CHAPTER FORTY THREE: HEADING SOUTH, STAYING WARM

CHAPTER FORTY THREE: HEADING SOUTH, STAYING WARM

It’s December 7, a day that went down in infamy, but this year, 2012, it’s a day that will be remembered for having shrimp and grits at Blackstone’s in Beaufort, SC with Dee, who treated us. Thank you, Kalah, for putting us in touch with your wonderful brother. Sorry we didn’t get to spend time with Cleo too, but naturally she sent along a lovely Christmas present, most likely handmade. Cleo, your presence was felt throughout the meal. Thank you. It’s overcast, feeling like rain, and chilly in Beaufort this morning, but I’m all warm inside from the time spent with our new/old friends. Just have to do something about those uncomfortable chairs at Blackstone’s. If the Admiral’s back didn’t start hurting from sitting on one of them, we would probably still be sitting across from Dee swapping more fish and steel stories. From economics grad student to interview coordinator for Big Steel to fly fishing instructor for Yankees making a southern pilgrimage, Dee has had some great experiences that he shared with us. He warmed us up, so that when we left Blackstone’s to face the chilly wind, it didn’t permeate us – both our stomachs and our souls were satisfied.

Yesterday we traveled 66 miles or so from Charleston to Beaufort under partly sunny skies. We saw exactly three boats on this excursion, one of which the Admiral had helped leave the dock at Ashley Marina about an hour ahead of us. Our departure from Ashley Marina at 7:35 a.m. was flawless. However, the buzzing sound for the alternator for the starboard engine started soon after we left the dock. We had just spent the last week attending to all of Slow Motion’s potential engine problems. Bill of the Charleston City Boatyard, an extremely knowledgeable boat repair person, had done a great job replacing all the old hoses, removing and cleaning the intercoolers, replacing the turbo oil drain lines, fixing the coolant systems for both engines, and figuring out why our depth sounder wasn’t communicating with our chart plotter – and getting the part to fix it. So, foolish new boat owners that we are, we expected no immediate problems with Slow Motion. In fact, we were excited to get her moving again with all of her new parts. Still, there is always in the back of our minds the truism that everything on a boat needs repair –you just don’t know it, yet. For us, it was the alternator on the starboard engine that cried out for repair as we tried to leave Charleston Harbor.

The Admiral made the command decision to contact Bill, who miraculously was at the Charleston City Marina, which was right next to the Ashley Marina. We had just gone under one bridge on our way south, and we turned around and headed back to tie up at the Charleston City Marina to meet Bill and find out if we needed to Break Out Another Thousand. Bill went right to work and – ouch! – burned his finger pretty good, but found the problem. A terminal stud, which we apparently don’t need to operate Slow Motion, was “sparking”. That’s all I can tell you, except that Bill took it off, and the alternator worked great, better than before. So did the alternator for the port engine. A quick fix – sure, we’ll have to deal with the alternator more seriously at our next long stop, but we were on our way in less than half an hour. Bill, you are amazing.  Will you join us on our travel to the Bahamas?  It just seems that if something big goes wrong with Slow Motion, it will happen when we are far away from a reputable boat yard and a skilled boat repair person like Bill. Not that I want to jinx us, but seriously, how many times does an appliance start working when the repair person shows up?

So there we were, alternators providing plenty of energy to the engine batteries, on our way south again. The marsh lands south of Charleston are full of birds and other unseen critters. The only sounds we heard were the purring of Slow Motion’s engines and some cacaphonous birds fighting over fishing rights. There are some houses along the Stono River, Wadmalaw River, Edisto River (North and South), Dawho River, and Beaufort River, but mostly there’s pristine marshland – I think the sea grasses are the ones used to make the baskets and roses in Charleston and Savannah. Rolling down the river in Slow Motion – there’s nothing better, especially when no lights are flashing on the panel or buzzers going off. That’s what we experienced for eight hours yesterday – with the Admiral watching the depth reader (working beautifully) and steering a course away from shoals and underwater obstructions and me reading, sleeping, and taking over the pilot’s seat when nature called the Admiral. Fortunately, nature calls the Admiral pretty frequently, so I get to sit in the captain’s chair and actually steer Slow Motion at least once an hour. Woohoo! I’m getting pretty good at staying on the magenta line (the ICW line on the chart plotter is magenta), but as the Admiral reminds me, I have to watch the waterway itself and account for the currents, the wind and the shoals as well. Still, my moments “in charge” are great – “ I am the captain of the sea, of the Royal Queen’s Navy” – or am I still “Little Butterfly”? Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore, the operetta, had a huge effect on me as a child.

Yes, I’m actually quite giddy about being on the move again. After our recent experience with planes (to and from California) and cars (up and down the Big Sur Coast), I find that boat travel, Slow Motion travel, is the best for total relaxation and overall pleasure. The scenery cannot be beat. The pace of the travel – 7 to 11 miles an hour – is perfect for sight seeing. The movement itself through the various river waters, channels, cuts and sounds, is calming. I used to think of boating as taking a water ski boat to Lake San Antonio for the weekend and ski boarding behind the boat up and down the lake. That was fun, but so noisy and often ruined by drunken ski boaters or jet skiers. Now boating is days of meandering down quiet waterways, bounded by the loveliest trees, bushes and marsh reeds, not seeing another boat for a day, and letting my mind wander, only to be drawn back to the moment by the antics of a porpoise or a pelican putting on a private show for the Admiral and me. It’s bliss, it’s nirvana, it’s peace, it’s just what the doctor ordered.

If you haven’t planned your trip to join us, sign up now. You will not regret it. Leave the rat race for even just a weekend and you will feel so much better. Our most recent visit, Art’s oldest daughter, Sonja, flew in from Chicago to Charleston. She slept as long as she wanted to and needed to. We walked around Charleston and visited the Farmer’s Market. She went to a power yoga studio. We had a great dinner at a restaurant on the water, The Charleston Crab Company. We had a delicious breakfast (pancakes with blueberries) and a super dinner (salmon) on Slow Motion. We talked, we read, we had time to enjoy each other’s company. And the weekend ended too soon.  You can plan your own schedule. No pressure, no stress. And wherever we are, we promise you that it will be warm and you will sleep well. So make your travel plans now. We would love to see you.