The first night we stayed at the Bass Creek anchorage after a 16 mile day. A real nice spot with lots of wildlife and a remote setting in the salt marsh. Our one day of barefoot weather in quite a while.
Did have some aircraft noise as a nearby naval station had quite a bit of flight training activity. But we do thank our military for the freedom we enjoy!
As we were eating dinner the generator quit. Code 36, "engine shut down not initiated by computer" and a list of issues to check. So we finished dinner and Tom went down to the hot engine room to try to get it running. Michigan plays for the men's basketball championship and inverter batteries were a bit low so the generator would be good to have. Of course air and fuel are first on the list so I inspect air intake, OK. Look at primary Racor... clean and pink, just as it should be but I change it anyway. Remove spin on secondary fuel filter on engine noting only 100 hours on it but change it too. Rest of list is mostly technician stuff above my pay grade. So we hoped the filters would do it. After a quick prime of the engine and couple cranks success! We're not sure why, but this fuel filter fix seems to work but something is not exactly right because the CATs run off the same fuel with no issues with filters. Perhaps the fuel pump is getting weak is my guess. If problem persists we will get that tested.
We rose lazily knowing we had another short travel day ahead. Tom called a local CAT technician in Charleston to have the starboard alternator tested when we arrive as the last few days we noted that the house battery bank was charging very slowly when underway, a change from previous experience. We also need the port side pre heater element looked at as it was inoperable. So that is scheduled for Friday. It was chilly in the morning and the generator for running reverse cycle heat was welcomed.
In the morning, Julie's Google feed reported "light traffic in your area" so we were not too worried about traffic on the ICW!!! It is really quite relaxing cruising the ICW right now. I think we are ahead of most migrating snow bird cruisers. But we ran the generator for heat while travelling today as it was 42 degrees when we left!
As we travel along the ICW we are starting to notice the change in landscape. Not too many palms and more deciduous trees leafing out. Lots of spring flowers. We are chasing Spring north, hunting for that ideal 75 degree weather. Beautiful travel at 9 knots. After another whopping 20 mile day we arrived at West of Watts anchorage, a large relatively open anchorage we shared with one other boat.
It is just around the corner from our location on this GPS image. Room for lots of boats!
We waited for a little tide in the morning for our next 18 mile day to Church Creek. We again shared the anchorage with one other boat and had a brief shower late in the afternoon. We again had a strong reversing tidal current but the 80' of scope seems to work out well (8' of water at low tide) and the currents are strong enough to mostly overwhelm the winds and keep us parallel to shore. Another grill day (a great steak) and a sunset. What a nice couple days moseying along the ICW....
Thursday we headed on out for Charleston. Along the way these guys were showing us the way there!
We timed our departure from the anchorage to hit near slack tide in both Elliott Cut and at the City Marina as both spots are known for very swift tidal currents (up to 6 knots in Elliott's Cut).
And another high traffic day on the ICW...not! Julie stepped out of the photo while AP (auto pilot) took the helm.
And the plan worked out, minimal current in both places. After signing in we started to walk downtown and Tom's phone rang. The CAT technician was at the boat so we turned around to let him onboard to investigate things. Yes, we need a new alternator (It was only putting our 2 amp at 1500 RPMs) and the engine pre heater will have to be tested on Friday when engine is cold. Fast forward to Friday. New alternator now putting our 23 amps at 1500 RPM and engine preheater was a tripped circuit breaker. This likely means the element is going bad but due to its location and the fact it is not a critical item (it just helps minimize smoke during engine warm up) and it can only be replaced after pulling the after cooler, we will put it on the list for the next 1000 hour service 600 hours from now. We stayed on the mega dock at the city marina.
Friday we just "managed" the technicians and the boat washing person (still resting that elbow so when I can find a reasonable boat washing service we sign up) and took a walk to the Harris Teeter for groceries. Such beautiful architecture. The cold winter here was touch on the landscaping.
The cruise ship continues to follow us! Here it is docking in calm waters.
And leaving in some wind.
But I'd rather be here than having to dinghy out to my boat in the rain! Note the waterfall coming off the fly bridge roof.
Then, it was the awaited "bucket list" Jimmy Buffett concert. And it was very good. We enjoyed it very much. The "Parrot Heads" people watching was great, Jimmy exhibits a lot of energy and truly enjoys performing, and all the music is of course very familiar. We are really glad we found this concert and arranged our travels to coincide. It was a real good time.
We especially like this background to his concert as we have spent many weeks at Hope Town Bahamas. "One Particular Harbor" was a great song for the backdrop!
And at one point in the show Jimmy made reference to all the "parakeets" in the audience. It was a surprise to us how many youngsters were in attendance. So when he sang the famous "Let's Get Drunk and Screw" song, he suggested that the words were really "Let's Get Lunch at School". I think most folks sang the original lyrics....
Saturday we set out for the farmer's market but when we arrived it was "race central" for the big Cooper River bridge run, one of the most popular 10Ks in the US. It is billed as the third largest 10K in the country. We negotiated blocks and blocks long lines of people waiting for school bus transportation back to the parking spots, etc. across the bridge. So we found our way through the maze of closed streets and made our way to Harris Teeter. It is fun to walk the neighborhoods here as the architecture is so old and interesting.
Our walk on Sunday took us around Colonial Lake, a small tidal lake in a nice neighborhood.
Had a big rainstorm with a few thunder claps and lightning in the afternoon so it was catch up on blog day....
Sunday we attended a AGLCA cocktail hour put on by a local Charleston broker at their dock right next to the City marina where we were. Many Loopers current, past and wanna be were in attendance. We met one gentleman, Robert and his wife Linda (Linda Ann). Robert will be departing on the Loop solo from Myrtle Beach early May. We shared a few thoughts and ideas with him and as we passed through Myrtle Beach on Wednesday, look what we saw!
Hopefully we will see him along the way in Canada or the Great Lakes this summer.
Monday morning we left around 9:30 destined for Georgetown. It was a cloudy drizzly day but a good one for travels.
See what we mean when we say shallow. Note the angle of the sailboat at the dock...hard aground.
We departed later to again wait for some tide to fill the shallows in McCellanville area. The plan again worked with about mid tide and a couple extra feet of water. Never bumped but saw only 4.5 feet in a couple area even with the tidal help.
Don't get confused with the motor vehicle clearance posting! We wouldn't clear that!!
We arrived in Georgetown and Mary and Tim (Nellie May) were at the fuel dock. Here they are docked behind us.
So we had dinner with them and Herb (Phantom) who was at the next marina. Herb is the harbor host for Tarpon Springs and is doing his second Loop right now. We also saw Ken and Karen (Island Girl) here. They are following us!!
We were able to get haircuts, etc here on Tuesday which was another cold rainy day.
Tuesday night our friends Vicki and Tom (Grand Baron) visited us via their land yacht.
It was great to catch up with you Vicki and Tom, thanks so much for going out of your way to come to visit us. We hope that our paths cross again on the water this summer!
Wednesday we set off for a 90 mile day at first light. Nice travel day. Spring is springing!
We wanted to get to St James Marina near Southport to see our friends Jim and Kathy (JimKat). It was an exciting day of bridges, shoaled inlets, the famous rock pile area (you don't want to get out of the channel here!)
and one barge to pass that took two tries to get done! Inlets and rock pile were uneventful...just follow the markers. Oh, and weave your way through the dredges.
But the tow?...Ok, here's the story. "Island Girl, Island Girl this is Sum Escape requesting passing instructions". "Take me on the two whistle, you will have room" says the tow. So we nose out around the stern of the tow and it doesn't look like a lot of room but here we go. So I speed up to 10 mph or so and the prop wash and the fact the tow was starting to move to starboard created not enough room and bam, we were aground. Pulled back throttles and shifters. Restarted starboard engine. Hmm, what next? Well the prop wash from the tow should create a good wake so if it does we will use it to back off the mud/sand. Well, here comes the wake and yes, it is enough to float us and we power off the shallows. OK, now do we have plugged seas strainers, prop or rudder damage etc? We pull out behind the tow and limp along for a bit to get out of his prop wash. Steer from stop to stop...smooth and OK. Throttle up each engine independently to 1700 RPM or so, no vibration. Julie takes the helm and I check sea strainers, OK. Look at rudder shafts, etc, all OK. Hopefully we are good to go. So now what? Moving at 4.2 MPH behind the tow will not get us to our destination before they close. So I call back the tow and ask for his thoughts again. He apologized and said he thought there was plenty of water where he previously instructed us. He said he would move over a bit and to take him on the one whistle this time. We safely got around him this time. These photos don't do the situation justice but it was a tight maneuver. We don't need any more of those situations!
We arrived at St James Plantation Marina at 4:30, just before their 5 PM closing.
So it was a 90 mile day in 10 hours of travel and we thank God for the safe passage. A quick spray off of salt, a quick shower and dinner and we were ready for Jim and Kathy to join us aboard for some conversation and catching up. We had a nice walk around the grounds Thursday morning. Here we are arriving at the alligator observation board walk....no gators today, too cold! But we saw robins, heard many cardinals and had a wonderful Spring day walk.
They also picked us up for lunch on Thursday. We went to Oliver's in Southport and it was very good! Oh, and the bourbon bread pudding was equal to or better than the same thing in Georgetown at the River Bend restaurant on Monday. This one included vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce! Please take note of this Herb and Tim!! Kathy and Jim also took us to do a little provisioning and we went for a great bicycle ride around their neighborhood. St James Plantation is a spectacular place and we really appreciate all the hospitality Kathy and Jim!
Friday at first light, we depart for Morehead City, hopefully on the outside so that we can get there in one day versus two. We want to be able to get a rental car on Saturday prior to their noon closing time and right now the outside looks good for the 109 mile trip. (about 80 outside in the Atlantic). We will travel to New Bern by car on Sunday to visit Linda and Ralph (Mazel Tug) who we travelled with in 2015 and 2016 on earlier portions of the Loop. It will be great to see them again!
Well, it's a boat. As we were leaving the slip at St James Julie says "what is that thumping noise?". So she pilots and I investigate. Loud "Whump, thump, whump, thump" on starboard side under the lazarette so it is prop related. Sounds fine in engine room. We are guessing the noise was there on Wednesday too but when we came in no one was on the stern while we were in forward gear to hear it. And when testing in the ICW more than idle speed throttle was used so engine noise perhaps drowned out the noise. Given we were only a few miles from Zimmerman Marine in Southport we pulled over there to wait for them to open at 8 AM to see if they could help us. Nice morning on the ICW though...
They suggested a diver as a first step. Diver came around 1:30 and found a large chunk out of one of the blades on starboard side. Did not find any other strut, cutlass bearing, rudder or other damage. So they will pull the wheels Saturday (one always tunes both props on a twin installation). Then out to a prop shop (hopefully the chipped blade can be repaired...these are 31" 5 blade props) so they will be "in line" for repair on Monday. Looking for the right tool to remove the line cutters on the shafts before removing the props. Sometimes the boat owner even has the right tool!
There are lots of Loopers here in Southport so we will have company while we await repairs. And we will stop to see Linda and Ralph as we come through at a later date than originally planned. That's a promise Linda and Ralph!
