Ferrets and the Food Chain

October 31, 2004
By Tom

Friday - October 22, 2004 - Beaufort, South Carolina

We are now in the southern metropolis of Beaufort, pronounced Bue-fert and not to be confused with Beaufort, NC which is pronounced Bow-fert. Don't ask me, maybe its a Billy Bob thing.

We got away early this morning, completely ignoring the town of Charleston. Oh well, maybe next time. We caught the first bridge opening and spent the day motor sailing south. We were followed by Malcolm in his 45 foot trawler Still No Clew. It kind of turned into a race of sorts. He would steadily gain on us, and then we'd round a bend and the wind would increase to 20 knots and we'd take off again. In the end, we slowed and let him pass so he could lead the way into the anchorage.

I made steak and fresh bread for dinner and we turned in early. We are lame.

Saturday - October 23, 2004 - Beaufort, South Carolina

After breakfast, we assembled the dinghy and went into town. Beaufort looks like a town right out of Gone with the Wind. It is quiet and quite pretty. For a little town, there seem to be about 70 art galleries, which while I find a little strange, Amy does not.

We strolled in and out of art galleries around town and also stopped at some old fort that I forget the name of. It was interesting enough and fit our budgetary requirements (free). Afterwards, we walked along the riverfront and I used my sixth sense to find an open air bar with live music and dollar drafts. My kind of place.

In the afternoon, Maggie and I deployed our shrimp whacker in the hopes of procuring dinner. Unfortunately, the only occupant in the shrimp trap was a crab holding the remains of the one shrimp that managed to find it's way into said trap. It goes without saying of course, that the crab paid for his transgressions.

Maggie says such is the nature of life among the food chain.

Sunday - October 23, 2004 - Beaufort, South Carolina

We packed up the mother ship after only two days in Beaufort. As I write this, we are heading towards the ocean pass south of here. Our plan is to go offshore tonight and sail into Jacksonville, Florida sometime tomorrow.

Monday - October 23, 2004 - St. Augustine, Florida

Yahoo ! We made it to Florida. We decided to bypass Jacksonville this morning, opting to continue south another 40 miles to St. Augustine. We dropped the hook around 3pm and had an early supper then went to bed. We covered just over 200 miles in 30 hours.

Nighttime on the open ocean was not as scary as I thought it would be, although I am quite certain that after dark all manner of sea monsters were right beside us, hiding just out of sight and waiting to pounce on the unwary.

I drug two of my best fishing lures the whole way down and besides some seaweed and one near sighted seagull did not catch anything. BTW - Maggie says seagull tastes just like chicken.

Tuesday - October 24, 2004 - St. Augustine, Florida

Today we went ashore and explored St. Augustine. Did you know St. Augustine is the oldest city in America? I did not. The city seems pretty cool. We are anchored out in a fairly exposed area, but the wake seems to go away after dark. We paid for a weeks worth of dinghy landing privileges at the municipal marina ($35) as we plan on staying for several days.

Our dinghy fee also entitles us to use the laundry facilities in the boaters lounge, which we did today. As many of you know, I fear laundry and it took so much out of me, that afterwards we had to go into town for happy hour at Tradewinds

$1.50 drafts from 4-7 and lots of live music make this a popular local spot and like a water running to the low spots, a group of about 20 cruisers had assembled there by 7pm. We made several friends at happy hour, one of which was Rick and Connie on Callaloo.

Back on the boat we had pizza crisps for dinner and then turned in.

Wednesday - October 25, 2004 - St. Augustine, Florida

I changed the oil in the starboard engine today. Let me assure you dear Reader, that this is no easy task. First, I have to completely disconnect and remove the engine from the lazarette where it lives. To do this requires the use of a block and tackle as well as help from Amy and Maggie.

Amy operates the block and tackle and the ferret serves as both a counterweight and an oil mop. The design of the drain plug does not lend itself to a no mess operation and true to form, our cockpit looked like the Exxon Valdez by the time I was done. After several hours of cleaning, filling, poking and prodding, I deemed the engine ready and the three of us got it back in. Twenty minutes later I had it hooked back up and it ran fine.

By the time I was done, it was closing in on happy hour, so we showered and boogied it into town to meet up with the Callaloo's at Tradewinds.

After a drink or two at Tradewinds, the Callaloo's suggested we try a wing place a few blocks away. Scarlet O'hara's is a nice bar/restaurant that plays Gone with the Wind 24 by 7. My wings were good as was Amy's Bruschetta, but when it came time to get the check, our waitress screwed up so many times that the manager ended up coming over and with a wave of his magic wand we ate for free. I like free. Free is most excellent.

Thursday - October 26, 2004 - St. Augustine, Florida

A repeat performance today with the port side engine, which went much smoother, at least until I put the engine back in. Apparently, the shifter cable for this engine decided it was time to pack it in and promptly broke in half.

Despite the mechanical set back, we went into town and toured the Old Fort that overlooks the harbour. We used our National Parks Pass that we bought when we were at the Badlands earlier this year and we got in without having to pay the $5 each cover charge. The fort was cool I guess, but I liked it more knowing that I didn't pay $5 to see a bunch of old stuff.

Post fort, we stopped at the original Woolworth's and had the taco special ($2.25) for lunch. They were excellent as well as cheap. Party. Bonus.

Afterwards, Amy went museum-ing and I searched high and low for a replacement cable. The best I was able to do was get one ordered for Monday. That sucks. We met up again with the Callaloo's and the guy off of Gecko (I forget his name) at Tradewinds for happy hour. It looks like we'll be here a few more days.

More to follow, end of line.