Once more, with feeling

We're still here and this is where - the Ladys Island Marina.   I took this when there was a very high tide so the boats would be up along the wall instead of sunk so we couldn't see them.

We're still finding fun things to do here in Beaufort.  Finally got to Blackstone's, two stories full of Sunday morning breakfasters.

We had ridden our bikes over.  After breakfast, we rode to find the rail-to-trail bike/walking trail between Beaufort and Port Royal.   The trail goes along the marshland and on out to the Beaufort River.   We stopped several times to admire the birds.  We came back to Beaufort over a different bridge, making this a good tour of the area, all by bicycle.

This Sunday, we were working on the boat when our next door neighbors decided to take their boat out to the sound and invited us, our other neighbors and Barry our new captain along for the ride.

Their boat is a 46 foot Jefferson.  It's their home and it is beautiful, complete with parquet floors, leather  recliners, a sitting tub and for us part-timers, the truest luxuries - a full big refrigerator  and kitchen-sized sink.

Captain Mark is a boat broker and Admiral Becky is a retired educator.  They sold their  home in Savannah last summer.  They decided in one day of visiting this marina that they wanted to live here and the next day they reserved the space for a year.

Above on the left is Zoe, one of our other neighbors of the Brad and Zoe duo (with sub duo dog and cat) just headed out from Maryland to the south.  Then Admiral Becky, then Tom, then Barry, who will be our captain on his boat while we travel south and over to the Bahamas.  Zoe's husband Brad is on the right in the picture below.

Mark took a picture of Tom and me when we went up to the bow to check out how it felt to be there.  It felt great!  The big wake swooshed up from the sides and it was warm and we were with lovely people.

Then on Monday, another fun time.  Pete and Tan Gillespie came to visit.   They are spending four months of winter touring the east coast and are now in Savannah for a month.  We met them in Folly Beach while they were visiting Charleston.   Between these two visits they've been to Crystal River, Fort Myers and Marathon Key in Florida among other places.   They are finishing their oddesy by flying out to Tortola and house-sitting for friends of theirs.  While there, they'll be sailing the owner's catamaran.  They spent several years co-owning a sailboat down in the Virgin Islands and enjoy hanging with sailors when they come upon them.

Now, for the "piece d'resistance."  Below is a picture of the boat we'll be sailing on when the weather is right.  It's Barry's boat, a 2002 50-foot Catalina, Imagine, that he's been outfitting for two years to live on and take him anywhere he wants to go.  He's originally from Australia and his brother is a boat-builder there.  He is retired from 30 years as a professor of architecture at the University of Cincinnati.  Some time after his shake-down cruise to the Bahamas and back, he plans to head off down south again and keep going.

Yesterday (Tuesday) Jim, our boat mechanic, worked several hours to install the transmission.   He plans to finish today.   Barry has just told us that Friday will be a good day to leave, so that tomorrow we will be gathering last minute supplies and moving onto his boat.  He plans to leave in late morning so that we will be at the 2nd bridge, a 65 foot tall one, when the tide is low.  His boat's mast is 65 feet, so we will just fit under then.   Then he plans to anchor out near the entrance to Port Royal sound so that we can go out to the ocean on Saturday.

Weather predictions for the winds and waves are not too high for the next several days, during which time we hope to go straight south, hardly coming in to land.   He predicts we may all be seasick, so we are taking dramamine before departure, must to be sure.

The plan still is to go to West Palm Beach, pick up more supplies, then head over to the Abacos in the Bahamas.   Then Tom and I will stay with him awhile, waiting to see when seems to be a good time to fly back to the states.   More a different time . . . . .