Have Another Day's Great Loop

We pulled into the marina in York River last Wednesday and I headed to the pool with the girls.  The Burnetts were due to arrive that afternoon but the girls didn’t know.  We had been very vague about when they were coming and thought it would be fun to surprise the girls.  I was sitting poolside watching for their car to pull up.  Molly had just gotten out of the pool.  I saw their car turn into the parking lot and not long after Molly spotted them and took off running at lightning speed.  At the same time Livia came bolting out of their car the second it rolled to a stop.  The girls met in a huge embrace.  It had been 6 months since they had seen each other.  They’ve been inseparable since they were 3 years old so 6 months was a long time.  Madelyn was still in the pool with her mermaid tail on so it took her a few minutes to figure out what was going on and to get untangled so she could join in the hugs.  Claudia and Sabina quickly followed and it was hugs and smiles all around.  Surprise success!  We spent the rest of the day swimming and catching up.

Thursday we set out for some sight seeing in Yorktown.  We headed to the American Revolution Museum.  We had heard wonderful things about this museum and it did not disappoint.  We have studied the Civil War basically since we left Chicago.  So, I backed up a bit and explained that this was an entirely different war that took place before the Civil War.  My history knowledge is terrible so I learned right along with the girls.  We spent awhile inside looking at the exhibits and trying on period clothing and then headed outside to the model war camp and settlement.

The girls got to see the sizes of the tents that 6 soldiers would have shared during the war.  We also learned about some of the tools and items they would have had in their camp and how they cooked their food.

Next we all got to participate in a musket march demonstration.  We all chose a musket and learned how to hold it.  We marched in formation and learned commands for turning in a line and then how to ready the musket, prepare it and fire.  The girls did a great job!  Once we were commanded to fall out of line and return our muskets we went to see the commanding officer fire a real musket.  The girls then each got to go up and hold the real musket.  Quite heavy!

We moved on to the farm settlement where a typical family would have lived in the original Jamestown settlement.  We got to walk through a replica of a house and learned that the kitchens were in separate buildings next door.  The kitchen building had dried meats in addition to foods that were prepared that morning on display.

After a long museum morning we headed to the waterfront to grab a quick lunch.  After lunch Molly, Livia and Sabina headed back to the marina in the dinghy with Jack and Ben.  Kathy and I took Madelyn and Claudia down the beach a bit to find the cave where General Cornwallis was found after surrendering to the American troops.  We had all had enough history for the day so we skipped going to the Yorktown Battlefield where the Revolutionary War ended, but it was neat for the girls to look in the cave.

We must balance the learning with fun so it was back to the pool for the rest of the day!

The next morning we headed to the Jamestown Settlement.  Another fabulous educational experience!  I thought the museum exhibits indoors were great.  They were at an approachable level for the kids to read and understand.  We learned all about the Jamestown settlement and the hardships and successes the people that first settled there had.  I learned a lot and hope the girls did too.  Then we moved outside.  The settlement included replicas of the huts they lived in as well as replicas of some of the canoes and tools that the Native American tribes used.

We also got to see and walk around models of 3 of the ships that made the trip from England to Jamestown.  We learned how these ships settled in the James River.  It’s incredible and hard to imagine how many people were crammed on these ships with nowhere to sit or sleep other than on their luggage for the long 4 month journey to America.  We also got a lesson on navigation.  Our girls (Molly especially) have a lot of experience looking at charts and maps.  It was good for them to learn how to read a compass rose and hear how sailors way back when had to navigate the mighty Atlantic Ocean.

Our last stop at the settlement was the fort.  Our family is sort of maxed out on forts.  We’ve seen a LOT OF FORTS.  But we were there and said sure why not.  It was neat for the girls to see the similarities and differences of this fort and the others we’ve seen from the Civil War.  The fort was built out of wood which was a big difference from the others we have seen.  We got to see the blacksmith shop and the church and the houses within the fort.  The houses were impressive.  In St. Augustine we walked into the stone cave like areas where people lived.  Here there were full houses with multiple levels and rooms to spread out.  Madelyn and Claudia found armor to try on as well.  It’s heavy and uncomfortable!

On our way to the gift shop Jack spotted a snake!  I’ve never actually seen a snake before this that wasn’t in a zoo of some sort.

After our day at the settlement Jack and Kathy took all five girls back to swim so Ben and I could go shopping and finish up getting everything ready for Molly’s birthday!

I am WAY behind on blogging.  We’ve had our best friends visiting and having fun took priority over blogging.  So now I’m going to play catch up.  A couple of weeks ago we finished the Atlantic ICW.  I say good riddance.  We thoroughly enjoyed the towns along the way.  We thoroughly hated 90% of the boating.  It was stressful, narrow, shallow, shoaled in and not enjoyable for Ben.  It took tons of planning every evening to study all hazards and plan around tides, bridge schedules and depths.

We left Coinjock, NC two weeks ago Saturday and had a series of bridge lifts ahead and a lock.  We came through Norfolk, VA and were in awe at the naval warships on all sides for miles and miles.  Ben took lots of pictures.  We also got passed by a couple.  They are LARGE.  And as we looked at them with our binoculars we could see them looking back at us with theirs….and their large guns.  Large naval warships also brought DEEP water.  YAY!

There was a huge festival going on in Norfolk so we moved on through to Hampton, VA and the very bottom of the Chesapeake Bay.  We’ve been hearing about the Chesapeake for months so were excited to arrive.  We didn’t do a lot in Hampton.  The girls enjoyed the carousel and we went to church in a beautiful very old Episcopal church.  We rented a car and caught up on a lot of errands.

The dock master at our marina has a big garden he provides for boaters.  The girls enjoyed pulling carrots and snapping green beans every day we were there.  The tomatoes weren’t ripe yet unfortunately.  Fresh herbs and spices and greens were available as well.

After a couple of nights in Hampton we made our way 25 miles north and anchored in Yorktown.  We spent two nights at anchor right in the York River.  We saw two beautiful sunsets with water that looked like glass.

We took the dinghy into Yorktown and rode the free trolley around to get the lay of the land.  We stopped in another great used book store and grabbed some Ben and Jerry’s.  We were waiting for our friends to arrive to do all of our sight seeing.

 

We are finishing out our time in North Carolina with stops in Oriental, Belhaven and Coinjock.  Three places that before the Great Loop I had never heard of.  The geography lesson continues!  We haven’t done much this week.  We had bad weather and/or winds to contend with Monday through Thursday so we’ve spent a lot of time waiting around.  Thankfully we’ve been in places with lovely friendly people. I’m reminded again just how hospitable people in the south are!

We left Beaufort Sunday afternoon after looking at the forecast for Monday….and Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday it turns out.  We pulled into a marina just past Oriental that got great reviews and had a pool!  A definite plus if we are going to be stuck.  We never actually went into Oriental.  We pulled in Sunday in some high winds across a choppy Pamlico Sound and knew we had high winds for all day Monday as well.  We got in too late to swim Sunday but after running to get groceries Monday the girls and I headed right for the pool. We knew storms were headed our way (seems to be our specialty lately) so I told them they could jump in until the storms arrived around noon.  The sky looked menacing but the water felt great.  We headed to the boat and did some school work during the storms and then when the rain cleared they headed right back into the pool.  Around midnight there was a torrential storm and then the wind calmed and by the time we woke up Tuesday the water looked like glass.

Tuesday we set out across Pamlico Sound towards Belhaven.  The water was gorgeous.  We were blessed with amazing conditions after waiting out the wind and rain.  We are in a stretch of waterways where we are going from river to sound to river to sound.  A lot of these waterways are not like the narrow stretches of ICW that we’ve been on traveling up the coast.  They are wide, large and unpredictable bodies of water very much like Lake Michigan and therefore must be treated as such.  We have pored over wind and weather forecasts for these bodies of water.  Tuesday we covered Pamlico Sound, the Pamlico River and part of the Pungo River and arrived in Belhaven.  We again picked a marina just outside of town with great reviews and a pool.

 

 

The girls and I headed immediately to swim because after this one gorgeous day we knew that Wednesday and Thursday were bringing a cold front with high winds and more rain.  So, we took our 80+ degrees and sunshine and ran with it.  The pool was stocked with pool floats and one of them was the current resting place for a cute little frog.  We watched him a bit and helped him jump off the float before jumping in the pool.

We did make it into town this time.  Belhaven is VERY small.  VERY.  SMALL.  We’ve been in a ton of small towns.  This one was even smaller!  One of the highlights was the Ace Hardware store.  We head read it was a must stop.  It’s not only a hardware store, but also sells clothes, crafts, greeting cards and some food and wine.  It reminded me of  Home Goods with a hardware store mixed in.  Bizarre!  We covered all of town in under an hour.  We had been told by Ben’s aunt that the museum in City Hall was interesting. Go figure it was closed on Wednesday when we went into town!  A number of other boats pulled into the marina including three other boats doing the loop.  We haven’t been with other loopers in awhile so it was fun to have others to hang out with.  But it did mean sharing the courtesy car so we didn’t make it back to the museum.  We did share the car for dinner Wednesday night and made it to Spoon River.  A farm to fork restaurant right here in tiny Belhaven.  It was delicious and they treated the girls like royalty!  What a treat to have an amazing meal.

 

 

After it rained almost all of Thursday with gusty winds the skies finally cleared.  All of the boaters gathered in the clubhouse last night and had a great time visiting and stretching our legs a bit.  This morning as predicted it was once again beautiful.  We were again treated to a pretty great day after waiting out the bad weather.  More bodies of water to cross today.  We set out this morning for the 80+ mile run to Coinjock, NC.  We continued up the Pungo River to “the ditch”.  This is a skinny section of water with land very close on both sides that connects the Pungo River to the Alligator River.  Forecasts for the Pungo and Alligator rivers and the Albemarle Sound were all pretty good.  We made it through the ditch and the Alligator with no issues.  It was gorgeous out once again and Molly and I finished another puzzle!

The girls and I covered a lot of ground on school today and decided Monday will be our official last day for the year.  We’ll still do some work a couple of days a week over the summer but Molly really wants to have an official last day, so Monday it is!  They both finished their math books a couple of weeks ago and we finished the novel Molly and I were reading today so we’re wrapping things up nicely for summer.  I wanted school for the day done before we hit the Albemarle.

The Albemarle was not too bad but not too great.  The wind picked up and it’s a big sound.  We took a couple of hours to cross it and saw how hard the Seakeeper (our stabilizer) worked today.  The girls don’t spend much time up on the flybridge.  They tend to stay downstairs and play with dolls, legos, slime, playdough, or watch YouTube and Netflix instead of enjoying the water around them.  To their credit, it’s usually blazing hot upstairs and they have to wear hot life vests.  So, air conditioning it is.  But when the water gets rough everyone comes up.  Molly next to me.  Maddy in my lap.  Molly gets sick.  Maddy gets scared.  Ben turned on the engine room camera that shows the seakeeper working.  They love watching it and how much it rolls and turns to keep us level.  It worked hard today as waves were hitting us from the side.  The waves weren’t that big but enough to toss us around and feel the motion.  Ben was fine.  The rest of us had had enough and were very happy to enter the North River.

We made it the short distance up the North River and tied up at Coinjock marina.  Friends have been telling us about Coinjock since September.  People tell us places not to miss all the time and it’s so hard to file it all away, but Coinjock was one that got mentioned over and over.  I see why.  It’s just a fun place.  It’s nothing but a long face dock with a good store and great bar and restaurant.  Their claim to fame is that you order your prime rib ahead of time when you book your slip.  They have a 16 oz. and a 32 oz. prime rib.  Ben’s the only serious meat eater in our group so I reserved him a 16 oz. prime rib for dinner.  We are docked directly in front of the restaurant.  The food was good – their fish is as good as the prime rib!  Once again the entire marina has the friendliest people.  There’s a live band right outside our door.  After dinner we let the girls hang out for a bit and listen before bed.  We’re just here for tonight but were pleasantly surprised.  What a fun stop.  Life is good.

Tomorrow we leave North Carolina and cross into Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay.  We’re planning to head to Hampton, VA for a few days and will then meet the Burnetts for a visit mid week!  We’re so excited – it’s been six months since we last saw them and we miss them so much.  Molly’s birthday is next weekend and they are driving a long way to be here to help her celebrate!

After anchoring for a night in Wrightsville Beach we headed to Topsail Island in Surf City, NC.  While anchored Ben was working in the engine room and noticed that the water pump for our generator had gone bad.  It’s a maintenance part but we didn’t have a spare on board so Ben ordered a new pump with overnight delivery to arrive in Topsail Island.  We had a pretty trip through this part of the ICW.  I didn’t get many pictures but did snap a couple just on the other side of this swing bridge.

Once in Topsail Island we got off the boat and went to find Sugar Island Bakery and used bookstore.  The Wilsons had told us about it and we were excited to check it out.  We picked up a stack of new to us books and got some delicious cookies.

After the bakery the girls were desperate to get to the beach.  I wasn’t far behind.  We have seen some amazing places recently and had a wonderful time doing so, but I miss swimming suits, water, and just relaxing!  So, the girls and I got suited up to head to the beach.  It was about 4 pm so I told them we just had an hour or so to play.  As we were heading up the dock I noticed some dark clouds behind us.  We’ve had a lot of afternoon spring storms so I checked the radar and the storm was either going to hit us or skate just below us.  Molly said she thought we should give it a try so off we went.  The beach in Topsail Island is BEAUTIFUL!  We have really missed nice beaches since coming back from the Bahamas.  The Atlantic side of FL just doesn’t have nice beaches.  But North Myrtle Beach and Topsail Island have restored our beach loving.

The girls enjoyed approximately 3 minutes in the water before the CRAZY storm moved in.  Molly kept yelling “look look”.  The girls do this a lot.  “Mommy look”.  All.  The.  Time.  So, I kept saying “I am looking!”  Pretty soon I realized she was pointing behind me.  Whoa.  I yelled to them to get out of the water immediately.  We, and everyone else on the beach, took cover.  As the wind picked up and the rain started our cover wasn’t sufficient and we ducked into the waterfront bar and restaurant we were standing next to.  I asked the bartender if we could hang out while this blew through.  She said no problem.  We were wet and cold as the wind and rain was blowing everywhere inside as well.  It was pouring off the roof and splashing everywhere.  Eventually the storm cleared and Madelyn noticed it had stopped raining.  We made a run for it.  We quickly realized that all of the streets were flooded and for some reason the town doesn’t have any sidewalks.  So, we sprinted through some rivers of water the two blocks back to the boat.  Madelyn lost a shoe at one point crossing a street but was able to grab it.

The next morning Ben was waiting for the pump to arrive so I took the girls back to the beach. Take 2!  It was a gorgeous morning.  The tide was way out so the beach was huge.  The girls were fascinated with the surfers.  Maybe this was why it’s called Surf City.  The girls jumped right on their boogie boards.  The ocean was so calm but where the waves were breaking was wild and fun.  After snapping a few pictures of them I joined them in the water.  They met another little girl who was 9 and there on vacation and the three played for a couple hours in the waves, never taking a break.

Back on the boat Ben got the pump for the generator.  However the night before when he removed the broken pump he realized it didn’t look like the one he ordered.  He was able to chat with online support and determined that since our generator was built they have designed a new pump with an adapter kit to fit our generator. Forgive my lack of any technical knowledge of any of this.  Anyway, the adapter kit was then ordered with Saturday delivery shipping to arrive in Beaufort, NC.  Once back from the beach, as the tide started to rise we pulled out and headed for Beaufort.  We had planned to anchor close by and finish the trip Saturday morning but there were no anchorages close enough to Beaufort that were also deep enough.  This section of the ICW was also quite pretty.  Beautiful huge houses right on the waterfront.  And then we got to travel through the live fire zone used by the marines.  Ben had called ahead that morning and was told that they were not doing any live fire exercises on Friday.  Phew.  When they are performing tests they close the ICW and boaters are just stuck waiting.  It was neat to boat through this area and see the targets used for practice on the banks.

At some point during the trip the generator overheated and shut down.  Just confirmed our decision not to anchor and to get to a marina so Ben could get the adapter kit and replace the pump.  After a long day we pulled into Beaufort, NC around 7:45 PM and tied up.  Ben was exhausted.  I got the girls off the boat to run off some energy for a few minutes.  We watched a gorgeous sunset and the girls found a large grassy area to play with their Skip Its.

Saturday morning my cousin Michael and his wife Addi came to visit!  They live just outside Raleigh and drove over to the coast to hang out with us.  We’re so lucky that so many of our friends and family make an effort to join us on this journey.  We love having visitors and sharing this trip with so many.  Michael and Addi got married on Carolina Beach last September.  We missed the wedding because we had just set out on the Great Loop.  We boated right past where they got married on our way to Topsail Island Thursday.  We’re so happy they were able to make the drive over to see us.  They arrived with a ridiculous amount of packages we had sent to their house.  Between boating stuff and presents for Molly’s upcoming birthday they were very gracious to collect and deliver them all!  They also brought breakfast.  After we hung out and ate and showed them around the boat they enjoyed a lovely couple of hours of errands taking us to West Marine and Walmart for oil so Ben can do another oil change.

 

 

We finally made it into town for a late lunch.  After lunch we toured the North Carolina Maritime Museum.  This is a free museum open to the public and they have a scavenger hunt for kids.  So the girls completed the scavenger hunt and we learned about Blackbeard the pirate and the Queen Anne’s Revenge.  We saw quite a few cool shipping artifacts and models and animal skeletons.  Michael took a turn surfing.

After the museum we walked across the street to watch a group of people working on building boats.  We watched them for a few and then headed to the obligatory shops for more t-shirts and magnets.  We completed our quick tour of town with a stop for ice cream for Molly and Ben and shaved ice for Madelyn.

We were all full from our late lunch and feeling quite lazy in the heat so we went back to the boat and just hung out.  Ben replaced the generator water pump and let it run for a bit to make sure all was well there.  We chatted and did some puzzling and just hung out the rest of the night.  Ordered a pizza for dinner and didn’t do much else!

This morning Ben put the dinghy in the water as soon as he got up.  We all hopped in and headed over to Carrot Island.  This is a long stretch of land right across from Beaufort and we noticed a lot of people there on kayaks and other beached boats.  Michael and Addi told us that a lot of the small water taxi ferries will take you to Carrot Island and Shackleford Banks.  I had read in the guide book that there were wild horses!  Since we were still feeling burned by not spotting the horses at Cumberland Island we were determined.  We rode around in the dinghy for a bit and Molly spotted them!!!  We pulled up to the marshy land but didn’t get out.  We watched them from afar and I got the best picture I could.  Madelyn was so happy to finally spot them!!!

 

 

Then it was time for the beach!  What a perfect day.  I’m so happy that we have had 3 beach outings in the past week.  I’ll say it again – we’ve missed chilling out at the beach.  The water was 81 degrees.  The beach was beautiful.  This is our favorite type of beach – find a stretch of sand, pull up the dinghy and hop out.

Tide was out so there were tiny crabs running all over the sand.  Addi picked one up for Madelyn to see. Michael and Molly made a bee line for the water on the other side and were fully in before I could tell them about the crabs.  We all ended up in the warm water.  Addi, Michael and the girls played catch with Molly’s bounce on water ball.

Then Addi kept exploring and found a live sand dollar!  The girls learned all about sand dollars in the Bahamas but we were only able to find the white ones which are not alive.  But today the girls got to hold and touch one that was still alive.  VERY COOL – thanks Addi!

After a fabulous morning we said goodbye to Michael and Addi.  We were fully in beach mode and ready to head back to play some more when we thought we should glance at route, tides and forecast.  Reality set in.  I wanted to just pull out of Beaufort late afternoon and go to a close by anchorage so we had a little jump tomorrow morning.  We had planned on a long day from Beaufort to Belhaven.  But the forecast showed storms for Monday and Tuesday and rain Wednesday and wind moving in.  Dreaded wind.  So, we quickly made a new plan and decided to head to Oriental, NC today.  It got us 25 miles north so that our run to Belhaven will be shorter.  We are in a marina with a nice pool so that if there is a break in the storms the girls can swim.  The forecast is now much improved but we will stay until the winds and water calm.  Oriental is on the Neuse River.  It’s a pretty wide body of water and the winds are whipping up it right now rocking us pretty badly.  We are safe and sound, but it’ll be a noisy night.  We have 11 miles on the Neuse River before we enter Pamlico Sound.  We are in a stretch right now of rivers and sounds that are more like Lake Michigan than they are the narrow stretches of the ICW we’ve been on.  So, we’ll keep an eye on the winds and waves and go when it’s comfortable.  After Belhaven we’ll head to Coinjock and then to Norfolk, VA which is mile 0 on the Atlantic ICW.  Then we’ll enter the Chesapeake Bay!

I last blogged a week ago Tuesday when we tried to leave Charleston and then turned around in a massive storm that hit us.  Well, Wednesday wasn’t much better.  It rained.  And rained.  And rained.  The wind was insane.  We didn’t even try to get off the boat, let alone take the boat anywhere.  But then around 4 pm it magically stopped and the sky cleared a bit.  We hopped off the boat as many around us did and stretched our legs.  We took an Uber to the store to grab a few things and mostly just to have an outing.

 

 

Thursday morning we made a run for it!  After hours of studying charts and tide schedules and wind and rain schedules Wednesday night we decided to give it a try.  The weather was much improved. The rain was pretty much gone and we just had some wind to deal with.  We had to head through a very nervous making passage between Charleston and Georgetown and we needed to do it on a mid to rising tide.  The tide schedule was not in our favor as high tide was scheduled for around noon in Charleston and 1 where we were heading.  So, we got up at 5:15 and pulled off the dock by 6 AM.  Anyone who knows Ben knows what an achievement that was for Ben and how he was exhausted the rest of the day and the next day after doing that!  He and early mornings don’t agree.  Anyway, we had a great group of boats to travel with and the river traveling north is beautiful when you aren’t stressed out and can look at it.  We did enjoy the view.

The boating community is so supportive.  We left Charleston right behind another boat who has similar draft to us and has done the trip many times. Ben called him a number of times to ask for a depth report and he was helpful each and every time.  Then we found ourselves traveling with a 95 ft boat with a 5.5 ft draft and unprotected props in front of us and a sailboat with a 6 ft draft behind us.   They were going nice and slow and we were happy to stay right between them.  The sailboat was a local and had lots of tips along the way.  The 95 ft was not and had not thought to do any research prior to the trip.  He hadn’t looked at Active Captain or Waterway Guide.  We get kind of frustrated when we get accused (mostly online forums) of being unprepared and not paying attention to conditions.  I had two pages of notes about tide levels and times for every hazard mark that day.  We do a LOT of preparation.  It doesn’t always matter.  But, we like to be as prepared as we can be.  So, we were happy to slow down and let the 95 footer go first.  We’d call ahead to him each time we approached a hazard and between us and the sailboat both reporting our research findings he navigated through first and we both followed.

We finally made it to Georgetown and kept on going.  We thought there was a chance we’d have to stop and anchor and wait for tide to fall and then rise again but we made good time and got to the last of the tricky spots just after high tide and still had plenty of water.  Georgetown was unfortunately full.  There was a fishing tournament going on and those two extra days in Charleston meant there wasn’t room for us now.  We’ve been told it was a cute stop but we just can’t catch them all.  So, we headed on north to Wacca Wache on the Waccamaw river.  Say that five times!  It was a very nice marina with very friendly people and the river there is beautiful even if the water is browner than brown.  We hopped off the boat and decompressed after a long day.

Friday we headed to North Myrtle Beach to Barefoot Marina.  Our friends Rod and Susie from Beehaven keep their boat there and had gotten us a slip for as long as we wanted to stay.  They are just another example of the truly wonderful people we have met on this trip.  They are just the sweetest!  We got in fairly early and I took the girls to the POOL!  A huge pool.  With a sno cone tent on the pool deck.  The water was a bit chilly but the sun was hot and the sno cones were delicious.

Rod and Susie came by the marina later that afternoon and they and Ben joined me on the pool deck until I was able to get the girls out of the water.  They have two condos they rent out right on the beach.  They are staying in one while having some maintenance work done on their boat.  We had dinner together next to their condo and then walked out to the beautiful beach.  Then they took us up to their 18th floor condo.  I’m terrified of heights so I could appreciate the view from inside but no looking over the balcony for me.  Rod immediately pulled out his ukulele and started teaching the girls how to play.

Saturday we spent the whole day with Rod and Susie.  We went back to their place and had a lovely lunch and Molly got another good long ukulele lesson.  She’s completely learned how to play Happy Birthday!  Then we all went down to the beach.  It was perfect boogie boarding weather.  The ocean was warm.  The waves were big.  The sand was soft and there was no current pulling them.  Ben and I got in too.  Their condo also has a pool and lazy river so after we were done with the sand we took a float around the lazy river for a bit and then headed upstairs again.  Susie immediately told the girls to go hop in the big Jacuzzi tub.

In our continued craziness, Saturday night we hopped in a rental car and drove most of the way to Annapolis, MD.  Stopped at hotel and slept so the girls could swim and play a bit in the morning.  That was the agreement with taking on another road trip although this one was only 7.5 hours.  Half the length of our last one.  Sunday morning after they played we went to see another boat we like a lot.  Spent the day there and had a great lunch at a local crab place.  Drove back the entire way that night arriving back in North Myrtle Beach around 1:45 AM.  Ben and I were tired.  Boat discussions go up and down constantly so I won’t waste space with that here.

Memorial Day we laid low.  We were both tired.  I sat around in pajamas until after noon.  A coworker of Ben’s from Schwab came to visit us and brought his 14 year old daughter.  They mentioned they live outside of Charlotte but didn’t mind the drive.  Given that we’d just driven 7.5 hours we told them we’d love to have visitors but that they were CRAZY!  The girls all swam for quite awhile and then we had a classic Memorial Day cookout before they headed back.  They brought us some North Caroline favorites to try – peach and almond bread and Cheerwine!  It was a perfectly relaxing and chill holiday.

Tuesday it was time for us to move along even though it was blazing hot and the girls wanted to swim again.  Rod and Susie drove Ben back from Enterprise to the marina and came to say goodbye.  We truly enjoyed our time with them and will stay in touch just like the rest of our looper family!  We had an easy trip from North Myrtle to Southport.

 

 

I told the girls we crossed through another state and are now in North Carolina!  Because of the tide schedule we left late morning and didn’t arrive til around 4:30 PM.  We took a quick walk through town and headed back to the marina for a 6 pm briefing a fellow boater holds nightly.  He walks through weather and tides and the rest of the route north from Southport all the way to Norfolk, VA.  We left with a good handle on the next few days and a packet of information including maps and notes on the tricky parts ahead.

While in town the harbor host for Southport, Robert Creech, reached out to us!  He saw our boat at the marina, looked us up and called Ben.  What a nice guy!  His house is right on the water so we walked past and stopped and said hello on our way back to the marina.  He and Kay have a lovely view of the water from their front porch.  The girls enjoyed a few minutes in the rockers before we had to go.

This morning we took another walk into town before heading north.  Wendy from La Cigale and mentioned all the history here and I asked her to tell me more because I missed it last night!  Wendy said go walk along the water.  So, we did.  And she was right.  Tons of Civil War history here as well.  We didn’t make the girls stop and read every board but we read them.  Stories of the Union blockade of the rivers and the confederate ships in NC that were used to partially block the blockade so that the blockade runners could sneak ships out carrying cotton and rice to Bermuda and the Bahamas.  Here they sold these goods for military supplies that they then snuck back into NC.  There is a string of shipwrecks of these ships up the coast of NC from Southport.  There’s even a very old, very rusty anchor from one of them on the bank where we were standing.  The girls instead stopped at almost every swing to swing while we read.  In the background is the former house of a blockade runner.

Then we moved on to the Pilots’ Tower.  People would stand in these very tall towers and look for ships out on the ocean.  When they spotted one ready to come in they would fire a cannon alerting a pilot boat to head out.  The pilot boats would head out to the inlet and the captain would climb the ladder up to the big ship.  The mate would drive the pilot boat back in to the harbor and the pilot would bring in the big ship navigating twists and turns and shoaling in the inlet and river.  Although these towers are no longer needed today because of electronics and improved communications the pilots are still used.  I first learned about pilots in the Bahamas.  Had we gone south to Eleuthera there were spots that we would have called a pilot to take us in.  Local knowledge is a wonderful thing!

Just as we were rounding the corner to walk up into town and get some salt water taffy Ben saw tents about a block down.  We were just lamenting we had a rental car in North Myrtle yet somehow seemed to be very low on produce.  And then just like that a farmer’s market appeared!  Yay!  We loaded up on tomatoes, blueberries that were picked yesterday, asparagus, red peppers, Jade cucumbers and romaine.  Then stopped off for some garlic herb pickles.

Once we loaded up on the healthy stuff we headed for salt water taffy.  Ben and I like it as much as the kids so Ben grabbed a bag and everyone grabbed handfuls of the flavors they wanted.  We ended up with just over 3 lbs.  Yes, I’m admitting that.  I won’t admit how quickly it disappears.  There are also three local fish markets in town with fresh catches each day.  We got 2 lbs of fresh shrimp brought in this morning for the crazy cheap price of $7 per lb.  What a deal.  So between the shrimp, the fresh veggies and the taffy we are eating well tonight!

Other random stats from this past week include another tooth lost by Madelyn.  She’s now toothless in the front and enjoying her funny speech until those big teeth grow in.

And while we had a car I decided haircuts were in order.  The girls haven’t had a trim since early January and it was time.  Molly has been growing her hair out since last summer and decided it was bugging her and she wanted to go back to short.  Madelyn fought me on cutting a large chunk off of hers but it was all the way down to her waist.  Her hair is extremely thick and unless I have it braided every single day it just was looking derelict!  So, despite her protests I gave the instruction to cut 4-6 inches off.  It’s still plenty long!  She wants to grow it to her feet like Rapunzel of course.

Ben and I were both kind of feeling burned out yesterday.  We have just been tired and ambivalent about where to go next and what to do.  My cousin and his wife are driving to see us Saturday so I’ve been trying to map out where to meet them.  Our choices were go to Carolina Beach, or Wrightsville Beach or Topsail today.  Carolina Beach was so close to Southport that ultimately seemed silly.  So we settled on anchoring at Wrightsville Beach tonight.  We planned to drop the dinghy in the water and go into town.  They have a close and easy to get to dinghy dock here.  But what they also currently have are 25-30 mph winds.  The forecast says 9 mph.  Seems like more often than not we have a good forecast and then boom, crazy wind when we anchor.  Ben reminded me that we had lovely nights anchored at Fernandina and St. Simons.  He is right.  I just remember the windy ones!  So, we are sitting at anchor spinning back and forth while all the sailboats and the one other power boat don’t move at all.  Looks like we won’t make it into town.  We can’t leave the boat when it’s this windy.  Instead we’re having a relaxing afternoon chilling out. Molly and I worked on a puzzle a bit and now I’m sitting on the back deck listening to the water and watching the boats around us.  Ben unfortunately just spent a long time in the hot engine room working on something.  Hopefully he’ll sit and relax soon too.  (And now that I’m done writing it has already calmed quite a bit)

Tomorrow we head to Topsail Island Marina in Surf City, NC.  Another recommendation from the Wilson family.  Then we think we will meet Michael and Addi in Beaufort, NC Saturday before we turn to head north after the weekend.

I’ve been looking forward to Charleston this entire trip!  As I’ve said a thousand times I was really sad to leave the Bahamas and island life in general but I have been very excited about all we have to explore going up the east coast.  St. Augustine, Savannah and now Charleston complete the trifecta of big stops on the southern section of the east coast.  After this we go back to little waterfront towns for a bit.  We enjoy those as well and we will have a slower pace for a bit!

We left Beaufort last Thursday and had a long stressful day making our way north to Charleston.  After much debate we decided to take the ICW instead of going out into the ocean.  It would have been 40 extra miles to go outside and that just didn’t make sense if we could manage the tides and depths.  We spent a long time studying every hazard mark and shallow spot along the way and, as we always do, timed our departure with the tides.  Thursday that meant that we didn’t leave until 11ish so that we were traveling on a rising tide.  We made it through all of the shallow spots without issue and arrived at the Charleston City Marina late in the day and tied up to the Mega Dock.  The Charleston City Marina is famous for their 3000 ft. long Mega Dock for transient boaters.  We thankfully got a spot on the inside of the dock about halfway up.  It was still a very long walk to get off the dock but the girls have taken that in stride and we’ve all enjoyed a big boost in our step count!  The Mega dock is home to lots of boats and lots of mega yachts.  We’ve enjoyed walking past multiple enormous power boats as well as the 295 ft. long Athena sailboat.  We’ve never seen anything like it.

Friday morning we got school done quickly and hopped on the free shuttle provided by the marina into town.  We started with a carriage ride to get our bearings and a little of the history of this great town.  The girls were thrilled to see more horses and this time we got front row seats!  We quickly learned that mules were pulling our carriage, not horses.  Maybe most people know this, but….Mules have a horse for a mother and a donkey for a father.  The girls were fascinated to learn this as well as other facts about mules that we were told and they have researched.  I will let them share in their blog!

The tour took us around town.  We learned a lot of history about the area and the houses.  After our tour guide referred to Charleston as the “Holy City” a few times I looked up why.  There are a few theories out there but the most common is that it earned the nickname because of its support of religious freedom hundreds of years ago.  As you look into town from the harbor or any of the highways or bridges you see a lot of low buildings and many tall steeples.  We toured past a number of the oldest churches and the girls and I were able to attend mass at the old Catholic cathedral on Sunday.   And somehow I didn’t get a singe picture of these incredible churches!

After our carriage ride we walked through the famous City Market and then took a walk down to Waterfront Park and took that all the way past Rainbow Row to Battery Park.

Amazed that Madelyn hadn’t yet balked at all the walking, we decided to push a bit further.  We were able to snag an early reservation to SNOB (Slightly North of Broad).  Walking in the restaurant a bit sheepish in our sight seeing clothes after having taken a carriage ride and walked many miles we were taken to a lovely table with a view of the kitchen and had the best meal of our stay in Charleston!  I have been looking forward to the cuisine here and this meal did not disappoint.  I had the best swordfish I’ve ever had.  I should have taken a lot of food pictures but only managed to get one the whole trip.  A fabulous charcuterie plate (that we had already eaten half of)!

After dinner we wandered around a bit more and then tricked Madelyn into walking all the way back to the marina.  We just kept saying we’d walk a little further and call the shuttle. She was completely fine and eventually looked up and said “hey, did we just walk all the way back to the boat?”.  Yes we did!

Saturday morning we got up and headed to see the USS Yorktown.  My kids are kind of tapped out on Civil War history so it was good to change it up.  First of all this was WWII history so that made a world of difference for them. Ha ha.  But more importantly it was a museum inside an aircraft carrier!  So cool!  The USS Yorktown has been permanently docked here in Charleston to serve as a museum.  I’ve admitted before that my knowledge of history is embarrassingly bad and I hated history as a kid.  So, I’m learning with them and experiential learning is the way to go!

This “museum” consists of the USS Yorktown, the USS Laffey and submarine USS Clamagore.  All three are open to self tour.  We started with the USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier from WWII that was named after the first USS Yorktown lost at the Battle of the Midway.  It holds 3500 sailors as well as 90 aircraft.  Molly just kept walking around saying “we can’t be on a boat”.  I called it a boat in one room and was corrected by a fellow patron telling me it was a “ship”.  Not a “boat”.  Point taken.  The ship was split up into 5 self guided tours. Maddy was thankful for that.  She’s not a fan of listening to people drone on about what she’s looking at.  The kids were fascinated with the accommodations and comparing and contrasting to our boat.  First up was the bunk room. We found a number of bunks with notes written on them by soldiers years ago.  So special to read this little piece of history.  Then onto the dentist office where both girls took turns in the chair.

Next up was the galley, where Madelyn couldn’t believe how real the pancakes looked.  They were particularly interested in the quantity of food prepared each day in these galleys.  Enough for 3 meals plus midnight rations for 3500 passengers.  That’s a lot of food!

Then we got to the butcher room and the bakery.  My favorite was the bakery!  There was a recipe and ingredients displayed for a typical batch of 10,000 chocolate chip cookies!  The girls’ eyes bugged out.  But if you think about it, that’s not even 3 cookies per sailor.  I was amazed at 500 eggs and 100 lbs of sugar.  Wow!  And the mixer.  Maddy could stand in the mixer, it was so big.

The doctor’s office and operating room were a bit primitive looking.  And then there was the engine room.  Whoa.  It’s big.  Really really big.  The girls got to try out “driving” and see the radios used to call up for signals.

Then we headed up towards the flight deck. The girls sat down in the briefing room first and then we went out to the aircraft deck.  Molly again was in awe that we were on a ship!  With airplanes and helicopters on it!

Last but not least we saw the “brig” – the jail on board.  The girls and I were all kind of in awe of that!  Yikes!  We also got to see the captains’ and officers’ dining room, quarters and snack bar.  It was fun to check out the old soda fountain on board for them!

Next we moved onto the USS Laffey which was extremely hot and stuffy and much smaller!  An important ship for sure but not nearly as interesting.  Onto the submarine.  The USS Clamagore.  The poor submarine is rusting away sitting in the salt water!  Still very cool to climb aboard.  We’ve confirmed that I could never ever live on a submarine. So claustrophobic.  Still interesting to tour.

After a long, hot, albeit very interesting morning, we headed back to the boat.  We spent Saturday afternoon looking at another boat we may be interested in and then headed to dinner at Fuel.  It had been recommended by friends and was a fun casual meal.

With rain forecasted to move in Monday we decided to rent a car Sunday morning and head to one of the big plantations.  After church we grabbed brunch at 82 Queen.  Husk has been one of the most recommended restaurants by friends.  We put our name in there and while waiting for our table glanced at the menus at 82 Queen on one side and the place on the other side of Husk. Our table at Husk became available just as 82 Queen opened and said they could seat us on their patio. Their menu looked better to us so we skipped Husk and ate there.  It was excellent.  Beautiful patio.  AMAZING biscuits.  The girls had delicious crème brulee French toast.  I had a fabulous omelet and Ben had a great tenderloin, egg, arugula sandwich.  Another successful meal and off to Boone Hall Plantation we went.

It was again quite sunny and HOT.  We took a wagon tour around the grounds and explained to the girls how southern plantations worked.  This particular one is still in business.  They no longer grow cotton although the old cotton gin is a preserved landmark building.  It was turned into a restaurant for a few years and when they went to remodel, a load bearing wall came down so now it is being supported from falling down but obviously the restaurant has closed.

The plantation also no longer makes bricks but they grow many fruits and vegetables.  They had just finished harvesting kale, watermelon and a few other things but were currently growing grapes, peaches, more watermelon, strawberries and corn.  By fall the corn will be corn maze high and they will have a full crop of squash and pumpkins.

After the wagon tour we stopped by their butterfly conservatory.  Who doesn’t love butterflies?  Madelyn was of course also enthralled with the horses!

We took a tour of the plantation house but were a bit disappointed.  We came to learn that Charleston doesn’t have too many original plantation houses.  At Boone Hall this was the 4th house.  The previous ones had been burned to the ground, blown away by a hurricane and torn down to build the current more modern house in the 1930s.  It is a beautiful house but as Ben pointed out, our house in Chicago was built in the 1880s so a 1930s house wasn’t all that interesting to us.  It did have one beautiful room preserved from the old house with the original pine floors and cypress walls.

 

 

Boone Hall is famous for its Avenue of the Oaks drive.  Many movies have been filmed here and the plantation is now the location for close to 200 weddings a year.  Our tour guide told us most of these trees are 250+ years old.  They live about 450 years so they are still young.

 

 

Back to the history lessons!  I largely wanted to visit a plantation for the history.  This culture of farming is so different than what the girls know at home.  But in addition to the still existing farm, Boone Hall has 8 slave houses still intact that we were able to tour.  Each house contained a bit of the timeline of these slaves lives.

We learned on our carriage tour that there is no natural stone to use for building in this area.  We’ve moved from coquina in St. Augustine to tabby in Beaufort.  In Charleston slaves made bricks.  One of the slave houses had a brick mold on display.  Ben explained to the girls how they poured the materials in the mold to form them and that the writing in the mold then displayed on the outside of the brick.  All of the slave houses were built by the slaves out of these bricks, as well as many of the houses in Charleston.

There were copies of slave lists coming into Charleston as well as advertisements of slaves for sale on display in one house.  Molly and I spent time looking at the descriptions of slaves such as good workers, complains, has a baby, full hand, half hand, driver, nurse, etc.

Throughout the various slave houses we were able to listen to a history through the ages.  I’m sure the girls didn’t soak in all of the vast amount of history here, but we listened to recordings about Lincoln ending slavery and then how in the south voting rights were lost again for many years for African Americans.  The history timeline continued through Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. and ended with Barack Obama becoming our first African American president.  It is hard for me to grasp the enormity and difficulty of the lives these people lived, so I know it is hard for the girls to grasp.  I hope this was at least a bit of glimpse for them into the past and that they grow up to be respectful of the history here.

After that somber note (and a full weekend of home schooling at its finest!) we had some fun in store for all of us!  When we came into town I emailed Kim Russo – she is the Director of the American Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA). I knew she had teenagers so I asked if she may have any leads on a babysitter.  Her daughter was working all weekend but she emailed to tell me her niece was free.  It gets better.  Her niece is a high school senior who teaches gymnastics.  We planned to have a date night Saturday night but then Paige mentioned that her gym had open gym hours Sunday afternoon.  Sold!  We dropped the girls off and they had a blast.  A full gymnastics studio with sprung mats, trampolines, foam pits, bars, balance beams, you name it.  And a personal gymnastics instructor at their disposal!  She drove them back to the boat after.  We got a couple of errands done and headed to Magnolias for an early dinner.  Another highly recommended restaurant and it also did not disappoint!  The fried green tomatoes (for me) and fried chicken (for Ben) were two of their signature dishes and were both great.  Molly and Madelyn are pretty good about being taken to nice restaurants but it was such a treat for us to have an adult dinner at our own pace with drinks and appetizers and dessert!  We took a long stroll back around town and to the marina.

Monday was supposed to be rainy all day so we had a pretty low key schedule.  School and then Costco and Trader Joes were on the list.  It’s not all glamorous even when we’re in fun places.  But Kim Russo came to our boat to visit Monday afternoon!  We’ve been emailing her for months and it was fun to put a face with the name.  We’re so happy we got to meet her while we were in town.

Last night we went to Obstinate Daughter for dinner.  One more restaurant off the list of recommendations.  It topped my list for best cocktail.  Impossible to make them all so Ben and I will just have to come back.  Today we hoped to head north towards Georgetown, SC.  The path from here to there is narrow and shallow.  We picked out an anchorage 30 miles north of here.  Today the tide schedule was not in our favor.  Low tide was at 12 PM in Charleston and 1 PM where we were heading.  And added bonuses today were thunderstorms starting at 2 pm and low tide being below MLW (mean low water).  Friends of ours headed north before us and reported two or three spots that were 5 ft. when they passed 2 hours after low tide so we had to continue to wait.  Big storms moved through on schedule at 2 pm.  By 3:30 it was looking ok and after checking many weather sites we decided to pull out and give it a try.  There are a number of good anchorages along the way and we figured we’d just see how far we got.  There were more storms to the west but mostly just rain and a long ways west.  We pulled out and were fine.  All of a sudden dark clouds moved in.  We were barely across the bay here and Ben decided he was turning around.  Better safe than sorry.  One of the storm cells to the south moved more north than east and was now in our path.  We turned around and it started dumping rain on us!  I had to jump off the boat and tie lines.  I poured an inch of water out of my shoes when I came back in.  But we’re back at the City Marina safe and sound.  The sky is now clear and the water looks like a mirror.  We shall see what morning brings.  Charleston has been another fabulous stop on this great adventure!

 

 

 

 

We had an easy ride between Savannah and Beaufort.  We’re in a big stretch of places that other loopers have told us are not to be missed.  Savannah and Charleston were both on our list of course, but we didn’t know much about Beaufort, SC.  First, there is also a Beaufort in North Carolina.  The Beaufort in South Carolina is pronounced “bew” like “new”, or “beautiful Beaufort” as I read in someone else’s blog.  North Carolina has  “bo-fort”.  So, as we were on our way to “bew”-fort this little guy hopped on board.  He just hung out for awhile and then flew away as gracefully as he came.

We pulled into the marina and quickly got off the boat to enjoy the charm and see what this place was all about.  Beaufort, SC wins the award for best waterfront we’ve seen in a long time.  It was beautiful and welcoming.  Lovely sidewalks, swings everywhere, a big amphitheater area, tons of room for the girls to scooter, a playground and a number of restaurants whose back patios back up onto the waterfront park with lovely views and a wonderful atmosphere.

We had heard about all of the history and famous antebellum houses here.  We strolled around a bit and found some of them on our own.  They are gorgeous.  Absolutely gorgeous.

We then settled in for dinner at one of the waterfront restaurants.  After school earlier in the day the girls made slime.  They were so excited to finally get a batch made (we didn’t have Borax on board so they had to wait until we bought some).  They pulled out the slime to play with while we waited for our food.  Our waiter stopped by and said it was pretty cool and asked if they made it in school.  Molly has the answer down pat…”no, we are being home schooled and are living on our boat traveling around the eastern third of the United States”.  The usual reply is “wow that is so cool”.  This time our waiter also said that he was homeschooled through 8th grade and that he only went back to play sports.  I am continually comforted that we are hopefully doing alright by our kids as we meet more and more people who were and are home schooled.  On that thought, it’s almost summer break!  Side note — the girls only have about a week of their math curriculum left and then we’ll taper off for summer!!

After dinner the girls ran around in the grassy park and we all took turns on the swings.  What a beautiful night!

Wednesday morning we headed to Blackstone’s Café for breakfast.  Another not to be missed spot.  Had a great breakfast and everyone was happy.  French toast, pancakes, omelet and corned beef hash. And as any great greasy spoon is, it was fast and cheap and GOOD!

After breakfast we hopped on a carriage tour.  We wanted to get some of the history of Beaufort and decided the girls would do better on the 1 hour carriage tour than the 2 hour walking tour.  Madelyn has been begging to go on a carriage ride!

Our tour guide was fantastic (as was Angus our horse!) and gave us a lot of the history of Beaufort.  We got to see a ton of the famous antebellum houses along with stories about their original owners.

The history here is rich.  We also learned about important parts of history like the life of Robert Smalls, raised as a slave in one of these houses.  His masters taught him to read and write as a young boy. Against the law, but they did it anyway.  He went on to become a ship’s pilot and work on one of the large Confederate ships during the Civil War.  He was very intelligent and would read all the memos that came through the office unbeknownst to the captains of the ship.  He eventually freed himself and his crew by taking over a Confederate transport ship and sailing it from Charleston Harbor to the US blockade.  This helped convinced Abraham Lincoln to accept African American soldiers into the military.  Once the war was over Smalls went back to Beaufort.  After the war many of the buildings and houses were put up for auction.  Robert Smalls bought the house he was raised in.  His owner was still alive and in ailing health. He took her in and cared for her until she died.  Pretty powerful story for our girls!

In addition to the history the houses were fun to look at.  Bright colors.  Unique features.  In St. Augustine we learned about coquina – made from sand and oyster shells.  Here in Beaufort houses were built using tabby.  Similar material that was made from lime, sand, oyster shells and ash.  Very strong and wouldn’t burn down.  We learned that taxes were charged based on porches and chimneys.  So HUGE mansions with 6 fireplaces would have 2 chimneys, each with 3 chimneys funneled into one.  And porches were only considered porches if they had a front staircase and door.  So instead houses were built with their stairs and door on the side of the house and the big beautiful southern front porches were just for sitting and relaxing.

We also heard about the movies such as The Big Chill and Prince of Tides which are just a couple among many filmed here.  We heard a story about two teenage boys smoking cigars in their barn.  They heard footsteps of an adult coming and put the cigars out, sparking the hay in the barn and starting a fire that would go on to burn down 44 houses due to embers landing on the roofs.  This barn is now a Best Western constructed of brick.  We saw some of the not as pretty parts of the houses.  Below is a Dependency House.  It is attached to the main house by a continuous wall and is where the house staff and slaves lived.  The house was “dependent” on the folks in these houses.

 

 

We learned about Angel Oak trees.  These incredible trees have branches that come down and touch the ground and then rise up again.  And finally we learned that the roofs of the porches were almost always painted a color of the sky – light blue, light green or sometimes yellow.  Our tour guide said this was to keep both ghosts and bugs away.  Apparently the bugs think it is open sky and fly away.  Sure enough the more we looked the more we noticed mostly blue/green porch ceilings.

We had a lovely time in Beaufort, SC.  The carriage ride was great.  The girls loved having time and space to run and scooter and just play.  We had a relaxed schedule which was a nice respite after trying to fit everything in while in Savannah and then our quick trip back to the Midwest.  A couple of great days of rest and relaxation!

We finally made it to Savannah!  It’s one of the cities I have been most looking forward to on this trip.  We have so many fabulous places that we have been and so many more to go.  I do not mean to discount any of those, but Savannah is a place I’ve wanted to visit for years and never have.  We had a long run outside on the ocean to get from St. Simons up to Savannah because the ICW had too many shallow spots for us.  We set out in waves larger than forecast so we stopped school and went up to the flybridge.  It settled down pretty quickly and the girls went to play.  Then the water completely calmed and looked like glass….bad news for the girls, back to school!  We finished up school work and after an 85 mile day arrived at our marina in Thunderbolt, GA late in the day Monday.  The marina is attached to a working yacht yard. When we arrived there were no inside slips and we were so tired of being knocked around in St. Simons that Ben asked if they had anything else. We pulled into the yacht yard instead and docked for a week in amongst HUGE mega yachts.  Boats close to 200 feet long.  The girls were in awe….when walking to our boat you couldn’t see it at all until rounding the corner.  We felt quite small!  We walked into town and grabbed dinner and rested up for Savannah the next morning!

Our marina provided a box of Krispy Kreme donuts every morning for each boat!  After starting the day Tuesday with donuts and a little school we got dressed and headed into much awaited Savannah.  It was about 95 every day we were there.  After a full week in St. Augustine of history and learning we took it easy here.  We had an Uber drop us at the water front and we enjoyed the beautiful cobblestone streets, Factors walk, the river walk, the cute shops and restaurants and just relaxing.

We walked over to the City Market area and grabbed some lunch.  We walked back to the riverfront and found the lady we had heard about from friends who makes elaborate designs out of palms.  She gave each of the girls roses which they love!

We went into quite a few of the Savannah Candy Kitchen stores and got to sample fresh pralines and taffy.  We watched the candy makers making both as well.

The taffy was a lot of fun to watch.  We watched it be stretched out and then cut and wrapped by a machine that then dumped it into a little car that carried it to a conveyor belt.  The belt carried it up and around the store and dropped it into the taffy bins where customers could scoop it up to buy.  While we were watching the guys making the taffy tossed as many samples as we wanted out to us to catch.  It was a hot but fun day.

Wednesday we had a lovely visit with Sandy and Bob from Karine.  We met way back in Clarksville, TN and always seem to be running somewhat close to each other but never quite overlapping.   We finally connected and it was fun to swap stories and catch up.  After our visit we jumped in an Uber to Mrs. Wilke’s Boarding House for lunch.  So many people have told us we have to go.  It’s a truly southern meal.   You wait in line to get in and they seat you at tables of 10, family style.

There is no menu or ordering.  All the food is just put out on the tables.  We all passed it around and ate so fast I didn’t get too many pictures but it was amazing!  My favorite meal in Savannah.  Fried chicken, candied yams, creamed corn, green beans, lima beans, pinto beans, cabbage, greens, cucumber salad, the list goes on.  Our table counted 21 dishes in all.  Madelyn, adventure eater that she is, sampled the amazing mac and cheese and the biscuits.  She commented “look Mommy, when you squeeze the biscuit, the butter drips out of it”.  Yep, no extra butter….that was post baking.  They were incredible.  Everything was so good.  Blueberry cobbler a la mode and banana pudding for dessert.

After lunch we headed out into the 95 degree heat and tried to walk a bit of our lunch off!  We went to see one of the big cathedrals and a few of the famous squares in Savannah.  I hope to return to Savannah again and spend more time doing this.  With kids in tow (really just with Madelyn in tow, Molly is all good with walking) and the incredible heat, we just couldn’t walk super far.  In moderate temperatures Ben and I would walk miles here from square to square just wandering the day away.  But back to this trip!  On our walk we found a monument to Casmir Pulaski.  The girls go to Pulaski International school back in Chicago so we stopped and looked at this one.

We admired the beautiful houses and then headed to Forsyth Square.  Madelyn was looking for a fountain to throw a coin into and make a wish.  What a beautiful park!  It was prettiest one we saw.  The Spanish Moss and trees are just incredible to look at.  And they block a lot of the sun.

After some time in the park we walked over to the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace.  On our walk there we passed the First Girl Scouts Headquarters building.  Juliette Gordon Low started the Girl Scouts.

The house we toured was the house she grew up in and is now preserved for tours and as sort of a Girl Scout Museum.  The tour guide catered 100% to the girls and directed the entire tour towards them, telling them all about Juliette’s life and how she started the Girl Scouts.  We loved looking at the old house and the beautiful rooms, windows, woodwork, etc.

The tour ended in the library which is now an interactive room where kids can look at old pictures, write poems and leave a list of his/her favorite books.  A quick stop on the terrace to overlook the gardens and a gift shop stop for the girls to get pins saying they completed the tour.

Our Uber driver Wednesday morning mentioned a trampoline park.  The entire day visiting beautiful, historic Savannah the girls asked nonstop about the trampoline park. So, when you are in this amazing town filled with so much history you definitely go to an indoor trampoline park right?  Of course you do.  Off we went….their treat for the day.  They LOVED it.  They are still asking us almost daily if we can find another one somewhere else.  Hey, it was inside and air conditioned and was only an hour.  They could have stayed all day.

Thursday we headed to the Georgia State Railroad Museum.  It was 97 and the entire park is outdoors!  Just another hot Georgia spring day.  Ben can probably offer a lot more detail as to what we saw.  The yard still has an old diesel engine and an old steam engine.

They do tours on whichever they have out that day.  We got to take a ride on the diesel engine from 1947.  The car starts on the turntable and turned us around to the first track we took out.

The conductor on the train talked all about the train industry and the cotton industry in Savannah.  It was a GREAT homeschool tie in from last fall.  We studied a lot about the Civil War last fall and learned about how the Union cut off the supplies to the confederate troops by tearing up miles and miles of railroad track.  We got to see a “Sherman’s Necktie” piece of track on display here.  And we also learned about how the railroads were not only essential for supplies and food but also for transporting people to safer places.

The Central of Georgia Railway was bought out years ago and then railroad bridge connecting the park to the rest of the track was taken down by the city.  So now it’s a big museum.  All the original buildings still stand where the train cars were maintained.

After our ride we also got to take a tour of two of the Executive cars.  These were the cars that the railroad executives traveled in.  One of them was a Pullman car built in Chicago!  They were beautiful.

The original woodwork, beautiful dishes, and original furniture were cool to look at.  The girls liked seeing the bathrooms and sleeping rooms.  We also got to see the crew quarters and the stainless hose down kitchens.

Lastly we toured a car where railroad workers rode while working.  Bunk beds, a big galley style kitchen and a few chairs.  Not the same accommodations!  Before we left the park the woman who ran the tours asked if the girls wanted to drive the hand car.  Yes of course they did!  They had the hand car set up on a track and with the help of the museum employee they made it down and back quite a ways in the heat.  This was a great stop!

 

 

We took one last walk around town.  I still wanted to see the Cotton Exchange building and the Exchange Bell so we went in search of those.  We learned at the railroad museum about how critical the cotton industry was to Savannah.

This wrapped up our time in Savannah.  I definitely want to come back!  Around 3 PM Thursday afternoon, while taking our Executive Train Car tour Ben made the decision that he really wanted to drive to Michigan for a Stein family reunion taking place over the weekend.  Our boat was in a great marina that kept a watchful eye on things so we felt comfortable leaving it.  By 4:30 PM we were at Enterprise picking up a car.  And by 7 PM we were packed, car loaded to the brim, girls in jammies and pulling out for the long 14 hour drive straight through to Union Pier, MI.  We’ve determined that we are no longer 21 and driving through the night takes a toll.  I stayed up the entire night. Ben all but about two hours.  The girls slept in chunks. But all four of us were exhausted.  But we made it and had lots of friends checking in on us through the night.  Good friend Wendy, from La Cigale, is up til about midnight and then up again at 3:30 AM for medications for their youngest daughter so she chatted with us and checked in on our status (and secretly she was concerned we were still awake!).  Then she’d head to bed and in a couple of hours check in again.  Thanks Wendy!  I was able to chat online with Kathy, a good friend from home, who is in Italy.  She was up for the day as we were still driving so she kept us company for a bit as well.  Thanks Kathy!  And Alli, Ben’s cousin’s wife checked in around 4:30 AM from Michigan when her baby woke her up. We appreciate all the help and concern about our safety!

We had a great weekend visiting with so much family.  There were so many wonderful pictures.  I’ll post a few here.

Sunday, after a goodbye with lots of hugs and tears with so much family, we left and drove to my mom’s house to spend a few hours with my mom, Jim, Libby, Brian and the kids.  What a treat for our girls to get to see ALL of their cousins in one quick trip!  They were sooooo upset when we left Michigan.  We didn’t tell them we’d be seeing my sister’s kids.  It was a fun surprise and eased the pain of saying goodbye to the MI crew!  It was a special time.  And a treat for me to get to see my mom and one of my sisters on Mother’s Day as well.  But then we had to say the goodbyes all over again.  What a day!

We left my mom’s house around 8 PM Sunday night and drove to Nashville.  We decided we couldn’t pull two all nighters inside of  a week, but also couldn’t do 14 hours straight in the car with the girls.  Yesterday we only needed to drive from Nashville to Savannah, but like any road trip the end of the trip always drags on forever.  We had a number of various stops and didn’t make it back to the marina until 10 PM last night.  As we drove through Chattanooga we drove along the Tennessee river and with fond memories of last fall we were thrilled to see the water again!

 

 

Last Tuesday we pulled out of St. Augustine and headed north to Fernandina.  Fernandina is on Amelia Island and is the northernmost city in Florida.  Fernandina was hit hard by Hurricane Matthew and the marina is still mostly closed. They can only dock smaller boats and only have a few mooring balls reinstalled for smaller boats.  So, we anchored around the bend in a lovely spot and took the dinghy in.  They do have one dock that they’ve set aside as a dinghy dock so we tied up there.  It’s really sad to see all the closed signs on the marina and docks under water, power pedestals torn apart.  When we were in the Bahamas it didn’t shock us to see hurricane damage still being rebuilt.  But it is so much worse here on the East Coast and that surprised me a little.  I think of America as having more funds and more resources to get everything fixed and yet the damage is so vast and takes so long to regroup and repair.  We are trying to do our part.  We stay in marinas where we can, shop local in the small towns and frequent the local restaurants.

Anyway, we docked the dinghy and walked into the adorable historic downtown.  We took a quick walk around the main drag before grabbing some dinner.  Made a stop for me at Fantastic Fudge…it was fantastic and is all gone.  Looked at a beautiful old church and City Hall.

City Hall is one of the last remaining buildings of this architecture with the square dome at the top.  We walked past Florida’s Oldest Bar.  I poked my head in but having two little girls with us didn’t scream go sit at the bar.  Even the cute Amelia Island Welcome Center was adorable.  We grabbed a quick dinner by the marina and then let the girls have a special after dinner ice cream.  They can’t manage sugar and going to sleep so they usually don’t get to have dessert late – I have no issues with fudge and ice cream at 9 AM however!  But we had such a short time in Fernandina we made the most of it and ice cream it was.

We took the dinghy back to the boat in yet another beautiful sunset and turned in for the night.

Wednesday we got up and headed to Cumberland Island and into GEORGIA!  We have been in or around Florida since early November!  It felt crazy to enter a new state.  We did spend 6 weeks in the Bahamas but otherwise we’ve explored a lot of Florida.  Cumberland Island was only about 7 miles away and we pulled in and anchored quickly so we could take the dinghy over to the island.  Cumberland Island is run by the National Parks.  There are no trash receptacles on the island. There is a visitors center/ranger station.  There are campsites and there is some running water.

There are a couple of hikes you can take.  The longer one is about 2 miles each way plus time to walk the beach and we thought with the tides coming up and Madelyn’s short legs we likely wouldn’t make it that far.  That hike goes out to some ruins that we’ve been told are neat to see.  We did about a third of that hike to look for horses and did the full hike out to the beach.  A much shorter, yet incredibly beautiful walk.  Much like on Manjack Cay in the Bahamas we went through beautiful woods opening up into this amazing beach.

The tide was way out and the beach stretched on for what felt like miles.  The girls ran and played.

We had originally planned to anchor here Wednesday night.  That would have allowed us to spend all day, do the longer hike slowly, have a beach day and just chill out looking for horses.  But after the electrical issues while anchored the night before (that Ben wrote about previously) he wanted to get to a marina so we could figure out what was up.  We also knew storms were moving in Thursday so we wanted to get settled safely.  So, we enjoyed the time we had.

My only regret is that we saw NO horses.  Everyone has told us about the amazing horses.  We were determined to see them.  None.  Nada.  No horses.  Madelyn was especially upset.  We did find a lot of evidence that there were indeed horses living there.  And we did get a lovely brochure about the Horses of Cumberland Island.  Guess we’ll have to go back!  On our walk back towards the other side of the island we were trying to walk as quietly as we could.  And….we heard a horse!  It was loud and in the brush and sounded very large….but even with Ben craning his neck we couldn’t see them.  Darn!  But Cumberland Island was beautiful none the less and I’m glad we took the time to stop.

When we walked over to the ocean side of the island we noticed how calm it was!  With all the wind we’ve had we haven’t seen that in awhile.  So, instead of heading up the very nervous making shallow ICW we headed outside!  We had planned to go up the ICW a short ways to Jekyll Island.  But just past the marina, the end of Jekyll Creek is very shallow with a lot of known hazards.  By being able to go outside we were able to go past that up to St. Simons Island and avoid Jekyll Creek altogether.  By this time Ben had already become acutely aware of the engine shake we had that turned out to be another prop ding (floating debris he wrote about in his blog).  So we were happy to avoid any more shallow water.

 

 

We pulled into Morningstar marina in St. Simons.  It was right off the inlet to the ocean and an easy approach.  This marina also sustained a lot of hurricane damage.  Many docks are still under water.  But they have a large face dock that they are putting transients on.  Three of us pulled in at the same time.  A 70 ft. boat pulled in awhile later and a few days later a 93 ft. boat.  So, plenty of room for all of us.  Unfortunately they wanted us all docked a certain way and the wind was howling.  The marina has essentially no protection from the current and we had good 4 ft. waves hitting our stern coming in with white caps from the wind.  They were slamming under our swim platform and jarring the boat nonstop.  I didn’t sleep much more than a few winks for two nights in a row. Turns out the lady on the boat behind us had the same issue.  We both wanted to turn around and face the other way but we had no props on our boat and couldn’t move!  Friday night it was finally calm when we went to bed but by 3 AM the wind had returned and started bouncing us around again.

We didn’t see much of St. Simons.  Between a trip to the AT&T store and 2 trips to Simply Mac trying to get my phone working along with a trip to buy some battery cables and a new battery Ben mostly did errands and worked on the house battery system on the boat.  The marina had a pool so after school I hung at the pool with the girls.

While sitting at the pool Thursday Ben texted that the diver reported a dinged up prop AGAIN.  WHAT?!?!?  HOW?!!??  We have no idea.  Floating debris?  We didn’t hit bottom again.  So Ben started working on finding someone to fix that.  Friday we waited for a diver to arrive and then when he was about half done with his work we headed out to Simply Mac and to return the rental car.  We made a quick trip out by the pier to walk around a few cute shops and see some of touristy St. Simons.  As we were dropping the car off Ben got the call from the prop guy that the key ways for the props had washed off the swim platform into the water and he couldn’t finish the job that day.  REALLY????  Well, it was still windy so we likely weren’t going anywhere anyway but we had planned to at least pull out of the marina and anchor somewhere.

Friday night we grabbed the courtesy car again and at the advice of the marina headed to Southern Soul BBQ.  A local treat!  It was delicious and nice to get out and do something fun!

 

 

Saturday again we sat around waiting for prop repairs.  The diver lost his phone in the water as well.  So when we hadn’t heard from him Ben called his wife’s phone and texted.  He finally got a text back that the diver woke up and couldn’t walk so he went to the hospital and had a slipped disc. He had to stay off his feet for 24 hours but would be there Sunday.  I’ve suffered from back pain for years so I feel for him….but seriously…NOT OK!  Like a fellow looper said…we couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried!  Ben waited a bit and then texted back and said he’s sorry but can he find another diver.  At this point the marina had said they needed us to move.  Turns out that no one on the dock left so we didn’t have to move…..all of us were winded in together.  But the other divers showed up eventually and it took them until 5:30 PM Saturday to get our props back on.  The girls got to swim three days in a row.  It’s been getting chillier at night the last few days so by yesterday the pool was cold for them and they were in and out quickly and instead played hair salon in the sunshine on the pool deck.  Their never ending creativity for imaginative play never ceases to amaze me. I am thankful every day for how well they get along!

We woke up this morning to NO wind, NO waves and YES props!  A good start.  We pulled out and went up river a few miles to Brunswick, GA to get fuel.  They were nice enough to let us tie up and leave the boat to walk around town.  We are anchored tonight so wanted to get off the boat for a little bit first.  We walked into town and there was nothing!  Ghost town!  Nothing open.  No people.  Nothing.  The girls and Ben grabbed lunch at a Subway. I opted out.  Hey at least we took a little walk.  We headed back near Morningstar and the inlet and are anchored around a bend in a nice quiet spot.  On our way to our anchorage a HUGE ship passed us after coming in the inlet.  Apparently she didn’t care about the Atlantic ocean waves!

Tomorrow morning we plan to pull out early and expect to see a nice flat ocean waiting for us to make our way north to Savannah!  I’ve been bored and frustrated with the wind these last few days and am excited to get to Savannah.  Once there we will need to rent a car to drive back to Brunswick to pick up my new phone and our repaired props.  But despite these hiccups we are thankful every day for this adventure, for our health and our happiness.  A few days of wind and repairs are hardly worth all my whining!  I do try to remember to be aware of that.  Here’s hoping for smooth seas and an easy trip!

I feel like I’ve written this blog post before.  Maybe that’s because I basically have.  Prior to leaving for the trip when asked what I was most nervous about I would usually answer the dynamic of the four of us living together in relatively close quarters and shallow water.  We’d never boated in shallow water before so I knew that would be a new dynamic to deal with.  Turns out that concern was well placed.  Very well placed.

A word of warning.  Some have noted by blogs are very technical and they have no idea what I’m talking about.  Others have written and asked for more technical blogs.  This blog will satisfy those looking for more technical details and bore to tears those not interested in those aspects.

Two weeks ago shortly after leaving New Smyrna we rounded the bend around the Ponce inlet and found a sailboat stopped directly in our path.  I wasn’t entirely certain what was going on but watched another sailboat go around him on the stopped sailboat’s starboard side.  Without a lot of time to decide what was going on I followed the other boat around and passed the stopped boat on it’s starboard side.  As I got next to the boat the captain of the stopped boat told me to throw a large wake if I could because he was aground.  As he was saying that our boat ground to a halt, both engines shut down and that unmistakable noise of the props hitting bottom was heard again.

It had been over six months since the last time I’d heard that noise.  At that time we were on the Tenn-Tom and relatively new to the loop, and somewhat unbelievably hadn’t even made it to the really shallow water yet.   Since then we’ve traversed all of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, the Keys, a bunch of Atlantic ICW and the quite skinny waters of the Bahamas.  Now, dead in the middle of the channel on the ICW without a hazard marker we were aground.  I made a call to Tow Boat U.S. and the tow boat on the way for the sailboat responded and let me know he would be on scene shortly.  At about that time the sailboat floated off (the tide was rising) and motored on.  Being a sailboat and having a stout keel he had no damage.  About five minutes later we floated off.  I put the boat in gear and before even bringing the engines off of idle I knew we’d bent the starboard prop, AGAIN.  Bad words were said, mostly in my head as both girls were with me.  The tow boat arrived and after some difficult negotiations with him he agreed to lead us through the area and show us where the deep water was.  We made it through and vibrated in to Halifax Harbor in Daytona Beach.

The next morning, a Sunday, I was able to find a diver who was able to change the props that day.  That solved our debate between swapping props by diver or being hauled again.  We waited about four hours for the diver to arrive.  He then called and let me know he couldn’t find the equipment he needed, a prop puller, to complete the job so he wouldn’t be able to do it.  At that point I scrambled some more and found another diver  who would be able to do the swap.  About an hour later he and an assistant arrived to do the swap.  He was an experienced diver who has been doing this work for 30+ years.  Within two hours both props were off the boat and on the dock.

As I expected the starboard prop had a big gentle fold in one blade of the prop.  It confirmed we hit sand and hit going pretty slowly.  Now time to put the good set on the boat.  The diver, who had been sharing war stories of various calamities, went down with the port prop.  I could hear banging and work being done for about 15 minutes.  He then popped up holding his hand to his chest.  I could tell something was amiss.  While working on getting the prop on the shaft the diver had taken off his gloves, a big no-no.  The prop started to slide off the shaft and he reflexively tried to catch it.  Our props are heavy, around 100 pounds each, with blades that come a pretty sharp edge.  The edge of the very heavy prop went through his palm.  After he stood around dripping blood for a few minutes and refusing to show me his hand he relented.  His palm was cut straight through to the bone.  The tendons were cut clean.  I grabbed a fair amount of gauze and tape.  Applied pressure until the bleeding slowed enough to wrap it and he held his hand over his head.  At that point it was pretty clear the props weren’t going back on that afternoon.  He left and headed to the hospital with promises of returning in the morning with another diver to finish the job.  So, Laura and I moved all four props into the salon so that our roughly $20,000 in propellers didn’t walk away.

The diver was as good as his word and in the morning he, his assistant and another diver arrived.  The other diver and assistant tried for about an hour and a half to get the prop on and weren’t able.  At that point the diver called in yet another diver to help.  The three of them were now able to get the props on and we were back in business.   We left shortly after that and headed up to Marineland, Florida.  We had a nice night in Marineland and some very good pizza delivered.  We spent the evening looking at Activecaptain and various charts, guidebooks and other resources to get a handle on the shoaling and hazards on the trip between Marineland and St. Augustine.  There are many charted and lots of changes as a result of Hurricane Matthew last fall.  We made arrangements to follow a Kady Krogen 42 and their substantial keel through Matanzas pass and the Devil’s Elbow.  After much stressing about damaging our less than 48 hours-on-the-boat props the run turned out to be quite easy, deep and pretty.  We arrived in St. Augustine earlier than planned despite running very slowly.

We’d been warned extensively about the currents in St. Augustine and the advisability of entering at slack tide.  We’d tried to time our trip so we would arrive at dead low tide and the slack current it brings with it. We were about an hour early so we did slow donuts in front of the marina waiting for the current to slack out.  Eventually I lost patience and we headed in, docking turned out to be pretty easy and afterward I decided we were probably overly cautious.  No harm done there.

At that point my stress level went down a good bit.  We were in St. Augustine for a week and had two days until my parents arrived.  The girls were very excited to have Mema and Pop-Pop visit.  We walked into town just to take in St. Augustine on a very hot afternoon.  We loved St. Augustine.  It was another reminder of the magic of this trip.  I’d never given St. Augustine, FL a moment’s thought.  It turns out it’s the oldest city in the U.S. ripe with history and interesting sites, and some tourist traps too.  We had a great visit with my parents and enjoyed all the history and sites.  While we were in St. Augustine the wind was ripping most of the time were there.  We frequently saw 30+ MPH wind.  We were very fortunate to be on the north side of the docks where the docks provided a very effective break wall.  The boats just the other side of the dock weren’t as fortunate.  And one particularly unlucky boat kitty-corner from us was hit twice by boats trying to dock in the slip next to it.  Here’s a picture of a Great Harbour 37 who just didn’t have the power to compete with the wind and current.  They spent about five hours tied up like this.

Tuesday morning came and it was time to say goodbye to Mema and Pop-Pop.  They waved to us as we left the dock and they headed for the airport.  As soon as I put the boat in gear leaving St. Augustine I felt a vibration from the starboard side.  I made a mental note and kind of ignored it.  That day we ran inside up the AICW to Fernandina, FL.  Fernandina was hit hard by Matthew.  Their docks are still mostly in ruins and they have very few mooring balls that have been inspected and are in service.  Fortunately there are a few good anchorages close to town.  So, we anchored, put the dinghy down and headed into town for a late afternoon walk around and dinner.  Fernandina is adorable and another entry on the list of cute little towns we otherwise would never encounter.

As we left the boat I noticed that the house voltage was lower than it should be for how long we’d been at anchor.  Before we left Chicago I rebuilt the house bank with golf cart batteries and a fairly sophisticated monitoring system.   A well built and well cared for house bank should last a minimum of three years.  We have been using ours for less than one and have treated it very well so this was concerning.  I spent much of the night obsessing over this and trying to figure out why we would be having problems.  I load tested each battery, used a specific gravity tester on each cell of each battery to figure out the condition of all the batteries and attempted to inspect every aspect of the system.  In doing this I found a small variation between the batteries but nothing that pointed towards root cause.  That night starting at 3:35am the low battery alarms started going off.  By 4:30 I’d had to start the generator because voltage was so low.

The next morning we got up and ran to Cumberland Island, a national park, to hike the island a little and hopefully see the wild horses that roam the island.  We didn’t find the horses but we still had a run planned into Georgia so it was time to get going.  While on the island we hiked to the Atlantic side and noticed how calm the ocean was.  That changed our plan and caused us to decide to run outside and up to St. Simons Island rather than our previously planned Jekyll Island.  We had a pretty run up the Atlantic in big gentle swells.  At least I thought it was pretty, my other three crew were a little green.  We made it into St. Simons Island without incident and got tied up and had some dinner and a quiet night.

The next day a diver was working on a boat across the dock from me.  From having the props replaced I knew that I was missing a zinc on the port shaft so I asked him if he would mind installing a zinc for me.  While he was down I asked him to check the starboard side and see if he saw any reason for the vibration.  At the same time the diver was working under the boat I finally found the problem with the house bank.  While working on it I put my hand on a connector and found it was very warm.  A crimp had failed in one of the cables connecting the 8 batteries.  Fortuitously one of the main suppliers of heavy gauge marine cabling is in Brunswick, GA, about a 15 minute drive away.  I was able to call them, order the cables I needed and pick them up a few hours later.  They are in and the bank is performing properly again.   While I was discovering the issue with the house bank the diver put the zincs on and came up to report a ripple in the starboard prop.  I was shocked as we hadn’t hit anything (that I knew of) and the damn props had only been on the boat 11 days.

 

Shocked or not the prop needed to come off.  So, once again, I scheduled a diver to come out and swap both props.  The diver came out this morning and got to work.  Since we arrived in St. Simons the wind has picked up again and is blowing well over 30 MPH.  This has stirred the water up and didn’t make the diver’s work any easier.  Quite quickly the diver had the starboard prop off and on the dock.  Indeed there was a good kink in the prop but well away from the tip of the blade.  This means the blade didn’t hit bottom and we must have hit floating debris at some point.  We never felt a thing which is surprising since the props are pretty big and pretty durable, it takes a big impact to bend them.  So, the source of the bend remains a mystery.  The other prop came off pretty easily and now they were both on the dock.  Now it was just a matter of putting the other set on the boat.

At that point we left to run into town to try and get Laura’s phone fixed. It has decided to randomly power off and is in need of replacement.  While in town I got a phone call from the diver that it was too rough to get the props on and that he’d lost both of the pieces of key stock that lock the props onto the shafts.  He also mentioned that all of his tools, phone, and the money I’d paid him for the job went into the water and were lost.  I feel terribly for the diver.  While we were on our way back to the marina he was able to find one of the keys in the mud under the boat but the other one remains lost on the bottom.  He is trying to have another one made and will be back tomorrow mid-day to hopefully finish up the job.

So, at this point in the trip we are up to a propeller count of six props damaged, five separate instances of having to swap props and two multi-day sagas in getting them done.  The thought has occurred to us that a keel would be a lovely feature on a boat.  We have tried to get a deal done to purchase a different boat but it seems like we aren’t going to be able to get it done while on the trip.  The primary complicating factor being our unwillingness to own two boats.  So we either need to find someone who will take our boat in trade or a buyer for our boat.  That’s not so easy to do when living on the boat and travelling continuously.  So it seems likely we will return to Chicago with our current boat and figure out our plan once we return.  Unless of course anyone is in the market for a 570 with two sets of very recently tuned props.