Making the most of it at St. John's Marina

Tuesday, 11/14/17

     We had planned to leave this morning to head to B & B Shrimp on Mosquito Creek, about 30 miles south of here.  It is the only place to dock and walk the dog between here and Hilton Head.  Unfortunately, they are closed on Monday and Tuesdays.  Pete also checked Passage Weather.  It turns out that we will not have a window to jump from Hilton Head to Fernandina Beach until middle of next week.  So, we began researching traveling through Georgia. Unfortunately, we do not have the Georgia Cruising Guide with us.  We figured that we should stay another day, borrow the loaner car to head over to West Marine for the guide and continue our research.  Most of the afternoon was spent checking as much as we could without the guide. Through Active Captain, we were able to see the routes and marinas, but not the tides, which is a real problem.  Though only 140 miles, it could conservatively, it could take us 4-5 days due to the spacing of the marinas. Anchoring is out as there are no spots to take Bailey ashore.  Then we have to figure in the tides and currents. After much discussion, we decided not to cruise Georgia, but to make the jump.  That means we need to stay. We arranged for dockage through Sunday.  It meant we had to move the boat for a 3^rd time today.  First was from the fuel dock to C-25, which was OKfor 1 night, but we needed to be on B-54 for the rest of the week.

Sunset

     By 3, it was time to pick up the car keys.  Another boater, who will be leaving in the morning, needed it more than we did, so we will have it tomorrow.  Instead we returned to the boat, read and enjoyed the leftover sausage and peppers for dinner.  We can sleep in tomorrow since we are staying.

Wednesday, 11/15/17

Crew working on dock repairs

     So much for sleeping in late.  At 7:15, we jumped out of bed after hearing a bang/clang.  It sounded as if we lost our anchor.  Remember that barge sitting at the end of the dock?  Well, it is about 50 feet away across the fairway.  They are lifting steel pilings into place. . .at 7:15 am!

     Pete has plenty of work to keep him busy.  I did some light house cleaning, walked, transferred photos, and read.  It was a really pretty day once it warmed up to the low 60’s.  Just before six, we pricked up the car keys, and received a suggestion for a good place for Chinese/ Vietnamese food.  After buying a new printer at Staples, we had a good dinner at Pho Saigon.  Since it was in the same shopping center, we picked up a few items at Harris Teeter’s, then went to O’Rielly’s Auto Parts.
     Scenes from my walk. . . 

      Once back, I spent some time visiting Carolyn by phone.  Somehow in her sleep last night, she broke her pelvis. She was doing so well with her therapy. This will definitely set her back.

Thursday, 11/16/17

     This morning we expected noise from the workers. Pete watched in fascination as the tug re-positioned the barge in the strong current.  The barge pushed the barge away from the dock.  They then set one of the barge’s pilings to stabilize it, then the tug pushed the barge into another direction.  They stabilized it again and repeated the procedure until they were able to put the barge into the fairway. Pretty impressive in this current! 

     SV CHEROKA docked 4 slips up from us.  Mike said that they had to have a diver try to free his anchor from the sunken 42’, center cockpit sailboat that is sunk in the area that boats anchor across from Charleston City marina.  He could not pull up the anchor on Tuesday.  Suggestions from others on Active Captain as well as assistance from TowBoat US didn’t help. They had to buy a new anchor and just a short run of chain. Pete discussed our plans for jumping next week.  Mike said that they are part of a couple of boats hoping to do the same.  Looks like we might have company for our ocean ride.

     Today's walk...

     Otherwise today was pretty much a repeat of yesterday, with the Vietnamese food as leftovers.
   

Friday, 11/17/17

Re-positioning the barge

     The barge has once again been re-positioned. Today, it is on the opposite side of the dock from us.  Crews still work on the other two docks, finishing up the cleat and electrical installations.

    
    I spent a good part of the day, updating info for the blog.  We are still waiting for the pump out boat.  It has engine trouble, so it has a hip tow as it makes it rounds.  For some reason, they didn’t make rounds on Wednesday or Thursday.  We are on the list and definitely need their services.  There is no way with the barge in place, that we could get in to the fuel dock for the pump out. I also managed another good walk.  The weather is perfect: cool, mid 60’s and a light breeze.
    Another great day for a walk and photos. . . 

      After dinner, we chilled, read and watched some TV, but nothing worthwhile.

Saturday, 11/18/17

     Took advantage of the great laundry. At a $1/machine it is very reasonable and usually available as they have 4 of each machines.  There is also a long folding surface should there be others also doing laundry.  While my stuff was in the washer, I enjoyed a long, hot shower and washed my hair.  I then went back to the boat to vacuum the rugs and take them up for washing.  While in the laundry Room, I meet Neal, who was on crutches.  He had plans to circumnavigate, but they had to be put on hold for a year.  Six weeks ago, he and his parents were sailing off Florida’s east coast, when his right tibia was shattered by the end of a bungie cord attached to the windless.  He was untangling the cord, when it broke, sending the metal piece right into the tibia. His dad then fell overboard, and he had to hop back to the helm and get Dad back aboard.  Then there was a 10-hour sail into port to get medical attention.  He now has a metal rod for a tibia and plenty of therapy ahead. Once fully healed, I hope that he is able to fulfill his dream.

     It seems that the laundry room is a great place to meet other cruisers.  I also met Louise and Gary, SV TAKAMOANA (Float on Water).  They have been world sailors for the past 7 years.  They love the gypsy life with no agenda, even though it drives their daughter nuts!  We hope our paths meet further down the cruise.

     Pete was able to do a full check on the systems as well as wash the boat.  He also looked into Navionics Sonar charts (supported by Ray Marine).  It is an app that is crowd sourced.  If one has the sonar and the app, it can be set up to send specific depth information that is joined with others who have cruised that area, to give a pretty accurate depth and contours of the bottom.  Once the app was set up on his phone (he can access the info, we just can submit depths as we do not have sonar) he went and viewed the information on McClellanville and it matched what we saw when traversing the area.  Pretty neat!!!

     Since provisioning will not be easy once we are in Florida, I was able to get the car for some last-minute items.  I hope this is the last provisioning until we are in Riviera Beach for the next two months.

     
Tonight's sunset was beautiful!
      
~~~ /) ~~ K & P