ARMADILLOS, BEACHES, RUINS AND WILD HORSES

We were SO excited to get to Cumberland Island, Georgia!

One of our all-time favourite places!  Cumberland Island is an amazing barrier island with great beaches on one side and a live-oak forest on the other.  There is nothing commercial on the island, but it was once the home of the Carnegies, and quite the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

The island was given away in trust to create this amazing park and  all that remains of the Carnegie Family Homes and their lifestyle are some crumbling mansions.

Cumberland Island is not your typical place.  It can be reached only by private boat or ferry.               There is a campground that is booked up over a year in advance but the only services are toilets and cold water showers.  There is a maximum of 300 people allowed at a time on the island (It is 20 miles long and up to 5 miles wide)   People bring in their food, firewood and pack their garbage back with them.   If you arrive by private boat you anchor for free and pay $4 per person for 7 days on the island.  One of the best bargains  you will ever find! 

Annie and Schooner loved getting off the boat for an entire day,   I walked over 7 miles through the trees, as John practiced his TARZAN moves with Annie all tucked in.  

We found some wild oranges,   a few Armadillos who posed for us and  got pretty close to some wild horses.








This is my first look at a wild Armadillo.  Schooner was great at hearing them and alerting us  to their presence. I was so excited - I ran up to take a photo and then realized it looked like a giant RAT  with armour plating.  - If you know me and rats,  you will imagine how excited I was about that!

I was much more thrilled to come upon some of Cumberland Island's  famous Wild Horses.  
Wasn't it awesome of them to pose  for me! 

John was  pretty happy to find this tree of oranges.  We sat down to have a juicy snack by the ruins but found the oranges as sour as lemons!  

TO THE BEACH!

We took the dogs back to the boat and headed a couple miles across the island to the beach for some beach combing.  It was pretty cold and windy,  but incredible to have miles of pristine beach all to ourselves. 

  

John found this perfect Sand Dollar and tons of  Horseshoe Crab Skeletons. 

                             IT JUST DOSN'T GET ANY BETTER 

                        THAN A DAY ON CUMBERLAND ISLAND!

DOLPHINS, CATS AND AMAZING HOMES!

AS we headed South from Charleston we went through an old bascule bridge.  We radio and ask for a bridge opening, and  Open Sesame!

Pretty Cool.      

   

We anchored out again, and as we left our anchorage on the Frederica river,  we passed a fisherman emptying his pots, and  look at the friend right there to help him!

 






This is where we started to see more and more dolphins!  Unfortunately they are so quick they are hard to photograph! 

Do we  EVER get tired of watching dolphins?   NO! 

 DON'T MIX UP YOUR BEAUFORTS!!
After another  beautiful anchor out we arrived in Beaufort, South Carolina (pronounced BEW-FIRT)  not to mixed up with Beau-fort, (Bow-Fort) North Carolina)   The locals told us to help us remember the correct pronunciation, remember that Beaufort South Carolina is Beautiful!


Isn't this just the  most peaceful picture ever?  Well, Red Sky at night isn't always Sailors Delight!   Our plan was to stay in Beaufort for 2 days, stock up on supplies and wander around and look at the amazing southern architecture.  Mother Nature had a different idea  and we ended up almost a week  waiting for better weather.  The night I took this photo we had 35 knot wind gusts,  and opposing wind and current so it was a really long long night with John staying up all night on anchor watch!   John is happy to report that his hours of research into his new Rocna anchor paid off and we now have complete confidence in the holding power of our anchor!

We had plenty of time to mix work and pleasure and boat maintenance in Beaufort!   People were friendly and the dogs were welcomed in all the shops!  













This is one of the most unique light fixtures I have ever seen.  Made out of 160 Silver t-spoons, and only $1600.00   Do you think I can collect that many spoons at garage sales and get John to make me one?

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

Now when you get to Georgia, you know you are really in the south!  
People do look at me funny when I tell them my name is Dixie Dee and have not a lick of Southern accent!

Georgia is full of   Incredible trees,   beautiful homes and real Southern Accents.

As we headed to Savannah, Georgia we encountered more weather and so we unexpectedly ducked in to a marina to tie up on the dock for a night.

We ended up at ISLE OF HOPE marina, which  was kind of serendipitous because right on the same dock was the Catamaran Dixie had been drooling over for quite some time.


So, before we left we took a look all through "Solitude Seeker" - the only Lagoon 440 for sale in the world with a modified mast height to go under the ICW bridges.    It had been just left there 2 years earlier when the owner got sick, so needed a little TLC.    It was fun to look at - So, now we have seen it we will HOPE it is still for sale in a year or so when we are ready to upgrade!



I took advantage of being on land and took a 7 mile walk around town and snapped photos of some great southern homes on the water font.  All the sudden I came to . . . .   Well lets  just see if you can guess which home I didn't think  belonged with the others!

Love to hear your comments on which is your favourite home!  

 

ON THE DOCK ALREADY!

Well, after our published intention of being yachties,  the very next night we ended up at a Marina near Charleston called Patriots Point.    We  had an alternator issue and weren't sure our batteries were charging.  So,  on the dock we went to get everything fixed up.  - And, since we had some bad weather forecast - Dixie didn't complain!.

We walked around a local hotel and saw the most amazing exhibit of a man's collection  big game fishing gear from the early 1900's   So,  we finally found someone with a bigger wall of fishing rod's than John's Dad has!     So, for all you fishermen -  these pics are for you.

John did manage to fix everything himself and we were off  bright and early the next morning.  

ESCAPING WINTER?

January 16th we  finally left Myrtle Beach and were we ever glad to get off the dock and on our way!  Check us out wearing our over-the-glasses polaroids that Lisa gave us a while ago as a gag gift.  They are perfect for our trip - we think they are totally awesome!

What a great feeling to be on our way, despite the fact it is way too cold to be on a boat with no heat! Lucky for us, John found a great deal on an electric "throw" blanket that we can use at night on battery power.  It  has been the best purchase we have made so far!  

OUR FIRST ANCHOR OUT! 

We stopped for the night and anchored for the night in the Waccamaw River.  John was pretty excited about using his new Rocna anchor for the first time.  We finally felt like we were really  the "yachties" or "cruisers" we aspired to be.

Maybe its time for our  definition of the term Yachtie since I will be using it in our blog.  

  YACHTIE / CRUISER
 A yachtie is NOT someone who owns or operates an expensive yacht.  Quite the contrary.  In our verbiage Yachtie,  synonimous  with  "cruiser"  refers to people who live aboard their boats as self-sufficiently as possible.  You find cruisers and yachties anchored out,  with wind generators and solar panels always "making do"  and  giving a hand to each other in fixing, repairing their boats etc.,  Yachtie's always find the best deals and figure  how to fix things themselves, and the cheapest way to accomplish  something whether it be the  best dollar breakfast on-shore,  to where all the  hidden anchorages are.  Yachties  befriend each other, and form  an instant community where ever they are - always ready to help a fellow yachtie or  show them the ropes when they arrive.      
So,  stay tuned to our blog and see how good we do at being yachties.  Do you think we can live a yachtie lifestyle?  Your comments are appreciated.

GETTING SOUTH TO THE BOAT

We started off our adventure with a 24 hour drive from  Nova Scotia  to spend a wonderful Christmas with John's family in Ontario.

 Annie and Schooner travelled all snuggled up together and  we were lucky to have good roads the whole way!

We attended  a lovely Christmas Eve Church service and then Christmas Day Dinner followed by  a fun white elephant gift exchange a great dinner and lots of laughs!

Dad is protecting His Fishing Pole from being
"stolen" in the white Elephant Game

While we were in Ontario,  Dixie tried  to learn to play  pepper, got some great new recipes and found out a lot about John's Family History!  And with Skype we were able to see and talk to all the family and kids and Grandkids over Christmas as well! 

It was a really fun week and we were so glad to have been able to spend it with family.  Next we drove to Ohio in time for a fun New Years with  Dixie's brother Derek and Family,  then kept driving until we finally arrived  in Myrtle Beach January 4th where John and Brian had left Simplify.    

We arrived just in time for record breaking low temperatures. So much for our attempt to escape winter -  who would have thought it would have been  colder in South Carolina than Canada? 
Despite   the COLD, we enjoyed our time getting ready for heading south.  
A big thanks to Mom Apfeld, for her hand-knitted hat gifts!  They sure came in handy!

When we  got to Simplify,  we opened a wonderful gift  that had been delivered there for us from  Daniel and Erin.   We feel like we are on a yacht wearing  our  spa style "Simplify" robes.  

Now we are ready to sail off in style with our trusty mascots Annie and Schooner.

As Brian has passed the blog "torch" back to me,  

I can't begin before posting

A Huge Thank You to Brian!   

A True Friend and Sailor who has been with us on most our adventures.   

Brian not only took on the first mate duties while Dixie stayed home

He signed on for the coldest/worst weather  legs of the trip

He kept up the blog 

and Brian did everything with a smile 

(and his cell phone)  

Brian - You are the Best!