Looping with the Chequamegon Ark

You will have to get to the end to figure out the "Laugh In" reference. We had 2-3 foot seas predicted and after 3 days of running inside with shallow waters, lots of boats and slow no wake zones we were ready to get out on the ocean and let the Volvo's breathe. Had a nice run and would have fished but we realized we didn't have South Carolina licenses. Beautiful day and we cruised past Fort Sumpter about 11:30. Had to photograph this tree and the low hanging branch at Sea Pines - Hilton Head. Leaving Hilton Head - calm. We got out on the ocean and it was still really nice. We saw container ships on the horizon. Our AIS showed 31 container ships at the peak. Fort Sumpter guarding the entrance to Charleston Harbor - where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. Big cable stay bridge over the Cooper river. Our marina was just past the Coast Guard dock. About 4 feet of tide  here. The "Mega Dock" is a 20 foot wide and 1000 foot long concrete floater - very...

We talked to the local fisherman on the dock in St Simon and his advice was to stay inside so we ran the ICW today. Leaving the dock at Morningstar Marina Nice sunrise as we motored out. The ICW is extremely curvy with a lot of places to make a wrong turn or run aground. The bogs look like wild rice fields that never end. Sunrising over the Atlantic as we passed an inlet. More of the options and corners you have to negotiate. Hells Gate was tight and we were into it before we realized where we were - not the shallowest section we ran today. These floating docks compensate for the 8 foot tides. You can see the barnacles on the concrete pilings - low tide. Ditto. We have passed several of these floating tiki bars. Tide was out about 6 feet on this section. Big container ship in our way across the main channel in Savannah Huge when you are along side. Hilton Head Harbor Town Our Nebo stat for the day. The Ark alongside a very wide powerboat - made for a tight slip entrance.  

The winds were higher than predicted so we called an audible and stayed inside on the AICW. We changed the secondary fuel filter on the Benny in hopes that it was just a rpm issue but no luck with that. Beautiful day for a cruise and the exhaust cooling jacket repair stayed bone dry all dry all day. The USS David Cook must be getting new bottom paint - she is sanded to a near mirror finish. Another Navy ship and a yacht tied up behind it. The IVW here looks similar to the Mobile river - very flat with lots of little tributaries. Ditto. These docks must be over 1/4 mile long - need an ate or golf cart to get your gear to the boat! Low tide had us in sections with only 4 feet of water fort miles at times today. Look close at the length of these dock. Many nice houses next to small cabins. These folks had a floating section near the end of their pier. Tide was falling all day while we headed North. Due North and closing in. Old Fort outside Fernandina. More than one spot where it is uncle...

Long hot day in the engine room. I think we are good to go with the exhaust cooling jacket but we will be without a functioning Gennygator for the foreseeable future. Patch from yesterday on the ocean I patched 2 places because there was so much water mist/spray coming in that I didn't get a photo and just ran back to bridge to get the engine shut down. New circumferential patch - white and grey epoxy. Same patches different angle. Inside the generator breaker box - voltage regulator looks fine. Motherboard kept popping and crackling when we tried to get power out of it. Very bottom of the power head had some salty residue. Mostly looked clean and OK. Ditto Hoping to be at St Simon's island tomorrow night. Too much time in the engine room today for my own good. One small thing to try tomorrow before we head North again. Enjoy every day - even the challenging ones!