The Home Stretch

Day 86 & 87
March 28 & 29, 2016
Monday & Tues

Day 86   3/28/16  Monday
We left before daylight Mon. morning to catch a bridge opening.  We put in a bouncy windy day and anchored at Church Cr. south of Charleston, SC.  The wind and current gave us a bouncy evening but by bed time it had settled down and was quite calm.  It was a chilly night, first we have had in some time. The next 2 nights promise to be the same. 

Day 87    3/29/16  Tuesday
We had a relatively easy day.  There was a little congestion north of Charleston with some jet skis that had small children on them that basically parked in the water in front of us. We traveled over 60 miles so it was a long day. I napped in the morning and Lee napped in the afternoon. It was sunny but cool again. Tomorrow Stricklands will be home in Socastee and day after tomorrow we will be home in Little River. Yea  can't wait.  

Beaufort, SC Hiding from weather

Day 84, 85 & 86

March 25, 26 & 27, 2016

Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Downtown Marina, Beaufort, SC

Day 84   3/25/16 Fri

We arrived at the Beaufort, SC marina under threatening skies and tied up to a face dock.  We walked a few blocks to a restaurant in town and ate dinner. We grabbed the free courtesy car and went to a grocery store. The part of town we walked through was really nice. There were art stores, jewelry stores and other nice things, not the typical tourist junk places. Lee found a barber shop and got a much needed hair cut while I got a thing or two for the grandchild to be and Stricklands got ice cream. Oh must not forget the gals beat the guys at cards tonight. 

Day 85   3/26/16  Saturday

It was another day at the marina. Still looking gloomy but not a lot of rain really. We took the car again and went to West Marine and the liquor store. We came back to town and ate at the ice cream place that has 10 or 12 specialty hot dogs. Even Lee who is not a hot dog fan thought they were good.  Mine was Southern Nights and had honey mustard and fried onion rings crushed on top. Yum

And of course we got ice cream too. We let the guys win tonight since it hurts Mitch so bad to lose. 

Day 86   3/27/16  Sunday

Happy Easter.  The bunny did not leave any candy. It also happened to be my birthday. It started raining in the night and poured all day long.  We did not leave the boat until 6:30 when we went to Journey to play cards.  I had an upset stomach so we cut the game short and went back to Sea Turtle. In the afternoon I called our good friends Jane and Roger Bonner in Little River to wish them a happy Easter and talk to them and their company. Bonners collect stray people for holidays so nobody sits home alone.  We would have been there too if we had not been on our cruise.  The whole crew sang Happy Birthday over the phone. Our older son called and prodded our younger son to do the same, to say happy birthday too, no singing. 

We plan to leave before 7am to get thru a bridge that stays shut 7-9 for morning rush hour traffic.  We should have a sunny day even if it does start too early. It should be about a 48 mile trip tomorrow.  Looks like we will be home on Thurs.  

Killkenny, GA and Hilton Head, SC

Day 82 & day 83
Wed & Thur
March 23 & 24, 2016

Day 82   3/23/16
We left Frederica River just at dawn. It was beautiful. The moon was full and still up and the sun was rising out of the water too. 
We pushed hard all day and made it to the marina at Killkenny, GA.
It was about the least excuse for a marina I ever saw. There were no cleats, just 1X6 boards stuck up to tie around.  We ate at a little restaurant near the marina. The food was not bad so they get a plus for that. What was bad was the no see ums.  They were thick. It was about the worst we have seen. Do not think I will be docking there again. 
After dinner we played cards til 11:30. Time just got away from us. Martha and I won. We were behind until the last hand or two but our last hand was a good one. Nice to win once and a while.


Day 83   3/24/16
We left Killkenny and headed north at 7:30. It was a foggy start but soon cleared up. Hell Gate was a piece of cake so Lee tells me.  I slept while he went thru it.  Much ado about nothing. It was a sunny day with variable winds. We sailed a bit in one of the larger sounds. The no see ums from last night stayed with us all day, scores of them were dead in the cockpit, but live ones were around all day.  We passed into SC today, so we feel we are on the down hill drag now.  We pulled off the waterway at Hilton Head and dropped anchor around 5:30. We immediately shut things up so the bugs could not get to us. We may have 15kt winds tonight so we shall see how restful our night is. 

St Augustine to FT George to Fernanda BeachFL to Frederica River, GA (Sunday,Monday,Tuesday)

Day 79 & 80 & 81
Sunday, Mon. & Tues
March 20, 21, & 22, 2016

Day 79  Sunday  3/20/16
We left St. Augustine and went to Ft George, FL. Ft George is narrow and the tide and wind are frequently in opposition to each other. We moved from one shore to a marker during the night. Missing each by a narrow margin. Our electronics said we moved 1.4 kt miles while at anchor so you can see we shifted all night. It was quite windy too. I have been at this anchorage before and never liked it, still don't. 

Day 80 Monday  3/21/16
We left Ft George and went to Fernandina Beach picked up a mooring ball and settled in for the night.  We filled up with fuel and water in the morning and headed north again. Also picked up a 12 pk of coke. I was out, a desperate situation. 

Day 81  Tuesday  3/22/16 
We left Fernandina and crossed into GA first thing in the morning. The wind was very light but the water was not very deep. As we passed Jekyll Is. we were in water that should have put us aground. It is very nerve racking to be seeing depths the same as your draft. We managed to get through with out bumping by some miracle. 
We are anchored in Frederica River just off the ICW. 

Titusville to Daytona to St. Augustine

Day 76 & 77 & 78 & 79
March 16, 17, 18, 19, 2016
Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, 


Day 76  
Titusville to Daytona Beach
March 16, Wed.
Dinghy into shore to Jacks Restaurant. Had good food and a drink. 
Uneventful travel and quiet night. 

Day 77
Daytona Beach to St Augustine.
March 17, Thur
Grabbed mooring on farthest away ball.  Lee did not feel well and napped a lot of the afternoon. A pushy sail boat almost ran over me and never hailed to pass. As we approached Bridge of Lions rain started and it thundered and lightninged. Water taxi brought paperwork to  be signed. 

Day 78
St Augustine
March 18, Fri
We took the taxi to shore expecting to see Stricklands. We thought they took the first of 2 trips to shore at noon.  We waited around the shower house for half an hour and never saw them. Finally we called to see where they were and they had never been picked up.  Lee was starting to feel too bad to stay on shore so we went to a restaurant we had been to before and ordered coconut soup. Sounds weird but really good.  Lee got balaclava to have for breakfast tomorrow, then left it on the taxi but the the taxi driver brought it back to us. 

Day 79
St Augustine
March 19, Sat
We went to shore for a charity fund raiser event. There was a low country boil and burgers, silent auction and music.  We also had some ice cream. Martha and I bought souvenir bracelets.  After we ate we went back to Journey and played cards and other games and Mitch brought us back around 6:30 to Sea Turtle. Plan is tomorrow to head north again. Shooting for being home in a little over a week.  

Palm Shores and Titusville

Day 74 & Day 75

March 14 & 15, 2016

Monday and Tues

Day 74   3/14/16

We left Vero Beach Marina early got water and diesel  and dumping trash.  We had a sunny warm uneventful days travel. We were able to put sails up part of the day. We anchored of Palm Shores and had a restful night.

Day 75   3/15/16

We headed out about 9 and anchored at Titusville around 2:30.  We had our sails up most of the day. We got in a few places with little room to maneuver under sail.  We anchored and almost immediately saw manatees near the boat.  They stayed around all afternoon and near dusk one came up to the bow and looked us over. We were out on the bow looking it over too.  It was within 5 feet of us for several minutes and in sight for several hours. They have such human looking eyes.  

It started out cloudy but cleared up and has been a really warm sunny day. May be an uncomfortable hot night.  The no-see-ums came out at dusk followed by a few mosquitoes.  The bane of my existence when out doors is how much the bugs that bite like me. 

Last Days in Vero

Day 72 & 73

March 12 & 13, 2016

Sat. & Sun

Moored at Vero Beach, FL

Day 72   3/12/16  Sat

We got up early and went to the dinghy dock to catch the bus to the beach to go to the Saturday Farmer Market.  When we got to the bus door the driver said not run to the beach today. The road was closed for a St Pat's Day parade. 

We decided to walk to the Riverside Restaurant to get brunch.  While we were there a fishing charter came in and started cleaning its customers fish at the guest dock right beside the window we were sitting at.  A dozen pelicans came to catch the tails, skin, and heads the capt tossed in the water.  A couple came right up to his feet and he kicked them off in the water.  They fought for every scrap. It looked like a few were about to choke to death on the big heads. 

After brunch Lee and I decided to go to the craft and arts show that was nearby.  We heard it was a big event. Martha and Mitch passed and went back to their boat.  There were over 200 vendors and thousands of beautiful things.  I could have spent a fortune but bought one little item. We walked until my knees were ready to give out then came back to the boat.  

We played cards after dinner and beat the guys again.  Not sure Mitch can recover from the humiliation. LOL

Day 73 

March 13, 2016

Sunday

Vero Beach

We planned to go to Target and Lowes by taking a couple of city buses to get a few things. The most important of which was cig lighter plug adapters to charge our phones and ipads. When we got to shore we found out the buses did not run on Sunday.  Since we plan to leave bright and early Monday morning we really needed those adapters. We walked most of 3 miles to a tiny podunk grocery store and they had them for $15 a piece. (way more than normal) They had cords with them, which we did not need. We got some for us and Stricklands. While we did that Martha went to the craft and arts fair by herself.  We dingyed her over to the restaurant guest dock and she walked from there.  When we all returned to the boats Lee took Martha and I to the laundry and we did a final wash/dry before departing tomorrow.  We expect to be on the hook for a while and not have access to laundry facilities.