November 2012

It’s Wednesday here in St. Mary’s and Brenda is cooking away in preparation for the Thanksgiving celebration on Thursday.  Cruisers continue to arrive and there are now more than 40 visiting boats in the harbor.  As you recall, the locals supply turkey for all comers and those partaking are asked to contribute a dish.  Pandora, (Brenda) is bringing one of her signature stuffing dishes.  Umm…

This morning we visited a used book store in town that was having a special sale and reception for boaters.  As you can imagine, reading is a very popular pastime for folks that spend time afloat so there were plenty of folks shopping.   The owner, a very personable young woman, was so enthusiastic and even baked a variety of muffins and cookies.  There was even some of her home-made candy.   Well, we felt obligated to buy something, and eat her fine baked goods.  And buy and eat we did.  I think that we purchased ten books.  Of course, they were a bargain, but ten?   Who knows where we will store them all.  Well, we will just have to read them soon and pass them along to others.

Speaking of provisioning, we also made a visit yesterday to a local laundromat and Super Walmart where it seemed like we bought one of everything in the store.  Actually, the store was so MASSIVE that even if we purchased one in a thousand items, Pandora would founder under the weight.  We brought back plenty and the dink was groaning under the weight of our stash upon our return.  Somehow we found a way to stow everything.  When it comes to shopping, boaters know that it may be a week or more until the next market, so they tend to purchase as much as they can carry.  Pandora’s crew?  Yea, we get that.

Today we went for a walk around town and enjoyed the sights.  It’s obvious that the town fathers (mothers?) take pride in how things look.  There’s even a large banner on one of the bulkheads near the town dock proclaiming in large type “WELCOME TO ST. MARY’S BOATERS”.  That’s so unlike many of the places in New England where it seems that they locals would prefer if boats just stayed away.

As you come off of the town dock this is the view.  Very scenic.  We have been here for three days and it seems that there are men working all day, every day, in keeping the park looking just so.   That triangular building in the distance is a band shell.  The view of the harbor from the stage is really impressive.   I would imagine that an evening concert would be great fun.  However, you’d have to bring plenty of bug repellent as the no-seeums here are really out in force each evening.  The view in every direction is really nice.  There are Christmas wreaths tacked on some of the palms along with lights, something that I can’t quite get used to.

There is a really lovely fountain, complete with a sign discouraging wading.  The water in the fountain is sparkling clean so wading was an appealing idea.Speaking of signs, the locals, it seems, want to keep the town clean in more ways than one.  There is even a sign stating that profanity is not allowed.  For us New Yorkers  both me and Brenda, that requires continual diligence and self control.  So far, we haven’t been caught in the act by the local “ya’ll be decent now?” patrol.  Fingers crossed.

If we find ourselves descending into bad behavior there are plenty of churches that would be more than happy to redeem us.   This one, I believe the oldest in St. Mary’s is ready to serve. However, if a “profanity free life” life gets too hard to manage.  Cindy, the ever colorful bartender, at the Seagles Pub in the Riverview Hotel, the nightly gathering spot for visiting cruisers, stands ready with a supportive and profanity rich environment.   Ok, it seems that I have beaten that topic to death for the moment so I will move on.

Before I wrap this up, I must include a shot of our newest friend, we’ll call him Picky the Pelican.   Our buddy Picky hung around Pandora for quite a while this morning hoping for a handout.  I handed out plenty but nothing that he/she was willing to eat.  I tried bread, several types, as well as an assortment of cheeses.  Alas, noting suited Picky who would scarf up my offerings, swirl them around in his pouch with all the concentration of a sommelier, only to spit them out after careful consideration.  Perhaps if I had some fine 2012 Georgian sardines.   After a while he left surely muttering in disgust.    Pretty cute though, our particularly picky friend, Picky. Have a happy Thanksgiving.

Oh Bob, quit it with the milestone stuff.  Not another one… Sorry, but it’s my blog and if I want to talk about YET another milestone, I can.  So, “what is this one about Bob?”.

Thanks for asking, I thought that you would eventually. St. Mary’s, our last stop before we get to Florida, is a big one for us as it means that we have made it all the way through Connecticut, New York, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, the dreaded Georgia, with it’s dreaded shallow spots and put nearly 1,300 miles under our keel.  And, that’s a lot of miles when you are only going around 7kts.  Now we only have ONE more state, Florida, to traverse until we head out to the Bahamas.

Speaking of Georgia, we had heard all of this bad stuff about the water being so thin here and that getting through with our 6′ draft was going to be very tough.  Oddly, it wasn’t.  We actually didn’t run aground even once.  And, that seemed odd to me as we ran aground five times in North Carolina, where there’s supposed to be lots of water.  I expect that we did better in GA because we are getting more used to all that goes with the ICW and how to make it through.  The fact that there is a 9′ tide also helps.  Note to self, “don’t go ANYWHERE unless the tide is high enough”.  Having enough water is a lot easier here as there is a big tide with an extra 4-9′ of water for hours each day as opposed to up in NC where the tidal range is only a few feet.  Anyway, we are now here in St Mary’s.

Oh, did I mention that the sun is out FINALLY?  It’s been DREARY, DREARY and very WINDY for days, no, make that weeks, which has been tough.  Cold too.  These pictures, taken over the last few days show just how g-r-e-y it’s been.  Not my favorite mood lighting.   Seeing this view out of the cockpit late in the afternoon a few days ago was particularly unsettling.  Note the green buoy, which was supposed to mark the edge of the channel.  It’s up on the sand, high an dry.  Doesn’t give you a lot of confidence, does it?We went past this mark after traversing what was the most distressing piece of water that we have yet encountered on this trip.  It involved heading down a river, late in the day when the light wasn’t good.  (Did I mention that the sun wasn’t out at all and it was cold and windy?  Thought so.)  Anyway, we couldn’t see very well and had to head down the channel, all the way out of the inlet, past several buoys that were really way too small to see easily, crossed a piece of water that was less than ten feet deep (remember that we draw 6′) and made a nearly 180 degree turn to head back up the river.  Oh yea, I should mention that,  as we headed out into this shallow water mess, we were doing 9 1/2 knots over the bottom because of the tremendous ebb tide that was pulling us out to sea.

And all the while, we were within a few hundred yards of breaking seas from the ocean where there were gale warnings posted with gusts to 30kts.  Those breakers might as well have been a few feet as it looked WAY TOO CLOSE.  All that foaming water, shallow depths, fast currents, small buoys…  Unsettling to say the least.   These tiny buoys were also really hard to spot on the grey water in the grey late afternoon light.

Once we were past the last buoy marking the most shallow area,  and turned back to “re-enter” the inlet, that 2 1/2 knot tide that had swept us so quickly toward what seemed like “certain doom”  at nearly ten knots was now against us and we were now just poking along at just over five knots.   And, all this was happening at nearly dead low tide, so the water where we made the turn was so shallow that, had we misjudged a buoy, we would have surely hit the bottom.  And, hitting bottom is not a good thing in case you are wondering.

I was not a happy camper at all. Actually, I think that Brenda was doing better than I was.  With both of us reading the plotter and checking the buoy locations against the paper charts we had spread out in the cockpit, we did finally feel like we understood what we were seeing out in front of us.   I wish that I could show all of this on a picture of a chart that would make the point but it’s a good example of “you had to be there” to appreciate how unsettling it was.  For me, it was perhaps the most unsettling piece of water that I have ever been over.  Well, we made it…  And, as they say, with “no loss of life”.

Yesterday, Monday our trip to St Mary’s was a lot less exciting as we only had a short distance to go and the channels were well marked and plenty deep.  St Mary’s is a big Navy town with their buildings and ships dominating the landscape.   We got plenty close to this sub as the channel put us very near to where it was docked.   However, they don’t want you to be too close so there are plenty of patrol boats to keep an eye on you as you motor by. I liked this Navy tug.   Notice how everything is color coded?  Sky, ship, water…All GREY.    Did I say that the sun never seemed to come out for weeks?  A bit of color here and there though.   This Coast Guard patrol boat came blasting by.   I wonder if they were chasing a bad guy?  Perhaps just going out for donuts and coffee.  Hmm…Perhaps to keep the subs from “prying eyes” there are three of these massive buildings on the base.   They are really big and certainly the biggest buildings in the area.  They dominate the skyline. The tradition of cruisers visiting St Mary’s for Thanksgiving began in the 80s and the event now draws about 75 boats and several hundred folks for the big day.  The locals provide turkey for everyone and the cruisers bring side dishes.   And, it’s free except for the bar.  The festivities begin days earlier with a happy hour each night at the host hotel in town.  It’s actually a very quaint old time hotel that looks like it hasn’t changed in 40 years.   No doorman or brass revolving doors here.

Last night we enjoyed catching up with friends and making new ones over a few beers.  I was surprised when I realized that we had already met perhaps half of the 4o or so who were there.   We had a great time.

Today, laundry and some shopping for provisions.  One of our friends has offered us the use of their car.  How great is that?

And, before I sign off.   About that dreary weather.   Not today.   The sun is glistening on the water.Lovely St. Mary’s beckons in the sunshine. So, that milestone thing?  It keeps me going and makes the trip even more terrific, grey cold, warm sunshine and all.  And there will be plenty more milestones to come.  You can count on it!

It’s Sunday afternoon, the sun is out, it’s a lovely day and we are at anchor just north of Jekyl Island GA.   You might want to ask “So, Bob, why are you anchored near a bridge in the middle of the day when y0u should be underway and heading south?”  Thanks for asking.

We are anchored because we reached the bridge at high tide and with the strong NE winds over the last few days the tide is VERY, VERY HIGH.  The posted clearance at high tide is supposed to be 65’ but with the winds the board is showing only 62 ½’ of clearance.  As I require at least 64 ½’ to make it under the bridge that would suggest a bad outcome if I don’t wait a bit.  Can you say “shear off the gear on the top of the mast or worse?”  High tide was supposed to be at 12:30 but by the time the current slacked, signaling that the tide had stopped rising, it was actually 1pm.   That means that I will have to wait perhaps as much as two more hours until the tide drops enough for me to make it under the bridge with good clearance.  Oh well.

The problem is that with the days so short combined with some problem spots along the way with shoaling, this will certainly slow me up for today.  Happily, we should still be able to make St Mary’s by Monday afternoon.  Well, with that extra two or three hours to sit here, perhaps it’s time for a post.

Georgia is the part of the ICW that we had planned to skip because of the wind-y course that the waterway takes combined with shoaling issues that limit the times of the tide when a boat with Pandora’s draft can make it though.  However, with the nasty NE gale force winds offshore we decided to make the run inside, slow or not.  I have to say, circuitous route and all, it’s been a very pretty run.   The route as the crow flies Georgia is about 100 miles but the ICW route is close to 140 miles.  That’s a lot of to-ing and fro-ing to get from here to there.

Well, enough of why we are anchored instead of going south.  So, how was Savannah?

We had a lovely visit to Savannah for a few days and enjoyed the city.  We tied up at the city docks which are located right adjacent to the historic district.   As is the case with so many things nautical, there was ample opinion as to the best way to visit this particular city by boat.  Most say that going to the nearby town Thunderbolt, and taking a bus into the city was the better way. That way you can avoid the 8 mile run up and back down the river to rejoin the ICW.  Others said that the best way to visit is to be right in the thick of things and use the city marina.

It’s hard to say which is better but I do have to say that the amount of debris in the water including the tarp that I snagged on my prop does give one pause for thought about visiting by water.  Having said that, it was very pretty, nautical trash aside.

This shot of Pandora is particularly interesting for us as the hotel in the background is where Brenda and I stayed a few years ago when we visited the city for business.  Me, I like visiting aboard Pandora, minus the “business” thing.If one shot of Pandora at the dock is good, two is even better.The area down near the water is very scenic.   Speaking about high tides, the water came within 6” of flooding this brick walk area at high tide both days that we were there. Just adjacent to this is a row of old buildings that were once business that catered to the ships coming to the city.   Now, it’s candy shops and tee shirts.   Still pretty.

Just above the waterfront is where the city is.  These buildings are the back side of the ones in the picture above.  Not likely to get flooded there.  This is a very nice wrought iron bridge.   Below is the river. The local architecture is really great and perhaps one of the most famous is the house where the murder as chronicled in the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.   Nice place.  Me.  Not sure I would be willing to kill to live there though. 

There is a big park in the city and this fountain is particularly nice. I just love the amount of greenery everywhere.  Very lush.  However, I expect that plenty of gardeners are needed to keep up with even the ivy that is all over the buildings.

No, not exactly one-of-a-kind but what a nice run of porches and rails. 

This garden was hidden, sort of, behind a gate.  Glad that there was a slot to peek through to get this photo.  Imagine what sorts of gardens we must have missed.

The visit was really nice but it’s good to be on our way again.  Well, sort of on our way given the bridge thing.   The marshes that we are traveling through seem to go on for ever.   The last few days have been cold and grey but today, sunny!  It’s amazing how different things, and life in general, look in the sunshine.   While most of the land, if you can call it that, is covered by marsh, there is the occasional hump with a few trees.  It’s really very pretty.

Well, it’s nearly 2:30 and I do so hope that my next post won’t be about shearing the gear off of the top of my mast.  Fingers crossed.

 

We are tied up to the municipal pier here in historic downtown Savannah for a few days to enjoy the sights.   The weather has turned cold with a periods of rain and the sky is the color of slate.  Having said that, it’s not as cold as Essex back home where I am told that it dipped into sub freezing temperatures overnight.

Because of the strong north/east wind blowing offshore the tide was particularly high yesterday, perhaps 3-4′ higher than usual.  As a result, an amazing amount of trash washed into the river.  As we were heading up the river on Wednesday morning we passed plastic bottles, branches and all sorts of stuff floating along.   Brenda was at the wheel as we came to within the last mile of the dock, dodging debris as she headed up.  All of sudden the engine RPM dropped to almost nothing and the engine nearly stalled with tons of thick black smoke billowing from the exhaust.  We were dead in the water.  I couldn’t imagine what we had tangled with.  As the engine had quit so suddenly but there wasn’t a “clunk”, my first thought that it was some sort of fabric or plastic that had wrapped itself around the prop.   However, I did imagine that it might be something much , much worse.

Oh, and did I say that there was a 900′ car carrier bearing down on us along with two 90′ tugs?  Oh yes, it was not a good situation at all.  Besides, the river is so narrow, you can’t believe it.   Given the amount of traffic that comes up the river you’d expect that it would be much wider than the 650′ that it is where we were drifting.    So…no engine.  drifting in the middle of a busy shipping channel.  Over 1000′ of steel bearing down on us.  So, what to do?  Hmm…

Well, I did what anyone in my predicament would do.  I CALLED FOR HELP!  As luck would have it, Brenda and I have been traveling with another boat, Brilliant, for the last few days.  Traveling with a “buddy boat” is something that we almost never do but we were yesterday.  So, I called our new best friends on Brilliant and asked for a tow.

Brilliant’s crew are Pete and Stephanie who have been living aboard for about ten years and brought their boat across from the Med about 5 years ago and have been doing the snowbird thing here in the US since then.    Boy, was I glad to have them near by.

So, Pete and Stephanie sprang into action mode putting out lines and fenders so that they could come up along side of Pandora, raft with us and take us in tow to the dock.

At the same time Pete was on the radio talking to the tugs and ship about our situation and plan so that they would know that we weren’t just idiots waiting to be crushed by them.  When I tell you that the ship was close… Trust me, it was very close, and getting closer by the minute.

This isn’t the actual ship as I was too busy to get out the camera.   However, it was one more in a constant stream of massive ships that are coming by us as we sit on the dock.  This one was passing a lovely schooner that gives day trips on the river.  Trust me on this.  These ships are very LARGE!!! As I was on the deck getting fenders and lines ready for the tow, I couldn’t hear the conversation going on about Pandora.   It seems that the plan, if Pandora couldn’t get out of the way in time, was for the tug to hit me with his prop wash and push me to the side of the channel.  Remember how narrow it is?  I shudder to think what that prop wash would have done to Pandora as she was blown to shore by the tug.  However, I expect that it would have been a lot less traumatic than being crushed by a 900′ ship.

So, how did it go you ask?  Swimmingly.  We were able to drift with the wind and current to the side of the channel.  Get out of the way of the ships and tie to Brilliant who deposited us on the dock like a pro.

People often ask me how big Pandora is when they hear that I have a sailboat.  I say that she feels really little the further we are from land and really big when she is near something hard like a dock.  I think that I will add to that one more description now.  Pandora feels like a fly spec, about to be squashed, when she is in the path of a 900′ ship.

Once all the fun was over and Pandora was safely at the dock I couldn’t help but be curious about what had tangled in our prop.   So, how about a swim in the Savannah river?   I have to tell you that it’s not that much fun.  The current is immense  the water about the color of coffee with milk.  That would be strong coffee with milk and what I estimated to be about 6″ visibility.  And, the temperature?  A lovely 63 degrees.

I waited several hours until the tide was slack, suited up in my full wet-suit, boots and hood.  Fired up the compressor and went for a swim.

So, I went for swim to see what I had “bought” from lovely Savannah.   I ducked in and under the boat and immediately realized that I had misjudged the visibility in the water.  No, it wasn’t 6″, it was ZERO.  Even with the front of my mask touching the blades of my prop, I COULDN’T SEE A THING!!!  Well, it wasn’t hard to “see” what had caused the problem.  I could easily feel that it was a large piece of polypropylene cloth and I unwrapped it in less than a minute.

This is what was what we had picked up.  I am so glad that we had someone standing by to help. I must have someone watching over me, my own personal guardian angel along with Brilliant.While I was waiting for the current to slacken at low tide, I decided to drop by and visit another boat on the dock.  This survey boat was waiting for a job up river and the owner/captain was only too happy to answer some questions.    Fred’s boat is a technological wonder and he was happy to share information about it with me.

His business Bottom Line Echo Company which maps or surveys waterways for folks who have “lost” stuff.  Along with finding sunken planes and boats, he has found plenty of great things for insurers and owners over the years.  He told me that his equipment is so precise that he can find a handgun in the bottom of a muddy river.  Note to self, as you are running from the cops after robbing that liquor store, don’t throw that illegal handgun off of the pier if Fred is working in the area.

Fred’s boat certainly looks like a good example of “form follows function”.   Pretty slick.   That pole on the port bow with the two black disks is a fancy depth sounder.    His site says that it’s a KNUDSEN 320mm depth recorder with dual 28 and 200 KH depth transducers.  OK, yeah, got it.  I guess that means he can tell how deep it is. 

If that’s not cool enough for you, how about the side scan sonar that he can tow behind his boat.  Very high tech.  This isn’t the actual one.  His is a lovely green. The cabin is pretty tricked out. Here’s Fred slaving away at his PC.  Or should I say “at one of his PCs”.  This is his nifty towed sonar.   It looks expensive and Fred said that it is.   I asked him what was the most interesting thing that he had found.  After thinking for a moment he described finding a whole collection of heavy equipment, that’s bulldozers and dump trucks heavy equipment, that he located for an insurance company.  It turns out that someone had stolen the stuff, taken out the engines and had pushed the “remains” off of a barge.  They assumed that they would never be found however I guess that they had not met Fred.  Oops!!

The boat is small enough to tow behind a truck so he can move from place to place easily to take on jobs.  After he is finished in Savannah he was headed up to New Jersey to survey a harbor near an oil refinery that had been badly damaged by Sandy.  It seems that some equipment had washed into a harbor there and he needed to map it so that the stuff could be pulled out by a salvage company.

Unfortunate for us, Fred had not yet found that great poly tarp that we tangled with.  However, it just proves once again how much fun cruising can be and validates that boating is “hours of boredom punctuated with moments of sheer terror”.   Or, put another way, “cruising is boat repair in exotic places”.

Me, it adds spice but Brenda may have another view on that.   Besides, on occasion we do find interesting stuff when we are on the water.  Sometimes, a bit too interesting.

 

 

Yesterday we left Beaufort SC after several wonderful days exploring the city and enjoying the local eateries.  Brenda and I really loved it, the food, homes.  Such a nice city.  What was even better is that the temperature has finally warmed up into the 70s and we didn’t even have to turn on the heat.  The last two days are the first since about a week prior to our friend Sandy that it has actually warmed up to something that is compatible with palm trees.

I can hardly decide where to begin with the wonderful architecture.  We went for a number of walks and spied these, and many other, fabulous homes.

It’s just wonderful to see the live oaks draped with Spanish Moss.  Some of the trees are too big and sprawling to imagine them staying up in a hurricane.  They are so stately and individual that you have to believe that the locals might be inclined to name each one.  How about this one hanging out over the street.  The last time that I saw a tree marked with sign on a road was in the Redwood forests in California where the tree had been carved out so you could drive a car through it. It’s hard to say where I should begin in posting about these houses.  Somehow, stucco doesn’t look tacky here like it does in NJ.  Far from it. Just like in Charleston, the locals must get a bonus or painting their homes white. You can just imagine a horse and carriage driving up to drop off the owner here. Not all the homes are old.  There are some lovely “contemporary” homes too.   Not to be picky but it would be even better if the posts on the porch were a bit more substantial.   But then, perhaps it’s just me.  Agree?We were told that one of the homes in the area was used in the movies “The Big Chill” and “The Great Santini”.  I thought that I had taken a photo of the right one but I am not sure.  We thought that this was the one.

I looked it up on the Web and see that this is the one credited with being in the two movies.   Not sure if I have a shot as it looks a lot like others that I saw.  Oh well, we saw a lot of great homes.   I loved this one.  The trees and gardens just swallow up the home in spite of it’s size. Speaking of a nice setting, how about this perched on a lovely marsh.   To come home to this means that you have arrived in more ways than one. This one was nicely nestled into the landscape.   Sitting on that rocker wouldn’t be tough duty. We saw some great gardens but none that could rival this one.  The photo doesn’t do it justice. There is a strong military presence with two bases nearby and a national military cemetery in town.   We were there on Veteran’s Day and were treated to a first class parade.
It’s great to see folks from the service in dress uniforms. Each branch of the service was represented. After enjoying the parade we did a bit of shopping in the local gourmet store.  Compared to prices in the New York area, this was a downright bargain.   What a great looking store.  I think that we bought one of everything in the store.  Perhaps not but we did buy plenty.  Not a great idea to shop when you are hungry.

Beaufort goes out of it’s way to encourage folks to visit.  The waterfront has a great park that is very popular.  There are plenty of places to eat that look out on this lovely scene.  I still haven’t gotten used to the palms that are everywhere.

As I write this we are tied up at the city docks in Savannah GA.  It’s hard to believe that we have made it all the way to Georgia.  Massive ships go by and the river isn’t that wide here.  As you can imagine, the current runs very hard.  As we were about a 1/2 mile from our destination today we snagged something big on our prop and it tangled it up badly. As  a result we were dead in the water.  Happily, we were traveling for the last two days with another boat and they towed us to the dock.

As soon as the tide is slack I plan on going swimming with my wet suit and dive compressor to untangle whatever is wrapped.  That should be fun in the 65 degree water.  Oh yea, did I mention that the visibility is about 6″?   Wish me luck.

And yes, the two cities, one in North and the other in South Carolina, are spelled the same but the pronunciation is much different.    So, we enjoyed both cities and it was fun to visit Beaufort.  That’s Byoofert to y0oou.

I guess it’s almost time for a dip in the Savannah river.  Yuck!  Make that a double yuck.