The Grateful is Back in the Water

We arrived in N Myrtle Beach on November 9th after spending the weekend with Bob & Dianne at their beautiful Wisconsin cabin....

Sammy, Port & Sadie waiting for a treat

and traveling through the Great Smokies.....

The Grateful looked beautiful with new bottom paint and the hull waxed. The anti-fouling paint is intended to protect the bottom of the boat and to keep the bottom clean by easily sloughing off when barnacles and greenery attach themselves especially while the boat sits still.

However, we still had a lot to do to get Grateful ready to cruise. We had worried - alright only I had worried - about mold and mildew being inside Grateful. We had put 40 pounds of charcoal, three moisture collectors from West Marine, and hung sachets of lavender oil and oil of cloves to ward off the mold and apparently one or all of them worked. We did have plenty of mildew on the outside of the boat that had been under the tarp, but it came off with a little bit scrubbing and bleach.

Mark busied himself with repairing the starboard trim tab, connecting batteries and charging them, replacing the zincs on the back of the boat and on the shafts. The zincs are "sacrificial" in that they corrode rather than the metal of the shafts and propellers. The 12" x 6" panel of zinc that was replaced was over half gone from the six months of being in salt water. 

We also sanded and applied two more coats of Sikkens Cetol to the back platform and steps. This job is ongoing.

At any rate we were mostly ready to "Splash" Grateful on Friday, 11-12-10. Fisher's Silver Coast Marina was most accommodating with this schedule. We needed to plan on high tide in order to have enough water under us as we were lowered  - that was at 1:00 pm.

We were lowered into the water just far enough to be sure the motors would start before lowering all the way.. Then it was time to start our motors.. They didn't. Oh boy... apparently the charger we had on the cranking battery did not charge it enough to turn the engines. Well... Joe Gibson and his crew at Silver Coast Marina brought out every possible charging device he had in his arsenal - even a new battery and battery cables - the works. We had until 4:00 before the tide would be too low and we would be hauled out  to wait until Monday for "splashing". It took all of that time and I had cancelled our reservations at Myrtle Beach Yacht Club when Mark got the generator working. Once the generator fires it apparently charges everything and Grateful's engines started. HOORAY! We were quickly lowered the rest of the way, I called the marina and we were in our slip by 5:00. Oh happy day.

We hung in the slings for three hours.

Mark commented after all was said and done that he had a new appreciation for all that the fellows at Afton Marina did on our boats before putting them in the water.

We stayed at Myrtle Beach Yacht Club (same as in June) while we waited for a cable we had ordered. Finally on Wednesday, we started our journey. We stopped at Osprey Marina - only 30 miles south for our maiden voyage. Everything worked well except for steering. Mark says there is air in the hydraulic line and that he should be able to rid the line of the air. This is done by spinning the wheel quickly both to the right and then to the left. It is a little unnerving as we are heading through narrow channels to have Mark spinning the wheel and Grateful not responding. Never fear - Mark can steer by using the throttles - it just makes cruising more intense.

Gondola cables at Waterways Golf Course

Captain Mark at the helm

Grand Dunes Resort and Bridge

We only stayed at Osprey Marina for a day, then moved on to Georgetown. Hazzard Marina was booked so we are staying at Harborwalk Marina. We are closer to town. Mark's landing skills were tested as they have us moored on the inside of the face dock up in a corner. He did it like he had never taken a break from boating. Georgetown is quaint and we are enjoying our stay.

Harborwalk Marina Office and Clubhouse

I hope to add more to the blog regarding the missing summer months soon. We love to hear from all or any of you. So long for now.

May 26 - June 7, 2010

A quick note before you launch into this very long blog entry. Mark, Porter and I are back in Minnesota. We want to take care of some business here during the summer rather than come back for a Minnesota winter. We have Grateful "on the hard" in N Myrtle Beach. I think this will be the last entry for awhile, but start checking back in October. Our plans are to go back to Grateful then and spend the winter someplace warm. Till then.....

Leaving Charleston, Isle of Palms, Georgetown,  and Myrtle Beach, SC

We left Charleston a day sooner than planned – partly because I forgot to extend our stay another couple of days and another boat was due in to take our spot. Charleston Maritime Center Marina said they would accommodate us, but that we would need to move to the fuel dock. Mark and I both decided that if we had to move, we would move on to another marina rather than move just to another slip. This was one of the harder marinas for us to get into a slip – combination of current, tides, and wind. The marina staff was very pleasant and the marina was a great base from which to see Charleston, but we were ready to leave the rocking and rolling behind. We intended to leave the next day anyway.

So Isle of Palms, 9 miles further up the ICW, had a space on their fuel dock and we reserved it. We gave Mom a tour of the Charleston harbor before we started up the ICW. She could see the Battery from the water side and she was able to get a closer look at Fort Sumter. The weather wasn’t the best, but it was a short ride.

I didn’t get pictures of Isle of Palms, but it was a nice place. What I remember was an incredible ship’s store that you have to see to believe. No pictures.

We were up early the next morning to go to Georgetown, SC. The trip was about 50 miles through marshes. Again, we had the giant flies swarming the boat, but this time we had the “happy swatter” keeping the flies from biting Mark – for some reason these flies LOVE him. Mark gave the helm to me for a short while and this is when Mom and I saw an alligator swimming in the ICW – yep, I guess the water is fresh enough. The salt marshes stretched out all around us, but were gradually giving way to more trees.

Georgetown, SC is the third oldest city in South Carolina and again we enjoyed beautiful old homes, streets lined with moss-strewn live oaks and magnolia trees in bloom, and wonderful hospitality. We did not rent a vehicle while we were here so our sight-seeing was limited. We walked to town our first morning and enjoyed a breakfast at Thomas’ – a recommendation from several folks at Hazzard Marina. We used the Captain’s lounge at Hazzard to play pinochle and watch golf. Saturday, Mom and I went to the farmers’ market. Of course we walked away with more to eat – terrific tomatoes and homemade pimento/cheddar spread.

A highlight on Saturday was seeing the motor vessels, Emily E and Queen Ann’s Revenge, come in to Georgetown Harbor. We had last seen Jim, Debbie and Emily (Emily E) in Ft. Lauderdale, and hadn’t see Hank and Ann (QAR) since November. We all arranged to have dinner at Portofino’s Italian Restaurant. It was great fun to catch up on all our adventures. Unfortunately, no picture as I was too busy visiting.

Monday morning we left for Myrtle Beach with a stop at Osprey Marina midway. The ICW along this part is along the Waccamaw River and was beautiful. The water was deep from side to side and scenic. Because it was Memorial Day, the river was busy with recreational traffic.

We got to pretty Osprey Marina early afternoon and picked up fuel. We had pushed to get here because their prices were advertised to be low and they also gave a Boat US discount. We needed 380 gallons and paid only $2.45 per gallon. We continued to check prices as we traveled along the ICW and we saved at least $.45 per gallon compared to all other prices.

From Osprey Marina, Myrtle Beach on to N Myrtle Beach (about 25 miles) the waterway is narrow and carved out of shale. Homes ranged from modest to spectacular and of course there were golf courses. One of the more unique courses is Waterway Hills with gondolas on cables that cross over the waterway.

We played tourists in Myrtle Beach. Unfortunately, Mark had been fighting his annual cold and he managed to get us to the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club, but then it was “lights out” for him for two days. So Wednesday Mom and I drove all over and figured out where we were golfing, where the airport was and picked up stuff at West Marine. Thursday, Mark tried but could not generate enough energy to golf so Mom and I went. We had a great day and the River Hills Golf Course was very nice and friendly – think I only lost three balls in the water. Signs near the water warned not to try to retrieve any golf balls that went in – hmmmm, I wonder why???

Once Mark recovered enough to stand up, we toured more of Myrtle Beach, walked on the beach, had an early bird special at the Chesapeake Grill for seafood and then we went to play miniature golf. There are 49 miniature golf courses in Myrtle Beach area and some were pretty spectacular. We played at the course where they play the “Masters” of Miniature golf. We look forward to going back and playing the other 48 courses. I just hope it turns out better than this time as I owed both Mark and Mom $4.00 each once we were done. I will have you know that I pay my bills – between the two of them they owed me over $50.00 from playing pinochle that I have yet to seeJ