Total:
649 miles 106.8 hours
THURSDAY, 11/8/18 ~ We were able to sleep in! We were up at 7:15 and under way by 8. Before
we left, I found some dampness under the forward mattress when making the bed.
Since I had found some moisture under the cushion of the starboard sofa
yesterday, I rechecked that as well. Apparently, we have 2 leaks; one from the
anchor windless and the other somehow through the cubby hole, not the
windows. The mattress and cushions were
elevated or moved to dry, while stuff from the cubby hole were cleaned and
dried before departing the dock.
We had the current with us as well as high
tide. It was definitely favorable, as Florence created more shallow areas
closer to the Ben Sawyer Bridge.
Heading up the Charleston Harbor, we saw
the foreign cruise ship with the strange eyes and mouth on the bow. She is a
European cruise ship and cruises the east coast ports for a week at a
time. We had seen her in Norfolk while
we were there.
We were early for the 10:30 am opening of
the Wapoo Creek Bridge. We called in
requesting the opening, then Pete danced in the current for about 15
minutes. 10:30 came and went and at
10:35 Pete called the bridge again to see if there was a problem. She must have
been preoccupied, forgot and was a wee bit embarrassed. She immediately opened
the bridge without returning radio communications and never responded to our
“thank you.” Oh well, we were on our way.
Elliott Cut is always interesting. Two years ago, when we had the strong current
with us, we did 11 mph! Our hull speed
is only 7, so we were cruisin’!!! Today,
it was against us and the best we could do was 4.3 mph.
Once thru the Cut, we make a turn to port
onto the Stono River and the ¼ mile to St. John’s Marina. “E” was there to help dock. He and his staff are super, which is why we
look forward to coming here. Oh yea, the
showers are my second favorite, the 4 sets of laundry machines inexpensive ($1.00
/ load!) with plenty of table space for folding, and there is a free loaner car
for provisioning or going to a restaurant! The only negative is the strong currents,
which usually make docking and leaving “interesting.”
Once settled, we met our neighbors, Chris
and Sabrina aboard SV THIRD WIND, a 3500 Tartan from Michigan. This is their first venture south. They are new long-term cruisers along with
Buddy, their dog. Current plans are to continue south to Marathon, visit with
friends, and then figure where to next.
While I was cleaning, Pete spent 4 hours
on the phone with the tech support from the KVH for the TV antenna and with the
tech support for the receiver from DISH.
After checking and/or manually adjusting everything, the only thing that
makes sense, is that the box (our second in 2 years) is bad and needs to be
replaced. We were told that we could
take the box to Camping World, where they could test it to confirm it is
bad. Then it could be replaced as it is
insured under the contract. We though we
got lucky. There is one in North Charleston (about 20 miles away!) When Pete called, they confirmed that they do
NOT test/service the DISH boxes. We will
figure out how we will proceed. . . tomorrow.
After dinner, Pete was able to chill and
read while I worked on the blog. All the
writing is up to date and on the web. Now, I just have to process and add the
photos, then post the blog. Fingers
crossed that I can complete it tomorrow.
FRIDAY, 11/9/18 ~ I
reserved the car to do grocery shopping this morning. Pete dropped me off so that he could drive to
Camper’s World, in North Charleston to pick up a new DISH receiver and then
stop at West Marine for a few needed supplies.
We got it all done in the 2-hour time frame, but that didn’t leave any
time to stop in at an optical store to have my glasses readjusted. Thankfully, I was able to reserve the car
again for tomorrow morning.
Once home I was able to reorganize the
food supplies and put them away. Pete
searched for the possible cause of the leaks.
The anchor windlass is still not water tight even though Pete replaced
the gasket. We still don’t know where
the one is entering the starboard cubby, so the investigation continues.
Last night, shortly after midnight, aa
cold front containing some pretty strong storms rolled through the area with a
lot of lightning and thunder. When
checking Facebook this morning, SV Simplicity, which made the jump from Myrtle
Beach to Charleston, reported being struck and disabled by lightning. Deb and
Hugh are ok, but they needed to call the Coast Guard, who came out to tow them
from 35 miles out to the mouth of the harbor.
TowBoat assisted once in the harbor.
We spoke briefly to them this afternoon just to check to see how they
are doing. We will meet for dinner
tomorrow so that we can get the full story.
I was able to get a few small chores
completed while Pete worked with the DISH tech to set up the new receiver. We just chilled after dinner and enjoyed
vegging out with the TV. Of course, we
lost all the programming that we had recorded and hoped to catch up on when we
switched receivers. The new one is a
different model, so it can’t read the recorded programming from the last
receiver. There went the season of Vikings!
SATURDAY, 11/10/18 ~ I was
at Pearl Vision Center at 10 am. Even
though there was a steady stream of regular customers, the two opticians
alternated, and spent the greater part of a half hour with me. My glasses are finally properly
adjusted. I think having the bifocal
line not equal on each eye was causing my daily headaches. What a relief. I actually wrote a Google review, because
they were great.
We spent the afternoon just chilling and
reading.
At 5:30, we headed over to the Fleet
Reserve Restaurant in Charleston. I had tried to make reservations yesterday. They already we maxed out, but accept
walk-ins. I am glad we arrived way early so that I could get our names on the
wait list. Our wait time was an hour and 40 minutes. Deb and Hugh met us around 7 and we were
seated about 20 minutes later. Dinner
was delicious. We all had different
seafood dishes. Deb had scallops with
green beans; Hugh had Low Country Pasta (mussels, shrimp and fish): Pete, Fish
n Chips, and I had Pan fried Tilapia with asparagus and fingerling potatoes,
which was fabulous.
As to SIMPLICITY’s adventure last night,
the anchor has a chip out of it. They think that was where they were hit. The alternator had a fire, that Hugh was able
to dowse immediately. The engine would not keep running, so they had to sail
until help arrived; The electronics and VHF are dead; the battery charger is fried,
the freezer is “toast”. Tomorrow they will try to asses more of the
damages. Being the weekend, they will
have to wait until Monday to get people lined up and the ball rolling. It will
be a while before they will be able to continue their cruising. I just wish there was more we could help them
with. Thankfully, Deb’s sister is near
Myrtle Beach, so they have family not too far away.
SUNDAY, 11/12/18 ~ I
timed it well, I had the laundry to myself.
I was able to do all 3 loads at the same time. While waiting for the driers to finish, Deb
and Gene from MV MISS DEB (who we met at Morehead City) were also checking out
the facilities. They just arrived and will be staying a few days while meeting
up with MV EASY LIVIN’ here at St John’s. They will be heading down to Port
Royal sometime later this week. We might
see them there. I told them of Pete’s
plan to jump from Port Royal to St. Mary’s. Deb called later to let us know
that they just read on Facebook that the mooring balls have been pulled and the
marina at Fernandina Beach closed for reconstruction until next June. Pete had seen it, too, and is looking to jump
straight to St. Augustine. It would mean
no dealing with the winding waterway with its notorious, skinny areas between Fernandina
and St. Augustine. Looking at the week’s
forecast, it looks like we will need to wait over a week for a weather
window. We will see. . . .
~
~ ~
/) ~ ~ K & P
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