A bump in the road

Fall color on the Wacamaw River

Remnants of Irene

The good, the bad, and the ugly. That’s the latest synopsis of this voyage. Our journey started at Osprey Creek Marina. A beautiful ride down the Wacamaw River. We arrived in Charleston on Thursday, November the 3rd. What a glorious day and what a glorious city. It was 75 degrees when we arrived and we reunited with a couple of cruiser buddies from Chicago that we met in Oriental, NC a week before. In Charleston we became instant tourists. Marg and I and our Chicago friends walked the city and dined at 82 Queen, a great antebellum restaurant. We did the horse and buggy ride and saw the historic part of the city, and we toured historic homes. That was the Good part of the trip.

Homes on the Battery on the South
shore of Charleston

Marg at the farmer's market clutching
her corn

The horse and carriage tour of
historic Charleston. Pretty cool.

The Calhoun Mansion. Built in the
1800's with the proceeds of financing
the Civil War. North and South.

Write your own caption

We also had a vibration in the boat that we didn’t have before. What could it be?? When we landed at Charleston City Marina, we checked in with the dockmaster who called a boat tech to check it out. The following day, the tech declared that our rudder needed new bearings and we would have to haul out the boat to make the repairs. In addition, we learned that the parts would cost over $500 and the haul out would be $325. Then there was the labor. Plus, we had to take the boat 14 miles upstream to their boat yard before they could do anything. This was the bad part of the trip.

Making the best of it. Grilling steaks
on the boat in the cradle.

This is wrong. But it's alright.

So, on Monday, we drove the boat upstream, against the current, to the boat yard and had the boat pulled out of the water. The tech from Beneteau was there and after he ceremoniously shook the rudder, and  proclaimed it fit and not in need of new bearings.  BUT, he said, the vibration was coming from the folding prop, which WAS in need of new bearings. So here we sit, on the hard, waiting for the repairs to be made so we could be on our way. By the way, the repair kit for the prop was $700. We decided to have Janet and Bob ship our spare prop to us. We will use that one until we get to Florida and decide what we want to do. The spare prop will be here on Weds, the 9th. Hopefully, they will be able to install it and send us on our way. We are in an area that is nasty with tides and currents that limit the distances you can go. If they get us in the water by 3 pm tomorrow, we can go back downstream to Charleston City and anchor out. Then we can leave on the flood tide and make it to South Edisto River to anchor out on our way to Beaufort, SC (pronounce Bew-fort). This has been the ugly part of the trip.

We got an email today from our friends Nathalie and Andre. They arrived in Charleston today and will stay until Thursday. With some luck, we will reunite with them on Weds night or Thursday morning.