Brokedown in Georgetown

We spent four days in Charleston working on the boat and sightseeing while we waited for a guest and our new crew. Fred Cook joined us for dinner while he was in town on business and Linda and Jay rejoined us for the trip. Charleston with its old homes and beautiful gardens is one of the prettiest cities I have seen so we all enjoyed the opportunity to walk the town.

We spent Friday night at anchor in Winyah Bay. It was our intention to leave this morning and go out Winyah Inlet into the ocean and sail up to Cape Fear, NC ., however our engine had other plans. The engine failed to start this morning so it was time to develop alternate plans. Somehow we would have to get into Georgetown SC the nearest city about ten miles away for repairs. Luckily the wind and tidal currents where both in our favor and we were able to sail into the Georgetown Landing Marina. As we approached the marina we tied the dingy to the boat and used it as our auxiliary engine to get to the dock.
Susan and Linda got an unexpected Mothers Day dinner at the Goat Island Grill in downtown Georgetown. Happy Mothers Day Therese and Jan ! Georgetown is the third oldest city in South Carolina. The town was surrounded by prosperous rice plantations prior to the Civil War that all went out of business with the abolition of slavery. Fortunately the beautiful homes that were built by the wealthy plantation owners in town are still maintained today.

Hopefully we will be able to get an engine mechanic tomorrow and get back on our way, if not we will likely become quite the authorities on Georgetown history.

Low Country

This past week was one of transition. We traveled from Florida through Georgia into South Carolina. We watched the waterway's shoreline change from the grand homes back to palm trees and mangroves then to salt marshes and live oak trees covered with Spanish moss.

Sunday, April 26: We left St. Augustine early and headed out the inlet to travel in the Atlantic Ocean for part of the day, we re-entered the ICW via the St. Johns Inlet at Jacksonville, FL. The day ended at an anchorage in Nassau Sound at the south end of Amelia Island.

Monday, April 27: We made the short trip to Fernandina Beach Marina on the north end of Amelia Island. We spent the afternoon enjoying the attractions in historic downtown Fernandina Beach.
Tuesday, April 28: We left the dock early and shortly after crossed the St. Mary’s River into Georgia. We arrived mid afternoon at the docks at Jekyll Island. We enjoyed cocktails that evening with Mary & Andy aboard their motor vessel Good News and Brad & Patty, m/v Salvage Crew. They are two other looper couples we have met along the way. We first saw “Good News” when we were in the rivers back in September. They are also now on their way back home. The friendly interesting people you meet along the way continue to be the highlight if the trip.

Wednesday, April 29: Traveled to another anchorage in the Back River near Doboy Sound.

Thursday, April 30: Left early for a 10 hour ride in the Atlantic Ocean. The wind and seas were ideal and we made around 60 miles to the Wassaw Sound and the Wilmington River. The river leads to Savannah however we stopped before that at the town of Thunderbolt GA. When we arrived at the dock we were again greeted by the crews of Good News and Salvage Crew. Sharing hors d’oeurves and cocktails with them that evening was the perfect way to end a long day on the water.

Friday, May 1: We left the Thunderbolt Marina at 10:00 and shortly thereafter passed the Bonaventure Cemetery. The cemetery was featured in the movie “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”. Around 11:00 we crossed the Savannah River and entered South Carolina, we spent the evening at the dock at the Hilton Head Marina.

Saturday, May 2: We traveled to Beaufort S.C. hoping to get a dock at the downtown city marina. On the way we passed the well known Marine Corps Recriut Depot at Parris Island. This is where all male Marine recruits east of the Mississippi train. It's also where all female recuits train.We didn’t see much going on they must have had the weekend off. When we arrived at Beaufort we were surprised to find the place was full. It turned out this was the weekend for their big “Taste of Beaufort “festival. We anchored near the marina and took our dingy into town to enjoy the music and food at the festival. Now we know were all the Marine recruits were. Later that evening we had dinner with Molly and Gary, a couple from North Carolina who were returning from Key West on their sailboat. They both retired from their jobs in January and took off on a boat. Sounds familiar!

Sunday, May 3 : After church service at the local Episcopal Church and a breakfast out, we spent the afternoon traveling to an anchor site on the South Edisto River about half way to Charleston.

Florida's First Coast

The only thing better than enjoying the sights and experiences of this trip is sharing them with friends. That was certainly the case during a recent visit by our good friends from home Mimi & Larry and Martha & Mike. They joined us for dinner and an overnight stay on the boat Tuesday. In spite of running aground and getting lost in the dark, a good time was had by all.
On Wednesday Martha, Mike, Larry and I took a 28 mile boat trip from Daytona north to Palm Coast. Mimi and Susan joined us by car and again we enjoyed cocktails and dinner at Palm Coast’s European Village.
Mimi, Larry, Marta and Mike thanks for joining us, we love you guys lots. Safe travels home.
Friday Susan and I traveled to St. Augustine where we docked at the municipal marina right in the heart of downtown. St. Augustine is a charming city with lots of fabulous architecture and art. On Saturday we rode our bikes to the Anastasia State Park on Anastasia Island and relaxed on the beautiful beach.
No discussion of St. Augustine would be complete without mentioning its history. St. Augustine is the oldest city in the U.S.A., settled by Spanish colonists in 1565. Susan and I attended church services Saturday evening at Cathedral Basilica of Saint Augustine, the first parish in the America’s.

Back on the Magical Mystery Tour

This past Tuesday, April 14, Susan and I returned to Northern Light docked at Soverel Marina in Palm Beach Gardens. Jay and Linda plan to re-join us in early May.We spent the day Wednesday repairing, preparing and provisioning for the continuation of our journey. We haven’t covered much ground/water for the last month so we anticipate putting in some long travel days over the next couple of weeks. We don’t have a firm schedule but obviously if we don’t start moving a little faster we’ll never get home by this summer like we had planned.
Thursday we traveled to Fort Pierce, Friday to Melbourne, Saturday Cocoa And Sunday we’re in New Smyrna . Most of the traveling was done on the Indian River Lagoon, a 130 mile long river that runs north and south up Florida's East Coast and provides a great waterway when it’s too rough to travel offshore. That’s been the case this week with 25+ mph winds and offshore seas over 9”. The weather has been great and we have been able to anchor each night along the way. Tonight we are anchored behind a beach island just inside the Ponce de Leon Inlet.
Here are a few pictures from some of the high points of the week before we flew back home.

Posie and Tom , thanks for dinner and the use of your car !

Andy, we loved your visit, wish it could have been longer.

Lastly I wanted to mention my visit with my old high school buddies the Boca Boys. I went to high school in Ft. Lauderdale and graduated with these guys 42 years ago. The last time I saw any of them we were all 18 years old, we’re now 60. What a hoot it was to see them, catch up and talk about old times.

Web Counter

Free Counter

Rest in Peace

This blog is dedicated to Mathew D. Uler, the beloved son of
Linda and Jay Uler, who unexpectedly passed away on Friday, March 27th, 2009.

He had many hardships in his life and his strength and courage were an inspiration to all those who loved him.

We will miss his mischievous smile, sparkling eyes, dry wit and humor and his sincere appreciation for the smallest of favors.

To quote Linda, “Our loss is his gain”.

Rest in Peace Matt!

(We will be in Michigan for the next two weeks.)

Where the Boys (and Girls) Are!

We spent a wonderful week in Fort Lauderdale at historic Cooley’s landing and enjoyed all the fun things to do there. Even though we had a few days of rain we were able to take advantage of the down time to get some things done, boat projects, laundry and needed provisioning. We also took in a couple of movies, went to the famous Fort Lauderdale beach. Yes, the Elbow Room is still there and it looks the same as it did in the 1960’s when we spent time here from college spring break. We spent much time on the River walk and enjoyed the restaurants and scenic beauty.

St. Patty’s Day was celebrated with our Looper friends Hank & Ann from “Queen Ann’s Revenge”. It was a great time visiting with them. We met them back in January in Mobile and it was nice to see them again.

Departed Cooley’s early Monday morning and headed north along the Intercoastal Waterway and enjoyed viewing the opulent homes, fabulous landscaping and mega yachts along the way. We needed a lift from a lot of bascule bridges but the schedule matched our travel time well. There was only a short wait for a few of them and all the bridge tenders had their own unique personalities which made it interesting.

Found some great anchorages along the way. Monday night at Lake Boca Raton, Tuesday in Lake Worth next to Peanut Island where we explored a beautiful park. An interesting fact about this island is that it housed the presidential bunker for JFK during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Waved at Donald Trump when we passed his home. Wednesday continued our journey north to North Palm Beach and found a special anchorage in the NE corner of Lake Worth.

We are all looking forward to having Andy Light come aboard this evening!