Author: Phil

I was either vindicated or just lucky, but the battery was the problem with the generator.  The mechanic was here this morning after installing the new battery, which would not start the generator last evening.  We were prepared for who knows what.  After installation, it became part of the boat’s charging system and we found it was not a “fresh” battery and during the night was charged to its required level.  The generator started this morning quite handily and we were off on our trip. We were underway by 10 AM and pushing hard to make up time.  We traveled by Skidway Island and Isle of Hope (a great marina we have stayed at).  Next was Moon River that inspired the song of that name by Johnny Mercer.  While the song is great, the River is not a mile wide by any stretch nor stunning.  After the Bear River we crossed St Catherines Sound, with winds at 15+ and 3 footers for waves.  Sure is nice to be on BenjOllie — she seemed to say “just my kind of water.”   We then jumped in the North and South Newport Rivers with good protection until we next had to cross Sapelo Sound, with more wind and seas. Later, after several other rivers, we came to Teakettle Creek with more twists and turns than one would expect, but a fun bit of water travel.  And interestingly, we were traveling with 3 sailboats and a beautiful Nordhaven Blue trawler that would have been happy in the open ocean. We passed it at 11 knots and they were surprised at our speed and congratulated us!  We finally arrived at Duplin River, a favorite anchorage we’d bypassed the last few trips.  The weather should be good for an anchorage.  It is finally getting a bit warmer.  We don’t like the noise of the generator needed for the heat pumps and taking a chance we won’t need the heat.  Tomorrow we’ll pass across the St John’s River into Florida.  South Carolina and Georgia transits can be boring with continual spans of lowlands and marshes, but we enjoy the familiarity of the passages and the challenges.

A few pictures taken today are below.  Double-click for a larger view.  Use the back arrow to return to this page.

 

Left Beaufort, SC, and headed south. Carey borrowed the Lady Island’s Marina courtesy car at 9 AM and went for a quick shopping trip,  Back at 10 we started the engines and, oops, the generator decided to say “no go” this morning.  We shifted all the 120 volt stuff to the inverter and headed out.  We had been using the generator during the day versus the inverter (that makes 115 current out of the DC batteries) because the generator is required for the heat pumps to keep us warm.  Luckily the day proved to be fairly warm.  Maybe this cold snap is going away.

We headed south past the marine facility at Parris Island, traveled on Port Royal Sound, then, after passing Hilton Head Island, joined the Calibogue Sound to get us to Daufuskie Island, the Wright River, and finally crossed the Savanah River.  We’ve entered Georgia country now.  A few miles later we approached the Thunderbolt area and moored at Savannah Bend Marina.  I had called ahead and had a battery ready to be installed, as that was my diagnosis of the generator problem.  Not to be, as the new battery did not solve the problem,  We’ll do a review of the situation in the morning, but probably will continue traveling with the inverter and batteries.  It is getting warm enough during the day heat is not needed as we travel and we have shore power for heat at night.  We’ll schedule a full look-see while we are back in Virginia mid-December.  Meanwhile, pasta dinner aboard and a surprise delivery of breakfast biscuits by marina staff in the morning.  Very hospitable marina.  However, we usually dock on Savannah’s historic downtown dock wall and miss strolling around the area.  Will do it on the return.

We were busy all day with navigation issues through South Carolina and Georgia so not get many pictures were taken, except for a seldom-seen trimaran.  Oddly enough, their crew took pictures of us.   Remember, double-click for larger view, and use the back arrow to return to this page.

 

Worried about the travel time today, we pulled out of Isle of Palm at 7:15 heading south to Beaufort, SC, an 80-mile trip.  We passed through Charleston Harbor, through Elliot Cut, and meandered through the Ashley River, the Stono River, the South Edisto River, the Coosaw River, the Ashepoo River, and probably several other smaller rivers as we traversed this section of South Carolina.  There were several very skinny water sections in this portion but we lucked out. The timing of our travel had us at or near high tide for all the worst spots.  We loved it, sat back and enjoyed the views.  The tides were also our friend today as they were strong (plus 2 knots) in our direction more than against.  We made the trip averaging 10 mpg, more than we had planned.  Tied up and relaxing by 3:30 was the result.  It allowed us time to get ready for a great meal at Dockside, not the one in Colonial Beach, but a true competitor of our hometown place.

We’re now planning our car trip to Colonial Beach from 9 to 16 December for all those winter activities the elderly have—doctors’ appointments! We hope to stop in Marineland Marina in Marineland, FL., this Saturday and make this necessary car trip. We’ll return and continue heading south,  hoping to cross over to the Bahamas by the end of the month.  Getting excited.  This will be our seventh trip cruising the Bahamas and possibly our last…older age being what it is!

Here are a few pictures of the day. Remember to double-click to enlarge the view and use the back arrow to return to the page.

After that meal last night, we both slept soundly.  Up to sunshine and temps in the 30s, we quickly got the boat underway and headed for Isle of Palm.  This is an area on the ICW just north and east of Charleston.  We had a pleasant 52-mile trip through some of South Carolina’s low country.  We also passed through a very shallow stretch of the ICW at McCellanville SC — at low tide 4.5 MLLW is generally recorded.  Luckily we passed it 3 hours earlier and had plenty of water.  A later part of the trip near the Isle of Palm, at low tide, caused us concern but we made it through.  The rest of the trip was easy.  The temperatures even climbed into the 60s for a while.  We saw the results of another boating issue along the route and more homes.  Carey even found a tower that excited her after a day of boring marshland views.  Dinner on board and a quiet evening.

REMEMBER you can double-click on a picture for a larger view return to this page using the back arrow key.

Barefoot Landing Marina was a quiet stop and we were comfortably underway for Georgetown, SC at 8 AM.  This 52-mile trip is always a pleasant short trip through canals and woodlands as the Waccamaw River winds its way south to Georgetown.  One picture I missed posting yesterday was the tourist cruise ship that had been decorated and participated in last night’s boat parade.

We cruised at a comfortable 10 mph for just over 5 hours and pulled into our slip at Harborwalk Marina.  We noticed a building spree as new homes continued to be built along the waterway.  People love the water and live in all sorts of homes — see some below.  It was a quiet and uneventful trip and we pass on a few pictures.  Georgetown is one of our favorite stops and it didn’t disappoint.  We walked through the beautiful holiday-decorated historic waterfront town on our way to a scrumptious dinner.   Delightful day and evening!  Now headed to the Isle of Palms just above Charleston harbor, meandering thru the lowlands on our way.