We didn't want to burden our followers with details not relevant to our cruise, so there's been no post since May 20th when we turned back after one short day and night on the water. As things seem to go with us, this round of repairs took almost four weeks. We returned to Mulligan last Wednesday, June 15 (our 37th anniversary, coincidentally). Another rental car. A re-provisioning of fridge and freezer. Another attempted scrubbing of boatyard grime from our once-pristine vessel. Another round of testing. Success, it seems!
So here we are, at anchor behind St. Catherines Island in Walburg Creek, about 37 miles south of Thunderbolt. It is 101 degrees in Savannah but only 93 here in Mulligan's cockpit, with a pretty pleasant southern sea breeze. We are a little sweaty but it is really not bad. Notes on our last few days:
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| Nic and David on Friday morning. (Don't they look well rested?) |
We were delighted last Thursday to get a call from our younger son, David, who was in the Savannah vicinity delivering cars with a friend. David and Nic Kidd kindly picked us up as we returned our rental car, joined us for dinner at a Thunderbolt restaurant, and spent the night in our guest cabins.
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| A plastic milk crate & bungee cords do the trick for carrying fresh tomatoes, Silver Queen corn & a couple of pounds of fresh shrimp. |
Once the rental car was gone, we broke out our folding bikes to go to nearby Teeple's, purveyors of produce, seafood and BBQ. Underway, the bikes live in one of the guest cabins. At the marina, they fit nicely on the dock, ready to go. (Or even in the cockpit, if it gets stormy like it did Friday night. Spectacular lightning, hail, driving rain. We survived.)
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| Thanks, Beth! She loves it. |
It was 99 almost every day while we were getting ready to take off. Kay's 2010 Christmas gift from Beth O'Leary, her friend in Richmond, VA, came in handy. Kay had hat hair, but her face and neck were so very well protected. (If only hats prevented sweat!)
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| Thunderbolt boat shed, left in our wake! |
This morning, we bid a fond and still superstitious farewell to the marina. The fenders and dock lines came off for the duration of our travels, but we kept them handy for most of the day just in case...
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| All the cars have to stop for us. Powerful feeling! |
Open Sesame!
When we hailed the bridgetender at Skidaway Narrows on our VHF to request passage, he asked our hailing port, as bridgetenders always do. "Chattanooga, TN," we sent back, and he told us that he'd spent some of the best years of his life in Chattanooga at McCallie. Instant friend! We regarded it as a good omen at 9 AM on the first morning out.
We passed few boats today and enjoyed the view around every bend. Hell Gate, a notoriously shallow spot between Ossabaw Sound and the ICW's Florida Passage, was safely negotiated. At about 1 PM, we dropped our anchor at St. Catherines Island. We've been conserving our energy during the hot part of the day, and are preparing to adjourn to the salon for tomato sandwiches and a little AC before bedtime. It's been a great day!
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| Parting shot: This is the view the Skidaway bridgetender had of our deck from his tower. As noted above, we kept these babies handy for most of the day just as a good luck charm. They were stowed safely away in deck lockers when we dropped anchor at St. Catherines. |
