A Thanksgiving Feast

Happy Thanksgiving from LUX!

We hope you had a great dinner. We surely did. As you may know, we hunted and gathered to make a great dinner. We started with the place settings.

We made a turkey out of napkins for a centerpiece. And, our visits to the Christmas Tree Shops paid off with great napkins and plates.

Next, the food. It was great.

As you can see, we did not want for anything. Harris Teeter certainly had everything we could want.

And, for dessert- we had pie! But not your typical pumpkin. We had cherry and apple pecan pies. Yum!

It was great. And, we are so thankful for our biggest blessing of the day- both our engines are working again! Yay!

USPS is Everywhere

We had the opportunity to meet our neighbors in front of LUX today.

Yes, the burgee you see flying is a power squadron burgee. It's Charlotte Power Squadron. We found out that they bought this boat in 2001. But they have been Power Sqadron members much longer. He has been a member for 50 years. We actually saw their car here in the marina parking lot. The license reads SRNAVGTR. Yes, he was one of the first in this area to attain the rank of Senior Navigator.

His wife is actually a member of the Golden Isles Power Squadron. When he joined Charlotte Power Squadron, they did not allow women to join! She also reported that she taught flag etiquette for years. They love being a part of the USPS family. They regularly attend both district and national meetings.

And, in true USPS spirit, she walked over and offered to share their Thanksgiving feast with us. I had shared that we were able to buy turkey at Harris Teeter, but I did not share that we had also purchased all our side dishes. She came over to say they had lots of dressing, gravy, and other things left over from their meal. So, if we needed any sides, they would be happy to share them with us. One of the great aspects of belonging to USPS is that no matter where you go, you will always find friends.

A Traditional Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. We hope you are enjoying your turkey day. We're having a rather interesting time here in Golden Isles. 

The repairs on LUX continue at a slow pace. 

At present, they have discovered that they need more tools. And it is Thanksgiving here in the south. That means if you had called earlier in the week to ask if a place was open, you would most likely get a response that included not only NO, but a mini lecture on how the employees would be home with their families. Oops. 

However, not every establishment was closed today. That enabled us to celebrate an old fashioned traditional Thanksgiving. We went out hunting and gathering.

We started by hunting down breakfast. We traveled through the suburban jungle until we sighted a potential food source.

Yes, we caught the wild breakfast. Actually, it really was pretty wild. We didn't know it, but we arrived just after the bus got there. We had a 10 minute wait to capture our breakfast. We used the time to check out the other wildlife - aka all the stuff sold at Cracker Barrel. Mike even caught (aka purchased) a cd. Peggy, however, was better at actually catching something for dinner. She got our waitress to get her a pecan apple pie from the kitchen. There were none for sale out in the store. The waitress, when handing the pie to Peggy, said this, "Don't tell anyone." Hmm... Contraband food. How exciting!

Afterwards, we headed off to do some big game hunting. After all, we needed a turkey dinner for today. We ended up at the great gathering.

Yes, Harris Teeter is open until 2:30 today. And, they even had sliced cooked turkey in the hot bar! Yay! We then all went on a gathering expedition to get our favorite sides. 

Later today, we will share pictures of our fabulous feast. Stay tuned, Dear Readers.

It's the Day Before Thanksgiving

Yes, Dear Readers, you are probably preparing your home and kitchen for tomorrow's sumptuous feast. Here on LUX, we are truly living the boater's life. Three of us spent the morning in the laundromat- where high speed machines did LOTS of laundry quickly and efficiently. Two of us spent the morning taking apart things. Here's LUX:

Yes, Mike is back in the engine compartment, working on the bell housing. It did arrive this morning in a timely fashion. Terry is currently working on the bilge pump.

This news means we are back on target for a timely departure - as long as we can get LUX moved into her temporary home on Friday. It also means that our Thanksgiving dinner will be purchased at Harris Teeter tomorrow morning. We'll be hunting and gathering for all the good stuff. In the meantime, we wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving.

St. Simons Lighthouse

We are off playing tourist this morning at the St. Simons Lighthouse. Currently, I am sitting on the porch of the lighthouse keeper's home. The museum is incredible,  and the view today is simply magnificent. Here's one shot looking out from the porch.

Oh My!

Alas, Dear Readers, I must go all Chaucer on you today, for I am in a slough of despond. Well, not really. After all, we are on a boat. And we are in the south. But, sometimes things can seem not so great. Here is the view from inside the cabin of LUX.

Why am I showing you the view from inside? Because, baby, it's cold outside. In fact, it appears that an iceberg just floated by.

(In the interest of honest reporting - it's not really an iceberg. It's just some sea foam on a bed of reeds.)

But that's okay because Peggy whipped up a delicious breakfast of pumpkin pancakes made with Krusteaz complete pancake mix with some added leftover pumpkin pie filling. That pumpkin was left over from the yummy pumpkin pecan rolls yesterday.

Yes, we only have three pancakes left.

And, the saga of our poor wounded boat continues. The part for the bell housing (also called the flywheel housing) does not arrive until this afternoon. 

Oh, wait! That's part of the good news. We will get to go touring this morning. We plan to visit the local lighthouse. When we get back to the boat, the guys will be able to put in the new part- while it is not raining, and while the hardware store is still open.

Oh wait! There's more news. Our slip won't be ready until Friday. And, the Marina does not feel comfortable moving around catamarans. We will be staying to put LUX in her winter home ourselves.

Bad news is that we will be on the boat for Thanksgiving. The local restaurants (the ones that are open) will gladly feed us from 11 to 3 for the low price of $39 to $59 per person for a buffet. So, you guessed it. And, actually, it is not bad news. We have our menu all planned- which does not include a trip to a restaurant. Harris Teeter opens in the morning. We'll be wandering the aisles hunting and gathering any and all foods we like. We plan to have a sumptuous feast, and it will be great!

Currently, we'll try to leave on Friday. In the meantime, we will continue to make lemonade out of our lemons. It's a beautiful day, and we plan to spend the morning out enjoying the local sights.

Breakfast Yummy

This morning, I decided to try a Pillsbury recipe for pull Apart Pumpkin Spice bread. Here's the original recipe from the Pillsbury website- a great place for fun recipes using all the Pillsbury products!

Pumpkin Spice Pull Apart Bread 

Ingredients 

1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury Grands! Flaky Layers refrigerated honey butter biscuits (8 biscuits) 3/4 cup canned pumpkin pie mix (not plain pumpkin)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup granulated sugar 

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla 

Directions 

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 9x5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
Separate dough into 8 biscuits. Separate each biscuit into 2 layers, to make total of 16 thin biscuits. Spread pumpkin pie mix on top of each. Top each with melted butter. In small bowl, mix granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon of the pumpkin pie spice; sprinkle over each.
Stack biscuits in 4 piles of 4 biscuits each. Place stacks on their sides in a row in loaf pan, making sure sides without filling are on both ends touching pan. It should look like a 16-layer sandwich with no filling on the outside ends.
Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until loaf is deep golden brown and center is baked through.
Cool loaf slightly. If necessary, run knife around edges to loosen loaf from pan. Carefully turn pan upside down on serving platter to release loaf. In small bowl, mix powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and remaining 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice. Drizzle over loaf. Serve warm. 

So, I gave it a try.

First, those biscuits do not come apart as easily as implied in this recipe! Secondly, it is a very messy process.

 This is also not the best recipe for a boat. It takes too long to cook in a boat oven. The time is not so much a factor as the actual oven itself. Our boat oven heats at the very back with a big gas flame. If you do not manually rotate your dish, it will burn in the back and barely cook in the front. For this dish, we had to rotate it every 10 minutes. Even so, the middle did not get cooked thoroughly.

Also, we didn't follow the recipe totally. It just had too much sugar for us. Most of the crew liked the final result, but I will point out that my version was not sweet.

If I do this again, I think I will just make it up as individual biscuits. It would be less messy that way!

Free Entertainment!

Sometimes, the best entertainment can come at the end of the day. That's when the other boats begin to join you in the lovely anchorage you have chosen for the night. As the sun begins it slow descent while creating yet another stupendous sunset, boats begin the ritual of dropping the hook. But, not all boat captains are wise enough to have attended an anchoring seminar such as the one offered by the United States Power Squadron.

Last night was one such night. Except it was cloudy. And, it was getting dark quickly. When we entered the chosen anchorage, there were already a number of boats here. And, more followed us. At the end, there were 12 boats in this area. 

But, only one gave us the most entertainment.

Dear Readers, let me begin this tale with the fact that we love our Rocna anchor. It really works. You drop it. It anchors. It knows its job. However, there was this monohull. It had a Delta anchor. And so the anchor dance began.

Our intrepid sailor dropped the hook. He looked down at the water. He waited a few minutes. He pulled up the anchor. He moved the boat. He started again. And again. And again. It went on for 40 minutes. It made one boat so nervous when he got near that the other boat moved away from the anchoring show. Yes, Dear Readers, he did finally get that Delta down and holding. But, we will bet that he went to bed early last night. And, we also bet that he did not sleep well. He most likely got up every hour to check to make sure he wasn't dragging on the anchor.

Our anchor is up, and we are once again headed south. Today, we will reach our final destination- Golden Isles Marina on St. Simon's Island. We'll stay on for a few days to do some repairs. Then, we will head back home - in a car. LUX will stay behind waiting for our next adventure.

We Love a Parade

It did not seem worthy to blog about just leaving Delegal Creek and heading south. But then we got out of the marina, and we joined up with a fleet! We found ourselves in the middle of the Sail Magazine 2015 ICW Rally. They have 20 boats headed from Hampton, Virginia, to St. Augustine, FL. We actually ran afoul of them yesterday - trying to find a marina near Savannah. Their blog talks about the problem with getting 20 boats into a marina. Believe me, with most marinas, that's a full house at this time of the year. It really was quite the parade as we pulled back into the ICW.

But, we weren't the only ones to find ourselves in this parade. We met up with Moment of Zen - with Jody from Chesapeake Bay Magazine. We chatted with them a bit on the radio. They were finding it difficult as well to go to all the familiar places on the ICW. They will be heading off up a river they haven't investigated before to try a new marina.

We continued to sail south with all these boats. This particular stretch - between Savannah and Jekyll Island here in Georgia - does not have many marinas. We knew everyone would be anchoring out somewhere, and so would those other boats. Currently, we don't know where the 20 boats in the Sail Magazine 2015 ICW Rally are. But, we found more boats. At this point, there are 9 boats in this anchorage with us here on the South River.

Yes, you can only see 5 of our neighbors in this picture. It's a very wide anchorage.

But, it's not dark yet. There's still time for more boats to join us. It's still a lovely place to anchor.

Helm Setup Under Way

Everyone has probably customized their helm setup in some way. We would like to share what we've done on LUX.

We do a lot of ICW traveling, which requires constant vigilance to prevent running aground in the frequently narrow and thin waterway. Below is a picture of our help setup under way. There are the normal engine instruments and controls and a new Raymarine a75 chart plotter in the middle. We recently had to replace our old Raymarine 435 chart plotter and the a75 was the largest that would fit in the space between the ammeters. We could have moved the ammeters and installed a larger chart plotter, but that would have thrown off the rest of the setup.

To the left of the Raymarine a75 chart plotter, we have an iPad 2 running iNavX. The Raymarine instrumentation is transmitted to the iPad via a ShipModul Miniplex 2Wi wireless repeater. It translates the Raymarine SeaTalk instrumentation into NMEA 0183 sentences. The iPad is connected to the Miniplex WiFi hot spot and receives the NMEA 0183 sentences over the network.

You can see that we have the a75 zoomed in to show the detail of what's just ahead of us, while the iPad is zoomed out to provide situational awareness. We can see which way the waterway is turning or what AIS targets are around us. The iPad is fast and easy to use, allowing us to quickly do "what-if" analysis of our track. When on the ocean, we can see AIS targets many miles away and take avoidance action early. We can also track our position relative to our destination or waypoint with out losing sight on the a75 of local details. Team Vestas in the Volvo Ocean Race would have benefited from a zoomed-in view of their immediate surroundings to avoid running aground.

This year, we installed a new VHF radio with remote mic at the helm. We can now hear conversations that are further away than our hand-held VHF can handle. The hand-held VHF may still be positioned at the helm, depending on the situation. It is in the small box to the right of the a75 chart plotter. At the time of this picture, we were traveling with Fifth Quarter and using Ch 17 as a quick intercom between boats when needed. It also has a whistle on the lanyard, making it easy to grab to sound an alert.

The bright orange thing next to the hand-held VHF is an Shoreline Marine manual horn, powered by blowing into the hold on the side. It is very loud! And yes, we've had to use it.

Above the VHF remote mic and above the engine throttle/shifters, you'll see a red triangle and a green square. These remind us of the side on which the respective marks should appear. Southbound ICW shows red on starboard, except in some of the rivers. Northbound is reversed. It helps us remember which side is the preferred side as we approach marks. The symbols are made of foam and have velcro backing so it is easy to switch them.

Across the top are the regular Raymarine instruments. From right to left are the autopilot, compass, ST60 Graphic (set to display depth, SOG, COG, and DTW), and the ST60 Wind instrument.

Just above the binoculars, which themselves are essential on the ICW, is the handle of the fly swatter. You can't do the ICW without a fly swatter. Actually, you shouldn't try to do the ICW without at least four of them. Black flies and green-head flies are worse than mosquitos because they are out in the day and they hurt when they bite.

We did a similar post about our setup for running at night. See Rigged for Night Running.

-Terry

Susan Left Us!

This afternoon, we continued on south. Susan finally got her picture of a pelican on a pole.

This pelican was on the pole at the entrance to the marina  where we are spending the night.

Yes, Dear Readers, we are back at Delegal Creek Marina. This is where we left LUX last year. But, there is no room for poor LUX this year. It did provide a great stopping place where Susan's husband, Bob, could pick her up. They are off to spend some time with relatives in the Savannah.

Meanwhile, we had another wonderful sunset.

As you can see, it is a lovely place to spend the night.

Morning in Beaufort, South Carolina

Once again, we have a beautiful shot of a sunrise. This one is of the Ladies Island Swing Bridge here in Beaufort.

As you can see, it is a beautiful morning here. We missed the torrential rains that had been forecast. We never even got a rumble of thunder.

It's early morning in the marina.

If you look at the lower small photo, you can see the only real action so far is a nice sized flock of birds busily scoping out the area - from OUR rigging. Of all the sailboats here, they obviously chose the best looking one for their morning perch. Always looking for the positive spin.....

Today, we will be heading to Georgia. We hope to reach Thunderbolt Marine. We don't know if we'll be staying there. It seems that we have met up with a large group of boats from Sail Magazine. They have 20 boats in their group. When they arrive at a marina, it makes for a large crowd-- so large that it's hard to get a slip. Thunderbolt has already told us that they are full. However, today is Susan's last day with us. Bob is driving down to pick her up--somewhere! We don't really see anchoring out working for that. So, we need someplace to at least stop long enough for a passenger transfer.

No matter what happens, it is shaping up to be a beautiful day on the water. The weather report claims it will be sunny all day and 70 degrees. We really hope they got that one right.

A Day in Beautiful Beaufort

We arrived in beautiful Beaufort, South Carolina, just around lunchtime. In fact, we decided the perfect plan would be to go into town and enjoy lunch at Panini's. And off we went.

After a lovely lunch, we all took a stroll around town. Everyone managed to find the time to stop at Sweet Treats for the best ice cream in town. Lucky for us, the rain slowly dissipated. It ended up being cloudy.

Once back at the boat, some of us were energetic and did some household chores like cleaning and laundry. Others simply took a nap. I leave it to you, Dear Readers, to guess who fit into each category.

This evening, we had another awesome sunset. Yes, we will have another hundred sunset pictures before we end the trip.

Oh My!

Today's blog has a theme. Harken back, Dear Readers, to the tales of Charles Dickens. Let me begin today's story with - It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Follow along with me as I share our tales of happiness...and woe!

We had a great dinner last night. It was followed by a hot game of 500 rummy- which Peggy won.

The crew is convinced that I need to start doing blog entries on recipes. I take that to mean that last night's roast beef with cherries was a hit with the crew. On the other hand, I just keep coming in last in rummy. Everyone says you should play for the sheer enjoyment of the game. However, that enjoyment begins to vanish if you KEEP ending up last.

We are headed south, and it is getting warmer. It's raining, and we're melting.

One of the best things about heading south is that it does get warmer. This morning, it is already 75 degrees. At home, it's only 59 degrees. Here, we are wearing short sleeves. The down side is that it's humid. Everything is wet to the touch. At this point, Dear Readers, you are wondering why we don't run the air conditioner. 

LUX has more creature comforts than most boats. Creature comforts don't work without power.

Last night, it was not only humid but it was warm. Of course, it started raining. And, it plans to rain all day today. Here's the view from inside LUX this morning.

 So, you could not open the hatch to take advantage of the wind that was really blowing. Back to the air conditioner. We were anchored out in the South Edisto River. No electricity from a marina. Here, Dear Readers, you may feel free to ask about the generator. It's not working. And neither is the port engine- from whence the fuel for the generator is derived. It appears that we got some bad fuel along the way. Now, we need to have some fuel conditioning done. Mike did buy some 'Liquid Gold' for the tank. No, it' not really that. It's fuel conditioner that cost a fortune.

Speaking of engines - the starboard engine appears to not mind the bad fuel. The port engine is another story.

It appears that refueling was less on starboard than on port. Yes, we do have 2 tanks. However, the port engine was already cranky- as you might remember from an earlier blog. We do have a crack in the bell housing. In fact, here are some pictures- with my added comments.

Terry did find the part on eBay. Now, we just have to figure out how that part will be replaced. As you know, I do not speak engine. However, I can recognize a debate. This debate went back and forth between 'get a professional' and 'we'll just buy some comealongs' - both of which did not comfort my heart.

So, we continue to limp along south on one engine. We will try to get to LUX's winter home. But, we are coming up against Thanksgiving- another impact issue when it comes to the get a professional part of the debate. Stay tuned, Dear Readers.

Some View!

The down side to this sort of travel is that you end up with an incredible amount of pictures. And, of course, they are all beautiful. The scenery is incredible. Mike took some shots, and we wanted to share them. 

First.

The ducks are busy guarding the ATON!

We do get off the boat sometimes. And, when we do, some of us always look for ice cream. Here we are in Georgetown.

Of course, we probably have thousands of sunset pictures. Here's one more.

And, finally, we have a great shot of a bald eagle.

We hope you enjoyed these shots from our voyage down the ICW.

Morning at the Megadocks

It was a beautiful morning in Charleston.

In case I have not made it totally clear, we are staying at the Megadocks. Here is the 'boat' across from us.

Sun Chaser holds 9,000 gallons of fuel. Today, she's just topping off the tanks with 1500 gallons.

Down the dock is Thalia - a lovely two masted megayacht.

Thalia is 160 feet long with a 31 foot beam. She's owned by a Russian millionaire who moved it to New Zealand when he got bored with the Med. Now, it appears that Thalia is touring our East Coast. BTW, the crew has flip flops with Thalia printed on the soles. Should you be interested, according to the web Thalia is for sale. No price was given, but the article shared that the price has lowered by 4.2 million.

The list here just goes on and on. Here's the view down to the end of the dock.

Yes, we continue to feel like a munchkin here. However, we'll be heading on south today. Our poor LUX is having serious engine problems. I do not speak engine, but the words 'engine mounts,' 'bell housing' 'sail drive,' 'boots,' and 'gaiters' are uttered frequently- along with various four letter words. The words Haul Out also occurred, but they have disappeared from the conversation again. It appears that's good news. We hope to get a mechanic in Georgia. We'll be limping on down there with only the starboard engine.

We're in Charleston

We are docked here at the Charleston Megadocks. And, when they say Megadocks, we think they mean the boats that dock here. Check out this picture from the salon on LUX. You will be looking directly out the back of our boat.

Yes, once again Mike has done a masterful job of parallel parking. The view around us is also very interesting.

We often feel like the little dingy in this crowd.

Meanwhile, there's excitement in the marina. The Coast Guard has people everywhere on the docks because they have had a major fuel spill. The air is redolent with the smell of diesel further up the dock. At least we are not close enough to have that added fragrance.

Terry went off to fetch our needed part. Come to find out, the shuttle goes to the OTHER West Marine, so our part is being brought by courier to the boat. Terry and the part should arrive at about the same time. Correction - they just delivered the part, but Terry's not back yet.

We'll be here for another day in order to make our repairs.

Leaving at COD

Oh my, Dear Readers! We are up. And, it is COD time! Yes, it is just barely the crack of dawn. The anchor went up at 6:11 AM, and we were on our way.

 This would be a good time for my Dear Readers to gasp and say, "I thought they were doing this for fun!"

Yes, most of the time boating on LUX is just fun. But, sometimes work intrudes. LUX has decided that she is in need of attention. What's with that? We aren't anywhere near St. Augustine- LUX's favorite spa town. But, LUX is experiencing some mechanical difficulties. So, we needed to get up early today to get to Charleston as soon as possible. Terry and Mike have plans to visit the hardware store and West Marine. Then, we will be in Charleston for an extra day while Carol gets personal tutoring in engine maintenance. There will be pictures so that those members of the Engine Maintenance class can be jealous.

A special note to Linda S. - Yes, Linda, I finally took the time to correct the horizon on this photo. I have been rather lax of late, but I am trying to be a better blogger.

End of the Day

After a short stop at Independent Seafood for shrimp, we continued on southward. We have ended the day in Awendew Creek. We have anchored here just off the ICW. Tomorrow we head to Charleston. It's 35 miles away, so we'll get there some time in the afternoon. Yes, we are a sailboat. Yes, we do move slowly. On the other hand, it gives us more time to enjoy the view along the way.

A Walkabout in Georgetown

We took some time this morning to visit some of the shops in Georgetown.

Morning in Georgetown

It's a beautiful morning here in Georgetown.

The weather is supposed to be simply lovely. Although it is only 43 degrees right now, it is supposed to go up to 68. It is partly cloudy, but the sun is trying to shine through. And, the day started out perfectly with Peggy's famous crunchy French toast. We love this dish.

Our plans for today involve shopping! Yay! Georgetown has a Tomlinson's- our favorite department store. There is also an incredible bakery called Kudzu. Oh yum! And, there are not one but TWO ice cream shops. And, let me not forget to mention that there are TWO shrimp markets. Both have shrimp boats right outside the premises. A day ripe with possibilities!

Welcome to Georgetown

We just arrived at Hazzard Marine here in Georgetown, South Carolina. 

It's a small Marina just on the edge of town. You can see the town dock from here.

As you can see from the picture, Georgetown is quite the boating town. It's usually a great stop on the ICW. There is only one downside. It's Sunday. Everything is closed today, for the most part. Restaurants are open, but that's about it. No shopping along the waterfront.

But, we plan to stay the night, and we won't leave until afternoon. That will give us plenty of time to check out our favorite stores here.

One plus about this marina is that it is located right next to a shrimp place. We'll be checking that out tomorrow.