Friday, May 30th

We managed to get off the dock in Southport at the crack of dawn as the wind was just thinking about starting to blow.  We had hoped to get dockage in Wrightsville Beach and get Bill's prescriptions filled, etc.  However, there is a fishing derby going on this weekend and there was no dockage to be found.  Then we got held up by the Wrightsville Beach bridge that  has weird opening hours for over an hour.  We were struggling against the tide and were going to be getting in very late when we passed a boatyard with a dock out in front with no boats on it.  I hailed them on the VHF and they invited us in.  It wasn't fancy but they had power on the dock and water and April loves boatyards.  We did some dog walking and found the fish store with yet more fresh shrimp for dinner.  We befriended the gentleman in the boat next to us that was in the haul out and invited him over for cocktails.  Actually, April befriended him. 

This morning was left to make the swing bridge 3 miles down the waterway before 7 am.  We are in Swansborough, NH today in an old but friendly marina that had a courtesy van so we could get to that pharmacy and do some food shopping while we were about it.  We had lunch/dinner on the Swanborough Yacht Club dock and enjoyed once again meeting the local people.  Tomorrow we hope to be in Oriental, NC.

Wednesday, May 28th
Southport, NC

Again today we were up with the sun and off the dock before 6:30 a.m.  We were sandwiched in a very narrow space next to a BIG yacht so we wanted to get off early before the wind and tide affected us.  We managed to have a good motor ride with the tides most of the way and decided to fuel up and head for Indigo Plantation.  We knew this would be a special stop for April.  She could finally get some off leash running in at this marina.  The slip the marina assigned us to was a very poor selection.  The wind was all wrong and blowing strong.  However, we finally got the lines secured.  We just returned from April's first run  - she found deer to chase.  Fortunately, she had her training collar on.  We will head out for a second as soon as it cools off.  We will be heading in the direction of Wrightsville Beach tomorrow and perhaps beyond. 

Crabbing along the ICW

A reminder of the Bahamian beaches and beautiful warm water.  The dinghy and WishBone will never be without sand again.

 

Teaching the kids crabbing

 

Tuesday, May 27th

 

We left the dock before 6:30 a.m. and had a beautiful morning running with the tide along the waterway with depth under our keel.  The wildlife was beautiful.  The nests on the marker buoys and dead trees all had baby birds in them - eagles, osprey, hawks, etc.  The babies' heads were sticking up over the nests and they were so cute and fuzzy.  We met a fellow cruiser along the way who is from Block Island, NY.  We had three swing bridges, but still managed to get to Myrtle Beach Yacht Club by 2 p.m. and in time to give April a good walk.  There are some thunderstorms in the air so it's nice to be in dock early.  Tomorrow we will be traveling in North Carolina.

Monday, May 26th
We decided to stay out of Myrtle Beach, our next stop, over the holiday so extended our stay here at Pawley Island until tomorrow.   Before we left Leland Oil Company's dock on Saturday we not only had fresh shrimp but were also gifted off the boat MahiMahi.   Was that good!  April has had lots of leash walks here with good squirrel hunting.   However there are lots of alligators.  We saw one today that was at least 12 feet long lying on the golf green.   Then we saw another slide into water while we watched the turtles that was maybe 4 feet long.  April was definitely interested so there must be a gamey scent there.  Tomorrow we head out for Myrtle Beach.

 

McClellanville, SC

 

We are on the Jeremy River on a shrimp dock this afternoon.  Bill just left to purchase shrimp for dinner off one of the boats that just came in.  We left the dock at 6 a.m. to get through Elliott Cut without the tide.  We picked up the tide on the other side of the cut and it rode us through Charlestown Harbor.  Then our day changed.  The minus low tides are still with us and from the Ben Sawyer bridge to McClellanville we saw altogether too much mud.  We lucked out and were able to plow out twice when we went aground.  The two sailboats behind us were not so lucky.  Tomorrow we are bound for Georgetown, SC.



 

Sunset on Dataw Island, SC

 

 

Yikes, he takes up the whole waterway!

 

Hilton Head SC

 

Me and my babies have had a big night!

Friday, May 23rd
We pushed off the dock at Dataw Island early Thursday hoping we had figured the tides correctly.  Well, we shouldn't have left so early.   We fought the tide out the river to the ICW and then had nothing but shallows all morning.  A sailboat in front of us hailed us on the VHF to tell us he was aground.  We managed to plow some mud yet again and make it through but it was hold your breathe passage fighting the tide the whole way.  Finally, later in the afternoon the tides turned in our favor and the waters got deeper.  We arrived in Charleston about 4 pm.  We have chosen to stay over at the St. John Yacht Marina today as they had a courtesy car and we needed groceries and a trip to West Marine.  We will leave tomorrow and play with the Memorial weekend water traffic heading north to McClellanville SC. 

Wednesday, May 21st

After leaving Hilton Head we managed to get to Dataw Island, north of Beaufort.  Again, as it has been all week, the tides were against us all day.  Dataw has a two day for one special, and as we are all a little under the weather and a little tired from pushing, we decided to take advantage of it.  It also gives April some dirt under her feet time.  The weather is back to nice and warm today.  We will head out tomorrow AM for Charleston SC and hopefully reprovision again there.  There is nothing here in Dataw Island except golf courses and marina. 

Monday, May 19th

We left the Brunswick GA dock early Friday AM.  We had a long day (over 60 miles) and ended up in Kilkenny Creek Marina.  The marina was Georgia at its best.  Very primitive but a family run doing their best.   We needed to get off early to get the tide through Hell Gate so we did a short run.  We got to Delegal early afternoon, with the high tide, and in time to take a golf cart ride to the village.  April loved it.  Again, we had to play the moon tide to leave Delegal, so it was 10 AM and we were off the dock to Hilton Head, SC.  April had us up all last night we an intestinal problem, but she slept all day for the sail to Hilton Head, and has been great since we arrived.  Tomorrow we will get off the dock early headed for the Port Royal NC area.  It was cool today.  A little rain in the AM and then about 69 degrees all day.  Hopefully, the predicted forecast for warmer tomorrow is true.  It is very hard to come down from 80's and 90's to 60's.  We are looking forward to moving forward to the Port Royal//Beaufort area tomorrow. 

Brunswick, GA May 14th

Here we are again at a very favorite place.  April loves it here.  The dockmaster remembered April and April remembered the dockmaster.  The dockmaster took April on a golf cart ride today.  She is invited into the dockmaster’s hut whenever.  We have had GSP’s for almost 50 years, and I have loved every single one of them, but I have to say April is so very special in a great many ways.   She is so adaptable – to the boat, to people and to other dogs.  She has a new friend, Charlie, that she met while running in her private dog park.  Charlie is Pit Bull, Bull Dog and Hotdog.  He is one tough dog at a year old and April put him through her test.  She decided she liked him and they have had two  wonderful play times, race and chase and just what they both needed. 

We left St.  Augustine on Monday AM early with a slack tide.  We had a beautiful ride to Fernandina Beach, the tide with us all the way.  The next day we were up early and with a line handler headed out from Fernandina.  The tide was slack and the linehandler not so swift, but we finally made it out from the wall and onto the waterway again.  All things were going great but then the Coast Guard hailed us that there was a sub coming our way headed toward the shipyard at St. Mary, and we needed to move out of the channel starboard and NOW!  Okay, so there was shallow water and danger, so be It for our fleet.  Anyway we were held up about an hour, and then onward.  We had three inlets to cross with the current and wind and then we had Jekyell Creek.  We actually plowed our way through the creek with our meter registering 2.5 feet for at least a mile.  Yet another reason why I love Georgia!!

May 15^th

As expected the rains, thunder and lightning began yesterday afternoon and continue today.  Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny again but with high winds out of the North – on our bow.  Another worry is the winds blow the water out of the Georgia waterway so water that is already shallow gets even skinnier.  So we may end up sitting here one more day.  Perhaps we’ll rent a car and do some shopping.  All the stores are too far to walk from here, never mind the groceries get really heavy, especially April's water!

There are three other boats here with us that were also in St. Augustine with us.  One of them is experiencing a shaft problem and trying to make it to Oriental, SC to get it fixed.  Boy am I glad that problem is behind us!

 

 

 

Sunday, Mother's Day in St. Augustine

It's a beautiful day with lighter winds and lots of sunshine.  This morning we walked across the Bridge of Lions to the lighthouse, through the parks and along the waterfront on the other side of the bridge.  After returning to the boat and a cool down period we did lunch at our favorite French café, Café DeNoel followed by our favorite French pastry.  We walked off that pastry in the Old  Town and did a little sandal shopping.  We have walked right out of all our sandals. 
Tomorrow we head North toward Jacksonville Beach and then Fernandina.

How about those Bruins!

 

Oopps - upside down - but raise the flag for April's Birthday!

 

 

This baby Manatee played under the dinghy all day and especially liked the tie up line.

Thursday, May 8th

We made Daytona Tuesday and then on to St. Augustine yesterday.  Both days are long hauls, but we had the tides with us along with a SE wind on our stern so we made terrific time.  Yesterday was April's 4th birthday so we did a celebration walk, play time and dinner out when she got more than her fair of attention.  The dock master here has a GSP and always loves seeing April and she gets all together too many cookies.  We love St. Augustine so we will stay here a couple of days so we can visit all our favorite places.  One of mine is the hair salon from which I just returned.  Bill and April have gone to the Sailors Exchange, one of Bill's favorite places.  The weather is warm and breezy.

Tuesday, May 5th

Monday turned out to be a sunny day so we again hit the waterways.  However the wind was out of the North and it blew 15 to 18 knots on our nose all day.  We did however have the good fortune of following a tugboat all the way to Titusville - a good thing to have in front of you in shallow water and to get the bridges raised right away (bridges raise on request for commercial boats).  We stopped at the fuel dock and then went into the Titusville Municipal Marina.  After tying up WishBone with six lines - we will never get used to these pole docks - we washed the salt of the day off the boat and then took April to the dog park.  What a great time she had!  She ran and stretched those legs with any dog who would chase her and after any other dog's ball.  Today we did a load of laundry and picked up some supplies.  Our walk into town turned out to be quite long and the walk back quite hot.  It is in the high 80's here and we expect it to be warm the rest of the week.  Our destination tomorrow is Daytona.

Saturday, May 3rd

We got our waste system repair done on Thursday afternoon and dropped the mooring ball in Stuart Friday morning to ride the tide out of the harbor.  We had a motoring day to Vero Beach and just made the fuel dock, dog walk and showers when the rains began.  It rained all night but was over this morning.  We again motored today along the ICW until the weather went downhill and the lightning and thunder started.  A check of the charts told us Melbourne, FL was our closest refuge. The channel in was a little shallow but the marina is great. April greeted the dock master as only she can, rain and all.  NOAA tells us this weather will continue all day and all night, but sunshine will return tomorrow.  It has been a long time since we have been rained in for the day.

Thursday, May 1st
We left Lake Worth on Monday for Stuart, Florida.  We are on a mooring ball here.  The temperatures have been flirting with the 90's every day since we hit Florida.  Tuesday we all took the shuttle to the pet store and Walmart.  A big day for April.  Wednesday we discovered we have a plumbing problem in the head which needs to be solved.  So today the plumber comes to the boat.  Yes, it is a boat!  We hope to be able to get to Vero Beach tomorrow.  April has been very busy between the lizards and squirrels.  She gets hot playing, I hose her down, and she is off again.