Little Breaks

We're been working very hard and it's been very hot.   The A/C cannot keep up with the heat so the last few days we've been leaving hatches and windows open to catch any breeze.  The natural hot air is a little more inviting than the closed up hot air.

Yesterday, when all the wood that could be treated WAS treated, we knew we could get away a little.  We took the dinghy up the waterway (the Wilmington River) toward the Savannah River that later goes right through downtown Savannah.

While looking for a place to anchor and swim we came across this boat that is obviously inhabited:

 

If we don't get busy and get everything fixed, I think we could end up in a state like this.

 

 When we first anchored, I stepped out into mud two feet down.   We found another place, deeper, near an island and had a very cool swim.  We began to get the feeling back of what it is like to be in and along the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we motored up a little waterway to find a quieter place to have our evening drinks, cheese, crackers and fruit, we heard little knocking sounds.    We looked closer and these are what were making that sound, little crabs. 

 

Birds were singing everywhere and the wind was making the grasses flow in waves - very relaxing and peaceful.

 

It was 90% likelihood of rain today so we decided to take the bus into Savannah and spend the afternoon.   When we walked down to the waterfront, the first thing we saw was this big cargo ship taking up all of the channel.

 

 

People do bring their boats into Savannah and anchor out or tie up at docks, but we had read that swift currents and big tide changes make it unpleasant.    And, can you imagine being eased out of the deep channel when something like this comes along down the river?

 

Some did have the guts and inclination to tie up in downtown Savannah.  Someone who owns a sailboat so big I couldn't get it all in one picture.    It's name is Hyperion.  A sign posted stated it's measurements and stated that crew members were instructed NOT to say anything about the boat owners. 

 

 

 

 

Hyperion is 155 feet long with a mast of 195 feet (Most new bridges are built to accommodate masts of 65 feet.)   Boat is from the Marshall Islands (probably a good financial reason for this) , has a crew of 8 (two side-by-side steering stations) and a draft of 17 (!!!!) feet.   (Draft is measurement from water line to bottom of boat. For comparison, our boat is 4' 6".)    This boat would never make it up the intercoastal waterway.  It can only come in through deep inlets and must stay in oceans/seas to sail, apparently.   It would be so neat to see the boat sail - gotta be a monster.'

 

 

 

From the looks of the big cleats and the red line wrapper things in the back ground, Savannah has seen its share of big boats coming through and stopping.

 

 

 

 

Savannah keeps its old to show through the new.   We appreciated that.

 

 

Tom gave me a "rose" that a passerby gave him.  It'll be our souvenir from here.

 

 

We liked the River Walk area.   When the big boats aren't coming along, it's very peaceful.

 

 

We waited for the 4 o'clock bus back to Thunderbolt and it showed up right on time.

 

Dustin, the marina manager, emailed us that he left the key to the "guest" truck above the visor for us "in case we need supplies."    We think we need supplies out around Tybee Island tomorrow.   We'll let you know how that turns out.

You can tell I've really run out of material for this site when you see a picture like this.   We were having breakfast and looked around us.   Many people there had the same general body characteristics as the ones in  this picture.  I had to take a picture of Tom across from me to have an excuse to have my camera out to take this picture from under our table.

 

 

We've been staying near the boat and working on it.  Today I put the second coat of Cetol on some of the wood and gave the rest its first coat.  (It would have been 10 coats for varnish and black results from teak oil, we hear).    This should take about three coats and once a year top coat.

 

 

Mostly, we see just boats on stands being worked on around us, but if I zoom in I can make a little landscape from the marsh outside the fence and show you a green heron perched on the fallen tree.

 

As I said, boats are all around  us.   Isn't this a fancy paint job for the sailboat above?
And they're replacing the complete interior of the darker boat below.

That reminds me of a confession I can make.   We noticed that the drawer below our sink kept getting wet, but could find no leak in all the fittings.

Finally, Tom saw it, a leak in the sink itself!    Then by using flashlights above and below when it was dark, we saw that the sink is a veritable sieve.  For several nights in a row, we kept identifying

 

new leaks and I lay on my back in the galley and applied JB Weld to stop them up. 

One day we realized that we really should try to replace that sink.  Enter the boat above:  Tom and I had each had looked over a sink and faucet sitting outside Principles.   When we finally decided to mention to the marine manager that we needed one, he asked if the one beside Principles would work.  I went over and measured and "Glory Be,"  it does.     New stainless steel sinks cost upwards from $400.  They'll let us have this and the faucet.  So that was good.



They brought in this third boat yesterday.  It's huge and has obviously sailed the seven seas.  On it is a sign saying  "By order of the federal government, do not board."   We thought it surely was confiscated as some sort of drug runner shakedown (and maybe it was).   But I'm now told it's current owner just bought it at auction.    I think it is a well made boat in good condition and would have been a good buy for someone. 

Finally,  earlier some blog readers wanted to know how they could sign onto being a follower of this blog.   I had no idea.   I just lately noticed that two people were "followers."   Following that link allowed me to put something at the left top of the home page that allows readers to become followers.   Let me know if this doesn't work..

We won't be finished here for about two weeks more so there won't be much to report.  Don't give up on us.   We'll be back with new and more exciting adventures soon!

Water We Doing?

 

 

This picture is to say two things:

 

One, this new million dollar yacht arrived to the marina by truck from Maine today after hours.  It's a Hinckley - this marina is a Hinckley dealership.   It's being delivered to the owner of Home Depot and the boat's name is   Water We Doing. 

 

I didn't get it at first but now I do and I like it!  Fun.

 

The second reason this is a good picture is that just as the truck arrived, so did a very big tide caused by the very big moon.   And the water came up everywhere here at the marina.

 

 

 

Moon last night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked around to explore our new waterbound world.

 

 

We had been to a Thai restaurant on our bikes.  We had to ride them through the salty water to get back so Tom rinsed them off with fresh water.

 

 

 

By the time we settled back onto the boat, the water had risen to just under our boat so we didn't have to go to the water - it came to us.

 

And after we'd played a game of rummy, we looked down and the water was pretty much gone.

 

So much for another adventurous day at the marina.

Home Sweet Home

 

 

 

So here we are, living on a boat up  on stilts.   They've given us the magnificent wide stairs so that I can bring home a pot of flowers and have a patio feel.

 

That lovely blue box and yellow tube is the on-the-spot airconditioning - absolutely essential, but sometimes not quite enough.

 



We have all meals out in the cockpit.

 

Today, we got good news.  The marina manager has found a rudder for us that can be built and here by probably the middle of next week.   Apparently rudders on the model of our boat, Catalina 34, fail more than most and a place is making two of them right now and will make ours alongside those.  And it's a newer, better design, supposedly "high performance."   So win/win.  We don't have to stay here three weeks or more.

 

That's a little scary, 'cause we wanted to do so many things here  (maybe new upholstery?) and now won't have them all done here.   Probably get another chance if we stop somewhere for a while this summer.

 

We DID get over to Savannah for lunch a couple of days ago, but the town wasn't as quaint, flavorful as I expected.   We'll go over again to the riverwalk sometime before we leave.

 

Anyway, there won't be much exciting to report or show for a few days - mostly working on the boat.

Well, I'll no longer be posting on this blog site. I will be reopening my old blog spot and keep my own posts on that site. For those of you that want to follow my blog, please join me at:
http://tnroamer.blogspot.com/ If you want to look at old posts, you'll see ones from my time spent in the west while full time RV'ing. In the future I'll be posting my thoughts, pictures and comments while I spend time on the Tumbleweed Two. I look forward to seeing your comments and hope you enjoy my posts as well as Nancy's on her site.

Tom

on my own

Tom has decided he'd like to post his own blogs on his old blogsite rather than piggy back on to mine.  He will post the address once he has it established again - he had a blog for a while when he traveled by RV.

 

 

 

This is the culprit.   When we got the boat out of the water we could see what we imagined - the rudder was hanging on by a few fibers of fiberglass.

 

 

 

So  they hauled the boat out and now we are up on stilts with a stairway up to the open transom - the open back you see in this picture.    It takes two to three weeks to get and install a rudder so we will be here a while, like it or not.

 

So far, we've found ways to work and play:   borrowed the marina truck to get groceries and ended up eating in a neat restaurant downtown at lunch. 

 

Took the dinghy out so we could swim that afternoon.

 

 

 

One day, Tom said we shouldn't work so we sat around reading novels

'til we finished them.   Then I took the bicycle off to visit a nearby historical cemetery while Tom took a nap.

 

 

We had been carrying the ingredients for a recipe my friend Myria made for us before we left all over the place.   Finally, here, we got to make it.  It's chicken in olives and beer and tomato sauce over rice and it's wonderful.

 

Over the next several days, we hope to clean the boat and have some mechanical problems looked at.   When there's something interesting to post, we'll get to it.    

 

Again, feel free to view Tom's blot spot when he posts it for a different version of whatever we are experiencing.

 



This is where we learned what's what.

 



 

 



We had spent about three days winding through rivers, island and sounds in Georgia, loosing our way, looking at charts and way markers and sometimes going a little way the wrong way before finding the right way.  It was hot, the apparent temperature107 so we usually swam just at dusk, then showered on the walk-through transcom of the boat and then had dinner.  A couple of nights ago, we were swimming around the boat, sort of lovingly patting her down and I saw/felt something sticking out in the water on the port side (left) of the stern of the boat.   I said "What is that?" and Tom answered, " I have no idea.!)    We felt a little further and discovered that the rudder of the boat had broken off and was hanging by some fiberglass threads.   Wow - and we had steered all day through some a windy sound!     We had heard a "pop" during that transit and couldn't think what it would have been.    We now that think that when we were pulled out from those two groundings by BoatUS, we may have damaged the rudder and that that trip through the sound in strong wind and currents might have been the end of it.

 

That evening continued very calm.   It was one of the most peaceful, quiet times we've had.  No one was around anywhere and we just sat on the bow of the boat and watched and listened as night fell.





 



 

 

 

The last day we were out, we came across a "motherboat" and two baby boats, unmarked. The two smaller boats were chasing each other all over the place.   The boats looked like military boats.  We think they might have been practicing chasing ________s. (You fill in the blank.

 

 

Most of the shrimp boats look like they're barely kept up, just enough to keep catching shrimp.  This one all dolled up.  Doesn't she look glorious?

We came along a string of islands upon each of which a nice house was built.

 

 

 

Oh, I forgot to tell you . . . that last night after we swam, we saw this crossing the river where we anchored, then it followed down one side.   Tom says he's not going swimming again in the waterway, but we'll see.

 

 

 

We are now in Thunderbolt, Georgia, just a couple of miles short of Savannah.  We called ahead and came across a marina where they do all kinds of work on boats.  The harbormaster said they have a lot of experience with fiberglass and can build anything out of it, even, maybe, rudders!     And, docking is free while they work on a boat.  So here we are, docked and waiting for Monday when Tumbleweed Too will be hauled out and we'll see what's next.    If they work on or order a rudder for her, we might as well get the bottom painted and a long list of lesser things done.   They even do upholstery here!

 

As we were headed to a local pub, we came across a man we'd seen in Vero Beach and in Fernandina, but not talked with much.   We three headed to the pub and were picked up by a couple who were also headed there. It turns out that Stein and Lita and Svei were all from Norway and had much to talk about.   Lita and Svein are leaving their boat on the  hard here and going back to Norway until October. They have crossed the Atlantic several times and don't cruise the Intercoastal Waterway because their keel is too long - 6' 6".   Their method of traveling is to come in from the ocean, find a dock, then rent a car to see what they want to see. This morning, they drove to Charlston.  Before they left, this morning, I visited them on their boat to see the upholstery and the boat.  Lita is retired from interior designing.    I took fabric swatches and she helped me zero in on what I should be using, IF we decide to redo the upholstery.

 

Naturally, when we hear what we're up against with getting the boat/rudder back in shape, we may abandon any beautifying efforts.





 

Can you see a shadow that looks like a fish trailing out behind the boat?   I tried to photo the broken rudder. 

 

Although we should be discouraged, somehow we're not.   It feels like an adventure - something to be gotten through on the way to something else.   We'll post what we feel like on Monday.  It may be a quite different attitude.

 

 

Well, Nancy said I'd take over from here, so I guess I'd better!!! The windlass battery has been a mystery and a problem for us so we finally had a repairman come on the boat and he confirmed what I've thought all along. The Echo charger is putting amperage into the battery so it should be getting charged. Therefore, he felt the battery is bad. That cost us $85.00 but pointed me in the direction of a new battery. Unfortunately, the nearest place for a new battery was 1 1/2 miles from the marina. Thankfully, the marina allowed us to take a dock cart to the automotive store where we picked up a deep cycle marine battery and carted It back to the marina and then I installed it in the boat. We're hanging on to the old battery, which cost the previous owner $185.00, just in case it turns out the charger is bad. Unfortunately for Joe, the Deka distributor refuses to believe the battery is bad and won't refund his $185.00. Caution should be used if anyone is planning to buy a Deka battery. I'll give the new one a few days before determining if it is truly the battery or if it could be the charger.

We left Fernandina Beach at about 10:00 AM on Tuesday and arrived at Jekyll Island anchorage at 4:30 PM. It was an uneventful day for the most part. We managed to make it though some of the tight areas we had read about on CruiserNet without incident.

Our only event of today was when I had a wrong turn, as apparently many cruisers do, and ran up the channel to the Kings Bay Naval Base where the nuclear subs are docked. I figured I  had screwed up when I saw the Navy patrol boat with their flashing lights on. I did think it was unnecessary for them to fire the shot across our bow, though!!!!! On kidding. The guys on the boat were very nice and just motioned us off toward the correct channel. It would have been a little more helpful if they had radioed us, but I guess the budget cuts have shorted our military on important equipment, like radios!!!

A few pictures from today:

 

These are a couple of the wild horses on Cumberland Island.

 

A shrimp boat returning from the ocean at St Andrews Inlet.

 

Birds.

 

Our wind scoop which helps funnel more wind into the boat through the forward hatch.

 

While we were cruising today and Nancy was at the helm, I started a pot of fresh green beans cooking on the stove. We're able to cook like this while under way because the stove can be set to gimble, which means we can have it swing with the motion of the boat. I later added some new potatoes, put some pork ribs in the oven, Nancy fried a Granny Smith apple and we ate very well.

Nancy and I just had a nice swim and a warm shower on the back of the boat. We have a couple of short "floaties" with ropes run through them. We tie the ropes to the boat and when the tide is moving we're able to just hang on and drift around. So far, the only fins we've seen belong to porpoise.

Nancy mentioned earlier friend Jimmie White. I met Jimmie and Mike Mangione at the sailing club after I arrived in AR. They both seem very knowledgeable of sailing and I was encouraged after talking with them that Nancy and I could make this trip. I understand they plan plan to do some type of trip in the upcoming year or so and I want to wish them and their wives the best of luck in making their plans come true.

There were many other members of the Beaver Lake Sailing Club who I met and enjoyed talking with as well. I'd just like to say hello to all of them and thanks for making me feel welcome.

Well, as Porky says, "That's all folks!!"

Arriving at Jekyll Island

Before I write a word re trip, I want to say that I never tie a line around a cleat without thinking of Jimmie White, my friend and sailing mentor at Beaver Lake Sailing Club.   He once saw me zigging and zagging my line around a cleat and not knowing how and when to end it. "Here, twist the loop and put it on that end," he said, " so the two lines lie beside each other.  Doesn't that look nice?"   And every time I do it, I think, doesn't that look nice?  And feel great to take it off easily with one hand.  Jimmie, I think of you so often on this trip.  You and Sue know so much more than we do, but we're older so we got to go sooner.  I know you two will be out cruising early next year and will be much better at it than we are.

Now, back to the tour . . .

This is Tom admiring one of the many old buildings in Fernandina, Florida.   We came here expecting to spend a week or two to have some reupholstery and boat work done.   But somehow, after having breakfast, dinner and ice cream cones in the town and spending that first night out on the mooring ball by the marina, we knew we'd probably just be passing through.  It's a great little town, but it's getting warm for sleeping and we want to keep going north.   We may find a place to plug in for a month during the warmest months and get some of that work done then.

 

As usual, we take the trusty dinghy back and forth from the town to the boat.  We've been using the screening the owners supplied to keep off the sun and sometimes the rain.





When we first arrived there was a most glamorous brown boat out near the edge of the mooring field.    By evening, this is how it looked.   And the next day it looked like the boat below.

It turns out the boat is in shallow water and the owner visits it and stays on it when it's upright and leaves it alone when not!   Another way to live!

Here is one reason we decided not to stay very long.  By day we didn't think much of the paper mill along the shore to our right.   But by night it looked like an inferno and smelled a strange sort of stink weed in the pig pen smell if you remember that.   And it sounded like the wind was blowing all the time even when it wasn't.

 

 

On Sunday there was nothing we could do for the boat so we decided to dinghy ahead about 7 miles up to Cumberland Island in Georgia.   It can only be reached by (ferry)  boat and private boat.    We came prepared to swim and not much else so we trapsed around the

island through the forest paths.

 

 

 

 

 then across to the beach side.  

 

 

 There we walked along the beach and then swam awhile before before heading back toward inland side.

 

 



 I liked this because one guy is sitting down on the job! 

 

 

Haven't looked him up but know I'll be impressed that he's special when I do. 

 

We walked along a boardwalk back toward ferry dock.

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

We saw wild turkey and the wild horses  (real wild!) that live here.

 

 

 

 

 

Toward the end of the walk we came across the ruins of a mansion that a Carnegie family member built. 

 

 

 

 

 

All that was fine, but a thunderstorm came up just at the time we were to leave.  We decided to go for it.  So there we were, Tom gunning our 15 hp motored dinghy through the choppy waves and me sitting on a life preserver trying to brace myself for shock of the boat falling off a wave.  It rained lightly.   It was exciting to say the least so we were glad to get back to Tumbleweed Too, grab our stuff and go get a hot shower.   Then dinner in town.

Monday we bit the bullet and bought another  battery for the anchor windlass (the battery that helps Tom put out and bring in the 125 feet of chain and the anchor).  He HAS brought it in by hand (over hand) a couple of times and it's not fun.  The couple who sold us the boat bought us a brand-new battery, but it never acted right and we've never been confident it would store energy and work when needed.   So today we bought another and felt confident enough to start off on the at-least-four-day trip through Georgia where there will little or no access to provisions or help.  

 

Tom says he will take over for this part of the blog.