Tragedy Strikes

We made it to Wahlburg Creek and it was indeed deep and wide.  The plan was to anchor there overnight and then visit Savannah before saying goodbye to Georgia altogether.  St. Catherine's Sound Inlet (Wahlburg Creek) is close to Savannah - we could easily make it there early the next day.  While we were out sailing from Brunswick to Wahlburg Creek our son and Michael's brother had frantically been trying to reach us.  Michael's Dad had been in a horrible car accident.  The next morning we made it to Savannah, got a taxi to the airport and then drove to Durham, NC - Duke Hospital.  Our trip then came to an end for awhile.  It ended up being about 2 1/2 weeks before we were back on Talaria.  Meanwhile, the kind folks at Thunderbolt Marina in Savannah, Georgia watched over everything for us - they even went on the boat and took off the fruit that was going to spoil.  Kindest people in the world right there!!!  Eventually, with sad hearts we continued on our way as I had a job in North Carolina starting June 1st.  So... no pictures of Savannah but we did hang out in Charleston/Kiawah for a few days as I had to go to an anesthesia conference.  Charleston is truly old south.  The antebellum homes take you back to a different era.  

Home near Charleston Harbor

Another home near the harbor - Yes, this is a house!

Beautiful Charleston antebellum homes

Ft. Sumter - Where the Civil War began

Ft. Sumter

And of course, there is Ft. Sumter sitting out there in Charleston Harbor.  Where the Civil War began.  All hostilities aside - Charleston is now just a town full of southern warmth and charm.

This guy was swimming in the pond right behind our hotel room on Kiawah Island.  Unlike Disney the hotel had the good sense to post a sign warning of alligators in the water.  Surprisingly folks still walked awfully close to the waters edge.  

Angel Oak

 All over the south there are live oak trees - but this tree is like none I have ever seen.  It is estimated to be around anywhere from 300 to 400 years old.  It is 65 feet tall and 28 feet in circumference.  It has survived any number of natural disasters - including several hurricanes.  But it just keeps growing.  

 
In order to really appreciate the Angel Oak you really have to see it for yourself - pictures just don't quite capture the magnitude of the tree.

The sign is actually old as the largest limb length is now 187 feet long!!  The tree just keeps growing in every direction.

 Since we have made this trip to Charleston without the boat we likely will not stop with Talaria.  We will have to make up for some lost time.  On with the journey!

Welcome to Georgia!

After having traveled the entire coastline of Florida (over 1000 miles - both sides of the state!) on the 27th of April 2016 we finally left Florida behind and crossed over to Georgia.  The first stop in Georgia is Brunswick which was a very nice sail from Fernadina Beach, Florida.  Beautiful day and short trip.  We were all tied up at the marina by 1400.  This gigantic ship met us as we were getting ready to go under the bridge on the way to the marina - needless to say we gave him wide berth!  We were a bit tired and decided to stay an extra day in Brunswick to rest up and do some more sightseeing.  While in the neighborhood we thought we would pay a visit to the legendary Jekyll Island and St. Simons Island.

Barrier Islands of Coastal Georgia

 
 Jekyll Island was of course home to the legendary Jekyll Island Club that was a members only winter retreat for the nations wealthiest people in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Very Gatsby like. 

Jekyll Island Club (now a hotel)

The Jekyll Island Club is beautiful and I am sure back in the day it was even more stunning.  The members had impressive name plates on their doors - certainly they were very impressed with themselves!

 The Island itself is lovely with its numerous large live oak trees.  There is a marina there as it is on the ICW but it is much too shallow for our deep draft vessel.  We had some lunch on the Island - wandered around a bit and then headed over to St. Simons Island.  Another of the Georgia "Sea Islands" as the barrier islands are called.

St. Simon's Island has a rocky coastline.  But
fortunately they have put stairs along the coastline presumably so you could get out of the water if you needed to.  Is there a beach at the bottom of the stairs at low tide?  Not sure - all we saw was water!

 

 St. Simon's Island has a very long, nice pier that folks hang out on and fish from.  And they have this beautiful lighthouse.

After a couple of days we were ready to resume our journey.  The fog was thick in the morning of our departure so we had to wait for it to burn off a bit.  When we finally headed out we met these shrimpers heading in - easy to tell which boat has the shrimp!  We are sailing up to St. Catherine's Sound Inlet.  A fellow with Sea Tow gave us very good directions and told us we would find a good anchorage in Wahlburg Creek just inside the inlet.  He assured us it was both deep and wide.  Leaving Georgia behind and heading for South Carolina.

The Oldest City

There are a pair of these huge marble lions at the entrance to the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine, Florida.  These lions are replicas of the Medici Lions in Florence, Italy - and they were sculpted in Italy as well.

City Gate

  St. Augustine's claim to fame it that it is the oldest continuously occupied settlement in the US.  St. Augustine was founded in 1565 - well before the US was the US.  For over 200 years St. Augustine was the capital of "Spanish Florida".  Then finally in 1819 Spain ceded Florida to the US.  And all that time folks were living in St. Augustine.

St. Augustine is so old that it had a City Gate that provided the only entrance into the city through the lines of defense.  The city was of course guarded on the water by a Fort which is fairly close to the City Gate.

Castillo de San Marcos and some really nice cannons!

 The city got a real boost after Henry Flagler of Standard Oil fame came to town for a visit.  He decided he liked it so much that he would turn St. Augustine into a play place for the rich and famous.  So he set about having beautiful churches and hotels built.  The architecture in St. Augustine is beautiful and gives the city its great character.  And then of course there is Flagler College which is just stunning.  

St. Augustine

Street under canopy of Live Oaks

Memorial Presbyterian Church

 

Thought it was really cool that they used Harbor Chain for fence

 The fence posts at Flagler College are joined together by harbor chain.  Those spiked balls were chained together and laid at a harbor entrance in order to disable enemy ships. The idea was to damage the hull of the ship.  Very unique fence for a college!

Beautiful Flagler College

Flager College - even more stunning on the inside

Casa Monica - one of many beautiful hotels

We ended up spending a couple of days in St. Augustine and had a great time exploring the city.  Very worth the visit.  Too touristy of a town to live in - but a great place to visit.  We are close to being out of Florida - moving on to Georgia.

Kennedy Space Center

 April 19,2016

Kennedy Space Center Entrance

So far so good.  We left Sands Harbor Marina on the 17th as planned and have had no further engine trouble.  We arrived in Cocoa Village planning to stay a couple of days in order to visit the Kennedy Space Center.  If you have never visited the KSC you should consider adding a visit to your bucket list!  Well worth the visit. The space shuttles were put together in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) - NASA likes acronyms!  

Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB)

  And then transported to one of two launchpads on a "crawler".  They were driven on this laser guided vehicle down the "crawlerway".  To support the weight of the shuttles the "crawlerway" has two 40 foot wide lanes with a 50 foot median.  It consists of a 7 foot deep bed of stones beneath a layer of asphalt and then topped with a 4 inch thick layer of Tennessee river rock.  The Tennessee rock was chosen because it is "spark resistant".  An important consideration!! 

Crawler with the launch platform on top

It takes a team of almost 30 engineers, technicians and drivers to operate the crawler.  It weighs 6,000,000 pounds (and that is without the weight of the launch platform and shuttle).  Dang that is alot of weight!!  But the most interesting fact was that it was a gal right out of engineering school who came up with the idea for the crawler - first job!  Not too shabby!

The Crawlerway

The shuttle program of course came to a close - but a new chapter has opened with SpaceX winning the bid to launch rockets from the Kennedy Space Center.  

SpaceX building near the crawlerway

 

The Launchpad - up a slight incline

Return capsule

Rocket Garden

NASA has an amazing history of accomplishment. 

 

Great day!  Again well worth the visit - you would not be disappointed.

Serendipity

Saturday - April 16, 2016

Yes this is a single family home on the Florida ICW - not a hotel!

 

Now that we were on the ICW (intracoastal waterway) we thought our engine troubles would be behind us.  We were blaming our engine trouble on our small Raycor fuel filters.  The thinking was that the filters were getting clogged due to their small size and all the jostling on the Atlantic.  Now that we were on calmer water we thought our troubles would subside.  Needless to say we were both surprised and dismayed when Saturday brought another day of engine failure.  Only now in addition to idling back and stopping - the engine was reluctant to start back up at all.  After the fourth time the engine died we decided that we needed to get to the nearest marina and find a mechanic.  The ICW has many bascule bridges which have set opening times.  If you do not make it to the bridge on time you have to wait till the next opening time.  Well we did not make the opening of our fifth bascule bridge that day because the engine had died.  But on the other side of the Atlantic Blvd Bridge was the Sands Harbor Marina.  We managed to get the engine restarted several times while we waited for the next opening (30 minutes) and once on the other side of the bridge we headed to the marina.

 

Bascule Bridge

Once we were tied up at the dock we headed to the marina office to pay the bill.  As we were in the office a fellow came in and said he had tied up to their fuel dock as he was having some engine trouble on his sailboat and was waiting for the mechanic to arrive.  Well how about that!!  Serendipity?  Needless to say we wasted no time in striking up a conversation with him regarding our troubles and need of a mechanic (which we had no hope of finding on a Saturday).  We asked if maybe his mechanic would have time to swing by our boat as well.  He agreed to check in to it and we decided to go and try to find some fuel hose - thinking maybe that could be a problem as well.  Lo and behold as we were ready to call a taxi this fellow comes over and loans us his car.  Dang - what good luck!  And when we go to get his car we run into the mechanic in the parking lot.  He agrees to come by our boat before leaving the marina.  After awhile in town trying to find some fuel hose and larger Raycor filters we realize that neither the mechanic or the fellow who owns the car have our phone number so we decide to skip one more store and head on back to the marina.  Good decision as we again meet the mechanic in the parking lot only now he is preparing to leave.  He agrees to come on by and check out our engine and in five minutes he has solved the problem.  It was a simple little valve on the auxiliary fuel pump that was turned the wrong way.  Right place, right time?  What are the chances of all those perfectly timed meetings happening right at the time needed?  

Bascule Bridge opening - we are going thru

Another small Florida home on the ICW

 We headed off to dinner and hoped that our troubles were truly now over.  Tomorrow would be another day motoring down the Florida ICW.  

One of the "little" boats on the Florida ICW - probably live in one of the "little houses"

Oops!  One of the many sunk boats along the waterway

Boats at anchor along the ICW

We have lots of company traveling down the ICW