We left the saga in St Augustine and we left the rain there as well. The final tally was well over 30 inches and 4 days. Animals were lining up two by two on the dock. WOW! Driving down the Waterway, in flood stage, there are no banks to navigate by and no yellow & white lines in the water. It becomes a challenge at times.
Brooke and crew (three girls) rode with us for a week and left this morning. We loved having them with us! She wanted experiences for them so we tried several things. We took the waterway from St Augustine to Fernandina Beach. We walked all over both cities exploring them. Had lots of fun! From Fernandina we went outside in the ocean over night to Charleston. We took two hour watches (each of us steered for two hours) but we mostly babysat the other one for a while also. Not much sleep that night.
The ocean is incredible; always. The ocean swell is a gentle roll. In this case 8 to 10 feet with a 2 foot wind blown chop on the surface. There was no moon and the stars put on a show. There are no yellow or white lines on the ocean so it is an experience driving the boat at night. No point of reference at all. Just the compass to watch and as you roll with the swells, the course changes with each swell. You have to be constantly on the alert to make sure you are going in the correct direction! We went 35 miles or so out to sea to miss the onshore fishing fleet. Shrimp season just came in and every boat with a license was out there. About 3:00 A.M. I (Alois) was at the wheel and I noticed two tiny lights off to my right. I confirmed them with Brooke and we watched them for a long time. Suddenly, the lights were getting bigger and further apart from each other. Then a green light showed up. I realized that we were watching a container or cargo ship of some type and we were on a collision course. I slowed my speed, made a 90 degree turn to the right and he passed by with no problem. That’s why you don’t go to sleep on your watch! While Brooke was at the wheel there was a snorting noise at our side and she looked over and there was a dolphin playing in our bow wave. She couldn’t see it often but we could hear it when is surfaced. The dolphin left a wake in the phosphorescence.
We missed all of the other container ships and made it in to Charleston at noon the next day. During Jack’s watch he kept hearing a thumping on deck but couldn’t identify it. He smelled fish at times but not often. When I arrived on deck he asked if I smelled fish. When it got light, I looked out and there was a 12" Ballyho flying fish dead on the deck. It jumped a little high (4′) to keep from being eaten! 26 hours at sea and we made the equivalent of five days on the ICW and missed Georgia all together. Georgia can be awful with 8 foot tides, 5 knot currents and sands shoaling up to four miles off shore. NO THANKS!
We never made it ashore in Charleston. The harbor was too rough for the dink, so the next day we headed for Georgetown, South Carolina. Along the ICW the girls made lists of all the birds and animals they saw which could fill a book. We saw an alligator crossing the ICW. Swimming anyone???
We picked up a free mooring ball in Georgetown,S.C. and explored the town. Sadly, today, Rick picked them up and drove them back to Richmond. Alois and I are just south of Myrtle Beach which is not a favorite of ours but the Waccamaw River is our favorite.
The Waccamaw is a pristine wilderness of abandoned rice plantations and cypress swamps. Bald eagles, ospreys and every other type of wading and fishing bird you can imagine.
A different kind of paradise.
Jack and Alois