Unlooping - Days 11 - 15

Early departure from Georgetown

Monday, July 29 is day 11 of this unlooping trip and it called for a long outside run to go from Georgetown, SC to Hilton Head Island.  Today's run was the longest single day trip I had made since crossing the Gulf on our initial voyage.  Running down the river from Georgetown was smooth and calm.  We went back into the ocean at the same inlet that we entered yesterday and that was another easy job.  There are remains of a seawall that go about 3 miles out into the ocean that we had to get passed and then it was pretty much a straight run that was 3 to 6 miles off the coast to the Southeast Inlet leading into Hilton Head Island.  This inlet starts nearly 7 miles out from the shoreline and is lined on both sides by very shallow shoals.  This whole section was pretty rough with swells rolling perpendicular to the inbound track, but it finally ended and we got back into the ICW leading to the marina.  I had a FedEx package waiting for me that had the access card to made my DirecTV receiver onboard work again!  Happy days - I have Atlanta stations to watch instead of the over the air local digital stations!!
Today's track and pics - https://www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/1613002/

Arrival at Hilton Head

I think both of these are wrong, but it sure does look scary!!

Rob always wears his Army hat so I had Britt send my USAF cap.  Mine looks more like a Captain!!

Before we leave on the next leg of our trip, we stopped at the fuel dock to fill up and see how much was really left in the tanks.  I put 119 gallons in each tank so instead of what the gauges showed there was 31 left in each side.  With that done, our run today takes us to Tybee Island to see my old friend, buddy and former client Jimmy.  We're making a whole 20 mile run from Hilton Head to get there to see him so I'm sure he knows how special he is to rate a day with less than a 100 miles for a visit!  That's sort of a joke, but it will be nice to have a short day and relax with him.  When we arrived, it took a while to get everything done and a shower was definitely necessary.  Jimmy came to pick us up about 3:30 and we went over to his house to visit for a while.  Then we took a ride around Tybee and went into town after which was dinner at 80 East.  This is an excellent restaurant in an old gas station.
Today's track and pics - https://www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/1614061/

Tybee Lighthouse

Wednesday, July 31 was day 13 of the trip.  We left Tybee at about 7:30 with our box of Krispy Kreme donuts from the marina!  How good does it get!!  We came down the Wilmington River to Wassawi Sound then into the Atlantic.  The forecast had called for light winds and 2 foot seas.  As the day began, we were catching some spray on the windows which lasted for a while until the seas went completely flat.  The majority of the day was just like that and all the way into Saint Mary's Inlet at Fernandina Beach where we turned onto the Amelia River headed to our destination.  This is going to be an effortless 115 mile run and a perfect day - wrong!!  It's day 13!!  So 2 miles away from our destination, in the middle of the channel with 10 feet of water - according to my Navonics charts - we hit the bottom and are aground.  A call to BoatUS has a tow boat coming to get us.  The tide is rising and we get eased off the shoal.  Amazingly nothing is damaged and our arrival at Amelia Island Marina is only delayed by 1½ hours.  The BoatUS captain tells me the charts have been wrong for years, but that's no help to someone who's not familiar  with the area.  Tomorrow I just have to get the rest of the way out of this area with uncharted shoals so we can get to the St John's River and continue south.  
Today's track and pics - https://www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/1617277/

Tybee sunrise

Thunderbolt donuts!

On day 14, we continued the trip on south, past St Augustine and on to Hammock Beach Marina in Palm Coast, FL to see old dock mates from Chattanooga.  Barry and Fran had started the loop about a year after we had.  They were also going slowly down south, but they got caught by Hurricane Michael.  This was the storm that tore right into the panhandle of Florida and caused so much destruction.  They eventually worked their way around that and then began spending extended amounts of time at various locations and ultimately in Palm Coast.  We had a great visit and were treated to an excellent dinner of shrimp and steak.  Fran made chocolate chip cookies for desert and we all stayed up way passed our normal bedtimes talking and laughing.  It would have been nice to stay longer, but after a morning treat of almond croissants, Rob and I continued on our journey.

Today's track and pics - https://www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/1617278/

There were sea birds following us along out in the ocean.

The Chattanooga boats side by side.

Departure from Hammock Beach

Day 15 was a relatively short trip to New Smyrna Beach.  We are stopping here for two days to visit with Regina and Rob's cousin Laurie and her husband Woody.  It was a cloudy, gray morning as we left and by the time we reached the north side of Daytona Beach, the rain was pouring down.  It didn't quit before we reached the City Marina in NSB so that meant docking in the rain.  All that was accomplished without much issue other than the getting quite wet part.  This is the first time in days that we have access to actual working wifi so I was finally able to update my navigation charts and download the ones needed for the remaining part of the return to Chattanooga.  Rob has an old biking friend coming by later so we'll visit with him before walking into town to find a location for dinner.  Today's track and pics - https://www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/1617279/

It was wet in City Marina!