Christmas in Charleston

Thursday December 22 thru Tuesday December 27, 2016

We drove the 500 miles to Charleston on Thursday. The I-95 was pretty busy but we were not held up. We dropped off our luggage at the B&B at about 4 PM and headed over to the Taylor's. Mason was pleased to see us.

Shopping on Friday and lunch with Kylie. Babysat Mason in the afternoon because his "school" closed.

Saturday morning we picked up Mason and took him downtown to enjoy the Christmas atmosphere. The Charleston Place Hotel is very posh and every Xmas erects a fabulous model train display in their foyer. As expected, Mason was enthralled.

Saturday night (Xmas Eve) we attended "Uncle Bill's Christmas Party" - as we have the last 5 years?

On the BIG DAY we were at the Taylor's by about 9 AM to participate in the annual celebration of material excess. Sunday afternoon we were invited to the senior Taylor's at "The Creek" for dinner and gifts, very pleasant. The senior Taylors are very generous.

Quiet day on Monday. Highlight was lunch with boating friends (Kathleen and Mike and daughters) down at Shem Creek. That evening Deidre made dinner for the family at the young Taylors.

Tuesday morning we enjoyed breakfast with Magnus and Charlotte, and then headed south. The traffic was very heavy but once we hot Georgia (and the I-95 expanded to three lanes) we made good time. Back on Tide Hiker by 6:30 PM. Friends barb and Don also arrived "home" today, and joined us for a drink and a chat before bed.

Happiness is........

Loggerhead, Stuart

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Easy run over to Stuart today, although the wind did pick up just as we were arriving at the marina. But we managed to back into our assigned slot without too much trauma, and settled in. Steve Koch was there to greet us and come on board to discuss the work to be done.

1. Recharge the Pilot House AC system ans see if that gets it going again
2. Lift the three AC pumps, rip out the old plywood base and replace with star board
3. Remove and overhaul fuel injectors in both engines.
4. Reseal all deck hardware.
5. Replace bow thruster breaker
6. Connect electric supply to new oil removal pump
7. Connect electrical supply to new reading light.

Friday, December 16, 2016

"Ubered" back to Vero to pick up the car. Called in on a couple of boat yards to talk paint repairs. Continued with work on the Fly Bridge cabinets. The weather here has been perfect - another 75 degree day today. It has been super cold and snowy in Cleveland, we feel a bit guilty. (But not much)

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Lowered the dinghy over the side to the dock and removed the motor. The padlock on the motor mount was so corroded I had to grind it off. Loaded the motor into a dock cart and Deidre and I lugged it over to the car. Neither of the two Nissan outboard places would answer the phone, so it will have to wait till Monday.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Visited our favorite breakfast restaurant in the area. Afterwards cruised the local farmers market for Xmas presents.

Deidre noticed that Itzhak Perlman was playing at the Kravis Center in Palm Beach so she bought tickets and got me organized. Palm Beach is only about 1 hour south and my favorite salad restaurant is in the same area so we left with plenty of time to eat. Just Perlman on stage with an accompanist, The performance was impressive, but I suspect one needs to be a aficionado to fully appreciate his skills.

Monday, December 19, 2016

We are now seriously on the count down to Xmas. There is a list! Dropped the outboard off at a Nissan dealer in Ft. Pierce. Deidre headed off to the mall.

All the various components of the Fly Bridge cabinets are new stripped and sanded. Deidre is in charge of the varnishing and had started the doors and drawers yesterday and continued with the frames today. It will need about 5 coats so the project will not be complete until after Xmas.

I have made contact with three boat painters in the area - one is off the list (totally unreliable) and we are waiting on quotes from the other two. Its a slow process.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

I am trying to make 10,000 steps a day and usually find myself walking in the dark to do it. One of my roues is along the river front under the highway bridge.

Wednesday December 21, 2016

Visited by another painter first thing this AM. Picked up the dinghy motor and after lunch loaded it onto the dinghy and hoisted the dinghy back on deck. Progress.

Three days in Vero Beach

December 12-14, 2016

Three beautiful days, with the best one today. Weather just cannot get any better than this. In Cleveland they are freezing at 20 degrees F, snow and wind. We went to the beach for breakfast.

A favorite spot - and the foods OK too.

We have been pretty pleased with this marina. We are surrounded by boats that cost a lot more than Tide Hiker. The resort is "So Florida" - new, clean, lush, just perfect in so many ways. Plus now that we have the car Deidre has been able to complete some Xmas shopping.

View between some of our neighbors to the development.

Our pool

I have a new project - stripping and varnishing the woodwork on the Fly Bridge. It represents the last of the "Sea-toll" on our woodwork, and removing it is adding an extra "toll" on me. After 3 days I have the 4 cabinet doors and the one drawer front stripped, and first stage on the framework.

Tomorrow we head for Stuart - an easy 41 NM run. The weather forecast is OK, but not as nice as today.

Back to Charleston for the car

Saturday and Sunday December 10 & 11, 2016

Friday afternoon we rented a "weekend special" car - $15 a day with unlimited miles. Saturday we drove the 460 miles to Charleston, retrieved our car and had dinner with Ryan, Kylie and Mason. Today we drove back in convoy. We will drop the car back to Enterprise tomorrow.

Loggerhead marina, North Vero Beach

Thursday December 8, 2016
N
W

Easy 20 mile run to Loggerhead Marina on the ICW. We will be staying here a week. We arrived just after lunch. The marina is located in a man made lagoon and would be a good hurricane hole. The marina is located in a residence and golf resort, and there are plenty of expensive boats kept here. The docks are fixed and in OK condition, but the other facilities are 1st class. I hope we get a chance to try the heated pool.

We spent the afternoon washing Tide Hiker and maybe I am 30% done - its a big job. We will pick up a "weekend rental" tomorrow night and do some shopping, then drive back to Charleston to have dinner with the kids and pick up our car. We plan to be back Sunday night.

South of Melbourne, FL

Wednesday December 7, 2016
N
W

Beautiful day, sunny and warm and not a cloud in the sky. We are now dressed in shorts and sandals, and ran the boat from the fly bridge. Cool change expected across the east tonight but it will only mean a few degrees and a change in wind direction for us. But real cold and snow in Cleveland.

We have anchored about 30-40 miles south of Cape Canaveral. There is a launch tonight, and we thought about hanging around for the day to see it up close, but we are now on a bit of a schedule, plus we have been disappointed by launch delays in the past. So we will watch it from here.

Only about 21 NM tomorrow to our first long marina stop in North Vero Beach. Saturday we plan to rent a car and drive back to Charleston to pick up our car. Crazy business!

Titusville

Tuesday December 6, 2016
28 37 56 N
80 48 44 W

Was really quite windy this AM as we pulled out of the marina. I cannot be specific as my wind meter is busted - one of the casualties of 13 months of inactivity. But the wind managed to lean Tide Hiker over 5 or 10 degrees during a few extra strong gusts. But all really "no matter" as we are in the ICW and other than needing to correct our heading on a regular basis, no big deal. (Because Tide Hiker has more superstructure towards the stern than the bow, a strong wind gust from the side tends to turn her into the wind).

It was too windy to be up on the fly bridge so we spent the day in the pilot house listening to "audio books". Today we finished "Victoria" and started a new one called "The chemist". It is very pleasant as we plod along - sipping a cup of coffee, snacking on a few nuts or a cut apple, listening to the wind and the story, looking at the map and figuring out our next stop. I will miss it.

We took a $20 mooring ball at Titusville, too lazy to anchor I suppose. We are right next to Cape Canaveral and there is a launch Thursday night. But we have decided not to wait.

Looks like we are going to have another "train night". There is a busy rail line following the coast here and the locos must blast their whistle at every level crossing? Last night Deidre counted each train blowing its whistle 30 times, and there were plenty of trains. How do the locals sleep?

Daytona Beach

Monday December 5, 2016
29 12 19 N
81 00 78 W

Uneventful day, just making miles.

Since arriving in the Florida ICW we had started to see plenty of damage from hurricane Matthew. Mostly docks, some wayward boats and a few damaged roofs. I have added a few photos below.

For some strange reason we both felt like a pizza so we decided to take a marina in Daytona and visit a favorite Greek pizza joint. Our usual marina did not answer the phone ("The club is closed on Mondays") so we made contact with a fancier (and hence more expensive ) marina and took our slip by about 4 PM. It just seems crazy to pay $80 to tie up to a dock for 18 hours. But the pizza was good - and cheap!

A little north of St. Augustine, FL

Sunday December 4, 2016
29 55 756 N
81 18 349 W

We were up at 5:30 AM and underway by 6 AM. It was very still and totally dark, but we are pretty good at navigating in the dark these days. In fact, I enjoy bringing the boat alive in the dark of an early morning. The forecast called for 10/15 SE and waves of 2' to 4' which seemed decent. My only concern was the entrance at St. Augustine, as it is a "natural" inlet that was affected by Mathew and can be a bit difficult in bad weather.

It all looked OK as the sun rose.

All went well until we were a couple of miles off shore, but still in the entrance. It might have been a wind VS. current situation and conditions were not at all "comfortable". I felt conditions would improve once we turned, but was thinking about the St. Augustine entrance in the same conditions. Deidre was also uncomfortable with the conditions. So we turned around and headed south on the ICW. All up, we "wasted" two hours but probably made a wise decision.

We are now anchored for the night in the Tolomato River, a few miles north of St. Augustine. We set the anchor pretty hard as there is quite a tidal current in the river, maybe 2 knots, and the anchor needed to manage a 180% turn when the tide changed It had been a long day (66 NM) but we managed to stay up and watch the turn of the tide to make sure the anchor re set OK. All was well and we hit the sack.

Cumberland Island Anchorage

Saturday December 3, 2016
30 45 708 N
81 28 416

We managed to sleep until about 9 AM, but took it easy and did not up-anchor until almost Noon. We did not have far to go, our plan was to head to Cumberland Island, anchor for the night, and head out the St. Mary's entrance early next morning. (Cumberland Island is on the Georgia side of the border with Florida.) This entrance services the Kings Bay nuclear sub base.

All went to plan and we were anchored before 4.00 PM.

Brunswick Harbor, GA

Friday December 2, 2016 (And some of Saturday)
31 06 00 N
81 27 00 W

Planned an easy day today, about 30 miles to Beaufort, SC, in anticipation of heading out into the Atlantic on Saturday and running 160 NM overnight to St. Augustine, FL. But as we made our way south to Beaufort we checked the weather forecast only to discover that the weather in the zones we would be crossing was deteriorating and we could expect "6 footers" on Saturday and Saturday night. So instead we decided to just keep on going past Beaufort and get as many of the Atlantic miles as we could before the weather changed.

This tug was pulling a whole train of barges loaded with dredging gear

Heading south in this section of the Atlantic we had several "bail out" entrances to choose from:
     Brunswick                  71 NM       10 hours    2 AM
     Cumberland Island       92 NM      13 hours    5 AM
     St. Johns River          109 NM      16 hours    8 AM
     St. Augustine             135 NM      19 hours    11:30 AM

We made it to the sea buoy off Beaufort (The entrance is officially called Port Royal) at 4 PM and at that moment decided to head for Brunswick. After all, its not a race! (Really?)

The Atlantic was quite pleasant as the sun set - maybe 10/15 mph winds and 2' to 3' waves on our stern. Easy-peasey. The last time we were in the Atlantic at night we had Cavara for company. Tonight we were by ourselves and its a funny feeling to being alone and totally in the dark 15 miles from the coast with just an inch of fiberglass between you and a bad ending. But Tide Hiker was running well and we were comfortable listening to the audio book "Victoria" as we chugged along.

Sunset arrives early these days

We only came across one 6 footer and it took us completely by surprise. Deidre was watching TV and witnessed all the stuff on my desk fall onto the deck, and the freezer door of the refrig open. I was in the pilot house with a fresh glass of red wine - that tipped over and stained everything on the table, but since the table had baffles nothing reached the floor.  Otherwise the wind picked up a bit but Tide Hiker took it in her stride. (Its was too dark to actually see the waves.)

We both took a turn on the couch for a couple of hours. Deidre woke me as we approached the Brunswick channel - looking like a long airport runway. It took us over an hour to make it into the harbor and drop our anchor in an out of the way corner. We were in bed by 3:15 AM

South Edisto River

Thursday December 1, 2016
32 37 134 N
80 23 893 W

We were underway right at slack. Mike and our new neighbor "Christian" came to drop our lines and see us off. The weather was overcast, cool and windy, but the forecast called for sunny skies as the day progressed.

I was on alert for operational issues, but all systems seemed to come back to life. The diesel fuel was over 12 months old so I watched the vacuum gauges on the fuel system closely. Tide Hiker was back!

The weather forecast is not looking as good as I had hoped so we may be going south on the ICW. So we may continue past Beaufort tomorrow and end up in Georgia. Oh well!

Some sort of fire from our anchorage

An eagle watched our approach