St. Augustine, FL

November 24, 2017- November 30, 2017

We left our anchorage in the pouring rain headed to St. Augustine.  I had to bail out the dinghy once again.  It was wet, but easy going. We made the 10:00 am opening of the Bridge of the Lions and were settled on our mooring by 10:30.  St. Augustine is one of our favorite stops and for lunch we headed to Pizza Time for lunch.  Pizza Time was voted the 2nd best pizza in the USA by trip advisor and we whole heartedly agree.  

Pizza Time serves authentic NY style pizza in lots of variations, 

but we always get the cheese pizza.  Delicious!

I’m a fanatic about Christmas decorations and observing the festival of lights in St. Augustine which claims millions of lights was one of the highlights of our visit.  In my opinion there can never be too many Christmas lights.  We took the trolley ride around St. Augustine on Tuesday night armed with 3-D glasses that made each light a starburst.  It was magical.

My photos aren’t very clear but it gives you an idea about how serious this city is about Christmas lights.

A local restaurant went all out!

Constitution Square is covered in lights.

Decorating the boat for Christmas is a bit of a challenge since storage is a huge issue.  Lights and glass balls are out of the question.  I settled on tying crystal like garlands on the hand holds in the main salon.  When the light catches the baubles the garlands light up almost as if they contained lights.  

I think this sparkly look adds the perfect holiday touch!

We stayed in St. Augustine two extra days.  Bob contracted an eye infection that the doctor prescribed drops for.  We wanted to make sure he was getting better before taking off for Vero Beach (our next major stop).  The weather was wonderful with clear sunny skies and a cool breeze.  We had the opportunity to explore some unique restaurants…an Irish Pub/Oyster bar called Meehan’s and a seafood restaurant named Harry’s.  Both were excellent with charming outdoor seating on an upper balcony.  

The view of the Bay and the Bridge of Lions from the balcony of Harry’s

On Thursday we stopped into La Pentelo for lunch.  It is a Mediterranean restaurant with great food and a pleasant courtyard tucked away on quiet Charlotte Street one block over from busy St. George’s Street.

This hidden gem is a perfect spot for a delicious lunch. 

St. Augustine will always be one of our favorite stops with its Spanish style architecture, historic sites, unique shops, and great restaurants.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Beaufort, SC to At. Augustine, FL

November 19, 2017 - November 23,2017

We left Beaufort early Sunday morning fighting a strong current in the marina.  The current was so strong that it pulled the boat away from the dock before I could jump on.  Bob had to circle around and pick me up at the fuel dock which was not an easy feat.  We motored into Georgia and conquered some spots that had given us trouble last year.  Paying close attention to tides and being prepared with waypoints on the chart plotter saved us from going aground. We have been winding our way through the salt marshes, rivers and sounds (a small bay) of Georgia with its wide “s” turns and tight “u” turns for three days.  It makes for more interesting navigation, but it tests my patience a bit since you have to be so vigilant at the helm.  Our practice of one hour on and one hour off makes the trip much better.  We each have time to appreciate the beauty of the area without the stress of navigation.

These day marks guide us through the twists and turns of the ICW.

This picture clearly shows the salt marsh at low tide.
 Those dark clumps are tidal oysters.

Our planning is very fluid.  We have a long range plan and a daily plan.  The tidal range in this area is between seven and nine feet which creates a strong current.  Our boat speed can be boosted by two knots or reduced by two knots. Consequently, it is difficult to predict how far we can comfortably go each day.  We adjust our plan while underway and are usually able to travel farther than expected.  Today we traveled far enough to grab a slip at the Jekyll Harbor Marina (our last stop in Georgia).  We arrived just after lunch and were able to take a complimentary golf cart around the island.  

This island was the summer home of some of the most prominent industrialist of the early 1900s.  

Can you imagine this as your summer cottage?

 … and here’s another island cottage

Croquet, anyone?

During WWII the island was evacuated in case there would be a bomb attack that would kill some of our country’s most influential men. Later the island was purchased by the state of Georgia and the renovation of the “cottages” began in the 1980’s.  I’m always pleased to see historic homes preserved.  So much of our heritage and history can be lost otherwise.

We contemplated staying at Jekyll Island another day but decided to push on.  We had one sunny day of travel and two days of rain.  It rained so hard at night that I had to bail out the ankle deep water from the dinghy before we could cast off in the morning.  It was a miserable trip to our anchorage on Thanksgiving day, but we arrived safely and had a marginally traditional dinner of roast turkey breast, sweet potato, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.  Thankfully, we were snug and dry in the cabin, but the wind picked up during the night and rocked the boat mercilessly.  So as you can tell from this post traveling down the ICW is not all sunshine and umbrella drinks.  It can be pretty miserable and challenging at times, but the hard times make the good times all the better.

My next blog post will cover our stay in St Augustine.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Beaufort, SC

November 17, 2017 - November 18, 2017

On Friday we arrived in Beaufort, SC at about 11:00 AM.  On our way up to the office to check in we met Victoria climbing out of her dinghy with some empty propane tanks.  We struck up a conversation and agreed to go across the bridge to Ladies Island in the courtesy car to provision and get propane together.  She was uncomfortable driving, but could help us find the Publix.  After a great lunch at Plums we reconnected with Victoria and set out to Ladies Island.  It only took a few minutes to get there and on the way Victoria shared some of her background.  She is single handing her sailboat and has been in Beaufort since last fall.  She is a writer and is in the process of editing her book on her voyage to the South Pacific.  We invited her to happy hour that evening.  Meeting people with such fascinating stories is one of the perks of this lifestyle.

That evening she shared more of her story and gave us lots of information on what to do in Beaufort.  One spot that interested me particularly was the Pat Conroy (one of my favorite authors) Literary Center.  We connected with her in a way that made me feel I had known her for much longer than a few hours.  We made a “date” to visit the farmer’s market in Port Royal the next morning.

In the morning Bob and I had breakfast at this local cafe.

We strolled back to the marina along Bay Street where many of
the historic homes have been converted to shops.

Bob made a new friend.

We met up with Victoria at the marina and even though we had a bit of a struggle getting a taxi to take us to Port Royal it was worth the effort.  The amount of local produce available was incredible and Bob and I made some interesting purchases.  One mistake, on our part, was to buy crab cakes…they looked and smelled delightful, but were not as tasty as expected.  Our fault…we broke the age old rule of never eating crab cakes outside of Maryland.  Victoria introduced us to many of her friends and we felt very welcomed by the residents.

A booth at the busy Port Royal Farmer’s Market

The crab cakes look pretty good, right?

I will definitely be keeping in touch with Victoria and hope to spend more time in Beaufort when we return from the Bahamas in the spring.

That afternoon I visited the Pat Conroy Literary center which is only two blocks from the marina.  It is small, but contains a wealth of Pat Conroy memorabilia and a docent who was extremely knowledgeable.  Pat lived in Beaufort most of his adult life and wrote numerous novels set in the low country of South Carolina.  My favorite is The Water is Wide which fictionalizes his experiences as a teacher on Daufuskie Island in a one room school house with students who had been neglected by the public school system up to that point.  As an educator myself in challenged schools with challenged students the book touched me in a deeper way than it may for a non-educator.  There was a wall of pictures documenting his first year of teaching on the island and one of the artifacts was a letter he wrote to his family after the first day of teaching on the island.  It was obvious from the tender way that the docent discussed Pat that he was an exceptional man and beloved by the Beaufort community.  One comment made was that he treated each person he met as if they were the most important person around and always asked them to tell him their story.  So the center’s theme is “Tell me a Story” and their goal is to promote reading and writing in those who visit the center and take part in their many events.  As you can tell I was thrilled with my visit.

This case holds the letter Pat wrote to his family after his first day of teaching.

One of the docents snapped this picture of me sitting a Pat’s writing desk

 in his actual writing chair. What a special moment for me.

 In the background you can see the collection of Pat’s

 father’s Air Force medals that Pat kept with him always.

 The walls of the center are covered with artifacts and artwork.  

This is a painting of the Beaufort waterfront at sunset.

After spending 10 weeks last winter in the South Carolina Low Country I gained a new appreciation for the beauty of the salt marsh with its golden sargasso grass, its water birds and sea life, and its distinctive fragrance when low tide reveals the mud flats and the tidal oysters.  I reread pat Conroy’s Prince of Tides and realized once again what a beautifully descriptive writer he is. I have downloaded two more of his novels and will read them before returning to Beaufort in the spring.

My next blog post will cover our trip through Georgia.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Southport NC to Beaufort SC

November 11, 2017 - November 17, 2017

Our last stop in North Carolina was Southport which is an historic town on the Cape Fear River. The Island across the channel is a popular beach called Long Beach or Oak Island.  When I get to Southport I know I’m in the south.  Even though it was rather chilly when we were there the colorful historic homes, graceful palm trees, and ancient live oaks just say “south” to me.  Our favorite restaurant is Fishy Fishy Cafe which (as the name implies) serves excellent seafood and top notch salads.  

You know you are in the south when you see palm trees.

Besides being a great restaurant it’s a fun place with live music
 at lunchtime and enough amusing signs to keep you smiling.

After leaving Southport the next three days were a bit harrowing with shoaling at two inlets, narrow canals, and the rock pile (a section of the ICW that required blasting through granite to complete the canal).  We had to pay close attention to all floating buoys and day marks to keep the boat from going aground.  I have to say we traversed these dicey areas very well with good communication between Bob and I about buoy locations, etc.  I felt sorry for the one boat we passed that had gone aground  at Shallotte inlet. 

These day marks are invaluable in helping us navigate the ICW without disaster.  

As you can see the cats are a lot of help with navigating.

We spent two nights anchored out and three nights in marinas this week.  I’ll never get tired of the beautiful sunsets and sunrises we observe each day.  I learned this week that deer can swim…who knew. We saw a deer swimming across the channel and climbing easily up the rocky edge.  With those skinny legs I would never think that deer could swim so fast.

Each sunset is unique.

One of the marinas we stayed for a night was Isle of Palms.  We spent the whole month of November at this marina last year waiting for our boat to go to Rockville for re-powering.  This time we came in under our own power. YAH!  Joe, one of the dock hands, remembered us from last year.  He made a comment while he was helping us dock that is so true.  He said, “The first mate - captain relationship is a real test of a marriage.”  I have to agree whole heartedly. I have been a much more competent first mate this year and Bob appreciates that.  

We passed through Charleston Harbor on our way to Beaufort on Friday.  Sometimes thinking about the history and charm of Charleston I forget it is a major port.

This huge ship dwarfed our sailboat.

Thank you for reading my blog.

My next blog will start with our visit to Beaufort SC

Winding our way through North Carolina

November 4, 2017 - November 10, 2017

Just to give you an idea of the scope of our travels, we traveled 173 statute miles from Baltimore to Norfolk in the Chesapeake Bay.  The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) starts in Norfolk at statute mile marker one.  We travel about 40-50 statute miles a day which is approximately 6 hours of motoring (not much sailing occurs on the ICW).  

We have established a bit of a routine in that we get up with the sun and travel six hours changing helmsman every hour.  We arrive at our destination for the day at about 2pm in time for a relaxing happy hour and a dinner cooked on the grill and are finished by sundown.  The rest of the evening we spend planning our journey for the following day, reading, blogging, and relaxing.  We are definitely early to bed and early to rise.  One major difference between this trip and last year's is that Bob trusts me at the helm more. Last year he would hover at my shoulder while I was at the helm directing my every move.  In contrast, this year he goes below to work on photos and his blog or relaxes in the cockpit while I’m piloting the boat.  

Our first stop at a marina in NC was at Coinjock (MM 50) which is no more than a single extremely long bulkhead along the ICW channel where boats tie up every night bow to stern with no more than a foot between.  Coinjock is a favorite with cruisers mostly because of the restaurant which serves the best seasoned prime rib dinners we’ve ever had.  You can order 16 oz. or 32 oz.  After filling up with diesel  and taking a nice hot shower, we made our reservations for our dinner of 16 oz prime rib.  

 Dinner was delicious with sides of salad and
mashed cauliflower complimenting the prime rib perfectly.

Coinjock will always be one of our favorite stops.

Since Bob has a blog about our trip found at rainydays@blogspot.com and gives a detailed description of our travels I’m going to veer a bit from that pattern and focus more on what we are learning as we travel.

This week we started at Coinjock (MM 50) and ended the week at Wrightsville Beach, NC (MM 283).  After our stay at CoinJock we got a slip at Beaufort Docks for two nights, but anchored out the rest of the nights.

The advantage of anchoring out is that it is free, we can cook our dinner on the grill, it is quiet and peaceful, and you get to experience the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises. The one disadvantage is that you might not have cell service.

This sunset is slightly obscured by the trees, but beautiful none the less.

 The setting sun turned this neighboring boat at the anchorage to gold.

We are staying on our low carb diets to keep our weight under control and keep Bob’s type two diabetes under control.  I’ve been making some new and delicious items.  The most popular being my fruit pies.  Using almond flour for a single crust and cooking the fruit in a sauce pan has been a great success.  I’m working on perfecting quiche which makes a fabulous breakfast while under way.  I’ve made the traditional quiche Lorraine and also a ham and cheddar quiche.  Both have been delicious. Breakfast muffins are another treat for low carb diets.  I use a combination of almond and coconut flour to make muffins with blueberries or any other fruit we happen to have on hand.

Here’s my latest concoction, a strawberry cranberry pie
(I couldn’t find rhubarb but thought the cranberries would add the same tartness).
 Bob gave it an A+.

Beaufort, NC is delightful little town with a strong year round population.  The street along the water is lined with restaurants and shops that cater to the year round residents and the tourists.  The marina provides a courtesy car (the one we borrowed was a chevy lumina with 131,000 + miles on it) to drive out to the grocery stores for provisioning.

This building houses a restaurant, bar, coffee shop and the marina office.

We found out that it is always good to be prepared.  The day we left Beaufort it was cold and rainy so we donned our fowl weather gear for the first time while on the boat.  It takes up a lot of space in our limited storage but is well worth it in fowl weather.  We stayed warm and dry all day!

 Doesn’t Bob look “captainish” at the helm in his fowl weather pants?

Tell me the truth.  Does Lizzy look happy about being held like a baby?

I’ll continue learning and discovering new ideas as our trip continues and will share them in my next blog post.

Thank you for reading my blog.

On the "Road" Again

October 28, 2017-November 3, 2017

We left Anchorage Marina on Saturday morning at 8:00 AM headed for Annapolis.  The morning was chilly and windy but warmed up nicely as the day continued.  Unfortunately, we had a 20 knot head wind most of the way which made for a rocky ride.  We arrived in Annapolis Harbor at 1:00 pm grabbing a mooring buoy.  Bob grilled hotdogs for lunch and at 3:30 we tuned into the Penn State vs. Ohio State football game on our satellite radio.  The game was exciting from beginning to end with PSU in the lead from the first kick off return for a touchdown to the 4th quarter.  Ohio State was able to rally in the last quarter and win the game 39-38.  

Jessica and Joe met us at Middleton’s Tavern (right on the waterfront in Annapolis) for a Bon Voyage celebration.  After great drinks, food and fun, we headed back to the boat for the first night of our trip.  

When we woke in the morning it was cold and rainy making us promise each other to leave on our trip earlier next year.  Apparently we were lulled into thinking that the great fall weather we had in Baltimore this year might continue for awhile longer.

On Monday morning it was in the low 40’s when we woke up.  Bob lit the fireplace and I baked some low carb muffins to warm the cabin up a bit.  After showers, coffee and a shared bagel at City Dock Cafe we started our trip to Galesville at about noon. It was only a 2 hour trip, but it was windy and cold.  We were happy to motor into the West River and drop anchor in a harbor protected from the wind.

There are several landmarks that I always take note of in this portion of the trip.  First is the the “Star Spangled” buoy that marks the spot where Francis Scott Key observed the battle at Fort McHenry and wrote our national anthem.  The buoy is just slightly north west of the Key Bridge that crosses the Patapsco River. 

The buoy marks the spot where Francis Scott Key wrote
“The Star Spangled Banner.”

Next is the grand Bay Bridge which crosses the Bay from Sandy Point in Anne Arundle County to Kent Island on the Eastern Shore of the Bay.  

The Bay Bridge is a 4.3 mile double span that opened in 1952.

The final landmark is the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse that has been guarding that shoal since 1885.

This light marks our eastward turn into the West River.

We left Galesville headed for Solomons Island to anchor out in one of our favorite spots on Mill Creek.  The weather was still cool and we were anxious to continue south to warmer weather.  In the morning we left Solomons, but when we entered the bay the wind was so strong (gusts up to 30 knts) and the waves so big that we turned around and went back to Solomons to get a slip at Zahnizer’s Marina. Several vessels near us in the bay turned back, too.  We have never turned back before, but it was definitely the right decision.  We took advantage of the stay at Zahniser's by getting showers, doing laundry, and taking the shuttle into the shopping area.  Bob reworked our travel plan to make up for the day and we got a great night sleep with the heater warming up the cabin.  

Making up for the day off we motored for 10.5 hours from first light to minutes before sunset.  We made it to the New Point Comfort Lighthouse and tucked in behind it for the night.  It’s another peaceful anchorage with beautiful scenery and wildlife.

Friday was another long and busy day.  We motored into Norfolk Harbor just after lunch.  The harbor is busy with Navy and commercial vessels.

 Navy vessels are very impressive.

The variety of color of the containers on this ship
just begged me to photograph it.

After navigating through Norfolk harbor and into the Intracoastal Waterway our challenge was making it through several opening bridges and the Great Bridge Lock and Bridge.  It was smooth going, except for a brief problem with going aground, until we got up to the lock and found out that the lock was shut down to clean off debris from the gates.  This delay set us back about 2 hours which made getting through the next opening bridge impossible.  We made the decision to tie up to the free pier just south of the Great Bridge Bridge. It turned out to be a great place to stop.

Thanks for reading my blog.

My next blog will continue our trek down the ICW and into NC.