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.