Day 20

We are still here at Brunswick Landing Marina.  It was nice to not have to get up and get going first thing in the morning.  Even slept in a little.  It was a little on the cloudy side, and pretty humid.  But, we went for a walk after tea/coffee and ended up at a breakfast joint in town.  Very reasonably priced place.  My breakfast was $7.00 for eggs, pancakes, bacon and tea.  We then walked a little bit checking things out and then headed back to the marina.  The marina has several bikes you can use anytime if they are available.  We found two and decided to pedal to the local Winn Dixie and pick up a few things.  It was about a mile and a half or so, not too far. We got our things, loaded most into a back pack I borrowed from my granddaughter that she doesn’t use anymore, put the rest in small baskets on the bikes, and pedaled back to the boat.  We got unloaded and then it was time for guess what.  Yep, that would be beer.  We took the bikes back to the rack at the club, and went in for some beer.  We hung out there for a while and eventually the sun came out. 

About that time we figured it would be a good opportunity to give the boat a fresh water wash down.  The hull was covered in crusty salt, and the decks had been washed with ICW water each time we pulled up anchor.  So we got out the brush, a bucket, soap and sponge and went to work.  A couple of hours later, lots of sweat, and gnats that bite, we had scrubbed and washed down everything but the flying bridge, then it started to rain.  Not too much at first, but we cleaned up and…. yep, had a beer.  We just hung out for a while and decided it was time to start dinner.  Crab cakes and rock fish.  Yumm.  Rick took the rockfish up to the head of the dock where they have a covered area with seats and a gas grille.  While he cooked the rockfish I worked on the crab cakes.  While he was up there cooking, it started lightening and then the rain began.  Rick did make it back without getting too wet and we ate while it began to pour harder and harder.  There were no leftovers.  There was a lot of lightening but no real thunder, but there was very heavy rain for several hours

. 

So that was our first full day here in Brunswick. My activity tracker says I walked the equivalent of 4.25 miles. We'll see about tomorrow, expecting more rain. Here are a few pictures from our sightseeing this morning.

Liberty ships were built here in Brunswick during WW II

Don't know if you can read this, but this was a booming town then.

Every heard of Brunswick stew?  Quite popular here.

Old Town Hall

Until tomorrow, over and out.

Day 19

We have arrived in Brunswick Georgia.  This is where “Rogue” will reside until sometime in middle January.  Rick and I will hang out here this week until Jan gets here on Saturday.  We will probably be home for the holidays the following Tuesday.  Meanwhile, the marina here is pretty decent.  The one thing Rick likes is they have free beer.  Go to the clubhouse and the tap is always on and the beer is cold. They also have cocktail hours; cruisers get together every Monday, Wednesday and Friday where they also have free wine.  The laundry is free, the beer is free, Wi-Fi is free, what’s not to like.  And, it’s just a short walk to “downtown” Brunswick.

We left this morning before 8:00 under cloudy skies and bit of a breeze.  The air was quite moderate, and got warmer as the day went on.  By this afternoon, the sun was out and the jackets were off.  It was in the 70’s here this afternoon, and it is still in the high 60’s now.  They are calling for rain and possible thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon, but by this Friday it will be in the 30’s at night with a high in the high 40’s.  Go figure.

Anyway, after yesterday, today’s trip was actually quite boring.  We motored along with no issues all day, trading off operating the boat, winding back and forth through the Georgia salt marshes.  Every once in a while we would see a house on the water, but no access to the house.  If you look at google there are no roads anywhere.  How do they get there.  There is usually a boat dock, so I guess access is only by water.  But you have to wonder how they get water, food, electricity, sewage etc.  If you live there, how would you get to work, or to any type of civilization?  Anything remotely resembling a town is miles and miles away.  All you can see, as far as you can see, is salt marsh. I actually thought we heard banjos a couple times.

Since we are here for a few days it’s time to do some things on the boat.  It really needs cleaned up on the outside; a little spit and polish will make it look pretty good again.  Out agenda each day will probably be something like wash and polish the portholes, go get a beer.  Clean the bridge, go get a beer.  Wash the deck, go get a beer.  I think you get the idea.

Today we went 68.1 miles for a total of approximately 914 miles.  Today’s trip took 7hrs. 8mins. The last several miles today were through St. Simons sound, and up the Brunswick River.  The tide was going out so as we made the turn to head up the Brunswick River, we were going against a very strong current fighting to get out of the sound and into the ocean.  I had the engines turning 1400 RPMs, a little faster than I usually run them, and when we made the turn, our speed dropped from 11+knots to as low as 7.2 knots.  The current must have been running a good 3 knots against us.  That is pretty fast, so it took us a while to get up the river and into the canal for the marina.  But we are here, so…

Until tomorrow, over and out.

Day 18

We left the Beaufort anchorage by 7:30 this morning wanting to get to St. Catherine’s Sound by dark since we were going to go “outside” today.  We headed out under cloudy skies which eventually gave way to bright sunshine by 10:00 a.m.  After that it was quite nice.  After 15 miles or so we stopped at Windmill Harbor Marina to get fuel before heading outside.  I was quite surprised to see they had a one boat lock you had to pass through to get into the marina.  Of course this is on Hilton Head Island at a very upscale marina; I believe the lock is there because they have fixed docks they want to maintain a fairly constant water level in the marina.  With 7 foot tides I guess the lock does the trick, otherwise it would be very difficult to get on and off boats with that kind of tide on a fixed dock.  Most places have floating docks so the boat and the dock float together and their relationship never changes.  Anyway, we got fuel, and not as much as I was anticipating having to get.  My estimates were a little off, in a good way.

 

From there we were able to head directly out into the ocean.  Well, the great prognosticators of today’s weather were predicting 2 to 3 foot waves on a period of 7 seconds.  Well, I still haven’t seen a 2 or 3 foot wave.  We were hitting 6 footers and getting hammered.   A 7 second period?  Not in your dreams, maybe 3 or 4 seconds … at best.  We started out operating the boat from the flybridge but the swing radius was just too great to be up there comfortably.  I went down below to get a better operating environment.  Well the futon sofa that is on the port side of the salon was now against the chairs on the starboard side of the salon.  The carpet was all pushed up from the futon, dishes were clanging together, a water jug had slid off the counter and splashed open on the kitchen floor.  The closet door in my stateroom was opening and banging shut over and over and over, but nothing I could do.  I could barely stand up to operate the boat.  The waves that hit broadside rolled the boat one way then the other in an arc that was sometimes as much as 30 degrees.  We eventually made a couple turns that put the waves at our stern which at times made it feel like we were surfing.  We would go up, and then ride the crest, very comfortably I might add, then the bow would come down and you were looking at the crest of the wave ahead of you over the bow.  Sometimes you would get spray, other time you just started over. During some of this Rick was still on the bridge sitting down, unable to make his way downstairs.  He said at times spray was going over his head.  He stood up once (a big no, no, never stand up) and thought he might go over the side having to grab onto the railing around the bridge.  He eventually did make it downstairs.  After a couple of hours I was tired of fighting the wheel, so Rick took over.  This went on for four and a half hours.  We finally made it to the inlet, and settled into the anchorage just about 5:00.  Wow, I’m not sure it was worth the fight to avoid the hazards on the ICW.  If the forecasts had been accurate I never would have gone outside.  Once you are out there a ways, you are committed because it is just as painful going back as it is to just keep going.  We were out about 3 ½ miles to avoid the Georgia shoals along this part of the coast.  The boat is literally covered in salt spray and really needs a fresh water bath.

Tomorrow we are back in the ICW.  We are going to try for Brunswick Georgia, our final destination for this leg of the journey.  After a few days there we will head back home for the holidays.

BTW, we are just loving the new Rocna Vulcan anchor and Lewmar windlass I put on this year.  The anchor sets first time every time and holds like glue.  Getting the anchor up and down is a breeze, just step on the button.  Easy peazy.

Today we traveled 78.4 painful miles for a total of approximately 846 miles.  It took 8hrs. 50mins. 

We are both worn out and I think it’s almost time for bed.

Passing Paris Island S.C.  The water tower says "Make Marines"  Semper Fi

Early morning sky.  This doesn't do it justice

Shrimper in action.  Check out all the birds

Now look what's following us. 

Until tomorrow, over and out.

Day 17

This morning we left Tolers Cove Marina by 7:45 a.m.  While we were making coffee/tea we talked about going farther than I had originally planned.  Today’s objective was an anchorage called Raccoon Island anchorage, a 50 mile day.  We can do better than that we thought. Within minutes of leaving the dock we were crossing Charleston harbor.  As we headed across the harbor, there was an incoming tide.  As a result we were getting a push from the current.  We made our way through the various cuts connecting rivers and creeks, all the while getting a push from the incoming tide.  There were times today we were seeing 11.8 knots of speed, quite a rush for this boat. As a result we reached our destination of Raccoon Island Anchorage by 12:30 p.m.  On we went.  We set a target of Beaufort South Carolina.  For most of the day we were the beneficiaries of a favorable current.  We made Beaufort with time to spare.  We were anchored and drinking Bloody Mary’s on the back deck of the boat by 3:30 p.m.  In fact, we are less than 10 miles from where I had intended for us to be tomorrow by the end of the day.

We went 73.5 miles today, for a total of approximately 768 miles.  It took us 7hrs 55mins.  I think this has emboldened us a little; we were talking about heading “outside” tomorrow and cutting out some real trouble spots in Georgia that we dealt with a few years ago, namely Hells Gate.  If we go out into the ocean at Tybee Rhodes, and back in at St. Catherine’s Sound which is 35 miles and eliminates all the hassles of some difficult spots.  Winds are predicted 10 to 15 mph. with waves of 2 to 2.5 ft. on 7 or 8 second intervals.  Not too bad.  If that holds we will probably head out.

I was a little on the chilly side this morning with temps around 42 in the morning, but it warmed up nicely be early afternoon and was quite comfortable cruising along.  Should be more of the same tomorrow.

Fort Sumter across Charleston Harbor.

A view of Charleston in the early morning

Until tomorrow, over and out.

Day 16

We finally left Georgetown.  We got underway around 8:00 (surprise) under cloudy skies with a little wind left over from last night.  It also rained, again, overnight.  The morning was pretty uneventful until we got to McClellanville.  McClellanville is a notorious spot for groundings and shallow water, and it was approaching low tide.  In addition to that, because the water is on the shallow side, the crabbers put down crab pots everywhere, even in what passes as a channel.  There was a stretch there where I was scanning the water for crab pots with binoculars while Rick drove the boat.  I would call out clusters of pots so he could steer away from them or pick our way through, all the while keeping an eye on the water depth.  We saw 5 ft. under the keel, but nothing less, so we had a couple feet clearance zig zagging as we went.  This went on for about 4 miles then the pots weren’t being set in the channel anymore as the depth became greater.  We made it through the gauntlet.  About 11:00 the sun came out and it was quite nice after that.

We motored on and eventually reached the spot to turn up Seven Reaches Creek where I figured we would anchor for the night.  We made the turn and idled up the creek looking for a suitable spot.  Well, the creek was much narrower than I had anticipated.  Even though it was deep enough and others had shown it as an anchorage on Active Captain, it just was too narrow for a 42 foot boat.  So I spun the boat around and we idled back out the same way we came in and continued down the ICW.  I found another spot listed as an anchorage a little further down so we kept going.  Eventually we got to that creek and turned into it.  There was a line of crab pots all the way up the creek, great.  One commenter on Active Captain warned about going too far up the creek to anchor because someone in the past had dumped a bunch of telephone poles and they had snagged their anchor on them and having to get a diver to free it.  We went a couple hundred yards and dropped the anchor.  As we let out 30, 40,50 feet of anchor rode, the boat got closer and closer to the shore,  even though I was still showing 12 feet under the keel.  We were probably no more than 10 to 15 feet from the shoreline at low tide.  I still needed to let out another 10 or 15 feet of rode to get close to the 5:1 scope I needed with a rising tide, and allow for swing.  Crap, this wasn’t going to work either.  We were almost to Charleston Harbor, and the next anchorage would be on the other side of the harbor which is huge and takes a while to cross and get back into the ICW.  It was approaching 4 p.m. and there just wasn’t time to go all that way before dark.  The only choice was another marina, Tolers Cove Marina.  I really didn’t want to do that, but choices were limited at that point.  So here we are in Tolers Cove Marina out of the current.  On this part of the ICW they have 5 ft. tides.  Farther south they reach 7 ft.  That’s a lot of water that has to go somewhere, and the currents can be pretty strong.

Tomorrow we will cross Charleston Harbor and make our way to Raccoon Creek where we will anchor in a much larger area.

Today we traveled 62.1 miles, approximately 694 miles total so far.  It took us 8hrs.

Until Tomorrow, Over and out.