2025-11-9 Warmer weather, but still moving south. Met up with friends

Sunday we left the free dock, and headed down the ICW to St. Augustine.  There are quite large expansive homes along the way.   I always wonder how many people actually live in them.

Large and fancy homes

Always wonder what they did to earn so much money

New construction going on

When we came into St. Augustine, we had a sandpiper land on our boat.   We figured it would fly off when we anchored, but it didn't.  In fact, it came into the cockpit.   We gave it some water and a bit of wheat bread - which was probably a mistake, as it drank the water almost immediately, and ate the bread, then proceeded to leave 8 watery poops all over the boat and cockpit in the next hour as it explored its new territory.   Hence, we named him "Sir Poopsalot" 

     He was a bold one, even pecked on Deans toes.

Sir Poopsalot eyeing Deans toes

After cleaning up the poop, we took the dinghy to the free dock at Vilano Beach, across the bay from St. Augustine, and walked the short two blocks or so to the Publix.   Loaded our backpacks and bags with groceries and headed back.  Vilano Beach is a very small but cutesy touristy spot, lots of retro 60s style buildings.

Public pier where we tied the dink up

Still a little chilly, but not bad

Nice to see this old motel being renovated.  Bunnies on the sign, and pink flamingo inset into the walls by each door.

Vilano Beach - cloudy and windy

Back on the boat, Sir Poopalot was still around.   We left out the water, and all the bread was gone, but he hung out all day on the boat, leaving us fewer, but still too many presents we had to clean up before they stained the deck.

Monday and Tuesday were boat days.  Wind was blowing 12 to 15, and it was chilly in the wind outside, so we just sat at anchor and relaxed.   Dean made cinnamon rolls.  Kris played computer games.   We did a few odd projects – Kris looked at a water pump that was no longer working well to see if we could rebuild.  Dean changed a seal on the raw water pump on the starboard engine. 

Kris working on the motor

If you don't get a photo quickly of the cinnamon rolls, they may not be many left to photo.   Dean was not as happy as Kris with the rolls, as they were mostly wheat flour this time, so did not puff up much.  Kris loved them

Sir Poopsalot visited us a couple of times, coming to the door to beg for food, but we did not succumb to his cuteness and he gave up finally.

Wednesday we were off again, but a short trip, only 13 miles, and two bridges to open to Matanzas Inlet.  We knew the next leg of the ICW would be too long for us to do in one day, as there were a couple of bridges to open, and we wanted to stop for fuel so we split it up into two days.  At Matanzas Inlet anchorage, there is the Fort Matanzas National Monument.   We have never been, so this was our chance.   We could not go inside, as with the government shutdown, the fort is technically closed.  But we walked around it and saw the cannons.   It is very small, compared to most forts we have seen.

The current rips through the anchorage at 3 to 4 knots, so we definitely swung to the current, not the winds, which were light.

You can see it is not a large fort

Up top, required cannons and nice view of Charm anchored in the back

Thursday we headed down the ICW, and stopped at Palm Cove Marina for fuel.   Since we have been doing the ICW, we have burned through more fuel than usual, and they were offering a $1 off per gallon special if you mentioned the Waterway guide.  Great price on fuel, so we filled the tank, and then headed further south to anchor near Daytona Beach.   That evening, our friends on Sojourn and What If also came into Daytona Beach.

What If looking good, Ed on the bow ready to drop anchor while Cathy's at the helm

Sojourn coming into anchor, Duane and the bow and Karen at the helm

Friday we were middle of the pack of the 3 Mantas heading south.  What If led the way, with Sojourn in the back.   Very windless day, and easy motoring.  We anchored just North of the NASA Causeway bridge.  We made our Friday pizza, and had What If and Sojourn over for dinner.  Nice evening with good conversations – but forgot to take a photo.

Saturday What If and us headed south again, and we will meet up with Sojourn again further south.  We stopped in Eau Gallie with What If.  We went for a nice walk through the town of Eau Gallie downtown, and stopped and got parts at the Ace Hardware.  Lots of murals for a small area we walked.

Mural on the side of the library

Small funky Ace Hardware

Relaxed rest of day on Saturday,   had an Egret land on the boat for a while.  Do we have a sign-up or something saying we are bird friendly?

After dinner, Kris finally could not ignore the odor she felt was increasing from the head.   A quick exploration and found that there was a hose leading from the macerator we use to pump overboard that was leaking.   Was not too much leakage, but enough, no poop leakage is allowed on Charm.   So Saturday night was a couple of hours of cleaning.   We will fix the hose once we purchase a new one in Vero Beach.  No pictures of cleaning poopy water leakage included to protect our viewers from sudden indigestion.💩

2025-11-02 Moving south, and a couple of nights at the dock due to chilly weather.

Sunday, we left Toogoodoo Creek and continued down the ICW.   It is not our preferred way to travel – on the ICW, as we burn diesel which costs money, and you have to constantly adjust course frequently as the waterway is rarely straight.  On the other hand, it is interesting scenery at times, and you have some reduction in the winds, and mostly flat water.  Since is it blowing 15 to 25 knots offshore, with gusts to 35, we decided to stay on the ICW.    

Sailing class out on the water on a chilly day near Beaufort, SC

It is interesting to note all the rivers, cuts and streams we travel down that made up the 56 miles we went on Sunday.  We traveled the Toogoodoo Creek, North Edisto River, Dawho River, North Creek, Watts Cut, South Edisto River, Fenwick Cut, Ashepoo River, Ashepoo Coosaw Cutoff, Rock Creek, Coosaw River, Brickyard Creek, Beaufort River, Port Royal Sound, Chechessee River, Skull Creek, Calibogue Sound, and lastly May River where we anchored for the night.   

We had uneventful motoring, except that during the day, Kris had noticed the port engine running a bit hotter than normal.

Monday was better than expected.  Was supposed to get over an inch of rain, but we avoided most of it.  I gray cloudy day of motoring, but with motoring we have heat, which is great as it is chilly. 

Dean dressed for the cold

Left South Carolina and entered Georgia.  Kris checked the port engine, as we only run one engine a day, and alternate back and forth between port and starboard.   The coolant and impellers looked good, so that will take some further investigation on why it's running hot.

Tuesday more motoring through Georgia.  Mostly cloudy again, and windy and chilly, so the little electric motor was on inside, heating up the boat.   Some of the ICW in Georgia is more shallow, and not as wide.  We encountered a barge in just such a section, which made it tight quarters for passing.

A bit of a tight squeeze 

Wednesday more motoring through Georgia.  We do one hour on, and one hour off shifts all day while motoring.  In the afternoon, Kris noticed the port engine was getting too hot, so she shut it off, and turned on starboard.    We had made the decision to get a marina for Wednesday night to Saturday, as the lows were in the 40s, and Kris did not want to be that cold.   In preparation for coming into the marina, we usually turn on both engines, but we could not get water to pump through the port one.   Multiple tries but no luck.  So we came in to Fernandina Harbor marina on one engine.  No issues, but dockhands to help and very light winds.  The marina also gave us a nice goody bag - they should for the price they charge.

Several attempts to try to get water through made the engine very hot, usually only around 80 degrees Celsius

At the dock we had heat, and had turned the heat to 60 overnight and had a pleasant night.  Dean got up first and turned the heat up, which immediately blew a breaker on the dock.  He put on warm clothes and went out and flipped the breaker, and then back in and it blew again.  So we switched over to our little portable electric heaters to take the chill off instead of the large boat heat pump.

After breakfast, Kris worked on the port engine issue, and took off the impeller cover to discover that there was not much left to our little impeller.  No wonder it wasn’t pumping water.   But had to check all the hoses, and drain some coolant to check everything, as finding all the little rubber bits and getting them out of the system is needed.  But alas, only found one small piece.  The rest must have disintegrated and moved through the system.  

Impeller and cover a bit worse for wear

We took off our camber spar, and Dean removed the end of it by drilling out the rivets.   We walked into town close to noon, and mailed our camberspar end to Coletech in Pennsylvania for a rebuild, and then to Tasty’s for lunch.   Back on the boat, Kris finished up the port engine work, putting on a new impeller and new cover, and the engine pumped water just fine.  We will see if that solves the overheating issue.

The end of our camberspar, looking a bit worn

Nice old post office in Fernandina 

At Tasty's for lunch - Happy Halloween

Our lunch, complete with Halloween candy

Next project was finding out why our heat pump would trip the dock breaker all the time.   Talked to the marina, and they said the dock pedestals would trip at a 30 milliamp stray current.  So Kris started exploring, and most importantly talked to our friend Ed from What If, who is a pro on air conditioning and refrigeration, including heat pump stuff.   No resolution found by end of day, but some issues eliminated.   Will have to keep using our little electric heaters for now.

Friday we headed into town and took our old jib into a store called Sea Bags.  We had taken our old mainsail into the same store in Newport, RI, and gotten a large duffel bag in exchange.  This time we got several smaller bags.    

After that, it was ice cream time, even though it was still chilly, it tasted good, and sitting in the sun was nice and warm.    Friday night, back in for pizza for dinner.

Lots of folks out wandering downtown, as a football game was coming up against the Gators and the Bulldogs.

Fernandina has a nice downtown, touristy, but very understated and enjoyable.  Nice mix of old buildings and small businesses.

Old town hall and fountain

Nice old house

Castle looking church

Back to the marina, where we got some Amazon packages, and worked some more on our A/C heat unit.   Once again, Ed from What If provided great help, and we were able to determine that our 20-year-old unit is giving up, and will need replaced.

Anchor and chain outside the marina.  Our chain is not as rusty as that

Looking at Fernandina Harbor Marina

Saturday we headed out late, and made it to the free dock near Jacksonville.  4 other boats there, and we were invited for happy hour on the large motor yacht behind us. 

Went for a short walk around the area to stretch our legs and saw a couple of storks.

Don't remember seeing this variety of stork before

Not sure how fast we will move south now, as the weather is warmer, so it might be time to slow down a bit.

 

 

 

2025-10-26 - Woohoo – we are on the move

Sunday we were working on Tracy’s boat Phoenix Rising.  Last project was to install new cams in the Spinlock clutches.  Manta catamarans did not do a good job here, the nuts you need to grab on to are underneath the headliner, with no great way to get to them.  We thought about taking down Tracy’s headliner, but it was glued up, so instead she cut an access area.  Always nerve racking to cut into a boat, even if it is just the headliner.   Bolts accessed, we finished the last of the projects (jinx), and made plans to leave on Tuesday morning.

Monday, Tracy let us borrow her car for a provisioning run.  Hit a few stores for some groceries.

Of course right before leaving, Kris found salt water in the V-berth, but we just sidelined it for a while, anxious to get off the dock.

Tuesday we left New Bern and headed south.  Motored to Beaufort, spent the night, and then the next two days on the ICW getting to Carolina Beach on Thursday.  

At Carolina Beach, we went out to eat dinner at Flaming Amy’s – a Mexican restaurant we enjoy, that was closing on Oct 31, so our last chance.  Great food, and we enjoyed the salsa bar thoroughly.  Tracy, and her friend and crew for the week Annette joined us.  It was nice getting to know Annette.   We stopped at the hardware store and grocery store as well, so a nice full evening.

After dinner Dean worked on the salt water in the V-berth mystery, and found our wash down pump had a leak, so he worked on that, replacing it with an old pump we had, but that did not work, so we will capture the small leak for now until we get a new pump.

Friday, we planned to head offshore, and sure enough, Wednesday morning Kris found a coolant leak on the starboard engine.  So she worked on getting that fixed, which was time-consuming, but not difficult, until she broke a fitting, but luckily had a back-up plug to use, so will properly fix that later as well, as parts are needed.

We left Friday, to head offshore, and Phoenix Rising continued down the ICW.   We had a nice, but chilly overnight sail for most of the trip, but winds lighter than expected, and we were not sure if we would get in and anchored to our planned spot by dark the next day, so we cut in early to Charleston, SC entrance.  Then motored south on the ICW to Toogoodoo Creek.  Gotta love the name – mixed information online of the name's origination.

Overnight was chilly, Kris had multiple layers on to stay warm outside in the wind.  It is getting below 60 at night - that is why we are hurrying south - to stay warm.   

Always interesting sites while motoring the ICW

Looks like that they purposely tipped this boat to do some work on it.

Longest walk to the dock where the boat is kept, pretty common in the marshy areas

We will head to Beaufort, SC today, and if the weather forecast holds, will be making a jump to Florida later in the week.

2025-10-19 Another week at the dock in Bridgeton

We are still at the dock, helping our friend Tracy on her boat, Phoenix Rising.

Our days have pretty much been, get up, eat breakfast and clean up, then head over to Phoenix Rising and work.   We have had some delays, waiting for parts to get shipped in, but have gotten the electrical work all finished. 

Dean tearing out the old stuff, and Tracy head deep in a cabinet helping to feed wiring

 

It's nice to be short when installing items in a tight cabinet

Tracy has been focused on getting her water maker installed.  Had to make a few runs into town to get supplies, which always takes more time than you think as well.

 

Always fun to see the bears in New Bern, lovely flowers everywhere as well.

Stopped at hardware store to get parts

Monday we had a nice break and went out for lunch with our friends Jerry and Donna off Bluejacket, who live in Oriental.  Delicious meal, and great to see them and spend time with them.  Having such a good time, forgot to take photos.   However, Dean did forget his wallet there.  Luckily they found it and he got it the next day. 

The very old worn out wallet was recovered

Tuesday, Toby and Dave off Jandals came over with donuts for all, and we had a nice break talking about boat projects.   

Tuesday evening was another good night, as we headed to Oriental to have Buy one, get one free pizza at Silos, and were joined by Ed and Cathy on What If, Jerry and Donna on Bluejacket, Tracy on Phoneix Rising, and Dave and Toby of Jandals.

 

The whole gang enjoying pizza

Wednesday, the boat projects for Tracy continued. You know how boat projects go – fix one thing, find another.  That has been the theme the last few days

Kris forgot to hook up one wire to the port engine, but that was good, as without that we might have not found out the port engine battery was dead and needed to be replaced.  (No, Kris did not cause the battery to die).

We helped Tracy run new line for her jib sheet, and that was good because without that Kris would not have found out that most of her spin lock clutches were not working properly and needed to be rebuilt.

Dean helped Tracy install bigger blocks on her dinghy lift and added a block to make it easier to lift her heavy dingy.

Friday we walked up to a local bakery, and got a few treats.   Nice way to start the morning, however it is getting cold in the mornings, down to 45 one morning.  Time to head south.

Our yummy treats from the bakery

Dean took some time to organize his side of the closet.  When he moved on the boat 5 years ago, he packed all his clothes and put them in the closet.   You all know Dean, he hasn't seen the clothes in the bottom of the closet for 5 years.   So pulled them all out, and found 3 nice jackets he forgot he had, which will be handy in the cold weather.  Also found a bunch of clothes that he will not wear that we will donate, and some old worn stained stuff that was time to get rid of.   He also found a shirt that we got in 1993 still in good shape.  It's from Monitor wind vanes, and we got it when we installed a monitor wind vane our on the first cruising boat that we took from Seattle, WA down into Mexico.

Dean in his old shirt

Today more projects on Tracy's boat, and getting ready to head out on Tuesday.

 

2025-10-12 A week in Bridgeton at the dock

Sunday we motor sailed 33 miles from our friend's place in Oriental to Bridgeton, NC.  Our friend Tracy had lost her Manta 38 catamaran in hurricane Beryl, and now has Phoenix Rising, a Manta 42.  She offered to pay for us to dock in Bridgeton next to her, in exchange for help with some needed upgrades on her boat.   Tracy is a single hander – and many of the jobs she needed to do required more than two hands.   We were happy to accept her invitation.

So all week we have been mostly helping Tracy with various projects, mainly focused on getting ready to install her new lithium batteries and assorted supporting items like solar controllers, chargers, inverters and DC-DC converters.   Like our boat, when we bought it, lots of old wiring to no longer existing items were left in the boat, so we spent a bit of time just pulling out old cables and such to clean things up before installing new.    

Tracy in her closet pulling out old wires

Tracy has a car – so lunches out while running errands has been a real treat for us as well. 

On Tuesday we got a treat – went to lunch with Tracy, but Dave and Toby on Jandals, a Manta 42 who are hauled out in a yard nearby joined us, and Duane and Karen of Sojourn drove up to join as well.  Great visiting with everyone.

Wednesday, Tracy was great help to us.  You might remember that our new jib from Doyle did not fit properly.   It was fairly calm Wednesday morning, so Tracy held the phone while we were on a video call with Doyle.  We put the new sail on, in the manner they wanted, and hoisted it.  Tracy wandered all over, showing them the angles and views they needed while we wrested the sail.  Happy to say, by the end of day Wednesday we got an email from Doyle saying they were building us a brand-new sail.  Way to go, Doyle - great customer service.

We still had to decide what to do about our camberspar sheave, which was all worn out - and decided that we will deal with it further south.

The sheave isn't totally gone, just wearing out and needs to be replaced

Since we are at the dock, we also have a place to ship items, so large Amazon and Walmart orders were placed to start stocking up the boat for the planned 6 months in the Bahamas this winter.  Friday we borrowed Tracy's car and while Kris and Tracy tackled projects on Phoenix Rising, Dean picked up the Walmart order of groceries.  Over $600 worth of food.

All those gray bags are full of groceries.

We found Amazon cheaper than Walmart for some items, so got plenty of stuff from them as well.

Amazon order.  Lots of food, and a roll of weatherstripping.

More food and sundries from Amazon

We did also do our own boat project of replacing the rear seal again. Yes, again.  Saturday was rain all day, so we tacked that project. Kris had done this job with much help from Dean when we were hauled, but as we motored south, the leak at the rear seal on the port engine was even worse than before we “fixed it”.  So while at dock we separated the engine from the sail drive once again, and replaced the seal – once again.   We did find the seal we just put in had a small nick in it, looks like the spring in the seal must have come out while putting it on, and got trapped under the seal a bit and tore it.   

Tracy came over to help out with the rear seal project, and admire our brightly lit engine room

Rear seal, you can see a small nick in the center rubber ring

Speaking of springs in seals, while putting the engine back together after putting the new seal on, Kris dropped her flashlight, and reached down to grab it, and felt something under her fingers – yes, the spring from the new seal.  It had fallen out when she was putting the new seal on, and she did not notice.  No way to get the new seal off without damage, so we just left the spring off and put the engine and sail drive back together. Kris is bummed to say the least. 😖

We ran the engine for an hour and no leaks, so hoping for the best, but may have to do it again in the future.  

It got cold and windy here the last couple of days, so quite happy to be at dock with power for heat.  Had over 2" of rain yesterday and today, looking forward to some sun and warm weather.  Should finish up Tracy's projects next week, so then it is just a wait for a weather window to head south.