Goodbye to John and Kath and we take to the high seas again

Moorglade's Voyage
Ted Wilson
Tue 1 May 2012 03:15

Our position is 31:25.787N 80:40.460W

 ICW miles to go: 536.3

On Monday morning John was kind enough to drive us to Winn Dixie to stock up with provisions. Luckily there was also a West Marine at the mall so Ted could buy the bits and pieces he needed for some future jobs. Then as soon as were back at the boat it was time to say goodbye to John and Kath and wave them off to Orlando and the flight home.

We were then busy taking advantage of the free laundry and preparing the boat for the overnight sea passage. The dinghy was given a good washing and de-barnacling before being deflated and stowed on deck. The wind forecast was not strong but at least was from the South East, so a couple of hours before sunset we were setting off down St Simons Sound. We had to stay outside the marked channel to allow a big ship to overtake us before we took the long channel  out into the deep water, which we reached just as the sun was going down.  The passage was uneventful with light winds restricting our speed to around 4-5kn until about an hour and a half after sunrise when it died away and we were forced to motorsail the last 30 Nm. Several large boats were sighted going into Tybee Sound and Savannah but our destination was Port Royal Sound, and we reached the long approach channel around 11.30am. On the way in we sighted a turtle (with a paler shell than the ones in the Caribbean), a sailfish and many, many jellyfish washing out to sea in a long line. The Beaufort (pronounced Bewfort and not to be confused with Beaufort, pronounced Bofort in North Carolina) River was long and windy, with a surprising number of dolphins but we were tied up at the marina just before the Ladies Island Bridge by 3pm.

Another Adventure made contact having heard us radioing the marina. They were anchored outside the marina, and had decided not to put their dinghy in the water as they had to come alongside the next day to take delivery of and fit some spares. Going ashore we wandered round the streets of old houses in the small town, buying delicious ice creams, which we ate in the water side park, where people were playing bowls. We found out that there was to be a professional cycle race in the town that evening, part of a series of races held in different towns. The ladies race was first, starting at 6pm. The circuit was 0.6 of a mile with 4 sharp bends over the bumpy, city streets complete with manhole covers, drains and tarmac patching. There were straw bale stacks at the sharpest corner, to catch the over enthusiastic, but fortunately (if somewhat surprisingly) there were no accidents. We thought the ladies were a bit sedate but the men were a different kettle of fish entirely. The field was over a hundred strong and the teams appeared better organised, although the nature of the course seemed a bit of a handicap to team tactics.  As it got dark additional lighting was activated, but as we were unfamiliar with any of the riders or teams we didn’t stay until the end, instead going back to the boat for spag bol and to bed ahead of an early start the next day.

 

            

Harbour Master Sherrie says goodbye to JT & KT                                     Just 200 miles back to Orlando Samford.

 

          

Big, ugly and just fits under the 185ft bridge                                           masses of jellyfish off the bow.

 

             

Typical Beaufort Street                                                          One of many churches

      

Bowls by the river (I was still eating my ice-cream)

           

The teams were professional but not such big names                                      Definitely not the tour but amazingly full time pros

          

Crowds were modest.