The Woodlands, TX

Thursday Dec 20 - Saturday Dec 29, 2012

The drive to Houston was an easy 1,000 miles, but it takes 2 days.

Palm Coast

Monday December 17, 2012
29 35.173 N
81 12.360 W

Can you see us?

It was only 25 miles to Palm Coast and we had the tide with us so so we were here just after lunch. There was just one hitch - I lost concentration and ran Tide Hiker aground. But I am getting "better" at getting her off and all was well.

We are tied up to a dock next door to an MTOA family - there is a boat at this dock in the satellite image. The four of us went out for Mexican on Monday night.

Tuesday morning we picked up our rental and did a spot of shopping. Tuesday evening we drove back to Jacksonville (its only 60 miles) to buy a special cable for the Furono and to have dinner at Jacksonville Landing. When we arrived at the cable place we realized that Deidre;s purse was missing. This NEVER happens so we were quite spooked. So we bought the cable and drove the 60 miles straight back to the boat, and found her purse where she always keeps it. Phew!

After all that was settled I installed the new cable and got the Furuno chart plotter on the fly bridge running again. I am very happy about that as I really prefer running the boat from the fly bridge - when its warm enough.

 We leave for Houston on Thursday morning. Its a 900 mile drive so we plan to take two days. We will stay 5 or 6 days. On the way back we have been invited to stay a couple of nights with some old friends who have retired on the Alabama gulf. Have not seem them for 15 years.

St. Augustine

Sunday December 16, 2012
29 53.217 N
81 18.322 W

Sometimes there are just too many birds...

Even the chairs need repairs sometimes

Mooring field, St Augustine

Very easy day today. We were under way by 9:30 AM and secured to a ball in St Augustine by 1:45 PM.

We launched the dinghy and went ashore for dinner and to look at the Christmas lights. We found a sports bar and watched the Browns lose and the Cardinals win.

Palm Cove

Saturday December 15, 2012
30 17.421 N
81 25.919 W

Ordering parts

We enjoyed a lazy morning because we could not leave till 1PM. We left the dock spot on time and the tidal current picked us up as expected. At one point we hit 10.5 kts  - quite reckless! Half way to the coast we hit a bank of fog, but it cleared before we turned south. There were no decent anchorages in the area and so I had booked a slip about 5 miles south. We were all tucked in by 5PM. Easy day.

Jacksonville, Fl

Thursday December 13, 2012
30 16.528 N
81 42.901 W

Once again we were up at dawn to catch the tide. It was a dark and foggy morning - not stormy but breezy. The forecast was for north winds 10-15kts. This would put the wind on our stern so we would not feel much. We planned to go 20 miles south down the ICW and then 20 odd miles west up the St Johns river to Jacksonville. Over the last 30 years we must have driven thru Jacksonville a thousand times to and from Florida, but had never left the highway. This time we were planning to stop and explore the city. 

Our tide planning was very successful and we rode the tide current maybe 80% of the day, averaging 8.1 kts over the 41 NM. For the first 1/2 of the day we were virtually alone on the water. But once we hit the St Johns things changed in a hurry. It is a major shipping channel and that was evident from the moment we hit the river. We saw "many" ships including a big cruise ship.

Downtown & Railway Bridge

There was really no good spot to anchor and we wanted access to the city, so we chose a marina a little out of town. We had to go under some highway bridges and an opening railway bridge. When we got to the railway bridge it was down but as we approached, it opened. It was a massive cantilever bridge and was very impressive as it moved its mass.

To get to the marina we needed to continue a few miles past downtown and enter the Ortega River through a small lifting bridge. After the railway bridge it looked quite "cute"

Ortega River Bridge

The marina was great for only $0.95 a foot. Plus it was located near a real shopping center including a Belk and a big supermarket and  West Marine and plenty of restaurants, all in walking distance. Deidre ended up buying cushions for the pilot house and I bought myself a real foul weather coat - bright yellow. We had dinner out at a steak house.

Next day we planned a trip to downtown. But first I walked ashore and got the morning paper while Deidre cooked eggs and bacon and coffee. Then we met a few of the locals on the dock and enjoyed a good chin wag. By the time we set off it was lunch time, but before we got too far we stumbled on a big old ship chandlery and spent an hour or so in there. We had invited people over for drinks and now it was too late to leave!

Jacksonville Landing - looked fun

We thought of staying another day but the tides were really unfriendly and we decided we had to leave Saturday. So we may never see downtown Jacksonville, which is a shame as it looked fun.

Fernandina Beach

Wednesday December 12, 2012
30 40.369 N
81 28.126 W

I have skipped a page for yesterday because not much happened - and not much will happen today either as it is cool and wet outside.

We took it easy Tuesday morning, then motored the 5 miles over to Fernandina Beach by lunch. We stopped at the fuel dock for a pump out then took our ball. We towed the dinghy in the water, seems easier then recovering it and then relaunching it an hour or so later. We messed around for the rest of the afternoon then took the dinghy in for dinner. The steering seemed to work OK, just with a few teeth missing.

This morning is cold and wet. We had planned to take the bikes ashore and have an explore but not in these "wet bum conditions".

Cumberland Island (2)

Lots of fog last night. We were both woken up during the night by the sound of fog horns from ships in the channel. At breakfast it was still thick, but just about gone by 10AM.

The dinghy had not been in the water since Long Island Sound in August - 3 plus months ago. We had bought a small charger back at "The Tides" and had been giving the battery an occasional top up, and I did so again this morning. Also, we had not used the davit since it was "extended" at Bock.

Deja Vu all over again!

The extended davit worked well, and better still the engine started first try, so we loaded up and pushed off, only to discover that the steering had completely frozen up. Fortunately we did not crash into anything and we managed to get back to Tide Hiker. After 15 minutes of investigation it appeared that the steering had frozen up where the cable connected to the motor. Also, in my frantic efforts to steer the boat when we took off, I had stripped some teeth in the mechanism behind the wheel. After an hour of "undoing stuff" and fiddling about with WD 40 and grease I seemed to get the mechanism un-frozen and then re-assembled. The steering worked OK but with a few "blank spots" where I supposed teeth had been stripped off.

 So we set off for the ferry dock in not quite a straight line and made it OK. The island was heavily forested with She Oaks heavily draped with Spanish moss and some sort of bushy palm ground cover - literally just those three elements. The overall effect was quite beautiful and a bit strange. We followed a trail over to the ocean beach about 1/2 a mile away. The tide was out, the beach was enormous and we did not see a single person until we made it back to the dock where the ferry had just deposited a bunch of hikers and campers..

One of the islands "features" are the wild horses. We did not see one until we made it back to the dock, where we stumbled over few that had wandered down to meet the ferry. They did not seem very "wild" to me.

Deidre is making shrimp omelettes with french fries for dinner.

Wild horses on valium

Cumberland Island

Sunday December 9, 2012
30 95 940 N
81 28 324 W

Another beautiful still foggy morning. The fog delayed our departure till about 10 AM, but "no biggie" because we only had plans for a 35 NM trip to Cumberland Island. After a few miles we needed to cross the St Andrew Sound, at which point I had the bright idea "Let's head out to sea and re-enter at St Mary's sound about 25 miles down the coast." We had heard reports of Wright whale sightings, and it would be a nice change from the ICW. So off we went. The Atlantic in this area is quite "shoaly" and in order to minimize the time we would be "outside" we would need to navigate through and around a few shoals - but that's what a chart plotter is for - right?

"Deidre, can you see something over there?"

After a few miles we ran into a fog bank, so I cranked up the radar and put my faith in the chart plotter. We were running at least 100-200 yards just outside the shipping channel in 25'-30' water. A ship appeared out of the fog but we slipped passed OK. But all of a sudden the depth alarm went off and indicated we had only about 3' under us. I checked the chart plotter and confirmed we were we intended to be in 25'-30" and all looked OK. We slowed down and safely edged north back into the deeper water. This experience really spooked me. I had to rely on the chart plotter the rest of the way and felt I could not. So we headed back inside.

"Oops, too late"

Back on the ICW and later in the day we passed the entrance to the Trident Sub base at Kings Bay. In order to keep in decent water we needed to get pretty close - a bit too close according to the navy security boat that came roaring over, blue lights flashing! Deidre had just gone outside to take a photo of a sub - and the guy on the bow of the security boat manning the 50 cal machine gun just shook his head - and that was enough for her.

There are plenty of bridges over the ICW, though not that many in Georgia. I am impressed how rapidly the low lifting bridges are being replaced with with high clearance bridges. The old bridges are left as "fishing piers" and they seem to accumulate an audience of pelicans.

 We arrived at the Cumberland Island anchorage about 3:30PM and anchored. We plan to stay a couple of nights. It has been a while since we launched the dinghy and did some exploring. This looks like a nice place.

Fredrika River

Saturday December 8, 2012
31 11.574 N
81 25.094 W

Foggy morning

The 8 miles of the Darien River back to the ICW make me a bit nervous. The tide ranges about 8' and the current can get quite strong and there are some "awkward" spots. The tide schedule for today required us to be up at 6AM and leave at dawn, and even then it was only 1/2 tide and on the ebb which is an obvious disadvantage if you make a mistake run aground. So I did not sleep very well and was quite relieved to find us socked in with fog when we woke up.

Fog bank rolling in

Our departure was delayed till about 12:30 PM when the tide was about 35%, but flooding. This made me happier, except for the fact that we would have less than 5 hours to cruise. We made it out of the river OK and continued south. I had picked out a few potential anchorages about 30 miles south. As the day progressed we could see banks of fog rolling in, but we made it to the Fredrika River entrance before they engulfed us.

Deidre had bought 2 pounds of fresh shrimp in Darien and made a great concoction for dinner. Our friend in the sailing boat rolled in 30 minutes after we arrived and so we invited him over for dinner, so long as he provided his own local transportation.

Visitor rowing over for dinner

Darien, Ga

Thursday & Friday December 6 & 7, 2012
31 22 046 N
81 26 133 W

Another uneventful run through the Georgia swamps today, ending up at the free dock in Darien. The dock (and the town) are about 8 miles up the Darien River, but the appeal of the free dock makes it worth while. We have been here before, and we are expecting a bit of weather, so its also a good place to shelter.

The fishing lady

Over the last few days we have crossed paths many times with a young solo-sailor on a small ketch and we invited him to accompany us to Darien. He arrived a few hours after us and we helped him make a landing. The current runs fairly strong in the river and there is no staff at the free dock. When we arrived there was a couple of ladies fishing, and they took a line from Deidre.

The volunteer "Harbor Master" visited shortly after we arrived. It was his birthday - born on December 7, 1941, the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor - and so we invited him on board for a drink. He was an interesting old codger to chat with. (Although only 6 years older than me!). He explained that the city had decided to make the dock free (back in April it cost us about $25) in order to attract boaters. We were also entitled to a free glass of wind at the new antique shop and wine bar. The three of us took advantage of the offer then continued on for dinner at the local fried fish restaurant.

We decided to stay another night to duck the weather and to do some grocery shopping. I also need to make some beginning efforts on the December DeFever Newsletter, and this would be a good time to do just that. .

Foggy morning

The tide and the current is an issuer on the river, and we decided that we would have to leave a bit before dawn on Saturday. We were awake at 6AM only to find that fog had rolled in and visibility was inadequate  After a conference on the dock, we went back to bed. The next opportunity to leave will be at 1/2 tide about 1PM. That will only give us 3 or 4 hours to get to an anchorage.

Killkenny Creek, Ga

Wednesday December 5, 2012
31 46 715 N
81 10 933 W

We are being absolutely blessed with great weather - today was perfect with temps in the low 70's and little wind. . Tonight we are anchored in Killkenny Creek, about 40 miles into Georgia. We also anchored here on the way North in June.

We are well into the labyrinth of rivers and creeks and swamps of the Georgia coast line. Would be very easy to get lost without charts and GPS etc. The first few miles are interesting but this is now our second visit and we just want to get through. We saw very few boats today.

May River (Hilton Head)

December 4, 2012

32 12 321 N

80 49 530 W

What we sailors call "calm"

I was up at 7:30AM but I did not know if I was in a hurry or taking it easy. I had worked on the charts last night but had not really settled on an anchorage, and therefore a cruise plan, for the next day. Some destinations were too close (Port Royal) and some too far (Wright River) and some looked just awkward. The morning was dead calm with a bit of fog around. The anchor came up clean as a whistle, and we were on our way - not too sure where, but we were going there.

Deidre took the helm early and I continued to work on finding an anchorage. Finally I settled on a "less than an ideal" spot with the fall-back that if it was no good then we just give up and go to a marina. And that is just about what happened. We motored into Skull Creek about 3:30PM after an easy day but could not settle, so called a marina and made a reservation. Then Deidre says "let me have a look" and within a few minutes she had found a spot up the May River that would work. And that is where we are.
Our "new friends" on the sailing boat where having the same problem so we showed them our solution and they turned up an hour or so later. They came over for dinner and brought soup. Deidre had a roasted chicken and salad so we ate well. As usual.

Dolphins

One treat today was the dolphins. At one point we had 6 dolphins playing in our bow wake. Both Deidre and I were leaning over the bow rail watching them. It is just amazing how effortlessly they swim.

(This photo was taken leaning over the bow. You can see the reflection of the boat in the water.)

Monday December 3, 2012

South Edisto River

32 37.188 N

80 23.728 W

Farewell

We were up at 7 AM. It was a clear and still morning but with an enormous amount of dew on the boat. We had the engines running by 8:30 AM and after lots of goodbyes on the dock we were on our way -  at least for a few hundred yards to the fuel dock to get a pump out! The pump was a bit weak and the dock hand not very helpful, so the process took longer than usual, but we were in the ICW by 9:05 AM.

Pilot Boat

It took almost 2 hours to get to and thru Charleston Harbor, but then we quickly settled into our old routines. All the gauges were reading where they should, the engine room seemed leak and smoke free, and we were making good time. The only negative was that we were running the boat from the RPH because the chart plotter on the bridge was not operating.  

On the approach to the Ben Sawyer bridge a large trawler (58' as it turned out) came out of a creek and plonked its wide ass right in the middle of the channel and stopped. I called them on the radio to "state your intentions" and the answer was not too helpful but nevertheless the moment passed. However, since we both traveled at about the same speed we ended up spending a lot of the day in their company. The convoy "adopted" a motoring sail boat in about the same way, and it turned out we all had the same plan to anchor in the South Edisto River. Once we were settled into the anchorage the invitations went out on the radio and we all gathered on the big boat for drinks and appetizers. We just got back, and it was fun.

The anchorage

Take it Easy Sunday, December 2, 2012

I was up at 8AM, made the coffee then walked over to the marina store to purchased 3 Sunday papers, one for each boat. By the time I was back Deidre was cooking up the eggs and bacon and we spent the next couple of hours blissfully eating and reading. By the time we were done we were due at Bon Voyage for a farewell lunch, and to hear a detailed rundown of Bill & Laura's summer trip to Canada - one that we hope to attempt in 2013.

Mimosa, Bill, Laura and Deidre on Bon Voyage

We were not off Bon Voyage till about 3PM. I still had a few jobs on the boat (such as filling the water tanks), Deidre went shopping for a few last items with Kylie.

Ryan and Kylie picked us up at 6PM and we went to Mt Pleasant for a farewell dinner with them. We are now back and its time for bed. The forecast for tomorrow looks excellent. I assume we are ready.

Get it Done Day, Saturday December 1, 2012

Saturday has been declared "Get it Done Day" and Sunday "Family day" so it was all asses and elbows today. We need to be ready to leave the marina on Monday morning and there is plenty to do.

Port side

The steps got their last coat of varnish yesterday and so this morning they were screwed back in place. They look good, definitely worth the trouble, but probably need a few more coats. Maybe they can get them "in situ" over the next few weeks.

Next was to re-install the chart plotter display on the Bridge. It had failed just as we were arriving at the IOP and I had removed it to get it out of the weather while we were away. I was hoping that checking and cleaning all the connections would resolve the issue. The screen is "saying" that it is not getting a signal. The instalation went well but the end result was no different. I will call Furuno on Monday and see if they can help.

Next into the engine room. Nothing has operated for a month and all the fluid levels needed to be checked and the engines started. It seems the starboard engine has a coolant leak and so I needed it to be cleanup up so I could look for the origin of the leak when we are uinderway on Monday. All went well.

Bridge Steps

Bill, Laura, Jon and Bonnie came over for drinks at 4PM. Deidre had cooked up some tasty hors d'oeuves, our visitors could smell them as they walked up the dock. At 5PM we all headed off to Patriots Point for the annual "Lighted Boats" parade, followed by pizza and beer at a local spot. After we got back to Tide Hiker, Allison and Chris Parvin popped in for a night cap. They had just returned from Korea where their daughter had "christened" a 140,000 ton container ship.

Decorated boat