December 24, 2020, Day 19. Roland went to Harris Teeter (his first ever Harris Teeter). He was so excited that he got a Harris Teeter membership card.
I was able to spend time with a friend from Philadelphia who winters in Charleston. Elise came to the marina, and with masks and at a distance, we spent part of the morning catching up on life since the pandemic; we both loved the opportunity to connect. It started raining very heavily and after I walked Elise to her back to her car and got back in the boat I was totally and completely drenched. Roland was shopping using Laura's car so he did not get soaked.
When the rain stopped in the afternoon, we went for a self-guided walking tour of the French Quarter. We walked through a historic cemetery where Pinckney, a signer of the Declaration of Independence was buried. However we couldn't find his grave. It is of interest as Papa Mort was a Pinckney. No real understanding or belief that he was actually related, but I was curious. However I never found his grave.
Many of the houses had the front doors on the street, lead to long porches on the side rather than into the house, and there were outside stairs leading to the second floor long porch. I had not seen this style before.
This may be an adventure, but it is not a vacation. While we are in a marina, which we must be at least once a week, I have enough water to take a long shower, wash my hair, do several loads of laundry and, while connected to power, vacuum. We still have to pay bills, and clean the boat, go food shopping, and cook. I am so looking forward to the end of the pandemic, as is everyone else in the world, so I can actually go on a vacation. Meanwhile, we can travel, see new places, meet other boaters; I am really grateful for this opportunity, even though I spend a lot of time doing chores.
Christmas Eve was a feast by Chef Roland, smelts for appetizers and lobster tails with champagne. Being the last night Netflix was showing West Wing, we watched three episodes (I slept through the last one – too much champagne?).
December 25, 2020, Day 20. We were up early for Christmas, Santa had not stopped by. This is OK because I had forgotten to let him know where we would be. Roland made latkes (a week late for Hanukkah), but they were good, even though they were baked and not fried. Nevertheless there was a huge mess in the kitchen. Why latkes always makes such a mess is beyond me.
Laura and Jeff came by to say goodbye and get their car. It was an incredibly windy day. We had originally planned to leave on Christmas Day but the weather again caused a delay. We stayed all morning in the boat while the wind was howling and the boat was rocking everybody was out in the wind, adjusting their fenders to keep their boats from smashing against the dock, happy that they were not out on the water in winds that were gusting to 35 mph.
In the afternoon, things cleared up and we tried, for the first time, riding our folding bicycles. After about an hour and a half, Roland had had it. His bicycle needed some attention. There were problems with the brakes. We did get a chance to do some touring around and see some historic buildings including the college of Charleston which has an interesting past. It was one of the very early colleges in what is now the United States, dating back to the 1700s. It went private to avoid integration in the civil rights era, and then became a public college again when it was finally integrated.
Christmas dinner consisted of crab cakes, rice and vegetables (brussels sprouts, cauliflower and zucchini). Tasty and only two pots to wash. Yay. West wing no longer available, we resorted to The Crown.
Although we have been at this project for several months (considering the idea of a trawler, looking for a trawler, going through the process of buying a trawler, setting up the trawler), we have only been on the actual journey down the Chesapeake Bay, the ICW, and the ocean, for three weeks. I am only just now, beginning to get the rhythm and adjusting to living on Magic Moments, I am beginning to feel comfortable with the pace and life as a cruiser, at least for the next couple of years.
December 26, 2020. Day 21. Saturday, Boxing Day. I am up before 7 AM, apply a second patch, thank you Gail, in anticipation of this afternoon when we leave for our 24 our ocean segment to the Jacksonville, Florida area. Notwithstanding the incredible wind yesterday, today and tomorrow are supposed to be calm. I sure hope so. Before we left we had a pump out and filled up the water tank (it was so cold this morning that the water hose was frozen). Before we left Roland walked to the supermarket (too cold to cycle), and I made an omelette for breakfast; not a lot of fancy cooking for the next 24 hours while off shore. We left the dock at 11:30, slack tide (as the tide changes from ebbing to flowing or vice versa; tide at it's least movement), it was an unbelievably tight dock, even tighter than when we arrived because shortly after we arrived, a sailboat came in behind us. But Captain Roland did an amazing job, with the help of the dock hand. As we left the Charleston area we passed Fort Sumter, the site of the first shot of the Civil War.
As we entered the ocean we passed several commercial fishing boats with their nets out and flocks of birds flying around gleaning fish. There were dolphins, a clear blue sky, and sparkling water; it was quite beautiful.
Sunset on the ocean was breathtaking. The moon was so bright that the sky was dark gray, not pitch black, and the moon was shining on the ocean. My shifts were 6PM to 10 PM, and then from 2 AM to 5:30 AM. I got by much better for this ocean voyage, than the first one, as I had a couple of movies to watch, and I read a book by flashlight. Awakening on Day 20, at 8:30AM, December 27, 2020, Sunday, having slept through, what Roland said was a stunning sunrise.
Sunday morning was beautiful: dolphins were feeding off the starboard side, there were fish in the water and we had approximately three hours until we reached the St. Johns River, near Jacksonville where we planned to dock.
During my first shift the previous night, I had to awaken Roland to readjust our route as we were headed directly for several freighters anchored outside of Savannah.
We left the ocean and entered the St John's River at 11:30 AM, exactly 24 hours from the time we left Charleston. We still had an hour or so to go up the river to dock.
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