November 13 & 14

Saturday - Left Lady's Island Marina for a mile long trip to Beaufort anchorage. We like downtown Beaufort for the Chocolate Tree, Plum & Moon Bagel Shop and ICE CREAM. Met friends from Brunswick Landing Marina, Sherri & Clyde aboard Morada. Again we had them over for dinner and drinks. Nice people.
Sunday - Left Beaufort 7am. Earliest departure this year. Needed to get to Savannah to get to Publix, again. Anchored up Turner Creek where we will spend a few days.

November 11 &12

Thursday - Arrived at Lady's Island Marina on schedule at 12 PM. Publix, laundry, Grayco(hardware/marine/garden store)and DQ.
Friday - Stayed at the marina due to high winds early morning. But the the winds slacked off and we had a nice day without bugs.
Had to make sure we wished our daughter, Eileen, a Happy Birthday. Lately, we forget everything.

November 9-10, 2010

Tuesday 9 - Great weather and a good time in Wappoo Creek. Fast current but a good anchor system takes care of the elements.
Wednesday 10 - Proceded to Tom Point Creek. A short ride so we can get to the marina early the next day. Early at the marina means we can do the laundry and shop all the same day.
Tom Point Creek is a quiet wide creek with dolphins and lots of marsh. With a 7 foot tide you need to anchor in the center to avoid the banks during a low tide swing. Another great day for weather.

November 8, 2010

We had to go a little farther than Minim Creek so we could make Wappoo Creek by noon. Therefore, we stayed at Awendaw Creek. Tomorrow we will get to Charleston, SC and anchor in Wappoo Creek. We MUST go to Earth Fair. This is a Chapel Hill type grocery store. A must when visiting Charleston. We get expensive coffee, expensive oatmeal, expensive ice cream, well everything is expensive, but GOOD.

November 6 - 7, 2010

Left Coquina Harbor Yacht Club on 11/6 for Osprey Marina where we spent two days doing laundry and repairs. We completed the installation of the second engine/transmission oil cooler, tightened the alternator belts and finally installed drain valves(petcocks) on the last two Racor filters. Engines once again sound NICE. The coolers were the last mechanical part that I had not had apart. They tell me that the oil coolers should be replaced every 5 years. Who would have thought ???
Anyway, they are complete.
We will leave Osprey Monday morning for our first anchorage, Minum Creek.

November 5, 2010

Very nice day for travel. Could not get to the Sunset Beach Bridge before low tide. Therefore, we anchored and waited. Surprised is was only closed for 70 minutes. Not bad.
Continued to Coquina Yacht Club at North Myrtle Beach.
We had a second oil cooler delivered there and will change it out at our next stop. (P.S. Bad experience with Coastal Diesel on pricing. Brought the second cooler Direct from Sen-Dure.)

November 4, 2010

Well the mechanical problem has been fixed. Proof is we made it to our next destination, Wrightsville Beach, with the transmission running normally. Fog kept us from leaving till 10 am. This caused some bridge opening problems. First one is on the half hour and the second is on the hour. Of course, we made the first having to wait only a few minutes. But the second we were 10 minutes late and had to pleaded with the attendant. Lucky there was several boats ahead of us.
Stayed at Dockside Marina, more of a bar then a full marina. Had to back out between some boats in the morning with the current MOVING.

November 1 - 3, 2010

Got an early start to our first day. Passing Spooners Creek, my starboard engine gained 300 rpm. I adjusted the throttle with concern. This area has a very narrow channel, but I had to investigate. Barbara took the helm and I went to check things. All looked OK. I took the helm and reduced the throttle on one engine to see if the other had power. I did it to both engines, one at a time. The starboard engine was doing nothing. I went below after reducing the boat to 5 mph on the port engine. The transmission was overheating. Once the starboard engine was shut down, it cooled down. We limped to Swansboro, NC where we found Earl Brinkly, a well known marine mechanic. He and his partner came over and diagnosed the problem was the engine/transmission cooler. We filled the transmission up to check if it was damaged. It operated correctly. Thank God.
After an over night delivery of the oil cooler, I installed the NEW one and tried the transmission. I had to change the transmission fluid a few time to eliminate any water.
This delay was a total of 2 extra days at Casper's Marina. These people couldn't have been nicer. Mr. Casper even helped free some fittings on the old cooler. Great People.