5 more cruising months....then home?

Monday April 29th 2013 I heard from a good resource that we have some of the best tourist/cruising ahead of us. We have made a friend here at the boatyard his name is Ray that has lived, worked and cruised this area all his life. Last night, Sunday April 28th I made italian beef, invited him over for supper we had a great time talking about adventures in boating, he pointed out some of the best anchoring in this area. We met some really awesome folks here although it was an unscheduled stop.

Bill

Fred and Elaine their sailboat Sea Mistress s from New York, New York They are awesome!

They're cat Sinbad the sailor.

The progress on the repair is coming along the old wood has been removed and today the fiberglass guy will be here to rebuild the frame and repair a hole.

Bill and I went for breakfast this morning at a local organic restaurant and market.

No surprise but, we really enjoyed the food.

In review so far my favorite places were the Islands I could have stayed there for a week or more.

Some of my favorite foods were Pizza in Stuart, Jan Holzworths' Lasagna, and all the meals we shared with friends along the way. I think the company makes the meal taste better.

These pictures are from the forest and beach on Cumberland Island, thick dense and beautifully wild.

Although we are on the Wando river its still beautiful most of the time even with the no see um's.

Well anyway, I will write more later when I see more progress of the window replacement. 

Love and prayers to you all, JOY

Sightseeing at Patriots Point

On Wednesday April we woke to fog on the Wando river as you know we are waiting for repairs of a window that was broken. Insurance approved the repair. The carpenter will be here on Thursday April 25th to begin the work and hopefully by the weekend the glass will be ready...thats the plan.

The fog burned away and the sun came blazing through to reveal a glorious day. Our plans are to do the tourist thing and visit the USS Yorktown an aircraft carrier. We have seen it from the water and today we will visit by car.

The ramp leading to the USS Yorktown.

Off in the distant is the Arthur Ravenel, Jr. bridge over the Cooper river, It is quite spectacular bridge built with cables. Bill and I have traveled under it in Proud Lady and had the privilege of going over it by car you are able to see for miles from the top.  

A display of life and work on the USS Yorktown.

Diver display

Briefing room for the pilots before and after engaging in combat.

The Galley.

Display of the communications room...we sure came a long way from what it was in the 1940"s

Some of the planes on the flight deck.

Historical planes in the hangar bays.

Bill climbing the stairs to the engine/boiler room.

It must have been very noisy downhere. Our cousin, Jim Holzworth lived inside the bowels of a ship like this one for 20 years, Jim has our respect after seeing this carrier. He had it before because he served in the Navy and is a great christian man. SALUTE!

Here I am climbing the stairs to the next deck. I would not like this everyday they are steep. 

Bill touring the Vietnam camp model. Life kinda as it was in a base in Vietnam, without the heat, bugs and smell. Oh yeah! there was no grass just dirt in the real one, said Bill.

The destroyer USS LAFFEY moored beside the Aircraft carrier. As I understand these traveled along side of the aircraft carrier. 

The submarine USS CLAMAGORE, spent 30 years in active duty before nuclear power subs took its place it sits in the bay here beside the USS Yorktown, we did not take the tour.

A beautiful salute to all who worked and served aboard the USS Yorktown.

While there on board, we watched an hour long film of action of the aircraft carrier in WW2  the action was very dramatic something that boys would like, gunfights, airplanes flights and planes landing on the flight deck with damage, burial at sea of the planes who were damaged and men who fought and died, stuff the guys would say COOL!

In the evening after the tour we traveled back toward the boatyard and stopped at Boone Hall Farms to buy fresh strawberries and tomatoes and Frog jam. We stopped at West Marine to buy paint to do a few touch-ups on Proud Lady while we wait for the window repair.

There are other boats that arrived today so we met more folks, Fred and Elaine on their sailboat, Sea Mistress, along with their cat Sinbad- the sailor, who is a beautiful bengal mix fourth generation. I never knew they mixed wild and tame but he is interesting and a very nice cat. Sinbad's coat is just beautiful and he has bright green eyes. I will get a picture of them today so you can see him. We ended our evening over coffee and pistachio nuts sharing stories of our sailing adventures. Ok so I will write more later. Love you Maw Joy.

Nice quiet....peaceful part of the world! What a contrast to the world news!

Proud Lady sits and waits for her window

Saturday evening April 20th 2013 its been a week since Proud Ladies windows were broken.

We are sitting in Charleston Boatyard on Wando river.

As the tide slowly creeps out of the Wando river it makes me praise God for this time of day.The sun is slowly sinking into the western sky all peachy pink and glowing. The mud in this marsh is popping, fish are jumping. It is so beautiful. Thank you Lord for this beautiful place. I wish I could share it with those whose life are in shambles and those who hurt.

Bill and I took an evening walk through the boatyard.

To be truthful we walk up to the bathrooms to keep from having to fill Proud Ladies holding tanks and use their showers to keep from using our water supply. The only problem with using their water is that their water smells like sulfur (rotten eggs). I hope our soap and perfume/aftershave covers that smell.

So its not real far  from Proud lady about a football field's length, and we could use the exercise. 

It rained here yesterday

I am so glad it quit raining it was awful yesterday.The wind was strong and the waves rocked us as we sat here in the marina tied to the dock. Sometimes the waves were as big as if we were on the ocean. The water splashed over the swim platform rocking us to and fro, up and down, but as you can see today the waters are calm.

Wando swing bridge built in the 1930's has 6 feet clearance under it.

We are able to see it to the north from here at the boatyard.

This is the view from the south toward Charleston. Facing down the Wando river 

This cute little wooden sailboat came in today. Charleston harbor had sailboat races with lots sailboats scheduled to race. I wonder if this was one of them?

Here is the patch on Proud Lady, Bill and I are glad we decided to get her repaired because the patch under the stairs leaks when it rains. I Bill did a great job patching her up. But, it was windy and rainy Friday April 19th with the blowing and bouncing, UGH! We stuffed rags in the hole to keep from dripping. (Today, Bill re-caulked around the patch.) Anyway, we were able to stay warm and dry inside as we watched the events on the news when they captured the suspected bomber from the Boston marathon.

We may be here for awhile. The planned stay is 2-3 weeks. The insurance person sounded like the bid was  accepted when Bill called on Friday. The guys at the boatyard sounded like they may begin the work while she sits in the water. Bill and I have a list of boat work and painting to make her more beautiful.

We have a rental car so we drove into Wando or Mount Pleasant to do laundry. We enjoyed lunch at 5 guys burgers, got groceries at Harris Teeter's and drove the 7 miles back to the boatyard. Since parking is a long way we used our little red folding wagon to bring our clean laundry and groceries back to Proud Lady, Bill lifts them over the side of the boat and I place them inside the boat. All in all the day went well.

Tomorrow is Sunday and I cannot wait! Will write more later. Love you, JOY

Charlston

There is a lot of history in Charleston, SC

Fort Sumter is in this area. We have not seen it yet. I think that would be interesting.

Right in the middle of the city are many cemeteries surrounding the churches.

These gas lamps burn all the time on most of the porches. The porches here are on the sidewalk not big like in Beaufort but there are cute cozy courtyards with fountains.

Wet Willies serves frozen daiquiris of all flavors, you can pour them yourself its like the 7-11 drink fountain for slushies, interesting but, we did not go in. 

This door knocker reminded me of the movie "Scrooge".

On Sunday I posted a few pictures but did not share what happened to us on Saturday April 13th but, be patient I will post it later and it will go down in Proud Lady history.

Sunday, April 14th Bill and I walked about a mile to a little convenience store bought water to drink on our way back to Proud Lady it was a good walk we needed the exercise. Proud Lady is sitting in the marina at Charleston City marina on the mega yacht dock. This huge yacht was across from us. 

We walked a mile back  to the dock then got aboard the van into town for a real grocery store, Harris Teeter to stock our supplies. 

Later,we enjoyed the gatherings known as "docktails".

Other Loopers here are "Memsahib", Paul and John a father and son doing the loop before John goes off to college. "Blue Heron", Barb and Craig they will be finishing their Loop soon. Lolly and Jeff on "Not so fast".  All these folk are known as LOOPERS which make up our little looper family.

Those who have left already were Allyn and Mark we enjoyed a wonder shrimp scampi with them on Friday evening. Allen is awesome she is a quilter she is appliqueing beautiful flowers on her quilt blocks. Mark is so funny he made us laugh and the evening passed too quick.

"Prime Time", Larry and Carol we met back in Joe Wheeler, then had dinner with them in Mobile. They are heading north to catch a flight home before they return to the rondevu in Norfolk.

It rained last night we slept very well.

Now, today is Monday we are waiting to see what this day brings.

Will write more soon ...Love ya, JOY

Traveling the rivers from our anchorage to Charleston, SC

Wisteria and Moss hanging from the trees.

It's Sunday Morning April 14th here in Charleston SC Proud Lady has had a little setback in her Great Loop journey.

Bill and I are both well and unharmed except for a injured pride.

I wanted to share some of the beautiful sights along the riverways that make up the intracoastal  waterway. These were taken on the North Edisto River.

Beautiful azaleas.

A neat looking boat house.

This Osprey built a nest on the sign. For those of you who want to know how we navigate the green are kept to starboard or the right side of the boat and are marked with a little yellow triangle marking the intracoastal route. The big red triangles are on the port left side are marked with a small yellow triangle also.

Cool dock! This would make a good picture.

Big awesome houses.

Could this be an eagle on this long dock?

While here we were able to take the van to downtown tour some of the historical area and a church.

Then, we ate at Bubba Gump's restaurant before heading back to the boat.

I will write more later when I have more news, Love Joy