The Parkinson’s Bahamas Adventure, April 13-24,2009

April 13^{th(Week 27, Day 184)}: Happy Birthday Colleen! Warm & humid, but cloudy day with predictions of high winds & thunderstorms. The winds were from the south & about 10K when we left dock at 0820 hrs. but as the day progressed they increased & became gusty & shifty with the jenny pulling nice sometimes then flicking back & forth with the change of wind direction & strength. As we were entering the Palm Valley Cut the skies looked more & more ominous, the winds increased with whitecaps on the ICW. Despite the short distance travelled, we decided to tie up at Palm Cove Marina in Jacksonville Beach for the night, as 5 other boats had also decided to do. The anchorages from this point on to Fernandina Beach &/or Cumberland Island left little to no options. Distance= 21.7nm. Time= 1330 hrs. There had been a horrific boat & barge accident in the Palm Valley Cut just the day before. With increasingly grey skies we quickly walked to Publix for a few groceries. Happy Hour was hosted by Lynn & Larry on ‘Two Morrows’. On their blackberry we could see a storm about to hit; sure enough at 1700 hrs. lightning, thunder , heavy rains, WSW winds & possible tornado warnings struck. We were all so glad we decided to tie up for the night. The heavy, gusty winds & 2-3 inches of rain continued the rest of the evening.

April 14^th: Cloudy, grey morn. Skipper’s Meeting held at 0800 hrs. over breakfast at café on site. High winds 30-35K & possibility of tornados predicted for the am, improving in the pm & clearing in the evening. Decision each of made was to play it by ear hour by hour, keeping the tides in mind as well. Suddenly at about 100 hrs., there was a burst of winds gusting 30-47K X 1 hrs. Some jennys in the marina unfurled, flapping & some tearing; dinghies on boat decks were lifted; from the marina lounge we could observe sailboats at dockside heeling over 5 degrees. Not the time to be out on any body of water. Instead I worked on internet stuff, updating ICW problem areas we would be encountering in the near future, particularly in Georgia & South Carolina. I discovered dredging had been done in some areas of North Carolina in Jan. Feb. & Mar. ’09. A late lunch then an hour’s powerwalk in a 10-15K S wind late in the afternoon before Happy Hour. By 1930 hrs. the evening south sky was clearing & the humidity had passed. A good night to BBQ especially with these longer days.

April 15^{th(Week 28, Day 186)}: Clear, sunny cool morn with only blue skies. NW wind slowly increased from 5 to 10 K. Weather forecast much more favourable, but must wait for a rising tide to creep out of the marina channel into the ICW (low tide 0844 hrs.). So after breakfast I decided to do a load of laundry, especially since washers & dryers were only $1.00 each per load. One boat at a time crept out, starting with the boat that had the least draft & so on, each giving a running commentary as to depth of water along the way out. We finally made our departure, last & at 1040 hrs. Winds N-NW at 10-12K & the current was against us transversing the St. Johns River, then we wound our way through the maize of the South Amelia & Amelia Rivers using our jenny when possible; my arms got a workout today pulling that jenny in & out numerous times to adjust to the winds & the direction of travel. I didn’t mind one bit, in fact wished we could or would do this more often. That has been an issue for me; too sedentary an existence, with too little physical workout, too much eating & too much drinking; one gets lazy, & as the expression goes, the less you do the less you want to do. It was much different passing through here from the Fall as we did it through low tide then (scary) & high tide today. We arrived in Fernandina Beach then turned up into the Bells River to anchor in 15 ft. of water with an opposing current at 1715 hrs. Dolphins were a frequent sight today especially approaching Fernandina. Supper, then a social when we all chatted on how we all faired the weather storms of the last few days, & a few matches of Mexican Train (dominos) on ‘Temptation’ till 2200 hrs. The sky was clear & star filled & the water was calm, quiet almost like glass.

April 16^th: Sunny, clear blue skies with 8K NNW winds & coolish temps. I seem tired for no reason this AM; I am homesick no doubt about it! It was a low ebb tide when we upanchored at 0820 hrs. onto Cumberland Island. Cold winds kicked up to 15-22K, whitecaps & 1 ft. chop + a current against us until we past St. Mary’s Inlet from the Atlantic, then we were pushed into Cumberland Island, anchoring at 1030 hrs. off the Sea Camp Dock. The strong winds & even stronger current were opposing, so at times we would do 360’s around our anchor & be pointing in opposite directions to others. It was prudent for us to stay onboard observing the anchorage of ourselves & of others, hoping the winds would lay down. The very gusty NE winds blew greater than 25-30K until 1400 hrs. when they laid down enough that we put the motor on the dinghy, went ashore & walked to the Ice House Museum, to the Dungeness Ruins, the saltwater marshes picking sharks teeth from the dredged material dropped along walking paths on the entire island, the Carriage House, Cemetery of the Greene’s & Millers + General Lee, the boardwalk to the sand dunes & the Sea Camp Beach on the Atlantic coast that stretched for miles & today the Atlantic was raging with unbelievable waves & foam that was being blown off the waves & skittering along the shoreline inland; the beach sand was hard as cement with some shells & coral fans but not as many as usual. The beach continued on & on towards the north to Stafford House & Plum Orchard miles away. But we turned off here & entered an area of live oak trees whose branches intertwined amongst themselves & with our adjacent trees, staring from ground level such that it is a favourite spot for children to climb; here are also located 3 shower stations one could use after a pleasant day on the beach in the sand & swimming the ocean, washrooms, cold showers & the campgrounds by schools groups, etc. for a max. of 2 nights. It was already 1730 hrs. so it was back to the Sea Camp Ranger Station & Dock. The waters had laid down a little more for the dinghy ride back to the boat but the temps were cold, barely 60F. We got in a BBQ supper before the sunset & the NE winds picked up again under clear skies & brilliant stars at 2200 hrs. The hatch & all ports were closed when we went to bed this night. Earlier in the day I had done a switch around of clothing, pulling out the scarf & tuque & long sleeve shirts.

April 17^th: NOAA weather forecast not favourable for a departure today; in fact high NE 25-30K winds with gusts even higher predicted from the morning hours till 2000 hrs. Although the sun shone, it was cold & we all donned our fleeces etc. & headed to shore to take in the lecture by the National Seashore Reserve on story the history of Dungeness; the ranger was Renee Noe & she was not only very informative but very animated & interactive with the group involving all at various times as she talked about historical characters. The winds did pick up over the noon hour till 1600 hrs. then conveniently dropped enough for us to dinghy was again to shore to have a Happy Hour as we viewed the lowering sun on the waters of Cumberland River through the live oaks trees. We had a discussion today re repeating this kind of trip. I said that I was not prepared to do this in 4months time (home in June & leave again in Oct.). The night continued to calm for a more restful sleep.

April 18^th: Clear, sunny morning, cool like Fall mornings with dew over the exterior of the boat & the canvass & windows. The anchor was well secured in the thick grey mud bottom from the previous 2 day strong NE winds. It was an early AM start as we now needed to make some serious mileage north. Unfortunately once in the Cumberland Sound the winds were NE, 8-10K, right on our nose & an opposing current of 1-2K. The current & wind remained against us until noonish when we rounded R32 out in the St. Andrews Sound; here the tannic waters splashed up our bow & down along the sides of the port & starboard hull. We crept through Jeykll Creek on a rising tide thankfully at 1300 hrs. (high tide=1610 hrs.) into the St. Simon Sound, under the Lanier Bridge into the MacKay River at Mile 675, then Buttermilk Sound from Mile 664 to 660, arriving at our night anchorage at 1815 hrs. in a creek at G211 on the north end of Little St. Simon Island; another interesting anchoring with an opposing tide, current & NE wind & thus the anchor pointing to the stern. Distance= 45.1nm or 51sm (statuatory miles). I have suddenly decided to include both miles, as the statuatory miles are more indicative of our progress per day, whereas the nautical miles are boat specific. Near at & after sunset the no-see-ums were terrible. Dew was already settling on the deck. But the night was still calm & quiet.

April 19^th: The surface of the water was like a mirror & the sky was a beautiful shade of pink with a little foggy mist over the marsh grasses. The fog increased as dawn was approaching until the sun burnt it away by 0800 hrs. We were on our way by 0640 hrs. It is already one week since Easter & we are in the middle of nowhere here in the Buttermilk Sound with no opportunity to go to Church; I will just have to say my own prayers for a trouble free day through a few wearisome problem areas on the agenda today. It was a falling tide till 100 hrs. & we had no problems passing through the Altamaha Sound & Little Mud River, & even had the jenny working for us in a SE wind as the wind slowly increased during the AM & the current against us. Winds shifted a bit to the ESE to 10-12K in the afternoon with a push from the current after rounding St. Catherines Sound until our anchorage at Redbird Creek at 1615 hrs. at Mile 606.8. Distance= 53.2sm or 41.1 nm. It had been a mixed bag of weather from sun to cloud like rain to clearing & back to a light cloud cover, but a fairly warm evening. There was a strong current on anchoring, thus the anchor was behind the boat. With the aid of the engine, we straightened the anchor line so it was ahead as one would expect just before dark, but who knows what will happen by the AM.

April 20^th: We wanted an early start to take advantage of the tides as this was another day through problem areas, but that was not to be. The anchor was very hard behind the boat around the keel, so much so that we could not even motor the boat in forward of reverse to free up the rode line to pull it in inch by inch. Instead we had to do the scariest thing---use a fender as a float, attach it to the anchor rode & let the entire anchor rode to free!; then once free & away, motor the boat back to the float, pick it up with the boat hook & pull in the rode, packing it back into the anchor well until I reached the tied off section to a cleat then bring the anchor end of the rode up in the usual fashion; this only took an hour. Despite high tide at about 0500 hrs. & losing a good hour with the anchor, Hells Gate on a falling tide at 0830 hrs. went well; one bad spot out of the way. The weather predicted was not favourable with possible rain & thunderstorms in the AM & PM with winds 10-20K & gusts to 30K. Depending in which direction we were travelling through this “serpentine” section of the ICW & the currents sometimes with us & other times against us, we used the jenny accordingly. Mid morning the winds did become more gusty & the skies were more cloudy. Temptation, a boat we were travelling with, has radar & was picking up serious storm patches here & there throughout the Savannah area & winds shifting SW to NE. Maximum low tide was about 1100 hrs. as we would be approaching Fields Cut, a serious shallow problem area, + the pending weather was not a good time to this passage. Temptation & Sweet Chariot anchored at noon in Herb River for a few hours to survey the situation in front of beautiful mansions, all with elaborate large docks & gazebos with hanging flower baskets & large power boats. There is a distance of 8.4sm to Fields Cut with a bridge opening that has restricted opening hours & so leaving at 1400 hrs. on a rising tide with high tide scheduled at 1700 hrs. would be in order. But at this time the weather was worsening; at 1600 hrs. there were intense black clouds to the north & at 1615 to 1645 hrs. the skies opened up with lightning & thunder, but no wind thank heavens. A good decision to stay put. The no-see-ums unfortunately were absolutely the worst. Some supper, some internet to my family, then settled down to a quiet, calm night.

April 21^st: At 0635 hrs. tried raising the anchor that was hard to stern, but with just brut strength from the two of us for 30 min. & a little help from the engine we finally got her up & made our way to the Causton Bluff Bridge, Georgia Mile 579.9 for it’s 0800 hrs. opening on a warm, sunny morning with no wind or clouds but dew covering the boat’s exterior. By 0900 hrs. SW winds were increasing allowing us to use the jenny, & throughout the day increasing at times to 8-10K & other times to nil, requiring the jenny to be realed in & out; the current also was for & against us at different times. The dreaded Fields Cut passage went well 2-21/2 hrs. after high tide with the most difficult parts at the south & north ends of the cut. There were nice NW winds through the Cooper River around Dafuskie Island & Calabogue Sound in the morning, but no winds at noon at low tide through the deep, well marked serpentine channel of Hilton Head. Great W winds rounding Parris Island to Beaufort River that kept building as we approached & were tying up at dockside at Port Landing Marina in Beaufort, S.C. at 1500 hrs. After fuelling , registering & paying we borrowed the courtesy truck went to Piggly Wiggly, liquor store, West Marine, CVS, & a drive by downtown historic Beaufort by 1745 hrs.; old, huge, well maintained mansions & their big wrap around verandahs; walk about is definitely in order fot the future. Back at the marina it was laundry time but I had to compete for the washers & dryers; 2 loads of washing & one of drying took me till 2200 hrs. as I darted back & forth from dinner at the restaurant on the premises. Even did some internet during dinner. A cold front came through as we were docking & throughout the evening with winds blowing 20-25K & whitecaps everywhere. We were told the following day that it was not a restful night for those that anchored until the winds died after midnight. Distance= 47.5sm or 38.5nm.

April 22^nd: I took advantage of another shower while Graeme topped up the boat’s water tank, then we slowly made our way to the Lady island Bridge for it’s 0900 hr. opening. It was a bright, sunny day with coolish NW winds that increased as the morning progressed. We are definitely moving north as our style & number of layers of clothes indicate ie ling sleeve T-shirt, hoodie sweat top & pants & even a fleece scarf. We watched a sub hunter making touch & go maneouvers while we sailed the Brickyard Creek. Then it was the sometime shallow waters of the wide, unobstructed Coosaw River. Low tide was at 1315 hrs. & it was 1230 hrs. when we started into the Ashepoo-Coosaw Cutoff, one of the trickiest & shallowest parts if the entire ICW; a power boat asked to pass but we diplomatically said ‘no’, as we draw near 6 ft. We were seeing 7-8ish depths as were crept slow through this area where exposed fish pots lined the mudbanks & so narrow you felt you could touch them. Fenwick Cut at Mile 511 was also skinny especially at R162 & R162A; at these marks we were motoring through 4’7’’ depths like it was butter. It is important to take wide, sweeping turns & use the ranges in this area. On a rising tide we saw 8-10 ft. depths along the South Edisto River, Watts Cut & the Dawho River. Suddenly mid afternoon the WNW winds kicked up to 30-35K with whitecaps & chop on the supposedly protected waters of the ICW. At Mile 495.2 we dropped our anchor in Tom Point Creek off the North Edisto River. The high winds & strong opposing current made for an interesting anchoring; 4 boats here & all pointing in different directions until the winds calmed down a little at 1900 hrs. then again at 2100 hrs. In fact we had a surprisingly calm night. Distance= 41.2sm or 37.5nm.

April 23^{rd(Week 29, Day 193)}: A magnificent sunrise over the saltwater marshes & the few trees of the Low Country as we were taking up anchor was breathtaking. It was a clear, sunny, warm morning with too little wind to sail by & current that was working for us. High tide= 088 hrs. & low tide= 1418 hrs. We set ourselves up perfectly for Elliott Cut, rocketing through there at 8.7K in about 3 min. flat. Ask me about the time we went through in the Fall. We had to wait for the Wappoo Creek Bridge opening at 1030 hrs. but by 1130 hrs. we were tied up on the Megadock at the Charleston City Marina. Distance= 18.4nm. A quick lunch then caught the 1300 hrs. shuttle to the Charleston Market & walked back to the marina for a well deserved shower, onto Skype with my Mom, & then dinner with 9 other cruisers. Mid afternoon the winds suddenly increased as did the harbour chop but by dark it was once again calm. What a warm delightful day!

April 24^{th(Week 29, Day 194)}: A good breakfast on this glorious sunny, warm morning, followed by some cleaning & internet. A group of us got the 1000 hrs. shuttle to the Market area, where we browsed & shopped, & had a fabulous lunch at the St. Phillips Episcopal Tea Room (4 day fundraiser for the missions, April 20-24), then to the Slave Museum on Chalmers & Church---depressing reality of the history of slavery in the US. Off to Harris Teeters for a few groceries, the shuttle to the marina, laundry, internet & a shower. We blew the budget here in Charleston as we attended another group dinner at Hymans (10 people), but then again this is our last night here before we move on tomorrow.