Palm Coast, FL

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends! We had planned to have Thanksgiving in Ft. Lauderdale, FL with our friends on Cat's Paw and Carleigh, but problems with the boat have kept us in Palm Coast. Instead, we had dinner with Sandy and Peter, off neighboring boat, Bewitched. They winter here in Palm Coast.

We had stopped to have work done by our favorite mechanic, Al Blandenburgo, and in the process, he found that the work needed was much more extensive than we thought. We needed to have the prop removed and checked and it was found to have a bent blade. Al, with the help of his son Niko, Rob, a diver, and Bob (supervising), the shaft was removed. It took two hours of pounding to remove the shaft last Sunday. We heard Wednesday that it will need to be replaced, so we will be here at least another week.


Bob, Niko and Rob working on the engine with every possible tool imaginable (Al was in the engine room).


Shaft that took a tremendous amount of pounding remove.


Our freshly repaired prop waiting for the new shaft to go back on the boat.

I have been keeping myself busy by painting, knitting, and making jewelry! Here are two pieces I painted.


Sled I painted.


Second sled - third is being prepped for paint.

Again, Happy Thanksgiving to all, and hopefully we will be back underway and can provide more interesting photos soon.

Brunswick, GA to Palm Coast, FL

This is Piper on the boat behind us on the dock. He is a cute Westie.

Our visit to Brunswick was short and sweet. This is where we take on our fuel for the winter at Ocean Petroleum. This fuel depot handles the fueling of large fishing boats, so there fuel is clean and less expensive than at marinas. As it was, the price of fuel has gone up in recent days, so we ended up paying $2.89.9 a gallon this time.

After taking on our fuel and arriving at Brunswick Landing Marina, we went to dinner at a favorite restaurant, Cargo's Portside. We love the food here. Bob had shrimp and grits (to see what they put in their recipe to compare to his own) and I had scallops. Both were really delicious.

We were again underway toward our destination of Jacksonville Beach at 7:30. We passed the Kings Bay Submarine Base and Fernandina Beach, FL. Passing by the marina at Fernandina Beach, we spotted some friends on Dream Catcher we'd been in touch with and waved. They will be stopping through the holidays in St. Augustine, so we probably won't see them again till the Bahamas. On this day we crossed from Georgia to Florida. Slow, but steady progress.


"The birdcage in the ICW" is used for degaussing submarines at the Kings Bay Sub Base. Makes for a very strange sight on the Intracoastal Waterway.

This marks our passing into Florida. There are very few signs along the ICW welcoming you to a new state as you pass. You never really quite know when you are in a new state like you would if you were driving. Makes you wonder if states don't really want you to come by boat!

Sunday,the Captain did his engine check and then went to start the engines. The port engine did not start. So we put on our headsets and he went to the engine room while I awaited the signal to attempt to start the engine. Bob did his magic and troubleshooted the problem and it was found to be a corroded battery connection, that once fixed got us underway. Conclusions for the day: there is no guarantee on a boat that things that worked the day before will work the next and don't leave the dock without at least one mechanically inclined person aboard.

A lot of the stretch from Jacksonville Beach to St. Augustine has gorgeous homes on the left side of the ICW and the a natural area on the right. We also pass Guana River State Park on the East side on the ICW.


Buildings and homes along the ICW in St. Augustine, FL


Old wooden schooner used for tours at the municipal dock in St. Augustine.


The re-build of the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine is now totally complete and the ugly temporary bridge is now all removed. Unfortunately, we could get under the temp bridge, we have to wait for this one to open.

When we arrived at Palm Coast Marina, luckily there were 6 guys available to help pull us in to the dock. We were fighting wind and current pretty fierce. Thanks to all on the dock for their help!

Gigi and Vic off Gigi's Island (last year on Oconnee), cruising friends in the Bahamas, were here at the marina to greet us also. It is great to catch up with old friends. We will be at this marina for a week or so while our mechanic, Al, does everything on Bob's list of maintenance. Niko, Al's son, will do some boat waxing and hull cleaning for us to spiff us back up from the trip south.


Niko, one of three enterprising sons of Al, our mechanic, doing a beautiful job cleaning and polishing up our boat.

Palm Coast Marina is one of those marinas that becomes a community during this time of year. For many, this is their winter destination, for others, this is a couple of month stop over the holidays where they leave their boat, for some, it is just an overnight stop along the ICW, or like for us, it is a stop where we have maintenance work to be done.

Monday night is the community cocktail hour and we met several couples in each of these categories. A french couple left this morning that had been here for some time. They tooted their horn and waved to their friends on the dock, and many tooted their boat horn in response. While I was on the back of the boat waving goodbye, several porpoises were feeding in the canal right by the boat. One surfaced about two feet from the boat and scared me it was so close. Fish were jumping out of the water to get away from the hungry porpoises. There were at least 5 porpoises. I tried to take photos, but mostly, I just got water splashes as they dove back for their meal.


The white dot is a little fish trying to get away from the porpoise - which is the splash in this photo. Taken in the canal by the marina right beside the boat.

My friend Linda came to visit Palm Coast and take care of her mother for a few days and came to the marina. It was great getting to see her and we figured it had been two years since we had seen each other. Originally, they had planned to purchase a boat and do what we are doing, but ended up buying a condo in Florida and traveling the world by plane. It was great to catch up with her.


Beautiful bow spirit on a trawler named Georgia Girl docked near us.


Interesting red hulled schooner that came in for the night at the marina.

Our plan was to leave around noon on Thursday and that would get us to Ft. Lauderdale on Tuesday, in time to grocery shop for Thanksgiving dinner with our friends on Carleigh and Cat's Paw. Well, a diver checked our props and found a bent one, so it was pulled and was sent off to be repaired. It will not come back till Monday. That means that our plans have gone awry. We would likely make it to Vero Beach by Thursday next week now. Of course, we may still do a big dinner when we get to Ft. Lauderdale and call it Thanksgiving.

So we will be tied to land for a few days awaiting the return of our prop, but should be back underway next week. Have a great Thanksgiving.

Myrtle Beach, SC to Brunswick, GA

My last photo of the floating pontoon bridge in the ICW as it is being replaced with a high bridge. (Mentioned in my last post.)

We were up fairly early and underway by 7:10 heading south again. We pass through South Myrtle Beach seeing the lovely homes along the ICW.


It was a bad day for this golfer!

South of Myrtle Beach, we enter Waccamaw River. It is prettier in the spring and summer when the leaves are on the trees, or earlier when the trees are in full color. It still has its beauty, just more subdued colors this time of year. Some of it is pretty narrow, not as narrow as the Dismal Swamp Canal, but similar because they both are lined with many cedar trees. Since it has been colder, we are not seeing as many fishermen along the waterways, expect for the well-bundled, hardier ones.


You never know what you are going to see in the ICW. This is a truck and trailer on a barge. What was really interesting is that the barge was self-propelled with no visible engine.


House decorated for Halloween.


Our days this week will be in the 60's and nights in the 40's. Not too bad. Hard for me to complain as I sit in an enclosed pilot house and pass all those folks in open cockpit sailboats! We met a sail-boater this morning that is 82 years old and he said this is his last year to sail. Not bad, we hope to be able to do this that long too!

The cooler temps have sent Ospreys south. We are seeing lots of vacant Osprey nests on pilings. Of course, we see Blue Herons, White Egrets, Cormorants, Sea Gulls and an occasional eagle. One lonely pelican made its way up the creek of our dock at Leland's Marine Service in McClellanville, SC.


Pelican coming for a landing.


Blue Heron official sentry of the ICW.


Ever wonder where Pelican's go to sleep - we found this group asleep along the ICW leaving Delegal Creek.


Bald Eagle spotted along the ICW. Double click the photo and expand to see close up.

This creek is near an inlet from the ocean and is home to a good size shrimp boat fleet. Bob purchased a bucket of fresh shrimp right off the boat and we will be in shrimp for a while. We had steamed shrimp for dinner, will have shrimp stir-fry next, shrimp and grits, shrimp alfredo, shrimp omelets, etc.!

We passed through Charleston, SC around 11 in the morning. We never manage to hit this near the end of the day so that we could make a stop here. I keep hoping our schedule will allow us to make this stop, but it never does


Someone is building a boat in the back yard along the ICW in a homemade greenhouse building!


Three masted Scooner doing a man-overboard drill in Charleston Harbor as we passed.


View of historic Charleston as we passed.


Historic Charleston Home with view of the new Cooper River bridge in Charleston.


Another historic home in Charleston.


We were underway on a completely cloudless day at 7:30 on Wednesday. We are in a low flat area with golden grasses all around. We are starting to see moss handing from trees. Wednesday night we were at Skidaway Island near Savannah visiting with Bob's former boss Mark and his wife Shirley. They arrange for us to stay at Delegal Creek, a marina that is part of the Skidaway Island community.


The golden grasses


Passing Thunderball Marina and Boat Yard where all the mega-yachts come for repair and upgrade. They are in the process of building a huge new building that will hold 3 boats, versus the single shed they had now.

We had a wonderful visit with Shirley and Mark and enjoyed the improvements the community made to their dock. They just need to get three markers replaced leading up the creek to the marina. Luckily, Bob had made a track in our Raymarine system of how we entered last time. New markers are on order.

Friday we were up early again and underway by 7 heading to Brunswick, GA. I love cruising through Georgia, but many fellow cruisers find it boring. I enjoy the meandering creeks and rivers that ccomprose the waterway. I suppose if you are in a hurry, you want a straight line passage, but I enjoy the twists and turns here.

We began seeing the bridge over the river leading to Brunswick about 30 miles away as the land is so flat. We will get our load of fuel here at Ocean Petroleum for the winter and enjoy dinner at a favorite restaurant, Portside Cargos, in downtown Brunswick. Our next stop will be in Jacksonville Beach, Florida! Warmer weather certainly awaits us there!


Trumpy we passed on the ICW.

Dismal Swamp Visitor Center ot Myrtle Beach, SC

Leaving the Visitor Center in the morning with three rows of rafted boats was like a choreographed dance. Each boat had to be ready to go, starting with the row closest to the bridge crossing the canal over to the museum. All boats were underway by 7:30 so that all could make it to the lock opening at the end of the canal at 8:30.

It was a pleasant cruise to Elizabeth City. We enjoyed our stay in Elizabeth City last year, so decided to make it a stop this year. You can either take the Virginia Cut south of Norfolk, for the Dismal Swamp route. It is a little farther going to Elizabeth City, but I love the beauty of the canal, so we decided to go that way. We'll come home via the Virginia Cut as we are always in a hurry to get home by then since it is shorter.

Elizabeth City is one of the friendliest stops along the ICW. A man called Fred Fering used to greet the boats each day and give all the women aboard a rose from the bushes in his yard. He became the one person welcoming committee to his city. As time went on, he was joined by others and they became known as the "Rose Buddies." When Fred died, a monument to him was placed by the city docks and several of the rose bushes from his yard were transplanted to an area by the docks.

Fred organized a get-together at 4:30 each day with the boaters and provided some local information. Now the social is managed by the remaining members of the Rose Buddies and the town Visitor Center, who provide wine and cheese. A local restaurant provides a tent by the docks so the event can happen rain or shine. It is also a time for the boaters to get to know each other (if they hadn't already met at the Dismal Swamp Visitor Center stop the night before).

Elizabeth City as a great free museum across the street from the dock, and my favorite, a small art gallery displaying local artists work. There is a nice bookstore across from the docks, a gourmet bakery, and a chocolate shop, besides several nice restaurants.

We met folks from three boats who have been cruising together for 3 years from South Africa! One had a teacher aboard for their daughter.

We left on Tuesday morning and headed down through the Albermarle Sound. It was calm except for a couple of hours in the middle of the Sound when the waves and wind picked up. We anchored for the night in Pongo Creek. In the morning, we awoke to fog and were a little later leaving as a result. There was fog most of the day, but at the speeds we were going, we could see as well as we needed.

We are seeing more boats on the ICW this year than last and wondering if that will translate to more cruisers in the Bahamas this year.


One sad boat - hate to see a boat on land.

We anchored for the night in Spooner Creek where even if the wind is strong, the anchorage is calm. It is surrounded by a small community of houses, each with its own dock. Another trawler was there and a whole gaggle of sailboats. This used to be a very quiet and unused anchorage, but more people seem to have found it and it is now pretty busy. We just got in before there were high winds and some strong rain showers - lucky for me since I do all the outside work!

The next night we docked at the marina at Camp Lejeune. Bob's daughter Krista and family are at Camp Lejeune in housing very close to the marina. We had a nice one day stop off the boat and a great chance to see the grandchildren and catch up on their activities. Our only problem was finding the right electrical connection to hook up to their antiquated electrical system. After two trips to West Marine, Bob had the right connection to at least connect us. At one point we were using a small portable heater, that we have used for a couple of years on the boat, and the socket it was connected to heated up. Luckily, we smelled it and Bob quickly turned off the power to the socket and I grabbed two fire extinguishers. My son-in-law Randy thought I acted really fast, just thought I could improve on the instructions I gave him when I handed it to him which was "here, figure out how to use it." Yeah, guess I have to work on that. Luckily, there was no fire. We'll carefully test the heater before using it again. (Has worked fine since - just won't plug into that socket again and will have that one checked by an electrician.)


Lighthouse is not a navigational aid, it is just a decoration.

Sunday we got underway in pretty cold temps. It was 40 degrees when we left the dock. We passed Wrightsville Beach and did the usual dance with the other boats waiting at this bridge. One went aground, the got off, then he really got stuck. We almost did that one year here too.


Barge we passed on the James River.


We've been watching the new bridge being built to replace the unique pontoon bridge for the last several years. The bridge tender says he is going to retire (for the 4th time) when the new bridge is open. We are happy that we won't have to wait for the bridge to open, but sad to see a unique old bridge meet its demise.

We arrived in Southport, NC at 4:30 a half hour before our reservation time for Southport marina for the night and found out when we called that they had lost our reservation. We even confirmed that the number we called was their number with our cell phone call log. It is forecasted to freeze tonight and anchoring our without power is not something I was looking forward to. Another close marina could not take us, but Deep Point Marina was able to put us on their fuel dock. Bless them! Our power line just made it to the connection on the dock too.

We left Deep Point Marina taking care to time it between ferry's. Visibility at the entrance of the marina is poor for incoming our outgoing traffic. It is another nice sunny day. We arrived at Barefoot Landing Marina mid-day. This particular marina is really just a long wall with tie-ups for boats along the ICW. They have water and electricity, but no other amenities like showers. What they do have is a large shopping and dining complex just up the ramps from the docks! Nice place to get off the boat and do some walking - and shopping (guess who likes to do that!).

Penny's son Mike and family drove from their home in SC to meet with us for dinner. It is always great to see them whenever we can. Granddaughter Casey, attends college in Myrtle Beach, so we will got to see her as well.

Our next stop is McClellanville, SC.


A golf course in Myrtle Beach has the parking area on one side of the ICW and the golf course on the other side. So they rigged up a ski lift that carries the golfers and their golf clubs to the other side of the ICW.

Interesting (and sometimes very strange) homes along the ICW






House has a model of life size giraffe in yard.

Home Port to Dismal Swamp Visitors Center

So far, so good. We had a nice cruise down to Norfolk with only an hour or so of beam waves rocking us. Had a chance to meet up with Joe in Norfolk, a friend of Bob's at the Naval Base Marina in the afternoon and a chance to catch the end of the Redskins game.


The Captain doing a quick window clean in the middle of the bay.

Monday morning we left the marina at 7:30 and headed through Norfolk. Most of the bridges in Norfolk, have either been raised, demolished, or are in permanent "up" position, so it is much easier to go through that area than in times past.


The parade of boats going through Norfolk on Monday morning.

We took the turn over to the Dismal Swamp Canal route. While waiting for the eleven o'clock opening of the lock, one of the sailboats in front of us went aground in an area where the Lock master said he had never had a boat go aground in his 16 and half years of lock-tending. One of the sailboats tried to get it free, but was unsuccessful and the Lock master asked if we would move up and see if we could free him with our bigger engines. Even we could not free him. The boat said they would see if they could get free when the tide rose later in the day. We hated leaving them and hope they are able to get some help. (We later heard from boaters that came through the next lock opening, that Tow Boat came and rescued them.)

The Dismal Swamp route is a pretty narrow canal. As yet, we have not run into anyone coming the other direction, but in the past, we have hit logs and stumps in the water. A state highway follows the canal, but you can barely see it for the dense trees. Because there are locks at the north and south ends of the canal, you pretty much go through the canal as a "pack."


The "pack" south of us in the canal.


The "pack" north of us in the canal.


View of the dense foliage along the canal.

There was a Corps of Engineers dredge boat in the middle of the canal that we all had to pass. It was a very close pass for all the cats, but we made it.


Photo of the sail catamaran behind us passing the dredge boat - pretty darn close!


We touched the trees on that pass and ended up with leaves inside the boat!

We stopped for the night at the Dismal Swamp Visitor Center, which is a rest stop for the highway that parallels the canal and is free for the boaters. It is just a wall that people tie up to that only holds about 3 or 4 boats. When more boats arrive, they just raft up to the boats that are there, sometimes filling and blocking the canal. Since the canal can only be accessed through the lock, once the last boats arrive for the evening around 5, you know more will not be coming. If you want to go ashore, you have to jump from boat to boat to get there. It certainly results in making it easy to get to know the other boaters you are cruising the canal with!

We crossed over the canal across a lift bridge to a small museum of the Dismal Swamp and spent some time reading about the history of the canal and its use for logging in the past. After that, there was a get-together at a picnic table on shore near the dock with the other boaters. One boat had come from South Africa! I'm impressed, I would never do that.

Everyone was up and underway by 7:30 in the morning in order to make a lock opening at 8:30. It was so cold last night, I slept in all the polar fleece I had on the boat under all the polar fleece blankets we had on the boat. There is no power at this stop, so no heat in the boat. Bob and I both slipped on the deck this morning, but luckily caught ourselves. We just weren't expecting that. It seemed like the start of ice forming.

Next stop lovely, welcoming Elizabeth City!

We're Underway!

Wahoo! The Pretty Penny with crew and all her stores left home port at 8:00 A.M. today.

The bay is fairly calm, so expect our crossing to Norfolk to be pleasant today.

Getting Ready to go!

Well it is time to start posting to the blog again this year! That means we are heading to the Bahamas for our fourth trip. I can't believe we've been doing this for 4 years now.

We've had a good summer visiting and being visited by family and friends. As usual, it was also spent in a number doctor's offices getting our bodies back up in shape to make the trip to the Bahamas again this year. Bob had rotator cuff surgery on his right shoulder this year (knees have to wait for next summer) and it is doing great after several months of physical therapy. I've had back pain shots that have given me relief and physical therapy to strengthen my core muscles. I also have a back brace now to wear when doing line handle or riding in the dinghy in rough water for the first time.

We had the boat hauled at Jayne's Boatyard in Reedville, VA again this year. We are so lucky to have a place so close to us to get the boat hauled that does an excellent job. Since the Pretty Penny is 23 feet wide, it is difficult to find a boatyard that can handle our boat. Doug Jayne, who specializes in multihulls, pulled the boat out of the water on his trailer and put it on the ground. We had the bottom cleaned and the hole fixed that was made in the side of the boat by the Bahamian Defense Force last year during a routine check of our boat's hull.


Pretty Penny on the hard


Bob had some storm pilings added this year that we put to use during one of the storms this summer to hold the boat off our dock. Of course we had to "walk the plank" to get back to the boat. I put on my swimsuit the first time I did it, just in case I fell in!

Bob has also made some improvements to our dinghy. He raised the transom and thus the motor so we won't have as much water splash back into the boat when underway. (This had been recommended by another Livingston dinghy owner we met last year in George Town.) He also added padded seats with backs for us. My seat also has a spring unit under it to "soften" the wave action. (Last year I had a severe sciatic nerve attack when we were in George Town and Bob had to single-hand the boat back to Nassau and then back to the states to get me some help. We want to try and avoid anything like that again.)

We had many visits from family this summer and enjoyed our time with our sons and daughters and the grandchildren who are all growing up so fast.


The only photo I was able to get of the six visiting grandchildren this day (there are 13 in all) all in one place!


This is Annabella trying to stay warm after a dip in the bay.

I spent the summer doing some painting. I also got into making jewelry - mostly earrings for now, until I had too many pairs I could wear in a year! Even after giving many away to friends and family, the number just seems to grow! So I finally decided that I needed to sell some. I did my first craft show at a local church with a borrowed tent (thanks to Pam and Steve) and borrowed black table cloths from a neighbor (thanks Kathy). Bob made me a nice standing display to showcase the earrings. This year I forgo some fabric on the boat to make space for my jewelry supplies which is pretty heavy stuff - being mostly metal. Bob will have to adjust the fuel load in the boat to keep it level! Anyway, I will pursue more farmer's markets next summer to sell the jewelry and develop an on-line site to sell them. I'll be in search of unique beach glass, shells, and sea beans to use in jewelry this year. (If anybody has a stone tumbler they want to sell - let me know!).


Mirror frame I painted


Top of a lap desk I painted. The sides I did in faux-burlwood. Thanks to Betty Caithness for the patterns for these two pieces and to Rebecca Hotop for the instructions on doing the burlwood.

I also painted one mural this summer for a grandchildren's room in a home on the Northern Neck. That was fun, but challenging as we had to set up a scaffolding to do it with. (Thanks to Jim for the load on the scaffolding.)


Monkeys on the ceiling in grandchildren's room. I also did the faux wood on the bottom. (Thanks to my neighbor Diane from coming along that day and help with the masking tape!)


Photo of my venture into jewelry selling! I made about $200 that day. (Thanks to Kathy, our neighbor and Mindy, my daughter for helping with the booth and being models!)


Close-up of the jewelry on the display board Bob made for me.

We are busy loading the boat now and doing final boat work in preparation for the trip. We expect to leave the end of the month. I've been listening to the boat traffic in the Chesapeake on the boat's radio and wishing we were with them - we will be soon.

Looking forward to seeing all our cruising friends. Ya'll have a safe trip!