Thursday, June 14, 2012

The pointy end North

After a great, although way too short stop in Cocoa Beach to play with our good friends Doug and Tammy, (Gypsies in the Palace) we put the pointy end North, and spent the next seven days, traveling each day for nine to ten hours, and anchoring out each night, with a short stop in Brunswick, GA, to load on 6500 lbs of gold, (900 gallons of diesel) and making our way through the twisty, turny, but beautiful marshlands of Georgia and South Carolina. It's a beautiful trip, and great to be in a quiet anchorage each night, just the four of us, and no one else in sight, except the night before we got to Charleston, when we had a storm move through our anchorage, with 50mph winds, and heavy rain at 12:30. The anchor held, and we did fine. Most mornings, when we left the anchorage, as the crow flies, we only had about 40 miles to go that day. NOT! Because the ICW twists and turns through the marshlands, it ends up being about 75 to 80 miles. Almost every day we had rain, but all-in-all, it was a good trip.

September Song (time to play in Charleston) out
Bob


Customs agents, in their fast boats, practicing chase maneuvers in the ICW

"Are we there yet Dad?"

In Georgia and South Carolina, the tides are 7 to 8 foot. The tide runs at about 2 knots, plus or minus, so sometimes we are going ten knots, and when it turns, we go 6 knots. The tide gives, and the tide takes away.

Hard to see in this picture, but these are Pink Ibis, feeding in the marsh.
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One of the many rain storms moving through each day.

That's weird! Barge leaving Sapelo Island, our anchorage for the night.

 An Island in the middle of the marshes with a cabin on it. Now that's getting away from it all.

Dolphins play off our bow most days as we travel the ICW.
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The beautiful marshlands. They seem to go on forever.  They are a lush green now, but in the fall, when we come through this area, they will take on their beautiful fall colors.
 

Looking at our plotter, you can see how the ICW twists and turns. That little black boat you see be us, making another turn to starboard.
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Crossing the Savannah River shipping channel is always fun. NOT! We had to dodge six ships. 

Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.

Seagulls, feeding on the small fish September Song churns up.
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The view of the radar, as the storm that came through our anchorage at 00:30. 

Hello Charleston!

Views of the Charleston waterfront as we head to our marina.


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