11/14/2008 Charleston, SC to Savannah, GA

11/5/2008 We left Charleston at a reasonable time as we could not pass through the local bridge until 9:00AM. We now have my mother on-board for this part of the trip. The morning started out with a real bang to the trip. When her and my father boat, it is her job to be the anchor wench (her term, not mine) and on this trip I have worked the anchor and my dad is steering. Well she came forward to watch and I thought she was watching to see what was done as she might take on the roll of foredeck crew on this trip. We had a first in Charleston because we set two anchors due to the tide and current swings and the close proximity of the boats in the anchorage. I was hoping to first pull up the second anchor, which is using 5/8 inch nylon line as a rode, but that would have entailed pulling the boat against the current so I decided to pull the primary anchor. It started out with the bridle wrapped around the chain. This wrap came from the boat twisting on the anchors due to the wind and currents. I was finally able to clear the bridle and I think this about when my mother went back to the cabin. I was able to bet the primary anchor up and cleared away. That left me with the secondary anchor. I had to guide my dad while he steered to work up towards the anchor for me to raise it. As we kept working towards the anchor, we were getting closer and closer to a permanently anchored house boat with a dinghy tied off of the back of it. I started to worry the anchor would be under this boat and I would not be able to raise it until we had a tide change. We slowly worked closer and closer. I had to allow the dinghy to slide in between the hulls of my boat and we edged right up the transom of the house boat and I was able to lift the anchor out.

This trip I believe also was therapeutic for my mom. She had been fighting a cold and flu for the last three weeks since my dad had left for the trip. On this day, she crawled into the sleeping bag and slept through most of the day.

We motored through the day and tucked up the Bass Creek in Morgan Island. We had a good dinner, played some cards and hung out. We started getting eaten alive by no see-ums. These are small bugs that leave nice little welts. I decided to start up a bug repellent coil to try and flush them out of the boat. Almost as soon as I started the coil we all decided to turn in for the night. I left the coil burning and it did kill off the bugs as we found out the next morning. It also made the boat smell like we had a camp fire on-board. I have never used one of these in an enclosed boat and I don’t expect I will again. It does scare you when you wake up and smell smoke.

11/6/2008 We took off after breakfast and started motoring towards Beaufort. As we left the creek and went into the river came across another pod of porpoises. What we had different this time was one swam with us for about 10 minutes. It would swim up from behind and stayed right off of the steering station and surface with a blow out of the blow hole every 15 seconds or so and then swim to the front of the boat and back again.

We then motored into Beaufort, SC. We stopped for fuel and showers at the city marina and then a good friend of mine from Cisco, Mike Hix. We had a good lunch together and talked about the times we worked together and caught up what is happening since I left the company. I don’t miss it at this time. Mike is also working on restoring a 43’ Chris Craft Motor Yacht. He hopes to get it in the water before the end of the year.

We motored until 6:00pm that night just as the sun was setting. We made it to Skull Creek, SC for the night. My mother went into another role of hers when they are boating and that is cook and dishwasher. She made us a delicious chef salad for dinner. It was a good change as me and my dad had gone into man-food, lots of soups (including ramen noodles), spaghetti, macaroni and cheese and eating out. She ended up cooking most of the meals until they left. It doesn’t take long to fall into a rut without someone to shake it up a little.

11/07/2008 We made it to Georgia. One more day of motoring. We made it to Savannah around 11:30 in the morning. We had not lined up a place to keep the boat as we were hoping to stay on the city dock. The rates for a slip were outrages, $3.00 a foot/night. The city dock was only $1.00 a foot/night, but the whole dock was taken up.

We stopped at the Hyatt and they did have room, but that was $3.00 a foot or over $100.00/night including taxes. I walked down to the city dock to see if the boats could move closer to make room for one more. There wasn’t enough room if they squeezed together, but an Irish gentleman, Desmond, on a trawler said I could raft up with him for the night. We did that and early the next morning, the boat behind him left and we tied up there for the rest of the stay.

We set off to the visitors center and started to get a lay of the town and what we could do while there. There is a nice water front that was built out of the old cotton warehouses along. There are the typical restaurants and gift shops including the candy stores that we frequent regularly.

11/08/2008 We spent the morning cleaning the boat. It was due for a good cleaning and something I need to spend more time with to keep it in good shape. We wrapped that up, got cleaned up and headed off for lunch. We then took a tour bus of the city and were shown around the historic district. The area is larger than Charleston with many more homes and parks. It still amazes me the amount of money that was made in these towns during their hey-days of rice and cotton.

11/09/2008 This was the last day for my dad’s trip and my mother heading home with him. We lounged around for the morning and headed off for lunch. My dad went back to the boat to work on getting a hotel room near the airport lined up for them as they were trying to get out on a 6:00AM flight. My mom and I took off on a walking tour to find the park we saw with a large fountain for pictures. We made it back to the boat and they packed up for the trip home. We had a light dinner out and then they were off by taxi to the hotel.

Epilogue: I am finishing up another leg in the journey. This was the last three weeks traveling with my dad. I was caught one day surprised about this leg. It was how I was taking this for granted. I am thankful that I have a great relationship with my dad, he is alive and willing to join me for my adventure. After I thought about it, I am aware of many men who will or would never have this chance due to any of the three reasons I listed above. This was a tough journey mainly due to the cold weather. We both endured, made adjustments (by buying a propane heater, tying up in marinas or docks, adding clothing, digging out sleeping bags, etc.) and found times to laugh about it and realize we did do it and not quit. There was times we needed to be patient with each other and I credit my dad for being much better at it than I, as he has been, and something I strive for. I am also thankful that my mom was able to join us for the last part of the trip. She brings a different atmosphere to the boat, we had fun together and she is now able to better prepare for when they join me for three weeks in the Bahamas.

Thank you Dad and Mom for all of your support of this adventure
Bill