Category: Voyage

Tuesday night we found a secluded spot alongside St Catherines Island on Walburg Creek in Georgia. Having no success with finding dock space anywhere for the night, we decided to anchor out once again. What we are finding is that we are absolutely loving ending our evening with no boats, no docks, no people, no lights, and no city…nothing but stars, solitude, silence, and serenity. It is the most peaceful ending to a busy day of boating and we will be anchoring out now any chance we get. Anchoring out is a reminder to us all to seek our serenity and silence.

We spent two days and nights at Thunderbolt Marina in Savannah, GA. We had never been to Savannah before so we took the hop-on/hop-off trolley for a quick overview of this historical city. We loved the stately live oaks covered with their Spanish moss, the blooming Dogwoods and azaleas and the wonderful old homes, some of which date back to the early 1800’s.

Today we had an easy run from Savannah to Hilton Head and crossed from Georgia into South Carolina. The landscape is unmistakeably low-country now with marsh grass, numerous cuts and inlets, and nine foot tidal changes. Tomorrow we are playing golf at one of the many beautiful golf courses on Hilton Head.

It’s hard to believe we have journeyed over 1150 miles since we began our cruise. Yesterday we crossed the FL/GA line. We decided to anchor offshore of the Cumberland Island National Park and planned to dinghy ashore for a day of hiking and picnicking. We hiked 10 miles from the Atlantic side of the island to the bay side yesterday afternoon.

The island was owned by the Carnegie family in the 19th century. They built a 35,000 sq. foot mansion with buildings to house over 200 support staff in the late 1800’s. The 20th century Carnegies donated the island to the National Park Service with the proviso that all the horses left on the island would be allowed to roam freely. Thus, many generations of horses since then have grown to a population of approximately 150 horses. We encountered many groups of feral horses while hiking both the beach side and bay side of the island.

We were glad that our anchor held firm throughout a windy day and night and now we’re ready to anchor out more when the occasion arises. Now we head north toward Jekyll Island and to Savannah.

With all boat systems functioning well, we have made our way up the ICW a short distance from Vero Beach to Indian Harbor Beach to stay a couple of nights at the Eau Gallie Yacht Club. Since we had a full day to explore, we opted to take an Uber ride to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral and be tourists for the day. It has been at least twenty-five years since we have visited the facility and there have been substantial upgrades to the exhibits. It brought back memories of being glued to our tv sets as youngsters watching the United States Space program mature through Mercury, Gemini and the Apollo programs. The extraordinary exhibit of the Atlantis Space shuttle missions brought tears to our eyes as we realized the sacrifices and dedication of all the heroes it took to accomplish these goals. It certainly made us proud to be Americans. The comparison of our small boating journey to the magnitude of what has been accomplished in space over these short decades is best stated by Space Shuttle Engineer, Tom Milner. He said, ”We have dreamed big, ventured on wild seas, lost sight of the land, and found stars to guide us on our journey. We expanded our horizons and learned lessons.” God Bless America!

After spending two days getting necessary boat repairs accomplished in Fort Lauderdale and North Palm Beach, we are underway again with all systems operational. The big change since we got back from the Bahamas has been the extreme increase in the cost of gas and diesel fuel. The good news about cruising the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway is that a good portion of it is restricted to slow speed (7-10mph) which has greatly reduced our hourly fuel consumption while we travel. We are now enjoying Vero Beach where our daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren will join us for a few days of relaxation. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a month since we have seen our children and grandchildren.

Although we have enjoyed our two weeks cruising in the Bahamas, especially the beauty of the turquoise waters, it is great to be back in U.S. waters. Most of our decisions to move from island to island were based on the predictions of the wind and wave height of the seas. We reduced our planned stop at Chub Cay from two days to one so we could make our way south to Nassau before strong tradewinds settled in. The plan of cruising further north to Grand Bahama was cancelled due to a combination of deteriorating weather and some annoying mechanical issues with our boat that needed to be addressed as soon as we could get back to the mainland.

We therefore, circled back to Chub Cay from Nassau with a new plan to cruise west to arrive in Ft. Lauderdale. We crossed the Gulf Stream Thursday March 10th in some uncomfortable seas to arrive in Ft. Lauderdale where we ultimately lost our steering capability due to a combination of hydraulic issues. Thanks to Tow Boat U.S. for towing us to the Lauderdale Yacht Club where we were able to arrange for necessary repairs which occurred on Thursday afternoon and most of Friday. We took advantage of our unscheduled stay in Ft. Lauderdale to have dinner with friends who live nearby. They were even kind enough to loan us their car to run some errands and re-provision the boat for our first true installment on the Great Circle Loop. We are now taking advantage of the slow pace and calm waters of the Atlantic ICW (Intracoastal Waterway). Today we cruised from Ft. Lauderdale to Boca Raton, passing through five drawbridges en route.