March 27, 28

This morning I left Georgetown after spending a couple of days there. Yesterday I washed Shorty down and did my laundry. Those are always two of the things that are waiting when I have time. This morning I left Georgetown around 8:00 AM and for once I hit the waterway when the tide was slack and not running either direction so I let Shorty go on the Waccamaw River and we traveled up toward Myrtle Beach area. The river is a broad expanse and we started out with the typical marsh but with more trees than usual. Then another change took place on the river and we were now in a cypress swamp type area with trees growing right down to the channel of the waterway. This was an exciting change for me as we now did not have a lot of crab traps any more and I was traveling through a large area designated as a National Wildlife Refuge. The Osprey were now nesting in dead tree tops and on the markers in the waterway and a couple of times I saw some small ones peeping out of the nests as I went by. The waterway now became much narrower than it had been since I got on it. There is just about room for another boat or barge to pass if both take it slow. I had it all to myself this morning so I could commune with nature as I went along. It was very fitting for me to be traveling alone because a friend of mine passed away and it gave me the time to reflect on our friendship though it was very short. I met John Parker at a time in his life when it was very difficult for him. I always wished that I had known him sooner because he was a very kind and funny man who had come along during the years when it was tough to make a living. His illness made him do things that made it difficult for others but on his good days he was the nicest person to be around. Even not knowing him for very long I will miss him dearly when I get home. Bentley likes to go over and play with his and Dorothy’s two West Highland Terriers and he loved to watch them even though he did not say much; you would always see him smiling out of the corner of your eye.

Then I reached an area known as the rock pile and the channel got even narrower and if there was a barge coming you would have to turn around and wait for him downstream at another place where the waterway widens out. The currents here made it tougher to stay in mid channel because now the tide was going out when I got close to Myrtle Beach. I am now in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and that puts me pretty close to the North Carolina border and I just figured out my miles and Shorty and I have now traveled 1050 miles and everything is still hanging together. Sometime in the next forty miles we will be crossing the border into North Carolina. We still have a long way to go and many nights to sleep before we hang our hats on the wall. Now the only palms and palmettos are there for landscape unless I run up on them again in North Carolina. I am still limiting myself to 50-80 miles a day until the whole country is in Springtime. The dogwoods were blooming in a few places. Another thing I noticed today is not all the homes are McMansions but are getting down to workable size most of the time. Of course the Myrtle Beach area is another condo area but there are not as many viewable from the waterway. But there are enough to let you know there are more you just can't see them because they are toward the beach on the Atlantic. I also passed a couple of Swing bridges where I lower my radio antenna and I can then get under without the bridge tender having to open them.

I walked out of Dock Holiday’s Marina up to the main road and asked how far to the grocery store at a golf cart store on the main highway which was only a couple of blocks from the marina. Well the man in the store just handed me the keys to his pickup and said its down there a ways at the first traffic light. I said no but he insisted so I took it down and back and it sure made that chore go a lot better. My eyes in the store are always bigger than the boats storage compartments so I will work on that directly when I finish writing this. I have met so many kind people on the trip that I hope I can keep up with when the trip is over. I can’t remember all their names but I certainly can remember the name of the boat.

The only photo I took today was of the beautiful sunrise this morning. I will have to listen to the weather again but I think it is supposed to be another north east wind which does not bother me in the waterway but I think I have a little open water at the end of the trip. So I better get on the charts for tomorrow and see what is going to be happening up the way

March 26, 2007

As of two o’clock today I am sitting at the dock in Georgetown, SC where I am catching up a little on posting of expenses for the trip. This morning when I started out in Charleston, SC it was very cloudy and the winds were very gusty and there were small craft warnings up. I knew that I would have to see what Shorty could handle in the way of bad weather. The visibility was so low that I could not see the next marker from where I was. I know that may be scary to some but the chartplotter almost puts you on top of the marker and you see it well before you get there. The waves were probably 3-4 feet in height because when I would hit one it would bury the nose of the boat ever so often. The waves were also extremely choppy because we had an east wind coming right up the channel toward the city and the tide was going the opposite direction. As long as I kept the speed down to five knots we did fine and I have stuff sitting around the boat and it did not fall on the floor. The charts were on the table and they did not fall off either. The microwave has taken it in stride so far. The only boats out were me and one Coast Guard boat. I got just to the entrance to the waterway and I was passed by another big cruiser that has passed me a lot of times on the trip and they were going to Myrtle Beach, SC before they stopped for the day. I was very pleased with the way the boat took on the conditions this morning and did not hiccup once because more than likely we will encounter those conditions many times before the trip is over. I won’t take those conditions on again on purpose but if I get caught out on a large body of water I have to know the boat can handle it. In the midst of all the conditions I also came very close to Fort Sumter but it was too foggy and in those conditions I could not get a photograph of it. It sets in the middle of the harbor entrance as near as I could tell and that meant it would have done a good job of protecting the bay.

I also noticed in my travels today that the trees and marshes have changed from what they were in Charleston area. There are now more trees and an embankment along the waterway and it has narrowed except where I am now on Winyah Bay in Georgetown. This morning, with the overcast and strong winds all the birds including the pelicans were sitting on the high ground instead hunting as usual. The thrill I get from seeing the new things around each corner and being able to sit inside in bad weather makes this one really enjoyable journey. While there is a bit of a breeze I am going to walk the eight blocks from here to downtown Georgetown and see what I can find there. I will probably stay here a couple of days and do laundry and such and I need to scrub Shorty down and get rid of his salt bath of today.

I completed my journey downtown to see what Georgetown is all about. While I was downtown I met a fellow who said he had seen me on the waterway in Shorty a number of times. I am sure that we will cross paths again before his journey to the Chesapeake Bay is completed. Shorty is definitely looked over in every port and this morning the captain of the big trawler in front of me came down and asked if he could help do my lines when I got ready to pull out. The marina people drove down in their cart to the end of the dock this morning to see how Shorty would take the high wind and waves and they had said if it didn’t work or anything happened to just call and they would send a boat out to help me back. Back to Georgetown, it is a beautiful place and about the size of my hometown in Iowa. The homes are as pretty as in Charleston and some are smaller. The churches are all still established in the early 1700’s and this time there was a black church that was started back then. They also had a cotton exchange here where they bought and sold cotton and other products grown on the plantations back then. It surprised me that this little town has two big plants which require ocean-going vessels to enter it as a port so they also have the regular buoy systems and the intracoastal markers. They even have a Coast Guard Station here with a one boat presence. There is a large contingent of Sport Fishing boats at this marina because it is close to the Atlantic and an exhibit of a record sailfish that was caught in Georgetown Canyon in the Atlantic at the entrance to Winyah Bay on the Waccamaw River.
I must go for now, the sun is setting and it feels like it will be a chilly night here in Georgetown. It won’t be freezing though but different from the 80 degree day on Sunday in Charleston

March 25, 2007

Since today was Sunday in Charleston, SC I decided that today I would go and photograph the old churches in hopes of getting one that was open and letting people just tour it. No such luck today. I started with the Catholic Cathedral which was very large and made of red brick which were very unassuming but there was something different about them. Instead of laying with holes down it looked as though they were laid on edge. It just seemed that way because of the pattern they used in the brick. Next I came upon some gardens and fountains in between the buildings as I went. I also saw some more neat and unusual homes. In one of the gardens leading to a church I spotted what appears to be some holly berries or some such plant. Maybe those of you who are flower and plant buffs can identify them for me. Next I came to the Unitarian Church which had some unusual features about it. The Lutheran church had what is known in the original glass windows as rain glass because it always has the look of being wet with water. Another person called it crying glass for it had absorbed the sins of men. The Congregational Church was the most unusual of all since it was a church in the round. A person could certainly not hide from their sins in that church. I don’t believe I have ever seen a church in the round before but since I am from Iowa I have seen round barns. And of course no list would be complete without another beautiful Episcopal Church. That concluded today’s tour as my feet and legs were simply worn out after walking at least eight miles this weekend on foot or more. I also went back to the old marketplace and I am still amazed that the buildings are four blocks long. Of course they are open in many places where you can go in and out through the old market stalls which are now filled with many things they did not originally have when first built.

The city was full of tourists today going around on horse and buggy tours, trolley tours, bus tours, limo tours, and as mine was a walking tour with a map and do it yourself.

Tomorrow I plan on moving up the waterway again. I don’t know how far, it depends on the weather but right now the plan is to be in Georgetown, SC tomorrow evening. I will again play tourist but I am also going to have to do laundry, buy a few groceries if possible and other boat things like cleaning in the interior again. My feet got wet cleaning the outside today and then after cleaning them on the door mat I carried something oily in on them anyhow. A boat is constantly in the process of being cleaned, polished and other stuff serviced. No complaints I just thought I would say something because what I am doing is not a ride in the park. I also have to study charts this evening as well as cook something to eat and then in the morning it will all pay off with an enjoyable day on the waterway.

March 24, 2007

This was just one of those gorgeous spring days that are just right. I hope everyone is now having spring weather because when I was in Florida sleeping under two sleeping bags I wasn’t sure that spring was going to ever get here. I got up early today and fixed breakfast and then got myself over to the stop for the Marina van trip downtown to see some of the historic sites. I had him drop me off on Market Street in the old section of town which is also down by the river where the cruise lines tie up when they are in Charleston. If I remember correctly the one at the dock today was the liner Norwegian Princess from the Norwegian Cruise Lines. It was unloading so it was pretty much a mad house. The US Customs House is also right there by the docks. There were a couple of container ships coming and going also which I think is normal in all ports I have been to and even in Brunswick, GA where I did not expect to see them. Well I wound my way through the old market which was four buildings of all kinds of jewelry, paintings, basket work, and various other wares. I saw lots I was interested in but nothing I could take with me on the boat. Then I started my usual four blocks around walk which usually turns up a lot of interesting history. I had just got to the first church which was another Episcopal Church when the battery on my camera quit. It did not notify me any earlier in the day. So I walked back to the Marina to charge the battery for it. On the way I peeked into all sorts of little walkways between homes and gardens in little side yards so I will definitely being going back tomorrow morning and give it another try since I have recharged the battery. I walked on real old cobblestone streets and sidewalks made from original slate laid every which way but not flat. This is not high heeled shoe country. This afternoon I took another walk closer to the Marina and took some photos of the houses and architectural things that are somewhat different in each southern city I have visited. I am going to try to post those to the photo link I have set up. The morning trip must have been at least a five mile walk so I needed a break before I started out again. The afternoon walk was about a mile or two so I am hoping my feet are ready for tomorrow morning.

Back at the Marina it was boats on parade day as all the locals drive their boats past to get a look at what’s new in town at the Megadock of Charleston. That means that all of us on the face dock get bounced up and down all day as we sit on our boats looking at their boats go by. The highlight of the boat parade was the one with what looked like a load of Hooters girls in bikinis to much cheering. It came by just before I laid down to get my sore feet some rest. I thought it would end but another boat just went by tonight. I also walked all 3000 feet of dock and looked at the boats just like everyone does and there are some really gorgeous boats here. A lot of them were restored and also a lot of brand new. My favorites of course, are the trawlers. They have some really nice ones and some; well there are a few that can’t make up their mind as to where they should be classified. I think I am probably the smallest boat here but I will keep looking. The one thing I can tell you is that you meet some of the friendliest folks you will ever find no matter where I have been down here. They will help you with anything and everything.

I am having a hard time keeping up with all the business cards I have collected with all of boats on them. I did not think of having one done with Shorty’s photo on it. You live and learn new things every day. I am always inputting new email addresses and trying to remember everyone I meet. Tonight I saw the PDQ Catamaran that is on the Loop so I will try to visit with them and see what they have been doing since we last crossed paths. On the walk down the dock I was looking for any new boats on the Loop but that was the only one I know of for sure. Its time to close up for the evening; before the no-see-ums find out I still have my windows open. The dinner cruise boat just went past and is turning around for its second pass of the evening.

http://www.photogserver.net/file/larryhoth/Shorty's%20Photos/

Everyone knows to hold down control and click the link to the photos and go to each file and click to open it and then click the individual photo. If anyone is having trouble just email me.

March 23, 2007

Tonight this issue comes to you from Charleston, South Carolina and I am at the Downtown Municipal Marina of Charleston. I am on what is known as the Mega Dock which is 3000 feet of face dock for transients in Charleston at this particular marina. It called the Mega Dock because it has room for yachts as large as you can dream of and the power facilities and all to handle them. It is really funny as I am between a 60 foot Kadey Krogen and a big but beautiful 63 foot Hatteras Sport Fishing Yacht and with me at 26 feet I look like the stepchild of one of them. In fact there is a yacht here tonight I am told that has a 37 feet sport fishing boat as its tender. The Friday night thing to do in Charleston if you have a way to get on the water is to drive past the Mega Dock in your boat and view what is there. As they come by they point at me and smile and some laugh at what I am doing in such a place. Well I will tell you Shorty and I don’t give up any ground to any of these big boys. They even started not to take me because they have a 30 feet minimum. But I sort of hinted that was pretty much discriminating against us small folks who are doing the same thing they are, traveling on the waterway. I like being on the face of the dock other than the constant bounce of the waves but even the big guys bounce so I am not alone.
This morning I left at 7:30 AM just as I was able to see the markers and the numbers on them because I had about 90 miles to go. As the sun came up I was treated to a rare spectacle for me so far. There was a light coating of fog in the air which burned off shortly after sunup but it made the marshes and the waterway look so beautiful as you were going along. The water was like a mirror because the wind was calm and we were the first disturbance of the day. The tide was out and the birds were walking along the waters edge, egrets were fishing, as were the herons. Up ahead of me were some dolphins doing the morning hunt. And for the first time I started to see pairs of Canada Geese working the tide flats. As you know they pair up for life and even though they travel in groups when flying when they were in the marshes this morning they were just in their pair status. As the sun came up further the markers were a little easier to spot and after a few miles I crossed one of the large sounds and could barely discern the markers in the distance as the haze and fog obscured them some. The chartplotter was kind enough to give me the path and then the markers would eventually come into view so I could stay away from shoaling water. The route was the usual twists and turns and double backs, bridges, slow down for no wake signs which were official ones. Most of the trawlers start real early so about the second hour into my day I begin to pass them one at a time as I continued on. I even saw a couple which I had seen before on the trip and a wave and a smile makes your day when you see a friend doing the same thing as you are. As the day wore on I ate my snacks which I set out before I start and I continued to check markers and what the tide and the crab traps are doing. You won’t believe this but I was in Charleston and tied up at the dock by 12:30 noontime today. When I came around the last bend and saw Charleston downtown I could not believe my eyes. I had done the ninety miles in five hours at 3000 rpms and even two official slow sections and a lot of adverse tide. Is that a day you could love or what. If they are all this good I don’t know how I will handle it. I could sit in the cockpit out back and eat my lunch with a nice easy breeze blowing and watch the traffic go by on the river. Tomorrow I will start taking up the tourist side and I will be here Sunday as well and then Monday it is back on the waterway again. I had planned to get here by four this afternoon and not noon. I even had time to get a mile walk in before I made my dinner tonight

March 22, 2007

I spent a second day in Beaufort, SC today and this time I went to see as much as I could in the other half of the city. I know I probably did not touch half of the things but most of the historic buildings and such lie within about maybe six blocks each way and then about four blocks from the river into the city. The rest of the city expanded after the early 1700’s. This made it a nice city to walk about without taking a tour. This place is exceptionally buggy tonight as there is no breeze. It went away as quick as the sun set. I put up two sets of photos for those of you who have gotten the photo link from earlier postings. They are mostly of the azaleas and the architecture of the homes down here. I also have some of the Episcopal Church which was established in 1712. I also was able to go in and take a couple of pictures of the interior. They did not trust Catholics and the religion was banned early on in the southern colonies because of the close proximity to Florida which was Spanish. They felt that if people were allowed to practice Catholicism they would be more likely to side with the Spanish. I got this bit from the man who was leading the walking tour through the cemetery of the Episcopal Church. The early churches here buried there people right next to the church and you walked through the cemetery on your way to church for services. And it was interesting that some people were buried in the ground and some in little mausoleums above the ground. They must have thought that at some point when a hurricane came by that the water would raise the dead from the ground. I really have no idea, I am just rattling on. Maybe some of you can set me straight since I do my own history tours.

After going around photographing the city in cloudy weather this morning the afternoon was really a great one with lots of sunshine and since no breeze was available lots of the wonderful no-see-ums were there to fill the void. Tonight Shorty has company in the slip beside us. There is a little 24 foot cruiser and they just came in and went to a hotel. That is the way they are traveling. So at last we are docked and are larger than the boat docked next to us.

Today there were bus loads of students walking through the historic section of town on a history treasure hunt. Each group had photos of an object and they had to find it and then take a photo of it to show they had been there. They were swarming the cemetery of the church when I was there looking for the oldest grave site in the cemetery. It was kind of a way to make history fun for them.

I sat down for one more swing on one of the porch swings for Marilee and while I sitting there they began to fill with tourists waiting to see what the sunset would look like. So sitting there slowly swinging back and forth a lady came by and asked if she might join me since all of the others were filled up and I said sure. She asked what I was doing in Beaufort since I didn’t seem to be dressed like the others on tours and tour buses. She asked me where I was born and I said Iowa. She said she was from Iowa and on one of the tours from there. I asked her where she was born and shed said Clarence, Iowa so I told her I was from Sumner and she said no way. I said that I had retired and then some from her group came up and I did not get to find out how old she was but I bet if I looked up old stuff in Iowa I might recognize her or maybe my brother and his wife will. It is certainly a small world and what a way to end what was a perfect stay in Beaufort, South Carolina. Well a few minutes after sunset the bugs hit because the breeze went to zero and they needed more blood from my hide.

This issue is going to be pretty short tonight because tomorrow morning I leave for Charleston, South Carolina from here and I figure that it is at least 80 miles of hard going because of the tides which can cut your speed sometimes as much as 5 knots depending on the tidal stage and current.

March 21, 2007

I left Isle of Hope Marina this morning near Savannah, GA and arrived in Beaufort, South Carolina at the Downtown City Marina by about 12:30 after trolling through a few slow spots and doing at total of 55 miles today. Most of the time the tides would let me either gain in speed or lose depending on the direction of the tide. Beaufort is one of those cities that let you know when you pull up to the dock that they are special. Some docks handle you with care and some just want the money and leave tomorrow. This is definitely a tourist destination. I got all signed in fill my gas tank and got my slip assignment, tied up, and connected to the electricity in just about 30 minutes. Then went up to the office to get the packet of information they give you on the area that you are in. The first thing I did was go get cleaned up and then put on my walking shoes. I knew I would get my exercise here. The city has a park along the waterfront which stretches about a half mile. Along that half mile they have put benches and porch swings under all the old live oak trees. The flowers are just beginning to bloom in all the areas I am approaching now. Then just behind the park is the old downtown area of Beaufort. Behind that is an area of old homes and churches and the city is laid out in such a fashion that it is easy to find your way around and you always end up at the waterfront. We have had kind of an off and on day of rain showers all around us but it did not rain here except for a few sprinkles. I will do more walking around town and looking for historical things again tomorrow.

The trip this morning was really great. It was a very calm morning when I started and the marshes in the sunshine at about eight in the morning look gorgeous. It was high tide when I started out so I could see for miles across the marshes in all directions. The first thing when I came around the bend at Thunderbolt, GA they were having rowing practice in pairs of eight. There three boats of eight getting in their training sessions. You could hear them counting cadence and I slowed to give them no wake so they would not have to deal with that. Around the next bends I began to see all the big and beautiful homes around the Savannah area and then you about two or three miles and you hit the Savannah river and right when I was about to cross it two ships were meeting with one going out to sea and the other coming into port. I have a shot of one of them going by in the marshland. You cross the Savannah River and go back into the many islands and rivers of the lowlands again. You go past the places that everyone has heard about, like Daufuskie Island, Hilton Head Island with all of its rich and beautiful homes and boats in the marinas. After you cross under the bridge at Hilton Head you travel just a little bit further around a couple more bends and there is the city of Beaufort laying before you like a walk back in time as you see the old mansions from the water before you get here to the docks. But I also had to cross a couple of big sounds or inlets from the ocean today and travel a long distance up them and this is where the tides can really play havoc with your time line if you have one. The big ones were the Calibogue and Port Royal sounds where you travel on headings toward bouys which you sometimes can’t see right away and they can also be rough. Since the winds were forecast to increase later in the day I wanted to get away from the dock as soon as possible to avoid the large waves if I could. The wind gods were with me and when I reached the last sound they were only about 15 miles per hour. But Shorty loves to ride the waves and cruised along at between 13 and 15 knots and about 3000 RPM’s again today. On big water that seems to be about a good way to run. You get that fluid wave motion and since she is on plane the waves first hit the boat right about where I sit and she cuts and takes them and the movement and the power of the waves can be felt as you hiss along on them. I drive with the windows open and the back door which allows me to hear the movement and the power of the engine which is smooth as can be. Some days the motion is so nice that it goes real well with the classical music I listen to when all is well.

I also put the pictures of Savannah which were few because I took the tour which did not stop for photos. The photos from my walk around Beaufort today are also published on the photo link. Let me know if all links are working.

As always there are some beautiful boats in this marina both sail and power and all brands, shapes and sizes. You can certainly tell if the boat is just sitting in the marina or if it on the waterway and been moving. The people are all very friendly and fun to meet and talk to. I am so fortunate to be seeing America from its back door and seeing things I will never see again. I saw the first flock of ducks come in tonight that were also headed north before they split and landed in the marsh. I am facing the sunset again as usual and no matter what is coming for weather I really look forward to all the colors that are reflected on the water and the tide as it ripples by on its way. The tide really needs to come in here because I did not bring mountain goat shoes.

March 20, 2007

Today was play tourist day. I met a couple from Raleigh, North Carolina who are getting ready to finish the loop when they arrive there. They were going to town and take the tour of Savannah so I decided if they would have me here I come. We had to work a long city block to catch the bus to Savannah that was close to our marina. If you see a Texan riding a bus you know he is poor. It was really nice; it dropped us off very close to the visitor’s center downtown. From there friends had told them which tour was the best since they were from Savannah but were out of town at the moment and couldn’t take them down there. It was a great tour with a good guide on the bus but with one problem, they did not stop and let you off to take photos. You could get on and off alright but you would have had to do it fourteen times as that is the number of different stops they made that were close to what you wanted to photograph but we did not have that much time. The history lesson was really good and it really made one want to come back to take in all this in a slower way so as not to forget it. Since I did not have a tape recorder with me I am not going to give a history lesson but I have brought some materials with me that I will take home and read and maybe add to this blog later on. The tour guide was also funny. In the process though we rode with two other bus drivers and their tales were different from the other so it was very interesting, each had more to add to the story and featured different things in his talk.

On the bus ride home I sat next to a man who works as a tradesman when they do restorations of old homes here which is a big business it seems. They also have the Savannah College of Art and Design and if I got it right, it is the largest college in the country that grants degrees in art and restoration of buildings and etc. Their campus is scattered around Savannah in different restored buildings and their dormitory was the only thing modern as they attend school around the city. It was just too much for me to absorb at any one sitting. They city is laid out in a grid with various park areas scattered in a pattern throughout the grid. If you remember Brunswick, GA was done the same way and both were done by John Ogelthorpe who was the founder of Georgia.

After the long day it was another bus ride home to the marina. This marina has a car you can use to run errands so tonight the three of us went shopping for groceries at Walmart which was a big help and much cheaper than the regular stores and you don’t need a card to get a little bit of savings. So I have a boat load of groceries some of which has not found a home at this particular moment. If I move tomorrow I will have to find a place to stow them. I will need to know wind speed and direction as I will have a run over some areas of fairly large bodies of open water. I see now where they have also included a twenty percent chance of showers which will help to take some of the salt off of the bimini.

It is nine o’clock and I do not know where I use up all of the time. I am going to process the few photos I took today and see what they look like so goodnight for now.

March 17 ,18, 19

Tonight I am sitting, rocking gently, in the tidal flow going by the Isle of Hope Marina just below Savannah, GA in the town of Isle of Hope. I chose this marina to end up at today because it is next to a historic area and the little town is very old. It also has a bus which you can ride in and out of Savannah on. This is better than struggling up the Savannah river to the riverfront docks downtown which from what I hear are always full but this dock nearly always has room and is very nice. I left Brunswick this morning at about 8:30 AM and arrived here at 4:30 PM for a run of 90 miles and it was not tiring at all. I had good tides some of the way which meant that they were flowing the direction I was traveling instead of the other way. I would guess that today I hit them about 50 percent of the time. When you go against the tide the motor runs the same speed but the agitation and speed of the flow can cut your actual speed about 5 knots if you are close to the mouth of the river. Just think for a minute that I must have passed close to half million acres of marshland today. That land is just barely covered by water at high tide; lets say maybe six inches of water. Now think of all the little side creeks and rivers flowing into one another and then accumulating to go down to the ocean all at one time and then turn around and flow back in the next six hours and then do that four times a day. Just think how many times the riverbeds and marshes are scrubbed by the ocean tides and at this time of month the tides are usually much higher and much lower. Coming up the waterway at the low tide at times places Shorty and I so far down that anyone high up could probably only see my radar tower which is about a foot above the boat. I could only see boats coming at me when they got within about a half mile. Then they would become visible showing only the top part of the boat and most of them are from 15 to 20 feet high on the flying bridge deck which most of the bigger boats have. The only flying bridge I have is the one that I go under from time to time that tower over me by as much as 90 feet from me to the deck of the bridge. When I got up this morning there was fog on the river due to the fact that it was still only in the high 30’s but the water was much warmer. I am really cold most mornings when I get up, before I get my heater started to take the chill out but the floor of the boat always feels warmer than the air temperature which is nice and makes a cold morning nice on the feet. We are almost at high tide now and the ramp up to the shore is just a slight incline. When I got here this afternoon you almost had to be a mountain goat to climb up the ramp. The tidal flow today was going against the wind so in areas which were not shoaling there were some pretty good whitecaps and waves about two feet most of the day and I drove with my windows closed most of the day but in shirt sleeves as the sun felt good coming through the windows. I imagine that it will be pretty cool here tonight and I think it begins to warm up tomorrow. Out my windows I am surrounded by large boats ranging from a thirty foot boat behind me to mostly trawlers in the forty-fifty foot range and a few large cruisers bigger than that. But guess what; today with Shorty running at 3000 revolutions per minute for most of the day we passed most of the boats sitting here tonight. They all came in later than we did to the docks or were already here and haven’t moved for a couple of days or more. I think most of them are doing what I want to do tomorrow and that is sightsee in downtown Savannah without going up the river in there boats because the currents are really wicked and there is so much commercial traffic. For a major river I was surprised at its width when we crossed it a few days ago. It is very difficult for the large ocean going vessels to maneuver around little people such as Shorty because they cannot see him except on radar when they are close and even then once you lose sight of a vessel with eye contact it is hard to tell where they might be in front of or behind you. There was a large roll/on roll off ship in the Brunswick river this morning when I left and he was easily 1000 feet long and I know he had no idea I was about a half mile from him as he left port and when he got to the last buoy on the river he was in the same spot that I was going to make a left turn up the waterway and he had about a mile to go to the ocean entrance and he was already traveling faster than the twelve knots I was doing at the time.

I did not have any marker problems today. I managed to find all of them right where they should be thanks to the chartplotter. The chartplotter is really a most valuable instrument that anyone can have on board. Mine tells me the latitude and longitude that I am at and gives this information to my radio should I ever need to call for help on channel 16 which is the Coast Guard monitored channel. That would tell them exactly where I am at. When I contact marina’s using my radio I tell them at what marker I am and which direction I am headed on the waterway and this lets them know how far away I am and how long it will be before I am at their dock. They all provide help with the boat, they help you tie off to the dock. They hook up your shore power and make sure it is working.
They assist you in putting fuel in the tanks and then help with lines and such as you leave. They pump your holding tank from the boat to shore with a vacuum connection to make sure that none spills and the waters remain as clean as they can be.

A cute little towboat is going by towing a fishing boat which must have run out of fuel. That is one thing you can say so far about this trip is that everyone is very nice and will help you do anything you don’t know how to do yourself. Most of the boats when meeting are nice and slow down and when you pass someone you also give them the courtesy of no large wakes. The only ones who are not nice are the delivery captains and sportfishermen who believe there is only one speed and that is all the way to the firewall. You can now see the marker beacons strobing the red and green as darkness descends on the dock. Everyone has pretty well battened the hatches to keep the bugs out of their boats and all the socializing has been done for the day. The marina’s are really quiet, nobody is partying as everyone is either catching up on email or writing their notes or blogs for the day. I have logged my hours and caught up on expenses that I now keep on the computer as it is much easier. My dockage cost so far is twice what my fuel for the boat is running. I thought I would do more anchoring out and may do so as I continue on but with the tides being five feet or more and the currents pretty rugged it means that somebody on this boat must be a light sleeper in order to know if the anchor is dragging or not. I have been sleeping like a log except the night before I make the next move. I would not know most nights if I had drifted all the way to the ocean on the tide or not. With the tidal current moving about two miles per hour or more in eight hours you could be a long way from where you first started if you didn’t wake up. Most times the anchor will give you a scraping sound if it is not holding and you can reset it but in a tidal area the problem most often occurs when the tide changes direction so you could be further up or down the creek you are anchored in when you wake up. If you don’t turn off your chartplotter it has a function which will sound an alarm if you move a certain distance from where you are now, say a hundred or two hundred feet depending on how much anchor rope you have set out for the night. Your anchor rope can also wrap itself around something on the river floor and then you could also have problems. It that enough of this about anchoring. The only reason I am not anchored out is its easier to plug in than start the generator. I know that is what you are thinking. I really am afraid that the big bad wolf who comes around on the nights the moon is not out will get me. HA HA

March 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

On Wednesday and Thursday of this week I was away from Shorty. I got a sneak preview of what is to come to the north of here by helping some friends move their boat toward North Carolina for a couple of days. I said I could help them because I am not leaving here till Monday of the coming week. I hoping that as I move north then spring will kind of accompany me on the move. Back to the preview, we left Brunswick Landing Marina bright and early Wednesday morning as soon as the marks were visible. Our first turn was to the left and through St. Simon’s Sound Next to Saint Simon’s Island. From there we continued on across the Altamaha Sound, the Doboy Sound, St. Catherines Sound across the Wassaw Sound and up numerous pieces of rivers and the intercoastal Waterway to Thunderbolt Marina in Thunderbolt, GA just before you get to Savannah, GA. The next morning we left Thunderbolt and crossed the Savannah River and a couple of other short stretches of river past Tybee Island and then we were in South Carolina where we next crossed the Port Royal Sound and passed Hilton Head Island, Parris Island where the Marine basic training is held and then across the St. Helena Sound where the boat was docked at Ross Marina just below Charleston, South Carolina for the night. They brought me back to Brunswick Landing today and then there son will help them move the boat the rest of the way to Mebane, North Carolina where it is at home. The weather for crossing all of the above areas Wednesday but Thursday it became more windy and blustery and then we woke up to rain this morning. All of the areas and crossings need an extra pair of hands and eyes on the charts because you are constantly going from one patch of river and winding right around and into another Sound. Some of the markers are hidden by vegetation on the shores and some places seem to have just a few markers to keep you out of trouble while going long distances between them. We used the binoculars a lot during the trip and sometimes it would take both of us checking the marks to make sure we were on the right path. We also passed Beaufort, SC where I plan to stop at. we did not go up the river to Savannah and I think I would like to go there as well. We went through long areas without seeing a marina and without seeing anyone else. It was funny because when you did see another boat coming towards you at low tide in the marshes you would only see the top of the boat because low tide looked to be at least five feet in depth when it was all the way out. We saw houses with docks that were close to quarter mile in length to get to their boats on the Waterway. We went past Daufuskie Island which had ferries running between it and Hilton Head Island carrying people and one we met was carrying work trucks and another had a barge load of heavy equipment. Some of the islands we passed only have the ability to be reached by water. In the two days under way we probably passed a half million acres of marsh. There were lots of crab pots set out everywhere including the channels of the waterway.
This meant that you were on watch all the time because at high tide some of the pot markers were pulled under the waters surface and you would just see this little vee in the water running away from it and then you knew when you got closer what it was. Most of the time the water was pretty deep. But a place called the Little Mud River we had only about three and a half feet of water so our boat was almost touching the ground as we went through at idle. We were fortunate that a boat passed us and radioed back that he drew about three feet eight inches and was touch bottom at times with the skeg of the boat. That was one of the scarier moments other than sometimes having problems locating the marks even though you knew they had to be there. The wind blew hard enough that it would push you sideways in some of the channels so you had to check behind you not only for traffic but to see if you were going in a straight line as the tide was also either coming or going at the same time. The tides were fairly strong all day long and when we would go into them you could hear the engines pulling harder and we would lose from 1-2 knots of speed and then going with them we would pick up an extra knot of speed. The tides also affected the boat in strange ways in some of the channels cut from one river into another. You were thinking advantage for the boat, wrong; the tide would be coming against you when we thought it would be going the other way. Sometimes small birds are sitting on the crab pots and until they fly off you really can’t be sure what it is you are looking at. You also know there is not much maneuvering room when there are herons about ten feet from the boat and only knee deep in water and the depth finder is showing you in ten feet of water. So on Monday morning if the weather is okay Shorty and I will begin our adventure through the above area and rest assured it will be different from the one experienced above because the sand is constantly being moved around by the tides and shoals can occur anywhere at any time. This is what makes it an adventure instead of just following a bunch of markers all the time. It is now getting to be prime time for people to begin moving their boats toward the north. The ones in the Carolina’s start first followed by those from the northern states. They are still forecasting a low of 35 degrees from the front which is passing us today and which will have moved on South by Monday so spring has not yet really sprung. And the old sailors adage of, “Red sunrise in the morning, sailors take warning,” is still very much a fact because the weather started to get windier and blustery after the red sunrise on Wednesday and culminated in the rain and thunderstorms of today in the Carolina’s this morning.

We just now got a little shower of rain here in Brunswick and are looking for more tonight. I hope the wind blows and keeps the no-see-ums away as they are awful when the wind is calm. Anything you seem to put on has no effect. They just go ahead and bite anyway. When they get in your hair like they did to us on Wednesday of the trip it feels awful and I have little welts all over and itching that is worse than mosquito bites but I guess that is part of it. The locals hate them as much as we do. The wind is now whistling in the rigging of the sailboats and that is bad news for the no-see-ums as they are not very good flyers in the wind.

March 8,9,10,11

After being inactive for a while and not doing anything other than daily chores my friends from North Carolina stopped by this morning and asked if I would like to go to Saint Simons Island for lunch with them. I replied yes and off we went to do a little exploring over there. We had lunch at a little delicatessen in downtown and then walked over to the old lighthouse and took a few photos over there with all the other tourists. It was a beautiful day with the temperature in the high 70’s probably. We then went to see the old fort on the island and the Episcopal Church which was founded by the settler named James Ogelthorpe who was the founder of the State of Georgia in February of 1736. We also went to Fort Frederica which was laid out just about like the city of Brunswick is to this day with its exact grid of streets. The Episcopal Church on its present location was erected in 1820 and the congregation worshiped in it until the outbreak of the Civil War and during that war the church was burned to the ground. It was rebuilt with some of the original pieces in the church that is presently there today. In the cemetery surrounding the church the original settlers are buried. The oldest gravestone in the Yard dates back to 1703. They give quiet and reverent tours of the sanctuary during certain hours and we were there during the time they gave the talk of the history of the church. I also have a written history and I took some photos of the inside of the sanctuary and of the stained glass windows depicting the history of the church. The official name of the church is Christ Church, Frederica, Saint Simons Island, Georgia.

The breeze is softly blowing through the marina right now which is keeping the mosquitos and the no-see-ums at bay for the day. But as soon as the sun begins to set and the breeze stops for a moment here they come with a vengeance. The people on the catamaran across from me left for the snows of Canada this morning but as he said; not before giving one last transfusion to the no-see-ums of Georgia. On the screens on the boat as soon as the breeze comes up in the morning I spray them with raid and I have so many back there that I am going to have to wash the boat before I leave here. It looks like my date to leave here will be next Friday or Saturday morning but I will keep following the weather forecast north of here closer. My next stop I think will be around Darien, GA if I have calculated my charts right but that is all subject to change as I go. The temperature here is in the 80’s today and I now am not sleeping in everything I have. I also have to do laundry one more time and go grocery shopping again plus fuel up and then it’s off on the rest of the adventure. I am hoping that in the time it takes me to move north spring will be going the same direction. I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay here in Brunswick, the people have been fantastic and you are close to everything. This will probably be a little harder to come by as I move up. From others who have done the Loop the comments are usually loved it all except New Jersey and New York City area. So we shall see. I have gotten lots of advice from others here who have done the Loop at least once and some of them two or three times. If you get to New York State too early all of the spring flooding will not be over and the repairs made and you may have to switch directions so right now I am just playing it by ear.

A little while ago the wood duck family came through on there nightly fishing expedition or whatever it is they are diving for and there was a heron with them tonight trying to keep up so if they stirred up a fish he would be there to get it. They would try to chase him away by diving and going for his feet and he would jump out of the way and then hurry back toward them. It was just funny the way he was trying to use them to help him get his meal for the evening. This was going on while I was going up the ramp with my trash and before I got to the top I also gave the Georgia no-see-ums my daily transfusion of blood in return for the itch they give you. Nothing seems to stop them except Raid and I can’t spray myself with it. If I did I don’t think I would have anyone to talk to.

http://www.photogserver.net/file/larryhoth/Shorty's%20Photos/

The link above will from here on connect you to photos I am taking on the trip. I can not load them to the blog without it taking me sometimes two hours and up to eight one day to try to publish photos to the blog. If you go to the link you will find locations under this heading. Click on the location and more files will come on the screen, double click that individually numbered file and the photo will appear on the screen and then if you have read the blog you will know what it is that I have photographed in that location for the day. There may not be photos for each individual day but at least you will know where I am. I hope this works for every one and if you see duplicates that only means I took the photo twice to make sure I would have a good print. If the duplicates bother you I will sort them out and only post one of each photo. I have not yet figured out how to caption them but I think they are self explanatory. If the photo has writing or a historic fact on a plaque you can try enlarging the photo to more than 100 percent to read the print.

March 5,6,7

I have been asked if I am okay since I have not written anything for a few days. I am alright, there just is not a lot to talk about when you are sitting at a dock. I have met a few people and am going to a little get together this evening and will meet some more there. I think the same bunch of crows I had at the Jones Fruit Dock are following me north as I go and resting where I am. You all know that crows just go caw,caw,caw all of the time and not much else well this group has one of those that seems to think as much about the cold mornings as I do. Everyone sits up there screaming away he just sits there and goes caw thit. That can mean a number of different things such he hates the cold or just the way he feels when he first gets up in the morning. I would agreed with him the one real cold morning when I had two sleeping bags wrapped around me as tight as I could, my head covered with a blanket and breathing through a peep hole and trying to decide whether I would get colder getting up and lighting the diesel heater or stay there and let the sun warm up things. While I waited for my cold mind to make that decision I simply dozed off and when I woke up the cabin was about 50 degrees or so and I thought maybe I ought to get up. So I made it up, fixed breakfast and it turned out to be a real nice day later in the sixties. That is about as exciting as it gets when you are at a dock unless you have to use the facilities that are about a block and a half away from my slip. I decided that’s what a boat has a head for, and that is why they have pump out stations for waste. Here the shower rooms are heated so that is really nice.

I have been visiting around downtown and looking at all of the shops and stuff. Marilee would really like the antique stores here, they are advertising a lot of estate sales and the stuff I looked at really looks like it came from an estate.

I am ready to get on the move again but I am going to stay here a few more days and then start north. Here the trees and the azaleas are beginning to leaf out and bloom so that is a good sign. The tree branches are not filled out to the end yet but maybe by weeks end they may be there. There is a real gorgeous house just off the docks that has this old Bermuda 40 tied up at its dock and the only one where the house is actually older than the boat. Even though surrounded by commercial stuff the family has not sold out. That is my kind of people, just hold onto to the old as long as possible. Someone said I have to many photos of boats. I guess when you are living on the water that’s what is available for viewing on a constant basis. I do make trips to do other things and have some photos of those times. Everyone around here is busy working on their boats and I feel bad because mine is so new I don’t have a lot of things I want to do to it yet. Maybe one thing, I think I may have figured out where my back pain is coming from, the night it was so cold I put my hands under my body and it felt like the foam in the cushions was about an inch thick. If I figure out what to do about that I may be in good shape. I know, just lose some weight and the foam gets thicker and softer. If anyone has an idea let me know, I have thought about an air mattress but its not shaped like a v-berth. Maybe just put another layer of foam under it cut to its shape. Any ideas? I have a few little spit and polish things to do before I move so I think I will move on now and go do some more visiting with all the interesting people here. I am sorry I had not published for a few days but I am investigating new ways to publish more photos. They just don’t seem to want to load up to the blog anymore. My solution will involve clicking on a computer link to another site and then clicking on a file of the photos and then clicking on the photo file itself. I hope this will not be to hard for everyone to do as it will allow you to see more photos than you do now. I won’t be able to put a caption on the photo but I will try to make them match to the blog I wrote for the day. Sometimes they are taken on the day I am moving. There might be duplicates but that is because I am not sure which photo will make a better print until I come home and can work on them in my office

March 4, 2007

I took a walk around the old part of Brunswick this afternoon and took some photos of different old buildings that all have a historical part of the city. I hope that I will be able to post them as Google has been really bad lately. It has taken me hours to get the blog to post and photos are not working right now period. I saw lots of really old churches with very unique architectural features to them if you look close. I imagine in my tour I walked at least a mile today and probably much more as I wound around the blocks downtown. Brunswick does not allow sales on Sunday because all of the shops were closed. The marina warned me when I arrived on Saturday that if I needed anything I should hurry up and get it before 5 PM and all stores close at that time. However, I could still go out and drink till two in the morning or go out to eat until then. I was too tired however to do any of those things. After a day of travel and the things that you need to do to keep your way, I am usually just ready to crawl into my sleeping bag and go to dream land. Speaking of dream land I did not hear anybody chewing on my boat bottom last night. I think it must be the make up of the river and how far I am from the ocean. It is still a mystery to me and probably will remain so until the trip is finished.

This is one super marina, I will try to get some photos of it when I can. I looked at my charts today and signed Shorty and I up for four more days of rest and relaxation here. The lady who runs the dock house is a great lady, serious one moment, funny the next. She had a boat leave today in this weather and then when he got out on the sound he wanted to come back and she put him on a face dock with the wind blowing against him. All the rest of us have our slips which are protected from the wind by the floating docks.

The blogs for the day may be rather short as I will probably be prowling around to see what I can find to report on. I am going back out about sunset to photograph a few more things that I have noted on my way in here. I also just looked over my shoulder and the sun is disappearing and an ominous layer of clouds is coming in rapidly. If I were further north it looks like snow clouds but here tonight it is just suppose to continue to be gusty wind and be about 33-35 degrees for the temperature. There a lot of jet contrails criss-crossing one another like a big tic tac toe game.

March 3, 2007

We left Fernandina Beach today and headed a ways up north, for me I had decided that would be Brunswick, Georgia. I think it rained all night and also this morning. Every time I woke up it was still doing it until about nine o’clock this morning. I went alongside Tracy and Molly’s boat Sunrise today on the way to their marina on Jekyll Island. The day before a couple of guys in a large Hatteras left and came back much later and said they had been stuck on a sand bar two different times but able to back off. So I went along in case Tracy would have trouble. Well I wasn’t a great deal of help as he ran aground twice also and I got disoriented and could not relocate the buoy. I don’t know why I could not see it but my eyes just would not locate it. Their marina is on Jekyll Island which we went right by on my way to Brunswick. Tonight I am tied up at Brunswick Landing Marina in the East River right on the old main street of the city, which is just a block from the docks. I thought it would be nice to just be close so one could walk around the old part of the city. I am afraid that it might be one of those places that becomes a Velcro dock. I found that there are many live aboards here and they have even brought there cars down here. I haven’t had time to find out if there are any people who are on the great loop cruise here yet. I met a couple with two dogs they had adopted in New Bern, NC, I believe. Anyhow she said they have a get together with all the liveaboards at the club house on Wednesday nights. I like the sound of that, it will give me a chance to meet some more people. Shorty is docked right next to a Gulfstar 44 tonight that looks as though someone is working on it. The boat across from me has some beautiful etched egret double doors on a trawler.

As of right now I will give the Brunswick Landing Marina five stars. It has the best restrooms and showers I have encountered on the trip thus far and it has free laundry. The only thing missing is a grocery store across the street. When I arrived here this afternoon the lady in charge of the dock said that just a block away they hold a farmers market every Saturday until five in the afternoon. Well, I ziggyed right over there as fast as I could because it was 4:30 already and I came back with some fruit, some really good strawberries, tangelos, peanuts, yams and etc. Now I am ready to eat again. I can’t seem to go without fruit very long. The only thing I could not find was my beloved bananas. I am going to have to go to the supermarket while I am here. It is a mile away but then they have a taxi that you can get to bring you back when you are loaded up with stuff.

Today we passed through a lot of country that was a lot like northern Florida. The marsh grasses alongside the channel were so golden in color. The first place we crossed today was Cumberland Sound and then alongside Cumberland Island where there are some wild horses. We did not see any today and the next place we crossed was Jekyll Sound and on the way into Brunswick across St. Simons Sound then into the Brunswick River and finally to the East River in Brunswick. There seems to be a lot of paper plants in the area and a lot of shrimp boats are tied up at docks as you go along the waterway. We also passed the Kings Bay area where the submarines come in to dock. It was very benign looking except for the two huge tugs that are docked there. There were also some huge hanger type buildings where they work on the submarines when they are in port. I was disappointed that I didn’t see a submarine. We also made the trip at low tide which made it interesting because we looked to be about five feet lower in the channel and people were shelling on Jekyll Island as we came by.

March 2, 2007

Last night we had some rough winds it was blowing 20 and gusting to 35 on the docks and above 45 out on the Cumberland Sound according to a fellow anchored out on the sound itself. I woke up to really hard rain and thunder and lightning so I just pulled the covers over my head and went back to sleep. It was grey and still raining this morning when I got up to fix breakfast. I messed around and read a little more in the chart book and some more in the companion book for the charts and watched the tides and currents here in the dock to give me some idea of how these might work if I was anchored out. Just when you think you have thought of all the details there is still one that might have been left out.

The Portuguese guys just up from me that have been talked to by everyone from Immigration , Coast Guard, etc. were told they had to be off the dock and on the water at midnight last night. I found that one of them spoke a little English and he told me they were from Brazil and that's where they were headed when one of them had his visa run out of days. Well, at midnight that is when the wind was blowing the hardest and I had gone out to help them turn the boat around with others so they could leave and go down wind. Every one thought that the Coast Guard could have given them until daylight to leave because they were waiting for a new engine alternator and it would arrive in the morning. It just proves how unbending the Immigration people can be. How can you make four guys go to sea in those conditions at night, unfamiliar with the area and the weather and hope that they will make it on a boat that I thought myself was questionable to sail in broad daylight. It was bad enough that the owner said he would probably only sail the boat at half of its ability just to make sure he got to Brazil with it. I wished him good luck and this morning when I got up it was gone. I went down to the dock house this afternoon and found out that they just sailed around and when daylight came they quickly sailed back in and got there alternator that they were waiting for and then left again. So in a way they won anyhow but it could have been bad had they been caught. Without the alternator they had now way to charge batteries as the old one was corroded.

I have been out walking around again today to pass time and sitting on park benches listening to the troubles of the world and everyone else with their problems. Sitting on the boat this morning I watched the pelicans. They have the most interesting little habits and gestures amongst themselves and each other when you have time to observe them. Today I noticed the brown and blackheaded pelicans do not like to sit next to the white and yellow-topped pelicans and the white ones really don't like any of them. Does that sound just like the world. Some sit and look like they are discussing politics and the females are always preening themselves and kind flirting with the males. There was one brown head though that really had a problem today.
He kept jumping in the water and ducking his head under and then he would throw his head up in the air and look like he was gargling with mouthwash. He must have got a piece of garlicky flounder or something that wasn't sitting right in his craw as he kept straining water through it. The folks here at the city dock are opening up a new section of docks and when they move to work on another section or wash you know what off the first one all the birds move over and go to the dock they just cleaned up. The animal world is so much like us but we never take time to look at them in that way.

After all of the things that happen in a day and when all hope is gone we all get the chance to see what really matters if we just look around and enjoy the good and it tempers all the things we cannot control when you see the wonderful sunset after period of bad weather. It just makes the heart sing and makes you really wonder who must be in control because in spite of it all there is so much to be thankful for.

March 1, 2007

The ship American Glory is a ship that sails the ICW between here and Charleston, South Carolina and back. The crew has been in training and there are more of these ships along the east and west coasts. The all hold ninety passengers and weigh just under 100 tons so that the captains only have to have Masters of 100 ton licenses from the Coast Guard. They are very well done and beautiful inside and have really nice size staterooms with twin beds which can be slid together. You can sit out on the bow and really see where you are going and they have launches on the rear which can take you anywhere you want to go for a better opportunity to view things.

March 1, 2007

March 1, 2007

Today was a rather nice day to be tied to a dock. This morning we had a thunderstorm of not so great magnitude but it was nice to be snug as a bug. It rained really hard and then kind of let up and off and on through the day it has showered or sprinkled on us. But all in all it was not too bad to be out in it. The wind has come up some now and they say that we will have more rain tonight and tomorrow. There are a few more boats tied up this afternoon and a couple more in the area off the docks where most sailboats are anchored in. I was always mindful that if the gulls are sitting on the docks and not fishing then it’s probably a good idea to stay in. The pelicans are also just sitting around here today preening their feathers and some have even just tucked their necks in under a wing and I think they are sleeping. When they set on the docks they really make a smelly mess if you know what I mean.

The coast guard arrived a bit ago and is checking out the Portuguese guy’s boat and I am assuming either giving them the okay to sail or telling them what they need to do to become seaworthy and to comply with the rules. The Coast Guard was driving this fancy RIB boat with everything on it and two Hondas powering it. Good choice.

I took another walk around town and looked at more of the antique stores and all the rest of the shops since this is kind of a tourist town as well. The town has had eight different flags flown over it during its life. There is a fort called Fort Clinch which was established in 1864 and was occupied by the First New York Engineers Unit during the Civil War and the fort overlooks the Cumberland Sound which when I cross it, I will be in the State of Georgia.

On this trip you plan things only as they happen. This morning I was getting my stuff ready to go take a shower in the shower building and just as I got it together it started to rain. I don’t like to walk about a quarter mile to the bathrooms and showers in the rain to get wet as well and then walk back in the rain and get wetter. The good thing about this decision is you can put it off till later. Well, later has arrived and now the wind has picked and it is no fun walking around in a very cool breeze just after a hot shower, so maybe tomorrow will get better as I am only sleeping with me and heaven knows I am okay with this decision for now. It could, however, change in another hour and I might feel like walking over there. But when you do remember this, if you are shy, people in the restaurant will wonder why you are walking down the boardwalk at dusk carrying a towel on a day when people are not going to the beach.

The wind is blowing from the paper mill behind us toward the dock but it is blowing hard enough you can hardly smell it. Course it also means that since it is cooling off I have my back door closed as well. It was chilly enough to me that I turned my heat on for a while just to take the dampness out of the boat. I just noticed that two of the yachts behind me look like they are the same size and make. Well I think I will make like a gull and tuck my head under my wing as long as I can and enjoy a very pastel sunset. I just looked out over the sound and there was a gull sitting on the water but floating by me at the speed of the wind, I hope he does not do that very long cause he could find himself a long way from home.

A boat which left earlier this afternoon just came back, it was about 50 feet long or so, so the sound must be kicking up pretty good out there now for them to come back here because they left about noon today. The wind may die a little at dusk but it is predicted to be strong today and tomorrow. Time will tell.