Wind Spirit spent a quiet summer at Port Royal Landings Marina. We made a quick visit in August after a week at the beach to take off the sails to send them to be cleaned and serviced, and to prepare the boat in case of a severe storm. In September Bill and I refinished almost all of the teak on the deck. Friend Claude spent another fall week working with Bill to get things ship shape. We or Bill...installed new doors, and a larger cockpit table.
We finally left the dock the week before Thanksgiving and headed down the ICW. It was lovely and sunny but we did run into too much shallow water in the Mud River in GA! Atlanta friends who were in St. Simons Island had invited us to stop, and greeted us at the Dock at Golden Isles. We had not planned to stay long, but the best laid plans "gang oft aglay". Pardon my spelling Robbie Burns.
Fueled and a little apprehensively we headed south again toward St Augustine the next morning. By the way the Golden Isles Marina was very comfortable and Bill loved the newspaper and muffin service every morning! They were very helpful too!
Well now the goal is to get back to Wind Spirit and we are working on getting there. As soon as we are both over bronchitis and pneumonia we will head back to FL. We will get organized on the boat, and want to head further south then over to the Exumas as soon as we can! One more fix of the water maker, and installation of a new manual bilge pump, provisioning, and we should be set!
We wanted to take them all out sailing for the afternoon, and with good winds and sun and snacks ready, grocery run done and we were all set. We threw off the dock lines and slowly then more quickly just drifted off the dock too far to throw a line!!! No transmission! The wind and current was bearing us towards a low bridge and across the river into shallows. Lots of advice but the best one was throw out the anchor! Well, we tried some different tactics to get the boat back and had good help from a fellow sailor. Tommy was able to get his boat and finally to rescue our passengers. Tow Boat US came over from Jekyll and we returned to the dock safely. We hauled up a huge piece of cable as well on the anchor probably a relic from old shrimp boats. No sailing that day!
Amazingly, We were able to get a very temporary repair done that same afternoon before Thanksgiving.
We spent a lovely Thanksgiving with Collin and Tommy, Ward and Alli, the children and friends at the beach house. We were so appreciative their wonderful hospitality . A windy walk on the beach after eating was so delightful.
Fueled and a little apprehensively we headed south again toward St Augustine the next morning. By the way the Golden Isles Marina was very comfortable and Bill loved the newspaper and muffin service every morning! They were very helpful too!
Spent a night at Palm Coast Marina in case we needed an extra pump, and then arrived the following afternoon at St Augustine. We spent 3 fun nights with friends Brian and Louise as the boat was being repaired, dinghy engine serviced and sacrificial donut replaced that protects the transmission! We were so grateful for the wonderful hospitality! Love spending time with Lou and Brian and Peanut too!
OK, back to normal we hoped, and so puttered along south taking our time and exploring at Titusville where we visited Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge seeing wonderful birds including Roseate spoonbills, and Cape Canaveral National Seashore. Cocoa...a knitting store to the rescue for a needed needle as well as some Christmas shopping
Finally decided to get going and head home earlier than we planned as lots to do for Christmas!
We had planned to have the boat hauled at Harbor Town Marina at Ft. Pierce while we were away for a month, getting the bottom painted, hull waxed, and now the prop, shaft, stuffing box examined carefully and aligned if needed after the Mud River shallows episode.
We saw Passages as we came in and had spent time with them in Emerald Bay and Staniel Cay
last winter. We had a wonderful dinner on board with Karen and Ed and----and they even took Bill to get a rental car. Great cruisers so helpful!! Thanks so much!
The car was packed the boat pumped out and then hauled out.
We left Wind Spirit behind as we headed north for a 10 hour drive back to Atlanta knitting all the way!!!
We had a wonderful Christmas with the pageant at Church, lots of music events to attend with friend Joan, Candlelight Christmas Eve at Covenant with friends, Christmas Day at Christine and Mark's, dinner with Sturgeses and friends, crackers, candles, cookies, beef tenderloin and Buche de Noel,
Kelly, Bruce, Will and Andrew arrived the 26th for a week of fun! Playgrounds, puppet show, puppets, play and sleepovers with cousins and Nann and Papa. Medieval Times and horses and knights! And a plane ride home! We miss them!
But then on to preparing for Isabel Robertson Browne's 90th Birthday celebration in Redlands California. My job as I saw it was to scan in old photos, slides etc. Found lots more when we got out there at Sally and John's, what fun! With Colin and Christine, and Jessie's help we put together a slide show which was filled with pictures from the 1940s to the present! The party was a joyful celebration of Isabel's rich life with family and friends! Sally did it again! She was the primary organizer of the fun event.
Well now the goal is to get back to Wind Spirit and we are working on getting there. As soon as we are both over bronchitis and pneumonia we will head back to FL. We will get organized on the boat, and want to head further south then over to the Exumas as soon as we can! One more fix of the water maker, and installation of a new manual bilge pump, provisioning, and we should be set!
