Sail Pandora

I have been thinking about how to begin this post as it’s really about my visit to a hardware store.  So, what guy isn’t interested in such a visit?  However, there are hardware stores and there are HARDWARE STORES.  The S.F Travis hardware store in Cocoa Florida isn’t just any hardware store.  It might very well be the  best if not biggest hardware store in the known universe.  And, with NASA so nearby, that’s probably a good thing.  “Harry, hold this, I need to run over to to Travis Hardware to get a nut for the Mars rover.  I’ll be right back.”  Yeah, right…

The store, founded in 1885, has been the go-to place for locals who, as you might imagine if you see their inventory, include folks from NASA and the rest of the “big boys” that work on rocket stuff.  Interestingly, the owner, fourth generation, is a guy named Osborne.  Osborn is a good name. I’m an Osborn in case you didn’t  know.  However, it’s spelled Osborn, without an “e”.

When I was in high school I worked in a hardware store so this sort of business is familiar to me and I never miss an opportunity to visit a hardware store when I can.  However, there was nothing in my experience that prepared me for this place with it’s four floors and multiple buildings.   When you enter the store you see what looks like a typical old-time hardware store with a bunch of guys sitting behind counters waiting on customers.   However, that’s about all that they have in common with a “typical” hardware store.  As I looked around near the front desk, I immediately saw a set of wrenches that you’d never see at a Home Depot.  How about a crescent wrench that’s over four feet long?  They have a whole set.  I asked the owner, Osborne, “so, how many four foot crescent wrenches do you sell in a year?”   His answer…” I sell one to every person who walks through the door that needs one”.    Ok, got it…  hesitation as I processed this.   Another question: “so, what sort of person buys one of these?”.    “guys with really big nuts”.   Check.    No more questions for now.Here we are in Florida and Travis has a large inventory of wood burning stoves.   Huh?  Well, the dust on them suggested that they have been in inventory for some time.   I actually asked the one “lady” at the desk.  “so, I’ll bet that there are plenty of items here that have been here for say, 20 years.”.  She rolled her eyes suggesting that I was way low.  So, I said “50 years?”  Another shrug.  I said, this time with less certainty, “100 years?”.  Her answer… “that’s probably closer and we don’t charge extra for the historic dust”.  There is just so much stuff in that store. Need an empty 50 gal drum, with lid, to mix up some sort of toxic substance?  Rocket fuel perhaps?  Got em… Me, I am more used to the orange “Homer Buckets” that they sell at Home Depot.  No dust on these puppies.  I guess that they are big sellers. All hardware stores have plenty of nuts and bolts.  Not like Travis.  They have literally hundreds, no make that thousands, of bins of every size and description.    And, they have them zinc coated, galvanized, un-coated.   EVERY SIZE.   Need a 3′ long galvanized turnbuckle?  “yeah,we got that.  How about 25?”  And, there is row after row to choose from.  Little stuff, big stuff and lots of it.   Rope?  Have they got rope?  How about a 500′ spool of 3″ nylon rope?  You could tow a barge with this stuff.   And, their customers probably do. Me, I needed a tube of Lubriplate grease to pump into my prop.  They had two kinds of Lubriplate but not the exact type that I needed.   Can you believe it?   They have stuff to build space shuttles but not grease my prop?  I mentioned this to the owner.  “I can’t believe that I need the one item in the world that you don’t have!”.  He sternly, but in a nice way, reminded me that he had two types of Lubriplate and that my problem was that I had a boat and they weren’t a marine store.  I guess that they serve vehicles that run on roads and go into space but not on the water.

So, speaking of water.  I had a productive day yesterday.  I changed the engine oil and filter as well as the two fuel filters.  I also went for swim to change the three zincs on the prop and shaft, something that I had been meaning to for some time but the visibility in the water has not been good enough. Here, the visibility is about 3-4 feet which is pretty good.  And, while the water is in the high 60s, I still needed to suit up as an hour in 69 degree water can get pretty cold.

So, do I look like a mini Jacques Cousteau?  Not bad for a semi-old guy.   Believe it or not, I was able to remove 13 itty-bitty screws and replace all of the parts and I didn’t even drop a single one.   Using a grease gun under water proved to be more challenging than I had anticipated.    Alas, mission accomplished.

After my “swim” we headed into downtown Cocoa and enjoyed a late lunch.  Me, I also had an ice cream cone because I was confident that I had earned it after my aquatic exploits.   Folks question me as to why I don’t hire someone to handle the under water work.  My answer… “I get to have desert!”.   After burning all of those calories I have to put them back and have found that ice cream is the best mechanism that I have been able to come up with.

Cocoa also has a really nice waterfront park, complete with a fountain.   The fountain is one of those where there isn’t a pond under the fountain at all.  The water squirts up through holes in a flat tile base and runs off into a grate at the edge of the fountain.  I was amused by a sign posted near the fountain stating that there was “no diving”.   What’s that all about?   There isn’t a pool under the fountain at all.  It’s just a slab with water squirting out of holes.  Well, they warned you.  NO DIVING into the cement slab.  I guess that the town lawyers made a case that those that needed to be warned were the same folks that watch prime time TV, perhaps not the brightest stars in the galaxy.The downtown streets are very quaint with shops of all sorts to choose from. Cocoa is a really nice city and well worth the visit.   The sign as you enter the waterfront park reminds you to enjoy the holidays.   Bummer about the miss-matched type. Perhaps they should talk to Osborne at Travis Hardware.  I’ll bet that they have a proper “H” in stock.  No, make that 100 in stock. We plan to enjoy yet another day in Cocoa before we head south to Melbourne to the SSCA gam on Wednesday.   Oh yeah, the sun is out and it’s another beautiful day.

It’s Monday morning and the sun isn’t yet up here in Cocoa.  Having said that, I expect that today, like the last few days, will begin with an absolutely wonderful sunrise.  I have to take sunrise photos as it is the only way that Brenda can enjoy them.   She has often said that her natural state is asleep.  Unfortunately, that “natural state” often alludes her until around dawn.   So, photos of the last two sunrises when we were in St Augustine are for Brenda.  If one fab sunrise is good, a second is better. Yesterday we came through Mosquito Bay and area that was just a ditch run through miles and miles of a shallow bay that is rarely more than five feet deep.  Even though there was water all around us the constant threat of running aground kept us on our toes.  After a nearly 50km run for the day we were tired and had certainly had enough.   The wind had also piped up so that we were motoring into it after some motor sailing earlier in the day.  Having to stay in the channel to avoid running aground was made even more fun given the large amount of weekend boat traffic.   Adding an additional bit of tension was the fact that my max prop has been vibrating a bit, something that shouldn’t be happening as I had it rebuilt a few years ago.  I expect that it needs more grease in the hub which I will pump in today.  However, there may be more to it, perhaps the shaft log nuts are loose.  Who knows. Vibration in the running gear is not a good thing as it, if not addressed, can shake other things loose.  Fortunately when this happens, I can put the shift into reverse and then back in forward which smooths things out.  Having said that, it can’t be good for the transmission.

My friend Keith, who has run his boat north and south many times, says that you are really in Florida after you pass St Augustine.  I believe him as while the water temperature, which was stuck in the low 60s for much of our trip south, rose by nearly ten degrees shortly after leaving St Augustine.  While I don’t know if it was just a different weather pattern over the last few days, we are now enjoying our first warm weather (that’s no heat required in the evenings and mornings and shorts during the day) in a long time.   Over the last few months, we have chased the cooler weather and water temperatures south as we progressed along the way.   Warmer is better as I will have to go for a swim today to deal with the prop as well as the shaft and prop zincs that need to be changed.   I am also glad that the water is somewhat clearer,  I expect that the visibility is at least a few feet here, something that we haven’t seen since we entered the ICW.  Tough to handle zincs when you can’t see anything. It’s a good thing that I have the hookah dive compressor as it will take me plenty of time to get all of this done.

Setting aside the drudgery of yesterday’s run, the last few days have been great fun.  In particular, we have watched the scenery change from miles of marsh to a mix of wetlands and residential development.   While it may have happened sooner than I realized, we have now entered an area of mangrove instead of the grasslands that were dominant further north.This was a nice looking lighthouse that we passed on our way past the Ponce De Leon inlet, just south of Daytona beach.  There are plenty of bridges in Florida and the further south we get the more there are.  Within about one mile in South Smyrna we passed five bridges.  To give this some context, in all of Georgia we only went under five.

As we looked behind us, three.  In front, two more.  Love the mosaic work that was on every piling of this bridge. Perhaps it was a plastic stick-on, but I couldn’t get that close to see for sure.  My vote is for something more durable.   This sort of ornamentation wouldn’t hold up well in the north. The attention to detail certainly demonstrates how important the water economy is here in Florida.  “If you like this bridge, you’ll love our city.  Stop and spend money!”  I stopped but didn’t get off of Pandora to spend a dime.  Sorry.We are also in manatee country but have not yet seen one yet.  Given the fact that these gentle creatures don’t swim very fast, it’s amazing that there are any left given the massive amount of boat traffic where they live.   I am told that nearly all of them have nasty scars on their backs from the props of passing boats.   Very sad.

On a lighter note, we had our first dose of Christmas boat parade when we were anchored in New Smyrna.   As we headed toward our destination we passed this boat with a full, and well amplified, band on board.  That and the pirate motif are certainly writing home about, and that’s what I will do.  Or, at least I’ll include photos.   Pretty funny. I wonder if they had life jackets for all on board?  I am trying to imagine how a Coast Guard boarding would go with this group.  “Matey, have yee flotation devices for your crew and wenches?”   So, any votes as to who is the captain?  My vote is for the grumpy guy on the left.  Behind him, head wench?  Well, at least happiest wench. This vessel had everything a pirate could want, even a trusty teddy bear.

We anchored south of New Smyrna and had dinner in the cockpit with some friends, Ginny and Ted off of Firecracker, a sistership to Pandora.  They too are on their first run to the Bahamas.

As the evening progressed, we were passed by boat after boat heading to the start of the parade.  This one, unlit was just a hint as to the extent of the decorations. Later, after dark, all the boats passed us again, ablaze with lights.  And, all this in the company of the Coast Guard, complete with flashing blue lights and a good attempt to show that they too knew how to “deck the hulls”.  I guess this is the one time of year when the rules of the road for vessel lighting are suspended.   It was too dark to get a good photos as the boats paraded by but this will give you a feel for what it looked like.  Well, this is what Santa and Rudolf would have looked like if you had enough to drink, which we did. What was this?  Don’t know, but it was blue. If I recall, the little brown guy on top was Snoopy.
Yes, this was a sport fisherman, complete with outriggers. It was a great show for sure.  I am beginning to get used to this palm tree Christmas thing.   Yes, it’s looking pretty good.  And no Dorothy, we aren’t in Kansas any more.  That’s for sure.

If you ever get to St Augustine you owe it to yourself to take a tour of the of Hotel Ponce De Leon, named after the Spanish explorer who put St Augustine on the map, making it the oldest city in America.   The National Park Service has a nice write-up on the hotel that’s worth reading.

The hotel was built in 1887 and completed in just two years, is a really remarkable building and set the stage for the high end tourist industry in Florida with luxury hotel furniture. Flagler, then one of the wealthiest men in the world, was the guy behind the project and “spared no expense” when that really meant something.  This place is totally over the top.

The hotel was massively successful when it opened and lead to Flagler building other properties in Florida, including another across the street.  Ultimately the hotel fell on hard times and was turned into the Flagler college in the 70s.  They receive funding as a national monument and clearly from other sources as tuition isn’t very high for a private college and the facility maintenance alone must be a massive expense.  While the hotel is a key part of the college, they make portions of it available for tours.

Brenda and I enjoyed a visit yesterday and while it’s safe to say that “you had to be there” when it comes to appreciating the grandeur of it all, perhaps some of these detail shots will give you an idea of what it is all about.

This shot, which I used before in a prior post, is a small portion of the front of the building.  Unfortunately, I didn’t take a shot of the main entrance.   What an amazing structure.  It’s hard to believe that something this grand could have been built in only two years. The exterior details are just exquisite like this piece above a window. These “spouts” are actually for decoration only and serve no practical function.  They are just great.  You know what they say…”it’s better to look good than to feel good”  In this case, it’s better to look good than to be functional.  I’d have to agree.Lovely tile work around the main entrance. Intricate detail everywhere.  I wouldn’t expect that this would have survived the northern winters, or the pollution of a city like New York.

Once you enter the lobby the detail is even more remarkable.   Louis Comfort Tiffany handled all of the interior decorations and windows.   “Nice job Louis.  I just love your handiwork…”  There is a big dome over the grand entrance lobby and you can’t believe that all of this detail is in a single room. Nearly all of the wood is oak and is wonderfully carved.  It seems that Flagler employed shifts around the clock to make his two year timeline.   Bigger than life size, there are intricate motifs everywhere, and all with their own meaning. It’s hard to believe that this sort of craftsmanship ever existed, much less all in one place.   And, it’s still in great shape thanks to a big restoration project a few years ago.
The higher up you look, and it’s a long way up, the detail just continues.
We were shown other rooms, including the main dining room, still used for that purpose by the students of the college.  This building has more Tiffany glass in it than in any other building, anywhere.  I believe it. The windows in the dining room are just fabulous.  And, there are just so many in every pattern imaginable.  I expect, in the presence of such a grand room that food fights are not common among the students.  What do you think?  “now be good, ladies and gentleman, and keep your elbows off of the table.  And, I mean now…” The ladies lounge was just exquisite with so many fine details.  It looked, to me, like a (really big) piece of fine china instead of a room. What a fireplace and the clock, like all of the rest of the, then rare, electrical system, was crafted by Thomas Edison himself.    “Hey Tom, I am going to build this really nice hotel in St. Augustine and was wondering if you’d be available to put a few of those new fangled electric light thingies  into it?  The timetable?  Now is a good time.”  The chandeliers, nine in this room alone,  were also from Tiffany and in perfect shape.   Someone spent big dollars restoring this room, for sure.
Sure, the lighting in my shots aren’t museum quality but this place surely is.  You should visit.  This town, St Augustine, may be the best stop yet for the crew of Pandora.  Saturday we leave to continue south.

Oh yea, did I say that the sun is out today and it’s going to be in the mid 70s.  Not perfect but…  Me, I’ll take it.

It’s hard to believe that we are nearly at the end of November and yet we had lunch at a sidewalk cafe just yesterday.  Yesterday was a really nice day.

In the interest of fair balance, I should note that today is not sunny at all and it’s windy and much cooler, if you think of 61 degrees as cool.  After just a short time heading south, my cold tolerance has become much less, that’s for certain.   Actually, my love of winter (NOT!!!) has diminished greatly over the last few years but this trip has certainly been a big contributor to my quest to have my own “personal quest to find warmth in my globe”.   Does that mean that I should become a member of AARP too?   Hmm…

Speaking of sidewalk cafe dining on a sunny afternoon.   Does this look like a nice lunch spot?  It was a really fun Cuban spot.

As we walked around town we enjoyed watching a photo shoot in a fountain in front of the Lightner Museum, which is housed in one of the old grand hotels.  It was fun to see the model vamp for the camera.   The person on the left was prompting her to do particular poses and the two photographers were catching the action.   There she was wading in the water with plenty of tourists watching her every move.  I expect that sort of behavior takes plenty of self confidence. After the first model was done and plenty wet, this one waded in for her “swim time”.   Ok, enough of that.  We moved on. We visited a really interesting museum housed in one of the two old Flagler Hotels in St Augustine.   The Lightner Museum who’s collection was billed as a showing of “a collector of collections”.   They have a very nice website and some neat panoramas.   Lightner’s collection is really an inside view of what Victorian collectors surrounded themselves with and included every sort of “collectible” you could imagine from fine china to cigar wrappers.   Collecting is certainly a very human trait and one that built to a fever pitch during the Guilded Age.  If you like “suff” this is your museum.   Me, all I could think about was dusting all of that stuff.  The exterior of the museum is about as ornate as what is inside.   The architects that designed this for Flagler went on to design the New York Public Library. I was particularly struck by the inner courtyard complete with a koi pond and some very well fed koi. Imagine strolling around the courtyard after your morning swim in what was, at the time, the largest indoor pool anywhere. The museum is perhaps as much about Victorian excess as ingenuity.   This “music box”, and they have several amazing examples that push the limit of this craft, plays both a violin and piano and is a good example of how elaborate they can be.   Think about how many musicians these little babies put out of work.  I wonder if there were pickets outside of the companies that were manufacturing these?  Didn’t they have any heart for starving musicians?  Perhaps they were retrained as waiters, a tradition that seems to have stood the test of time.

One of the Flagler hotels is now the home of Flagler College.    Talk about ornate.  I hope that they have a good endowment.  It’s a good thing that they don’t have to cope with freezing winters and the pollution of a big city which would certainly raise havoc with the fine detail.
I wonder if the granting of tenure brings with it an office in this tower?  Me?  Yes, I would live there.
Ok, I think that my last few posts have included photos of these particular buildings.  Enough already!!!  Well, why not more photos of the town green.  It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…  I wish that I had said that. Finally, after viewing the photo shoot in the fountain I decided that I needed my own “shoot”.   I just (especially) love Brenda in hats. I think that I will have to leave it at that for now.

It’s Tuesday morning and the sun is just beginning to peak up above the horizon with a soft light here in St Augustine.  Today, for the first time in quite a while, the morning air smells somehow buoyant and tropical.  Perhaps it’s just low tide but I think that there is something more, not the least of which is that it’s only 59 degrees and not in the 40s, and sometimes 30s, as has been the case over the last few weeks.    The only sound is our generator rumbling away on deck and that’s certainly enough to disturb the silence.  However, a cold shower for Brenda later would be more disturbing, that’s for sure.  There always needs to be hot water for showers.

Speaking of energy production, I have noticed that while our solar panels provide for plenty charging in the summer, the days are just too short and sun too low in the sky to fully recharge the batteries on their own.   The electricity used by our diesel heater also adds to the electrical drain more than usual.  Yes, it’s gotten quite a workout over the last month or so.

St Augustine, the oldest city in America, is a magical place and the Christmas lights, and let me tell you that they are amazing, are among the best in the world. That distinction comes from none other than the National Geographic Magazine.   Brenda’s blog post a few days ago talked about that in particular.

Yesterday we decided to go for a walk to explore the city.  The down town area is  certainly touristy but it’s done in a nice way.  There are narrow streets that are lined with shops and restaurants.  We enjoyed looking around for hours.  Henry Flagler, a founder of Standard Oil, arguably the guy that had more to do with the popularization of Florida as a destination than anyone, had a big impact here, building some of the grandest buildings in the city.  Many are well preserved under the guidance of his namesake, Flagler College.  His buildings are quite distinctive and give the downtown area much of it’s character.  This building is open to tours even though it’s part of the college.  I expect that we will visit here today. While not lit, you can get a feel for the holiday lights from this gazebo down in the town green near the waterfront.  I am getting used to the look of decorations and palms.  We also visited the fort, the oldest in America and the only one that was never breached.  It was built by Spain in the 1500s. It’s pretty impressive.  Inside the courtyard you can get a feel for how those manning the fort lived.  Not well, I would guess.  Imagine this place in the heat of summer. “Listen mate, it’s so %$#&*%$ hot here in the courtyard, I am going to go up on the battlement to catch some air.  Gee, I hope I see a pirate!  That would be just so cool(ing).”However, hot or not, the view is pretty dramatic.  I doubt that the bad guys, whomever they might have been at any given moment in time, would have had a tough time getting past this fort. When the locals weren’t building forts, they spent plenty of time building churches, and there are some really nice ones here.  Not a lot of wood construction, mostly whitewashed masonry.
Just in case you might be lulled into believing that everything about Christmas in St Augustine is in good taste, I’ll burst your bubble by inserting this lovely shot of Santa’s favorite compliments of the local miniature golf course.  He seems to be looking at something and pondering something.  As Satchel Paige once said, “sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits”.  This course is billed as the oldest in Florida.  I wonder how they stack up against the other courses outside of Florida?  Hmm… We spied this little guy on the dock as we were headed back to Pandora. We were also treated to a lovely view of the Bridge of Lions, one of the nicest bridges we have seen on our trip.   Built in the 1920s and recently restored, it was purported to cost some 10x more than most bridges of it’s type when it was built.  Roads and Bridges magazine voted it one of the nation’s top ten bridges in 2010.  Yes, indeed, there is a magazine for everything.  If you are curious about who else won the competition, you can see the list here.  I’ll bet that my dad will click on this link as he loves bridges.   Never the less, what terrific evening light. We capped off the day with a nice phone call to my parents while all on the call enjoyed a glass of wine.  After the call Brenda and I had a terrific dinner of beef fillets wrapped in bacon with grilled onions and peppers, nicely done on the grill.   All and all, a very nice day. So, on with my day…

It’s Monday morning and I awoke to a really nice sunrise.  We arrived in St Augustine on Sunday afternoon, yesterday, and were immediately struck by just how beautiful this city is.  I have never really heard much about St Augustine but visiting here was highly recommended by a number of folks.

Wow, we are sure glad to be here.  We have a friend, a past SAGA 43 owner, Peter who moved here a few years ago after visiting here on a trip south with his wife.  After many years of cruising out of Maine, where they have had a home for many years, they decided that spending the winters in a warmer place was a good idea, so here they are and about to enjoy their 4th winter.

Peter took us under his wing within hours of our arrival and showed us the sights.  We drove around town and out to a great beach bar to have a beer as the sun set over the harbor.

After a few hours with Peter I see that there is so much to do here that my head is swimming with possibilities.  Perhaps we will have to extend our stay to more than a few days.  One of the best parts of this city is that there is so much to see within a short distance of the waterfront.   However, to make it easy, Peter gave us a few dining ideas.  The brew pub he recommended, where we ate last night was great.  I highly recommend the stout.  Excellent.

Yesterday we continued our way down on the ICW and again enjoyed the sights.

In the morning, as we crossed the St John’s River we spied this shipyard working on several mega-yachts.  I have seen this one Azteca, in one of the magazines that I get at home.  Check out the link and see just how amazing this boat, er ship, is. This must be a yard with flexible capabilities as they also had a Aegis Cruiser in a dry dock right near Azteca.  I’ll bet that the interior is a bit different between the two ships.  You don’t want to tangle with one of these, that’s for sure.  Even though Azteca is a BIG boat, she is dwarfed by this cruiser. As we head south, so far from home, it’s amazing how different things are and yet the same.  Here we were, motoring along over 1,000 miles from home and what do we see but Aphrodite, the historic barrel-backed commuter yacht from Watch Hill RI, near our home waters.   We also saw her in Annapolis in early October.   Heading south?  There seems to be a pattern here for many boats.  As we continue south we do tend to bump into boats that we have seen before.  If we see her again, perhaps I will have to visit to borrow a cup of Chivas Regal or Grey Poupon.   Perhaps not.  Plenty of Christmas spirit along the way.  Do these decorations look out of place to you too?  Nice pad though if a bit over the top. As we passed Jacksonville we spied the Mayo Clinic, a group, the Rochester MN group anyway, that I worked with during much of my career.   This location looks a lot different than the one that I often visited in the cold MN winters. With all the marshland we have been seeing I have been wondering when we would see an air boat zipping along.   Pretty neat, and VERY LOUD.Off they want across the marsh.  I need one of these!However, the marsh does often give way to development.  And develop they do.  Homes on top of homes all along the coast as we got closer to St Augustine. But, still plenty of lovely woodlands to enjoy in between developments as they can’t build on marsh at least not any more. And, the ever present pelicans.  Brenda likes to call them pelidactyl.  I agree, they do look primeval. I just can’t get enough of these guys.  But, they look a lot more contemporary when viewed against the backdrop of an arching bridge.  Get it, arching bird, arching bridge?This trip is just so full of wonder for me.  I can’t imagine how it’s going to be when we finally get to the Bahamas, the land of 80 degree water with 100′ visibility.  Tiki bars, you know the ones with little umbrellas in the drinks?  I am soo ready!!!

For now, St Augustine beckons and I am there, totally…   Tiki?  That will have to wait for now.

It’s Saturday morning and the sun is out.  We were thinking about making a run to St Augustine offshore today but decided to take the easy way by going inside.   The winds are from the right direction, NW at 20 but the distance is pretty far for a one day run and it’s getting late.   Besides, the wind in the anchorage is gusting to 22kts and it’s only 8:30 so I expect that it will be stronger than forecast.

In any event, we have plenty of time so inside it is.    Today we will leave mid morning and run about half of the way to St. Augustine and continue for the rest of the way on Sunday.

Thanksgiving was great fun with about 100 in attendance.  In past years the crowd has been up to three times that size but some think that the nasty weather over the last few weeks has kept some from making it there or that they just decided to bypass the festivities and head south where it is warmer.  It has been plenty cold, that’s for sure.

So, yesterday we made the one hour run down to Cumberland Island, one of the many barrier islands that run down the coast and make the ICW possible.  These islands form a barrier from the ocean and the ICW runs behind them all the way from Norfolk VA to Key West.   One of these islands, Cumberland, is now a state park and there are trails and great beaches to explore.  There is even a dock that you can tie up the dink to so getting ashore is very easy.  As you head in past the visitor center, a small building manned by a park ranger, you instantly see how rugged this island would be without paths.   The ground is completely covered in Sago Palm and above that is a dense forest of Live Oak.  It’s very primeval looking.  I’d hate to have to bushwhack through this place in the dark. Once you are off of the wide trails, not so inviting. We followed the wide path out to the beach.  They have a number of nice boardwalks to take you over the dunes.  The dunes are very pretty, sculpted by the wind. After a walk on the beach we headed inland and walked across a landscape that looked a lot less inviting.  Pretty gnarly looking, actually. The surface of the weathered wood was very interesting.  There are loads of critter footprints   I expect that this was some sort of small bird.   The trails were everywhere. There are ruins of a large mansion built here in the late 1800s by the Carnegie family.    You can certainly see how it must have been a magnificent home and made possible by great wealth and no income tax.  Some very nice details like these flower urns.   You can imagine how grand this place must have been. And, some old cars.  The only way to get to this spot is by water so they must have been brought in by ferry.   Not much left of these. Plenty of other outbuildings on the estate.  Some were probably very fancy.  I liked this one. Some really interesting outbuildings including this tower.   Pretty ornate and fragile looking.

So fragile, in fact, that while we sat nearby and enjoyed a snack, we heard some cracking and creaking and the whole thing came down in a cloud of dust.   Amazing timing.  “Honest, Ranger Rick, we didn’t touch it.  Really!!”Some of the local turkey population.   I guess that these guys knew that it was the day after Thanksgiving and that they were once again safe. When the property was abandoned fore-bearers of  these horses were left behind.  They were completely unconcerned by our presence. We also took some time to dig in some of the dredging spoil sand piles for fossil shark teeth.   We found two small ones.  Not much to write home about but it was fun.  I was lucky to stumble on a framed sifter.  Had there been more time I expect that I would have found more. Tiny but pretty neat.    I guess that these were’t the large sort of prehistoric sharks you imagine making a meal out of something the size of Pandora.  Plenty sharp though. We also picked up some great shells on the beach.  Don’t know what we will do with them but you can bet that by the time Pandora returns from the Bahamas she will be groaning under the weight of all the shells aboard. To end the day we had a really nice sunset followed with dinner with some friends aboard Pandora.  It looks fake doesn’t it.   No, I just used a standard lens with no filter.  That’s really the way it looked, trust me.

So, time to get going and catch the fair tide as we continue south.

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.