After Thanksgiving we've been moving pretty quickly to head to Florida. We hung out at Osprey for Saturday Nov 28 to watch Ohio State crush Michigan (O-H)!!
Then on Sunday morning very early we left Osprey to begin our southward journey
again.
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| Vultures |
First a critter alert:
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| Can you see the dolphin? |
Dolphin - We started to see them on this leg of the journey in SC and south. We don't have a lot of photos because mostly the conversation goes like this: "there is a dolphin" "where" "over there" "I don't see it" "right there" "oh well it is gone".
Vultures at Jekyll Island - we disturbed their dinner. Kermit said to leave them alone but I need a photo!
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| Bald eagles |
Bald eagles - we've seen them in several places
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| Pelicans |
Pelicans - first they were grey and now today (in Cumberland Island GA) we started seeing white ones!
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| An osprey sitting on a mast! |
Osprey - hardly any. I don't know if they migrate but they are not here like they were last time we traveled through. Kermit saw one nesting in the top of a sailboat at Beaufort SC. He said, "You know you stayed too long when an osprey nests in your boat!"
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| Off he goes! |
Deer - a deer crossed the river in front of us the other day. He glanced our way, kept swimming, shook off the water and ran away. So cool!
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| Horses at Cumberland Island GA |
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| More horses at Cumberland Island GA |
Goats - lots of goats at Osprey Marina and also along the water in NC.
Sunday Nov 29 we left Osprey. We saw a really cool floating bridge just south of the marina. Never saw that before. It floats
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| A floating bridge at Sawcastee SC |
We anchored at Awendaw Creek MM435. This is a beautiful area especially since it was so sunny and warm, probably in the 70s after the morning dew dries up. Some trees are still turning colors down here.
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| It was a beautiful sunrise the next morning |
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| Kermit lets down the anchor while I try to figure out what his hand signals mean. At least the water is perfect. |
With this weather we have a problem in the morning sometimes with lots of dew that makes it difficult to see. We've tried all sorts of things including leaving the windows open so the inside is the same temperature as the outside and using a fan to blow the air around until the fog goes away. The best thing turns out to be using Kermit's shamy for drying the boat to wipe off the outside of the windows. We have to keep rinsing off the shamy because the salt accumulating on the boat tends to burn up or scratch the isinglass. So this is a tricky situation.
Monday Nov 30 we finally got to Charleston SC. We stayed at
the Charleston Maritime Marina. We rocked and rolled most of the time but the docks were great with beautiful floating concrete docks,
free laundry and within walking distance of town. Most especially walking distance to Harris Teeter for groceries!
We had dinner with Joe and
Edie Ruben then went to their house for brownies and the chance to view their
slides of South Africa. We must put a safari on our bucket list!
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| A peek into Tom Taft's garden on Rainbow Row He wasn't home - we called and got a raincheck till next year! |
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| Katherine at the dock Charleston Maritime Marina |
Tuesday Dec 1 we walked around Charleston.
Best tour of an
1808 town house. Lucked out and got a private tour with a great docent and her
teacher. Cigar and glass of wine and a little people watching.
I love this city. There is so much to see.
Everywhere you look is another historical marker with some fascinating tidbit about something that happens 100, 200 and 300 years ago. We walked all over.
We did not pass Mother Emmanuel Church but most places people were still talking about it on the radio and in the press. What a great town!
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| Charleston Maritime Center Marina |
Wednesday Dec 2 we left Charleston very early.
The sunrise was absolutely enchanting off a flat shimering water.
We made a lot of miles that day.
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| Lighthouse at Hilton Head |
We saw the lighthouse off of Hilton Head.
We waved at Savannah. Actually you can't see Savannah from the ICW. You have to go up a pretty long river so we did a figurative wave.
Passed by Thunderbolt and Isle of Hope where we stayed for a few days in 2013 when we passed this way before.
Lots of no-wake zones around the Savannah area with huge homes set way back with extremely long piers extending out to the water. They have 7 to 8 foot tides so no need to put the house right on the water unless it is on huge stilts.
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| The cemetary from the book, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" |
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| Beaufort - see the Osprey? |
We anchored at Beaufort SC on a mooring ball at
sunset. Rainy and gloomy all day. Didn’t get into the town at all. We were just exhausted. 
Thursday Dec 3 left very early and anchored at Buckhead
Creek in GA.
Not much to be said about this. The scenery is changing.The waterways are much wider with marshes everywhere you look. Last time we were here there were a million huge flies that annoyed Rusty so much that Rusty and Katherine went down below while Kermit swatted and drove. This time it is much colder and the bugs are dead. Thank goodness.
Friday Dec 4 we traveled until about 4pm then docked at Jekyl Island. We had an anchorage all picked out but the current was pushing us all day so we picked up a lot of time. We just kept going. We stayed at Jekyll Island Marina because the
current was really strong. It was so strong that it was difficult to dock. We noticed the many improvements they made since we were here before.
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| Finally a good selfie! Check out the ocean - wild! |
We rode to the ocean where the waves and wind were absolutely fierce.
Originally we planned to ride outside on the ocean if we could to cut out the back and forth twists in Georgia but the weather was bad, as we could see at Jekyll Island. The ICW was just fine thank you! We rode over to the historical district for dinner at new restaurant overlooking the sunset on the water. It was fun to bike ride in the dark among the fairy lights back to the marina. These pictures don't give it justice. It was breathtakingly beautiful.
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| Following Kermit in the dark at Jekyll |
Saturday Dec 5 we left Jekyll Island early with the goal of visiting Cumberland Island. The National Park Service offers a really neat tour of this island where Andrew Carnegie built 3 family homes, 2
still open and 1 in ruins. The island has been home to Native Americas for 10,000 years, then explorers in the 1500s (they left horses there!), colonists and revolutionary war heros, plantations with enslaved Africans, and robber barons so there is a lot to explore.
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| Lighthouse on Cumberland |
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| Ruins on Cumberland |
It sounded like a great idea but the weather was really
bad, cold and very windy with gusts upwards of 25 to 30 mph. We tried to anchor in time to take the tour but it was too windy with a bad current. We turned around and continued our journey south.
On our way out we saw some horses, some campers, the lighthouse and part of the ruins so we didn't feel cheated. Besides we were safe and warm. That is what counts sometimes.
Tonight we are in Florida, anchoring at Pine
Island not too far north of St. Augustine where we plan to spend the day
tomorrow. It is VERY windy, gusts approaching 35 mph. Kermit laid out about 80
feet of road (anchor line) in 10 feet of water, which is more than we should
need yet we still don’t feel comfortable with this jostling. We will take
watches tonight to be sure the boat doesn’t move off anchor.
Here is the plan for the rest of the trip:
Sunday 12/6 St. Augustine Municipal Marina to visit with
Darryl and Lisa Grob
Monday 12/7 New Smyrna at anchor
Tuesday 12/8 Cocoa FL or further south if we can do it,
probably anchor
Wednesday 12/9 Ft. Pierce City Marina YEAH!! Our winter
home.
Maybe we have to add another day in there, hard to tell yet. Kermit wins $5 from Paul B. Bates if we make it to Ft. Pierce by Wednesday. He said it couldn’t be
done so we are going to do it! We originally estimated 14 days to make this
trip from Norfolk. As I look at our trip, excluding the trip back to Ohio and a
very few weather days, we will have traveled 15 actual travel days to get here.
We left Norfolk on 11/3 and will arrive in Ft. Pierce on 12/9. Not bad for
beginners.
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