Three Passages in one!

After five days and 5 nights at the Mega Dock in Charleston, we set out once again for points South. As we left the dock and turned into the channel, I noticed there was very low oil pressure and we immediately turned into the anchorage and sent Bruce down. After a bit mechanicing and considering our safety in this particular situation, I determined we were OK to continue, not the best start but we were once again off. That night as we slipped into the anchorage of our choice, our new friends from Dreamer were the only boat there. Just as Bruce grabbed a hold, Pete dingyed over and invited us over for wine and cheese, a couple of local dolphins supplied the entertainment and we had a great evening on Dreamer!
We anchored in Beaufort SC that night(said like it sounds not to be confused with Bo-fert NC). The next few days we took on Georgia, We started out with an 80 mile day and into the big sounds and marshes we went. This leg of the journey was highlighted by the lack of man, the abundance of nature and marine life, and NO FUEL FOR 100 MILES!!!!!! We were sicking the diesel tank constantly watching it slowly disappear. The tidal change in this area is between 8 and 9 feet, so the currents scream to move this amount of water every 6 hours so there wasn't much chance of sailing. There was one boat that Godspeed just could not shake, the Fiscal Stray. We got to know Tod and Anne and shared anchorages for a couple of nights and we were sure glad they were near us. After explaining our situation, Tod offered a jerry jug of diesel to us and being the only way out, we excepted. Fiscal Stray adorned with fenders on her starboard, Godspeed on her port, Anne held Fiscal Stray at a steady true course and I maneuvered Godspeed alongside and Tod made the passage of jerry to Lorrie. We Fed the "Iron lady" and completed the passage again, waved goodbye to Fical Stray at Brunswick GA and into Florida we came. Three passages in one, Two jerry's and one Georgia!
Pictures:
Godspeed leads the pack
Dreamer
Sunrise at anchor
Fiscal Stray has our back
After much abuse, anyone can comment- have at it!

Hurricane Holeing

Just came in from setting all the ground tackle we have (anchors, chain, etc). Hurricane Ida is expected to mow us over. The Coast Guard rescue helicopter is circling overhead begging us to evacuate, but were not leaving Godspeed!
The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed, if it wasn't for the courage of the fearless crew, Godspeed would be lost!
OK, OK, we are actually tied to the City Marina "Mega Dock" in Charleston Harbor just livin' it up.
Backing up to Friday, we were making our cruise to the Isle of Palms area and I watched the depth sounder slowly count down, 8, 7, 7.5, 6, 5, 5.5, and down she went. In horror I slipped Godspeed into full reverse and slowed almost to a stop and slowly continued (wrong decision). For the first time we felt her bump bottom the the bow surged downward and we were officially aground. Clearly we were in the channel and "Christal clearly" we were on the bottom! After a holding the throttle at about half reverse and a sharp turn of the rudder we slowly slipped off. Then sheer terror set in! We inched our way into deeper water. As we continued we passed several abandoned boats sitting on the bottom, it had the Erie feeling of a graveyard. We made it to a nice anchorage at dusk, relaxed, and counted our blessings.
Saturday evening, my two sisters Melanie and Melinda, accompanied by adult supervision Norman (Melanie's hubby), boarded Godspeed at Isle Of Palms, SC. In the morning, after running aground again, we anchored at a remote spot and Melanie baked biscuits, made gravy, and all the fixins while I baited hooks and removed the catch of the day for perhaps the best "trash fisherman" man has ever encountered, Melinda. She was like a little kid starting with "I don't like to fish". Then came "here Melinda reel this one in", Sheer "Joy" (her middle name) followed and some of the finest trash fishin' the world has ever seen was witnessed by all aboard.
We made a very slow cruise to the Ben Sawyer swing bridge to hit the "on the hour opening" and then into Charleston Harbor. Out came the sails and we spent a fabulous day sailing around the harbor. After docking Godspeed's 35 feet in a 34 foot spot on the Mega Dock, Melanie did the "surf and Norm grilled the Turf" for a great evening meal on Godspeed. We giggled ourselves to sleep and said goodbyes in the morning. It was fun having them aboard, even for such a short time.
We had planned to move off the dock to an anchorage when some other cruisers told us that Ida's storm track had changed and could threaten us. After checking the weather, we walked to the dockmaster and asked if we could stay a few days, then the phone rang and someone else was turned away and we were told we could stay. Now that's cutting it close! Although this little stay will put a gouge in the kitty, "Safe than sorry" is the card we are playing as we watch the storm's progress, safely attached to this massive structure. It does not appear it will do much more than rain buckets here. Anyway, we took the courtesy van to the Charleston visitor center and spent the afternoon as "world class tourist" enjoying watching the horse and mule drawn carriages, eating boiled peanuts on a park swing, and enjoying the deep history of Charleston by foot, eventually walking all the way back to Godspeed.

The Backdoor/ Land of my people!

Godspeed motored out of Masonboro about 8:00am Monday morning into an overcast and dreary sky. We stopped at Carolina Beach for fuel and were pleasantly surprised to see Godspeed had only sipped 12 gallons of diesel in 24 hours of motoring. It was the next 2 days when we really began to appreciate our vessel, she is very nimble at the helm and has long swift legs that steadily will out distance most other vessels which is a great advantage when you arrive at an anchorage way ahead of the pack and have a place to send Bruce down for the night. Several times we have made timed bridge openings, slipped through when many others are far behind and have to wait for the next window as we head to the next anchorage early. Godspeed is the right name!
After the fuel stop, we found ourselves in a wide sound area which ia a major shipping lane. A dredge had all but a few feet of the channel blocked and a shoal on the other side. The good thing was there was a strong current and a 15 to 20 Knot wind sucking us into the shoal, It was very exiting for a few minutes as I held Godspeed at a 45 degree angle to the channel crabbed along and made only forward progress. We made it through ok and beside the big boats we went. After a 60 mile run we sent Bruce down and we stayed the night at Calabash, just a few feet inside South Carolina near the Little river Inlet. When we arrived, there was one nice spot left amongst 5 other cruisers. The sky cleared overnight and at dawn we were the first out and headed for the dreaded "Rock Cut".
'Rock Cut" is about 20 or so miles rated as the worst on the ICW. It is a man made cut through rock that is high walled with submerged trees, floating trees, rock ledges and much shoaling. Lorrie read all this to me as I was gleaming about our boat's speed. Suddenly I wanted to be in the back, are the other cruisers playing us like a fiddle or what? Anyway we picked our way through and were glad to see that several bridges we encountered opened on radio request which was great due to the stiff current pulling us into them.
The next section was a Cypress swamp which for the most part had deep black water which gave Godspeed a dark mustache for a while. we began to see palmetto plants and I realized as we passed the mouth of the Pee Dee river that this is where the "Barefoot clan" is from, my mother's people. Later we saw the Barefoot marina, several other business named Barefoot and even made the Barefoot Brige open. With another 60 mile leg behind us Godspeed motored into the Seaport of Georgetown SC at about 3:00pm. Bruce took a swim and I hoisted the dingy over the side and rowed the 100 feet to the shrimp docks. A few feet further and we docked at the town "dingy dock". It is really neat showing up at a new place, not by plane train or automoblie, but walking through the "Back Door". Banana sized shrimp still "wigglin" came to the galley for dinner!

Dolphins, Blunders, and Oysters

We waited in BO-Fert until 10:00am to "ride the tide" south. We picked up our first of many dolphin pods in Morehead harbor. They sure are entertaining to watch. Mile Hammack Bay was the anchorage for the night. It sounded like a really cool place on Camp Lejune. You cannot go ashore or you will get shot or taken prisoner and might end up with "Dead on you". We got there eariler than we thought to find a Marina and bridge in the spot we had navgaited to-bummer! Lorrie hailed the Marina on the VHF and they replied that we were lost, but the good thing was, all the other cruisers got to hear it-rookies.
Godspeed motored into Mile Hammack Bay a couple hours later and it was a unique anchorage. Some poor soldier doing survivor training gave us no end to bad looks as we barbequed chicken from the stern pulpit. He had a cast net and no dinner, poor guy! At first light we weighed anchor, proud of ourselves for an early start and excited to get a jump on the other 25 yachts in the bay. As we turned into the channel we were last in line, how could that be! Rookies again!
Early afternoon we arived in Masonboro NC, and called Robert Point's (known as "Pidge" from Thayne WY) brother Judge. He isn't really a judge but he looks like one. We took a slip in the marina 100yds across the inlet from thier home. That evening Judge, Cris, and Cris's mother Renee picked us up for sushi. We arrived at an undisclosed location- the home of Mark and Karen's place and had a fantastic time. They have a beautiful place on the ICW, we laughed and giggled for hours and the food was great. The next morning Judge and Chris kayaked over to Godspeed for burnt biscuits and the fixins, another fine time. About noon, Lorrie's niece Karina and her children visited us on Godspeed for a few hours and had gourmet hot dogs and they made muffins.
While that went on Judge showered us with many useful items-spare dingy fuel tank, fishing rod, winch handle, too many things to list, but well needed, thanks Judge! About six that evening we went to Judge and Chris's for an oyster roast and Chris's birthday celebration. Another fine evening of southern hospitality in a beautiful setting!
The next morning we were sent on our way with brunswick stew, birthday cake, and a sunflower for Godspeed.