Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The ICW is definitely not for sissies

Last year when we traveled south, we stayed inside on the ICW the entire way from the Norfolk, VA to just above Miami.   Joe had transited the ICW several times, helping friends move their boats but I had never seen the waterway and wanted to experience as much of it as I could.   At times it is drop-dead gorgeous and at times it is congested and tedious but in my opinion it was definitely worth doing the entire "inside" ICW route once.   This year we planned to hop outside to do several ocean passages.   On the inside ICW route you only travel during the day and at an average of 6 knots (yes, that really is analogous to 6 mph) making anywhere from 45-70 miles a day depending on current, ambition and of course the availability of good anchorages.   Sailing outside in the ocean allows us to bypass the more tedious sections and since there are no anchorages in the ocean, we sail for 24-48 hours, clicking the miles away.   However, if weather is important on the inside ICW passages, it is downright critical to making a safe off-shore passage.   And weather has not been in our favor for too much outside sailing yet this year.   We did get outside from Port Royal, SC to St. Marys GA and we had hoped to go outside from St. Marys to Ft. Pierce.   We get our weather data from several sources on the Internet and also from Chris Parker on the single-sideband radio.   All the data indicated the sea and wind conditions would not be comfortable outside so on Saturday after Thanksgiving we headed back down the inside ICW route towards St. Augustine, FL.   One of the reasons we were trying to avoid the ICW in Florida is the bridges.   The bridges get more numerous and closer together the nearer you get to Fort Lauderdale and Miami.   Many of them are low bridges that require waiting for an opening.   After leaving St. Marys we had only 5 bridges to deal with before St. Augustine.   However, the first bridge set the tone.   The Kingsley Creek Railroad Swing bridge has only 5 feet of clearance when closed (we need 56' of clearance for the mast). The cruising guide indicates the bridge is usually open but will close for trains hauling logs to the area's 2 paper mills.   The bridge gives no warning when is going to close (really-why the heck not???) and it does not have a VHF radio (seriously?).  Every other low bridge we encounter on the ICW has a bridge tender with a radio so we can talk to them.  A direct quote from the cruising guide:  "If you are in this area and hear train whistles, be aware that the bridge could close as you approach it".   So of course we hear train whistles as we approach, and we slow down looking for a train.   Nothing in site, waiting, floating, current pushing us so we go through the bridge and all is fine.   Whew.   Then comes the second bridge with about a 3 knot current against us.   No problem except it was Sunday and lots of boats transiting the bridge in both directions.   Finally, there is the Atlantic Blvd Bridge.   This bridge is 65' high so we can easily pass under it.   However, there is an island on the north side of the bridge that very effectively blocks your view of boats coming from the south to the north.   And they are working in the area so there is a HUGE barge tied off on the right side of the bridge.  And again the current is against us.   Another direct quote from the cruising guide "currents are very swift at the bridge itself, yet not noticeable when approaching from either side.  The flood tide flows in a southerly direction and at right angles to the bridge with a velocity of 3.5 knots.  The ebb tide flows at 10 degrees off the channel line at a velocity of 5.5 knots".   We were moving south on an ebb tide (of course) and that water really is rushing through the bridge towards us at a speed almost matching our average boat speed.   And to complicate things, we just get to the bridge and see a ketch coming towards us (with the current) at at least 8 knots.   We spun around and waited for her to go through and then muscled under the bridge only making 2.1 knots (SOG) against the current.   I glanced over and realized the bridge has rubber fenders (they are usually wood) and they have lots of scuff marks on them.   Gulp.   We made it through but those of you who think the ICW is a leisurely float down the east coast couldn't be more wrong.   Lots of navigational challenges to keep us on our toes everyday.   That must be why it is so beautiful or no one (not even the crazy sailors) would do this!

St. Marys Thanksgiving

Approximately 10 years ago, a small group of boats was stranded in St. Marys for Thanksgiving because of weather.   The owner of the local hotel/restaurant/bar asked them what they were planning for Thanksgiving dinner.   Since the plans were loose at best (there were boaters-who needs plans?) he volunteered to cook them a turkey and said they could bring side dishes into the hotel and eat there.   The story continues that they had such a good time that they came back the next year and then the next year....Last year there were over 100 boats and now the town sponsors an oyster roast on Wednesday and donates the turkeys for Thursday.   The parties actually start on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  There is a happy hour every night at the bar.  We buy our drinks but bring our own hors d'ouvres because the bar doesn't serve snacks.   Joe's never thrilled but this ends up being dinner Sunday-Wednesday (snacks are a food group-right?).   Ann and Lynn on SV Seatramp, check in all the boats, organize the side dishes so there aren't too many duplicates, provide rides to the grocery store, laundromat, liquor store and generally keep the boaters focused which has to be like herding chickens.   Actually they and the town do a great job and the shop and restaurant owners couldn't be more gracious.   This year there were only 80 boats (about 200 people) for Thanksgiving dinner.   I swear it is so well organized it runs more smoothly than our family celebrations at home.   We caught up with lots of friends from last year and made a few new friends.   There are only 2 things wrong with St. Marys that we have observed.   They have a never ending infestation of  sand gnats (they insist they are not sand fleas-whatever!) that swarm as soon as you arrive on land.   Bug spray is a must.   And second, just like most of Georgia and northern Florida, the anchorage has a strong current with about a 7-8'tide.   Usually it is fine but of course on Thanksgiving morning, the wind kicked up to 20-25 and when it was against the currents, many boats began to drag their anchors.   Now there are 80-90 boats in the anchorage and when about 1 dozen of them start moving randomly, it gets a little dicey.   Joe was in the dinghy trying to help 2 boats that became tangled on each others anchors when I noticed us starting to drag.   Luckily the anchor drug a short distance and then took hold.   However, that left us too close to another boat so we had to pull up and re-anchor.  All this while prepping stuffing to go in the oven (and you thought it was all fun and games out here right?).   All's well that ends well:  the wind diminished and a great dinner and time was had by all.   Thank you St. Marys for a great holiday!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

The good, bad and ugly of Cumberland Island

Last year we discovered Cumberland Island (CI) and were really looking forward to spending even more time there this year.   We arrived from our offshore passage on Nov 13 and anchored at the northern most anchorage on the Brickhill River.   The first day was great, we stretched our legs on the walking paths and enjoyed the scenery.   CI is the largest barrier island off the coast of Georgia (17.5 miles long; 36,000 acres).  They trace settlements back to the Spanish in the 1500s but development didn't stick until one of Washington's Generals (Nathaniel Greene) built a 4 story tabby home named Dungeness here in 1783.   That house burnt down and in 1881, Thomas and Lucy Carnegie (brother and business partner of Andrew) built a mansion named Dungeness on the same site.   Subsequently, they built several other mansions for their 9 children.   At the height of occupancy, the Carnegies employed 300 people to run the houses, stables and farms on the island to support their clan.   The property was given to the National Park Service (NPS) in the 1970s.  Two mansions and many of the barracks for the Carnegie employees remain today.   One of the mansions is a $500/night B&B (somehow we never get to see that one).   The other mansion is a Georgian-style building and has been restored for tours.  There is a squash court and indoor swimming pool and every imaginable luxury available at the turn of the century.   They had huge generators and both AC and DC power, large refrigerators and supposedly, china service for 100.  And there never has been (nor will be) a bridge to the island so everything arrived by boat.   Truly a fascinating step back in time.   When the land was deeded to the NPS, there were a few restrictions, of course.   Primarily, it was to return the land to the wild and to let Lucy's horses have the run of the island.  Not sure how many there were at the time but now there are over 200 horses roaming free.   We have seen them in the marsh, the woodlands and even on the beach.   The beach is a sheller's delight and we walked over 3 miles checking it all out.  Perhaps the most magical part is the woodland trails.   There is a unique mix of live oak trees literally dripping with Spanish moss providing the elevated canopy and then shorter palm trees all along the trail.  Almost in the center of the island, the live oaks give way to huge pine trees with pine cones the size of footballs.   And you walk for hours with only seeing a few other people.   Besides the $$ B&B you can camp or anchor on a boat; no other comercial enterprises remain   A few private homes remain but as time goes on, their deeds expire.   My camera talents never seem to truly catch the beauty of the place but I haven't given up trying.  

And now for the ugly.   The first anchorage is up a narrow river and somewhat sheltered by the marsh.  However, the tide runs 7-9 feet here and the current runs very swiftly (approx 3 knots) to exchange that much water.  The first day, there wasn't too much wind and we swung with the tide relatively comfortably.   That was just the initiation.   As the wind picked up and a storm blew in, the wind and tide begin to compete for control of the boat.   I'm not sure which one every claimed victory but I know it wasn't us!   In gusts of wind, the boat would move (or to be accurate it would jerk) on the anchor chain.   When the wind subsided for a minute, the swift current would jerk the boat back in the direction of the ebbing or flooding current.   At some point, we began to hear the anchor chain  loudly dragging across the hull of the boat-not a pretty sound.   I still don't understand how but at one point the anchor chain was completely under us and the back of the boat was facing the anchor.   Never saw it do that before.  I described this phenomenon in an anchorage north of Charleston but it really became acute here as the winds picked up to a steady 20-25 with gusts easily to 35 knots for about 24 hours.   We hadn't gotten off the boat the day before because of rain and there was no way we were going for a dinghy ride in 35 knot gusts.   All in all we ended up sitting on the boat for most of 3 days while the tide and wind fought it out.   We literally rotated about 300 degrees on the anchor chain and jerked back in the other direction.   With the 35 knot winds, surface waves picked up in the anchorage making it a lumpy and noisy couple of nights.   There were 8-10 boats with us and nobody drug anchor nor budged off their boats!  Three shrimp boats came in and anchored to ride out the storm so you know it has to be bad when they aren't working.  Finally, the front blew through and we had 2 calm nights and lots of time to tour and walk the island again.   Never know what you are going to get out here.  When we pulled up the anchor today to move to St. Mary's, it was so dug in so far it took us twice as long as usual and we tripped the breaker on the windlass bringing it up.  There was a lot of blue paint on the anchor chain so we have to wonder what the bottom of the boat looks like.   But a little bottom paint (and some lost sleep) is still a small price to pay for the beauty of this island.

We left CI today (Sunday Nov 20) and are now anchored up the St. Mary's River where the boats are beginning to gather for Thanksgiving.   Last year we celebrated with 100 other boats here and had a great time.   The Happy Hours start tonight so we'll keep you posted.   Happy Thanksgiving!

The calm before the storm-literally

Ann in a Live Oak Tree

Horse in front of mansion

Plum Orchard Mansion open for tours

Flocks of woodstorks everywhere

The "road" or walking path since cars are very restricted

Horse helping himself in front of Carnegie employee barracks

Marsh view with sailboat on the ICW in the background

Shrimper off the beach

Oyster Catcher playing in the surf

Shelling is easy (and I did not pose these)

Live Oak Trees and palms line the walks

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Warblers really do exist!

There is an inside joke between a few of my birding friends concerning warblers.   First, let me qualify my "birding" status.   I am a rank amateur that hangs around with some serious birders.   Don't get me wrong, I love the walks in the woods spotting birds but I do confess to loving the walks as much (or maybe a little more) than the serious endeavour of identifying the birds.   To me, it's all about being outside in a great place and seeing all the things that go on in the quiet of the woods or meadow or pond.  So....on these walks, my birder friends are always trying to point out warblers.   Warblers are generally small (4-5") birds and in the Sibley guide book to North America there are almost 40 varieties; all of which look very similar to me with brown/black and varying degrees of yellow feathers.   Obviously, the more you study or actually see these birds, the more you are able to distinguish the different subspecies.   But, since I never actually spotted one (and my friends were spotting many!), the differentiating bits were mute.   The inside joke is that another friend (Judie) never saw them either and we maintained that the whole species was fictitious!   Low and behold on our 24 hour ocean passage from Port Royal to St. Mary's, GA, two yellow-rumped warblers came along for the ride.   I had no idea what type of bird they were at the time but did get a picture of them both.  The first stopped in when we were between 10-15 miles off the coast.   He looked healthy, perched on the lifeline for a short time and then moved on.   The second visit didn't have such a happy ending.   The second warbler joined us sometime between 3:30-6:30 am when Joe was on watch.   When I took over at 6:30, Joe opened up the cockpit enclosure and the little bird hopped right in.  There was almost no wind but his feathers looked a bit ruffled and he was restless, wanting to get out as soon as he got in the cockpit and then he wanted back in again.   There was plenty of pooled dew on the deck and I saw him drink a time or two.   He also tried to peck at the red on our life jackets (hungry?).   When he left the cockpit several times, he would hop/fly back to the dinghy and jump down in there.   We thought that was a great place; out of the apparent wind from the movement of the boat but still out in the open so he could fly away when he wanted.   However, when we finally anchored, we found the warbler had died in the dinghy.   A brief burial at sea ceremony followed (after I pulled out the bird book and actually realized he was an elusive warbler!).   So Judie, take heart......Warblers really do exist (however there is one less of them around to spot).

First visitor

Second warbler-looks like a tear in his eye!

Hopped all around the cockpit and tried to eat the red strap to the right

Monday, November 14, 2011

Safe Overnight Journey to Cumberland Island, GA

As I have mentioned in previous posts, the weather has not been cooperating with our plans to shorten our ICW journey by traveling "outside" (meaning out in the ocean as opposed to following the many creeks, rivers, bays...of the ICW)).  However, the storms, wind and waves of the last few weeks finally calmed down and on Saturday November 12, we left Port Royal, SC (near Paris Island) and had an easy 24 hour passage to the St. Mary's GA inlet.   The good news is there were no waves to speak of (just a 2-3' roll with a large interval so no issues) and a full moon to light the night sky.   The bad news is there was also no wind so it was a motoring trip.   We have used the sails since we left (on the Chesapeake and the Alligator River) but not much.   This is pretty typical of ICW travel and we often comment that when this boat grows up, she wants to be a Kadey Krogen ( a BEAUTIFUL power yacht with a steadying sail). 

After coming in the St. Mary's inlet, we actually traveled north on the ICW for about 1 hour.   Joe will say this was all to indulge me.  We are currently at the northern anchorage of Cumberland Island (on the Brick Hill River).   This was one of our favorite stops from last year and we plan to spend 2-3 days at this northern anchorage and then move south about 5-6 miles to the lower anchorage on Cumberland Island (CI) for another 2-3 days.    There is no bridge to CI so all traffic arrives by boat or small plane.   The Carnegies originally owned much of the island  but now the majority of the land belongs to they National Park Service (only a few private homes and one B&B remain).   There is a campground and great walking trails.    On the ICW side where we are anchored, the island is  a mix of marsh and creeks.   There is a 7-9 foot tide in this area so it is fascinating to watch the landscape change with the tide (it makes anchoring fun too).   On the ocean side, the beach.......is fantastic.   There are more than 10 miles of wide open beach with nothing but shells, wild horses, birds and the occasional strolling camper, boater, or photographer.  This is one of those places in the US that just feels like another world unto itself.   No pictures yet.....you'll just have to wait but in this case the wait will be worth it.   This place is gorgeous.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Charleston-one of our favorite cities because....

For the second year, we spent a full week in Charleston.   It is a great restuarant city and in between indulging ourselves, we try to cram in as much walking history as our feet can handle.    The Charleston Maritime Center is a very convenient marina with a Harris Teeter 2-3 blocks away and the center of the historic section only 2-3 blocks further.   Literally which ever direction you walk, there is something to see or do.    Many boaters stop in Charleston so we caught up with some friends from last year (Cara Mia and Jesse Marie) and made some new friends as the week progressed.   The week was capped off by a visit from friends, Donna and Jimmy from Charlotte, who got kind of a rough initiation to boating life when the wind and current rocked the boat pretty hard the night they visited.   The rocking is the only disadvantage of this marina; the entrance to the marina is on the Cooper River and at times, the winds just funnel in kicking up a swell and some nice little whitecaps.   Other nights it is like a bath tub.   Oh well, we still found a way to have fun and to celebrate my birthday.  

I am fascinated by the architechture in Charleston and especially by the doors.   Many houses have side porches that are built to the length of the house.   They enclose the front of the porch at the street level and add a formal front door; often a very formidable door with great hardware. 

Just to add some contrast, the picture of the houseboat below is from the last anchorage we were in just north of the Ben Sawyer bridge going into Charleston.   We never saw anyone but the nets looked recently used.  

And of course, there were a few large ships to welcome us to Charleston.   The Navy docked a training ship near us and several large cargo, car carriers and large tankers passed the marina every day rocking the boats.   Our lines actually got chaffed and one snapped from all the rocking.   Yikes!

We had planned to leave the ICW and go into the ocean from Charleston to St. Mary's but with predictions of waves 16-26' we thought the prudent course might be to stay inside and go the slow way (again).   So after Charleston, we headed for Beaufort, SC., another great small town.   We only had about 1/2 day in town because the last big cold front predicted for a while blew through yesterday afternoon.   However, the good news is that giving the ocean waves and swells a day to settle down, this means we can finally go outside in the ocean, shake out the sails (if we remember how!) and fly down the coast to St. Mary's Georgia starting on Sat. Nov 12.   Next stop Cumberland Island, Georgia for shelling, hiking, touring.  

Happy Veterans day!

Check out the porches!

Love those doors and windows!

Rear entrance to the market



Facade in the middle of a parking lot

Ship
Houseboat north of Charleston

Happy Veterans Day!

Go Navy!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

A great day on the Waccamaw

Goats on the ICW?   We saw a second herd of goats on the small islands before entering Myrtle Beach.   Never seen these before on the ICW.   There really isn't a lot of land to these barrier islands so I can't imagine how they survive.  The weather was predicted to turn cold and rainy so we spent two nights at a dock in Myrtle Beach waiting for rain that never came. The temperature did drop to 37 at night (the coldest night to date!) so we were grateful to be plugged in with heat.
Goats near Myrtle Beach

  • Swing bridge and ICW parade of boats
The section of the ICW after Myrtle Beach is one of our favorites. For us, the real beauty begins with the Waccamaw River and ends with Winyah Bay near Georgetown, SC. The Waccamaw River is wide and very undeveloped (the little house in the picture below is one of very few houses to be seen for miles).  

Life of the Waccamaw River
There are literally osprey or eagle nests everywhere you look along the Waccamaw River.   At one point, we could see 4 large nests without the aide of binoculars and we easily saw 3 dozen nests as we wound our way down the river.   For the first several miles, we didn't see any birds; just nests.   Then we started seeing Turkey and Black Vultures and finally Bald Eagles.   In one 3 hour stretch, we counted 29 Bald Eagles.   We also saw a very large brown eagle-like bird and are not sure what that was (young Golden Eagle?).
Turkey Vulture nest shopping



We anchored for the next two nights in "quiet" creeks off the rivers.   "Quiet" is in quotes because although the anchorages were undeveloped and marshy with lots of wildlife, the current through the creeks was at least 3 knots at the peak.   Considering that our typical speed of travel is 6-7 knots that makes for a very interesting night at anchor.   At times we also had 15 knots of wind against the current so Short Walk was a bit confused.   The boat actually gets pushed and pulled between the current and the wind.   At the change of tide, we could hear the 75' of anchor chain dragging across the bottom of the boat.   Trust me when I say this is not a pretty sound nor something you can sleep through!   However, the journey down one of the prettiest rivers on the ICW and the multitude of eagles sitings were worth the loss of sleep and anchor anxiety.