New adventure on Pearl

Pearls first adventure

Wednesday 29th of June 07:00 we left the dock and headed out onto the ICW, it was a lovely day, we were pretty excited and loved every minute. What a change from sailing, Pearl is easy to handle, not the fastest but, sturdy and safe. Lots of room on the flybridge, when the musics on I can’t help the need to dance theres enough room to anyway.

Off we go

Our first fuel and water stop in Savannah Georgia

Hi Don

The guard-rails are high with strong thick stainless rails so the feeling of safety is great. Going below to make a drink or lunch is very easy. Only when we get the fast sports fishers and folks on small boats speeding past do we roll. When we anchor somewhere its very safe standing on the wide pulpit. We bought a new Ultra anchor, as we kept our old one, the company were good to their word a took our old one in part exchange, they gave us back the price we paid for the old one and we just gave them the difference for a larger anchor, 65lb of stainless very shiny steel.

One of the first places we go into is St Johns River then out into Sisters creek, one of the bridges is only 24 feet and our height is 24 feet, so we call the bridge tender to check the height but ask if he will open anyway. No problem and under we go. 

Not planning a swim anytime soon

This lady is very inventive using a beach shade for a sail, rowing too

As we travel the wildlife is everywhere birds of all kinds, large pink birds wade at the waters edge, herons, stalks and pelicans diving for fish. The rivers are teaming with fish and other things lurk below. In so many areas it is very shallow, we draw 4ft plus a bit for all the gear onboard, she’s heavy boat at 52,000 lbs (US). Its a shame many areas are subject to shoaling and all the time we check our depth as we weave from one side to another in places. Its ok as long as you keep following the markers, red on the port side and green on the starboard, the only time it can be confusing is when you come to a big sound or inlet from the sea and the opposites apply, switching from ICW markers to International buoyage. Thankfully we have up to date charts, a Raymarine chartplotter, cruising books, an iPad with a navigation program running and the mobile telephone with another navigation system, so we shouldn’t get lost. 

Along this stretch of the ICW is so pretty

Someone got this badly wrong, stay in the channel its shallow there

Well some folk are different

Others very different

Garden ornaments

Ospreys having a tussle

We pass through many swing and lifting bridges, just wish we didn't miss the opening times so often

We passed through the navy firing range, thankful that they were having a day off, they close the ICW when they fire

As we passed a big tug this guy was working on board

This was the barge, some of them a 2 wide and 6 long

Smashing color

Just love the Ospreys nesting now, can you see the plastic bottle?

We were waiting for a bridge to open and passed close to these, you ought to have heard the one lifting his wings warning us to stay away

At 4 pm we found a creek off the main channel by Jekyll Island and settled down for the night, the middle of no where so quiet and we had a very peaceful night. 

One of the obstacles along the ICW and in the other channels are crab pots everywhere, at least here they are pretty well marked unlike Spain where there is a stick or a small plastic bottle to mark them. 

We have to consider the tides everywhere we go and try to make  use of them for as long as we can so we can get as far north quickly.

 Thursday 30th June, after a good nights sleep we are ready to go, set off at 08:25 back into the Mackay river. This is very shallow in places but we are ok, its a slow passage today of course we take note of the tides and are just trying to get North quickly. Dropped the hook at Crescent river at 14:00 

Friday 1st July, another peaceful night, so pleased we have bug screens and an electric bat!

Lifted at 07:00, making good progress until we reach Hells Gate, very aptly named. Its very a very narrow cut and very very shallow, oh dear we bumped the bottom, so we slowly re traced our steps and head out to sea, this is a first for us on Pearl, she did us proud. 

What didn’t do us proud was the electronic charts, its the first time we have travelled over land on a boat, what!

After picking our way back into the ICW I went below to make a drink turned on the tap nothing, no water, it turns out a hose blew off the pump so 300 gallons gone. What to do next?

So we are now in Georgia, and went to the fuel dock in at The Isle of Hope marina south of Savannah, filled up with fuel and water. Don did his magic again and fixed the hose. As it was getting on in the day we anchored just south of the marina for the night.

Saturday 2nd July. Off we go at 07:00 I called the CBP in Charleston and reported our arrival in Georgia with our licence details thats what we have to do in every state we enter so they can keep an eye on us foreigners lol.

We notice there is no phone service in a lot of these “backwaters” only the VHF for any contact.

Distance travelled 68 nm and settled down in Ashapoo river off Fenwick island in between crab markers, there is a pretty fast running current but at least we are better protected from the strong  wind we had behind the trees.

Sunday 3rd July   South Carolina. Entering Charleston, lots of commercial ships tied up and a paddleboat from Georgia here for repairs. well its the holiday weekend and its manic, every kind of watercraft going as fast as they can, so many near misses I closed my eyes at times. No consideration given to slower craft at all, this is so dangerous. We watched someone coming towards us pretty fast towing a skier, he went into our wake and fell off, the fast boat following him stopped only just in time otherwise the skier would have been minced, very scary stuff. No way did we want to stick around so on we plod. This area is not the deepest of waters and with all the activity about we continued to the Samtee River and dropped the hook again, it was very quiet but we did have some wind.

Monday 4th of July

Yet again mega busy, wow the scenery is stunning in the backwaters, alligators, pink flamingos pelicans squabbling for their food. As we approached more civilisation the celebrations are in full swing. Anyway the only anchorage reachable was Calabash creek, its a very shallow entrance with red markers and confusing to say the least. We tried to get in one way and ran out of water so as we hovered in the creek opposite we asked a tow boat US guy if we could get across the sandbar. This guy sounded out in front of us and took us into the anchorage, he sounded the depth everywhere we might swing and so thats where we stayed for the night. Leaving the next morning on a rising tide. We watched the fireworks but not for long both of us pretty tired.

Just a little snooze, drink in hand, didn't spill a drop

Well it is July 4th, should we tell anyone we are British?

Shrimp boat in Calabash creek just pulled up his nets

Tuesday 5th July    North Carolina

We have a rising tide and want to make as much distance as we can now. Lots of bridges with timed opening times, why do we always just miss one by 5 minutes and have to wait? When we reached Wrightsville Beach bridge the lady bridge tender said it would be another 45 minutes so enough of that for today. In we went to the anchorage, what we didn’t know there were small yacht races planned and for about 4 hours 3 different classes of yachts weaved in an out some of them with spinnakers headed right for us. 

Exciting but scary at times it was pretty windy here they were going along pretty fast. Anyway we had a good night except the battery alarm went off at 04:30 so out came the books and on went the generator. 

Wednesday 6th July  North Carolina

An early start to go through the bridge before 7, they open on demand before 7 am. More low bridges and sill opening times so the delay today was a pain, probably 2 and a half hours. Anyway we had done 64 nm today and had tried a couple of anchorages so in we go to the first marina at Spooners Creek. Wow a small place with big houses here. The showers are great, it has a swimming pool which we didn’t bother with, paid 1.50$ per foot which included electric and water. Filled up with fuel @ 2.25 $ a gallon. It was a mile walk to Walmart where we provisioned well then caught a taxi back. Only drawback it didn’t have a laundry and the Wifi is rubbish. Anyway we stayed 2 nights.

Friday 8th July   

Not travelled far, just 14 nm and as the laundry  desperately need to be done we pulled into a small creek and marina named Sea Gate Marina. However its pretty shallow and I think we may have been just inches away from the mud. Managed to do 3 laundry loads, there is only one washer and one dryer so it took a while, at 75 cents for the washer and 1 $ for the dryer thats great.

Saturday 9th July

Had to wait until 11:45 when we had 5 ft of water before we left so our time was spent cleaning and sorting out stuff. 

Reversed very carefully back onto the river.

This area of the sound is huge, and we are heading into Oriental, friends have recommended we come here. Before we came in as we passed 35 deg north we both yelled yeah made it in time so the insurance company should be happy now.

Anchored outside the bridge at Oriental in 8ft of water but its very soft mud. Oriental is a small cute place, not a lot here at all, the fish shack was just closing and doesn’t open until Thursday typical. Small shrimp boats surround us and pass pretty close by for a few hours, the large shrimp boats don’t seem to have gone out yet. We went ashore to the Provisions place to try to buy a new ensign as ours is falling to bits but no luck maybe West marine has one somewhere.
There is a ships store here that loans bikes, great so we made use of them, its the first time I have rode a bike with backward peddling brakes hate it, managed to get my legs in a right mess. Next time I'm walking or get the 3 wheeler with a brake.
As we entered behind the breakwater we saw a trawler coming out, it was another Ocean Alexander classic like us, there were only 3 made of this model so we have seen one of the sister ships, weird or what?

The sister ship but the crane and stairs are on the opposite side, we have a bench seat and steps up from the swim platform.

There is a coffee place named “The Bean”with open Wifi so this is where I’m posting this from. Almost forgot, we now have a crane to lift the dinghy and a much better lift for the outboard engine, works great so far, much easier getting off the boat now with the big swim platform. The engine started second time so all is well there. 

Here we are at anchor

Looks like we will be here a few days longer as we found a Raymarine place to change the MMSI on our Epirb, AIS and our handheld VHF, its so big brother and all can keep an eye on us lol.

Right enough for now until the next blog post from who knows where.

its BFN from Glenys and Don on Pearls new Adventure.

The story of our hunt for a trawler and finding Pearl.

The story of our hunt for a trawler and finding Pearl.

The list of our requirements for our new boat was easy for us but finding one that came close was another thing. Only when the money was in the bank from Agua Therapy could we make an offer on anything. So we looked at boats locally at first then much further afield on both coasts of Florida, as far North as Annapolis, Chesapeake, even went into Tennessee, lets just say we drove all over the place to find something.

Our list of boats was Defever several models, we checked out Symbol, Heritage East, Grand Banks and Seahorse. Some fitted the bill, none of which we could say yes thats the boat for us. Only when we were driving back to Fort Lauderdale on the east coast did we go to take a look at the last boat in Jacksonville.

On the list of boats the broker provided us with was just one that I had discounted as the photographs showed the galley as being “down below”. Anyway as we were passing anyway we went to Jacksonville Beach before heading back to Florida.  There she sat, an Ocean Alexander 48 Classic 2006 looking very loved.

The local broker we had arranged to meet said he couldn’t get there until very late and we still had a long drive in front of us so when we drove into the car park we could see the largest dock with 2 boats, one of which was ‘Pearl’.

Luckily the door was open and there was a mechanic on board so after talking to the broker we went onboard.

The galley was badly photographed on the brokers listing and its not down below at all.

Pearl ticks about 95% of our wants and she has obviously been pretty well maintained and not too many engine hours. 2 Yanmar engines at 240 hp. 

You can see the photographs to save me from writing too much here.

At the time we were staying in a house in one of our favourite places Naples Florida a couple of hours from Fort Lauderdale.

As we had left Agua Therapy which was all signed we were in a position to make an offer subject to a survey and sea trial. This was arranged for the following week so it was all go.

Just before we left we met up with friends for breakfast and a special dinner.

Had a smashing time together at dinner at Fort Lauderdale

Dear friends Pete and Liz

The survey went well, so did the sea trail, she was lifted out so we could check out the hull and propellers. Both of us had a little drive and were impressed just how well she drives.

Naples is a 5-6 hour drive from Jacksonville beach so thats what we did, drove backwards and forwards as necessary to sign contracts and organise things.

A walk along the side roads, very nice houses and gardens some with ornaments

On the main street sculptures 

Just love this place 

A croc not gator wearing Crocs 

Looks pretty grumpy being tied up what do you expect

Great place for carb and shrimp

When the final contracts were signed in Fort Lauderdale we made arrangements take all our possessions which were in store in Fort Lauderdale up to Pearl in Jacksonville. No mean feat believe me, how the heck we gathered so much “stuff”and store it on Agua Therapy we will never know. One huge Chevy Suburban stacked from floor to ceiling and towing a 5ft x 8 ft trailer also full was what it took plus an exhausting trip up to Jacksonville. The drawback when you tow is a 55mph speed limit. So although it wasn’t a direct route we drove back to the house in Naples for the night. The following day off we go for the 7 hour ish drive to Jacksonville beach.

Now, here we are there with all our possessions which then had to be unloaded that day as both the car and trailer had to be back the next day. So in very hot temperatures around 100 deg F we managed to get everything on board most in the flybridge in big boxes. For the following 2 weeks we unpacked and stowed away all of it. Some things we donated and other things we can sell later, the remainder we will use.

So, here we are, now settled on board our new baby ‘Pearl’.  As we both like the name, we have kept it.

The crane which will make our dinghy lifting so much easier

Nice comfy bed but a little high I need a step lol

Forward cabin

Yes we need steps for this helm too

Pearl getting lifted at the survey

These photos are a mix of ones taken before we bought her and during the survey

All was well except 2 days after we moved on the main air conditioning pump failed so we sat baking in between 95 and 104 deg f melting for almost a week. 

As we registered Pearl in the UK we knew there was going to be a little wait for the registration papers to arrive so after 2 weeks we called the registry, they said they hadn’t had an application, thats weird as they had taken our payment but had no record. So after a week of trying to get things sorted we paid another £50 to get one sent the following day to Viviens in Plymouth. Hmm when it arrived she opened it and it was for a different boat, what!

The supervisor, or manager said that it would be sorted out quickly and eventually it was sent to Vivien and she Fedexed it to Jacksonville, almost 4 weeks.  Very annoying as we couldn’t get a cruising licence until we had it and the insurance company need us to be around or above 35 deg North before July 15th, thats quite a long way at 6 - 8 knots. 

Anyway the day before we left the pump arrived Don worked his magic and we managed to be comfortable for a little while. So, paperwork done, here and we are ready to go, sort of.   The minor snags and little jobs to be done later.

Next blog the is the first stage of our journey North, a new experience for us on the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway)  I can’t put it into words how excited we were.

Ok enough said.

BFN

Glenys and Don on Pearl

Pearl, new beginnings, new systems.

Here is Pearl our new home, new systems to learn with new beginnings.

Pearl, our new motor yacht, well she's not new, 2006 the same year as our old boat Agua Therapy.

Pearl has 2 engines, nothing too big, 2 x Yanmar 240 HP turbo's, no sports cruiser and not much faster than A.T.  but just fast enough for us. Can't see the point of doing what we are doing and missing things.



48 foot but from the anchor to the swim platform she's 50ft
Yes she has a mast without the flappy things, it drops down so we can get under low bridges.

The draft is 4ft so now we can go to places that we couldn't before and maybe have more protection when we get into some of the anchorages.

We have plans to improve / change a few things, mind you she is pretty much ready to move without doing much.

Getting all our personal things from Fort Lauderdale that are in store is the first job and storing it all is a task involving renting a car to pull a covered trailer. Its a long drive to Jacksonville where the boat is. Having said that there is so much storage space on Pearl it means I can go shopping for more shoes / clothes, just joking and Don is giving me "the look".

Learning about the new systems and how to dock and moor is going to be fun (hopefully not expensive) but we had a twin screw before but that was only 38ft with better visibility.

This is just a little info for you so BFN until the next post.

Glenys and Don on Pearls new adventure