Thunderbolt to Hilton Head

Let's see, between the Bahamas and Hilton Head, we've replaced the starter battery (Port Canaveral) and the starter relay (Fernandina Beach), had the alternator rebuilt with a new voltage regulator (Hinckley Yacht Services, Thunderbolt), and installed a new digital echo charger for the starter battery (also at Hinckley).  We hope we're good to go for a LONG time now!  Enough electrical schmetrical!

We timed today's trip so that we crossed Fields Cut and Wall Cut at high tide.  Both are just north of the Savannah River and we made it through just fine.

Traffic on the Savannah River

We "made circles" in Elba Island Cut to allow three freighters to pass before we crossed the river.

HELLO, South Carolina!

:)

So tiny!

Short trip up to Hilton Head today (25 nm).  If the weather is favorable tomorrow, we'll jump out to the ocean and run up to Charleston.

Epic fail for me......I didn't take a single picture when we hung out with David's cousin and her family on Tuesday night.  DRAT!  We had a fun time visiting with Debbie, Harry, and Nickie, and enjoyed some tasty Mexican food at Tequila Town in Savannah.  I *will* take photos the next time we roll through!

Marina life

It's another hazy, hot, and humid Georgia day with a health advisory as the heat index is expected to reach 109 today.  While we wait for a new echo charger to arrive tomorrow, I'm catching up on the blog and David is fixing a winch (not very exciting news to report today).

100 degrees in the shade on Sunday

There is a ~10' tide change on this portion of the ICW (Wilmington River).  This is high tide just before sunset on Sunday evening.  Water was spilling into the parking lot to the left.  To view our exact location, click here.

Same view at low tide the following afternoon.  The docks float with the tide so we don't have to constantly adjust dock lines.

We had a delicious dinner and fun evening on our neighbor's boat the other night.  Pictured here are two Michaels, two Lisas, David, Bill, and Susan :)  We missed Julie!  Michael & Susan and Michael & Julie both had lightning strikes on their sailboats :(  Photo courtesy of Michael Baumgarthuber.

Martin getting to the bottom of our electrical mystery

While we wait for a new part to arrive tomorrow (Tuesday), David decided to disassemble, "unfreeze," and clean the port winch on our mast.  Mission accomplished!

Scrubbing pieces with a wire brush

I usually opt for blogging in the air-conditioned comfort of our salon.

Another aspect of "home life" on a boat is that we don't have a washer and certainly not a dryer on board.  Some of you may know that my absolute FAVORITE chore is doing the laundry.  Back home on land, dirty clothes never piled up and we always had Fresh Sheet Friday and Towel Tuesday.  David starting referring to our laundry room as the Magic Room -- clothes go in dirty and quickly appear clean, dry, and folded :)  Accessing facilities at marinas really messed with my OCD laundry "problem," but I am adjusting.  Prices vary from as little as $3.50 per load ($1.75 to wash and $1.75 to dry) to as much as $11(!) per load (in the Bahamas).  My satchel of quarters weighs almost as much as the laundry itself ;)  We often hand-wash items that dry quickly on our lifelines, but I do like the absolute clean from machines and don't mind hauling our clothes to and fro.

Sheets, towels, lights, darks all ready to go

Some places, like Fernandina Harbor Marina pictured here, even have wagons or trolleys.  The ramp from the dock to land is steep at low tide.

And I had the place all to myself.....bliss!

Tonight, we're looking forward to getting together with David's cousin and her family for dinner!

Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah

We are spending the weekend in Thunderbolt, GA, waiting for our new part to arrive tomorrow (Monday).  Yesterday we rode our bikes through Bonaventure Cemetery, made famous in the movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil."  The temperature is in the 90s and the heat index in well into the 100s.  For the most part, we are hunkered down in Virginia Dare and are thankful for her central air conditioning.  We've played several cribbage "tournaments" and read a few books.

Loved the details and beauty....

Welcome

It's a huge cemetery.  Some roads are paved.  Others are not.  Spanish moss hangs everywhere.

Part of the Jewish cemetery

Fannie Cooper (no relation)

American Legion

Lots of magnolias and Spanish moss

Virginia Dare at Hinckley's face dock.  The two sailboats in front of us have been hit by lightning and are having major repairs :(  We've met some great people here!

We hope to be heading north Tuesday morning and are already calculating departure time with high tide at Fields Cut just north of the Savannah River.  The Port of Savannah is very busy.....I lost track of how many freighters we saw in January.  We'll be darting across the Savannah River once again and working our way up to Hilton Head.  Then on to Charleston (might have some good wind!) and points north.  Stay tuned!

Fernandina Beach > Wahoo River > Thunderbolt

After two electricians worked on Virginia Dare (Port Canaveral and Fernandina Beach), we are still plagued by a baffling mystery <sigh>  We're now tucked into Hinckley Yacht Services in Thunderbolt, Georgia, where an electrician greeted us when we arrived late yesterday afternoon.

Scenes from the last few days:

This poor guy is missing his left rear leg.  After watching him for an hour, I took him to the bushes near the marina (yes, that is a drop of bug poo by his leg).

After the second round of electricians fixed our issue, we celebrated.  Turns out, we jumped the gun :(  Problem not yet solved.

Motoring north in flat calm

As we creep north at 7 kts, planes zip past :)

David estimates this bonito weighed 15 pounds.  It put up quite a fight before being released back to the ocean.

Storms to our south

HUNDREDS of these jellyfish were bobbing in the ocean.  We saw lots of turtles here, too.  As we learned at the Sea Turtle Center in Florida, turtles love to eat jellyfish.

And rays must like them, too!

And away he goes!

Anchored in the very peaceful Wahoo River on Wednesday night.  Storms skirted us.

Heading north on Thursday in the ICW.  The tide prevented us from getting back to the ocean.

Brackish water of the ICW -- mixture of salt and fresh water.  The dolphins seem to love it.

We skirted the storms on Thursday as well!

Rain off our stern in the Isle of Hope, GA.

Osprey nest as we neared Thunderbolt.

Port Canaveral > Ponce de Leon > Fernandina Beach

After leaving Port Canaveral, we anchored out two nights (no wifi) before arriving in Fernandina Beach yesterday evening.  Here is a visual summary of our past few days.

On Friday morning, we waited for two cruise ships to enter Port Canaveral before we could leave. Lots of fishing boats queued up ahead of us.  They obviously know the drill.

Calm wind. Motoring north.

When we're motoring, we hang out under the shade of the bimini.  Auto pilot keeps us on course.

These yellow buoys mark the NASA restricted space (where rocket debris may fall).

Sugar cane fields burning in the distance.

Our welcome "committee" to Ponce de Leon inlet.

Sunset from our anchorage on Rockhouse Creek.

Leaving Ponce de Leon inlet on Saturday morning.......if you need bait or ice, they're your guys!

Army Corps of Engineers entering Ponce de Leon channel as we exited.

Lighthouse in the morning sun

Redneck'n is the name of their boat -- hahahahaha!

We caught eight bonito on Saturday.......and let them all go.  We were hoping for some tasty "dinner" fish.

Sunset Saturday night from our anchorage just north of Saint Augustine on the Tolomato River.

Saint Augustine in the Sunday morning light.

The channel to/from the ocean is narrow and tricky. 

Sunday was another calm day so we motored once again.

We didn't catch a single fish on Sunday.  This algae bloom might have been the reason.  We sliced through lots of it. Ick.

At St. John's channel (port of Jacksonville), we yielded to this freighter.......

.......and this floating casino.

The birds are conditioned like Pavlov's dog when they see a shrimp boat.

We entered St. Mary's channel at midpoint.  This is the entrance to Cumberland Sound.  Kings Bay submarine station is just north of here.  

They don't look very bright in this photo, but the blinking range markers could be seen for MILES out to sea.  If you line up the two markers when entering from the ocean, you will travel straight in the channel.  When this was taken, we had just turned south toward our marina at Fernandina Beach.

Fort Clinch

Lots of shrimp boats in this neck of the woods.

The copper cupola on this house was glistening in the sun.

One of two paper plants on the river.

This shrimp boat wasn't so lucky navigating the river.

Familiar sight along the river.

South of the marina are more shrimp boats and the other paper plant.

We're hanging out in Fernandina Beach for a few nights before continuing north.