it's over!

this is embarrassing - i have not blogged at all and the SAIL rally is OVER!  i seriously need to get caught up....

the fabulous ravenel bridge at charleston

charleston:  from mcclellanville, we stopped for a few days in charleston, staying at the charleston harbor marina at patriot's point, an ENORMOUS facility - you had to do some serious walking just to get to the marina office and bathhouses.  although the marina is across the cooper river from downtown charleston, the resort has a trolley that can take you across the ravenel bridge or if you are like us and have a dog (not allowed on the trolley), you can take the water taxi.  or you could bike - we did not attempt this although we did break out our bicycles to go out to the sticky fingers restaurant to get our favorite smoked wings.   it also so happened that the charleston harbor marina and resort was hosting the "smoke on the harbor" bbq throwdown competition.  lucky us - MORE wings!  we really enjoyed charleston since we practically missed it last year.

sunset at the fenwick island north anchorage

fenwick island north anchorage:  we stopped one night here to time a troublespot for the next day's passage to beaufort.  there wasn't much in the way of a doggie beach.  thankfully, it isn't necessary for aurora but we managed to find an empty lot for sale that had a dock so that she could at least be walked to get a little exercise.  unfortunately, i can't trust her off the leash so she didn't get much exercise at all.  and the dock was bird-poopy - yuck.  but it was a gorgeous night at anchor.

sunrise at beaufort, SC and the lady's island swing bridge

beaufort:  like last year, we stayed a few days at the downtown marina at beaufort.  because it is a small place and was full up, some of the fleet stayed at lady's island marina across the river and we had to walk over a couple of times for meetings and such, crossing over the river on the lady's island swing bridge.  tom got a refill on his bottle of fancy olive oil and i got to eat a lot of gelato.

shrimp trawler - we sure ate a lot of shrimp!

savannah:  there was a shrimp market beside the savannah bend marina but a couple of ladies from the fleet encountered a shrimper and bought 30 pounds of shrimp directly from the boat at $2.00 a pound for our very own SAIL rally shrimpfest.  they asked if everyone could help peel.  unfortunately, what they didn't realize was that the shrimp was cheap because they were small shrimp!  tom and i were not part of the peeling committee because we were both busy doing other things but when we checked on them later, it was plain to see that it was a case of the blind leading the blind.  i think the marina staff took pity on these people and lent a big steamer.  someone made a phone call to get instructions and then they put the guy from michigan (who had never cooked shrimp in his life) in charge!  the shrimp that did get peeled got cooked in several different yummy ways and the rest became peel and eat shrimp that came out just right (beginner's luck) and i think everyone had enough to eat - we all had a good time. 


queens island anchorage:  we left savannah bend marina in shifts depending on where in the marina you were located, what direction you were facing and the state of the current.  timing is everything in the states of SC and GA because of the tides, currents and the trouble spots.  we wound up at the queens island anchorage but the fleet was scattered all over the GA ICW that night. 


saint simons island:  we all wound up at the golden isles marina at saint simons island which has an on-site restaurant and the food is excellent!  tom had to go to his bank and instead of breaking out his own bicycle, he borrowed one of the marina's rentals, a single-speed clunky thing with a rusty chain - he was afraid that the bicycle wasn't going to make it back!  it's a good thing that saint simons island is mostly flat but the bank closed at 4:00 p.m. and we had 30 minutes to get there - it was a photofinish!


cumberland island:  from saint simons island, the fleet scattered again because of the thanksgiving holiday.  some stayed at golden isles, some went to the saint mary's river anchorage for the cruisers' thanksgiving potluck and some of us went to cumberland island.  we love that place but aurora and i were chased by one of the attack wild horses - unprovoked!  we were nowhere near that horse and i was making a wide circle and aurora didn't even bark - i just ran towards a nearby building, dragging her with me.  yeah, i was scared.  horses are BIG!

the path to sea camp

gnarly live oaks

the beach at cumberland island

tiny sea urchin

the gate at dungeness mansion

the one on the left was the attack horse

the dungeness mansion ruins

fernandina beach:  we spent thanksgiving at fernandina beach.  most everyone else car pooled from wherever they were to st. mary's for the cruisers' thanksgiving potluck.  tom and i were just not up to the crowd so it was a nice, quiet and relaxing time for us.  i also think our food was better :)  we had breakfast the next morning with mark and diana doyle - that breakfast date was almost a year in the making.  we kept planning on it and it just never happened until the day after thanksgiving and then the day after that, diana and i went biking over to fort clinch state park.  fernandina beach is really a cute little touristy town.  thanksgiving day, it was dead.  the next day and into the weekend, it was crazy.  the bad thing, though, was the soot from the paper mill - it was all over the boat :(

thanksgiving dinner

just about the longest fishing pier ever

at fort clinch state park, fernandina beach

st. augustine:  we arrived a day before everyone else.  some opted to stop at a marina in jacksonville and others opted to anchor but they all arrived the next day at more or less slack tide.  tides and currents are insane in SC, GA and portions of FL.  again, as i have said before, timing is everything.  tom calls it a three-dimensional chess game, making plans for the next day. 

we had our SAIL rally arrival party this evening and now it is over and everyone is on their own, graduates of the rally academy.  i'd say that it was a lot less stressful than last year.  the weather was better for one thing - it also helps to leave earlier, before it starts to get really cold.

i am looking forward to settling down in cocoa for a while.