BOAT MAINTAINENCE IN BEAUFORT, SC

ON THE HARD

Last Sunday we headed up to Ladys Island to Marsh Harbor Boatworks for a bottom job (painting of the bottom) and hull waxing. Because we still have the evil Jake, we needed to stay at a place that took pets. We found a house in old town Beaufort on VRBO. John has been going to the boat each day to replace zincs, bolts on the swim platform and to just oversee the work being done. Good thing, because John had bought a special paint for them to use. When he got there yesterday, they had started putting on another paint.

OUR HUMBLE ABODE

CHILLIN' AFTER A HOT DAY AT THE BOAT

CHILLIN' AFTER A DAY OF DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING

MIKKI'S SCHOOLHOUSE DINER IN PORT ROYAL

 While here, we have very much enjoyed the local cuisine.....Dockside, Wren Bistro, Mikki's, and the Fillin' Station. Friends, Phil and Matilde from TMCA, have their boat here for a couple of months, so we have had a couple dinners with them, One afternoon, John and I saw a movie and had the whole theater to ourselves. We even kept our cell phones on....livin' on the edge!

The LOCAL hotspot!!!

All this for $5. at the Fillin' Station....John ate it ALL!!!!

LOSS OF OUR BELOVED DORSEY

Sadly, our precious, sweet girl passed away last week.We were in Philadelphia helping Kristi and family move. Dorsey developed liver failure and started going down hill. We are thankful that our veterinarian daughter, Kristi, was there to tend to her. Kristi was at our home 14years ago when Dorsey first appeared at our front door. It was comforting to us that she was there with us and Dorsey in her final hour.
We miss her terribly. She was so much a part of our life. Returning to our boat,which we had left in Hilton Head, has been difficult...so many memories and reminders of Dorsey. She was so loved!

SQUALL EVENT!!!!!!! :-(((((

Our kids left today, so we were to head back to our slip at Windmill Harbour. We invited two couples we knew from our Chicago area ski club from 40 + years ago to accompany us. They both retired to Hilton Head. We had a pleasant cruise to Palmetto Bluff for lunch and then headed toward Windmill Harbour. We kept checking the weather and radar all morning....all clear. As we finished lunch, we noticed dark clouds forming. We had about an hour and a half trip back to WH. The weather turned BAD. We saw dark clouds form all around us with lightning everywhere. We were just outside the lock at WH when the storm hit. We turned around to wait out the storm. We were in Calibogue Sound. We could see the line of the front advancing towards us but could not turn into it....visibility was nil. To stay ahead of the storm, we just continued to Harbour Town (where we had departed hours earlier). We almost made it.

Disaster Preparation!

We got to the entrance of the HT marina just as the squall hit. The harbormaster clocked winds at 45mph with a 5 knot current. We were blown into the harbour, no way to turn back. John did an absolutely superb job of docking Knotugal in horrific conditions. We are also thankful to 2 dock hands that came out in pouring rain and lightning to help us. Our onboard guests remained remarkably calm throughout. Later, the harbormaster told us she had been here 35 years and only seen conditions like this 6 times, with 5 of them involving major crashing of boats. She had great praise for John. We are relieved and thankful tonight.

Evidently, 2 squall systems had formed and had come together. It was just one of those things where Mother Nature made it interesting for us...not.

This was the same storm we got caught in!

FAMILY FUN at HILTON HEAD

Our daughters and families have been here in Hilton head the past week. We had a great time... beaching, biking, alligator tours, and just hanging with the cousins.

Burkas on the Beach ????

Harbour Town Lighthouse at Dusk

Captivated by a jellyfish

Digging to China

Hey, we match!!

New Age Restaurant

We tried a new restaurant the other night. It is called NEO. 90% of their food comes from within 90 miles around here. It is mainly organic, fresh, and natural. They also make good dirty martinis :-)) The food was tasty and we would return.
I took this picture of a menu item I have never seen before. I texted it to daughter Kristi, as this would be highly regarded by her and Rich. You can imagine John's response to it .

YUM! Right ???

PALMETTO BLUFF TRIP

We had dinner the other night with our boat neighbors here in Windmill Harbour. They told us about this upscale resort community in nearby Blufton. It is up the May River. This was totally uncharted territory for us, so they and another boat neighbor couple accompanied us on KNOTUGAL for a trip over there for lunch. It took a little over an hour to get there, and is an easy run. The grounds and buildings are gorgeous. There is a lot of history on this place that was once known as the Wilson Plantation.

Dock at Palmetto Bluff

Captain John headed to lunch

Main Street @ Palmetto Bluff

Ruins of old mansion in background

CHANGE OF PLANS

Yes, you read right. There has been a change in our plan. Rich and Kristi are moving to a new house mid August. At that time, we will drive up to the Philly area to help them move and do some remodeling. They and we are so excited about this move. Their family of 5 is bursting at the seams in their current house. Now, 7 year old Kate will have her own room and not share one with her 2 brothers.

Kristi and Keri and families will be vacationing here in Hilton Head the first week in August. We will take our boat over to Harbour Town Marina in Sea Pines that week to be close to their condo. After that we will head north by car. We hope to return to KNOTUGAL some time mid September. 

 

JOBS COMPLETED!

It's been a busy week. The trash compactor is back in place, the teak floor has dried out and has been relayed, the new bow thruster is in place, and the heat exchanger has been repaired. We are all set to go!

our pretty morning view

While all this has been going on, we have been exploring this beautiful area, enjoying great restauants, and I have found a super yoga studio!

NEXT WEEK'S JOBS

New Captain's chair we purchased at the Miami Boat Show

Ne

New Bow Thruster.....old one is on its last legs (VERY important piece of equipment)

UNEXPECTED JOBS

After the galley floor catastrophe, the very next day, our very full trash compactor (with stinky salmon remains) broke. John spent the entire afternoon getting the compactor out of the cabinet. He had to saw 6 bolts to get it out. We then had to tip it upside down to get the drawer out. Nice mess. Currently, we have the trash compactor sitting in our salon waiting for a part to arrive.
Besides all this enexpected fun, we are enjoying ourselves. We had a great overnight trip along with Casey and Ranola's boat to Beaufort on perfectly calm seas there and back. We walked the town, bought some stuff, and had dinner at the Saltus Grill. Yum...great dinner with great friends.

Ranola on "MEANT TO BE"

BACK AT THE BOAT!

We arrived back to KNOTUGAL this past Monday, July 6,2014. We are at Windmill Harbour Marina in Hilton Head, SC. After a wonderful stop along the way to see Keri's family, we were excited to be returning to our "other life" of boat living.
Knotugal had been left here for 3 months by herself. You never know what you'll find when you unlock the door and open it the first time. This time we had an unpleasant surprise. Our really good dehumidifier that was placed on the galley counter with the drain hose hanging into the sink, malfunctioned!! There must have been a clog somewhere. Anyhow, 3 months of water from the dehumidifier leaked onto the galley floor. The beautiful teak floor that John had spent days working on and putting down was flooded.

Sub floor

Floor drying out on sundeck

A guy that works on teak in this marina, thinks the black spots may fade.  I keep a rug on it, so maybe we can salvage it, we'll see.

Other than this, the boat looks fine, and we are truly happy to be back on board. Jake and Dorsey seem to be adjusting well. All is pretty darn good.

Tomorrow, we will head to Beaufort, SC for an overnight. Texas friends, Ranola and Casey keep their boat here. They will be accompanying us on their boat, too. 

HOMEWARD BOUND

We arrived back at our home port, Windmill Harbour in Hilton Head on Thursday afternoon. Trip that day was good, coming from middle of Nowhere GA, except that we ran aground. We were just north of the Savannah River at low tide going through Fields Cut. We were smack dab in the middle of the channel on the magenta line. We were doing everything right. All of a sudden we go from 20' to no feet. A storm had come through the previous day and was followed by howling winds out of the North. Evidently, it shoaled an area where a creek entered the ICW. We tried for several minutes to free ourselves with no luck. Just then, a large sport fish boat was coming down the channel toward us. He saw us in the middle of the channel and was puzzled as to which side to pass us. We chatted on the VHF about the situation when Sea Tow piped in. They  suggested that the sport fish boat should pass us on the east side along the bank. Notice I did not say Starboard side, as we were cross ways in the channel. He went really close to the bank and had good water. After they passed, we let the strong current push us off. We proceeded on our way, but were very leery the rest of the afternoon.

Since we got back here, we have been busy packing and washing the boat. We have a super slip this time on a face dock. It has a panoramic view of the marina. I just love it! Water all around :-))

We will head back here the end of June. Then North we will go.

JEKYLL ISLAND

Got an early start from Fernadina Beach and arrived at Jekyll Island about 11 AM. We had never stopped here before. It is a great stop. The only issue is that you have to arrive and depart during high tide. It worked out well for this trip. We enjoyed our afternoon exploring the island and learning about the early history here. There are miles of great bike paths that we will do next time.

View of Sunset from our spot in Fernadina Beach

Croquet being played at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel

We rented a Red Bug to explore the island....not to mention an  hour and a half walking tour

We'll definitely come back again.

HEADED NORTH WAY TOO SOON!

We are just south of Melbourne tonight at the Eau Gallie Yacht Club. It's a great marina, and we look forward to a great dinner here tonight. We stopped on the way South and really enjoyed our stay.

 The wind blew hard out of the North today, but since we were headed into it, it was not an issue. Our boat did get a great salt spray bath :-(

Now for the bad news....it is supposed to be 49 degrees here tonight! It is already in the 60's, and what a shock from the 80's we are used to. Had to get the bags with the winter clothes out again. Guess the tank tops, shorts and sundresses are history for the rest of this trip.

STORMY WEATHER

Got an early start this morning in order to be docked by 2PM. Very strong storms were predicted to move through the area. We are staying in Ft. Pierce tonight at one of our favorite marinas, Harbour Isle. It is in a condo complex, easy to get into, quiet, pretty, and great dog area.
The storms passed over about 3:30PM and are now over.

MANATEE...very friendly marina resident, we were able to get very close to him

HANDY MAN SPECIAL

HURRY UP AND WAIT

This morning we had the vacuflush tech (toliet guy) come to our boat to do routine maintainence to our heads. He was on the boat all morning. We were all set to pull out at 12:15 PM as we were waiting for the nearby bridge to open. Come to find out, they changed the opening schedule to once an hour. We missed the opening and had to wait until 1:15 to leave :-( We had hoped to go about 40 miles this afternoon, but only did 15. We ended up at Admiral's Cove in Jupiter. Turned out to be a good thing, as a very strong line of storms moved through in the late afternoon. We were happily tied up and snug in our boat by then.

HARROWING HAPPENINGS

Headed up to West Palm Beach yesterday. It was slow going due to the many bridges we had to wait for. We arrived at Palm Harbour Marina during mid tide. The current was running at 4 and a half knots! We turned down the fairway, and the current overrode our bow thruster and turned our boat sideways . This was truly a very scary situation. As John tried to set the boat straight, our bow thruster overheated and stopped working! Then...the slip we were to go in to, already had another boat in the slip. We were told to wait a minute, while they scrambled to find us another slip on that dock. To make matters worse, another boat started to pull out of a slip. I had to run up to the bow flailing my arms and yelling for them to stop! Finally, using the stern thruster, we were able to back into our slip. It was by the grace of God that we didn't really damage our boat. Yes, a beer never tasted so good after all that.
Last evening, we cleaned up, walked around the town, and had dinner at a wonderful restaurant.
Ahhhhhhh :-))

ON OUR WAY

Had great weather to start our trip. We did our usual waiting game of bridge openings, and made it passed the very shoaled Haulover inlet. We purposely left on a Monday as going through Miami/Ft. Lauderdale on a weekend is like bumper boats! We did did a short stop up the Dania Canal to have our rudder seal checked by the technician that had replaced it last year. The seal had been leaking a small bit, we just wanted it checked by the expert. He said it was fine, and nothing a little 4200 couldn't fix. The issue with this stop was that the marina we pulled in to is crammed with huge yachts with very little maneuvering space. John did a stellar job of avoiding any mishaps! 
Last night we stayed at Lighthouse Marina near the Hillsboro inlet. Nice marina...would stay here again. 

ABOUT TO HEAD NORTH

We have had a super time here in Coconut Grove. Sadly, we turned our rental car in today. We will drop lines on Monday morning. 

While driving back from tennis this morning, as I entered the marina (which is right next to Miami City Hall), there were hundreds of Venezuelan demonstrators getting ready for a huge protest march. This is a big story down here, as there is a very large Venezuelan community. 

This past couple days, TMCA friends, Phil and Matilde, arrived on their trawler. They will leave the beginning of this week for the Exumas. 

Enjoying a trip over to Picnic Island on Phil's dinghy

Phil & Matilde

One of my favorite things here is being able to ride my bike to my fabulous yoga class.

FAVORITE, FUN DINING SPOT!

HAPPY WINE DINING

MY NEW RIDE.....NOT!

Last night we had dinner at one of our favorite spots here in Coconut Grove. It is Happy Wine. It is a wine shop featuring exotic and hard to find wines, a tapas restaurant, has live music, and is just a wonderful experience! Forgot to mention....great people watching!

MIAMI MAYHEM!

Dinner at Le Bouchon

Pennsylvania friends, Eric and Cindy, came down for a couple days and were joined by their friends, Frank and Linda, from Naples.
Yesterday, we started out with breakfast at a sidewalk cafe. Afterwards we took the boat out for a tour of the Miami Skyline. On the spur of the moment, our Captain decided it  would be fun to tie up at the Miami Beach Marina and have lunch on South Beach.  It turned out to be a harrowing experience. Even though the marina is behind a breakwater, the current and wind were very strong. It was very difficult docking and our dinghy outboard on the aft deck hit the anchor on the bow pulpit of a large yacht! It knocked our outboard off the rail and it was saved as it dangled by the cable lock. Otherwise, it would have ended up in the water. We did make it into the slip, and John checked the other boat to assure we did no damage to it. At that point, we walked over to South Beach and had lunch. Being that it was Frank and Linda's 31st anniversary, we celebrated with those jumbo fruity drinks that SB is famous for. John had a diet coke, since he was our "designated captain". It turned out to be a fun afternoon after all.

The South Beach jumbo fruity drinks!

Bordeaux, but of course!

We had a lovely sunset cruise back to Dinner Key Marina. We did a quick change and had a marvelous dinner at Le Bouchon French Restaurant in downtown Coconut Grove. Our friends left today, and we are recuperating.

Another Gorgeous Day!

Sorry to repeat myself, but it is just wonderful weather down here! I used to chuckle about all the people that went to Florida for the Winter, but we are now those people. What's not to love!!!
Took Dorsey to the Opthamolagist this AM. She is progressing well, for which we are ecstatic!
This Afternoon, headed to Walmart/Sam's for some major restocking.
Tonight, tried out another Happy Hour within walking distance...Monty's Raw Bar. We took Dorsey along in her chariot. She is lovin' the fun! I tried Stone Crabs for the first time....good but not worth
the $5. each price. I'll stick with shrimp/  Did have a great She Crab Soup.....very buttery but delicious! Guess what John had? Chicken sandwich!

COCONUT GROVE ARTS FESTIVAL

GOTTA LOVE THIS SIGN :-))

ART SHOPPING

CROWD CONTROL EAGLE EYE

Yet another gorgeous day and we did the Art Festival. Lots of paintings, sculpture, pottery, food, music and people watching. It was located steps from our marina. Nice!

Friends and Fun

Tom & Leanne

boats, boats, and more boats

"the boat show price is....."

Another busy week! Tom and Leanne drove up from Key Largo on Wednesday to visit us. They are down there on their RV adventure. We took Knotugal out for a cruise and enjoyed the evening catching up on things and laughing a lot! Goombay Smashes were an enjoyable  addition to the evening :-)
Thursday and Friday, John and I headed to the Miami International Boat Show. This was our first experience. We are only 7 miles away from the venue, but it takes an hour each way. Miami's traffic is right up there with the DC area. A lot of this has to due with road construction everywhere.
We were overwhelmed with the Boat Show. There were so many mega yachts! Who are all these people that can afford them???? The products exhibition at the Convention center was a hoot. We spent several hours there and didn't come close to seeing it all. The weather was just perfect (as usual, here) and it was a wonderful way to spend Valentine's Day. We had gotten a person to feed and let Dorsey out mid day, so we didn't have to rush.
We ended the afternoon back at Dinner Key at Scotty's for Happy Hour. Dorsey joined us in her chariot.

LOST KEY MARINA AKA DINNER KEY MARINA

Forgot to mention before....last Sunday night while getting back onto the boat, John attempted to hand me the door key. As he pulled it out of his pocket, the car keys also came out and flew into the water. John spent almost an hour with the net, scooping up the muddy bottom looking for the car keys. Finally, the net broke off the pole. Keys were never found. Next day, we had to have the rental car towed to the Toyota dealer so new keys could be made. Let's just say this whole adventure ate up many boat bucks :-((((

Busy Week

Cuban Dinner at Versailles in Little Havana

Lunch along Ocean Drive South Beach

Good friends Bill and Ginny arrived last Monday for a few days of fun and sightseeing. We had glorious weather with temps in the 80's. We showed them our favorite haunts around Coconut Grove and the Miami area. One day, we took the boat out for a trip up to Miami Beach. It's a beautiful ride.

BEWARE THE COCONUTS

Good news, the coconut palm trees here are abundant,beautiful, and loaded with coconuts. Bad news, the coconut palm trees here are abundant, beautiful, and loaded with coconuts. Where ever we walk, we must be mindful that at any given moment a green coconut could fall from a tree and hit us who knows where :-( People on the dock say a woman recently broke her collarbone from a coconut falling. I am actually a bit freaked out by this!