Journey's End

Location: Isle of Hope, Georgia

Log: 2,620

I anchored last night on the Wahoo River, just north of Sapelo Sound, after a very long day in the Intracoastal Waterway. Winds were high so crossing each of the four sounds was very rough. I even broke the fifth of the six wine glasses I started with last fall.

I awoke this morning to a spectacular spring morning. It was about 62 degrees with a nice breeze. The air had the distinct aroma of the low country, not at all unpleasant, although it is caused by marsh gasses. I had slept with the windows open and, thank goodness, with the screens closed. The outside of the boat was swarming with the deer flies which make their appearance every year here between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. It was difficult to go out on the bow to raise the anchor with the swarming, biting creatures.

I left the anchorage at about 8:30 this morning and enjoyed a spectacular day, arriving at Isle of Hope Marina at 1:30 pm. The entire trip from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin has covered 2,620 nautical miles in 397 hours of engine time, an average speed of 6.6 knots. Doing my part for global warming, I have burned some 1,550 gallons of diesel fuel, averaging 3.9 gallons per hour or 1.7 miles per gallon.

Steel Magnolia will be spending the summer in and around the Savannah area. We have many improvements yet to make so there will be no major trips this summer. If all is well, we hope to take her south next winter and spring. Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted on our future travels. 

On My Own Again

Log: 2511

Location: Cumberland Island, Georgia

    One of the reasons I’ve hurried up getting the boat to Savannah is my insurance policy, which will not cover the boat in Florida, the Bahamas, or the Gulf of Mexico during hurricane season, beginning on June 1. Technically, the “navigation limits” of the policy during this period are “U.S. Atlantic coastwise and inland waters not north of Eastport, Maine nor south of Cumberland Island, Georgia”. So here I am, not south of Cumberland Island. After a long day, I pulled behind Cumberland, past three wild horses grazing near the ruins of Dungeness.

    John Fortenberry and Judy rented a car this morning to head home and helped get me away from the dock at St. Augustine at 9 am. I traveled 60 nautical miles to Cumberland, usually against stiff currents, arriving at 5:45 this afternoon. I figure John and Judy could just about make it back to Mobile in the time I managed to cover 60 miles.

    I’m anchored about half way between the Forest Service dock and Grayfield Inn among about 15 other boats. The waterway, marinas and anchorages are all crowded this week because seas are rough, forcing everyone to travel “inside”.

    I enjoy running the boat alone, but I must admit today was tiring with no break for almost nine hours. It was all I could do in the occasional wide channel to put the boat on autopilot and dash back to grab a drink or a snack. I missed John running the boat with me in two-hour shifts and Judy serving lunch to us. But I’m getting close to home. If all goes well, I should be in Savannah by Friday afternoon.

The Downhill Run to Savannah

Location: New Smyrna Beach, Florida

Log: 2391 

I bought this boat in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin last fall giving little thought to the task of getting her to what will be our home port near Savannah, Georgia. My plan was to bring her down Lake Michigan to Chicago, down the river system and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway to Mobile for some work, and then around the Florida Keys and up the east coast to Savannah. I had no idea how many things were wrong with the boat and how many basic systems would fail along the way. I still shudder to think of the snowy night in October when I arrived in Sturgeon Bay, got on the boat and turned on the heat, only to have all the circuit breakers trip from the overload. The trip has been far more of a challenge than I ever imagined.

Now, after travelling some 2,400 nautical miles in 363 hours of engine time, I am squarely in sight of the finish line.As the crow flies, I have only 182 nautical miles left to go. I should be at Isle of Hope Marina outside Savannah by Friday night.

Looking back on the trip, it is obvious how much I am indebted to those who have helped out along the way. All of them have been mentioned in this journal and I cannot thank them enough for getting the Steel Magnolia and me to this point. The final long leg from Ft. Myers, Florida has been made easy with the fine work of Captain John Fortenberry and his wife Judy, old acquaintances who have become good friends over the last week. I knew I needed help with handling the boat, but little did I realize how many minor repairs would be needed and how much help John and Judy could provide. Steel Magnolia will arrive home this week with all of her essential systems functioning properly, with her stainless steel gleaming and rust-free, and with her captain well-fed and cared-for. I cannot thank them enough.

Today, we left at dawn and travelled some 75 statute waterway miles to New Smyrna Beach, arriving mid-afternoon, where John and Judy called a good friend to drive them to West Marine for more parts and supplies.

Tomorrow, we will have another short day to St. Augustine where John and Judy will rent a car Wednesday morning to return to Mobile. From there, I will have three fairly short days to Isle of Hope. As always, John will complete numerous small repairs along the way tomorrow and I will steam into Isle of Hope in ship shape and bristol condition. I have been hoping that my daughter’s boyfriend Bryant could join me for the last day or two of the trip but his plans with my daughter Suzanne for the Memorial Day weekend might interfere. At any rate, it should be an easy three days to the finish line. Most importantly, barring some unforeseen calamity, I should meet my insurance company’s requirement that I be north of Cumberland Island, the state line, prior to the beginning of hurricane season on June 1.

I’ll let you know when I arrive. 

Slow Progress in the Intracoastal Waterway

 Location: North Palm Beach, Florida

Log:2245

After 16 hours of travel Thursday, we arrived at Ft. Lauderdale just at dark and docked at Pier 66 Marina amidst megayachts from all over the world. Little Steel Magnolia stood out from the crowd and made us proud to be aboard her.

Friday was a layover for much-needed repairs and maintenance. Having John Fortenberry and Judy aboard is proving to be a blessing, not only for the delivery help, but for the enormous amount of help they each provide in maintaining, provisioning and keeping the boat in good order. John and I headed out early Friday to West Marine, the NAPA store and the hardware store. We then spent the day on maintenance work while Judy headed out to the grocery to reprovision for the remainder of the trip. We changed oil in the generator and main engine. John took on a huge number of minor repairs getting the forward toilet working properly, fixing my bathroom vent fan, etc. etc. etc. Virtually everything on my list of problems is now solved.

After Mexican food for dinner, we turned in and got away this morning just after 8 am after turning in the rental car. Seas are rough on the outside so we were forced to follow the intracoastal waterway north. The area is full of extraordinarily rude fast powerboat owners who never think of the havoc caused by their wakes. There are drawbridges every few miles, all on a schedule requiring long waits. By 4 pm we had only covered some 45 miles to North Palm Beach. We stopped for fuel and decided to go ahead and spend the night at the marina here. 

We plan to get an early start tomorrow at around 6 am and, now that the worst of the bridges and traffic are behind us, we’re hoping to cover 70 to 80 miles tomorrow up to the Melbourne area. Unfortunately, the forecasts call for high winds and seas for several days, forcing us to stay inside on the waterway and slowing our progress considerably. Still, we’re only 245 miles from the Georgia border where my insurance company wants the boat before June 1 (hurricane season). It’s looking like we’ll make it easily, despite all the delays.

Moving on

Location: Enroute in the Florida Keys

Log: 2115

After a week at home to celebrate Mother’s Day and my stepfather’s 90th birthday, and to allow the stabilizers to be repaired, I returned to Ft. Myers on Monday, May 14 to resume the trek to Savannah, Georgia. I am fighting a deadline imposed by my insurance company to have Steel Magnolia north of the Florida-Georgia state line before hurricane season begins on June 1.

Because of the many delays (and because of the damage caused by my running aground), what started as a pleasure cruise has now become more of a pure delivery with long days at 7.5 knots. Since I don’t wish to subject my wife or friends to this kind of schedule, I called on an old friend Captain John Fortenberry to help with the delivery. John was one of the crew members who delivered my last boat, Suladan, from Puerto Vallarta through the Panama Canal to the east coast. He has vast experience and is great with the maintenance and repairs that seem to pop up daily on a boat trip.

The great surprise has been John’s lovely wife, Judy Saul Novo, whom I invited along as a courtesy but has turned out to be a valuable and delightful crew member. I met Judy in 2000 when we celebrated New Year’s Eve at an inn she ran in the Bahamas. John was dating her then and had the good sense to marry her and bring her to the states. She is not only a fine chef but throughout the day she is a bundle of energy doing things that need to be done on the boat such as cleaning out kitchen cabinets or polishing stainless rails outside. I have taken to calling her “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes”. We’ve anchored out every night to enjoy Judy’s cooking and avoid marina and restaurant charges. She’s made the trip a lot more fun and I’m glad to have her along.

We left Ft. Myers Tuesday morning and had a short day down to Marco Island, our jumping off point to the Florida Keys. Yesterday, Wednesday, we travelled almost 100 miles over 12 hours to arrive at Marathon in the Keys. Today, we were off at 4:30 a.m. to try to make it to Ft. Lauderdale by dark. The weather has been beautiful and our crossing yesterday was perfectly smooth. Today, we’re running into a stiff headwind which may make things rough after we turn the corner northbound near Miami.

The boat is running well but continues to have a few glitches that we’re trying to work out. Our main engine alternator has stopped working and we continue to have a few plumbing problems, but we’ll get there. I’ll keep you posted on our progress.

Stuck in Ft. Myers

Thursday, May 3, 2007                                                                                                                                         Log: 1958
Ft Myers Beach, Florida

I  moved the boat from Clearwater down to Sarasota last Friday and Saturday and was joined there Sunday by Early Uncle Randy to resume the trip south. 

One would think that after 17 years of boating, I would know better than to run aground. However, I have done it again. We left Sarasota Monday for an easy day cruise down to Boca Grande. Rather than go about 10 miles offshore to the channel entrance, I took a shortcut called the “Swash Channel” which allows you to enter the ship channel from just off the beach. The channel is unmarked but I have done it many times and there are explicit instructions in the cruising guides. However, the channel has moved. A beach replenishment project a few months ago resulted in the channel being about 20 yards closer to shore than it was previously.

I was only creeping along at less than 5 knots but I somehow got hopelessly stuck in the sand. The tide was going out and the wind and waves began picking up which could have dangerously pounded us on the bottom with each wave. We elected to call a towing service which finally managed to drag us to deeper water. In doing so, however, they heeled the boat far over on its side and damaged one of the stabilizer fins.

We spent Monday night at Boca Grande marina and Tuesday we limped down to Ft. Myers to Gulf Marine. They hauled the boat out and found that, thankfully, the damage is not major. The fin and shaft are fine but a small part inside the boat had to be replaced. Of course, it was too late to order the part Tuesday so it was ordered yesterday and has already arrived. With luck, it will all be fixed this afternoon. We took advantage of the delay to fix several other minor problems including a leaking toilet and the saloon air conditioning.

While none of the problems are major, my schedule has once again been destroyed. I need to be home this weekend so there is no point in trying to go any further with just one day to travel. So I’ll get the repairs finished, I hope, and move the boat to a marina here so I can run home for a week. With luck, I’ll be back on May 14 to continue the slow journey to Svannah.