Ft. Lauderdale, FL

April 24-26, 2010

We left Lake Worth Inlet at 8:25 a.m. slowed down a bit by a huge ship coming in to dock. The winds were forecast to be SW 5-10, but were SE at 19-20 kts for the first 3 hours right on our nose. We had put up our mainsail just after clearing the entry. This helped keep us from rolling back and forth. Our heading was 186-198 degrees and the wind direction was 196-215 degrees for 8 hours. The waves built from 2-3 ft to 4-6 ft and then backed down to 2-3 ft. as we approached Ft. Lauderdale. We had an adverse current against us of 1.4 until an hour before reaching Ft. Lauderdale when it finally became +1 kt. Another problem we had was the number of small and larger fishing boats out fishing! I constantly shifted from port to starboard all day watching for these boats so we would not collide with them! Due to the large waves and sea spray we had much of our enclosure down, but we still got wet. We also had on our SOS suspenders and tethers hooked in the cockpit.

As we approached Ft. Lauderdale,just before 5 p.m., a huge cruise ship came out. As we were going in the

inlet another cruise ship departed. As we turned north to go to the bridge, a third, even bigger cruise ship was beginning to leave. We were able to make the 5:30 (1730) opening of the 17th St. (Brooks) Bridge. We proceeded north to the Bahia Mar Marina. We could have ten a mooring ball at the anchorage just before the next bridge, but I wanted to be able to wash all the salt off the boat. We washed down the boat and then ate on board.

The next day was a beautiful day and we were tired from fighting the wind and waves so we relaxed. I did laundry and we enjoyed the pool for a couple of hours. We ate lunch at the pool and ate aboard again.

The Marina is just across the street from the beach. One bad aspect of this marina is the constant loud music broadcast from the beach all day and into the night! The Jungle Queen boat and Spirit Ft. Lauderdale boat are adjacent to the Marina as well. Charlie was checking the weather for our trip to Miami/ Biscayne Bay. Storms were forecast so we were not sure if we would leave on Monday.

Monday came and the storms with it with tornado and water spout warnings. The winds were forecast to be 30 kts at Miami about the time we would arrive if we left today. So we have postponed our travel to Miami for another day. We hope to visit with long time friends who live in Coconut Grove while there.

Lake Worth, Singer IS, Palm Beach, FL

April 20-24, 2010

We got an early start heading to Lake Worth Inlet. The wind was supposed to be decent, but of course, the forecast was wrong. We had 5kts or under for most of the morning. In the afternoon, the wind piped up so we were able to motorsail. We arrived about 3 p.m. (1500) at an anchorage adjacent to singer IS and just north of the Blue Heron Bridge. we attempted to anchor but a live-a-board suggested where we were was too shallow toward shore. He said that an empty mooring could be used because he knew the owners were to be gone for some time. We took the mooring. After making the boat shipshape and putting the dinghy into the water and attaching its engine, we showered and called our friends to pick us up at a nearby dock at the park at the foot of the Blue Heron Bridge. They live only a few blocks from where the boat was. We had a good time and a delicious dinner with Rick and Cindy Drum, who we met in Aleuthra last summer. we enjoyed relaxing in their lovely home and beautiful garden. We also viewed some of their pictures taken last summer.

Charlie needed to refill one of his difficult prescriptions, so we called their Walgreens and placed an order which should be ready the next morning. we met Cindy and Rick and his son, John at the Tiki Restaurant at Rivera Beach Marina for a delicious lunch. Rick, John and Charlie went off to the marine store for supplies. Cindy and I went shopping. We met back at their

place where we are another delicious dinner.

We had called a refrigeration repair place and they were supposed to show up but had called and told us we would have to be in a marina, so the next morning we moved the boat to the Rivera Beach Marina where we also filled up our fuel tanks and had a pumpout. Charlie and I had lunch there again waiting for the repairman to call. The repairman came mid-afternoon and we thought he fixed the freezer/refrig leak and recharged it with freon; but the freezer never got to the temperature it was when he arrived (17 degrees). Instead it hovered in the 20's. Another Tayana 42 owner on the same dock where were tied up introduced himself and offered us a ride to the Walgreens and a grocery store. That is when we discovered that the prescription had not come in, maybe had not even been ordered. That meant that we had to stay another day in Lake worth area to wait for the prescription. We had Rick, Cindy and John for cocktail hour that night so John could tour our boat.

The next morning we got a call that the prescription was in. Rick gave Charlie a ride to the Walgreens to pick it up his prescrition which was finally there and not lost in the internet ether. We spent the rest of the day getting the boat ready to leave. We had the other Tayana owner over for cocktails that night. We also toured each other's boats and compared likenesses and differences. We got to bed early so we could leave early the next morning.

Overnight to Fort Pierce, FL

April 18-19, 2010

We left St. Augustine at 10 a.m. heading out to sea for an overnight trip to Fort Pierce, FL. Charlie and I take shifts of 3 hours at night. We had very light winds so we were motoring.; the sea was almost flat without any waves. It was cloudy and we had some rain starting about 10 p.m. (2200). We had to travel around Cape Canaveral and we could see its lights for miles before we got there. During the afternoon a pretty little yellow finch caught a ride with us. I tried to put out some water for it and some peanut crumbs, tiny slices of apple, and some peanut butter on the water dish. It did not eat or drink anything. This the third time we have had a bird travel with us while out at sea. Usually they rest for an hour and fly on. This little one even went inside the cabin. It also flew outside the cockpit several times as well. It was friendly even hopping on my leg and onto my Kindle while I was reading. After a while we assumed it had flown away, however the next morning we found its body on the floor of our cabin. We sadly and properly buried it at sea. I guess it just did not have the energy reserves to continue its flight.

Winds were forcasted to be 10-15 from the NE, but they never materialized. We motored along with a 1+ knot of current helping us to keep a speed of 6+ knots the whole way. This allowed us to arrive in 25 hours instead of 29hours. We anchored behind Causeway IS and enjoyed the rest of the day, relaxing and having dinner on board.

St. Augustine, FL

April 15-17, 2010

We sailed from St. Mary's with NE winds of 19-24 kts. It was a wild ride! We were going 7.5-8.3 kts over the ground. We left St. Mary's about 0730 and arrived inside the St. Augustine entrance by 1600 (4p.m.). We wanted to stay in the city marina but a trawler convention prevented that so we stayed a Comachee Cove just under the 65 ft. bridge south of the entrance. We loaded up with fuel and had a pumpout before going to a slip. We relaxed and ate on board.

We spent the next day doing chores on the boat: cleaning off all the salt and doing laundry, 3 loads. we borrowed the courtesy car and went downtown for the evening. St. Augustine is a very charming city with the old part next to the ICW and city docks. We had been at Comachee Cove twice before but had not ventured into town. Now I want to return to explore the town more. Due to my hurt foot, I could not walk around as much as I wanted to . we ate dinner at the old (1901) restaurant "Columbia's" which serves Spanish/Cuban food. It was very good and the atmosphere was wonderful too. St. Augustine is very lively just like Charleston downtown with lots of restaurants and night spots and many people walking around. I forgot to take my camera downtown so I don't have any pictures to share.

Today we took it easy because we had not yet decided where and how far we were going next. I think we are going overnight to either Ft. Pierce or Palm Beach. It may depend on the wind, weather, and how tired we are.

St. Mary's, GA

April 13-15, 2010

We left Cumberland IS mid morning to proceed up the St. Mary's River to the quiet picturesque town on the banks of the St. Mary's River. Howard Michael and Ginny Fields, friends from Charleston, were driving down to St. Mary's to meet us and spend the night on the boat with us. we were able to dock and go into the town for some lunch. they met us at "The Mad Hatter" a sweet little tea/lunch shop. It was decorated with an Alice in Wonderland theme using

numerous doll collections and tea collections. Their menu featured good salads, sandwiches, fresh scones, and I had a wonderful shrimp crepe.

After our lunch, we drove around the town looking at the old houses and an very old cemetery with dates from 1800's and maybe earlier. there are a number of bed and breakfast establishments in town and some grand old houses. we also made a trip to the grocery store through the more modern parts of the town almost all the way back to I-95. The docks are down by the oldest historic part. We had a lovely cocktail hour followed by a steak dinner on the boat. The next morning we had a big breakfast before journeying back into the town to browse through some of the shops. There are several bookstores, and numerous "antique"/gift shops. Our guests left at noon to return to Charleston.

We ate dinner out at the local seafood restaurant, Langs which has its own fleet of shrimp boats.

The pictures are of the church/bank and its sign, the Spencer House Bed and Breakfast, and the house and sign for a funky pirate B&B. Unfortunately I did not have my camera for the drive through town.

We departed St. Mary's early the next morning heading out to sea to St. Augustine.

Cumberland IS, GA

April 12-13, 2010

We left Jeckyll IS, GA early in the morning so we could catch high tide due to some ares in Cumberland River being somewhat shallow. We made it through with no problems. Most of the way was bordered by marshlands and forests on main Cumberland IS. We went between Drum IS and Cumberland IS anchoring offshore by the ranger station and where thee ferry boat from St. Mary's lands. This dock can be used for a dinghy or daytime tie up. When we arrived it was misty so we did not want to unload the dinghy from or deck. We had to wait for several hours, not arriving on Cumberland until about 3p.m. I had broken my little toe the night before on the boat so I could not walk far or fast. We took the river walk through the Maritime forest over to the next area south which had a museum in the old ice house. We saw evidence of the wild horses but we did not see any. We did spot two armadillos. There were some wild flowers in the woods and we saw a few tree limbs with flowering trumpet vine. There were graves from soldiers who fought in the war of 1812. Some huge live oak trees existing then. I took a picture of Charlie standing in front of one huge one. The museum showed the history of the island since indians in BC through the Spanish, French, Revolutionary America, Civil War and since.

We went back the next morning and took a walk throught the maritime forest and palms over to the beach. It was interesting that the live oaks near the beach did not have any Spanish moss while the ones on the river side were filled with Spanish moss. They had a walkway over the dunes to protect them. The beach was deserted and windswept. It did not have many shells. We saw tracks and droppings of the horses, but alas we still did not see the wild horses. Off this trail there were a large number of rustic camp sites. There are water spigots scattered around and there is a shower house in a main area. we saw a few campers taking their loads back to catch the ferry. I don't think there are any paved roads on the island and no bridges to it. the ferry from St. Mary's makes 2-3 trips each day.

Trouble posting pictures again.

The top picture of the previous post is of Crane Cottage formal garden.

The middle picture is of the Jekyll IS Club Hotel. The bottom picture is of the Crane Cottage. When I publish a post, the pictures move around.

Another picture I want to add is of the stones to the turtle museum. \

I am going to try to add pictures of St. Simons Island to the first post.

April 10, 2010

High tide was very early in the morning and low tide was about 1p,m,. Because the water depth is so shallow in Jekyll Creek on the ICW, we have to go through during a rising tide. so we had to wait until about 2:30-3:00 to leave Golden Isles Marina adjacent to St. Simons IS. we carefully followed the markers and cruising guide instructions and di not go aground, but at one place the depths were only 6.8 feet. Our draft is almost 6 feet. This was at mid tide. At low tide the depths would have been 4 feet or less. We arrived at the Jekyll Harbor Marina about 4:30 (1630). we relaxed and got our bearings and decided to eat at their restaurant, a low key place.

April 11, 2010

The marina provides bicycles free for those docked there. We took two bikes and went exploring Jekyll IS. There are a number of bike trails we discovered.

First we went to see the "Millionaires Club " which is now the Jekyll IS Club Hotel n the historical district. Millionaires of long ago had "cottages" there. the grounds are beautifully landscaped. We made reservations to eat at the Crane Cottage Courtyard later i n the afternoon. The Turtle Museum and hospital are also on these grounds. We spent some time in it. each turtle in the hospital had a chart including a picture and diagnosis of their ailment when " admitted" as well as their treatment. we enjoyed going on some of the bike trails near the beach as well as through the maritime forests. There was a small shopping area with a small and a larger grocery store along with gift shops and t-shirt shops.

We went back to Crane Cottage for a mid-afternoon lunch in a beautiful setting. It had a lovely formal garden to one side of the house where I imagine wedding are often held.

Exploring SC, GA, and Fl coasts

March 30, 2010

Charlie and I departed again on Blue Horizon to explore the SE coast of US: SC, GA, and FL. We left Charleston area proceeding out the Charleston Channel to the Atlantic heading south. The wind was almost nonexistent so we were motoring most of the morning. In the afternoon it picked up a bit, but we were not making much progress so we had to go into North Edisto River. We anchored for the night in Steamboat Creek just south of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). we enjoyed a beautiful sunset with dinner. It was a beautiful ,starry, but cold night.

March 31, 2010

We continued our journey south via the ICW because there was no

wind again today. Our destination today is Beaufort, SC. Luckily we made the 4 p.m. (1600) opening of the Lady's IS Bridge at Beaufort and docked at the Port Royal Landing just beyond the city Marina of Beaufort. we contacted our dear friend Marianne Mikell who teaches math at one of the high schools and invited her aboard for a steak dinner.

April 1, 2010

We stayed another day at Beaufort, cleaning up the boat, doing minor repairs, visiting West Marine, a local hardware store and a grocery. I attended the Maunday Thursday service at Sea IS. Presbyterian Church with Marianne who was singing in the choir. The youth participated by portraying the last days of Christ. It was very effective. We had dinner after the service.

April 2, 2010

We left Port Royal Landing just after 7a.m. heading out Port Royal Sound heading south. It took us over three hours to get out to the Atlantic! We realized that we could not get all the way to St. Simons IS Inlet so we ended up entering Sapelo Sound and anchoring up Morgan River. It was a very isolated spot amid the marshes. We did not see any other boats. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset and dinner on board.

April 3, 2010

We continued out journey south in the Atlantic. Again we had little wind and what wind there was , was directly in front of us so we motored to the St. Simons inlet. We ended up at the Golden Isles Marina which is just across the water from St. Simons IS adjacent to the Torres Causeway to St. Simons IS. We had to pass the St. Simons IS Lighthouse on the was to the marina. We arrived late afternoon.

April 4, 2010

Happy Easter! We did not find a service to attend as we have in past years. the Marina staff did not open up until after 1200 so we could not borrow the courtesy car and Charlie was feeling under the weather anyway. We did explore St. Simons IS later in the afternoon,visiting the Lighthouse ( not open) and the old Christ Church where both Charles and John Wesley served in the 1700's! S

ince my family has a Methodist heritage, these men are important to our heritage

. It was a beautiful old church with huge grounds and many tombstones!. We were just starting to tour the Fredricksburg Fort when the Marina called that the courtesy car was needed.

When we returned to the marina, we also had a call from Charlie's family to tell us that we needed to get to Chattanooga as soon as possible. His mother had fallen during the week and was in the hospital and she was not looking good. We were fortunate in that when we called Avis we actually got a person who was on her way to the local airport to rent a car to someone else and she could pick Charlie up on the way and rent a car to us as well. The good Lord was watching over us! All this on a late Easter Sunday! We had tried to rent a car from Enterprise on Saturday afternoon before docking but they were closed and we only got an answering machine then.

April 5, 2010

Our sailing cruise had to be postponed for a family emergency! We left a little after 7a.m. to drive to Chattanooga, TN. We arrived about 4;30 p.m. and were able to see Charlie's mom. She was looking a bit better by then because they had reduced her pain medication. She was scheduled for back surgery the next morning. Charlie's mom would be 95 on Thursday.

April 6-8, 2010

The back surgery went well. The Dr. was pleased with it, but his mom was still in pain, which the family hoped was due to the surgery not the fall. Her pain did continue to slowly decrease and by Thursday, she was able to move to Siskin Rehab Hospital. She had spent her birthday the year before at Siskin recovering from a broken elbow which occurred when she had fallen while visiting a friend living in an Assisted Living establishment. The Siskin staff sang Happy Birthday to her when they came to move her from the hospital to Siskin. They also had a birthday decoration on her door! We celebrated her 95th birthday with cake after lunch. Her friends from Curves, which she attends twice a week, planned to visit her on Friday at Siskin also for a Birthday celebration!

April 9, 2010

We drove from Chattanooga, TN to St. Simons IS area arriving around 5:30p.m. There are many pine forests in Ga as well as many beautiful Pecan Orchards with acres of ehe elegant pecan trees with green grass and blooming yellow mustard plants underneath them. We also saw some large peanut farms.

We plan to continue our journey tomorrow.