Saturday 16th April 2011

Charleston South Carolina

Well, that was an interesting night, to say the least. Our first 24 hour passage this season & a real doozy . Things never work out as you expect.

The plan ( ah, the plan!!) was to leave Jekyll Island (Georgia ) on the high tide at first light, then take the forecast E/SE wind up to Charleston. This is a nice 24 hour run & eliminates all the twists, turns, bugs & unexpected shoaling on the ICW in Georgia. This is absolutely gorgeous country , but hard to enjoy when the waterway is so poorly maintained. So, out the inlet at 8.5knots .. flying.. & set sail for South Carolina.

By evening the wind is set in from the east at 15 knots & we are on a beat, Warm Rain doing what she does best, tracking along & cutting through the waves (small ones ), but for this crew member this is a miserable way to spend the night!! It was a bumpy, bouncy, noisy ride which would have been lovely on a sunny afternoon on the Bras d'Or but not so good when you need to have a snooze at 2 am & its hard to find a spot to lay your head. A blanket & pillow in the cockpit worked best. The other crew member was happy as can be.. go figure.

However.... not all bad ,as we had a most marvellous full moon all night which made it as bright as day, and it didn't set until 1 hour before sunrise . We also had visitors along the way, a huge turtle as we were coming out the Inlet, a big shark cruising along at the side of the boat (waiting for pickings) & a little yellow bird who perched on the lifelines for a few minutes to catch his breath . Plus, we are now in Charleston!

Rob is doing some engine maintenance this morning. She deserves all the care & attention we can give her. Had a little problem on our way from St Augustine to Jekyll Island when he found water in the transmission fluid.. not good.

Rob with head in head & engine!!

Technical stuff now but it seems that there must have been a pin hole leak in the cooling unit which sits on top of the tramsmission. After digging around in the box of spare parts we found a replacement cooler. Thank you Gerry, who gave us his old Westerbeke engine & allowed us to

strip off as many parts as we possibly could. I think we have enough bits & pieces to build a new motor. The spare went on, the fluid drained & replaced 4 or 5 times to get rid of all water & all looks fine. Sigh of relief.

We had a wonderful stop after leaving St Augustine. A long day sail got us to Cumberland Island (just north of fernandina Beach). This is a coastal barrier island protected from development & accessible only by boat. The only people there are boaters like us who anchor in the little harbour & spend a few days exploring or park wardens or hardy souls who camp. There are interpretive programs & hiking trails & basic campsites so its popular with scouts & such.

Day sail to Fernandina

The island was once the home of the Carnegie family with a huge mansion & smaller mansions for the 13 children. (Think the Bell estate ). Also 300 servants (slaves) to maintain gardens & lifestyle which was totally self sufficient. They really did live like royalty. The mansion is gone (destroyed by fire ) but you can stll see the remains & get a taste of what life must have been like in the glittering gilded age of the early 1900's.

Cumberland Island

There is an incredible long beach with dunes & seabirds galore, lovely wooded areas with live oaks & spanish moss, plus a herd of wild horses. In the background is the smell from the pulp mill at Fernandina !!!

The next stop for us was Jekyll Island which was home to JP Morgan at one time. More developed than its neighbour but still a state park with the old mansions restored & converted to hotels (think Keltic lodge ), also golf courses & incredible long beaches.

Today we are off to the farmers market for fresh produce & also to visit the huge market where the ladies make the lovely baskets. A slice of old southern life, the old slave market. We will try to find the best pralines in town & some good old southern comfort food ... shrimps,hush puppies & grits with pecan pie to follow, oh & maybe some sticky barbecue ribs!! (reeeebs). Warm Rain is sinking lower in the water with the added ballast.

Then we will see what the next week or so brings as we move slowly north towards North Carolina. It getting cooler but we're still in shorts & t shirts.

Will post again in a week or so.

Market in Charleston

Warm Rain out.