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GEORGIA (GA).  "GO AROUND"

4/23/2015

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Posted by Monty
That's what it means.  And that's what we did.

Nothing against the great State of Georgia, but it's convoluted waterways and shoals are not suited for Sea Bird's 5"1" draft.  So we both changed into adult clothes (where are mine?) and went outside from Fernandina Beach to Charleston, SC.  This is our longest outside passage to date.  The weather forecast called for calm seas and light and variable winds.  At one point it was blowing over 20 with higher gusts and waves were at least four feet on the beam (side) of the boat.  It made for an uncomfortable passage for Sea Bird's crew (Sea Bird handled it, as always, with aplomb).  Not too horrible, just not what we were expecting.  We left the fuel dock in Fernandina  Beach at 10:00 am and a short 29 hours later, we pulled into the Charleston Maritime Center docks.  Very little sleep was had by either the Captain or the Admiral, so after a quick visit to Tommy Condon's Irish Pub, we crashed about 8:00pm for some well deserved rest.

Overnight passages at sea are awe inspiring.  The stars are amazing, like being in a real life planetarium.  (Wait.  We were.)  Sunsets are spectacular, and when the sun comes back around, sunrises are equally so.  Hours alone with your thoughts while the off watch sleeps, in the midst of grandeur.  Just amazing.

Today was spent on the ICW.  It's pretty in it's own right.  We arose early.  In a whirlwind flurry of activity, we rinsed the salt off of Sea Bird (salt spray had encrusted everything), washed some clothes, fueled up, and headed out against the incoming tide.  This particular section just north of Charleston is known for shoaling and so must be taken near high tide.  I wanted to get there just before high tide, so if we ran aground we could simply wait for the rising water to float us off, instead of being panicked because the water was falling.  We made it through just fine, and anchored in our old spot near mile marker 450, just far enough north to make an overnight run to Murrells Inlet where we were to meet up with friends the next day.

Then I realized my mistake.  We were actually too far south to make it in one day.

After some consternation and some phone calls (What?  You won't be there until WHEN?) we pulled anchor and went several more miles north to get a start on tomorrow's run. 

So today, we anchored twice.  I think we can make it from here.  And I promise to pay more attention to the navigator from here on.

Here are some pictures.

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CUMBERLAND WRAPUP/FERNANDINA

4/20/2015

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Posted by Monty
We spent a second day on Cumberland Island, after waiting out a stormy day on the boat.  I spent the time trying to fix our wash-down pump, which had stopped washing things down in Pine Island.  This pump pulls seawater through a strainer and pumps it into a garden hose type nozzle in the anchor locker, so I can wash the mud, weeds, and shells off the anchor and (more importantly) anchor chain (which goes below decks through a hawse pipe and resides, basically, just under the foot of our bed.)  Not washing the primordial ooze off of it creates a very unique scent.  Maybe one day I can tell where we are from the smell of the bottom mud. 

I was unsuccessful in getting it going, after cleaning the strainer and verifying a clear path to the suction side of the pump.  I also disassembled the pump itself and could find no fault with it, so I shelved the project for another day.

Back to Cumberland Island.  We were blown away again.  Here are some more pictures.  They don't do justice.  Again.
The next day, we left our anchorage behind Cumberland Island and motored the short distance back south to Fernandina Beach Marina, where we picked up a mooring ball.  We were waiting for some weather to move through, and we wanted to explore this town.  So we did.  It's a really neat little town with shops and some good restaurants (and some not so good ones.)  We also needed to wash clothes and provision for the trip north.  We did that, too.  And, I needed to fix the wash-down pump problem.

Before we left Oriental, we were visited by my good friend Rob.  A sailboat owner himself, he brought several things with him that he never used on his boat that he hoped would prove useful on mine.  Thanks, Rob!

Among these were a diaphragm pump that he bought as a deck wash-down that proved too cumbersome to use in his application.  The pump has been sitting in the deep recesses of Sea Bird's bilge since then.  So I went bilge diving.  It turns out it is the exact same model number as the pump I now suspected of being bad.  (I have three copies of this pump on board, doing different things.)  So I swapped the pump out, thinking that would solve the problem.

No joy.

OK.  No way two pumps are bad.  After double checking everything else, I finally did the hardest thing a mechanic does.  I sat down and thought.  (This is much less rewarding than doing things with screwdrivers and wrenches, but sometimes is more efficient.) 

Not much suction on the inlet side.  It's a diaphragm pump.  Hummm.  I took the pump back off and poured some water in it to prime it.  That was all it needed, and it now works like a champ.  So now that's done, too.

We have had some wild thunderstorms roll through here, complete with tornado warnings attached.  Winds have been clocked at over 45 knots, boats have been blown ashore, and I watched as a dinghy took a Walter Middy and went off to pursue a secret life.  It was returned.
So tomorrow, the plan is to escape the confines of Florida and indeed, North America, and head out into the Atlantic for the journey northward to Charleston, SC.  Should be about a 24 hour trip on the outside, providing the weather holds.  We will drop the lines that tie us to the mooring ball (and the earth), fuel up, water up, and pump out.  And with the tanks full and empty, as is appropriate, we will head out.

No storms are predicted.  Hopefully it will be smooth sailing. 

As the saying goes, Red sky at night...
Picture
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INTO ANOTHER WORLD

4/15/2015

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Posted by Monty
Here are some shots that should have been in the previous post, of our trip from St Augustine to Cumberland Island.
I'm not going to try to describe Cumberland Island to you.  Suffice it to say that Carol took about 200 pictures.  And that they do the place absolutely no justice.  It was like stepping into a real life Pandora.
Picture
At the end of the day, we returned to Sea Bird lying peacefully at anchor.  Our little self contained starship that takes us to some really amazing places.
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MOVING QUICKLY.  AND STOPPING SUDDENLY

4/13/2015

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Posted by Monty
St. Augustine was great.  We showed up in the middle of a week of offshore sailing races.  Who knew?  I walked around town like I had just won the biggest one of all. 

We took a trolley tour.  I never realized how much history was packed into this town.  Pirates, Catholics, industrialists, Tiffany windows, Martin Luther King, Thomas Edison, miniature castles, and the ever present Mr. Flagler all packed into one town.  We spent two days soaking it in while eating great pizza and touring a distillery.  No bourbon yet, it's still ageing.  I'll wait.

Yesterday we left for a short run to Pine Island, where we spent the night and readied ourselves for the big push today to Cumberland Island.  53 miles up the waterway. 

I was feeling pretty good about things.  We left at the end of the flood (high) tide this morning, fighting a light current.  By the time we got to the inlet, we were cruising with the current draining the water out of the waterway and blasting along.  On the other side of the inlet, the tide had turned so we were still making good time with the flood filling the water back in.  I was grinning from ear to ear.

Then, we...stopped.

Ran aground in the middle of the channel.  DIRECTLY in the middle, and I have the GPS track to prove it.  HARD aground, not just a gentle bump.

The first thing I did was look around to see if anyone saw me do it.  (This is the first thing I always do when I do something stupid.)  No such luck.  Between me and the sailboat I had passed at the drawbridge was a trawler, coming up fast.  Then there was the boat full of fishermen a couple hundred feet off my bow (I suspect they were there to watch the show.  They might have created the shoal for that purpose).  So there was no way I was going to pretend this did not happen.  But that trawler might prove useful.

I spun the boat on her keel as much as I could.  When the trawler passed, I gunned the diesel and...bump...bump...and we were off the shoal!  I was back up to speed before the sailboat caught up.

The rest of the trip proved uneventful.  Eight and one half short hours after we started, we dropped the hook behind Cumberland Island.  Home to a national park featuring deer, horses, unspoiled beaches, and Dungeness, the abandoned Carnegie Steel estate, complete with castles, fountains and gardens being reclaimed by the land.  Should be a good couple of days while we wait for the weather to make a decision as to which way we will go around the great State of Georgia, with it's too convoluted Inland Waterway.

Tonight we grilled chicken and are listening to the rain.  Should be good sleeping.  And, I'm tired.

We have been having trouble with the camera.  If it works, I promise pictures.
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SPACE COAST

4/6/2015

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Posted by Monty
So I was right, Vero is a great beach.  We even found a way to take the dinghy to the park that is right across the street from the beach, then walk over, thereby freeing us from the bus schedule.  Brilliant.  But after so much beach time, Carol was ready to move on.

We left Vero Beach after a stop for fuel and water, and anchored in the town of Melbourne.  Florida, not Australia.  We stayed at the same anchorage we did on the way down.  Good holding.  (Land dwellers  would be surprised at how much peace of mind thick mud and a claw anchor provides.)  Rode out a couple of showers, had a late breakfast, and then it was on the road again to Titusville.  This is very near the NASA launch facility, which I had resolved to tour.  It's been on my list since before High School, way back when the original Star Trek was on TV.  I remember I used to go into a trance watching that show, only coming out when it was over.  Sometimes I would "wake up" to a house full of people who were not there at the beginning of the show.  It was disorienting.

I have been by this place many times over the years, by car, airplane, cruise ship, and even once before on the deck of my own boat, but never took the time to go see it.  I even posted on Facebook about it.  Then, I did some research.

The admission (for two people) is about $100.00.  That just gets you into the facility, and lets you view some of the exhibits.  Then the tours start.  They are separate, and at least what the price of admission is.  Then there is transportation to and from.  It is actually cheaper to rent a car for the day than to take a taxi.  No bus service.  (I realize I was just in Vero Beach, where the bus is a free service.  No, I don't expect that everywhere.  And I know that bus service, generally, is a money loser for the taxpayers.  But still.) And there is the question of lunch on premises... 

So I took a decision.  Is this worth $300.00 or more?

No.

Especially since NASA is way past it's prime.  I won't debate (here, at least.  If you want a debate, call me) the circumstances why we, as a country, no longer have the capability to put a man in space.  Or that we are now paying the Russians an extortionate amount to PLEASE do it for us?  Can we catch a ride to the Space Station in your car?  I now have Russian friends, after all, and it's not their fault, it's ours. 

I can see a Space Shuttle (the truck that WE made that actually hauled the Space Station into orbit, and is now retired, with no replacement) at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.  It's a place I want to go by boat anyway, and has much more to see.  I think there is also a Saturn Rocket booster there (you know, the one WE used to put men on the moon?) as well as other American "firsts" that are now relegated to history.

So on we go.  I am now making my own history.

We have a day tomorrow of "chores".  Prescription refills, boat maintenance (I am replacing a belt on the refrigerator compressor with one researched and specified by my friend Linda.  Hope it works.), and mailing off tax returns (and checks.  Blah.).

Daytona Beach next, then St Augustine, where Carol wants to spend a few days.  Onward Ho!
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FRIENDS, BEACHES AND LIGHT EMMITTING DIODES

4/1/2015

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Posted by Monty
The past week has been busy.

After Carol's successful go at decreasing the local tuna population, we made it to Stuart (after suffering a brief encounter with a storm in the river).  A day spent walking around the absolutely lovely town and having pizza at Luna's was topped off by a phone call from Karen.  Karen is an old (well, maybe we should say "long time") friend.  She offered to pick us up, take us back to her house, and let us wash clothes.  Wow.  Now that's a friend.  We spent the evening with her and her husband Robert, who is an engineer extraordinaire.  We had steaks, some wine, and some great conversation.  And at the end of the day, we were delivered back to the boat with clean laundry and lots of good memories.  Thanks guys, we will be back.  With more laundry.

Then we made our way to Vero Beach.  We stopped here on our way south, but didn't spend any time because it was too COLD (our constant companion on our journey south).  There is supposed to be a great beach here, and I have under delivered on my promise of white sand to Carol.  Fortunately, the beach here is wonderful.  AND we have had visitors in the personas of Rob and Tammy.  They drove down from North Carolina (a brutal drive.  I know, I spent a lot of time behind the wheel of a car at one point in my life).  We had a couple of days on the beach and around the pool and hot tub where they stayed.  Good company and a healing time for the soul.  We have both been missing some "friend" time.

They left today and arrived safely back at their home. 

I took another trip.  Up the mast.

Remember the anchor light replacement?  It didn't hold.  The stitches popped out.  I don't know why, but it probably has to do with Chinese manufacturing.  We make so little here anymore.  So I went with an LED replacement.

I'm kind of an acronym buff.  I know what SCUBA, LAZER, RADAR, and even NEWS mean.  (Bet you didn't know that NEWS is an acronym, did you?)  Anyway, light emitting diodes have several advantages over the light that I just replaced that lasted a couple of weeks.  First of all, there is the power required to run them.  A tenth of what an incandescent bulb takes.  Then there is the longevity.  Theoretically, it will last for the rest of my life.  (In reality, they don't know how long this is.  Neither do I, but I intend to prove them wrong.)  And when you have to be winched to the top of the mast to replace it, that's important.

So I called the wench into service.  She happily cranked me up the mast (again) where I replaced the recently replaced anchor light that was made in China with a new and improved LED that was designed in the United States.  And made in China.

I have high (58' off the water) hopes.
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