Our first test was the St. Lucie lock, it dropped us 12 ft. The repaired thrusters worked like a charm and our stress level was lowered immensely (as seen with Angie checking her phone during the process).
With newly restored confidence we continued on with the goal of making up time to get some miles under our keep. We had boated in these waters earlier with Snow Bird, so we didn't feel like we were missing out on anything by not stopping more to sight-see. The weather was good and we traveled 103 and 106 miles on our first two days. On the third, we covered 125 miles, but mutually decided it was too much; we were both very tired from the stress of reading charts, avoiding other boats, watching the low depths, looking for debris in the water, etc. We anchored in very peaceful places with few if any other boats around. Here I am at the helm, with plenty of electronic support.
We anchored near Cape Canaveral, but just missed the take off and landing of a Space X rocket by just a couple of days.
The shrimp boats were out in force.
And so were the Ospreys;
We even spied a couple of bald eagles;
Not to mention the variety of smaller flying critters we encountered;
A new stop for us was Port Royal Landing, SC. We were in need of fuel and decided to tie up for the night and enjoy a meal ashore. We had also discovered our generator would not work and needed attention. On top of that, as we came in to dock it was very windy and I really needed our thrusters to maneuver, but they quit working! Luckily a couple of fellows came over and grabbed our lines so we did not damage anything (other than my pride). It was Cinco de Mayo so we drowned our sorrows in margaritas and great seafood.
The next morning I played mechanic and was able to replace the raw water impeller in the generator so it was good to go. A couple of calls to the factory gave me the guidance on how to check the thruster wiring as it is susceptible to being bumped when we store our fenders below deck. Sure enough, like a miracle, a little straightening and tightening and we had thrusters again! Needless to say we are now very careful putting stuff away near that connection.
We had some very rough, big water, crossings in GA and SC (St. Andrew, Sapelo, St. Catherine, and Port Royal Sounds). When the tidal current is against the wind, the waves become very harsh and close together. The reward for making it through was to then enter some of the most shallow waterways on the ICW. Tides in GA are up to 10-12 ft, so you can encounter currents of 2-3 mph with and against you. But at low tide there may only be 1-2 ft under your keel if you stay in channel and much less very quickly if you stray outside. Thankfully the bottom is mostly sand and silt, so major concern is getting stuck, not damaged.
An interesting and popular stop is Coinjock, VA. They have a single 1000 ft dock along the water, with restaurant, fuel, water, and pump-out available. They take around 25 transient boats every night ($2/ft) and stack them very tightly, even overlapping, as you can see below looking out from our stern.
That boat behind us left at 5 am along with a couple of other mega-yachts. We followed an hour or so later, but caught up with them and followed them through the bridges and lock getting to Norfolk. They only open at certain times so we went as a small convoy for several miles together.
We passed through Norfolk with all of its mighty warships and industry. We had stayed near there before and decided to go on to Hampton and tie-up at Bluewater Marina.
Overall we were gone for 14 days for this leg, with 10 days cruising, and covered 1045 miles. We spent about 20% of our time going at 6- 8 mph in minimum wake zones and congested areas; the rest of the time we moved at 20 mph (a nice 80% of maximum engine rpm).
We will leave Happy Daze in Hampton for about a month. It was cold and rainy most of the time we were there buttoning her up, but the locals say it will be much warmer come June.
