We set out for a marathon trip up the East Coast, which has come to an end as we arrived on New Year’s Eve back in Palm Coast.  The travel wasn’t too bad and the time with family made it worthwhile.  We even managed to work in a boat project on Orion, while we stopped by Hampton to check on her.  

Our itinerary for the holidays took us to Jarratt, VA to visit with our daugher’s family, then Richmond to celebrate Christmas with our son’s family.  We then took a right turn and headed east to Hampton to check on Orion and pick up our friend Sue for a trip north to Rochester, via Bethlehem PA, where we visited with Dave’s sister Diane.  After a few days in Rochester, we turned south on Christmas Day, arriving in Winston-Salem, NC the day after Christmas for a few days with Cathy’s family.  By New Year’s Eve, the celebrations had come to an end, and we were on our way back home.  Throughout our trip, It was almost comical as we became a slow version of UPS, picking up and dropping off packages, mail, and people from one location and delivering to a number of destinations along the ways.   As far as we know, everything made it where it was supposed to go.

One first for us was spending Christmas morning in the virtual world of our son’s living room, celebrating their Christmas morning with them in Richmond and us in Rochester via Skype and a webcam.  In a surreal twist, we had Dave’s sister from Bethlehem PA on another computer, making it a 3-way call.  It was a great way to bring the family together.

Here are some highlights from the trip:

Do I Smell Something Burning?

The call came about a week before we were due to head north for the holidays.  Sue, our friend who is watching over Orion back in Hampton,  smelled smoke and quickly unplugged her heater and disconnected from shore power.  When we arrived a week later, we were to meet a local marine electrician to have an official diagnosis.  However, Dave was quickly taking things apart and doing his own analysis.  It didn’t take long to see the core of the problem.  The wires leading into the GFI (a feature of Beneteau’s French wiring plan) showed damage from heat.  Dave had a simple solution in mind: bypass the damaged GFI in favor of a newer US-standard GFCI that Dave installed a couple of years earlier.

When the electrician arrived, he reviewed the damage and explained that, although our boat's wiring was in excellent condition for the boat’s age, it was still inevitable in a marine environment that time would increase the resistance in the original wires, causing them to perform below their rated capacity.  Since the load the wires could carry when new was so close to the fuse rating, any degradation could make them vulnerable to overheating when a heavy load, such as a space heater, was placed on them.  The solution was threefold:  1) upgrade the wiring capacity to exceed the fuse rating, 2) as Dave suggested, put the new GFCI first in line for the AC outlets to protect them, and 3) run any heater on a lower setting.

Dave agreed with the recommendation and arranged to have Don return and do the re-wiring on his next trip.  In the interim, Dave installed the heavier duty GFCI and we pulled the wires through the channel from the outlet to the back of the breaker panel.  With that done, the job to finish the re-wiring would be much easier.

About to get going again

With a little time to get things ready on Orion Jr, we plan to head out again shortly after the new year.  Our plan is to travel south to Stuart and then take a right turn through the Okeechobee Waterway to the West Coast.  We’ll keep you posted.

 

We spent the first 2 weeks of December making our way through Georgia and into northern Florida, putting into Palm Coast Marina in time to make the trip north for the holidays.  As we checked into the Waterway Net after arriving in Palm Coast, we heard Fred check in as well from Georgetown in the Exumas– just a little bit south of us and a new speed record for Marianna.  In our own way, we were making tracks as well and covering new ground, traveling 10 out of 12 days since leaving
Charleston. 

Georgia On My Mind

Avoid Georgia.  

For 5 years, we had managed to follow that advice. The large tides and shallow water at low tide on the ICW were good enough reason to avoid traveling through this state on our way south to Florida.  We had made small incursions north of the Florida-Georgia border – anchoring at CumberlandIsland and up the river to St. Mary’s– but never
traveled the ICW south of the Savannah River.  A quick hop outside from SC and we were in Florida. 
 
But not this year. With Orion Jr’s shallower draft we should have no trouble with even the lowest water in Georgia. And we weren’t really looking to do long offshore runs in the little boat.  Our friends on Les Miserables were not quite so carefree about Georgia’s shallower spots, but we
agreed to continue to lead the way and raise any alarms on shallow water.  
 
Once we left the Bull Creek anchorage south of Hilton Head, we had only a few miles to go before we crossed the Savannah River and the Georgia state line, which included a particularly shallow stretch. This certainly was causing some concern for our traveling companions on Les Miserables. 
However, the sun was warm and the tide was rising, so we had a pleasant, uneventful run through the skinny section and on south into Georgia.  The bridge opening at Causton Bluffs even went the smoothest of any opening we had done on the waterway, without our even touching the throttle to
adjust our speed.   Our destination for the night would be Isle of Hope Marina, in the suburbs of
Savannah. The marina’s proximity to Savannah put it close to the municipal bus route. So, on Saturday, we headed into the city to see the sights. 

Merry found a bike tour that turned out to be a great way to see the city’s historic district.  We met our guide at a shop not far from the center of town and were outfitted with bikes and helmets before heading out on our tour.   Savannah was laid out by James Oglethorpe, Georgia’s founder, on a grid with several “squares” or parks every few blocks.  As the city expanded the plan was followed, so that now it has dozens of squares, making for lots of greenspace and blocks and blocks of historic buildings.    As we rode around the
city, we took in our guide’s stories about the city’s past and its famous sons and daughters while enjoying a beautiful fall day. 

From Savannah south, the ICW winds through marshland, crossing sounds every few miles, making for a scenic trip over the hundred miles remaining in the Georgiaportion of the waterway.  We spent the next 2 nights at anchor,
first at Wahlberg Creek off St. Catherine’s Sound and then on the Frederica River.   Our first travel day started later, as we waited for a rising tide around 10am.  It was going to be a stretch to get as far as we wanted, but we were able to motorsail in the stiff northeast breeze, boosting our speed and compensating for the areas of opposing current.  We made Wahlberg Creek’ s north entrance by late afternoon, entering its deep northern entrance off St. Catherine’s sound.  We followed the creek south around the bend before dropping the hook. The northerly wind and cloudy skies had made for a chilly day, but the good news was that it kept the no-see-ums at bay for the night.  Next morning, we headed out again at first light to ensure a higher tide at the creek’s southern intersection with the ICW, which we passed without incident.  As the sun rose, the day warmed and the skies cleared.  With the current with us most of the day, we were going to reach the infamous Little Mud River ahead of schedule and at lower tide than our companions had hoped. However, once again we passed without problem.  With a favorable current and tide, we opted to head for the Frederica River to anchor beside Fort Frederica on St. Simon’s Island.  Twenty years ago or more, the ICW moved from the Frederica Riverto its neighbor, due to some changes in bridges over the 2 rivers.  Since the old waterway is no longer maintained, the charted depths were suspect. We found the northern entrance to be much shallower than charted, but the southern entrance was much more accurate. While anchored off Fort Frederica, Merry and Wiley rowed ashore to visit the fort.  They really enjoyed their time exploring the fort, learning how, if the Battle of Bloody Marsh had ended differently, we might all be speaking Spanish. Orion Jr’s crew had visited the fort a number of times from land.  And since the milder weather was like a siren call to the bugs, we retreated down below as soon as the sun began to set.

We left even earlier the next morning pulling anchor in the semi-darkness.  We wanted a rising tide to get through the southern intersection of the Frederica River and the ICW and through Jekyll Creek.  It was going to be a gamble.  When NOAA was calling for patchy fog, we were not sure how far we’d get.  We made our way down the river with the patches of fog only briefly limiting visibility enough to be very worried.  By the time we were back on the ICW and crossing the Brunswick inlet, the conditions were calm enough that we decided to turn left, passing out the inlet between St. Simon’s and Jekyll islands for the ocean, leaving the shallow water behind us for today.  Although there was little wind, the incoming swells over the ebbing current made for rough conditions in the inlet, but once we were out of the channel, the waters settled down and it was a pleasant trip to the St. Mary’s Inlet, which we cleared just ahead of a submarine enroute to Kings Bay.  Turning south at the inlet’s intersection with the ICW, we were officially in Florida.  So, we can’t say that we did all of Georgia, but we saw most of it from the ICW, a first for the crew of Orion Jr.  

Putting In for the Holidays

Once we put into Fernandina, Les Miserables was only 1 travel day away from their destination on the Ortega River at Jacksonville.  They had travel plans from the Jacksonville airport on the 15th, but had a comfortable 8 days to get there.  We had more distance to cover to Palm Coast, which would take us 3 travel days.  So, we spent a day in Fernandina, saying goodbye to Merry and Wiley and then weathering a cold front that blew the balmy weather into memory.  After looking at the long range forecast early Thursday morning, we initially decided to stay put one more day, but then as the weather started to calm down, we abruptly changed direction and cast off mid-morning for a late start.  After a bone-chilling day on the water, we made it to Palm Cove around 4:30 and just at low tide, seeing some very shallow water in its entrance.  Good thing we don’t have to worry about that any more.  

The next day’s (much warmer) run brought us to St. Augustine by mid-afternoon.  This was our first time picking up a mooring on Orion Jr.  With the wind and current opposing, and the little boat’s generally poor maneuverability at slow speeds, it took more than one attempt to get lined up on the mooring for a successful pick up.  It just goes to show there’s still more for her crew to learn.  More bad weather was coming the next day (Saturday), but we had a short run to make, so it might be possible to beat the weather.  We got up at first light, and made the decision to go.  The strong flooding current made for a difficult transit of the mooring field but sent us flying down the waterway.  At one point during the trip, we were making 8 knots.  With our amazing speed, we pulled into Palm Coast by 10:30am, just before the winds started to kick up and the weather began to deteriorate.  Whew!  We made it. 

As for Merry and Wiley, we talked to them from St. Augustine as they were sitting down to a dinner in Jacksonville, having made a successful transit up the St. John’s to the Ortega Marina.  We had made good on our promise to help get them to their destination in time for the holidays. 

As for our travel plans, we wouldn’t be picking up our rental car until the 15th, five days away.  For Cathy, this was no problem, since she was desperately trying to finish making a stocking for one of the grandkids and needed every minute to finish.  Dave spent his time installing a new (louder) high water alarm and meeting with Blake, the outboard mechanic from Daytona Beach to get our 2 outboards serviced.  


Traveling North

It seems crazy, but after working so hard to get south by boat, we are once again heading north into the cold to celebrate Christmas with the family.  This will be a year for a world tour, as we make stops in Jarratt, Richmond, Hampton, Bethlehem PA, Rochester, NY and Winston-Salem NC before returning to the boat.  But it wouldn’t seem like the holidays without the family, so it all makes a strange kind of sense.