, but my fingers, my soldering iron and the solder would not all fit in the same tight space.  I tried a couple of other things and decided that I was making things worse rather than better. So, I called the cavalry (Scott). Scott always returns phone calls, but he still didn’t have the time to come out and help us. Eventually, though, Scott got in touch with another electrician, Arie, who came out on Monday morning, asked for the manual and got right to work. After that, he pulled some things, unscrewed some other things and told me what had broken was not just the prong on some plastic block, but the rectifier for the unit. Okay, I may have remembered E=IR, but rectifier was beyond me – that must have been for the “hives” in the class. (An inside joke that only a few will understand. Sorry.) Apparently, because of a loose connection, the unit was getting only a fraction of the electricity it needed. It wasn't a 700 pound capacity winch anymore, it was behaving like a 350 pound capacity winch. But Arie knew that you could replace a rectifier by connecting four diodes. In short, after two hours, Arie fixed the problem. This one cost only 1/6 of a boat unit!

Two of our big black 17,000 lb breaking strength lines.

One of the issues we discovered in the Bahamas is that we did not have enough lines (ropes). We had enough to tie the boat up, of course and a couple of specialized lines to use as snubbers for anchoring, but when the wind really starts blowing we really wanted a couple of extra lines. So, we went to Boat Owners Warehouse (much cheaper than West Marine) and bought some. We have a set of five blue lines, so we decided to get another complete set or black ones. Now these aren’t the lines that your granddad used to lasso stray dogies on the ranch, these are double-braided, ¾ inch line whose breaking strength is 17,000 pounds. We bought five of them with lengths from 35 feet to fifty feet. We intend to use them both to dock so we can give our regular blue lines a break, but in a hurricane, we would have ten ¾ inch lines, one 1¼ inch line and sundry smaller ones.  I am hoping that would be good enough. The cost for the new lines? They ain’t cheap – just under ½ a boat unit.

And finally, we cleaned the boat. I mention that for one reason. We had some terrible rust spots on the boat that had resisted our best efforts for months. We had tried just about everything. When we were walking back to the boat one day, Ann struck up a conversation with a guy who was strolling the marina docks with his son. It turns out that he details boats for a living. We asked him about our little stains and he suggested FSR – Fiberglass Stain Remover – so we bought some. My goodness it is wonderful! It takes all sorts of stains off of the deck without hurting the paint or the gelcoat. It is amazing stuff. And that turned out to be only 16/1000 of a Boat Unit.

ANN'S NOTES: It has been an interesting and expensive couple of days. We did get a lot done thanks to some very good repair men...yes..some did try to upsell but once they knew we were not going to buy they did their job well.

Ann's all important phone --
her connection to he kids and everybody else.

I  became a real happy boater once I came into cell phone range once we saw the coast of Florida!! I am now back on face book and in the land of grocery stores. I even bought some fresh flowers for the boat...the Bahamas has many flowers out in nature but none you can place in a vase to enjoy.

We also rented a car for a few days so we could do some errans and go shopping. We went to Target and to Bed,Bath and Beyond. We bought a sign in BBB that reads "Paradise Ain't Cheap"...that is so true with this stay in Lake Worth.

I am so excited about heading back to VA/MD. I think the trip up the ICW will be fun and intersting. We are well provisioned,the boat is in good shape and the Captain and First Mate are ready to GO!!!

Traveling Soul...OUT