January 30/31/2010

The 30th did not amount to much, it was cold, rainy, generally best described as YUK. Rather than sit in Tom Point Creek & watch the banks go from muddy bank to flooded marsh, we elected to head further along the way. In the crew's words "Press on". That's what we did. Couldn't see a lot, at first, but it improved enough that we could see ahead enough to be safe. That's Tom Point Creek in the flooded stage. We rumbled along thru the Ashepoo-Coosaw cut, North Edisto river, Fenwick Cut, Parrot Creek, & finally, Bass Creek. Anchored here lat night,and braced for the forecast 30mph winds & 20 degree temps. They were right; that's exactly what we got. Being in an anchored boat with a 6mph current and 20 -30 mph winds in a pitch black night is a real treat. anyway the anchor held and we awoke to a gorgeous morning. Featured were an artic gale, crystal blue skies, scrambled eggs & sausage with Cinnamon/raisin muffins, and, while I recognize that is a bit hard to accept, topping it off was an up close & personal visit from Barney the local pelican. Visit over, dishes done, it was off to the next spot. Today's leg took us thru Beaufort, SC, down the Beaufort River (imagine that), thru Port Royal Sound, thru Skull Creek, past the land of the rich & famous, Hilton Head Island. We finally dropped the anchor in the muddy bottom of New River. we are now 575 statute miles into our journey down the AICW, and about 20 miles from the Georgia border. This was the sunset over Savannah, GA tonight, as seen from New River. God's color choices are surely amazing. Have a great week; we'll try to keep the posts going.

January 29, 2010

Looking back as Scooter pulled away from Charleston, we reflected on a hectic, busy, but fun week for the crew. This is a great city to hang out in for a few days. history, lots of scenery, neat shops, & great food. Many thanks to the staff at the Maritime Center for the friendliness and help. It was a real blast today just getting away from the dock. The tide was going out, and the wind was coming in. As the tide flows out of the Cooper River, it creates a rapid-like event at the marina entrance. Maritime Bob, the dockmaster, made the comment that "we get a lot of crashes there" Shades of Sam Weaver; the short stern corner springline trick worked wonders. I'll probably never do the old"yeah,yeah" thing when someone talks about current bothering their boat. It's very impressive! At one o'clock, as we headed past the Battery & Charleston's waterfront park homes it was sunny, breezy and a comfortable 50 degrees. Up the Ashley River, thru Wappoo Creek & Elliot's Cut to the Stono River. Suddenly, the weather is getting cloudy and much, much cooler. Under Limehouse Bridge, past John's Island, thru Wadmalaw Sound into the North Edisto River. Past Toogoodoo Creek and into Tom Point Creek. Hardly any straight legs in the whole trip. Neat names tho'. Weather was turning more wintry all the time. Blustery winds (note white streaks) and steadily dropping temps. Forecast has sleet & freezing drizzle hitting us tomorrow in the evening; after the morning rains. That should make working on deck a real blast. Won't that anchor chain be a joy to handle? What happened to the "South is warmer" concept? We are now about 80 miles from the Georgia border. Given any luck Scooter should be there by late Sunday, early Monday. weather will be the deciding factor. Beaufort, SC & Hilton Head, SC will come & go along the route. Anchoring is OK, and certainly less expensive. However, some major weather is brewing we'll be much more comfortable tied to a dock. Those killer shrimp? We're coming into their territory. For now we are passing lots of porpoise, pelicans, and snake birds.

Have a great evening, and a warm & fun weekend; Catch you later.

January 28, 2010

Boy, was that a whirlwind deal; up to Carlisle, back to Greenville, SC, back to Carlisle, back to Charleston. I can, vaguely, remember the days when one all nighter or O' dark 30 series was no big deal. Ha; not any more! I can really appreciate the studies they are doing on the effects of fatigue. Captain Ginny held the fort (boat) in her usual superb fashion; touring the city, adjusting lines, prepping (and enjoying) gourmet meals. Now, about the varnish....... seriously, it is wonderful to back aboard Scooter. I missed the rocking, the slap of the water on the bow, the squeak of the dock lines passing around a cleat. Ain't life grand sometimes. Today we tried out our new grocery cart. Great invention for saving those fingertips. You know, the super large, really, really purple red ones you get when you carry plastic grocery bags or milk jugs that mile from Piggly-Wiggly to the boat. What a deal, huh! No more of that for us. Nosirree bob! We now have a fold-em-up cart that solves that problem. I'll slide a pic in one day soon. Suffice it to say that it resembles a a bag cart; two wheels and a long back frame leading down to a foldout shelf at the bottom. Best of all, it has large wheels to get over curbs, etc. see what I mean about the simple things in life being wondrous & exciting?

Tomorrow we're off to Wappoo Creek and points further south. weather may get wet later, and probably a bit windy, but we hope it will be doable. We'll get the posts up to speed again once Scooter starts moving. Until then, keep the faith and the warmth in the house!

Charleston; Images & stuff

So there I was. 3 o'clock in the morning, cold rain, 30 + knots of wind. uniform of the moment was sweatshirt, skivvies, and barefeet. Nasty! Mission purpose: fix the lines so the poor old boat wasn't trying to tear its' cleats off. Problem: the boat was rolling & pitching (for the 2nd night in a row) excessively. So, I got the lines set so the boat was more relaxed. That entailed loosening the lines so the boat could float a bit better, as in less jerking. That part worked, the motion eased quite a bit. However, I now found myself unable to get back on the boat. Mortifying, and a bit scary! With very, very careful timing, & a bit of luck it all worked out. The fun part was watching the $1,000,000 boat behind us roll just as hard as ours. Morning came, rather daylight finally showed up, and the shaken, thoroughly stirred, crew crawled out of the bunk hoping the wind never blew again. The day's mission was to finish the floor (done), get a grocery cart (done), cruise town & get a great burger(done)! Oh, just about forgot; wash the whites(done). All in all a pretty good day!
As you can see, Scooter is the little guy amidst a very big harbor and big bucks boats. But look at our view. This is the Cooper River bridge. As soon as I can figure out a way to set the aperture correctly, I'll get a night picture. It is absolutely gorgeous at night with the lighting radiating down the suspension cables. We spent the afternoon doing the tourist thing. If you ever get here, eat at Moe's downtown. great burger!
Walking thru town is fun, but take lots to drink. A lot of the houses are narrow like this one. I suspect, brilliant fellow that I can be on occasion, that taxable lot size may have a bearing on the house construction. Incidentally, the palmetto palm tree grows all over town; great lumber source for building up the walls of your fort so that cannon balls don't get ya! If they come close; church is just down the street. get there by cutting thru the alley lots of these around town, mysterious little courtyards and enclaves. Trees along the street are draped in ghostly grey moss. You can easily imagine making your way thru town on a dark & foggy night, squinting to see by the light of your flickering lantern. The lonely wail of a ships foghorn as your erie background. With that thought in mind, I bid you goodnight; see you in a couple of days. I will be in & out of PA, then back here on Thursday; headed South on Friday. Best to all.

charleston, SC

Scooter moved today; up & down 'nd all around!. Talk about rock & roll! Fact is we're rolling again tonight. 0200 (2 am) had me up retying lines & putting the rest of my fenders in place. Apparently the wind from anywhere but south creates an amazing amount of wave action here in the marina basin. Price you pay for being right in the heart of town, I guess. Rained this morning, then cleared. We walked in town; market place, waterfront park, etc, then came back to the boat & did laundry, changed the filters & oil in the engines, chatted with other boat people, finished working on the floor installation in the salon; boat stuff. Ginny was chatting with a 50ish lady, an ex-corporate lawyer, who is travelling south in her sailboat with her Golden retriever, Teddy. Sorta inspiring, I think.

I've attached some funky images of the city. They weren't meant to be funky, but given our electronic joys on this trip, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It was a bit grey this morning anyway. Tomorrow I'll try the other camera. Rather than a sepia-like image, maybe we'll be able to get full color. Tomorrow we wash the light colors, glue down the flooring, get groceries at good ol' Harris tweeter. Yup; that's the store's name. Hey, we might even hit the Vegetable Bin next door. Its those little things that add so much to the pleasure of life. Later!

January 23, 2010

Not a lot to report for today, or yesterday for that matter. Yesterday was a short trip from Graham's Creek (image on the right) to Dewees Creek. Weather was cold, very windy and grey. The only excitement in that trip was watching a dolphin surf in our wake. For whatever reason, we could not get a good anchor set in Dewees Creek, so we moved over to Long Creek. Once we settled in, the wind picked up again. That pretty much cancelled the planned dinghy practice adventure. As the evening progressed, the warning lights that advise us of things like holding tank capacity, water tank capacity, etc all came on. So there we were; full holding tank, empty water tank, no gas for the generator, therefore no electric heat. A new name for fun! I'll let you folks come up with the most apt description for the situation. (Shouldn't take more than 3 asterisks.). Today we only travelled about 16 miles. Actually that was a planned distance, as we wanted to arrive in Charleston at a time when the tidal currents were switching direction. That would have them neither coming or going. The current is then called "slack", or slack water. Possibly has some relation to the term "slacker". Scooter is tied up to a dock in the Charleston Maritime Center. This is a small basin that one blasts into in an effort to beat any currents trying to skew the boat around, then slams on the brakes to either turn into the fuel dock, or get into a slip. Actually, it isn't quite that bad. Our timing was good and the currents were quite manageable. Wind was pretty impressive tho'. Main problem with this dock is that ship wakes and wind driven wave action are causing a pretty constant rolling motion. We'll be doing the picture thing tomorrow. Until then, stay warm.

January 21, 2010

Hi again; sorry I got behind in the trip log. Looks like my recently repaired computer has become ill again. Anyway, here we are in Graham's Creek, SC for the second night. That puts us about 40 +/- miles north of Charleston, SC. We left the Myrtle Beach area Tuesday mid morning under warm sunny skies enroute to Georgetown, SC. As we turned the corner outbound from the marina, we ran smack into Big Bubba & his large red tugboat. Quite an eye opener! We have found that almost all the tug captains are professional, have a sense of humor, and are well aware that they own the water. A lot of this leg was run on the Waccamaw river, one of the prettiest rivers we've come thru so far. Lots of history here; Indians, rice plantations, little out of the way marina/restaurants; kind of a neat trip. I suspect you could spend weeks cruising this river alone. By mid afternoon, we were in Georgetown, SC. This attractive little city is home to one of the world's largest pulp mills, as well as one of the few steel plants making steel wire. The town itself is slowly being brought back from storm damage, economic slow downs, and just general disrepair. You know, the old age thing. Proudly enough, they are also displaying their historical roots. The waterfront is really cool. There is a lengthy, and quite rustic, walkway along the harbor front. Lots of neat little cafes & "places" ties in to the boardwalk with dining facilities and beverage bars. Some new buildings are are evident, but the harbor waterfront retains an old town flavor. Georgetown was a great stop. We got on the move again Wednesday morning. Our intended destination was Graham's Creek, SC. Graham's Creek is located in the midst of the Cape Romain National Wildlife refuge. Our hope had been to use the dinghy to explore a bit, perhaps doing some bird spotting. Unfortunately, after a gorgeous, almost hot, trip down the waterway, the weather turned windy, cold, & rainy. One of those days that you hope you have enough fuel to keep the generator going for warmth. We'll be off again tomorrow, probably to Dewees Creek. We are due in Charleston, SC midday Saturday, or Sunday depending on the weather. We'll hang there while I go back to PA for some flying work. Ginny will remain with the boat & explore Charleston for a few days. Soon as I get back, we'll be heading South again.

January 18, 2010

We departed St James Marina, just south of Southport, NC @ 0800, turned right and headed for Myrtle Beach, SC. There is a sameness about this section of the waterway that is almost boring, and, at times, depressing. Lots of developments springing up. Unfortunately, they are all the same. Names like Waterway Acres, or Canal View, are commonplace, as are the narrow, tall, and pastel houses. Are all the retired folks that locked into this sort of lifestyle? Its' enough to give me the shivers. There were some pretty spots populated with older homes that had a bit of character & individuality; bless 'em! So much for venting; lots of bridges along this leg. Most can be cruised thru easily unless your boat height is greater than 65'. Some are swing bridges, where the entire bridge span pivots to open up a channel for the boat to go thru. Woe unto the boater that gets too close to the end as it swings open. The most interesting bridge was the pontoon bridge at Sunset Beach, NC. Sadly, it is being replaced by a modern 65' arch. I've tried to show it closed & open. Interestingly enough, this is the only remaining pontoon bridge on the AICW .
Apparently there are still some of these in existence on the Gulf Coast waterway. Watching the crane & tugboat crews at work was a special treat. Tons of equipment and materials moved about at the flick of a lever. It is amazing to me. How about flying golfers; (not gophers, Chuckie, golfers). This a photo of the tram cars that transport the little ball smashers across the AICW. Dedicated bunch, these golfers. The wing-like appendages are actually the golfer's bags attached in racks outside the car body. Cool idea. Then there was the section of the ICW known as the Rock Pile . Extremely narrow
and edged with nasty rock ledges on both sides. If one meets a tug & barge coming the other way, one better be really quick with the OMG turn around maneuver, or very proficient at backing up. All in all, it was a long day. We were left with the feeling that we had already seen a lot of this before. In spite of that, the construction on this waterway is an amazing feat. It was, after all, not planned as a scenic pleasure trip up the US coast, but as a means of getting wartime supplies from one point to another; undamaged. The trip has been an eye opener in so many ways. Catch you later.

January 17, 2010

0300. Three o'clock in the morning to those of you who choose not to partake of the 24 hr. time system, dark, and pouring rain 'midst the lightning bolts. Sure glad we made the call to stop yesterday & tie to a dock. Interestingly enough, I used to think that the fairways @ Weavers' were tight; not anymore. Storm passed around 0900, then the wind blew, & blew. We elected to stay another day & do the usual boat stuff. Fix things, clean things, etc. By noon it was T-shirt weather; sun was shining, sky was blue. Another beautiful boating day in NC. Digressing just a moment from the travelogue thing, I'd like to take a moment to extend my thanks to Dave I. from lovely downtown Trappe, MD. Dave was kind enough to drive down to New Bern & provide the expertise to help install the new cabin floors. Since the section I was assigned to do isn't quite done, & certainly isn't as pretty, I'm attaching a picture of the middle cabin floor. Medium maple, with cherry trim. Flooring is a vinyl plank glued to 1/4" subflooring. Thanks again Dave! As you can see, I've now got to get the varnish work done on the wainscoting to make it all look as nice as the flooring. We did the main salon in Cherry, made new hatches with better bracing, and put a handle in the one hatch so you will no longer need a pry bar to open it.

Tomorow's adventure will entail a long days run, hopefully as far as Myrtle Beach, SC. Weather is forecast to be sunny, but possibly windy. Seas are not particularly a problem in this part of the ICW, but shallow water is. In addition to that issue there are bridges that can't open if the wind is higher than 25 - 30 mph. Plus, (ain't it grand) the sole remaining pontoon bridge may not be able to open if the water is too low. If its' not floating, you're not going! Then, of course, there is the subject of NO WAKE zones. As more & more development takes place along the waterway, more of these restricting speed zones pop up. 'Course there isn't much difference between my normal 8 - 9kt cruise speed & my no wake speed of 4-5kts. We'll be up & running early if weather permits, so stay tuned & thanks for stopping by.

January 16, 2010

I'm sorry I didn't post last night, it was a long day. We left Dudley's marina, with Elvis & Clyde hard at work keeping things stirring. You absolutely have to visit Dudley's! Anyway, our leg took us through Camp Lejune; specifically the firing ranges. They were, happily, not firing that yesterday, so we did not need to wear the helmets & flak vests. Not really; they have all sorts of stuff to tell you to stop if they are firing. Marines, after all, don't miss all that often. Two of these bad boys flew right over the boat as we waited for a bridge opening. I'd really, really hate to be the bad guys. The noise & vibration is absolutely awesome. They hovered for a landing, then blew out of there at 200 kts. The rest of the day was pretty straightforward. Well, mostly. There was a minor bit of navigational confusion; you know, right turn instead of left. If the dolphins hadn't been showing off & diving under the bow, I doubt it would have happened. Most of the AICW is pretty straight in this area. Frankly it looks like a long ol' ditch, populated by houses that you'd see in the NJ shore areas. The excitement for us is hoping to see something unusual, as well as missing any contact with the bottom of the channel. Luck, and the power of Detroit was with us most of the way & we managed to make all the bridge openings on time. Last night was spent anchored in the Grand Banks Channel anchorage in Wrightsville Beach, NC. Fairly peaceful spot, with lots of water.

Early, well, relatively speaking, up and on the way to catch the high tide thru' Carolina Beach Inlet area. This spot is getting to be one of the worst places on the AICW for groundings & shoaling. We saw a brief 4.6' flash on the depthfinder, but by the time we opened our eyes again, we were back up to 6.0'. Tidal currents here are amazing. Today one grabbed us as we came into Southport from the Cape Fear River, throwing 20,000# of boat sideways as if it weighed 20#. Midday found us coming into Southport, NC, a hokey little town just off the Cape Fear river entrance. Given the weather forecast, we elected to stop sooner rather than later. Tides were against us, rain & wind were coming in the afternoon, it was starting to sound like work. There aren't all that many places to anchor in this stretch, so marinas become the stopping places out of necessity. We are currently tied up in the St. James Plantation Marina. That puts us about 25 miles from the SC border & probably a days run from Myrtle Beach, SC. If the forecast holds true, we'll leave here Sunday am. Catch you later.

KILLER SHRIMP ATTACK FROZEN YACHT

OK. There really is a story here. My last report had us shutting down under a beautiful sunset in Cedar Creek, NC, after a gorgeous day of travel. This would be the sequel to that peaceful ending. Let me first step back a bit. I have been doing a bit of reading/research into some of the things we might encounter on the trip. One thing that was mentioned was the fact that certain types of small shrimp are known to gather for a meal around, on, and in the bottom growth on boats. This activity leads to the occupants of said boat hearing a persistent scratching noise during the night. I have also experienced a similar noise from crabs feeding, as well as the thumping noise a carp will sometimes make as it rolls against the boat's bottom. Anyway, we crawled into the forward berth sometime in the pm, under lots of layers. Clothes, sleeping bags, etc. Reasons being that the heaters draw a bit too much juice to run comfortably on our old inverter, and we are reluctant to run either the small generator or the propane heater we use as backup due to carbon monoxide risks. So, we went with the cold option. An hour later I was awakened by a fairly loud crackling & scratching noise. " Ah," thought I, " its got to be those shrimp". This thought was jarred from being by an incredible groaning and thunping from the front of the boat( hereinafter called the bow). Naturally, I sprang from the bunk, and zipped up on the deck. Nothing! Just dark, dark and cold; like 26 degrees cold. The water looked like water, altho' it had some grass like substance floating on it. No giant fish, no little hungary shrimp. So, the puzzled captain went back to the bunk. Well, this went on all night. waves of crackling & scratching, accompanied by booming crashes. Daylight showed the once astute(he thought) captain what had happened. The killer shrimp had not, as he imagined, brought in their whale allies to wreak havoc on poor old Scooter. Mother Nature had, instead, frozen the poor old boat in place. Each time the boat moved, the anchor chain & snubber pulled down on the anchor roller; hence the booming noises. The waves of crackling & scratching came from the ice breaking along the sides of the hull. The grass like substance I spotted was the ice forming. The scary things that cold meds will do for your mind!

Winter in the South. What a blast. Tonight we are docked in Swansboro,NC. Both heaters are running on city electricity. However it seems that the water pipes froze on the dock, so they have no water. What a great year to make a trip south. Tomorrow & Saturday we'll be pushing further South to beat some weather issues. The captain will be relaxing, relieved to have escaped the clutches of the killer critters. Have a great day, stay warm, and eat lots of shrimp.

On the move; Day 1

Following a long day on the road Monday, a fast moving "git 'er done" sort of day on Tuesday, we are finally on the move. While the hoped for early departure failed to materialize due to a last minute failure in the holding tank pump out system, we finally got underway about 11:30 am. It would not be proper to go much further in this discourse without giving credit, & a big thanks to Jim & Mae for allowing us to use their house as a forward base of operations. Thank again guys, we could not have gotten this far without your support. So, off we go; the weather was gorgeous! We had following seas, with the wind at our back. Our rule of thumb for the ICW trip so far has been to end the day so that we are docked, or anchored, between 4 & 5 pm. This avoids that rushed feeling, and gives us time to check lines, anchor settings, etc. Accordingly, we elected to stop at Cedar Creek, just off Adams Creek, which is the ICW passageway from the Neuse River in North Carolina, down to Beaufort and Morehead City, NC. From Beaufort, if you are so inclined you can exit the intercoastal waterway and proceed offshore; north or south along the coast in the Atlantic Ocean. We are not so inclined at this point. Depending on time & tide, tomorrow's leg is tentatively planned to take us to an anchorage in the Swansboro, NC area. Maybe less, maybe more. The map looks a bit empty, the channels a bit tight after Swansboro, so I suspect that will be a good spot to park it for the day. From Cedar Creek, North Carolina, have a great day tomorrow. Stay warm!

Updating

Just to get all of us on the same page. A friend & I moved Scooter to New Bern, NC in late November to avoid some of the cold weather that visits the Maryland coast this time of year. Ginny will assume crew duties on the upcoming legs. The trip went well. Starting mid day from Weaver's Marine Service in Essex, MD and anchoring in the Rhode River that evening. Up early the next morning, we hustled down a tranquil Chesapeake Bay to the Greater Wicomico River. A peaceful night at anchor, refuelling at Reedsville, and another calm Bay day found us at anchor in Norfolk, VA.

The following morning started in a foggy fashion as we eased down the Elizabeth River through the Norfolk harbor complex to the mile zero marker. A bit anticlimatic, but a major step for Scooter & crew. The Great Bridge lock came & went; wonderful lock for a first timer, easy in, easy out. Given the aftermath of Ida we had elected to bypass the Dismal swamp route due to reports of debris, etc that we were hearing. We'll catch that one on the way back. Wind, currents, & darkness descended on us as we approached Coinjock, NC. Not a pretty thing to watch, but we got docked at Midway Motel & Marina with no damage. Great meal at the restaurant on the premises. Next day was dreary, with drizzle & fog. Albemarle Sound was an interesting exercise in hanging on, but, while annoying, certainly doable. That evening saw us swinging peacefully at anchor just short of Belhaven, NC. Nothing like steak & boat potatoes on the grill to finish off

a long day. Day 5 started off in a wet fashion, but cleared up as we moved South into the Neuse River. That night we refuelled, pumped out, & tied to a slip at Northwest Creek marina. Wonderful spot. Next day we moved Scooter to her temporary slip.

The rest of the AICW voyage starts 1/12/10. We'll keep you posted.