Another trip to Blackbeard

Todd and Brenda, boating friends of ours, were headed south Thursday and stopped at our dock for the night. The plan was to go to Blackbeard Island with them on Friday for a three day stay. Well, the plans changed with the weather we had Friday into Saturday morning (rained 3 1/2 inches and blew big time) so we didn't depart until Saturday at 3:00 PM and just as we left the sun came out. :-) Saturday night we had gumbo (the best I have ever had) on Life's 2 Short and had a great evening. Sunday morning we were greeted by Todd with warm banana bread (Brenda loves to bake on the boat) and before lunch we all went to the beach. The shelling was great after the storm Friday night and Brenda took full advantage of it. After we returned, I used Todd's surface dive compressor, donned my dive suit, and cleaned the props. On our trip to the Island I noticed the RPM we normally run at, our speed was 1 1/2 knots lower than normal. The props were covered with little barnacles. Sunday night we all had dinner on September Song. Stephanie made wonderful BBQ and French Fries and Brenda (the baker) made pecan and raspberry bars. After pigging out and sharing cruising stories we played Catchphrase until 11:00. This is the first time we played it and it was a blast.We were going to stay for another day, but the weather was going to turn ugly with winds 25 knots and temps in the upper 30's Monday night. We left early Monday morning while the tide was high and Todd and Brenda moved to the ranger station dock to hunker down. They loved Blackbeard so much they plan on staying a few more days. Any time we spend at Blackbeard is special even if we had to cut it short, and it was made extra, extra special with Todd and Brenda.

September Song (wishing we could have stayed longer) out

View of the Island from the creek

Life's 2 short in the creek headed for the anchorage

A bald eagle waiting for a fish to come by

Life's 2 Short winding through Blackbeard Creek to the anchorage

Todd and Brenda shelling on the beach

Life's 2 Short anchored behind us. Notice the sand dune and the ocean and beach behind it

Sad day

We are saddened to tell you that Pica, our cat (actually we were his people and dogs) died today. Pica was 18 years old and was named Pica because Stephanie got him from a printer. He was a great cat with a personality that was unique. He loved to travel with us on September Song, wander the docks and make new friends, walk the rails, (that made made Mom crazy) and just hang out with the girls. The only time he didn't like it on the boat was when it got rough, then he would puke. When he lived in Florida he would love to find his way to the roof (made Mom crazy again) and then call for help to get down. He would show his love by sneaking from around a corner and putting his teeth on you. You knew when he was ready to attack when he would get a look on his face and his eyes would glass over, then he would attack. At first it was scary, but after you got to know him it would just startle you. He also liked to walk on your key board when you were working on the computer and push on Mom's pen when she was working crossword puzzles (made us crazy) until you payed attention to him. One thing he loved to do was to sit by the ponds outside our front door and watch the fish and the waterfalls. We thought this would be a good place to lay him to rest.

We will miss him, especially when we cast off the lines for our next trip.

September Song (missing being made crazy) out

Bob

Enjoying a calm evening on he swim platform with me and the girls

Sacked out while under way

On the front porch when Flat Stanley arrived

Helping mom at the computer

Pica enjoying the ride in Moms lap

What a ham

Pica enjoyed our travels

We will miss you Pica

Blackbeard getaway

We decided because it was going to be a beautiful next four days and the tides would be in our favor to transit Blackbeard Creek (can only go in and out at high tide) we would go to one of our favorite places and anchor out. Tom and Karla, friends of ours, wanted us to show them the way in and spend two of the four days with us, so we led them into our secret paridise. We don't tell many people about it. Blackbeard on a scale of 1 to 10 is an 11. It takes us about two hours to get to the creek entrance, then another hour to navigate a nine mile creek that twists and turns through gorgeous marsh lands and tons of wild life. The anchorage is behind a sand dune that is the only thing between you and the Atlantic. The beach is nine miles of unspoiled soft sand with lots of shelling and no one else there but you. At night the stars are the brightest you have ever seen because there are no lights, and because you are so close to the ocean you can hear the waves washing on the beach. It is a place like no other. During the day we cross the dune and walk, play, and just plain enjoy. There are also lots of creeks to explore in Half Note. When you are there it seems that there is no one else in the world. We looked for Blackbeard.s treasure, but no luck.

September Song (totally relaxed) out


Entrance to Blackbeard Creek

Dolphins playing in our bow wake

Beautiful marsh lands along the ICW (IntraCoastal Waterway)

Wildlife along the way

Our private nine mile beach. This is the way it is most of the time

Cassie hunting minnows

The kids playing in the surf

Some one must have spent the night

Cassie and Godiva with their new friend Sam

Part of the nine mile beach at Blackbeard Island

Tom And Karla winding their way through Blackbeard Creek to the anchorage

The nine mile creek we navigate behind the island to the anchorage

Thing, things, things to do

We crossed our wake Sunday September 21st at about 2:30 in the rain. During the whole trip we never traveled in rain and never turned the wipers on once or had to travel from the pilot house until the last day. How fitting. We have been working on catching up on all the maintenance on September Song for the last week including cleaning her inside and out. We should be done by Wednesday so the decision was made with unanimous support to take off for Blackbeard Island, our favorite anchorage, and spend a few days playing on the 9 mile long beach which we usually have all to ourselves, do some exploring of the creeks in Half Note, and just enjoying the beautiful weather. The weather is going to be clear with temps in the mid 60's at night and low 80's during the day. I will take lots of pictures of our secret Paradise on the Georgia Coast.

All work and no play, well, we have been working hard!

September Song (headed out Friday AM) out
Bob


Notice the trip log 3635 nautical miles (4180 statute miles). The little black boat is September Song at her home port on the North Newport river.

September Song at her home dock.

The engine room where I spent two days changing fuel filters, cleaning strainers, changing zincs, etc, etc. By the way the John Deere engines names are Mildred and Ethel.

Beaufort SC and Savannah GA

Friday morning the decision was made to hold tight in Charleston because we had 25 kt winds blowing us against the dock. By 9:30 the wind had calmed to 15kt, still blowing us against the dock, but the tide had changed and it was in the opposite direction of the wind and the decision was made by the captain to GO. After careful maneuvering and backing out of the harbor through a 50 ft. opening we were off to Beaufort SC. When we arrived at Downtown Marina the wind was blowing and the tide was running hard. We approached the dock at about a 25 degree angle and Stephanie threw the dock hand a line which he tied off to the bow. I swung the stern into the dock and another line was secured. The bow line was left long so we needed to bring in the bow. After 3 men (and no boys) pulling on the bow line and Stephanie running the 24 hp bow thruster, the wind and tide would not let it budge. We decided to just leave it there and pull it in when the tide turned in a couple of hours. We discovered after messing with the bow that one of our helpers was Todd Lanning from Life's 2 Short, with Brenda his wife whose blog we have been following for some time, but had never met them. http://btlifes2short.blogspot.com/ "It is said that we only have so many days on this earth.......but the ones you spend at sea don't count against you" Todd and Brenda quit their jobs, sold everything and started cruising for the next few years, then will return to work some day. We met them for dinner at 7:00 and exchanged stories and had a great time with them. We ended up leaving the restaurant at 11:00. When the bill came I checked to make sure they didn't charge us hourly rent on the table. We promised to stay in touch from time to time and meet up again somewhere on the water. I hope it works out because we really enjoyed them. Today, Saturday we left at slack tide 7:00 AM and headed for Savannah. (Thunderbolt Marina) When we arrived at the Savannah shipping channel there were 5 ships all jockeying through the channel (another traffic jam) and as you can see from the picture we squeezed through between ships. We arrived at Thunderbolt and had an uneventful docking, as the dock hand said, "a soft touch". Tomorrow we will finish the last leg of this trip and arrive at our home dock early afternoon. The trip was fabulous and we will have many great memories. It is going to seem so weird after living and loving every minute of life aboard September Song. She is such a great ship and it has been wonderful sharing adventures and life with the love of my life, my partner and my best friend, Admiral Stephanie. Keep checking back and I will keep you posted on the casting off of the lines for our next adventure aboard September Song.

September Song (can't wait for the next adventure) out
Bob


Two ships passing in opposite directions in the shipping channel to Savannah

Tight, but they made it

Ships in the channel as we cross on the ICW

Charleston SC

The decision was made to go to Charleston Maritime Center Marina because the weather forecast was for strong winds out of the NE and all the anchorages are out in the middle of no where in the marsh lands. Speaking of marsh lands, the trip today was beautiful, winding through the marshes of South Carolina where some of the marsh lands seem to go on forever. Birds were everywhere today by the hundreds feeding in our wake, sitting on docks, and hanging by September Song all day. Can you blame them, she is a beautiful ship. We met up with a dredge on the move north as we transited south through a narrow channel. I don't know how they navigate some of the narrow 90 degree turns on the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) in this area. I guess that is the reason for a tug in front, one in the middle, and one on the end.


We met this train (dredge) moving north. Three tugs, two barges, and the dredge all tied together in a narrow channel

Beautiful marsh lands in South Carolina

Birds, birds, and more birds (don't poo on our boat)

The marshes are taking on their fall colors

Time to repaint. not the bird, the sign

Birds feeding in our wake

Miles and miles of marshes in South Carolina. you can see forever