Florida at last!

We finally made it to Florida on November 25. We left Jekyll Island and went out the sound to the ocean for time away from the Intercoastal waterway. There was no wind, but also no waves, so we motored along until we reached Fernandina Beach entrance. We stayed there for 2 days. It was a charming town and you could walk to the downtown area. Oliver loved the park and city, especially the fish store.He has decided Starfish make a great toy. I got it away and put it back in the store bin before damage was done (don't tell). I even had time to myself to wander. We met up with old friends Lee and Lynn on Serenity, and Kathy and Jim on Charm.
On the 27th we again went out to the ocean to travel. This time we did have some wind, so the sails came out and the motor was shut off. Boy that was nice! Unfortunately we did lose wind later, but then we motored into the sound and to our anchorage for the night. It was finally warm and sunny for the last 3 days. We anchored near a public ramp where we could dinghy Oliver ashore. I still have this fear of alligators finding us if we go too close to shrubs. We did see some snake skin that was molted, so we stayed away from the wooded area.  There was one boat anchored when we came in and 5 by nightfall. We were in Sister's Creek with navy and marine helicopters buzzing us.
The 28th brought us to St Augustine. It was foggy in the morning, so we stayed inside. Also St. Augustine's entrance from the ocean is tricky. We picked up a mooring ball and stayed for 3 days. There is quite a current  in the river there, so getting the dinghy to shore was a good upper body workout. We loved St Augustine and it's history. Every morning we dinghied in, took a 2 hour walk around the sights before heading back to the boat for some chores. In the afternoon we would go for another walk, then have dinner, then one more trip ashore and a short stroll to see the Christmas lights. I was surprised to see a Kilwins fudge shop on their pedestrian tourist street, St George. It was like being on Mackinac Island. Oliver loved all the attention he got, the other dogs met and time off the boat.e ran into Lee and Lynn there also.
From there we ventured down the road to Palm Coast and Titusville. In Palm Coast we met the people that started Active Captain, Jeff and Diane Seigel and their 2 dogs, Dylan and Dyna. Oliver loved the play time with them and the barks across the boats. We were together the next 3 stops. They have moved on and we are taking a break at Cocoa Village Marina for a week. We pulled in the 4th of December so here we are. We rented a car so we could get dog food, people food and see more sites. The marina is next to downtown with quaint shops and a hair salon that stayed open late for me. The salon Que Bella kept their doors open so I could actually get lowlights and a cut. I was looking pretty shaggy and brassy. Our Michigan friends, Tom and Laura on Cool Hand pulled in Thursday, so we are enjoying times together. We also met fellow sailors Floyd and Elaine who we had over for cocktails. He wrote a book on their travels and is quite a character. Oliver loves company. Tom and Laura joined us too.  Yesterday, the 7th, Laura and I went out for a morning coffee and sweet roll, then shopping later in the afternoon. We came back to finding Tom and Dale having a beer. Dale did work on boat electronics that day and I did 8 loads of laundry the first day. Now we are trying to figure out what to do. Do we try for the Bahamas, go to the keys, or just find a place we like in Florida to keep the boat for winters. There is also a little (ha-ha) issue with the alternator. When I first typed this, we had planned to be headed South, but we are now here for another day or two waiting for a part. Jason sent us mail and other backup parts here, so we have caught up on home things.
We will keep you posted. Laura and I have spent time in town and Oliver loves the coffee shop every morning. Even the Mail carrier knows him by name now as well a the city workers as we wander.
I am not good at keeping this up as you can tell but wifi and connections should be better now. Missing everyone and holiday things,  especially the Christmas music . Good luck with the Cantata my choir friends.

Fernandina Beach which is on Amelia Island

tree by the marina

Supposedly the oldest bar in Florida

Oliver on those cold travel mornings/ 

St. Augustine Park

Oliver getting attention in St. Augustine

Flagler College

park in St Augustine, more Christmas cheer

old cobble stone street

moorings in St. Augustine

Shop 'til you drop street.

walking the old streets, Ollie saw something and I go "whoosh"

love the old houses

park at night, it was beautiful

people dressed in Spanish period clothes from the 1600s

just cool

oldest school 

Oliver at the fort, a school group saw him and the teachers lost control, what memories

Ollie and Dale looking for dolphins, Ollie's favorite past time

a drink in the park

then a nap, what a life

rainbow in Palm Coast while playing with Dylan and Dyna

even the bridges are pretty sometimes

pelicans dive bomb around us often

Rockhouse creek anchorage, Oliver's beach in background. He ran around like a crazy dog. 

Looking for those dolphins again

and again as we travel South

egret

he is really cute when sleeping

silt builds up and islands just appear in the middle of nowhere

Oliver discovered the presents in St. Augustine

We have plans to celebrate Christmas with Laura and Tom, so here is hoping. Enjoy the holidays, I will try to post again soon and add some Cocoa Village pictures.

Charleston to Jekyll Island

Here are some of our pictures we took in Charleston. We were there until the 14th of November. It is steeped in history. We saw Fort Sumter coming in and toured the old Battery section of town, south of Broad Street, the French quarter and the market area. We ran into friends we met in the Dismal Swamp, Kathy and   Jim with their dog Murphy/ Oliver was happy to greet Murphy again. We spent 2 days touring the area. The rental car helped. The other days we were there were spent in Isle of Palms and Mt Pleasant.

Old Exchange Building and Dungeon, 1771 (slave market was behind this at one time)

Battery

Cannon that shot at us Yankees

Old Slave Mart museum - wow it makes you think.

Old cobblestone street, there were so many cool homes. 

City market

Sweet grass basket weaver

Our morning greeter at the marina. Ollie was fascinated. 

The 14th we anchored out at Fishing Creek, freezing and reached Beaufort SC the next day.We stayed at a dock to plug in the boat for the real heater, not the little one we have to use with a generator at anchor. Oliver even has to sleep with a blanket at anchor and he has a fur coat.

Beaufort SC

Miss Beaufort

11/16 Hilton Head. This is where we were when our impeller on the engine died. It was stressful, but we got through it. Dropped anchor and Dale went to work as I watched the helm.
After a stressful day, we made it to Isle of Hope Marina, south of Savannah. It was a nice marina and they had a deal of buy 3 nights get one free. We jumped on it as we were cold and in need of rest and some shopping. We were greeted by Harriet and Skip from MoonDance and Pam and Bob from Silhouette. 

Oliver loves barnacles. This is at Isle of Hope, Savannah, Georgia

Savannah

11/21, Kilkenny anchorage. Gray Ghost at dock where Oliver goes ashore. 

Oliver ready for his ride to shore. 

The 22nd we anchored in the Duplin River and there was a ferry dock to get Oliver ashore. Again ,the night was cold, but the days are now sunny and warming into the 60's. Thanks goodness. We had our Thanksgiving dinner here. I warmed up the cabin nicely making a small turkey breast in gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, vege and pumpkin bars for dessert.

Oliver at Duplin River, our boat is way back there.  . 

Jekyll Island 11/23 and 24

Jekyll Island grocery store, yes it is a trailer. 

Ollie and me at the marina.

Today is the 24th, Dale's birthday. We are having a birthday dinner of pork chops to celebrate. We plan to leave tomorrow for Fernandina Beach, Florida. 

Oriental to Charleston, SC

We made it to  South Carolina on November 5, but you wouldn't know it by the weather. Here is a synopsis of our journey. Let it be noted that transiting the Intercoastal waterway is work. Each night we study our route: we have to check bridges, tides, currents, shoals and maps. We have not anchored as much as we hoped because of the cold, I like our boat heater over the little portable oneand generator plus we have to find enough water to anchor in (depth), current that isn't too swift and one that has a place to land Oliver. The last one is the hardest. It drives us crazy to pay some of the prices, but...... This is a tiring journey.

Anyway, we went from Oriental on a Friday, the 2nd of November to Swansboro. It was a long run, but we left a day after the crowd at River  Dunes marina, so we wanted to get some miles in. It was a cute town . I saw the town early in the morning walking Ollie and nothing was open.That is a good way to save money. Onward we went to Wrightsville. Had a bunch of shallow areas to watch and bridges. There is a good anchorage by the beach, but a beach in my winter clothes is just wrong. Any way, we made it to the bridge and had to wait 45 minutes for an opening. It was a busy Saturday on the waterway and as we neared  Wrightsville Beach,  low tide was coming in. As many of us waited for the bridge trying to stay out of the fisherman's way 3 of us went bump. We grounded hard, which means we couldn't get off and had to call Tow Boat US. Luckily we have insurance. It was a 30 minute wait for help and the tide kept going down. We missed the 4:00 bridge opening. Needless to say after the 5:00 opening, we pulled onto a marina's face wall, on the canal and plugged in, walked Ollie had dinner and went to bed. Oh, I forgot the wine. Another sailboat was still trying to be pulled off the shoal as we went for a walk with Oliver.  Said a special prayer for them and after dinner we saw they were off. The shoal there is so bad, the locals have a fake palm tree on it. It is quite the party place. It is probably fun watching all of the crazy Yankees run aground.

The next morning, bundled in our winter clothes, we left for Southport. Pulling out, we saw S/V Moondance with Skip and Harriet who had anchored and we waved them on. We followed them to Southport. There was quite a long line of boats navigating with us that day and the next few, All sailing vessels: Silhouette (Bob and Pam from River Dunes), Excalibur, Fantabulous with names I cannot remember being overwhelmed. It was an easier transit following experienced sailors with the route. When we got to Southport, we were 2nd in line to go in, but we were not called by the dock master in order. as we waited, our engine decided it had had enough and decided to overheat. Dale  ran downstairs to the engine, steam billowed put and I was at the helm trying to keep us in the channel. I had since done a donut. At one point he ran up to get the anchor windlass ready so we wouldn't crash into shore. I am watching the thermostat get a touch better and letting him know what I see. Panic was the operative word, so I radioed in that we needed to dock, but they were so busy, our cries went unheeded. Dale finally got the engine to cool enough and we limped in as the last boat. I took a long walk into town later that day which helped. It was a Sunday so most things were closed, but I met really nice people. So far, November was not going well we arranged with all the sailboats to leave the next day for Myrtle Beach.

On November 5, we all left following the momma duck. Dale had worked on the engine and double checked everything that morning. By 7:30 we all got in line and left. We had a boat with a tall mast that had to slowly go under bridges that  are 65 feet.  We all made it, thanks to charts, instruments and our leaders on Excalibur and Moondance. We needed a day of calm especially because we were going through a section called the Rock Pile where you cannot deviate or you hit rocks, not sand. This is not a good thing. We also had more currents, especially at inlets from the ocean to deal with.

We are at Grande Dunes in Myrtle Beach, two nights as today was rainy, cold and a good day to relax. Poor Ollie cuddles in a blanket in the cockpit in the mornings. It is weird seeing palm trees, dolphins and pelicans when we are freezing our $&$&@' off.  When things are bad, we will see a pod of dolphins swim with us, see a beautiful bird or meet great people and we think, this is okay.

After that we took off ourselves to master the ICW. Made it to Georgetown without incident on the 7th/ From there we went to McClellanville and the 9th onto Charleston. We stayed at the Charleston Harbor Marina on Patriots Point. It was a lovely marina and the people were really nice. The big megadocks in Charleston were by a highway, very busy and did not have great "Oliver" space. We were going to rent a car so it was across the river from downtown in Mt. Pleasant, but beautiful and more peaceful. We spent 5 days there and ran into Brian and Judy on Sweet Escape again. Judy and I did some quick catching up as they were leaving sooner than us. Next to our marina was the USS Yorktown, which was to host the Carrier Classic college basketball game between Ohio State and Marquette. Unfortunately they did not plan on such cold nights and the condensation on the floor was too dangerous for the kids to play. The other very exciting thing while we were there was that Ollie saw a dolphin up close and personal. One swam by our dock when he was on it and came up right next to him. He jumped, but was thrilled and watched it swim around. Everyday, he looked for that dolphin.

Here are some of the many pictures we took. Unfortunately the order isn't  always correct, but we are done fooling with them. Happy Thanksgiving to all. I sure will miss church and the family dinner.

cruising along the ICW

Oliver happy to be docked for the night.

Sunset in Swansboro

Many times we see dolphins swimming with us.

Coming up to a bridge that has to open for us.

Interesting house along the way.

Southport at dock

Lots of birds along the way too.

oops

near Myrtle Beach

Golfers in cable cars going over us.

Ollie in his blanket since it is sooo cold.

Spanish moss on trees

McClellanville

boat with shark jaws next to us

Marsh everywhere

Charleston in the distance

Oliver and Patty checking out the sights

1000 year old oak tree

church from the 1700s

must be Mytle Beach

Charleston from our dock

Carrier classic

Ravenel Bridge, longest cable bridge

flying over our boat for the game

Charleston at sunset



USS Yorktown, see the bleachers?

Dale in winter clothes on the ICW, this is wrong!

I will have more Charleston pictures later. From there, we did anchor out at Fishing Creek and run the dog to a ramp nearby that night of the 14th. We are now in Georgia and will post more later.