June 16, 2014 ICW routine

This morning as Dave brought up the anchor, he found 2 starfish and 2 crabs on the anchor.  They were all about 3 inches in diameter.  But the crabs were poised and ready to defend themselves.  Of course, he didn't have a camera on him. 

We are establishing a good routine when we are ready to leave an anchorage.  We fill liter bottles with water, and now I have been adding some lime juice, since we have them on board.  We replenish a snack bag with nuts, dried fruit, cheese and crackers. (That's more critical when you are in rough waters and don't want to be below deck for very long.  On nicer days, I usually make a lunch of sandwiches, raw veggies and chips. ) Dave goes to the bow to bring up the anchor.  I remove our bug screens and close the hatches.  I also close the through hulls and turn off the fresh water.  If there was a water leak while we were underway, the water pump would run.  And once the water tank was drained, the pump could burn out.  We probably wouldn't hear the pump running while the boat engine was running.  So as a precaution, we turn it the fresh water.  And actually, we should get in the habit of doing that if we are going to leave the boat for several hours. 

We take the water, snacks, binoculars, and now we take fly swatters all to the cockpit.  We also turn on the instruments, VHF, and sometimes the autopilot.  Some days I load up the CD player and we have music through out the day.  Seems to make the day go faster. 

All this takes about 10 minutes.  Then when I am at the helm, we bring up the anchor and I get us back on the route.  Then Dave usually takes the helm for the first watch.  I text Jackie and Brian, our float planners, to let them know we are leaving and where we are headed and when we expect to be there.  Then I text them when we arrive.  So far, so good.  They haven't had to call the Coast Guard to find us yet.  Over the past week, we added applying insect repellent to our ankles and feet.  We get huge horse flies that want to bite our ankles.  Why is that anyway?

Today was an uneventful day on the ICW.  We did use an alternate route in one spot to avoid a shallow stretch because it was about an hour before low tide.  Again, the Active Captain app gave us the suggestion of using the alternate route. 

We anchored west of Watts Cut which we would go through in the morning at high tide.  We went past it tonight at low tide and it looked pretty shallow.  Officially we were at Edisto Island, SC

the view of Watts cut at low tide. not sure we'd make it through

June 15, 2014 Father's Day/rocket launch

Happy Father’s Day to Dave!
We had his favorite breakfast, pancakes, bacon and eggs fried over easy.  We even put bananas in the pancakes. 

We were 6 feet deeper than when we anchored last night.  Crazy!  We left at 9:00 to time another shallow area during high tide.  At high tide-10:30-we planned to enter Hell Gate.  It was a narrow channel with warnings of shoaling at the east side for half of it and the west side for the second half.  Before entering, a barge hailed us on the VHF and asked us to wait until he exited, since the channel was so narrow.  We didn’t mind at all.  Just as we were about to enter, a bigger motorized boat with a lot of people on it were hovering near the entrance.  At first we thought they were stuck.  Then we realized it was a site seeing boat looking at dolphins.  We weren’t sure what they were going to do next, but we proceeded and made it past them fine.  We usually have an air horn ready to blast if we need to get someone’s attention. 

We saw lots of dolphins through out the day.  We even had a few greet us when we anchored tonight.  We anchored off the ICW by Hilton Head, SC.  We saw some really nice homes along the coast.  South Carolina is one of about 4 states I have not been to.  Check that one off.

For lunch and dinner today, we had Dave’s beans from the Wonderbag.  They really turned out good.  We left them in the bag all night and until about 1:00 today.  They didn’t over cook.  Just awesome! 

When we had passed Cape Canaveral in Florida, I had checked to see when the next launch would be.  It originally was going to be about June 10.  We weren’t going to wait there to watch it, but thought we may see it further up the coast.  Well, the rocket launch was postponed until today.  We sat out on the deck of our boat waiting to see if we could see it from here.  The launch was at 8:00pm.  About 8:20 we noticed a jet stream in the sky.  Then it turned and flew right over us.  Of course it was very high, but it was very fast and had to be the rocket that was launched. It was  much higher and faster than a jet would have been.  Another cool evening. 

Happy Father's Day

Talking to his mom while waiting on our deck for the rocket launch

The site I was watching for days before the launch

when we first noticed the rocket

rocket flying over our rigging

June 14, 2014 Keller, GA on ICW

I soaked a 1 lb bag of navy beans overnight.  So this morning, we cooked them for about 30 minutes and put them in the Wonderbag. They only needed to sit 3 hours, but we just left them all day.

Last night we looked at our route and the tides.  We decided we should get an early start so we could be at a shallow area at high tide.  We are learning as we go.  We left at 8:30 am.  About 11:00 we went thru Mud River and had no problems with high tide at 10:30. 

We crossed Sapelo Sound about 1:00.  We passed another sailboat and they hailed us on the VHF.  They recognized the name of our boat from Marathon.  They had been there at the same time.  At about 2:30, in Bear Creek, we passed a boat that was sitting at about a 25 degree heel stuck in the mud.  They were going to wait until after low tide at 4:30 and let the water rise so they could float off rather than be towed.  The tide changes about 8 feet in this area. 

About 3:00 we were heading right into a thunderstorm.  We considered stopping, but it was coming our way anyway.  So we figured we would be out of it sooner if we just kept going.  It rained pretty hard and there was lightning all around us.  Dave navigated and I prayed and we made it through.  We were glad we had isinglass side windows made.  Our new seat cushion got wet at the stern, but should be ok. 

We anchored near Keller, GA in Buckhead Creek.  It was near low tide, so it was nice to know it wouldn’t get any more shallow.  But with an 8 ft tide, you have to take that into consideration when you are deciding how much anchor rode to let out. 

Dave cooked the navy beans with the bone from the Boston Butt (which we didn’t use for the pulled pork) and his own concoction of spices.  Then we put the beans back in the Wonderbag.  This has been fun. 

at least we weren't heeled like this when we were stuck

another afternoon squall

June 13, 2014 North of Brunswick, GA/Wonderbag

I happen to wake up early this morning and could see the full moon out a window.  So I snuck outside and took photos of the full moon reflecting on the water.  Beautiful!

We did a few things at anchor before leaving this morning.  We made water with our water maker for about an hour.  Dave said it was the purest water we have made (he checks the clarity of the water before putting it in our water tank).  We also wanted to try out our Wonderbag.  I mentioned that Jackie Killion told us about this.  It is a quilted bag with a special lining that cooks like a crock pot with no fuel.  We made pulled pork with a Boston Butt roast.  First Dave made a rub and browned the meat.   Then he cooked onion and garlic and made a broth.   Then you add the meat back to the broth and cook it for about 45 minutes.  Then you put the whole pot in the bag and leave it all day.  I’ll jump ahead to the results.  It could have been done in 3-4 hours, but we left it from 11:30 to about 6:30.  When we opened the bag, the pot and lid were still hot enough to need hot pads. The meat was unbelievable.  It was so tender and juicy.  This thing is a winner!  I would recommend it to sailors, campers, for traveling several miles with a dish to share when you arrive, or maybe for a hot dish to take to a pot luck after work, or just to be frugal with fuel or electricity.   Dave wants to try beans next.

We ended up leaving our anchorage at 12:30 pm.  About 3:00, near Jekyll Island we were at low tide.  We went through a long stretch where our instruments read 0.1 feet below our keel.  We went slowly so we  wouldn’t dig in too deep if we stopped.  Dave said it felt like we was sliding along a muddy bottom.  Made it, no problem.  We are going to check our route and high and low tides for tomorrow. 

The coasts of Georgia and South Carolina have many islands and inlets between them.  So the ICW snakes around the  islands, then you cross the inlets (or sounds).  Today we crossed St Andrews sound and St Simons Sound.  The islands were called the Golden Isles.  They have resorts and golf courses. 

We anchored in a channel off of the ICW called Wally’s Leg north of Brunswick.  It was very quiet.  We ate inside because of a few bugs.  But I had to go outside for the beautiful sunset.  As I was enjoying the scenery, an alligator crossed the creek near our boat.  Pretty cool to see.  Dave decided he wouldn’t clean the hull of the boat in the morning.

full moon before sunrise

Wonderbag and wonder cook

cover that goes on top and helps seal it when closed

cinching it closed with drawsting

wonderful pulled pork

sunset in Georgia

alligator crossing the creek where we are anchored

June 12, 2014 Georgia, Finally

Well, we finally made it to Georgia!  Dave and I lived in Valdosta, Georgia in 1980-81 while Dave was in the Air Force.  We came here after living in Germany and felt like we were in another foreign country :) But we did enjoy having fresh shrimp for the first time in my life, going to the beaches (Atlantic and Gulf), and going to Disney World. And another good memory was having catfish served family style at Ray’s Mill Pond out in the sticks.  When you came in Ray would say “Sit Any Whaaar, sit any whaaar!”

Our boat had swung to the east during the night bringing us about 20 ft from the shore.  Our rudder was in the mud, but we easily puttered out with no problem. 

We continued along the ICW today.  We use the Active Captain application on our phone which has been a lifesaver.  People that travel these waters put in comments if there is a change in the charting,  There is a lot of shoaling along the ICW, where sand bars build up in areas that should be deep enough to travel through.  So boaters add their comments.  In some areas, the electronic charts are wrong and you need to follow the advice on Active Captain.  They also warn you of currents when crossing rivers and inlets. 

Today we crossed the St John’s River that flows into Jacksonville, FL.  This is a major shipping port.  Luckily there wasn’t barge traffic when we crossed.  Dave said he could feel the current wanting to push the boat sideways, but he had no problem at the speed he was going (max is about 6mph).  Then we entered Sister’s creek after passing through a draw bridge that we requested the opening.  Of course, I thought of my sisters and had to e-mail them (one doesn’t text and one isn’t on Facebook).

At about 2:00, right before our shift change from me to Dave, I thought I had just made it through a shallow area, went around a bend, and hit bottom.  Everything we read on Active Captain said this was a confusing area.  And it didn’t help that it was about a half hour before low tide (changes 4-5 feet in this area).  SO, Dave took over the helm and we spent 1 hour 15 minutes trying to get out.  We never came to a dead stop.  We were able to turn the boat from side to side about 45 degrees trying to make a path through the sand back to the channel where we last had deep enough water. We also knew that the tide would be rising again, which was in our favor.  About 2:45 we put out a sail which heeled our boat to one side.  It didn’t help immediately, but I believe it did once the tide started to rise.  Once we were out, we still had to go back through that area.  We went slowly and made it through OK. 

This was right by Fernandina Beach, FL.  We purposely didn’t want to anchor near here because of the smell from the paper mills.  Well, we got to smell them for over an hour today. 

We crossed St Mary’s inlet about 4:00 right behind another afternoon squall.  It was heading east and we wouldn’t hit the brunt of it, but we could still see lightning, which is always scary.  All along the ICW, we have been traveling with the red channel markers on our left side as you head north.  Along the coast the rule is if you are traveling clockwise along the coast on the ICW, you are retuning.  So heading south is  red right returning.  Heading north you are “heading out” so the red markers are on the left.  Well the ICW uses the Cumberland Sound inlet north of St Mary’s inlet which leads to the town of King’s Bay and a naval submarine base.  So for this section you are returning from the sea.  So the markers from the inlet to the naval base were red on the right (red right returning-from the sea).  Well there is one confusing thing about this area.   Right in front of the base, we left the Cumberland sound markers and went strictly to the ICW in a channel to the north.  Active Captain gave us the exact marker where it would switch back to red on the left.  Active Captain also said there would be a security boat patrolling the area, and yes there was.  They were going to make sure we turned off into the correct channel.  Without Active Captain, you could have turned in the wrong area and hit ground, or the other direction would have had that security boat boarding our vessel. 

We traveled north and found a nice place to anchor on Delaroche Creek.  The closest town was King’s Bay, Georgia.  We celebrated reaching Georgia with BBQ chicken, potatoes and baked beans.  We were leery about eating outside, but there weren’t any bugs.  It was a beautiful quiet night, after we figured out how to stop the anchor rope from knocking against the hull.  

Sister's Creek Bridge

Fernandina Beach paper mill near where we were stuck

Nasty thunderstorm

Naval Base and patrol boat our front

June 11, 2014 ICW to Atlantic Beach, FL

We had a relaxed morning getting ready to leave.  We normally go about 50 miles a day.  Jacksonville, Fl is about 30 miles and we don’t want to spend the night north of there because of the unpleasant smell of the paper mills.  You learn all kinds of things from our Active Captain application on our phones.

I made one more garbage run to shore and mailed some postcards that I waited until this morning to write.  Then we had to take the motor off of the dinghy and mount the dinghy on the davits again.  Not sure where the morning went, but it was about 11:30 when we were ready to leave the mooring field.  The first bridge opens on the half hour, so we called them about 11:45 and realized that they don’t open at 8, noon, and 5 for traffic.  So we had to wait until 12:30 :( But we did get to see some school kids on a field trip on a sailboat.  Something I never did growing up in SD.

We came to the inlet for the ocean and tossed around going outside instead of the ICW, but decided to stay with our original plan since we started so late.  It’s a good thing, too.  Because about 2:45, we ran into a thunderstorm.  We actually turned around and headed south for about 15 minutes then back tracked for a total of 30 minutes of stalling to let it pass to the east.  NOAA weather said there were 35 mph winds on the ocean.  So it would have been much worse out there.  When you have a 54 ft lightning rod in the middle of your boat, it’s even scary to see the lightning.  We had our handheld electronics in the microwave for protection.  We did run into some rain and were able to use the side windows for our cock pit that were made in Fr Myers Beach.  They zip into the Bimini top. 
The new West Marine chair was awesome.  Before, if I wanted to sit back with a back rest, my feet wouldn’t touch the cockpit floor and I wouldn’t be able to reach the wheel.  I could pull this seat forward and everything fit better.  There are even  arm rests.  The back has 5 settings so I was also able to use it as a recliner after dinner. 

We ended up south of the St John’s River that flows into Jacksonville, FL, near Atlantic Beach, FL.  This was one of those strange anchorages where the current is going one way and the wind is going the opposite way.  Plus we are now having to deal with 4-5 ft tide changes.  We will check periodically to make sure our anchor is holding us in place. 

We had a great dinner of leftovers.  So quick to prepare :) 

Kids on field trip passing through the Bridge of Lions

Same ship with the fort behind them

site of Spaniards landing in St Augustine and first Catholic mass on US soil

cushy cushion and storm we missed

 

 

 

 

June 10, 2014 Preparations for leaving St Augustine

 First thing this morning, I took the dinghy to shore to return the car.  The car was parked on the street where they start charging $1.50 an hour starting at 8:00.  Not knowing how aggressive they are about ticketing here, I made it to the car right at 8:00.  It didn’t take long to get to Enterprise with a stop for coffee on the way.  They then give you a ride back to the marina.  Otherwise I would have had to take a taxi. 

We sorted through our paperwork from yesterday.  I finalized our new insurance online.  Went from $2500/year to $1500/year.  There are more restrictions for where we can sail during hurricane season, but that was OK this year anyway.  If we later want to change our sailing area, it will be higher, but still less than the first company.  And this is much better coverage for cruiser/live a boards like us. 

Dave made his new favorite spread.  At the farmer’s market in New Smyrna Beach, I found a spread that was made of only garlic, canola oil, lemon juice and a little salt.  You can use it as a spread anywhere you would use mayonnaise.  He bought at least 24 cloves of garlic last night.  We’re talking about one clove being the clump of about 10 cloves.  He peeled all but a few we will save for other uses.  Then he chopped them very fine and used his own mix with olive oil, lemons and limes and salt.  Pretty powerful stuff.  Good thing we don’t talk to other people often.  I’ll let you know if we get to the point where we can’t stand each other’s smell. 

I went to shore to use the laundry at the marina.  It’s nice to do that while we have access.  We are planning to start washing clothes by hand if we need to.  Other cruisers recommend a 5 gallon bucket and a plunger.  I’m sure I will get photos of that once it happens.

I also picked up packages.  W bought a Wonderbag.  When I use it, I’ll explain with pictures.  But it is similar to a crockpot, only you start the cooking and place it in this bag.  Kind of like I make beans in a thermos.  Jackie Killion saw it on TV, I think on Rachel Ray. 

We repackaged some of our meats for the freezer.  I am trying Ziploc’s vacuum bags for the first time.  They are textured on one side, have a port for removing air, and come with a  little hand pump.  Worked nice.  So we’ll see if the meats keep better.  I even put some bagels in vacuum bags. 

Dave grilled chicken and potatoes tonight on the grill.  The new garlic spread was awesome on the potatoes. 

Now we need to tuck up things for moving the boat again tomorrow.  There are chances of showers and thunderstorms all week.  So we plan to just stay on the ICW instead of the open water.