May 26 Toogoodoo Creek to St. Johns Yacht Harbor

 May 26 Toogoodoo Creek Anchorage to  St. Johns Yacht Harbor

Final leg of this trip bringing the new boat from Stuart Fl. to our home base of Charleston, SC   We stay at St. Johns Yacht Harbor  on the Stono River rather than the mega dock downtown.  We have friends who live nearby on Johns Island, we like the folks who run the marina, it's a bit  more laid back, and despite it being a bit further from the downtown action, we always have a car so can get around easily.    The trick at all the marinas in Charleston is timing  the 7' tidal flow for slack current - which usually lasts about 10 minutes. Low slack occurs at 1:10 PM today.  So up anchor at 10:15 for our 3 hour trip. We'll fight the outgoing Edisto River current until the top of Johns Island where it switches and we'll catch the outgoing tide  going down the Stono River.  We arrive a few minutes early and contact the marina.  Always great to hear our favorite dockmaster "E" answering our call, giving us  our slip assignment and  line and fender adjustment instructions.   Tells us wait 5 more minutes  for full slack tide since there's a stiff 15-20 SE breeze which will be giving us an  adverse push  on the beam away from the dock.  A check of the flags on shore confirms the strength with them flying straight out in the wind.  The bow thruster gets a good workout as do the dockhands who manage to help get us all secured.  Great slip on the inside  of the T at the end of D dock with a full length finger pier alongside.  It can get a little bouncy  with boat traffic on the river during the weekends, but that settles down at night.   The benefits of a better view and being able to catch a breeze more than offset a little rolling.

View from the flybridge at St. Johns Yacht Harbor

Overall, it was a nice enjoyable trouble free trip.  Let's hope they all continue that way.

Some stats as best  as I can calculate:

529.3 miles,  63 engine hours,  320 gallons of diesel,  avg rpm between 1200-1500

Avg 8.4 mph,  Avg 1.65 miles/gal., Avg 5.08 gal./hr

Journey for May 26

May 25 Beaufort to Toogoodoo Creek

 May 25 Beaufort to Toogoodoo Creek Anchorage

No early start today.   Having to play the tide. Plenty of time to head over to Rain N Bagels for a freshly made half dozen assortment of bagels and a container of cream cheese. We toasted and ate one each then bagged and froze the others for later.  YUM!!

We never get tired of watching the dolphins ride our waves

There are a couple of tricky sections of the ICW in SC. I was originally concerned about Watts Cut but as I dug into my route planning closer, we would be hitting the Ashepoo Cut first which has developed a serious shoal across the mouth of the entrance. My charts were showing a very narrow channel that was still only 4-5' deep at low tide. By leaving Beaufort at 11:30 we could hit that cut at 1:30 on a rising tide with an extra 1-1/2'.  We're heading down the Coosawa River approaching the cut. It's closer to 2 pm as we've been fighting the current the whole time.  I figure that's fine - extra time for the tide to come in.  I run the autoroute program in Navionics to take me through  Ashepoo Cut and to the start of Watts cut to get an ETA for Watts.  Surprisingly, Navionics refuses to program me through Ashepoo Cut based on my draft criteria and the tide adjusted water level.  It instead directs me to continue down the Coosawa all the way to the inlet then loop around a shoal area that extends almost to the ocean before bringing us up the real Ashepoo River and intersecting  the ICW further north.  It just isn't worth the gamble of a grounding in this remote area so we decide to take the long route around despite it being several miles longer.  We got to see how the boat handled with some 2-3' choppy wind and tide driven waves on the nose as we approached the inlet.  Then engaged the stabilizers as we  turned around the shoal and started taking  those waves on our beam.   The boat handled it all great.

Calm waters at high tide passing through Watts Cut

The trip up the Ashepoo was settled as we  were suddenly in protected waters again with a nice incoming tide pushing us along. Watts Cut wound up being a non- issue as we  approached it nearing high tide.  On to our anchorage up the Edisto River,  We had stayed  at Tom Point Creek before but decided to try another new anchorage for the night.  It was the next creek  up called Toogoodoo Creek.  Love that name.   It is another great place with better protection, scenery and swing room than Tom Point Creek.   Dropped the hook in 15'  without issue.  Easy set. Wind died down overnight and we slept soundly  with just the gentle swing  of the tide.  Short trip tomorrow  to bring us home to Charleston. 

Toogoodoo Creek Anchorage protective shoreline

Anchorage looking out to the Edisto River

Journey for May 25

May 23 Vernon River to Beaufort (Bew-fert) the one in SC

 May 23 Vernon River Anchorage to Beaufort, SC

Started the day with wiping down the boat after last night's rainstorm. Feels good to grab a handrail and not come away with a covering of salt on your palm.  Can't say enough about how much we liked this anchorage.  But it was time to move on after 3 nights here so anchor up at 9:00 to make our way to Beaufort for a slack tide afternoon docking. 

Nice cruising day.  Overcast, WSW breeze, favorable currents most of the way and limited no wake zones had us arriving a bit early so we wound up going idle speed the last hour letting the current do most of the final work for us.  The trip wound around the back side of Skidaway Island, past Isle of Hope, Thunderbolt and Savannah area.  AIS again gave us a warning about the incoming container cargo ship Hyundai Hope as we prepared to cross the Savannah River channel.   Didn't really need the AIS warning as the low-level marshlands allowed us to see it moving up the main channel from a mile away.  Still, we prudently waited on the ICW to let it pass before crossing the river and entering SC.  

Waiting for the Hyundai Hope to move upriver

From there around Hilton Head, across Port Royal Sound and up the Beaufort River.  All docks here are parallel to the river flow, and we were assigned the inside end of the outer face dock.  Decent job docking. Breeze working against us but that's becoming the norm.  We're at the Beaufort town dock right downtown.  Last time passing through we had to stay at Lady Island Marina across the river which wasn't convenient for exploring town. So, we're looking forward to our 2 night's stay here and exploring the town. 

A little lumpy crossing the Sound

All secured at the town dock

Tuesday was a "get off the boat and go exploring day".  First order of business was breakfast at Brookstone Cafe. Then visit a few museums, check out some of the local stores and do a little shopping, walk through St Helen Church Cemetery then along the waterfront park.  Wound up at Panini's for an underwhelming late lunch/early dinner. Unbelievable as it sounds, there was no local brewery to be found! Back at the boat the evening was highlighted watching high school graduation activities being held at the waterfront park

Food was underwhelming but the view was wonderful at Panini's

Graduation Day in Beaufort

Journey for May 23

May 20 Brunswick Landing to Vernon River Anchorage

May 20 Brunswick to Vernon River Anchorage

Off the dock at 7:45. Super easy with no current and no wind.  Not exactly sure where we'll stop for the night but pretty sure it would be an anchorage.  Not having a very specific final destination always creates a bit more stress at the helm. It's a long stretch of the ICW here without marinas, fuel stops, or mechanics. We also have weather concerns and weekend boaters to avoid.  Forecast for Saturday and Sunday is calling for rain, thunderstorms and strong winds so we want to get settled in somewhere secure for the next 3 nights. We've anchored this general area before but passed Tea Kettle Creek at noon which was too early to stop. Got to Big Tom Creek around 3.  It was narrower than we remembered so the swinging room in a storm with alternating currents just didn't seem prudent with our longer boat.  It also had no wind protection being openly surrounded by marshland and the ever-present green flies and no see ums.

Typical Georgia marshlands at high tide

Time is passing into afternoon and I'm feeling a bit more angst. We pushed on through Hell Gate to at least get that over while on a rising tide. So now we're thinking at this point we could probably make a Savannah marina  with a late arrival and stay there the weekend.  We call all the usual suspects. Isle of Hope, Thunderbolt, Safe Harbor.   Nada...Nada....Nada....  No room at any of them.  Seems we keep striking out  with our transient slips.   So we take a hard look at the charts and read reviews  on the available anchorages.   Decide Vernon River right before the cutoff for Skidaway Island  looks like a decent option.  Wider than the creeks we passed so plenty of swing room.   As we approach  we see several boats already at anchor so that's a good sign. And there's still plenty of room so we start heading in. It's bumpy.  Strong southerly wind is meeting the opposing outgoing current and  really mixing things up.  Just doesn't seem like it would be comfortable for 3 days of stormy weather.  Getting more stressed as it's been a long day already and we're ready to drop anchor  - just not right here.  But there's limited anchorages further north  and we sure don't want to turn around. Checking the charts again and it shows another anchorage  on the river a bit further upstream and around the bend.  We head in. Amazing difference with  solid protection on the north side by land, trees and houses.  To the south broken terrain with marshes and wooded islands.  River current is running east/west .  We drop the anchor  in a spot marked 9' on the charts. There's a 6 ' tide here so we lay out 75' of chain, get a good set on the anchor, hook up the bridle and call it an exhausting day.

Shrimp boat "Daddy's Boy" passes through the anchorage headed home

Peaceful night looking north

We're really glad we found this anchorage.  Worth the extra time to come around that bend.  Would be an ideal hideout  if looking to get protection from a northerly.  It stayed overcast the entire weekend with winds 10-15 and gusting over 20.  The changing tides would swing us side to side but the constant winds  never let us  make a full revolution  as shown on the anchor alarm plot.  Just a nice smiley face as we swung back and forth. 

Chart plotter showing our "smiley" swing pattern - maybe more of a "frowny"?

A strong storm finally did come through during the middle of Sunday night.  And it was a doozy.  Unbelievable wind gusts, rain,  and lightning bolts flying all over. Always a fun time in the pitch black of night where you can't tell what's going on outside.  The only points of reference being the  lights shining from the houses on shore moving  across our windows as the boat swings about wildly with each gust. As the only boat here we were nervous about a potential lightning  strike but a big tower  on land gave us hope it would get hit instead.  The storm was over within an hour or so but  sure  messed up our sleep for the night.  One upside was the boat got a needed rinse  to remove some accumulated salt spray.  

Journey for May 20

May 19 Cumberland Island To Brunswick Landing Marina

May  19   Cumberland Island to Brunswick

Early morning start for us with anchor up at 7:15.   Came in easy with just some mud on the anchor  to wash off.   Pretty uneventful trip.  Looking to get to Brunswick Landing at noon for slack tide.  Cruise through the marshes behind Cumberland,  then cross the relatively flat waters of St. Andrews Sound,  laze our way around  the back side of Jekyll Island and then out the Brunswick River.

Our big excitement for the day  was crossing paths with the car carrier ship "Liberty Promise".   We had been tracking it  with our AIS  as we approached  the river and they were inbound from the ocean.  AIS had us on an intersecting path so being the prudent skipper I am I throttled back to insure he stayed in front of us.  We didn't have AIS on the old boat and it's been interesting to see targets  show up as well as being able to see their direction and possible intersects.  Click their icon and you find our their name, size, destination, etc.  Pretty neat!   As it passed it had "Liberty" painted large on the side.  Dang advertisers.  I couldn't get that insurance jingle out of my head for the rest of the day.  

Liberty! Liberty!  Liiibertyyy!

We've stayed at Brunswick Landing Marina before so knew the layout.   Fuel dock on the end of the first T head.   Pretty easy side tie.  Took on 400 gallons of fuel at $5.50 a gallon and still not topped off!.  Quite a change  from our last visit before finishing the loop when we paid an even $2.00.    Fuel, pump out and then backed into our slip for the night.  Wind on our port side trying to do  a port side finger pier tie took a little more effort but we got tied up just fine.  Just when you start thinking you've got a decent sized boat  wouldn't you know someone has to come along to keep it in perspective as a 90' Cheoy Lee  docked behind us. 

Our little boat on the right

With our early arrival we had some time to explore downtown which is just a couple blocks off the waterfront.  They have really tried to make it a nice destination with interesting well  maintained old buildings, several small urban parks, and many thriving stores and restaurants.  Hot, hot, hot day so we opted to hit the new Silver Bluff Brewery at 4 o'clock when it opened.  Arrived to a sign "Closed for Special Event 4-5".  So we sat on a park bench in the heat, but at least in the shade, for an hour. At 5:05  they let us and several other patrons in  generously providing us with a ticket for a free drink.  So rather than a flight we just got drinks - Martha a pink lemonade seltzer  to cool her down.  I had the Beekeeper DIPA at 8.4% ABV.   A nice sipping beer.    Then we tried one of the new restaurants in town - The Southern Table.  Martha's dish was a unique twist on shrimp and grits and John enjoyed a spicy Chicken Creole. Then back to the marina where Martha decided the free laundry was too good to pass up and  did two loads while John chatted it up with our Canadian dock mates on their Swedish sailboat  just recently back from the Caribbean. 

 

Sunset in Brunswick, GA

Journey for May 19

May 17 Sisters Creek to Cumberland Island

 May 17, 2022   Sisters Creek to Cumberland Island.

All Time High was off the dock and heading out as the sun came up. We had barely woken up.  Not sure where they'll get today as Joe likes to run fast.  Ultimate destination for them is back to home in Ocean City, MD.   Safe travels.

 Off the dock at 8:30 after some coffee, juice and cereal. Short half day cruise for us up  to Cumberland Island.  Great  anchorage we've stayed at before.   Out of  Florida and back in Georgia. Needed that to keep the Fl tax man away. Mostly meandering marshlands broken up by the towns of Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach.   We were easy on the throttles mostly 1200 rpm's.  No big hurry and  it conserves diesel until we hit our next stop at Brunswick Landing. 

 Anchoring went good for our  first time.  Slight current and wind but the big Mantus anchor grabbed.  Boat has  a nice anchoring setup with a Maxwell windlass, 200' of all new chain rode, a gorgeous piece of jewelry on the anchor called a Mantus swivel and a nice Mantus bridle to finish it off.   I'm thinking we're all set for two nights when a sailboat comes in and drops anchor  upstream from us - then proceeds to drag anchor until he's downstream from us before refiring his engine and pulling up anchor.   Only to  come about and drop anchor  directly in front of  us - this time it catches.  Outgoing tide and he puts out a  sketchy short amount of rode.  With the 6' tidal swing that rode gets even shorter.  Coupled with an overnight tidal swing and I'm not liking the situation.  I'm giving him the crossed arms and hairy eyeball the entire time which he completely ignores.  I'm just not comfortable with the situation  so we fire our engines up and practice our anchoring technique again a bit further away.  Better spot actually in a little deeper water. 

Cumberland Island sunset  - came out from behind the clouds just in time

 Cumberland Island  used to be owned by the Carnegie's.  Now it's part of the National Seashore Parks.   The brick  ruins of their house "Dungeness" are still an attraction.   Great beaches on the far side of the island.  Awesome maritime forest and  trails and a large herd of wild horses that are always viewable nibbling on the grasses surrounding the ruins.  Only accessible by water but you can grab a tour boat out to it from either St. Mary's or Fernandina. We  stayed an extra day and  planned to unleash the dingy  and use the davit to drop it over the side.  Got it uncovered, gas at 5/8 of a tank, but no power to turn it over.  Dead battery and of course the charger I had thought about bringing on the trip is still sitting on my workbench at home.  So no trip over to the island.  We secure and cover the dingy and just relax for the day - nothing wrong with that either!!

"Dungeness" ruins and wild horses at Cumberland from our last trip

Journey for May 17

 

May 16 Palm Coast to Sisters Creek

 May 16, 2022   Palm Coast Marina to Sisters Creek Free Dock (Jacksonville, FL)

Back at the boat after our trip home to take care of dental appointments.  Boat was just as we left it despite a few days of high water due to  king tides from  a full moon coupled with several days of  heavy winds keeping the water backed up.  We've found this to be a great marina for layovers.  Roxine the dockmaster is easy to work with, the marina is safe, secure and well protected, water depths are good and OnSpot wifi is available.    Fixed docks but normal tidal change is pretty small.  We got back late Friday.  Provisioning run on Sat.  Boat washing on Sunday - which of course lead to  unforecasted overnight rain and thunderstorms.    I've got to say our impression of Palm Coast  improved significantly over our last visit.  Having the car and driving around a bit helped us get a better feel for the entire development.  Ray and Dianne said they've talked multiple Loopers into purchasing dirt homes there.  Had a boat tie up at Palm Coast our last night that was also "As You Wish".  Hailing port was our old stomping grounds on the Chesapeake Bay. 

A fellow "Princess Bride" fan

Off the dock a bit late at 8:45 after returning the rental car.  Palm Coast  as well as Palm Valley  south of Jax have some pretty long no wake zones.  Lots of houses and docks built right on the waterway which is essentially just a long dugout canal through these areas.  We were  trying to play the currents against timing an opening  at the St. Augustine Bridge of Lions.   They only open on the hour and half hour except they don't open at noon.  So we either needed to make the 11:30 opening or we'ld be waiting for the 12:30 which would have gotten us into Sisters Creek late.   So once outside the no wake zone we had to put  the hammer down for  about 1/2 hour to insure we made the 11:30 opening.  Made it, but definitely consumed some fuel!! 

Waiting for the Bridge of Lions

Thankfully we made that 11:30 opening

 Castillo de San Marcos on the St. Augustine waterfront

 Currents are a constant battle.  Either 1.5 kts with or 1.5 against  approaching each inlet.   Anyway, timing was perfect for our docking which was at slack tide.   One other boat there - All Time High - helped us with our lines.  They were docked next to us at Palm Coast and  got an earlier start.  Beautiful sunset, leftover Mexican and salad for dinner then off to bed early. 

Evening view off Sisters Creek free dock 

Sunset view looking back in Sisters Creek

Journey for May 16

May 8 A VERY Long Day

 May 8  Eau Gallie to Palm Coast 

Our plan for the day was to get an early stary leaving around 7:30 and make our way to New Smyrna Beach. for another 8 hour cruising day.  We're thinking we're behind the great migration of boaters who  winter in Florida and head north starting in March/April.  Transient slips shouldn't be an issue.   We call New Smyrna Beach City Marina  at 9AM .  He informs us "No room - no open slips"   We'll be  number 3 on the wait list.  If anyone cancels he'll call us.   Not too concerned we continue on.  Up the balance of the Indian River Lagoon, pass by Cocoa and Titusville, checking out  the NASA  assembly building over at Cape Canaveral which is viewable for miles, then  through  Haulover Canal to Mosquito Lagoon and working our way up an unbearably long no wake zone south of NSB. 

Mothers Day boat ride in New Smyrna Beach

 It's about 1 o'clock and we haven't heard from the dockmaster so give him a call.  No cancellations, can't accommodate us and no suggestions other than a marina off a side creek with water that was too shallow based on our navigation charts.  Options now become to drop anchor at nearby  Ponces Inlet, head  up to Daytona and hope we can get a slip there or push really hard and go all the way up to Palm Coast Marina.  We already have reservations for a week at Palm Coast  since we need to drive home for dental appointments and they can accommodate the early arrival.  The decision is made - Palm Coast or bust!!    12 hours and 113 miles after starting our day we finally get tied up  for the evening.  

Despite our bit of drama, it overall was a delightful day on the water. It was a warm sunny Sunday so lots of small boat traffic  but also lots of nature to be seen.  The usual dolphins we always enjoy seeing.  Spotted a manatee lumbering along the bank while traversing  Haulover canal,  Osprey chicks almost the size of their parents shrieking for another meal in their nests atop a channel markers.  A flamboyant pink Roseate Spoonbill gliding  effortlessly above the water.. 

Impossible to see but there IS a manatee along the bank

Ray and Dianne ( who have a house here in Palm Coast)  moved our truck  from Stuart up to here for us.  We'll get a rental car, move the truck to St. Johns Yacht Harbor in Charleston,  then use the rental to head home for our Dr. appointments before coming back here.  

Voyage for May 8

May 6 First Day Cruising

 May 6 - Hutchinson Island Marina to Eau Gallie Marina

Our first day cruising started with a nice early start at 7:15. Weather was forecast to be a bot breezy but that would be welcome as  it was also typically south Florida sunny,  hot and humid.   Engines started right up. I'm getting used to  the electronic throttles which require a very gentle hand but are extremely smooth functioning. We put in an 8 hour day and  traveled 71 miles.  Arrived at Eau Gallie with the wind still blowing and looking at a side tie dockage down a slipway too narrow  for us to spin.  So Martha prepped the lines and adjusted the fenders while we circled the small harbor before finally spinning the boat one last time, backing down the slipway and laying the boat ever so gently against the bulkhead. Those twin engines and  double propped bow thruster are making handling this boat a dream.  

Captain Martha takes a turn at the helm

Captain John always focused

The actual trip was pretty uneventful.  Just lots of watching for the next  markers to make sure we were staying in the dredged section of  the shallow waterway here called Indian River Lagoon.  We had multiple visits by groups of dolphins.   Interestingly, they seem to prefer  surfing along on the wave  at our side on this boat rather than on the bow wave they liked on our old boat.  On several occasions we didn't know they were alongside until we heard a loud "SPLASH" and would look over  the side and there they were. 

Dolphins swimming alongside

Eau Gallie is an interesting small marina.  Very good pricing and very friendly boaters.  Only room for a couple of transient boats but a nice snug harbor which we wanted as winds overnight and the following day were gusting to 30 kts. We stayed an extra day, walked the arts district as their old downtown is called, and relieved our thirst at Intercoastal Brewery by sampling their widely diverse selection.

A sampling of assorted grog at the Intercoastal Brewery

Voyage for May 6

We Have a New Boat

 April 2022

WE HAVE A NEW BOAT!!

Following a longer layover than we ever expected due to the Covid pandemic, scarcity of quality used boats, crazy pricing due to that scarcity and our inability to just settle  for  anything but our dream boat, we have finally closed  on our next boat.  After completing the Great Loop and selling our 2010 38' Marine Trader sundeck trawler we knew we wanted to continue the cruising lifestyle but in a larger pilothouse style boat.   Let me introduce you to the new "As You Wish"

2003 Ocean Alexander 511 Pilothouse

We considered  a number of different  boats in our search based on our list of "wants" and were able to tour a number of them including a 48' Bayliner, 53' Eagle, 49' Hampton, 48' Offshore, 48' McKinna, and 54' Symbol.    We had a backup contract on the 54' Symbol but it didn't work out as the first buyer went through with that deal.  We've always  had our eyes on 51' Ocean Alexanders since  there was one that cruised  the Great Loop  with us but they are hard to find.  Back in the spring of 2021 we contacted Ray and Dianne on "Radian Journey"  as they  passed through Myrtle Beach  on their loop to see if we could  get a tour  of their boat.   It hit the top of our list.  The owners stated  "We'll be selling it after  the loop if you're interested".  At the time we laughed  thinking we'll surely have our boat purchased way before then.  Fast forward 9 months and we were still boatless.  We happen to see via the Great Loop forum that "Radian Journey" had crossed her wake  and completed the loop in Key West.    We reach out  to them and "yes, still planning to sell after  a few months enjoying the winter in the keys and possibly a trip to the Bahamas".   Several other people had expressed an interest in buying the boat when they were done so we knew we needed to act fast.  A contract was sent that evening and the deal  was done.  Now it was a waiting game.  Everything worked out fine.  They enjoyed the keys with family visits, decided to forego the Bahama's and  moved the boat up to Stuart for haul out and surveys which all went  great. We officially took ownership on April 27!!

Hauling the boat for survey

Salon 

Galley

Pilothouse

Master Stateroom

VIP Stateroom

Side Stateroom with bunks

Flybridge

Boat Layout