Chapter 6 Intracostal Waterway ICW Day 84: Bahamas_Trip_icw.pdf

Saturday October 20  Portsmouth to Great Bridge, VA ICW

We were up very early, even though we could have slept in a little. Steve washedthe boat off and filled the water tanks. I swear he’s going to wash the gel coat off!We had planned to set off for the Dismal Swamp today, which is why we delayedour start. (The first lock in the swamp doesn’t open until 9am and 3pm. The liftbridges before the lock do not have openings early enough that we can get to thelock by 9am, so we plan on the 3pm opening.) We walked up to the office and weretalking with the folks there. Last Saturday two boats from here (a 38 Hunter anda 43 something) went through the swamp and had problems. Their keels knocked upstuff from the bottom (a lot of duck weed too) and it filled their filters and gotinto their pumps. They had to be towed to Elizabeth City. (had to have newimpellers installed) They strongly suggested we do the Virginia Cut instead. So weconcurred, the Dismal Swamp will be part of the return trip!A little ‘history lesson’: The Dismal Swamp is 82 miles long and was surveyed byGeorge Washington in 1763. Originally, George and some other investors wanted todrain the land, harvest the trees, and then farm the land. He supervised thedigging of the ditch (‘Washington’s Ditch’) from the swamp to Lake Drummond. Hesold his interest in the land to ‘Lighthorse’ Harry Lee (father of Robert E. Lee) 30years later. The ditch was completed in 1805 and used by commercial traffic.There was a ferry that ran along the canal from Norfolk to Elizabeth City, NC. Alumber company continued cutting trees until the 1950s and in 1973 the Union CampCompany donated the land to create the Great Dismal Swamp National WildlifeRefuge. At the Virginia – North Carolina border is the site of the Halfway HouseHotel (1820). It was a very popular place. Supposedly, Edgar Allen Poe wrote ‘TheRaven’ while staying there. Boats follow the same course as Jane Adams’ FloatingTheatre, which inspired Edna Ferber to write ‘Showboat’. Needless to say, it has alot of historic stuff and the trip is said to be beautiful. It’s only about 6 feet deepand with the drought conditions, it may be closed at any moment. (There is a signat the entrance stating it’s conditions and the visitors’ center will give you areport.) We did give them a call and the usual openings of 8:30am, 11:00am, 1:30pmand 3:30pm are now just 9:00am and 3:00pm.The Virginia Cut is 79 miles long. It is the primary route for the ICW. (Allcommercial traffic follows this cut.) It is 12 feet deep and 90 feet wide. Notmuch written about it! Page 2 Our 49thsail started at 11am. We circled around while Manatee went into a marinato fuel. (It looked a little tight for both of our boats to fit.) We decided to waitto get fuel and we were all ‘on the road again’ by 11:40am. By 12:02pm we had goneunder 3 bridges. There are so many bridges it’s hard to keep track of all theirnames. There are a LOT of railroad bridges too. After you go under the interstate64 bridge, the Dismal Swamp entrance is just beyond it to the right. Onepowerboat and one catamaran turned into the swamp. We continued on in theVirginia Cut with all sorts of powerboats and sailboats. I think railroad bridges arethe worse. We came up to a double bridge, one road and one railroad. We had towait for over a half hour for TWO trains to clear the railroad bridge! Thirtyminutes probably doesn’t sound like a lot of time to wait, but idling a boat in tide-currents and engine-wake, is an adventure in itself!! It’s one of the few times theCaptain would really like a bow thruster. A big cabin cruiser came up next to us andsaid, “I don’t know why they’re all hurrying. The next bridge doesn’t open till 2pm!”It was 1:19pm when he said that. We were at the end of the pack, a comfort zoneaway from all the bobbing boats. Oh, almost forgot! Earlier in the day in Norfolk,we heard over the radio a captain on one boat screaming at the captain on ‘DitchDigger’ to “slow down, you have done damage with your wake!!!” Then we overheardbits and pieces of conversation the bridge tenders were having about where DitchDigger was. (FYI – when we go through lift and swing bridges, many times you seethe tenders writing down the names of the boats as they pass under) A NorfolkPolice boat, blue light flashing, came speeding by and pulled Ditch Digger over andboarded them! (I even got it on the video camera) It’s nice to know sometimespeople get caught! We went through the Great Bridge Lock at 2:40pm, that’s ourlast lock till next year. (It was pretty crowded in there. We were tied in therewith a total of 6 sailboats and 8 powerboats. We dropped about 6inches, no bigdeal!) After we were through the lock, we tied up against the wall in Great Bridgebefore the lift bridge. It was a ‘no frills’ wall. We tied our boats to the trees,bushes and a roadside fence! (CLEATS, someone needs to explain the concept)There was a man and his family crabbing at the wall and we asked them to pull uptheir lines so we could squeeze in there! There were many boats tied on both sidesof the water. One of the locals stopped to talk and he said he never saw this manyboats tied here. Steve and I had rum & coke and chips & salsa. The Captain didNOT enjoy today’s adventures. Sandy and I walked up to the grocery store. Wehad a chance to walk around a fabric store and a craft mall! (no, we didn’t buy, wewalked) We had a late dinner and then I finished the last Harry Potter book. (Ifyou like Harry Potter like I do, I suggest re-reading the whole series. There wereso many little ‘things’ I forgot from each book and it was interesting how sheincorporated them into the final book.) Now, it’s back to adult books. Sandy gaveme one! The Captains said we would be going through the Great Bridge here at 8amtomorrow. Page 3 Out 4hr 23min no sail top speed 655k aver 2.43kTrip 12.3nm Total 1287.9nm top wind 24.6Trip 14.2m Total 14.2m on ICW**Because the ICW markers are done in statute miles, Steve switched the GPS toread in miles and miles per hour instead of nautical miles and knots. So now I haveto convert the statute miles to nautical miles to figure the total nautical milestraveled on the PMO. (Captain Jeff has always had his GPS set for statute miles.)Day 85: Sunday October 21 Great Bridge, VA to Coinjock, NCSeveral boats left at the 7am lift. Then a HUGE barge came through and rocked usall about! The 50thsail started at 7:53am. We passed through the bridge at8:00am. We passed under several fixed bridges. It sure looks like we’re going tobrush the underside of some of these bridges! We had a few long waits. Thepowerboats plow by leaving us with some wicked wakes. At 10:17am, in the middleof the channel in 14feet of water, we hit something HARD. (yes, it IS possible tohit soft) It actually raised the boat! The force knocked the spices out of thespice rack, draws threw open and various items found their way to the floor. Yousimply don’t expect to hit something in the middle of the channel in 14 feet ofwater. Steve called ahead to a marina about available docks and then said he’d getback to them after checking with our traveling companions. (With ALL the boatsheading south, we get a little nervous about where we will be docking or anchoring.)We wanted to check out a couple of anchorages that the books wrote about. Whenwe saw them, they turned out NOT to be Hatch friendly!! (They might be friendlyat low tide. I simply can’t get the thought of swamp creatures out of my head,especially snakes!) So Steve called the marina back for reservations. At 11:53amwe crossed over into North Carolina waters. Manatee pulled up to the wall atCoinjock Marina first and then we rafted off of them. (they’re expecting a LOT ofboats today) We turned Yammy off at 3:11pm. Before dark the entire wall was fullof boats. (They ‘snug’ in at least 20 boats, some HUGE powerboats too.) Hatchfound a buddy (a black lab) to play with. They were jumping off the dock-wall intothe water. It was so cute I took a movie. Then there was a disagreement over apinecone, I believe, and the little bitch bit Hatch! She cut the edge of Hatch’s earand it was bleeding. So Hatch got a bath and medicine on his booboo. We decidedto do an early dinner together at the Coinjock Marina Restaurant. There werequite a few folks there. (probably THE social spot of Coinjock) Sandy, Jeff andSteve had prime rib. I had southern fried chicken – it was wonderful and I didn’tneed Mylanta later that evening like the others. We both had a RICH chocolate Page 4 dessert too! Steve was asleep by 8:30pm a pitcher of Yuengling tends to inducesleep. I stayed up till 1am finishing that book Sandy gave me yesterday!Out: 7hr 18min no sailtop speed 6.33k aver 4.66kTrip: 32.2nm Total 1320.1nmtop wind 17.8kTrip: 37m Total 51.2m on the ICWDay 86: Monday October 22 Coinjock to Alligator River, Columbia, NCThe sound of all the sailboats and powerboats woke Steve up early. Jeff called fora reservation at the Alligator River Marina for tonight. The anchorage the Captainschose last night is simply to shallow and difficult to enter. This is probably a greatidea too because this is the last marina with fuel for the next 86miles per thewaterway guide. Jim and Tim are about 35miles north of us. They plan on meetingus at the marina tonight. Our 51stsail started at 8:43am. It was a cool, cloudymorning with some bursts of sunshine. We saw a lot of boats as we powered downthe North River. We heard the Coast Guard report some dead heads in the area wewill be entering tomorrow. Steve marked them on the charts. At 11:30am, Stevepulled the sails out and turned off Yammy! We got to sail for 1hr and 1min! Jeffsaid his dinghy was moving faster than his boat, so the Yammys were engaged! Wepulled into the fuel dock at 3:00pm. We bought 23 gallons and then moved over toa dock. We docked at Short Second Alligator Marina in Columbia, NC, right next toManatee. (we paid for the dock at the Shell Gas Station there) After we finishedsecuring the boat, Sandy told us Hatch somehow ripped one of his toenails. It wasbleeding and he would NOT let anyone near it and would require a visit to a vet,ASAP! So Sand and Jeff left with Hatch in a cab to go visit a vet in Nags Head.Just before they left Jim and Tim came in and docked next to us. We went belowand started to prepare dinner, everyone is coming over at 6:30pm to eat sauce,meatballs and cavatelli. Jim, Tim, Steve and I went ahead and ate at 7pm. Sandy,Jeff and Hatch made it back around 7:30pm I think. It was quite a stressful timefor all of them. The taxi ride to the vet’s office was $90. The procedure andmedicine ran almost $200. One of the vet’s assistants gave them a ride back, sothey topped her tank off at the gas station here. NOT A FUN EVENING FORTHEM! We’ve decided to stay another day here to be sure Hatch doesn’t havecomplications. Jim and Tim will move on. They are trying to get to the next big cityso Cheryl can switch places with Tim. (He needs to get back to Ohio by Friday toget his work caught up!) Cheryl and Jim on Alaina Jade plan on traveling with us tothe Bahamas.Out 6hr 49min Sailed 1hr 1min top speed 7.10k (8.1mph) aver 4.86k (5.1mph)**Trip 31.3nm Total 1351.4nmtop wind 16.0kTrip 36miles Total 87.2miles on the ICW Page 5 **Due to the wind and the tide/current, I thought it was interesting how differentthe knot meter reads our speed through the water (in knots) compared to what theGPS reads (in miles per hour).Day 87: Tuesday October 23Alligator RiverRest DayIt was a cloudy morning. We stopped to check on Hatch and he seems to be doingvery well. He did have bad dreams during the night. Poor baby was jerking his paw.(When they brought him back last night, he was still pretty groggy.) They want tokeep his paw dry and clean, so no swimming for a few days! Sandy invited us for adelicious breakfast of pancakes with banana topping and bacon. Jim and Tim tookoff too. The marina dropped a local newspaper this morning, which was really nice.We left Manatee around 11am and it poured for a little while. This is a ‘work’ dayfor us, but first I took a 3hr nap! Steve did work while I slept. I did get up andaccomplished a few tasks, but hey, I have sympathy pains for Hatch! That wholeexperience was stressful for everyone! We ate leftovers for dinner and then wenton Manatee for dessert! The Captains studied our options for tomorrow. Nomatter how you look at it, tomorrow is going to be a long day. We are hoping toleave by 7am. It’s still dark at 7am, but docking in the dark is something neitherone of us wants to do in a strange place!Day 88: Wednesday October 24 Alligator River to Dowry CreekWe were awake by 5:20am. Yesterday, a HUGE catamaran came in and we weretalking with the female crewmember. She was a little ‘different’. She doesn’t likethe boat to “tilt”, so they like to leave at 4am when there is “no wind”. Sandy and Iwanted to ask her why they have a sailboat and not a powerboat, but good mannersprevailed. Yes, their cat was gone when we got up. Jeff said he heard them leavearound 5am. We were all doing the ‘walk’ at 6:30am. (Hatch isn’t eating properly-hope he’s okay!) We will leave in a few minutes – it’s REALLY humid and it’s cloudingup. Our 52ndsail started at 7am – in the dark! We went through the swing bridgeand the water is a little lumpy-bumpy. We can see rain off in the distance, going tobe a rough day. It started pouring on us at 7:40am and then let up for a bit andthen started pouring and blowing hard again. Steve looked up at the arch and ahuge grasshopper was resting there. The Captain performed a burial at sea. At9:40am we were hit with another downpour followed by a beautiful rainbow. By10am we were almost through the Alligator River, entering its skinny part. Then wepassed into the Pango-Alligator Canal. At 11:40am there was another downpour. Ihave also been keeping a lookout for alligators but none so far! We passed underthe Fairfield Bridge with no problems. At 1:39pm we went under the lowest fixedbridge so far on the trip. REALLY SCARY but nothing touched! A green-hulled Page 6 sailboat approached us coming the other way and hailed us to ask how tall our mastis. They must be higher than 63feet because they turned around and didn’tattempt to pass under that bridge. At 2:30pm we could see Dowry Creek Marina inthe distance. It was blowing like crazy, we waited for Manatee to dock and securetheir lines. It was a challenge for us too dock too, but there was a lot of help! (Jimand Tim had docked here last night.) It’s a nice place but the wind has beenbumping and bobbing the boats around. (unfortunately there is NO cell signal) Wetook goodies up and had our ‘happy hour’ by the pool. Sandy left to take a powernap. The rest of us went into the clubhouse to watch the weather on their TV.This is a really nice, clean place and Sandy & I wouldn’t mind spending another dayhere. A little history on the marina: Mary’s husband was a marine stationed downhere and had always loved the area. They retired and moved down here fromMichigan 8 years ago. They thought running a marina would be an interestingbusiness. Sadly, Mary’s husband passed away this past winter. Mary is running thebusiness with the help of some of the folks who dock there. (Michelle and herhusband and several others.) I knew as soon as I walked into the office this was mykind of marina. Mary is a quilter; she has many items she’s sewn for sale in thestore.Out 8hr 11min no sail top speed 6.74k aver 5.11kTrip 44.2nm Total 1395.6nm top wind 27.1kTrip 50.8miles Total 138miles on the ICWDay 89: Thursday October 25 Dowry CreekRest DayAlana Marie Molnar is 4 months old today!!! It was a noisy, water-slapping night!We decided to spend another day here. It’s been raining on and off all morning andthe radar shows more rain for the next couple of days. Steve baked apple muffinsfor breakfast. YUM! I did some laundry and while I was up there Mary gave me atour of her sewing room. It’s located in the clubhouse next to the pool. She has alot of neat stuff. When Mary lived in Michigan she had access to many quilt shopsand attended many classes. There is no quilt shops close to the marina so she mustpurchase all her supplies on line and through catalogues. She really misses theclasses! There isn’t even a sewing machine shop nearby! I invited her on board tosee some of the things I’ve made and items my friends have made for me. Funny,Mary is NOT a boater. She NEVER goes on the boats at the docks. She was alittle nervous coming on board. After a bit she began to relax a bit and she filledus in on the area. I’m always curious about the local wildlife, bears in particular.She said the county we just drove through has the largest population of black bearsin the U.S. Here I was wasting my time looking for alligators when I could havebeen searching for bears! Mary loans her Dodge Durango to the boaters for 90min Page 7 intervals to go to town for groceries. (southern hospitality) Jeff drove all of usthe 5mile trip to the store, past COTTON FIELDS! We bought groceries and take-out for dinner and came back in the rain. Oh, and the mosquitoes were horrible!The weather said there were tornado warnings for the middle of the state! Gladwe stayed here another day!!Day 90: Friday October 26 Dowry Creek toOrientalIt was a rough night. The water slapping was BAD! I was up at 2:30am and read till4am. Steve was up at 5am. We decided to leave. Steve really wants to get toOriental today so he can pick up the part that Harbor North mailed ‘generaldelivery’ to the Oriental post office. (The broken part has been duct-taped since itsnapped on 10-14 and he’s been watching it closely!) If we don’t pick it up today,we’ll have to wait till Monday! Manatee is staying another day here. Our 53rdsailbegan at 7:27am. As we were pulling away we realized the dinghy was FULL ofwater. So Steve did a ‘Jeff’ and crawled into the dinghy and dumped the water outwhile I steered. (Yes, he did have a lifejacket on!) Oh, and right as we got outaway from the docks the cell signal started. I cannot understand how there issignal over the water and not on land. There are no towers out in the middle of thewater. (Ok, so I’m challenged in math and cell tower technology!) Steve pulled thesails out and turned Yammy off at 9:51am. We sailed for 14min! Our top speedsailing was 7.9mph! We just couldn’t get her to sail longer the wind just wouldn’tcooperate! (That might be our shortest sail on record!) The weather has been ‘iffy’with lots of clouds and rain off in the distance. We entered Goose Creek at10:24am and saw two Canada geese and one pelican. At 11:15am we passed R.E. Mayo– a fish plant – with a bunch of ‘Forrest Gump’ fishing boats at its docks. Therewere men on board pulling fish from their nets. The smell was unique. It’s reallylumpy – bumpy out. Steve pulled out some of the jib to try to make the ride a bitsmoother but that lasted about 5min. Then the wind really started to blow and thepouring rain began. The Captain had loads of fun pulling the jib back in! Thisweather continued as we approached Oriental. (The wind blew the rain through thetiny hole where the zippers meet in the connector piece between the dodger andthe bimini shooting a stream of water into the cockpit. It’s the first time I’ve everseen that happen!) We pulled into Whittaker Creek Yacht Harbor at 2:53pm andMark helped us get the lines squared away. Several boats docked before us and hewas soaked through and through! We secured the boat, paid the dockage bill andthen Knute (handled the sales dept.) gave us a ride to the post office (the part wasthere!) and gave us the ‘grand tour’ of Oriental! He was trying to get us to go to alocal restaurant, ‘Oriental Steamers’, “the best restaurant in town” for dinner. (Ithink he gets a kickback!) We had a delicious chicken dinner on board! Page 8 Out 7hr 28min sailed 14min -top speed 7.9mphtop speed 7.59 aver 5.77Trip 43.5nm Total 1439.1nmtop wind 22.8Trip 50miles Total 188miles on the ICWDay 91: Saturday October 27 Oriental Rest DayIt rained practically all night and almost the entire morning. I borrowed a shelljigsaw puzzle from the marina library and worked on it most of the morning. Stevemade pancakes for breakfast and we watched TV. Steve did read his book too. Wehave read so many books between us I couldn’t say how many! Today is a great dayof rest! The weather predicts the rain will ease up after lunch. We decided totake a walk to town and carried the umbrella along to keep the rains away!! Thereare some really nice homes here. We walked around several stores: a ‘local’ artists’place, a fantastic gift shop, a small West Marine, and another local boat store. Westopped at the grocery store and picked up a fresh pizza to bake on board fordinner. I finished the shell puzzle while we watched the Ohio State game. (firstOhio State game we’ve seen televised down here) I made biscuits and tea forsnack. Tomorrow has got to be a workday! I swear!Day 92: Sunday October 28OrientalRest DayWe were up early and Sandy called around 8am to say they are on their way here. Iwalked out and saw one empty spot by us, wonder if they’ll put Manatee there?Many of the folks here at the Whittaker Creek Yacht Harbor are starting towinterize their boats. I’ve seen two folks carrying dehumidifiers, which I gathermost use over the winter. Steve did a LOT of cleaning, polishing, filling watertanks, etc. When we went to pay for another day, I noticed this HUGE spidersitting on a web on the light next to the door to the office. I thought it might be aHalloween decoration, so I touched it, with a 10foot pole of course! IT’S ALIVE! Page 9 Knute told us he’s a garden spider, very poisonous but good to have around, “don’thurt him”! I had to take this picture- he is pretty in an ugly, spider sort of way!Manatee was flying today-they were here by 2:30pm. They had them tie up at thefuel dock. There was a fairly strong north wind, which made docking interesting.(It probably didn’t help that Mark was so drunk he could hardly finish a sentence!)We were starving, so we ate an early dinner. Afterwards, Sandy and Jeff stoppedby with drinks and snack and we visited. Sandy had stuck an apple pie into her ovenbefore she came over and we went back to their boat to help eat it!!! The Manateecrew had a lot of FUN on their ride over here and they had some great storiesabout that and their time spent in Dowry Creek! My favorite was how Hatch’s afterdark pee walks have become very restricted. Hopefully, if you walk down thecenter of the well -it sidewalk and make lots of noise as you walk the snakes, bears,and large mosquitoes won’t bother you, right? (Yeah, and there are no alligatorsunder the bed?) We came back to our boat walking down the center of the pathwatching for critters. I started another jigsaw puzzle and worked on it till Icouldn’t see the pieces and then finished another book! Oh, and when I showedSandy the spider she decided the head on Manatee was a better choice!Day 93: Monday October 29 Oriental to Morehead City Page 10 Last night the Captains talked about Beaufort or Morehead City for today. CaptainJeff reserved us a spot at Portside Marina and wants to leave at 10am. The 54thsail of Presto started at 10:16am. It was cool, breezy, and a little lumpy-bumpy.We entered Adams Creek at 11:15am. This was a great soup and hot sandwich day!At 1:40am we entered Newport River. We went under two fixed bridges andthrough one Railroad Bridge that was in the up position. We started heading intoMorehead City at 2:10pm but the marina wouldn’t answer the radio. It seems moreoften than not, we have to call marinas on the cell phone the further south wetravel. All of us walked up to pay the bill and then took a walk around town. Theyhave a LOT of neat stores here. No grocery, just junk. I think we walked over 2miles for a loaf of bread Steve bought in a ‘98cent’ store! There was even a quiltshop here, but it was closed on Mondays. (They said there was a grocery about a 1-½ miles ‘up the road behind the Rite Aid’! It was another Brockport mile!) Earlier,the group had passed a restaurant ‘Captain Bill’s Restaurant’ who has an ‘all you caneat fish fry’ on Mondays, so we decided to meet there for dinner! The choice offish was trout or bluefish and the food was your basic two Mylanta meal, but theentertainment was PRICELESS! While we were eating, a large trawler (‘Airways’from Palm Beach, FL) attempted docking. He pulls in and tries to make a quick rightturn up against a dock. He threw a stern line over one of the huge pilings andproceeded to give full power! (he had a bow thruster too) He pulled the piling outand had it jammed against his swim platform, plus his bow swung out and bumped asmall powerboat! This process took about an hour, the sunset and it was gettingdifficult to see in the dark. Jeff wanted to run back to his boat and get hisfloodlight. I wanted to go get the camera! Eventually, the piling did drop into thewater and he and his helper were still struggling when we left. (Remember, he hada stern line around that piling, what a mess!) Hopefully the owner of the restaurantwas able to get a hold of the owner of the dock and was able to get there and makethis guy pay for the damage he did! It was getting pretty dark and COLD when westarted walking back to the boats. We passed several restaurants and discoveredthey had free docks behind them for patrons of their restaurant! Maybe on ourreturn trip we shall tie up at ‘The Sanitary Restaurant’! (How could anyone name arestaurant that? But it did have a lot of customers!)Out 4hr 25min No Sail Top speed 7.63k (*9.3mph) aver 5.34Trip 23.5nm Total 1462.6nm Top Wind 30.3kTrip 27miles Total 215miles on the ICW*The advantage of traveling with the tide! Our GPS said our max speed was9.3mph!Day 94: Tuesday October 30 Morehead City to Swansboro Page 11 We invited the crew of Manatee to eat pancakes and sausage with us at 8:30am.Hatch would NOT jump aboard Presto. Something has scared him about our boatbut we simply don’t know did it! The Captains decided to go to Swansboro and madereservations for Dudley’s Marina. We helped Manatee take off, they had a boatdocked behind them and it was a little tricky to get out. (Well, it would have beenfor Captain Steve, but NOT Captain Jeff!) The 55thsail of Presto started at10:11am. The first fixed bridge was just around the corner. We went under itbarely at 10:22am. Our antenna brushed the support beams under the bridge!!First time we have BRUSHED A BRIDGE!!! Jeff said the bridge sign said 62.3, soat that distance our antenna touches! (So 63 and over is what we want to see!) Atbreakfast, Jeff told us he heard from Jim and Tim. He grounded his boat and hadto be towed into Southport. His boat is out of the water being repaired. (Somehowduring towing a line wrapped around his propeller and bent his shaft. I see bentshaft jokes in Jim’s future.) We’ve been making great speed running with the tide,Yammy just purrs along! At 11:55am Steve saw more dolphins swimming close toManatee in the Bogue sound. At 1:20pm we went under another fixed bridge and Idrove while Steve watched. We brushed the underside of that bridge-this isturning into an ugly day! I went below and finished making a loaf of French breadand left it to rise. By 1:45pm we were outside of the marina and again couldn’t raisethem on the radio. (Our cell bill is going to be enormous!) Manatee pulled over forfuel and we went over to a dock down from there and tied up. We had Yammy offat 1:55pm. We helped Manatee dock right behind us. We walked up together topay the bill. The marina office is in a BP station. (This is probably why they didn’tanswer the radio. Several other marinas we’ve been to have the same setup.) A56year old parrot, ‘Clyde’, was perched on a railing. When Hatch saw him he said‘bird dinner’, but Sandy yelled ‘no’! Inside, there was ‘Elvis’, a big old hound dog, ofcourse! There was a lot of neat stuff in the store. (lots of fishing stuff andfrozen fish in the freezer) We came back and shared a ‘happy time’ in the cockpit,snacks and pop only, everyone had odd jobs to perform! I stuck the bread in theoven. It was a recipe I had cut in half and it turned out pretty good. Steve wantsto figure out bridges, their heights, and high-low tides and try to coordinate ourtiming better to avoid anymore ‘brushes’ with bridges! After dinner, Sandy andJeff came over for chocolate chip cookies and conversation! The local newsreported to be on the lookout for right whales. They are endangered and have beenseen along the NC shoreline. (Too bad we won’t be out in the ocean to get a glimpseof one!) Steve also made a call to find out what the firing schedule at CampLejeune will be tomorrow. He spoke with Petty Officer Fox (Coast Guard) who said“firing is 0800 to 2300”. If they are practicing amphibious landings, they may closethat section of the waterway all day! He said we would just have to go up and thetower would let us know if we could proceed. (there’s a tower at either end of theICW where Camp Lejeune intersects) The adventure continues! Page 12 Out 3hr 44min No Sail top speed 6.82k (10.1mph) aver 5.28k (5.8mph)Trip 20.9nm Total 1483.5nm top wind 19.9kTrip 24miles Total 239miles on the ICWDay 95: Wednesday October 31 Swansboro to Topsail BeachHappy Halloween! When Jeff got up to take Hatch for a walk, their boat wasn’tmoving and their lines were tight! Yup, they were stuck in the sand! We shall wait alittle for the tide to rise and they get free. It’s weird, our rudder is probably5feet from the bow of Manatee and we are floating fine. This is something youdon’t really anticipate happening in this type of dock we are on. We ate breakfastand Steve called Harbour Village Marina in Topsail Beach for reservations. (It’sabout 30miles away.) We have been watching the weather and that tropical stormin Cuba, which is heading towards the Bahamas and may travel up the coast. We arelooking for a good place to tie up for a couple of days and hide. Well, the tideshould be higher by 11am, guess Jeff’s ADD kicked in, it’s 9:05am and he hasManatee off the muck and moving! Guess we’re leaving! The 56thsail started at9:17am. It’s a beautiful, sunny, cool morning with just a touch of wind. We havebeen treated to the usual ‘rock & roll’ of powerboat wake! We have another lowfixed bridge to travel under, so Steve filled the water tanks and all our extrawater bottles on board in hopes of lowering us a bit! (hope springs eternal) At10:35am we were approaching Camp Lejeune. (Steve took a movie) Two fully loaded(I do mean ‘loaded’) gunboats passed us and turned left into an inlet. Their crewscasually waved to us as they passed. We were the last boat in the ‘pack’ and I tookseveral pictures of Manatee getting passed by the gunboats. Then the gunboatsstarted their target practice out over the water! You could hear and SEE thebullets hitting the water! (I have a feeling this is a ‘show’ they usually put on forthe tourists.) Page 13 There were also a lot of military planes in the sky. (the Osprey too) Page 14 We had to slow down a bit for the next opening of the Onslow Bridge at 11:30am.At around 12pm, Manatee (they were lead boat) was approaching an area where thebuoys were a little confusing. (The red buoy was on portside then the red buoy wasto be on the starboard side…something like that.) Plus with the inlets there isshoaling and you have to take some turns wider to avoid grounding while trying tostay in the middle of the channel! There is also one more factor, the powerboats.They go faster (of course) and are constantly passing you. The nice powerboatcaptains do contact you over the radio and ask or state which side they will bepassing you on. They usually slow down too, which helps a little with the wake butmost times it really doesn’t matter. (I like to watch the depth meter when theypass. Sometimes it will drop as much as a foot for about 15 to 30 seconds. That’sabout how long it takes to run aground!) Well, at about quarter after 12pm, Stevehad slowed down a little too much and between the wind and the tide/current helost control and we ran aground! We were stuck for 5minutes. We saw two bigpowerboats approaching and this time ‘wake is good’! They basically rocked us free!(You should have felt how heart my fast was beating!) Steve said he really thoughtwe were going to need a tow! Jeff called on the radio at 1pm to tell us the nextfixed bridge is 65feet!! Hallelujah! We will celebrate this and the grounding-release later! We have only one bridge left today, but it’s only a lift bridge! Nowwe just have some shallow spots to contend with! It’s truly a balancing act travelingin the ICW. Sometimes the tide is with you and you go much faster than youanticipated and the next thing you know, you are at the next lift bridge and itdoesn’t open for another 45min. Welcome to our world! Yup, we had to wait 45minfor the Surf City Bridge to open! (But if I had my choice, it’s always better to bewith the tide than against! Sandy just called to ask Captain Steve “is tonight ascotch night?”…. silly girl! We pulled into Harbour Village Marina at 4:23pm andturned Yammy off. It’s a VERY nice marina but a ‘Brockport mile’ to the bathrooms!We ran into Jan and Pete the crew of ‘Seahoy’, a trawler. (They remember ourboats from Fairport on the Erie Canal! They were docked in Dowry Creek with ustoo.) We sat in Manatee’s cockpit and all of us had Happy Hour together! They hada lot of interesting stories. They have done this trip 15 or 16 times. Pete was a F14pilot and had a lot of interesting tales. They’re on their way to Florida for thewinter. They spend 4 months in Florida and the rest of the time they are travelingALL along the coast. Jeff came over after dinner and the Captains decided on theFederal Point Yacht Club in Carolina Beach would be our next destination. We willstay there at least two days until the predicted bad weather passes. There’s apossibility of 30mph winds or higher. If it gets REALLY ugly we may have to takethe bimini, dodger and solar panel down.Out 7hr 6min no sail top speed 7.62k (9.7mph) aver 4.87k (5.7mph)Trip 34.8nm Total 1518.3nm top wind 25.9kTrip 40miles Total 279miles on the ICW Page 15 Day 96: Thursday November 1Topsail Beach to Carolina BeachWe were awake early. The big concern today is whether the Figure Eight IslandBridge will be open. There was talk on the radio about construction on the bridgewith only limited openings. Steve called the bridge tender and they said they wouldbe opening on the hour and half hour. Our 57thsail started at 7:39am. A sailboatand a couple of powerboats passed us heading north. That seems so strange,especially on a Thursday morning. On weekdays we run into southbound boatsmostly. It’s a fairly cloudy morning with the sun peaking our now and then. Wehave a rather shallow area to go through according to the chart and as weapproached, there was a dredge there! Never thought I’d get so excited aboutseeing a dredge! We passed a BRIGHT yellow house with a red roof and CaptainSteve couldn’t resist asking the artistic Admiral on Manatee what she thought of it.(she LOVES yellow) She said, “It looks like McDonalds”! It was decided Prestocould have NO ISSUES today, the Captain is almost out of scotch! I just finishedscrubbing the yellow power cord. Geez, I must be bored! We were through theFigure Eight Island Bridge (who comes up with these names???) by 9:30am. Thenext bridge (bascule) is the Wrightsville Beach Highway Bridge. We were hoping tomake the 11am opening and got there a little early and had to play the ‘hoveringgame’ in front of the bridge! It really is a balancing act between the tide/current,the windage of our boat and the powerboats pulling past us, bouncing us around!The marina we’re going to in Carolina Beach is tucked up in a little inlet off theICW. After we turned up into this path, there were rows and rows of docks, butwe finally saw their sign on their bright orange building. There are many brightlypainted condos and houses on either side with docks in front of them. We bothdocked at the end of the dock and turned Yammy off at 1:11pm. This place doeshave the nicest bathrooms/showers we’ve seen and a sweet swimming pool too! Wepaid for two nights. This should be a great place to wait out the storm. We walkedto town and went to McDonalds, first chicken nuggets in over a 100 days! Sandyand I checked out some of the gifts shops. We walked to the beach too. Sandyand Jeff went back to get Hatch for a walk on the beach. (Dogs are allowed on thebeach November 1 through March 1, talk about timing!) Steve and I continued towalk around. This is a typical beach town and many places are closed for theseason. We couldn’t believe how many places are ALL decorated for Christmas!When we got back, we stopped and had a drink with the Manatee Crew. (Hatch hada GREAT time at the beach!) We invited Sandy over to watch Grey’s Anatomytonight at 9pm. She left Captain Jeff and Hatch asleep on Manatee. (CaptainSteve went to his cabin to read, but was asleep before 9pm! The male crewmembers had a hard day I guess!) Page 16 Out 5hr 32min no sail top speed 7.16k (9.5mph) aver 4.30k (5.7mph)Trip 25.2nm Total 1543.5nm top wind 19.9kTrip 29miles Total 308miles on the ICWDay 97: Friday November 2Carolina BeachRest DayThe wind woke me up at 2am and I never really went back to sleep. It howled allnight and rocked the boat. (rocking usually puts me to sleep, but the howling is anunpleasant noise) Steve went out several times to check the lines. I started doingsome laundry at 6:30am and we both kept busy doing odd jobs. We kept theinstruments on so we could see how hard the wind was blowing. It was up to as highas 32knots, but no rain so far! Jim called to say he and Cheryl are on their wayover in a rental car and should be here around 11am. (They are docked over inSouthport.) Steve put new lines on our three large fenders and then he washed theboat off and hooked up the cable TV. (Boy, if that doesn’t bring the rain!) WhenCheryl and Jim arrived, we all piled into their car and went to a Mexican restaurantfor lunch. Afterwards, we walked around and went to the beach to check out theHUGE waves! The Admirals left in the car and did some shopping while the Captainswalked back to the boats. Cheryl and Jim had to get back for the last ferry ride by6pm; the ferry cuts about 60miles off the trip to Southport. It was great to seethem and they will be joining our adventure when we leave here. It was really afantastic day considering how windy it was! (The winds got as high as 34k on ourwind instrument.)Day 98: Saturday November 3Carolina BeachRest DayThe wind finally stopped blowing during the night. We both took long, hot showersin the nice facility here. (The women’s shower had a double head!) Jeff has theiraft cabin all torn apart trying to figure out where a ‘head smell’ is coming from. Wedecided to spend another day here. (Sandy wants to get her laundry done too.)Plus the pumpout is located right here and the Captains want to sanitize theirholding tanks! This was an excellent time for the Admirals to do a little shopping,pick up the items they forgot yesterday! Well the good news, Jeff put blue foodcolor in his tank to check for leaks, no leaks! The bad news, the head smell is stillthere. The four of us walked up to the hot dog shop and bought ‘lunch’ and broughtit back and had a picnic poolside. We came back to Presto to ‘watch’ football.(Yeah, we took naps.) Then we got up and Steve made sauce while I made a batchof cavatelli. Sandy and Jeff are coming for dinner at 7pm and Sandy is makingbread pudding!! Tonight the clocks get ‘fall forward’!! We plan on leaving forSouthport at 8am tomorrow. Page 17 Day 99: Sunday November 4Carolina Beach to SouthportOf course we were all up early with the time change. We did our usual morningroutine. (Steve had oatmeal. Why doesn’t oatmeal taste like oatmeal cookies?) Igot my Hatch Hug! He’s running around the dock! Happy Dog – Happy Dog!! Our58thsail began at 8:10am. I turned on Yammy as Manatee pulled away. I drove usaway from the dock at 8:12am. (Hey, it was a straight shot, the Captain trustedme!) By 8:30am we were under our first fixed bridge. Jeff called to say “it’s66feet”! Yeah!! (We need at least 63feet and it’s low tide!) We have anothertricky day of maneuvering through buoys, so I have to help. No eating bonbons andreading fashion magazines today! (yeah, right) But we only have about 20milestoday, so that’s not bad! We are in Cape Fear River now and just passed theRichard Lowry Tug from NY pushing a BIG BARGE! It started out sunny, clear skiesand 42 degrees. The salon was 57 degrees and it is up to 60 now. Steve is allbundled up. (He’s wearing a heavy Mustang jacket Stephen gave him) I hear Hatch‘talking’; wonder if he’s cold (can’t be, he’s wrapped in the blanket Aunt Vicki madehim) or just bored! At 10:10am we turned back into the ICW channel. We came upto the town of Southport at 10:15am and ‘Alaina Jade’ joined our little parade! Wewent under another fixed bridge. (68ft!) I thought on this trip I would worry moreabout grounding, but it’s the fixed bridges playing havoc with nerves! We weredocked at the St. James Marina and turned Yammy off at 11:19am. This is abeautiful place; gorgeous homes and condos with their own great docks. They havea nice store here and I had a Dove bar! (Even though chocolate makes my clothesshrink!) They only have 50amp service (yeah, mostly big powerboats) so noelectricity. Jim took a cab to town and bought a splitter (He has more occasions toneed it!) and he let us plug into one lead. (sweet guy) Alaina Jade and Presto aredocked next to each other (obviously) at ‘H’ dock. Manatee is on the opposite sideof the marina at ‘C’ dock. They have chairs with cushions and tables set up in frontof the marina store/office and we sat up there and snacked and visited. (Today isHatch’s Birthday!) Afterwards, we returned to our boats for power naps! Jeffstopped by and the Captains figured Myrtle Beach would be our next stop. Stevecalled the Barefoot Landing Marina for reservations and left a message on theirmachine. We ate a delicious steak dinner with a bottle of Sterling Cab (Christmasgift from Patti & Joe)…YUM! We plan on leaving here at 6:30am tomorrow.Out 3hr 9min no sailtop speed 7.43k (11.1mph) aver 5.0k (5.7mph)Trip 18.3nm Total 1561.8nmtop wind 14.4kTrip 21miles Total 329miles on the ICW Page 18 Day 100: Monday November 5 Southport, NC to Myrtle Beach, SCSteve was up and down several times during the night. Neither of us slept well.Jeff and he went over the ‘Lockwood’s Folly’ area yesterday again. Steve evenmade hard copies of it (the Army Corps of Engineers’ survey). It is suppose to beEXTREMELY shallow: “don’t attempt at low tide”; “check with someone with localknowledge”; a lot of scary warnings! Of the two men at the St. James Marina; onesaid do it at high tide and you should be all right. The other said to go back and goout the inlet and DON’T attempt it! (High tide is at 4:30am and 4:30pm.) Geez, Ijust would like one day of travel with NOTHING to worry about! Our 59thsailbegan at 6:29am! (We hit our 6:30am start time!) Manatee was already underway.Steve helped Jim a little and we were underway by 6:40am.There were a lot of boats already on the ICW. By 7:55am we were ALL through“Lockwood’s Folly”. There were NO ISSUES! (All that worrying for nothing, thankgoodness!) Only bad thing to happen to us was a huge powerboat came flying by us.Steve blew the horn and yelled at the guy on the radio to slow down. (This is thefirst time on the trip he has done that!We went under another fixed bridge, 67 feet! Sweet! I finished another book.It’s a pretty cool day today, 56 in the salon. Making breakfast helped warm up the Page 19 place a bit. We are trying to make the 10am opening of the first pontoon bridge ofthe trip. There was another very shallow area and then a 70foot high bridge to gounder. We arrived at the pontoon bridge a little early and had to jockey aroundwith several other boats. Alaina Jade ran aground a bit and ‘Super Captain Jeff’came to the rescue and pulled them free! (We were in the back of the heatwatching all the festivities!)This is the only pontoon bridge on the ICW.At 10:45am we entered South Carolina waters. We went under another fixedbridge, through a swing bridge in Myrtle Beach, and then tied up at the BarefootLanding Marina in Myrtle Beach. We shut the Yammy off at 12:55pm. This dock isright next to an outlet mall. (Electricity and water, but no bathrooms, you use theones at the mall.) Oh, almost forgot! The Manatee crew stopped a few miles backto wave to their friends (Pat & Bob) who have a condo right there on the ICW.(They enjoy sitting on their veranda watching the boats pass by.)We walked around the mall, ran into Sandy and Jeff. We came back to our boat,run the furnace for a while showered and went with the group to dinner. Pat andBob met us at the T-Bonz Grill for a delicious meal and great conversation. The Page 20 Captains agreed its Bucksport on the Waccanaw River tomorrow. (Doesn’tBucksport sound like a Harry Potter character?)Out 6hr 26min Top speed 7.70k (10.5mph) Aver 5.51k (5.7mph)Trip 33.9nm Total 1595.7nmTop Wind 21.3kTrip 39miles Total 368miles on the ICWDay: 101 Tuesday November 6 Myrtle Beach to BucksportElection Day! We were all up early and planned to use the discount coupons we gotat the information booth to buy breakfast at the House of Blues at 8am. When wegot there, the place was closed! (Must be their winter hours) So we walked over tothe ever-great Cracker Barrel! We were back at the boats by 9:30am. Stevecalled a marina in Bucksport and got us reservations.Our 60thsail started at 10:11am. We went under a triple fixed bridges at 10:40am.This privately owned bridge we traveled under next. Notice how much prettier it isthan the other bridges?We went under several more bridges and even under a cable with gondolas movingover it. There were several golf courses with holes running along the ICW. Thegolfers waved from the tee box. We have passed SO MANY beautiful homes.Many have decks and gazebos built out to the water’s edge. We crossed another RRbridge and a fixed bridge right next to it. Now we’re hurrying to try to catch the1:15pm opening of a swing bridge and were through it by 1:18pm. We entered theBucksport Marina in Conway, SC and turned the Yammy off at 2:20pm at the fueldock. Time to fill the Yammy’s tummy! It’s the 9thtime we’ve bought diesel and it’sonly $2.80 a gallon! (Yes, I’m trying to get used to saying “It’s only…!) Then wewalked the boat over from the fuel dock and tied off behind Alaina Jade. (SinceJuly 27th, we have bought fuel 9 times, including our first fuel before we left. Wehave used a total of 261.8 eng hours, ran the generator too, and bought 251.3556gallons of diesel at a cost of $735.54. Not bad for 101 days considering mostpowerboats put in more than that amount in one fueling! ) It’s also a good thingwhen Steve called this morning he asked how much their diesel was. It was $2.90 agallon with 10 cents off for Boat US members, $2.80 a gallon. They had a dieseldelivery and now the price is $3.28! They honored the quoted price.All of us hung around the dock and visited with the ‘locals’ and the other dogs. Jimbought Yuengling and we ate appetizers at one of the patio tables. We went inside Page 21 and ate dinner together. Afterwards, we went to the bar and sang Karaoke!Actually, Jeff and Jim performed! We think Harbor North should do ‘Karaoke’ atthe October gathering next year! Hopefully, Jeff and Jim will sing at Beth andEric’s wedding! (I wonder if there is enough alcohol in the Bahamas to get them todo that?) (I wonder if there is enough alcohol to LET Beth and Eric AGREE to letthem sing?!!)We came back to the boat early. (bar – cigarette smoke – you know the drill) Ithas really been blowing. There is a front moving through. No electricity here, only50amp service. Steve ran the generator for a half hour to heat up the boat. Wethrew ALL the quilts and blankets on the bed! Georgetown tomorrow.Out 4hr 19min Top Speed 7.32k (8.0mph) Aver 5.41k (5.7mph)Trip 20.9nm Total 1616.6nm Top Wind 19.4Trip 24miles Total 392miles on the ICWDay: 102 Wednesday November 7 Bucksport to GeorgetownIt was a chilly night, but we stayed warm! The salon was 56 when we got up. Steveran the generator a half hour to warm up the boat. This cold front goes all the wayto Florida! There’s snow in the Great Lakes the weatherman says, guess we don’thave it so bad. Sandy was up EARLY and taking a shower. They blew a breaker lastnight and they ran out of propane yesterday after breakfast. She’s coming overfor a cup of hot water after her shower. Steve made us a great breakfast. Jeffstopped by; he’s got us reservations in Georgetown. Guess we only have one bridgetoday and it’s in Georgetown. I took a picture of the first lizard we’ve seen so far.The dockhand stopped by to say the homemade sausage is here. (When we arrivedyesterday we found out this place is known for its country sausage. We planned oneating some for dinner, but they were all out.) We all bought some this morningthen got ready to leave. Alaina Jade left first and then Manatee.We started our 61stsail at 10:14am. We all headed down the Waccamaw Rivertogether. It’s sunny, blue skies, but COLD! No bridges till we get to Georgetown.I stayed below most of the time. Just steering when Steve needed to use thehead. (I know, more information than I needed to give.) I did make a hot lunch andhad Steve come below to eat in the warm salon. At 1:28pm we went under the fixedbridge in Georgetown and then we turned and headed towards the GeorgetownLanding Marina. We were docked and turned Yammy off at 2:05pm. We securedthe boat and walked up to pay the bill. Page 22 We decided to walk around a bit. We stopped at the hardware and Steve boughthimself a shirt. Half of this hardware looks like a Cabelas. We walked a littlefurther. The Taco Bell has a happy hour, 4 – 7pm tacos are 59cents. Too bad itwas only 3pm! We came back to the boat for a snack and watched TV.Manatee went over and had her tank filled. The diesel here is only $2.88 a gallon.Afterwards, Jeff came over and the Captains discussed tomorrow’s plans. We mustleave before 6:30am to go about 60miles to Charleston. There is a bridge therethat is closed 4pm through 6pm. (It gets dark here around 5:45pm) Steve made adelicious dinner and we cleaned up and went to bed early will ALL the heat on. Itmay drop to freezing tonight.Out 3hr 51min Top Speed 7.14k (9.9mph) Aver 5.69k (5.8mph)Trip 24.3nm Total 1640.9nmTop Wind 18.5kTrip 28miles Total 420miles on ICWDay: 103 Thursday November 8 Georgetown to CharlestonWe turned the Yammy on at 6:29am and started our 62ndsail. It was pretty darncold! I stayed below as much as possible. I took the helm over so the Captain to gobelow and eat his breakfast in the warm salon, but I noticed Jim was heading overin the wrong direction and Steve gave him a quick call. Jim already realized his‘oops’ and corrected. (He was heading towards the Big Boy Water!) (Mom, thereare a lot of inlets that take you out into the ocean instead of following the ICW.We would like to try it, but since we don’t sail 24 to 48 hours straight, it may nothappen on this trip. We’re looking for a day-sail place where we can do this!) Jeffcalled a bit ago to say he counted 17 boats leaving with us. Some of the sailboats(with the TALL masts) headed out to the ocean. We started to enter a land cut at7:45am. I decided to go below and do some stuff. I put muffins in the oven tobake and of course the propane tank ran out of gas in the middle of baking! But itWAS a good thing too because while I took the helm and Steve switched to a fulltank of propane, some dolphins went swimming by. I think we have seen at least onedolphin or more EVERYDAY on the ICW! Sandy has spotted them the most.I made Steve come below to warm up his feet and eat hot muffins. He has pulledthe jib out several times but we just ‘motor-sailed’. It’s surprising how much speeda little sail adds to the motor, in the right wind. But I don’t think it’s as muchspeed as traveling WITH the tide/current. There are several narrow and shallowareas we’ve been passing through, really makes the traversing the ICW interesting. Page 23 I’m a tad depressed today. I just finished another re-organizing of the suppliesand discovered we are down to 11 bottles of wine! (one of them is white) Steve andJeff keep saying we will ALL be RUM DRINKERS exclusively by the time we enterthe Bahamas. (It may be sooner than we think!) Yes, Steve and I are wine snobs!The wines we’ve seen in the stores do not compare to our last 11 bottles. Weprobably won’t be eating a lot of beef/meat products in the Bahamas, so I won’tmiss my red wines that much.We ran into some REALLY shallow water at Green 117A and as the trawler ‘Courage’passed by (he’s owned one sailboat and this is his second trawler, made this trip 15to 16 times) he called Steve to let him know the water was a little deeper on theright side. MOST boaters are so friendly and helpful!As we were approaching the Charleston bay area, the Captain got a little upset. Hecouldn’t find markers with the numbers his chart showed. Captain Jeff took overthe lead and got us to the Cooper River Marina. (Turns out there was some workdone in the area and they re-numbered the markers.) We turned the Yammy off at4:12pm.This marina is fairly new and about 4 or 5 miles north of Charleston. We areactually in North Charleston. This whole area used to be an army base and it wassold back to the town. Different businesses lease the various buildings. Themarina is really nice, clean, and the laundry is located in their lounge area, which hasa satellite TV. We plan on spending two days here so we can tour the Yorktown.Our son, Stephen, went scuba diving in the Cooper River several years ago. Hewarned us to watch out for the alligators. Of course, he was diving further up intothe river. The dockhand said that any alligators that make it this far down arealmost dead.Today was a long day. We were pretty tired. We ate leftovers and Jeff stoppedby with some of Sandy’s fresh baked cookies! SWEET!Out 9hr 43min no sail Top Speed 8.02k (11.7mph) Aver 6.24k (5.9mph)Trip 59.1nm Total 1700nmTop Wind 19.4kTrip 68miles Total 488miles on the ICWDay: 104 Friday November 9 Charleston Rest Day Page 24 Happy Birthday Linda! We were up early and I walked up to see if anyone was usingthe laundry. There was a fellow boater there. (He’s lived in this area for the past24 years.) I asked him about a “clean air” form I saw on the counter. He filled mein on a local business there that emits coal dust into the air, which eventually findsits way to the boats too. They want to expand their business and the petition is toprevent this expansion. (And I thought the crap from the mill in Huron was bad!)Of course I had to ask him about the alligators too. He asked me if I heard aboutthe attack 6mos ago. Well, of course I hadn’t. He told me alligators don’t botheryou unless they’re hungry and they only go after something that is smaller thanthem. Six weeks ago a 12-foot alligator bit the arm off of a retired Navy diver.This was an extremely rare event. Guess who won’t be dangling her feet in thewater?Steve tried to get a car from Enterprise, but none were available. So after talkingwith Matt in the office, we decided to take our dinghies to town and tie up at adock. (free, because Matt arranged it) Then we can take a water taxi to theYorktown. Sandy suggested eating a big lunch out and then returning to the boatsfor an appetizer/drink dinner. Also, they want to stay one more day here so hernephew and his family can come visit. We ended up getting a late start. Jeffdecided to finish some work on Manatee and not come. So Sandy road with the veryfast Banks crew and we took our dinghy and headed out. As we were passing afreighter (docked) we saw dolphins! I think it was almost 2pm when we tied up.Steve figured we had to start back for the marina no later than 4pm to avoid anighttime dinghy ride. By the time we eat lunch it will be too late to tour theYorktown. We ended up just eating lunch and then walking around the town. This isa BEAUTIFUL town. I took a ton of pictures. Page 25 Cheryl and Jim split off to do some shopping. The three of us ended up at thegrocery store. We got back to the dinghies first and started out. Cheryl and Jimblew by us a little later. Oh a HUGE freighter with two tugs pushing it passed byus! Sandy took some pictures. Boy does a freighter look BIG from a dinghy!The ‘group’ took their appetizers and drinks and we partied on Alaina Jade! Wewatched a Robin Williams’ movie – funny! (perhaps a chick flick) Another Great Dayin Paradise!Day: 105 Saturday November 10 Charleston Rest DayI was up early and had my laundry done by 8:30am. Steve started to walk out withthe gas can to look for a gas station. He turned around after about a mile and cameback. (He’s a little nervous about taking another dinghy ride with Ernie’s red belly2/3 empty!) (We have dad’s old Evinrude 2cycle outboard motor and I have namedthis motor ‘Ernie’ and his red belly is his outboard tank that holds 3 gallons ofmixed gas.)When Steve got back he baked muffins and then paid for another day of dockage.Bacons aren’t coming with us to the Yorktown. Their nephew Patrick and his family Page 26 are coming for a visit after lunch. Jim rented a car and the four of us left at11:25am, straight for the Yorktown.When we arrived, the parking lot was blocked off and we had to park in the street.Today is Veteran’s Day and there were displays set up in the parking lot and theywere also setting up the stage and stuff for the Charlie Daniel’s Band concert laterthat evening. They even had fireworks set up on the bow of the carrier for later. Itook a ton of pictures.Back in 2001 when Steve was working in San Antonio, we took a trip to CorpusChristi and toured her sister ship, the Lexington. We were both looking forward toseeing the Yorktown. We walked all over her and had a great time. But our kneesand hips took a beating. There is NO WAY we could live on a carrier!Afterwards, we stopped at two West Marines and one Boater’s World and managedto find a few items we needed. We stopped and ate lunch at 4:28pm, so I guess itshould count as dinner too! Next, we stopped for a few groceries and then startedheading back to the marina. The marina is actually in North Charleston and it wasvery tricky to find our way back. Remember, this WAS an old Navy base and theystill have some restricted areas. We passed several guard stations (looked likelittle outhouses) – and there were a LOT of twists and turns to get back! I’m glad Iwasn’t driving! Page 27 The 6 of us met on Alaina Jade to share appetizers and drinks. The Captainsdecided tomorrow would be a short day. (Jim needs to return the rental car in themorning and Cheryl has some laundry to do.) Maybe we will leave around 11am.The force of the water (current) passing under the docks here is pretty fast. Itmakes so much noise it sounds like it’s pouring outside.Day: 106 Sunday November 11 Charleston to Johns IslandWhen I went up to the office, Jim was finishing their laundry. I came back and weate breakfast and I made a loaf of banana bread. Jeff stopped by with blueberrymuffins! Steve and Jeff drove Jim’s FAST dinghy over to the Charleston Marinawhile Jim dropped off the rental car, then they all drove back to the marina in thedinghy. While they were gone, two old ships came down the river.The 63rdsail started at 11:35am. Steve pulled out the main and turned the Yammyoff at 11:50am and then pulled out the jib. Jeff called to say, “What’s wrong?” Wethought he was teasing about us sailing. Later, we found out he really thought wehad grounded or something because it looked like Presto had come to a complete Page 28 stop. (I didn’t think we were going THAT slow!) But just then we realized afreighter was coming up the river and we needed to be able to maneuver quickly, sothe Yammy came back on and the sails in. We sailed for a whole 2 MINUTES! Assoon as we were clear of that freighter, another came up and on the radio we hearda third freighter say he was turning into the river. Yes, this was a time being amotorboat was better than being a sailboat!We drove past some of the beautiful waterfront homes of Charleston and thenwent under our first fixed bridge on the other side of Charleston at 12:02pm.Then it was another fixed bridge and through a bascule bridge at 1pm. I tried toget a movie of the dolphins swimming around us but taking a picture of dolphins islike taking a picture of loch ness monster! I also took a movie of a narrow placecalled Elliott Cut. There are rocks all along the side and the current is the worsewe have experienced so far on this journey. The Yammy was at 2000 RPM and theknot meter read 5knots, but the boat was moving less than a ½MPH on the GPS!Then a HUGE C121 Starlifter flew over and the noise was so loud I thoughtsomething was wrong with the Yammy! We pulled into the marina and turned theYammy off at 2:25pm. Ross Marine is a ‘no frills’ place; they have a port-a-potty.The current that was running under the docks was UNBELIEVEABLE! Page 29 We ate a light lunch and then Steve and I pulled the dinghy onto the dock andwashed it off as best we could! (There wasn’t a faucet available, so it was thebucket brigade!) The bottom of the dinghy was filthy! Afterwards, we secured thedinghy on top of the bow. By then, it was pretty darn dark outside! We came belowfor linguine and clams.Out 2hr 50min Sailed 2minutes!! Top Speed 7.55k (11.7mph) Aver 5.28k (5.9mph)Trip 13nm Total 1713nmTop Wind 12.6kTrip 15miles Total 503miles on the ICWDay: 107 Monday November 12 Johns Island to Bennett PointHappy 85 Years Dad!! We were up early and had a Hatch Hug! Nice way to startthe day! We ate breakfast, got the boat ready to leave, and helped Manatee outfirst. Sandy was at the helm and the Captains tried to hold; steer; control Manateewhile backing against that horrible tide/current. IT WAS REALLY DIFFICULT!Our 64thsail started at 8:33am. Unfortunately, no one was there to help us! Itwasn’t our most graceful departure but ‘no blood, no foul’! By 9:03am we wereunder our first HIGH fixed bridge. After taking several pictures I realized thememory card was full! Steve made a trip below and downloaded the pictures to thecomputer.We took a movie going through ‘church flats’ and flats is the BEST description ofthis area! Before lunchtime, Jeff called to say Alaina Jade is going on to the nextstop in Port Royal. We went under another fixed bridge at 12:09pm, then at 1:55pmwe were in Mosquito Creek and almost to Bennett Point. Manatee pulled up and tiedto the floating dock in front of the B & B Seafood House and then we tied upbehind them and turned the Yammy off at 2:11pm. Boy, and I thought Ross Marinewas ‘no frills’ place to dock! This place has no bathrooms (out houses), water orelectricity! We walked both boats up closer to the fuel pump and topped off ourtanks. (The all knowing ‘they’ say the price of fuel continues to rise the furthersouth you travel, so what the heck.) Then we walked the boats back as far as wecould and secured the lines. Tonight, a shrimp boat is planning on docking in frontof Manatee. (Good thing Alaina Jade went on because we would probably have hadto raft!) We walked up to pay the bill and decided to buy fresh clams. Sandybought some fresh shrimp too. Several powerboats stopped by to buy fresh fishtoo. Popular place!We decided to eat dinner together on Presto. Sandy made a huge plate of rice withshrimp. Steve cooked the clams. While we were eating Sandy was baking achocolate cake with chocolate sauce in her oven. Hot chocolate dessert! Does itget any better? It was DARK by 6:15pm. Then we heard the shrimp boat coming in Page 30 and we all jumped outside to watch him dock. We were all a little tired and Sandyfelt a little under the weather, so we turned in early!Out 5hr 38min no sailTop Speed 7.2k (12.5mph) Aver 5.97k (5.9mph)Trip 33nm Total 1746nmTop Wind 14kTrip 38miles Total 541miles on the ICWDay: 108 Tuesday November 13 Bennett Point to Port RoyalHappy 28 years Christopher! It’s cold. Steve made coffee and tea – to warm uphis hands I think! The 65thsail started at 7:28am, Yammy needed a good warmingup! We couldn’t keep the dew off the dodger, but we didn’t want to open thewindow incase we cracked the plastic. Jeff started to pull away (Sandy was stillbelow, not feeling well) and Steve noticed one of the fenders floating away. Stevecouldn’t reach it, but Jeff managed to chase it down, pull it onboard and getunderway! SUPER CAPTAIN JEFF strikes again!! By 7:40am, we were away fromthe dock and as we were going down Mosquito Creek I was able to get the dolphinsswimming around us on film/disc (I think)! The water was so flat; they were prettyeasy to see. By 8:05am we were back on the ICW. I made breakfast and thenstayed below and did some typing on this journal. We were traveling with thecurrent and were basically flying down the ICW! We were a little early for the11am opening of the Ladies Island Swing Bridge in Beaufort and had to drift about abit. Then we pulled into the Port Royal Marina and turned Yammy off at 11:36am.This is a SWEET PLACE! (Of course ANYTHING is better than the last two placeswe docked!) First things first, they pulled their ‘pumpout cart’ down and pumped usout, for free! Then we visited with Cheryl and Jim a bit, they’re tied up right infront of us. We made plans to go out to dinner tonight. Then Steve and I wentbelow and ate lunch, Steve hooked the cable TV up, I tried to take a nap and Stevechanged the oil.We put our ‘walking shoes’ on and went for a little walk. Sandy was asleep in thecockpit of their boat (I should have taken a black-mail picture of her, but payback’sa bitch.) and we decided to wait to wash off the boat till later. We found a WestMarine to visit, imagine that! We walked around a few other stores and thenstopped at the Piggly-Wiggly for a few groceries. Steve washed off the boat whilethe rest of us walked up to the bar & grill at the marina for a drink andconversation. Steve joined us. The captains made the next day’s plans. Page 31 Steve and I got cleaned up and went to dinner with Cheryl and Jim. We took a cabto Beaufort and ate at ‘Panini’s’. The restaurant is located in the Old BeaufortBank; it was a really neat place with great food.Yesterday and today were so nice with no scary moments! Well, except for ourdeparture from Ross Marine, but nobody saw us, so it doesn’t count, right?Out 4hr 8min no sailTop Speed 7.60k (8.7mph) Aver 5.63k (5.9mph)Trip 23.5nm Total 1769.5nmTop Wind 13.6kTrip 27miles Total 568miles on the ICWDay: 109 Wednesday November 14 Port Royal to Vernon River, anchored, GeorgiaHappy 2years with Baker College Stephen! (hey, it’s a paying job honey, celebrate!)The Captains were up early and raring to leave. I woke up in low gear. This hasbeen a very nice marina and I wouldn’t mind stopping here on our return. The 66thsail began at 7:30am. Manatee was away first and then Presto. Alaina Jadebrought up the rear and I took a picture of them as they passed under the fixedbridge next to the marina. Page 32 The three of us had an interesting ‘Kodak’ moment taking pictures of each other.FUN TIMES IN THE ICW! At 8am we passed Parris Island. I’m trying toremember what movie was shot about that place? (Full Metal Jacket…memory, thefirst thing to go…) It definitely wasn’t as exciting as passing Camp Lejeune’sgrounds. We have had SO MANY dolphins today! I love it when they go under andtheir tails flop out on the water. We traveled through Port Royal Sound; a piece ofthe Chechessee River; then into Skull Creek. (Where did they come up with allthese interesting names? Probably Indian.) Jeff has been calling around forreservations, but everyone seems to be full! Jim called too. One of them got usreservations at the Landings Delegal Creek Marina in Savannah, GA which turnedtoday into a VERY LONG day. At 10am we were passing the Hilton Head area andthen under another bridge; no brush! In Calibogue Sound Steve went below for anap and I got to play Captain! We passed a fuel dock; regular was $4.15; diesel was$3.75! At 12:45pm we entered the Savannah River and entered the state ofGeorgia. SO many boaters we have talked with said Georgia is “the worst part ofthe ICW”. Many go outside and do overnights to avoid it as much as possible. Iwonder if we will have the same feelings about Georgia?After we entered the Wilmington River, I looked back at Manatee just in time tosee a HUGE freighter pass behind them traveling the other way. Page 33 We came up to the Causton Bluff Bridge (Sam Vernadore Bascule) and went throughthe opening with a group of boats. There was another fixed bridge at 1:53pm andthen we pasted Thunderbolt Marina (no room for us there). We passed SkidwayIsland and went through the Skidway Narrows Bridge at 3:19pm. The bridgetender told us to “come through quickly”. It probably took all of us (3sail and1power) 3 minutes to get through. He was closing the bridge as the last boat waspulling through. We couldn’t believe how much traffic was backed up. It must be amain throughway here. At 4:20pm we had the marina in sight. Alaina Jade haddocked earlier and had no problems. (of course the tide higher then) Jeff calledthe dock master and he advised not to attempt entering until the tide rises. Jeffand Steve talked it over, the worse case scenario, you ground and wait till the tiderises and then continue in. So Jeff led the way and we followed at a distance. TheManatee crew ran aground at 4:35pm.Later we found out the marina has dredged, but there is one HUMP, an undergroundcable, that the state MUST come in and lower and of course, it’s not a priority forthem. Jeff can now tell you exactly where that cable is located! We turned aroundand went looking for a place to drop the hook. We headed over towards an island,off the channel, on the edge of the Vernon River and anchored. Again, we are inthe low country of Georgia; salt water marshes; lots of tall grasses; NOT a lot ofprotection. We didn’t want to go any further because ‘Hell’s Gate’ was our nextplace to traverse and you don’t want to attempt that when you’re tired and the light Page 34 is fading! We anchored in 14.8feet of water and turned the Yammy off at 5pm.Steve even let out more chain, but we were well anchored. The boat did not swingas much as usual. We kept the radio on and watched Manatee. At just after 5Sandy called to say a group of dolphins were jumping and playing around their boat.Hatch thought he should join them. Apparently they thought they were going toget fed. (the charter boats usually stop and feed them) Jeff called at 5:45pm.Good news – Bad news. Good – he thinks the tide is starting to come up a bit. Bad –he thinks he’s catching what Sandy’s had! He also suggested since we’re only goingabout 11miles tomorrow, why don’t we all stay at this marina tomorrow. Well, Idon’t want to even go in this marina, why tempt fate? We kept watching Manateeas best we could in the dark! At almost 6:30pm Jeff called to say they were ontheir way to the marina. He called again at 7:30pm to say they were docked andsafe! The ONLY water depth issue was that one little spot!We had a delicious chicken dinner and Steve watched TV while I read. It’s amazinghow great the TV comes in out here but there’s no cell signal. As I was reading Ithought I felt a weird vibration. I looked outside and there in the middle of thechannel was a big cruise ship, all lit up. We think it’s the ‘Blue Moon’, an art shiptouring the ICW. Anyway, it wasn’t near us but I still made Steve hang anotheranchor light in addition to the one on the top of the mast!Steve did NOT sleep well. The inlet to the ocean was on our portside. He said,“there’s nothing between us and Africa!” (Jeff said later, “what about theAzores?” funny captains!) The Captain was up several times during the night; theAdmiral slept.Out 9hr 30min no sail Top Speed 7.27k (8.5mph) Aver 5.98k (6.0mph)Trip 53.9nm Total 1823.4nmTop Wind 15.6kTrip 62miles Total 630miles on the ICWDay: 110 Thursday November 15 Vernon River (anchored) to KilkennySteve was up early reading. I was the log in the aft cabin. He re-read charts,guidebooks, etc., to be better prepared if something like last night happens again.He also called the Kilkenny Marina to verify our reservation and if it was okay if weshowed up between 10 and 11am. The weather is calling for possible light rains thismorning and the wind picking up throughout the afternoon. Jeff called to say theManatee crew was spending another day there and Alaina Jade would be leavingwhen the tide permitted. We ate breakfast and then got ready to leave. Page 35 Our 67thsail began at 8:12am and it took the Captain almost 3minutes to pull up ALLthat chain! The winds were already starting to build and we had a few raindropstoo. It was cool and there were white caps, but we managed to see some dolphins.We passed through ‘Hell’s Gate’ with no issues, but the water DID go down to7.5feet, which made the Admiral VERY UNCOMFORTABLE! (My ‘comfort zone’ isno less than 10feet of water below the keel! Pretty unrealistic in the ICW!) I feelbad the Manatee is back at the dock, but I’m glad they didn’t come out in this cool,windy, damp weather. I called Sandy to tell her this and she said Hatch hadanother ‘first’. He got to see his first wild boar! I’m glad I missed that one! I’veseen pictures in Chris’s hunting magazines of ‘prize’ wild boars; talk about a mean,ugly creature! We entered Kilkenny Creek at 10:20am and turned Yammy off at10:41am. The Kilkenny Marina is in Richmond Hill, GA and about a ½ a baby stepabove the quality of the B & B Seafood House dock we tied up to on Mondayafternoon. It cost twice as much, but hey, we had electricity and water! Plus, whenthe ‘store’ opened (7am to 7pm – ‘buy your fresh bait here’) you could use theirbathroom! (I would rather use a port-a-potty on a construction site; snob that Iam!) There is a real nice anchorage here too, but we wanted out of the winds!We ate lunch and took a nap. Afterwards, we put on our sneakers and went for anice walk. There is NOTHING close by except one restaurant. We ran into Pat andMack. They are live-aboards (sailboat) from Michigan. We have crossed pathsbefore and they had a lot of information to share. Pat said the ‘Outrigger’s Grill’(the restaurant beside the marina) is under new management since October. Wewent in to check out the menu, met the new owner, nice.Cheryl, Jim, Steve and I went to the Outrigger’s Grill for dinner. It was VERYGOOD! Cheryl is planning to write a book; she gives this restaurant ****. I’d comeback to this place to dock or anchor just so I could eat there again!Alaina Jade and Presto plan on anchoring in Tea Kettle Creek tomorrow and thendocking in St. Simons on Saturday. Hopefully the Manatee crew will catch up withus soon!! It’s supposed to get down into the 30’s tonight!Out 2hr 29min no sail Top Speed 7.13k (8.4mph) Aver 5.20k (5.9mph)Trip 13nm Total 1836.4nm Top Wind 25kTrip 14.9miles Total 644.9miles on the ICWDay: 111 Friday November 16 Kilkenny to New Teakettle Creek anchoredWe woke up early when the heater turned off. Guess we used up our $2.50 worthof electricity we paid for yesterday! (For some reason the breaker shut off on the Page 36 dock.) Must be time to leave. We had scrambled eggs and got things ready. Jimwants us to take off first.The 68thsail began at 7:55am. It was COLD but sunny; a blinding sun as a matter offact! We are anchoring in New Teakettle Creek tonight and then docking in St.Simons on Saturday. The marina in St. Simons did finally return our call, but theyare packed for the weekend and want us to call immediately if we need to cancel ourreservation. We’ve seen quite a few dolphins today. We were in the GeorgiaSounds most of the morning. This is called the ‘Low Country’; flat, saltwatermarshes with miles and miles of grass. Boats at anchor appear to be tied up in thegrass from a distance. There are many inlets too, so there is a lot of shoaling, butso far we have had adequate water depth. Steve had told Jeff and Jim he wouldlike to travel about 30 miles a day. On Wednesday, when we were out 91/2 hoursand traveled 62miles, he ‘didn’t have fun’. Well, the stress of Manatee groundingREALLY bugged him too! (He’s the one who said to Jeff, “I’m tired, why don’t youtake the lead for awhile?” I think that’s probably in the back of his mind.) Stevefigures if we travel at least 30miles a day we will be in north Florida for TurkeyDay. (I’m hoping we stay in St. Simons for two days so Manatee can catch-up!) Wewere anchored in New Teakettle Creek and had Yammy off by 12:31pm; that was aFAST 29.8nm (34.3miles)!Alaina Jade anchored a little further up. Doesn’t it look like she’s in the grass? Page 37 Before the end of the day 2 more sailboats and 2 powerboats anchored by us. I dida jigsaw puzzle while Steve did odds and ends. He ran the generator to cook dinnerand heat up the water and the boat! It may get down into the 30’s tonight. Jeffcalled and filled us in on the Manatee’s crew’s day of adventure. (They went to eatat the Outrigger’s Grill and agree it is wonderful!) Steve ran the generator againbefore we went to bed and we walked out on deck to look at all the BEAUTIFULstars and moon. The water was perfectly flat and the reflection of the stars andmoon was breathtaking!Out 4hr 36min no sail Top Speed 7.94k (13.1mph) Aver 6.63k (6.8mph)Trip 29.8nm Total 1866.2nmTop Wind 17.7kTrip 34.3miles Total 679.2miles on the ICWDay: 112 Saturday November 17 New Teakettle Creek anchored to St. SimonsIt was pretty cool when we woke up so Steve turned on the generator and warmedup the cabin. When he looked out the window, Alaina Jade was already heading out!(It turned out Jim fell asleep early last night and woke up bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed in the morning! Hard to keep him in idle!)The 69thsail began at 7:48am and we were underway by 7:54am. The circuitbreaker for the windless switched off once, (first time in ages it did that trick!)plus we were anchored WELL in the mud! It was a cool, sunny morning’ the waterwas FLAT! My logbook has eight descriptions for the ‘sea state’; Glassy to TideRips; so I guess glassy describes it best! You can REALLY pick out the dolphins! Iwas below and Steve yelled for me to come watch the dolphins. One came right upnext to the boat. I could see his blowhole open and hear it, even over the sound ofYammy! Heck, I could have touched it if I was quicker and could reach that farover our boat! I had been below trying to write a couple Thanksgiving cards to thekids. I’m still in a little shock realizing Thursday is Thanksgiving! Steve heardfrom Jim, he’s brushed the bottom two times so far and told Steve where to beextra cautious. Luckily, Jim was about 2miles in front of us and by the time wereached these areas the tide was a little higher, no issues! At 11:45am we passedLanier Island; under a fixed bridge at 11:59am; then a little further and we weredocked and turned Yammy off at 12:40pm. We were docked at the Golden IslesMarina in St. Simons, GA.We decided to have our tank topped off. This was one of those marinas with longhoses on their pumps; they come to YOUR boat and fill it up! I realize this makes iteasier for those boats with HUGE tanks to fill-up. At some of the docks the fuel Page 38 comes out 17gallons a minute! When you’re only adding 20 or so gallons, it’s a quickprocess and it’s hard not to make a mess! But if you’re putting 2000 gallons inyou’re spending you entire morning filling your tank! Most of the big boats can tellyou all ‘the fast places to fuel’. I just can’t imagine spending $4000.00 to fill upmy tank! I doubt Presto and Manatee combined will spend $4000 on diesel on thisentire trip!This marina is a nice place. They have cable & laundry too; we’re staying two nightsso the Manatee crew can get here tomorrow! After we secured everything we wentbelow to watch the Ohio State – Michigan game; a little boring! We borrowed themarina car and the 4 of us went for groceries – our BIG exciting day out! Oh, andof course we found a West Marine to visit! (Shucks, we didn’t have time to find ahardware!) We had a nice relaxing dinner on board and I got out the shell jigsawpuzzle to do again!Out 4hr 52min no sailTop Speed 7.23k (9.3mph) Aver 6.09k (6.6mph)Trip 28.1nm Total 1894.3nmTop Wind 7.8kTrip 32.3miles Total 711.5mils on the ICWDay: 113 Sunday November 18 St. Simons Rest DaySteve was up early when he felt someone step onto the boat. The marina delivers apaper and two muffins each morning when you dock here! We ate the muffins forbreakfast while I finished my puzzle. I talked with the ‘Admiral’ from ‘WaterMusic’; they are from Australia/California (duel citizenship) and had a reallyinteresting conversation. It’s amazing how many folks make this trip all the timeand they know each other and meet-up at different places. They also know thehistory of the marinas; who owns them; their good points and their bad points. The‘gossip’ over the radio is so ridiculous at times we have to move to another channelto converse with the other two boats in our little armada.Steve washed the boat, covered the dinghy and then we ate lunch. Manatee thinksthey will be arriving around 2pm. We took a walk to St. Simons. It took us about anhour to get there! Steve ‘thought’ it was just over a mile to town! A ‘BrockportMile’ for sure! We walked out onto the wharf and waved to Manatee as they wereturning into the marina. (I took a picture of their boat; it’s the size of a pinhead!)I did get a new jigsaw puzzle out of this LONG walk and an ice cream cone at DairyQueen. (A Dairy Queen that only had vanilla ice cream, NO CHOCOLATE!) Westarted to walk back a different way and Steve stopped to ask a lady pushing ababy stroller if we were heading in the right direction. She said, “you can’t walk tothe causeway from here!” When we told her where our boat was docked and how we Page 39 walked to town, she just couldn’t believe it. So we continued walking and cutthrough the airport to watch the planes and small jets take off and land. NeatAirport! We were back to the marina before dark; it was a 2-1/2hour walk. Mostfolks ride bikes to town and we could have borrowed the marina’s bikes but therewas only one bike and my buns don’t fit on the handlebars!Cheryl and Jim ate dinner at the restaurant at the marina. Sandy and Jeff broughttheir food over and we all ate together. The Captains decided tomorrow would be a7am departure and we would go out into the ocean for a day of sailing! We havereservations in Fernandina Beach, Florida. It will be so nice to have a day of no low,skinny water and low or lift bridges!Day” 114 Monday November 19 St. Simons to Fernandina, FLOur paper and muffins were waiting for us at 6:30am! We prepared to leave andplan on eating breakfast on the way. The 70thsail began at 6:57am. The day wascool, low wind, and glassy water. As we passed the town of St. Simons the windpicked up to 10 – 11k from the north. We saw a LOT of dolphins! We were in theAtlantic Ocean by 7:30am. Steve pulled the main out at 7:49am but never turnedYammy off. Power sailing is the best we can do today! We crossed into Florida at12:08pm. (The Captains had a little bet going on what time we’d cross over intoFlorida.) We were docked at Harbor Marina in Fernandina, FL by 12:42pm. It was aFANTASTIC – NO STRESS DAY!Alaina Jade was docked up in front of us and the Manatee crew hooked a mooringball. We all met up and walked around the town and stopped for ‘happy hour’ at alocal bar. Jim bought all of us drinks and goodies. We missed his birthday party inOhio, so he had another one! (Steve had 3 glasses of Guinness! Oh dear!) I boughta few things and we all bought some fresh fish at the fish store. We came back fora light dinner on the boat and then Steve fell asleep! (3 glasses of Guinness =sleep!)Out 5hr 45min no sailTop Speed 7.51k (10.1mph) Aver 6.29k (7.8mph)Trip 37.7nm Total 1932nmTop Wind 19.6kTrip 43.4miles Total 754.9miles on the ICWDay: 115 Tuesday November 20 Fernandina to Jacksonville BeachSteve was awake at 3am! He read for a while. We ate a delicious breakfast ofscrambled eggs, sausage and potatoes while watching the Today Show. They had a Page 40 segment on how many calories an average person eats on Thanksgiving Day. It waspretty outrageous! Presto and Alaina Jade are going to dock at the Palm CoveMarina in Jacksonville Beach. The Manatee crew is anchoring in a ‘dog friendly’place. Our 71stsail started at 9:02am and after clearing the mooring field we saw asunken sailboat!We traveled through a LOT of low water! I can’t believe we haven’t worn out thedepth alarm yet! We also passed under several fixed bridges (one that wasn’t inthe chart book). The signs on these bridges that tell you the height of the bridgewere on the INSIDE of the wall rather than on the entrance where you can actuallyread them! With the current/tide, it would be pretty darn hard to throw the boatin reverse to keep from ramming the mast into a low bridge when you can’t read theheight sign until you’re almost through the bridge! (Pat and Mack, who we met inKilkenny, told us they have broken off 3 windexes traveling under low bridges!)The tide was so low in places today, the crab traps were sitting on the dirt – full! Page 41 Jim and Steve both wondered if Sandy would walk out there to get those crabs! AtRed32 a sailboat (from Canada) appeared to have taken the turn wrong and ranaground. Page 42 It’s so HARD to find and even to KNOW if you’re in the center of the channel attimes! This is a perfect example of how exact your navigating has to be at manyplaces along the ICW. We were at the dock and turned Yammy off at 1:52pm.We did hear from the Manatee crew. They saw the sunken sailboat and when theygot to Red 32, the grounded boat was gone, thank goodness! They were tuckedsafely into their anchorage. We took a walk and got some money from the bank andshopped at Wal-Mart and Publix. We had dinner on board Alaina Jade. A deliciousmeal of fresh shrimp and pasta! YUM!Out 4hr 52min no sail Top Speed 7.75k (9.4mph) Aver 6.02k (6.2mph)Trip 27nm Total 1959nmTop Wind 11.3kTrip 31miles Total 785.9miles on the ICWDay: 116 Wednesday November 21 Jacksonville Beach to St. AugustineHappy Birthday Jim! (Steve’s little brother) We decided to get up early and eatbreakfast at a little place right at the marina. It’s definitely a ‘locals’ place; thewaitress greeted most of the customers by name. (Steve also called the left bridgeto verify they’ll open the bridge for us at 7:30am.) Our 72ndsail started at 7:11am.Jim helped us get off the dock. Yesterday, when we came in here, we followed Jimand it was fairly shallow and had to stay RIGHT IN THE CENTER of the markersleading into the marina! There was 9feet of water this morning! Jim was followingus out and I was making sure we stayed in the middle. Well, at the last mark I musthave looked away or blinked or had a brain fart, all of a sudden we were on theWRONG side of the mark! The Captains both had to make a quick, circle maneuver!(If I had done this yesterday we would definitely grounded! I wonder if theCaptain will trust the Admiral again?) Today we went under 3 fixed bridges andthrough 2 lift bridges with no problems. As we were passing through St. Augustine,I took a picture of the fort there: Page 43 It was neat to see it from the water’s perspective! (We’ve seen it from the landyears ago.) We turned into the San Sebastian River and passed ‘Hunter’s Child’which was tied up in front of Luhrs Factory. Ah…the smell of fresh fiberglass! Wewere docked at Oyster Creek Marina by 12:19pm.We were squeezed into the end of a T-dock with two other sailboats, with our afthanging out a little past the dock. Alaina Jade was docked against a floating dockon the inside. Jim’s bow was pointing towards the stern of a sailboat at the firstdock slip from the gangplank. The next slip over from them was Manatee’sreserved spot! (I think Steve and I would have a hard time getting our dinghy inthat skinny little place!) Getting into this spot meant Jeff had to make a left turninto the docks first (without hitting Presto’s transom that was sticking out) then godown a little bit and make a CRISP 90 degree turn right, turning directly into themiddle and not hit the two pilings on either side, with less than 2 inches of wiggleroom on either side of the boat! Doesn’t sound so bad until you add in the wind,current and zero space to maneuver the boat! Cheryl and I stood on Alaina Jadewith a fender in our hands and pushed Manatee; Sandy threw a line to Steve on thedock and then took over the steering; Jeff threw and pulled lines and pushed hisboat; Sandy pushed off the boat next to them too. Nothing like a little bumperboat docking to get the adrenaline going! There was no boat damage; all fingerswere still attached, and no blood! Just a few colorful swear words! Page 44 We visited for a few minutes and then all of us ended up walking and having some‘mall time’! The Winn Dixie was up there too! Afterwards, we all ate dinner at‘Hurricane Patty’s’, the restaurant next to the dock.Out 5hr 8min no sail Top Speed 7.45nm (10.5mph) Aver 5.73nm (6.9mph)Trip 30.6nm Total 1989.6nmTop Wind 19.1kTrip 35.2miles Total 821.1miles on the ICWDay: 117 Thursday November 22 St. Augustine Rest DayHappy Thanksgiving! We are having our Thanksgiving meal at 1pm today on Presto.(Guess who got up early and cleaned her boat?) Sandy is making a 12lb turkey. Shewent to the Winn Dixie yesterday with her tape measure to find a fresh turkey thecorrect size for her oven! She also made the stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce,sweet potatoes and pumpkin cobbler. Cheryl made the mashed potatoes, anotherfruit & angel food cake dessert and brought wine. Steve made broccoli casseroleand dinner rolls. Steve ‘improvised’ a leaf for the table. (We had left the leaf athome. He pulled two boards from under the mattress and duct-taped them in place.The boards didn’t quite meet up perfectly; there was a little ‘hole’, just big enoughto sit a glass into part way and have it spell over the table cloth! The table clothneeded washed anyway!) We were hoping Stan would come down and join us, but hehad too much to do on his boat! It was a great Thanksgiving with our sailing family!We ate tons of delicious food and had a wonderful time!The entertainment of the day: I was calling the kids back home while sitting in thecockpit. I looked up to discover one of the three Canadian sailboats anchored inthe river at the dock was up on its side. Page 45 This was around 11am at low tide. Around 4:30pm it was back floating. Not a verypleasant sight! We don’t know where he moved to, but the other two boats stayedwhere they were anchored.Steve and I had tea and dinner rolls for dinner and watched the movie ‘Dodge ball’on TV!Day: 118 Friday November 23 St. Augustine to Palm CoastWe were up real early and Steve reviewed the charts while we ate a quickbreakfast. He helped Jim first and then Jeff get off their docks. Our 73rdsailstarted at 7:07am with no problems. We left the SanSebastian River and wentunder the fixed bridge (Rt. 312) right there and brushed the last rung on thedouble bridge! Alaina Jade brushed too! What a lousy way to start the day!!! (Geezand I was upset about having to kill a big bug that was on the fender when I pulledit up this morning!) Before we went through the Crescent Beach Highway Bridge,Alaina Jade did a little tango with a red marker! Never a boring moment on theICW! As we were getting closer to the marina, they asked us to come in slowly, oneat a time. We idled and had to do a turn around waiting our turn. Finally, we weredocked at 10:41am. The Palm Coast Marina was a nice place and cheap, for Floridamarinas, only $1.32 a foot! But they wanted $8 for electricity so we didn’t plug in! Page 46 We ate lunch and walked up to the ‘European Village’; a hotel, restaurants and fancyshops. Cheryl, Jim, Sandy, Jeff and Hatch met up with us there. Isn’t Hatch cute?Afterwards, we walked back with Sandy, Jeff and Hatch. Hatch took a dip in thewater and when we got back to the boats Linda and Rich were docked next to us!We invited everyone over for Happy Hour at 5pm. We had a great time witheveryone. Linda and Rich had some stories to tell! The BIGGEST one; they were ata dock and their new catamaran was almost destroyed by a huge gambling ship!Well, Happy Hour ended up being Happy Hour Dinner! The appetizers werewonderful!!! We showered, had tea and leftover T-day desserts and Steve beat myass at backgammon! (Yes, those were his exact words! He’s SO competitive! Ha!) Page 47 Out 3hr 34min no sail Top Wind 7.63k (9.5mph) Aver 5.17k (7.1mph)Trip 21.7nm Total 2011.3nm Top Wind 14.6kTrip 25miles Total 846.1miles on the ICWDay: 119 Saturday November 24 Palm Coast to Daytona BeachWe were awake early and I ran into Sandy when she was on her way to the shower.She was in a ‘happy mood’; she got to sleep in today! Steve made pancakes forbreakfast since we weren’t leaving real early. Linda and Rich left early, they’reheading to Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona Beach for two days. We helpedManatee leave first and then Alaina Jade. We started our 74thsail at 8:08am. Aswe were going under the fixed bridge in Palm Coast, there was a group of fishermenright there at the bridge. They watched our mast too as we were going under.They said, “Ah, you have plenty of room!” Steve noticed scratch marks on theunder side of the bridge on the north side! At 8:15am Jeff called over the radioto say he was grounded really good in the middle of the channel.He was traveling 6 – 6 ½ mph in the center of the channel in 14feet of water andcame to a DEAD stop! No bells or whistles went off; no warning alarm at all! Westayed back and warned on coming traffic what had happened and to stay clear. Page 48 Jeff tried using his dinghy to push them free, no luck. Then Jim made severalpasses creating a wake and that helped them break free at 8:50am. Where theywere stuck there is a creek that empties into the ICW and deposits silt/sand;other boats ground there regularly. The ‘group’ of old folks gathered on the bankand sitting at the picnic table told the Manatee crew this! (Ah, so why doesn’tsomebody DO something about this problem?) As Manatee continued on, Jeff wentbelow and bailed water from his bilge and checked his engine filter. The filter hadsome sand in it, so Super Jeff had Sandy steer, he turned off his engine, cleanedout the filter, replaced the filter and turned the engine back on; all in 7minutes!Yes, this was another LOUSY way to start the day!We had a LOT of boats traveling with and against us today. Weekend traffic? Wehad several lift bridges; LB Knox Lift Bridge, Main St. L.B. and Memorial L.B. inDaytona. It was SO congested! Too many ‘Alpha’ Captains out there jockeying forposition! Steve called the bridge operator and identified himself and she said,“You’ll have to wait a few minutes while I clear some traffic”. Which was noproblem for us, but the two sailboats behind us came barging through right up tothe bridge. The bridge operator could NOT get them to respond with the name oftheir boats. Steve called her back and identified himself as Presto, the 3rdsailboatheading south and told her the two sailboats in front of us are from Canada andmay have a communication issue. They finally caught on and responded to her.(After we passed through, she thanked the Captain of Presto for his assistance!)On one of the other lift bridges, a car was tangled up with the gate and we had towait until they cleared that problem before they could lift the bridge! We weredocked at the Seven Seas Marina and Boatyard by 1:49pm. This place is veryreasonable (okay, cheap); the first night it’s only 80 cents a foot plus $4 forelectricity plus tax.Jeff is thinking about having his boat pulled to check for damage. He has somemoisture in his bilge, which concerns him. In all his years of boating, he has neverhit anything this hard. Unfortunately, they can’t pull him until Monday.We ate an early dinner and then the group came over at 7pm and we celebratedSandy’s birthday (which is actually tomorrow) with Kaluha cake. Cheryl and Jim planon going to our next destination, New Smyrna Beach, tomorrow. We will remainhere with the Manatee crew!Out 5hr 41min no sailTop Speed 7.69k (8.8mph) Aver 5.03k (6.4mph)Trip 28nm Total 2039.3nm Top Wind 17.3k (when we docked I think!)Trip 32.2miles Total 878.3miles on the ICW Page 49 Day: 120 Sunday November 25 Daytona Beach Rest DayHappy Birthday Sandy! Yes, Sandy got to ‘sleep in’ this morning! We were up earlyand sat in our blue chairs on the dock and watched the boats go by on the ICW. Wewatched the dolphins too and looked for manatees. We all planned on eatingbreakfast at the little restaurant next to the marina. Cheryl and Jim ate first andthen left for New Smyrna Beach. Sandy got a ‘Good Morning, Happy Birthday MomKiss’ from Hatch and had no choice but to get up and come to breakfast! (Yeah,Jeff sent him in to wake her up!) The restaurant was packed. Folks were lined upoutside! A powerboat came in and docked by us so they could eat breakfast there!We figured it was the ‘church crowd’, but the waitress said, “it’s the snowbirdsreturning”.Steve paid for another day and then we watched them pull a sailboat out with theirlift system. Afterwards, we walked around. The ocean is just two blocks from themarina. There has been a ‘Red Tide’ on the ocean side of Daytona, but we didn’tnotice dead fish along the beach. Although, there was a distinct ‘smell’ and whenSandy and Jeff spoke with a lifeguard, he said it was from the ‘Red Tide’. (Theyhad ‘Red Tide’ in Palm Coast earlier this month, a local at the dock had told us onFriday.) We walked around the ‘beach shops’ and believe it or not, there is a ‘Drive-In Church’ here! We did a little shopping and then came back for a snack andwatched football (napped).We went out to dinner (the Red Lobster) with Sandy and Jeff and celebrated herbirthday. There was a full moon. Today was very warm (80’s) and we had to turnthe air conditioning on! (To think I thought air conditioning in a sailboat wasridiculous!)Day: 121 Monday November 26 Daytona Beach Rest DayWe were up early watching the boats pass by. Linda and Rich on ‘Wings’ passed andtalked to Jeff on the radio. They explained to Jeff how to get the guts out of aBahamian lobster again. At around 9am the fiberglass guy went below on Manateeto check stuff below. No problems there. Then the boat was pulled out and thebottom inspected. There were no marks in the hull or cracks! Some of the bottompaint was rubbed off the bottom of the keel and rudder (no surprise there) and thezinc was missing. (dissolved??) Jeff bought a new zinc and attached it himself.(Now Steve can’t help but wonder if our zinc is still there.) Manatee was back inthe water soon and ready to go and Captain Jeff had some peace of mind! Page 50 Steve called New Smyrna Beach Marina but they didn’t have a spot for us today buttook a reservation for tomorrow. We paid for another night here, ate a quick lunchand then the four of us walked over to the beach. The ‘Red Tide’ was still prettybad! We walked along the water’s edge; the sand had some tinges of red, but it wasthe air that was really bad. All of us coughed our way down the beach.We had a Happy Hour at 5pm aboard Manatee. Sandy invited the crew on Sucia II(from Canada), Linda, Scott and their daughter Rachel to come too. Their son Evanstayed on his boat for some uninterrupted computer time! We exchanged somesailing tales. (We were docked near them in Swansboro.)Afterwards, Sandy, Jeff and Hatch joined us for dinner. I made the turkeycasserole with our leftover Thanksgiving turkey. We ate our left over desserts too!It was amazing how much our boats rocked at this marina as boats traveled by onthe ICW. They REALLY need a break-wall here and folks need to slow down on theICW! It’s no wonder the manatees have so many propeller scars.Day: 122 Tuesday November 27 Daytona Beach to New Smyrna Beach Page 51 After a delicious breakfast, we started to get ready to leave. This was a short day,so we weren’t in a rush to leave and we needed to hit the tide at the right time.Our 75thsail started at 8:10am. As we traveled out their marked entrance, we hadabout 1 and ½ feet of water under the keel. We were under the fixed bridge nearthe marina by 8:22am. Right after we went under, I took a picture of an islandCONVERED in pelicans! (When Bacons took a dinghy ride over there the other day,Hatch barked and ALL the pelicans took flight. Sandy said it was impressive!)At around 9am, we entered a shallow area for about 15 scary minutes. It’s alwaysnerve racking when the chart says it’s a ‘shallow area’; MOST of the time it’saccurate. I tend to hold my breath and pray maybe they have dredged since thechart was printed! (yeah, right) At 10:04am we went through the opening of theCoronado Beach Bridge; it’s called the Munsun Bridge now. We were docked at theNew Smyrna Beach Marina and turned Yammy off at 10:19am. This was a beautifulfacility; it was completely re-built two years ago.We secured our boats and then all of us walked and toured the town. Sandy, Jeffand Hatch stopped at ‘Big Joe’s Subs’ and took lunch back to their boat. We walkedon to the ‘New Peking Buffet’ and had a HUGE lunch. (I was really hungry forChinese.) We stopped at a few more stores and I got a new jigsaw puzzle. Wewere back on board by 3pm. I decided to do the puzzle in the cockpit in 3hours;before it got too dark. While I was working on it, a dolphin jumped up and made a Page 52 big splash that got the cockpit and the end of the dock soaked. I thought it was aManatee at first, but no such luck! At around 4pm, Cheryl and Jim stopped by.They drove a rental car up from the next dock we plan to go to tomorrow. Sandymade drinks and an appetizer for all of us. She and Cheryl helped me with thepuzzle. We turned some lights on but it got too dark and I had to carry the piecesbelow and finish it on the salon table.Earlier, when we pulled into this dock, it was an easy, straight shot in. Now, we wishwe had backed in; the water was banging against the transom. I had to sleep in theV berth. During the night it rained twice and cooled down quite a bit.Out 2hr 9min Knot meter clogged. GPS Top Speed 12.5mph Aver 5.4mphTrip 9.3nm Total 2048.6nm Top Wind 17.1apparentTrip 10.7miles Total 889miles on the ICWDay: 123 Wednesday November 28 New Smyrna Beach to Kennedy PointWe were up early since neither of us slept very well. I had my Hatch Hug; GREATway to start the day! Steve helped Manatee get off the wall. Our 76thsail beganat 7:29am. We were back in the ICW and under a nice TALL bridge by 7:39am. At7:59am we crept through an area the waterway guide said there was a ‘submergedobstruction north of Green 53’; they gave no instructions on how to navigate aroundit. We never saw anything there! At 8:10am, Sandy, Jeff and Steve saw aManatee!! I missed it! That’s what I get for going below and making breakfast.Steve called Ted Augustyn (a friend of ours who used to live in Stow) and Tedwalked out onto his dock as we passed his new home in Oak Hill on the ICW.At 10:59am we went through the bridge on the Oliver Canal. Then at 12:05pm wewent through the ONLY automated bridge on the ICW. Page 53 We were through the Titusville Bridge by 12:30pm and docked at the Kennedy PointYacht Club by 1:34pm. As soon as we pulled in, Jim had me come over and watch him‘water’ the Manatees!! There were MANY Manatees in the marina.Location, Location, Location. That was the best thing to say about this place. It islocated directly west of the Vehicle Assembly Building, with about 5miles of waterbetween. We had a PERFECT spot to watch the shuttle take off! The marina itselfis on the market and it was pretty run-down. There was an interesting group offolks and most of their boats were pretty run down. But the price was right!We all piled into Jim’s rental car and went to El Leoneito (a Cuban-Mexican) fordinner. (This is the place Linda goes to watch shuttle launches.) Afterwards, westopped at Walgreens. Cheryl needed to pick up a prescription. Steve went to theWalgreens Liquor Store next door and bought a bottle of Scotch. They gave him a‘$10 off your next purchase’ coupon; turned out to be the cheapest bottle ofMacCallam he’s ever purchased!Out 6hr 5min Knot Meter clogged GPS Top Speed 7.6mph Aver 6.3mphTrip 33.5nm Total 2082.1nm Top Wind 20.2 apparentTrip 38.5miles Total 927.5miles on the ICW Page 54 Day: 124 Thursday November 29 Kennedy Point Rest DayWe had a delicious breakfast and then Steve patched three chips in the gel coat.We got out our backpack, water and then went for a walk. At K Mart we bought agrill for on top of the stove. (It’s like the one Sandy has that Jeff slept on!) Thenwe stopped at the post office for stamps. As we were walking back, Jim and Jeffstopped and picked us up. We went with them to West Marine, Wal-Mart, and thenWalgreens. We managed to buy a few items!We had our happy hour in the cockpit and watched Stan enter the marina. TheCaptains helped him dock. He has a full beard, looks a little like a young Hemingway!We got a couple loads of clothes done. Sandy stopped by with some delicioushomemade bread to have with our tea. She came over to watch Grey’s Anatomy.This was a very nice rest day! Oh, and Jeff strung white Christmas lights on theirboat! It’s BEAUTIFUL!Day: 125 Friday November 30 Kennedy Point Rest Day #2Happy Birthday James! Steve was up early working on the boat. Jeff broughtsome donuts for breakfast! Steve had already made himself pancakes on his newgrill, but he managed to get one down! We did do a little more cleaning. Had totake a break and ‘water the Manatees’. I took a movie.Our friend, Teri Monteith, has a winter home in Cape Canaveral and she came tovisit. After the nickel tour, she took us to lunch, gave us a little tour of the areaand her condo. We had a great visit.Sandy had just finished making a beautiful Christmas wreath (flip-flops on it!) whenwe returned to the marina. She and Jeff have been very busy getting their boat inthe Christmas spirit! Hatch was as cute as ever, another Kodak moment with him! Page 55 Steve returned to his quest to get Presto shinning like a new boat! I did somecross-stitching. At 6:30pm the six of us (Stan wouldn’t come) went to DixieCrossroads for dinner. It’s a VERY popular place here. I was STUFFED! When wereturned, I stayed up and watched the news. There is a problem on the spacestation and there is a chance it will affect the shuttle launch!Day: 126 Saturday December 1 Kennedy Point Rest Day #3I slept in as late as I could. Steve was up early cleaning and banging around. It’samazing how the sound is magnified when something is dropped on the deck! Stevereceived E-mail from Ed. The Erie Canal folks contacted him. When they drainedLocks 35 & 34, they found his propeller and are sending it back to him! Some otherfriends (Linda & Jim) from Kent who have a winter home in Cocoa Beach, arrived at11:30am. We gave them the nickel tour of Presto. Then it was off to the Mexicanrestaurant for lunch. (Yes, this is the same Linda who watches the shuttle launchesfrom that restaurant.) Afterwards, we went to St. Cloud to visit Linda’s folks,Martha and Joe Nohe. They are like my surrogate parents; I’ve known them since Iwas about 3 years old! We had a great visit; they have a BEAUTIFUL home! Next,we went back to the Cocoa Beach and toured Linda and Jim’s condo. They are in theprocess of gutting and up-grading their place. They are trying to accomplish this Page 56 task between all the ‘guests’ they have! Jim said he really didn’t mind theinterruption! They have a beautiful view from their balcony of the Banana River.Linda has a neat tradition for her guests. She has a glass jar of seashells and shehas her visitors write their name and date of the visit on a shell. The jar is halffull and this is only their second full winter here! We also met her neighbor, Milly,who’s husband works for US Customs. They lived in the Bahamas for several yearsand had some good advice to share. The four of us went to a delicious Japaneserestaurant, ‘Yen Yen’ for dinner. We had a wonderful time! They are coming toview the launch on Thursday too. Hopefully, the items I’m having shipped to heraddress will arrive by then!Day: 127 Sunday December 2 Kennedy Point Rest Day #4It was another beautiful day in south Titusville. Did our usual morning routine;breakfast and backgammon! Stan was preparing to leave and move on to ananchorage where he could leave his boat while he flies home for the holidays.Sandy fed the manatees water while Jeff and I filmed. They are SO NEAT! Stevewas busy washing and waxing the boat! It was so hot and sunny; he put thesunshade up for a little protection. I took a picture of the assembly building. Page 57 It really does look like HL! Jeff says that stands for ‘Houston Launch’. Is hepulling my leg?We went over for Happy Hour on Manatee at 5:15pm. Jeff ran his X-rated slideshow. (Sorry Sandy, I couldn’t resist!) Jim played a funny Christmas song on his I-pod. It was a nice evening with our boating family!Day: 128 Monday December 3 Kennedy Point Rest Day #5It was another boring day (yeah, right) in Paradise. Jeff stopped by with freshdonuts! Steve was still working on washing & waxing Presto. I had no idea howmuch surface area the boat had that needed waxed all the time! I decided todefrost the refrigerator. (Steve doesn’t do ALL the work on board, no matter whathe tells ya!) Heather (Vicki’s daughter who is an engineer with Nasa; designs toolsfor the astronauts to use in space) had arrived and was on Manatee visiting. She isso fascinating to listen to! (Beauty and Brains; Vicki and Ron have a right to beproud!)We took our after lunch naps and then went with Jim to BJ’s and stocked up onsupplies. After we unloaded a TON of stuff, the family and Heather came over for Page 58 Happy Hour. (Another appetizer dinner!) After everyone left we had a cup of teaand the rest of Jeff’s donuts and I started a jigsaw puzzle.Day: 129 Tuesday December 4 Kennedy Point Rest Day #6After breakfast I helped Steve lower the dinghy into the water. He tried to useit to wash the hull but the piling placement wouldn’t permit him access. He endedup just washing and polishing where he could reach, oh well! Trying to keep thoserusty colored, dirty stains off the hull is his biggest concern! I finished my puzzleand then we went for a walk. We did a few odd jobs while we were out and I cameback for a nap while the Captains made a run to West Marine. (If you don’t ownstock in West Marine, please consider purchasing it, I’m sure it’s doing well!) Stevebought two more zincs. He figures if Jeff’s was gone, ours might be too! Plus he’llprobably need to put a new one on in the Bahamas for the return! (There is a diverat the marina that will attach it for a fee.)I finally got all the supplies we purchased at BJ’s stashed and figured out whatthings we’re missing; another grocery list! We just found out that Vicki is comingdown for the launch and staying on Manatee! (Boo! Ron has to stay home and work!)It will be GREAT to see her! Last time we saw her was in July! ‘Tropical Dreamers’followed us (lead the way really!) to Cleveland! Page 59 We finally ate the pork I’d defrosted three days ago! (Too many appetizer dinners!No, not really!) I finished another book! It cooled down during the night; heatertime again!Day: 130 Wednesday December 5 Kennedy Point Rest Day #7Steve made delicious breakfast burritos today. I did a couple loads of laundry. Ifound out last night that Steve was trying to surprise me with a Christmas gift of aquick trip home. Jeff cams over and the Captains went over the ‘plans’. Theyfigure Melbourne, Vero Beach, Stuart, Lake Worth, and then the Bahamas. Afterlunch the diver came over to attach the new zinc. He first tried to find Steve’sclip-on sunglasses he dropped over yesterday while cleaning, but no luck there.(The water is the color of ink and the mud the manatees stir up from the bottom isREALLY black!) The old zinc was still there but loose, so he tightened that one andadded the new.Darlene and Ted Augustyn are friends of ours from Ohio. He sold his ‘Amber Tree’business in Stow and built a new home in Oak Hill along the ICW. (He’s the one inthe picture on Wednesday, November 28 standing on his dock in the ICW!) Nowthey travel all summer in their RV and winter in Oak Hill. They picked us up at2:30pm and took us to their beautiful home for dinner and a visit. They wanted totake us to the nature reserve but Nasa closes all the parks before launches. Tedhas become quite a fisherman. One of his professional fisherman friends, Jim andhis wife Toni came to dinner too. They brought FRESH crabs and had manyinteresting stories. Toni is a native; lived here all her life! (Jim also gave us someginger beer to take back to Jeff!) We had a WONDERFUL evening visiting!Day: 131 Thursday December 6 Kennedy Point Rest Day #8Well, our usual morning routine and then we found out the launch was scrubbed fortoday! They hope to launch at 4:09pm tomorrow. Heather said there’s a 2pmmeeting to secure that time. Nice to have someone with ‘inside knowledge’!We took a walk up to Walgreens and on the way back; Steve hung around with Jeffwhile I took a nap. Linda called back to say her folks and their friends were stillcoming for lunch at the Mexican restaurant. They stopped and picked us up on theway there. We all had a great time together and then the group stopped at themarina to watch the manatees and get the nickel tour of Presto. Page 60 Martha, Nancy, Andy and Jim came on board. The silverware I use on Presto was awedding gift from Martha and Joe. Linda was in our wedding party too!Afterwards, Linda and Jim took us for more groceries! (It pays to have friendswith BIG SUVs!) They also had our packages that were delivered to their condo!In the afternoon, Heather delivered her mom, Vicki, from the Orlando Airport!The WHOLE sailing family went to Dixie Crossroads for dinner. We had a GRANDtime!! They changed the launch to Saturday now!Day: 132 Friday December 7 Kennedy Point Rest Day #9I woke up at 3am; finished my puzzle and watched the beautiful sunrise! I neededto do some organizing and make a list of where everything is stashed too! We needto get some more beer, but not 35 cases like the one boat in Annapolis! The launchis now scheduled for 3:43pm, Saturday; we’re keeping our fingers crossed!I took a nap while Steve replaced the two fuel filters. He tried to fix the fuelgauge, but had no luck! I will continue adding up our engine hours and the generatorhours and estimate how much fuel we have burned to determine when we need tobuy more! He also fixed the door hinge and then went back to polishing the hull! Page 61 The Manatee crew left for a little sail out there in the ICW. Steve experimentedmaking canned chicken with Valencia rice; it came VERY close to his chicken andrisotto dish. I’m sure we’ll be eating that a lot in the Bahamas! After dinner Imade snickerdoodles and Sandy, Jeff and Vicki came over for a few and to fill us inon their sail. Jeff has never been so happy to .8mph! The water was so clear theycould see the dolphins swimming under the boat! We thought they should havestayed out until dark and turned on their generator and ran the Christmas lights!This WAS a very unusual day; we spent no money except for the cost of the dock!Day: 133 Saturday December 8 Kennedy Point Rest Day #10We woke up to an EXTREMELY foggy morning! Glad we weren’t out anchored insuch a mess! Steve walked up and paid to dock here longer. It was cheaper to paythe difference for a month; now we are paid through January 2, 2008! It workedout to be $17.12 a night to dock here! Steve did some shopping while I walked up tocheck on a neat store Sandy and Vicki discovered yesterday. After that, Steve andI walked back to Walgreens for more coke and more Yuengling.Darlene and Ted stopped by on their way to the airport to pick up his brother andfamily. Toni and Jim had picked us a box load of fresh oranges from their trees!We shared with the Manatee and Alaina Jade crews.In the afternoon, we went with Cheryl and Jim to Melbourne to do some shopping.Of course we stopped at Boater’s World, can’t pass up those great marine stores!Steve got his Christmas presents: new boat shoes and the suction-cup handle thing,like Fritz’s. (He’ll use it when he’s washing/waxing the hull of the boat from thedinghy to hold him in place.) Next was a Joann’s stop! I think Cheryl may be MOREinto crafts than I am! Yes, I did manage to find a few items I NEEDED!Afterwards, we drove back and went to dinner at ‘Paul’s Smokehouse’, which wasEXTREMELY good and reasonable. If you are ever in Titusville and love Prime Rib(I had the wonderful ribs), you MUST stop there! (It’s right on US1, along thewater and has a great view of the Assembly Building too!! When we returned to ourboat there was a GREAT SURPRISE! A Christmas bag FULL of goodies fromChristine, Randy and Pelee! HOW SWEET!Day: 134 Sunday December 9 Kennedy Point Rest Day #11BOOGERS! The shuttle launch is kaput until January! We called everyone whoplanned to come watch the launch and party with us on Presto to say we were still Page 62 going to party! (Got to get rid of the food we prepared!) Only Darlene and Tedcouldn’t make our 1pm gig. So Linda & Jim, Sandy & Jeff, Cheryl & Jim, andHeather & Vicki came. Hatch stayed on the dock; he couldn’t make the BIG jump toget onboard Presto! (heck, I could hardly make that jump!) We had aWONDERFUL time! Everyone brought a LOT of great food; we were ALL stuffed!Heather had to get Vicki to the Orlando Airport; somebody has to go back and keepour Social Security in order! Heather is a very special young lady. We reallypumped as much ‘Nasa’ info from her as time would allow! She tolerated us well!THIS WAS A TERRIFIC DAY EVEN IF WE DIDN’T GET TO SEE A LAUNCH!!!Day: 135 Monday December 10 Kennedy Point Rest Day #12We had a very busy day. Lots of little projects got completed! After breakfast,we had some papers copied and then mailed the originals, stopped at the groceryand K Mart. The Captains went to Ace Hardware to have the propane tanks filled.I even did a little laundry!At 5:03pm, instead of 4:15pm, an Atlas 5 Rocket went off! WOW! It was SOimpressive. I sure wish the shuttle had taken off. It must truly be an unbelievablesight! We took pictures and a movie. Page 63 Cheryl and Jim went out to dinner with the ‘in-laws’, so Sandy and Jeff came herefor dinner. Sandy made a delicious dessert! I also made the decision to acceptSteve’s Christmas gift to me, which was a quick trip back home. I needed to seethe family! (just a tad homesick!) My dad was placed in the Stow Glen Nursing Carefacility for 20 days of therapy and my mom was having complications with C.O.P.D.It also would give me a chance to see Alana! (Okay, I also NEED to see the rest ofthe family TOO!) (After 35years, the old guy knows how to keep me happy!)Day: 136 Tuesday December 11 Kennedy Point Rest Day #13/ Ohio for me!We were up EARLY! Steve made a flight reservation and a rental car reservation.We said our farewells to the Manatee and Alaina Jade crews. They are heading forMelbourne this morning. We will catch up when we can. A little later, we left forthe Orlando Airport and the Christmas Gift began!December 11 (Day: 136) through December 16 (Day: 141)I had a great visit with my mom, sister Patti and her hubby Joe. (Patti & Joe liveupstairs at my folks’ home and are the caregivers! God Bless them!) I visited mydad at the nursing home; he’s ready to ‘get out of prison’! Chris picked me up andtook me back to the Cleveland airport. Steve’s mom loaned me her car; mine ispacked-up on ‘vacation’ in the garage! Stephen came in late on Thursday night anddid a mess of jobs! (Laura had a gig.) (Thank goodness our sons have MANY skills:electric, plumbing, heavy lifting, etc. Nothing like home ownership to improve yourability to fix a running toilet!) Stephen and I also visited with Steve’s folks too.Stephen had to be back in Detroit on Sat. for a gig on Sun. (Yes, he was stuckdriving back in that ice storm! He woke up on Sun. morning with 10inches of snow onhis car!) I babysat Alana and grand-dog Heidi on Saturday night while Jenny andChris went to a Christmas Party. She is so BEAUTIFUL! A true bundle of JOY! Page 64 Chris had me at the Cleveland airport by 11:15am for my 12:35pm flight, drivingthrough snow and high winds! We were de-iced and made it to the third in line fortake off, but the blizzard conditions won. We returned to the gate. At least I gotto watch the Browns! Finally, at 6:03pm the plane left the runway! Steve waswaiting for me and we had delicious McDonald’s for dinner. (needed that chickennugget fix!) We were back on the boat by 10:30pm. This is the BEST Christmasgift I have ever gotten! (Geez, and all he got were boat shoes and a suction cuphandle thing!!!!)Steve accomplished a LOT of jobs while I was gone. He installed a ‘plug’ for thesolar panel (will make it easier to un-hook and take down when necessary) & finishedtaping it’s wires; he installed a new hose shut off for the water filter; bought somegroceries; washed clothes; flushed out the lines in the air conditioners; boughtextra diesel for the 5gal. Jug; bought gasoline for the outboard – that’s just whathe can remember doing! He also went to the Kennedy Point Yacht Club ChristmasParty for a little while. Unfortunately, on Sunday night when he was carrying thejug of diesel back to the boat, he messed up his back! So he went to bed withaspirin and a HOT rice bag!Day: 142 Monday December 17 Kennedy Point Rest Day #20 Page 65 We were awake early. It was REALLY blowing and VERY cool outside! I think Ipicked up a ‘bug’ on the plane. (So many folks were sneezing and coughing!) I feltpretty lousy and Steve’s back was a real pain! We decided on another rest day.We returned the rental car. Oh, another story about Steve’s memory. Back inJanuary 1975 or 76, Steve and I took a vacation to Florida. We were coming to theKennedy Space Center and we spent two nights at a Howard Johnson’s in Titusville.When Steve dropped off the rental car at Enterprise after taking me to theairport, he decided to walk back to the boat. As he was walking, he passed a grungybuilding that looked like the old H.J. The man from Enterprise said that thatbuilding had been the Howard Johnson’s, “but that was a LONG time ago! You’ve gota great memory!” Yeah, but just don’t ask Steve what he had for breakfast thismorning!When we returned, I spent 4 hours going through my E-mails. Steve decided wewould go to Melbourne tomorrow, Fort Pierce on Wednesday and then Lake Worthon Thursday. Manatee and Alaina Jade were on mooring balls in Vero Beach Ibelieve today. They are heading to Stuart tomorrow I think. Hopefully, we will betogether soon!Day: 143 Tuesday December 18 Kennedy Point to MelbourneWe were up very early and left Kennedy Point after a total of 20 nights there. Ittook us a little time to get everything secure and ready to leave. The 77thsailstarted at 8:08am. We were in 5 ½ feet of water, not a lot of wiggle room for our5-foot keel. We managed to get out through the shallow channel and back into theICW with no issues. We turned in front of a slow moving southbound sailboat(‘Animal Crackers’) and were back in the center of the ICW. We had to wait at theAddison Point life bridge for ‘Animal Crackers’ to catch up and made it through at9:02am. Over the next several hours we passed under five ‘high’ fixed bridges. Wepulled into the Melbourne Harbor and turned Yammy off at 1:46pm.The Melbourne Harbor is a VERY well protected harbor. They had pictures frompast hurricanes in their office and the boats handled the storm-surges with NOdamage! But this IS an expensive place to have as your dock. The rate for longterm docking (1year minimum) is $12.00 per foot per month; plus overage (numberof feet of boat over the length of slip rented); plus electricity (there are electricmeters at most of the docks); plus $150 a month. Our boat would be $654 a month;plus electricity; plus Florida’s 6% tax! Some of the condos down here have$600plus maintenance a month, so maybe this isn’t such an outrageous figure afterall, especially when you know a hurricane won’t blow your boat out to sea! Page 66 We walked around town and I managed to find something cute for Alana! Linda andJim came down from Cocoa Beach (he needed another break from work!) and wewent to dinner at the Chart House. It was a VERY good meal! We had a nice visitwith them and I caught Linda up on the family!Out 5:38 no sailTop Speed 6.97k (8.4mph) Aver 5.61k (6.7mph)Trip 32.5nm Total 2114.6nm Top Wind 13.7kTrip 37.4miles Total 964.9miles on the ICWDay: 144 Wednesday December 19 Melbourne to Fort PierceWe were up early; Steve prepared the boat to leave; I felt like yuck! Our 78thsailbegan at 7:15am and I got a beautiful sunrise shot!At 8am we passed ‘Animal Crackers’; she was just pulling up anchor. There were SOmany dolphins! The birds and pelicans were diving into the water for fish. Theymake such a big splash and it constantly gets your attention. We traveled underseveral more fixed bridges. At 1:19pm we went through the Fort Pierce North liftbridge and then under the Fort Pierce South fixed bridge at 1:28pm. We made aright turn; went down a channel; and tied up at the gas dock at the Fort Pierce City Page 67 Marina to fill up the tank. This was the 12thtime we have fueled. Fuel was $3.429a gallon with the Boat US discount. Last fueling, we paid $3.57 a gallon. Guess thisis Florida’s way of easing us into the fuel prices in the Bahamas.This is definitely a BIG powerboat marina. We are one of only 4 sailboats dockedhere. It’s also a dead give-away when they only offer 50amp service! (They loanedus an adapter and NO charge; that was a FIRST!) The gentleman on the boatdocked next to us gave Steve all sorts of advice and told Steve to tell Peter,thdock master at the West End marina he said ‘hello’!Fort Pierce is the center of the Indian River citrus industry. During WWII, itsbeaches were used for U.S. servicemen training for amphibious assaults. Today,the beaches are still used for training Navy SEALS. There is a ManateeObservation and Education Center here too.We walked around the town and stopped to buy some bread and cheese. I felt sosick, I came back and took a shower and put my pj’s on. Steve hooked up the cableTV (Nice thing about powerboat marinas, they usually have cable!) and made an earlydinner!Out 6:48 no sail Top Speed 6.78k (10.3mph) Aver 6.19k (7.6mph)Trip 41.8nm Total 2156.4nm Top Wind 13.5kTrip 48.1miles Total 1013miles on the ICWDay: 145 Thursday December 20 Fort Pierce Rest DayI slept in, wasn’t feeling very chipper. Steve went ahead and paid for another dayhere before I got up! I mostly laid around, finished another book, and rested allday. I guess I just described a typical admiral’s day! Steve washed the boat andput the fortress anchor together and hung it in front of the jib.

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