Daytona Beach

We left St Augustine yesterday at 0745.  An uneventful trip to Daytona Beach but loads of vastly different waterfront homes along the route made it very enjoyable.  This boathouse had an interesting array of roof lines.

No bridges to be opened for us. This one opened for the sailboat in front of us.  We could have cleared under it when closed.

Arrived at Daytona early afternoon in a very strong North Easterly wind. Bridges dominate!

This is Eric following in LetsWet.  He was surrounded by Canadian boats on this leg.  One was from Ottawa, another from Peterborough.

Docking took a steady hand!  But clear instructions and great dock hands made it much easier.  Jo needed a glass of wine after a hard day first-mating!

The marina is one of the largest we have stayed in. 550 slips.  This an aerial view from their web site:

You don't quite get the impression of size from the ground.

We couldn't get a reservation for our next stop until tomorrow so we will stay another day here before moving to Cocoa Beach.

St Augustine - Update 3

Since we couldn't move today we used the Tourist Trolley Train to take a look at St Augustine.  I was frankly disappointed with the place.

One museum put pride of place to Jack Sparrow's sword from the movie!

The old Spanish fort was reasonably authentic and unspoiled.  The guy on the left is Eric from Lets Wet who is joining us on his boat down to Cocoa Beach.

St Augustine clearly has some interesting history which, for me, has been spoiled by blatant commercialism.  I realised later that Jon and I stayed here on the way up from Florida three years ago.  I don't think we realised at the time how close we were to the old town and its tourist area. Tomorrow we cast off for Daytona Beach.

St Augustine - Update 2

Drew, from Camachee Yacht Services came over at 0745 and dismantled half of the port side of the port engine and then removed the raw water pump just to change its impeller.  An impeller change should take 15 minutes tops.  What was Sea Ray thinking of?  They hid the port engine pump so you have to spend 4 hours of labour just to see it and put the generator in such a position that the pump and impeller are on the back of the unit where it is most difficult to access.

While he was here we changed all the zincs and both engine's fuel filters.  I changed the generator zinc as well.  We are now set for a while, maintenance wise but the generator is still temperamental to start.  We need another day for other stuff so we won't move down to Daytona until Saturday now.

So, all-in-all we have paid for 4 days dockage (I got 50% off the last day), $1200 for fuel, $700 for Drew's work and $200 for the generator.  Looking forward to tying up in Twin Dolphin for a few months!!!

One saving grace (no joke on our former companions intended) is that this boat is economical at low speed.  This fill-up will last a while.

Pictures you ask?

This one is not by me but I posted it on Facebook in response to the news that there was big snow in Ottawa.  It's unfeeling and in poor taste.  But I have to get something out of these big bills:

St Augustine update

We decided to get the sea water impeller changed on the port engine since there was a Caterpillar expert here and the guys in Belhaven couldn't do it.  The guys here realized it will take hours to do the job and will do it tomorrow.  Thanks again Sea Ray for designing a boat that is a pain in the ass to maintain and costly to own!!  We did change the generator impeller while we could.  That only took an hour or so.  So we did groceries, laundry and wine rack restocking today.  We saw the waves coming on the beach in the Atlantic and there's no doubt an outside run is not on the cards during this Nor-Easter!

I fueled up today as well.  More $$$$.

Tomorrow, we watch them remove the raw-water pump to change the impeller and then we can move on Thursday.  It'll be windy but ok.

Fernandina and St Augustine

We went out for supper last night at the Salty Pelican and happened in to a magic music moment.  We thought we had walked into a Halifax bar.  Amy Basse (Nixon) was playing fiddle as well as we had ever heard anyone play fiddle.  We enjoyed her and her accompanying son immensely.  We later chatted for a while with her.  We wish we could have stayed longer!

It was still blowing hard but we headed out this morning while we could for St Augustine.  Eric, who we met in Belhaven, has joined us for this leg.

There were a few boats working south today. An outside passage was out of the question with the wind.  Inside was not bad at all.  This unique craft passed us heading North:

Aside from crossing at Jacksonville, most of the journey was in wilderness but the last part into St Augustine was along canal through some interesting areas.  The contrast was amazing.  This was obviously a legacy dwelling:

Because the norm was more like these:

With the older places being rebuilt...

And we pulled into Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor...

This is a very well protected, well run marina.  They have Caterpillar mechanics on site so I will be getting a couple of maintenance items seen to on my engines.  And Jo didn't do laundry or groceries yesterday so now we have to stay two days here to catch up!!  They have a courtesy car which makes life easy!

In Florida finally!

 Last views of Georgia:

We set out from Brunswick Hidden Harbor Marina at about 8am.  This was a  very protected, serene and friendly marina.  We thought about stopping for another day but the forecast of gales after today was enough to make us push into the next state. We will go back for a longer stay.

These guys were resting after a hard morning of fishing:

Although this was a short run of only 50 miles we ran against the tide for more than half the day.  It was a very warm day with little wind. Our last views of Georgia (sorry, no pictures) were of the huge submarine base at St Mary's.

First views of Florida:

The border is just north of Fernandina Beach which is where we had booked into the Harbor Marina.  So did everyone else it seems due to the impending gales.  They had us placed behind the breakwater so we would be well protected.  The dock hands said we should be seeing the waves over the dock during the storm.

This was the water looked from Dream Weaver yesterday:

...and this morning, half an hour ago:

Trouble is that this wind is forecast to stay like this for a few days!

On to Brunswick

We got up at 6am to get under way by daybreak.  Delegal is not the easiest marina to get in to and leaving at low tide for a tricky outlet was a bit tense.  But it turned out be straightforward.  We will go back there and spend a couple of days.  The trip to Brunswick was a bit of a haul and it was hot as well!  Sorry to the folks in Ottawa but it was.

We missed out friends...the view behind was lonesome...

Then this boat passed us...

...bringing back memories.  I know it's not "Saving" but still.

I was on the bridge on my own this afternoon and heard a splash and a blowing noise.  I looked over the side to see a dolphin swimming in our wake.  Jo saw the same later and got this picture.

If you click the picture it opens larger.

The place we are in is a marina attached to some condos. Tomorrow we head to Fernandina Beach in Florida.  Our last state.  I haven't checked in to CBD since we landed in Virginia as they cover the states down to Georgia. The weather tomorrow is forecast as very fine.  After that the winds are expected to become very strong.  We may have to chill out there.

Delegal Creek on Skidaway Island

Depressed without our cruising companions we headed south to Delegal Creek Marina.  It's only 20 miles south but breaks the long run to Brunswick into a more manageable chunk.  And, as it turns out, this marina is a gem.  It is very private, tranquil and convenient.  It exists as part of The Landings project in Georgia.  A huge golfing community.  This site has more than 7000 folks living in its grounds.  It is from the water, remote.

It is also a first class marina with all the facilities we expect and some more.

They also have a major problem with Grackles this time of year so they adorn their boats with distractions.

We landed here and took the complementary golf cart to the village store for some provisions and the Bar and Grill for lunch.

Then a glass of wine while the sun sets.

An early start tomorrow for the hike to Brunswick, our last stop before crossing into Florida.

Savannah again...

We stayed here a couple of days to let our Saving Grace friends catch up.

More time in our local:

Jo makes friends with Spanky the cat.  Then some bad news.  Joe, Brandy and Grace moved down from Beaufort to Savannah town dock and Joe noticed a leak in their engine bilge. We booked another day here while they checked in to a Savannah repair yard today and discovered a fairly major issue that will require a haul and engine removal to fix.  It's the end of the first road for us all.  They will be heading home until we meet up to cross to the Bahamas.  We will miss them lots!

Tomorrow we head out towards Brunswick...alone....

Beaufort and Savannah

Not much to say about Beaufort.  Spent far too many hours in Luther's bar with Joe.  

Moving quickly on...

Joe and Brandy decided to spend another day in Beaufort and to slow down, in general.  We will meet them in Savannah and then push on to Jon's place.  We will reconnect with Saving Grace when we cross over to the Bahamas.

We left Beaufort at 0845 (High Tide).  We enjoyed a push from the outflowing tide most of the day.  We also spent a couple of hours in thick fog as we worked across the many inlets through Hilton Head.

We are definitely moving in the right direction as we now see wild Palms!

 Much of the Intra Coastal Waterway around here is made from sections of pre-existing rivers linked by new cuts.  The problem with these is that they tend to shoal at the cut junction with the rivers.  Groundings are commonplace.  We passed one sailboat that was hard aground waiting for the high tide to lift him off.  The Coast Guard flew over to check him out.

We chose a marina just south of Savannah downtown.  It turned out to be a shipyard as well but for some rather exotic yachts.  We sat in the marina section but overlooked some very expensive hardware.

This is Blue Moon".  She is a 198 foot Feadship. You can charter her from here.

Much more interesting is this drop-dead gorgeous 1949 sail boat called "Bolero" tied up across the dock from us.  It's an Olin Stephens design which has been restored to its current amazing condition.  It was for sale last year for 4 million Euros.

The detailing is outstanding.

This 164 feet Codecasa was in for some work. "Lady Ann Magee" was chartered by Rod Stewart and Penny Lancaster after their wedding.

This is the 156 feet Pendennis "MITseaAH".  It's been for sale at a trifling $18.9 million. 

Lots of goodies to look at here.  Laundry tomorrow morning then we will hook up with Saving Grace for dinner tomorrow night.

Update

We hauled rather later than planned but before lunch.  No obvious signs of damage.  The shafts and props looked fine although the starboard prop was not quite true.  We changed the props anyway and I also changed the zincs while the boats was hauled.  I ran the boat boat after re-launch and it was much better.  I want to try it for a couple of days and see how it runs.  I changed the main engine Racors while we docked here too. We will pick up with Joe and Brandy and Grace tomorrow.  Plan tomorrow is to transit to Beaufort.

On to Charleston...

Up at dawn and on the water at 0700.  The water was freezing on the dock as we untied.  We ran down towards the Atlantic inlet but turned to follow the inland Intracoastal route.  Spooky was keeping a good watch out but we both missed the dead head that suddenly appeared right in front of us.

I put us in neutral but we rode over it.  Thumps and thuds later we had a vibration which I later isolated to the starboard side.  I found we had a relatively vibration free speed at 1000 rpm.  We have bent a prop.  We had hit deadheads in the Erie Canal but not enough to warrant a haul.  This time is different.  I decided to continue and to get on the internet and phone to find the right place for a haul out.  I settled on Ross Marine just beyond Charleston.  We ran on to Charleston.  Jo adjusted the US courtesy flag this time.

The water was shallow as, although we were getting a great push from the tide, it was a low tide and this area is very prone to shoaling.  White knuckle cruising!

We approached Charleston and our friends dropped off to fuel up and dock in the city while we carried on to our repair yard.

This is one of the bridges connecting Charleston.  We motored about 10 miles past to Ross Marine.

The repair yard has regular slips with power and water but no amenities.  Kind of like being at anchor and plugged in.  I like it!  Quiet, no river traffic and secure.

A beautiful sunset.

A wedding...

And spooky wanted out.  There was too much Shit Hawk (Sea Gull) excrement on the dock to allow it though...

We are due to be hauled at about 10am tomorrow.  If it's just props then I have two spares and we can be on our way.  If a shaft is bent then I can see 2 to 3 business days out of the water.  That means we are in a motel for the duration.  Tomorrow will tell.