6/1/10 - Just Kidding - In Charleston - 819 miles Total

Synopsis - We are in Charleston SC and we have travelled 819 miles total. No major

problems at this time. Weather has been hot (>90 throughout Florida) but it has cooled down a bit (mid 80s in Georgia/SC). Breezy everywhere and lots of tide and current. Cool places include Jekyll Island Ga, Savannah Ga. and Beaufort SC. We should meet Dave and Marcia Reck on Tuesday in Charleston SC. Boat is still a monster to maneauver.

Hi Folks - Well, our last posting got lots of attention. I assumed that it told such a terrible tale that everyone would know it was fantasy right away but quite a few people thought it was real. I guess that shows what people are expecting to hear from us!. IT WAS JUST A JOKE!

Since our last post, we finished the transit through the Okeechobee Waterway across central Florida and spent a few days in Fort Pierce provisioning and did some more jobs on the boat including the final propane hook up on the stove. It works great and makes the boat seem much more complete. We also installed a new port alternator (that's our second alternator) and the dingy davits so we don't have to tow the dingy anymore - much better. We had great weather (albeit quite breazy as usual) and cruised North to Melbourne where we had a great night at anchor and got in some swimming. Spent two nights at New Smyrna Beach where we had a pelican roosting island 80 yards away in the harbor and dolphins surfacing frequently. Cruised up to Saint Augustine and anchored out in front. It was windy (as usual) and there is a lot of current. We left early the next morning and headed for Fernandida. We went ashore for a nice dinner and look-see and again in the morning for a bit more of a walk and groceries.

This is a photo of the winning 44 pound "dolphin" (mahi mahi) at the Fort Pierce

tournament that was held while we were there. Unfortunatlely, I didn't catch it.

Heading North from Florida into Georgia is DOMINATED by marshy tidelands. You can see for miles and miles out across the grassy marshes and there are very few people or even other boats around. The wind was still blowing pretty good (20 mph "ish") and it got sort of tiring.

We have now passed through Georgia and are in South Carolina. The first place we stopped in Georgia was a great marina called Jekyll Island Harbor. It has a lot of history and the whole thing is a state park. In the early 1900s it was a fancy club for VERY rich folks such as Frances Goodyear, some Vanderbilts and Pulitzer. It had an immense clubhouse that is now a hotel. They had hunting (animals brought in!), fishing, tennis and other activities for the extended families of the members and many of them built "cottages" (appx 5,000 sf each). It was typically active from January until April. In the mid 1900s they "gave" it to the state of Georgia with lots of strings attached. There were museums established and the residents and businesses were given long term leases. The marina had loaner bikes so we were able to tour the historic district and a loaner car to get groceries. I was still having intermittent starter trouble on the port engine so I got a local mechanic (Tommy) to pull it and take it and my "spare" into the local starter guy for check out. This meant we were at the marina

for two nights but it was a great place to stay. It turned out that my main starter drive mechanism was hanging up but the spare was OK so it got installed. The picture to the right shows that it is a dog's life out here on the water.

We cruised North to a town called Thunderbolt on the river and tied up at a dock so we could take a taxi into Savannah. Had a great dinner at the Noble Fare restaurant (lamb for Tod and chicken for Linda). We walked down to the river through the "squares" at about 10:00 and mixed with the hordes. It was pretty raucous and fun. The Savannah College of Art and Design graduation had occurred earlier so there was lot's of celebrating. Here's a picture of me on the dock with the boat at Thunderbolt before going in for dinner in Savannah (pretty dressed up eh?)

Comment on cruising from North Florida to South Carolina - The way is split between miles and miles of flat marshland (see photo below) with a 100-200 yard wide path (not all navigable) and big open inlets to the ocean with the occasional town thrown in. There is a lot of tide (6-8 feet) and current that goes with it. Although we like to anchor, the tide and particularly the current make this a bit of a drag. Our speed varies from 6.5 mph when the current is

opposing us to over 9 mph when it is with us. Constant wind of 10-15 mph, almost always in our face. You must be very careful to stay in the channel to avoid going aground. Dolphins and pelicans diving are all over the place. There are also many ospreys (see photo below), often fishing and sometimes in their nests built on the navigation aids.

Cruised North in the am going in and out of inland "rivers" and then out into the ocean inlets. The boat handled fine on the big water even though there was a pretty good wind and tide. We decided to stop at Beaufort SC early (at 3:00 after only 47 miles) to soak in a little history regarding the War of Northern Aggression. Really fascinating city. Like Savannah, it was not trashed during the war so there are TONs of antebellum (pre war) houses. We took a horse carriage ride and had a great guide. This is a great way to get a quick overview of a town. Here's a picture of one of the MANY pre civil war houses.

We are in Charleston now after a 65 mile day in the rain and wind. We plan on meeting Dave and Marcia Reck tomorrow for some tourist stuff here and then cruising for a few days together.

Next post is June 15th unless something very cool happens in the meantime.

Miss all of you

Tod and Linda.

May 21, 2010 - Could Be Worse

So, we are still out here boating but there are ongoing challenges. Last Monday, I decided to put a flag up on the mast but unfortunately when I drilled a hole to put a screw in I shorted out some wiring that was inside. The fire that developed was down inside the boat but the good news is that the fuel tanks didn't catch fire. However, tearing out all of the insulation and the damaged wood beams wasn't too good either. We hope the smoke smell is gone in a few months. Speaking of the fuel tanks, we think that the small buckets that we keep under the leaks in the rusty areas will work pretty well. We only have to empty them once a day and it's easy to just pour the fuel back into one of the main tanks.

We have been very careful about leaving the hatches open in the floor that go down to the engine room and the "hold" area under the salon. Linda has only stepped into an open hatch twice and the second time only required a quick visit to the ER to get her leg stitched up. They are very nice to people with insurance in Florida. Actually, much nicer than Linda is to people who leave hatches open.

I continue to get used to driving this boat. I have found that because the steering doesn't really work reliably, it is very effective to use high power forward and reverse to steer and control the boat. However, I have to be careful not to let the gearshifts stick like they did in Fort Pierce that resulted in some damage to a 65 foot sport fisherman. The owner was quite angry until he found out I have insurance. Don't I?

Florida is a wonderful place for swimming and we have been enjoying it immensely. Of course I should have remembered how shallow it is before diving in. I think the neck brace only has to be worn until mid August.

Most of you know that we sold our truck (my truck!) a couple of weeks ago. We were concerned about whether it would sell when we needed to get rid of it. Well it did! The only problem is that I got an envelope full of cash for it and I must have put it somewhere clever on the boat for safekeeping. Hmmm?

It's great to have a boat with a big generator (ours is a 12.5 kw - wow!). It will be even better when it runs.

We have met lots of really nice people on this trip. We are sure that our new friend that borrowed Linda's purse, our other computer and my new chartplotters while we were out for dinner last night will bring it all back soon.

Here is a picture of an osprey that we passed on the way to New Smyrna Beach. Right

after this picture, it flew up and made a fishy fecal bomb deposit on Linda. Boy was she mad until she realized what a unique experience it had been.

Speaking of birds, the picture below is of an island that is immediately up wind of where we are docked. There are dozens if not

hundreds of pelicans and herons roosting there all day and night. Although the smell is almost unbearable, it is almost like being on a Mutual Of Omaha show. Our neighbor got bombed last night while eating dinner. What luck!

As you can see, for every problem we have had, there is a corresponding good thing so we feel very fortunate. Boy are we having fun!

Hope you all have a great summer and we will be in touch.

Miss you all.

Keep your topsides up - Tod

May 15, 2010 - On the Okeechobee

OK, the big news is that we are on our way. First a sad note. On Saturday, May 9th I handed over ownership of my truck to "Paul" at 4:00 in the St Pete Marina parking lot. I finished my last visit to Home Depot at 3:59. I guess I'm happy that I sold it easily but I had it for 17 years and I loved it. However, it had gotten old and decrepit so to hell with it. Look out Linda!

We left St Pete Municipal Marina on Sunday morning around 10:00 and headed South. We went slow the first couple of days but on Wednesday the 12th we made close to 60 miles and were at the start of the Okechobee Waterway that goes across Florida. On the way South we went through miles and miles of off shore islands and shallow water. There were dolphins, lots of fish jumping and even a big turtle. I was surprised at how big the water was and how shallow. Much of it was several miles across and only 7 feet deep.

The picture above was in Sarasota right after we put the name on.

Linda has chastised me for (among other things) writing too much about boat stuff and not much emotional or human interest. I won't dwell on it but I think I have made it clear that this was much harder than we thought it would be. We new (intellectually) that we were buying a project but we didn't really understand how big a project. We spent day after day and week after week in the boat yard and still never got things to where we wanted them before we left St Pete. Even after leaving, we have had two REALLY windy anchorages where we stayed up most of the night fretting about our anchor holding. It is a new "55 pound Delta" and it seems to work great. I managed to back over our dingy line the first night and wrap it around our prop (you should use a floating line but we didn't have one so I used a regular line and then forgot about it when I was anchoring). I also pivoted our swim step under a dock trying to land in the wind and broke their plastic water line which was hanging down. We thought about sneaking away but did the honorable thing and radioed the dock master (we even stayed there). None of these are a big deal (and in fact I'll tell you an animated version of what happened when we see you again) but they all add up to emotional stress. We wish we had bought a smaller boat that wasn't such a big project. All of you know how tough Linda is and even she has approached despair over what we are doing. What's that saying about "that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger"? We are getting really strong. But putting all this behind us, we are actually moving along and seeing lots of interesting country. Tomorrow will be a sunny day.

The is about 130 miles long and goes right across Florida from Fort Myers to Stuart.. There are fancy "ranchettes" along parts of it and total "marshy" shores along others (particularly the Lake itself). The water is pretty much fresh and comes out of Lake "O" flowing East and West. It is black as night and moves slowly.

The lake itself is huge - bigger than Lake Washington. The swampy edge of the lake abounds with Osprey, turkey buzzards, egrets, herons and other birds and we even saw a Manatee that was "locking" into the lake with us at Moore Haven, the Western entrance to the lake. The picture at right is the typical shore between the waterway and the actual lake. I'm sure there are lots of creatures lurking back in the brush including lions and tigers er, I mean alligators and old bass fisherman.

This is a picture of one of our new friends that we met at a little marina called "Jack's Marine". They also had a dog pack and chickens (we got some fresh eggs!) The people were really nice and drove me into the town of Olga to the Ace

hardware store to get a plumbing fitting (the old one cracked - how about that?).

Last night we stayed in a marina along the Waterway at a town called "Indian Town"and got a courtesy ride to eat at the Italian restaurant. It was really excellent and we had a chance sneak over to the IGA to get a few groceries before our ride back to the boat. Very nice!

It is still hot (mid 80's to around 90 for a high) and there are lots of bugs, many of which fly in pairs. They are appropriately called "love bugs". They don't bite but they are annoying in their multitudes. We plan on getting to Stuart/Fort Pierce on the East coast today and will stay there for a few days and then head North.

Take care and more on June 1st or sooner.

Miss you all.

Tod and Linda