Nov 15 & 16
We spent two days at Isle of Palms. On Wednesday, we borrowed Jim's truck and ran errands. We hit West Marine, Boater's World, Batteries Plus, the liquor store, grocery store, and had lunch at the same pub where we went last night. After lunch we took our booty back to the boat and rounded up the laundry. We had spotted a laundromat not too far from the marina and went back there to do the laundry. As luck would have it, there was a bar right next to the laundromat. So, once the wash was started, we went next door. At mid-afternoon, we were the only patrons there, but we enjoyed a few beers and conversation with Jerry the bartender while Barb ran back and forth and tended to the clothes. They actually sold t-shirts there with the bar name on the front, and "Next to the Laundromat" on the back.
After the chores, we relaxed and later walked over to the Morgan Creek Grill at the public marina for dinner. We had a goofy waitress but the food was very good. After dinner we got back to the boat and prepared to weather a storm. The main reason for spending a few days here was because severe weather was coming which had everybody finding a place to hole up. We added an extra line to hold us off the dock when the wind changed, lowered the end of the dinghy so it would drain the rain, and generally secured things. The forecast is for 50 mph winds and severe thunderstorms to come through overnight. The reality turned out to be a couple claps of thunder about 02:00, about ten minutes of rain, and a bit of wind for half an hour. Then it calmed down, until about 07:00 when the wind picked up pretty strong, but not over 20 mph, for most of the morning.
Thursday, I did boat chores. I changed the oil and filter, tried to diagnose a charging problem which may be a bad alternator, changed two engine belts, and replaced an end on a shore power cord. Enough work. Time for lunch. We walked back over to the Morgan Creek Grill for lunch. We ran into another couple there who are planning on starting cruising next month. We ended up sitting with them for a couple of hours sharing our experiences.
Once back at the boat, I checked our plans one more time. We have plotted a course offshore for St. Augustine, leaving Friday morning planning to arrive Saturday afternoon. I had checked with Chris Parker, the weather guru, a couple days ago, and he recommended leaving as late as we could Friday, so the seas would have calmed down after the storm. Problem is we can't leave too late or we will get to St. Augustine after dark. I checked all my weather resources again, and we decided to go as soon as we can get through the Ben Sawyer Bridge in the morning.
GPS N 32-48.295 W 079-45.338 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 7188.
Nov 17 & 18
We got up about 07:00 and went to take showers. We are about forty-five minutes from the Ben Sawyer Swing Bridge, which does not open between 07:00 and 09:00, so we don't need to hurry. We left the slip at 08:45 and headed for the bridge. As we approached the bridge five other sailboats came out of a marina closer to the bridge. We ended up at the back of the pack approaching the bridge. I hailed the bridge (renowned for having a surly operator) and politely gave her my boat name and hailing port, explained I was the last of six boats, and would appreciate her next opportunity to open. The other five boats never called the bridge. I was truly surprised that she opened the bridge without giving them any grief. Once through the bridge, we slowly made the last mile before getting to the open waters of Charleston Harbor. For whatever reason the five ahead of me were in no hurry, and somehow I suppressed my desire to pass them all. Once we came out into the harbor, they all went straight across, as if to continue in the ICW, while we hooked a left and headed out into the Atlantic.
Once outside the Charleston jetties, we turned southwest for the almost two-hundred miles to St. Augustine. The wind was out of the southwest, as expected, so we were motoring, with the main up to add a little stability. The seas were still pretty churned up from the storm. There was a two or three foot swell coming in from the east, with a three to four foot wind chop coming at us from the southwest. It made for a bouncy ride, although we have been in worse. The good news is that if the forecast is correct, what we see first thing this morning is the worst we will get. The wind is forecast to diminish and shift more to the northwest as the day continues. Well, the wind picked up around mid-day before it dropped off during the evening. It didn't really diminish and come around to north until the wee hours of the morning. All in all, the ride was not the most comfortable we've ever had, but certainly not the worst either.
Starting at 18:00, we started taking three hour watches while the person off-watch took naps below. It was pretty cold overnight, so when above on watch we were wearing several layers, and when below trying to sleep, we were under a blanket fairly comfortable, with the cat snuggling up to us. During the night Barb spotted a shooting star and many passing ships. As has been the case in other overnight passages, most of the traffic seems to know when Barb is on watch. And I don't see anything during my watch. (Maybe I need better glasses?) By morning, we were about forty miles from St. Augustine and we expected an arrival time for 14:30.
A little after dawn, Barb heard the Coast Guard announce that there had been a sighting of a Right whale off the St. John's Inlet, which goes in to Jacksonville. We got excited thinking we might have our first whale sighting, but never saw them. We did see many dolphins along the way, including each of us seeing one during the night, coming up right alongside the boat.
We turned into the St. Augustine Inlet about 14:00. We pulled into the Conch House Marina's fuel dock and filled up. We had motorsailed all the way from Charleston, for thirty hours. The math tells me that we should have used less than forty gallons of fuel, and we hold forty-five, but the fuel gauge has been on empty for several hours. I resisted the urge to add a jerry can of fuel, trusting the math. Sure enough, we took thirty-eight gallons of fuel in the tank.
From the fuel dock, we headed a few hundred feet south to the condo docks where we stayed last spring. When we were here last spring, a company was dredging the condo docks to make them a minimum of seven feet at low tide. We are just passed low tide as we tried to approach, and we ran aground before we even got to the condo slips. I was able to get us turned around and back in the deeper water. I tried again, at a slightly different angle. Again, I touched the bottom. Since we were just above low tide, I pulled away from the end of the condo docks and threw out the anchor. The tidal range here is several feet, so I guess we'll just wait awhile until we have more water. While waiting we enjoyed the antics of four dolphins who seem to live here in this cove. They were here in the spring too. After two hours, I was sure we had more than a foot more water. We weighed anchor and tried again. This time we got in and found that just passed the place where I grounded, it got deeper. We got secure in the slip with no further trouble.
I am deeply relieved to finally be at our destination. We have been working against a deadline for almost two months now, and we have made it. We ordered pizza for dinner, had a few drinks, watched some TV and hit the sack.
GPS N 29-53.553 W 081-17.621 Nautical miles traveled today 205. Total miles 7393.
Nov 19
Today we packed for our trip to Phoenix. Marsha, a local friend, is going to drive us up to a motel near the airport this afternoon, so that we don't have to be up at 03:00 tomorrow. The Jacksonville airport is about forty-five miles north of St. Augustine, and our flight is at 07:00, so making the trip in the morning would not be fun. And by going today, we can get a ride from Marsha instead of using a $85 taxi. Marsha picked us up about 14:00 and we got to the motel a little after 15:00. I walked down to the corner and got a six pack of beer and we relaxed and watched the final NASCAR race of the year. At dinner time, we ordered a pizza and had it delivered to the room. It was to bed a little early since we still need to be up early.
GPS N 29-53.553 W 081-17.621 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 7393.
Nov 20
This is travel day. We fly from Jacksonville to Charlotte and then to Phoenix. Our first flight is at 07:00 and was right on time. In Charlotte we had about an hour between flights and then four hours to Phoenix. We ended up getting in about forty-five minutes early since the normal westerly winds were weaker than normal. Chris Jr. was there to pick us up and take us the forty-five miles to his house in Surprise, AZ, northwest of Phoenix. We dropped off our luggage at the house and went to Macayo's Mexican restaurant for some good Sonoran Mexican food. (If you've never been to Arizona you wouldn't understand, but the Mexican food is different here.)
We spent the rest of the afternoon just hanging out with my son, and later his girlfriend Monica when she got home from work.
GPS N 29-53.553 W 081-17.621 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 7393.
Nov 21
We've mostly just hung out today. We went over to Scottsdale to have lunch and spend the afternoon with my ex. (If you know me, you know that I am still very good friends with my ex, who is also named Barb.) We went to El Paso Barbeque for dinner. Good Texas barbeque (even though it's in Arizona). Another thing I haven't had in a while. In the evening Chris & Monica taught us how to play a board game called Sequence. After one practice game to learn the rules, Barb & I kicked ass.
GPS N 29-53.553 W 081-17.621 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 7393.
Nov 22
This morning we ran some errands. One of those was to hit a Batteries Plus store to have my camera batteries checked out. We have one original Minolta battery that won't charge, and one replacement one that we bought in St. Augustine last spring that also won't charge. We bought another new one in Charleston a couple weeks ago, but forgot to take the old ones to the store to be tested. So, we took the two in, and they tested them. They said they were fine. I politely disagreed, and whipped out the camera to show them. One of the guys was a little smug and suggested the problem was the camera. I again politely argued that how could it be the camera when the newest battery worked fine. His argument was that the batteries actually have electronics in them that control the communication between them and the device, and maybe that was the problem. Eventually, I convinced them that regardless of the cause, the five-month old battery was not working and it had a one year warrantee. After calling the store manager, they gave me a new battery.
Late in the afternoon, we got in the truck and headed to Parker, AZ, where Monica's family lives. We will be spending Thanksgiving here. Parker is on the Colorado River, which forms the border with California, and is a about a two-and-a-half hour drive from Phoenix. We checked into our motel, and went to the local casino to have dinner at the buffet and donate some money to the slot machine gods. After that we went to Monica's dad's house to meet them. We ended up there until almost midnight.
GPS N 29-53.553 W 081-17.621 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 7393.