Tortuga Tour Day 53-56: The Final Chapter
6/11/21
Destination today is to go as far as we can and anchor. We are now in Georgia and feeling a push to get back to home port, in this final chapter of our Tortuga Tour. This voyage has been everything we hoped for and then some. We wish you could all have come along in person, but we are so happy to be able to share the journey through words and pictures.
The alarm went off early. Traveling on the ICW is much more peaceful when you get an early start. You can really appreciate the natural world and the Georgia winding marsh rivers offer so much.
When we leave early, coffee gets made after the anchor is pulled and we are underway. The Captain was opening the engine room for his pre-departure checks while I finished dressing. He opened, made a comment, and called me to look down into the engine room.
This is not part of the normal routine.
I was not prepared for what I saw. The captain will explain in his comments. I know enough about the engine space to realize immediately that our departure would be delayed. Remember flexibility, patience, plan changes, be prepared – good rules in general and necessary for boating. Our young crew usually wake between 11:30 and 12:00pm. They were puzzled when they came out of their room to find us still anchored. We finally left at 12:45pm.
We motored all afternoon and settled on an anchorage in Wally’s Leg just off the ICW. The one thing none of us appreciate about winding through the beautiful marshes of Georgia are the big, biting flies. Most of our time on the water we have been traveling with the doors and windows open to get air flow and save having to run the generator. The flies and heat finally pushed us to do just that. The remainder of our ride was much more comfortable and pleasant. We did have to swat several flies.
Two boats anchored – Betty Lou and Rocking Chair(sailboat). They had also been at Cumberland Island. It was so peaceful here especially when we turned off the generator. We saw our first alligator of the trip before the sun set.
6/12/21
We want to get as close to Port Royal today as we can so that we can arrive in Port Royal in time to start the cleaning up process.
We did leave before coffee. There were no more surprises in the engine room. We made good progress today through the winding ICW.
Along the way we passed Rocking Chair. They had left earlier than us from the anchorage. By late afternoon thunderstorms were forming. There was a huge one threatening us, but we thought it might move away from us.
No such luck! In our old Betty Lou, we were struck by lightning once. It’s not an experience we ever want again! This storm brought heavy rain and wind and made visibility very poor. Four sets of eyes were needed to spot other boats and markers. The Captain also slowed down to almost idle speed. There is no side of the road to pull over to. After about 10 or 15 minutes, the storm let up.
We continued and debated stopping at the Isle of Hope Marina in the Savannah area but decided to go a bit further and anchor. We settled on Herb Creek where we had anchored once before several years ago. Another storm was approaching so we made the right choice. It was not remote like Wally’s Leg but a pleasant anchorage and not far off the ICW. The remainder of the evening was quiet and restful.
6/13/21
We had another early start – the Captain and the Admiral. The rest of the crew slept in again. We pulled anchor and then the Captain decided to steer from the flybridge. It was a beautiful morning after the deluge last night. We did appreciate the freshwater rinse. I made coffee and took up a cup for each of us. We haven’t made much use of the flybridge this trip, but this morning it was the perfect place to be. The temperature was refreshing instead of steamy hot. There was a breeze and not the 15 plus knot winds that have been with us often on this trip. The passing scenery was pleasing, quiet, natural, and included birds and dolphins. We sat up there for close to an hour and then needed breakfast and more coffee.
The morning was easy, and we would be in Port Royal by early afternoon. We were making great time with the wind and current in our favor. The rest of our crew woke just before noon with time enough to eat and then help get ready for docking. We always get the lines and fenders ready before we arrive. This avoids scrambling at the last minute and all the problems that result from being unprepared. The Captain wanted the three black fenders in the usual places and he wanted a ball on the bow and one on the stern.
All went well until I tried to tie the ball onto the stern. We were still moving at about 7.5 knots and with the combined force of wind, choppy water, and the speed we were moving pulled the ball away from me – a first! Fortunately, the ball floats. I hollered to Fred that I’d lost the ball. He turned the boat around and Miriam and Phoebe directed him towards the ball while I got the boat hook. As he slowly came alongside the ball, I hooked the line well enough so Phoebe could grab it and pull the ball in. Whew! We call this a “man overboard” drill. Our teamwork saved the ball. An actual person overboard would require the same kind of teamwork. It’s also very important for one person to keep a constant eye on whatever or whoever went overboard.
When we arrived at the marina, we learned there was another boat temporarily in our slip, so we had to tie up in a different spot. Due to the wind and current, we asked for assistance from the marina staff. Each of us on board had an assignment and the docking was near perfect!
It was a wonderful, adventurous, and satisfying two-month voyage, and now it felt great to be back in our home port. The memories will last forever!!
6/14/21
Back in our own slip
Clean inside and out
All the covers in place
A Happy Crew!
Captain’s Comments: The Final Chapter
Unpleasant surprises are never a good thing, especially on a boat. I check the engine room and mechanical equipment each day before we start. I take log readings and check the engine room periodically while we’re under way. I’m not as good at checking the engine room after we’re anchored. Sometime before we anchored at Cumberland Island, the serpentine belt on the main engine started to split apart. Debris from the serpentine belt damaged the seawater pump belt. While neither had completely failed, such failure was clearly imminent when I opened the engine room door in the morning prior to departure from Cumberland Island—see the pictures of debris. If I had inspected the engine room on arrival, I would have known there was a problem and could have addressed it earlier, with less impact on our travel plans.
This was the first (and only) mechanical failure during our trip. Happily, I had invested in spare belts, so we had the parts we needed to make a repair at anchor, but I had never changed belts on the Cummins engine before, so there was a learning curve involved. The instructions make it sound so easy to stretch the new seawater pump belt into place using the handy installation tool. After getting both new belts installed and cleaning up the mess created by the old belts, we got under way—later and sweatier than planned.
As the Admiral mentioned, we both love cruising through the beauty of the Georgia low country marsh grass rivers. The rest of the afternoon helped put the repair behind us. The further north we went, the more familiar we were with the waterways from our previous time docked at Isle of Hope. It was starting to feel like home.
On approach to Port Royal, we heard from our dock neighbor Russ that another boat was in our spot, so that meant a temporary tie-up while that boat was moved and then we moved Betty Lou to her home slip.
Captain’s Epilogue:
Home. We were, and we are. We were at home on Betty Lou. Last night, we slept in Rock Hill—at home. We loved our time at home on Betty Lou, but it is good to be back in Rock Hill (even though the floor keeps moving in the dark). With the windows open this morning, we heard the birds and smelled the flowers in our back yard, and we’re starting to go about the business of being land dwellers once more.
Our goals for this trip were several—spend time with family/visit my parents in Ft. Myers, enjoy cruising on Betty Lou, appreciate this beautiful world (including some skin diving), and tour the Dry Tortugas. We met all these goals, though not the way originally planned. To allow us to wait out the persistent east winds and high seas, we adjusted our plan by holding up at anchor in the keys prior to crossing to the Dry Tortugas. Though we explored the keys less than we had hoped, this change had the benefit of allowing Adriane to travel with us when we later went to the Dry Tortugas. We moved our rendezvous for the next crew change from Key Largo to Marathon, which ended up matching a weather window that allowed for some reef skin diving with Miriam and Phoebe. As I’ve said previously, weather always rules, and flexibility is key.
We spent 60 nights in a row sleeping on Betty Lou. 25 of these were at anchor and 35 in a marina. Of the marina nights, 6 were at Port Royal, either preparing for departure or cleaning up on return, and 10 were in Ft. Myers while visiting my parents. For us, 50/50 seems like a good target. Our longest durations anchoring without stopping at a marina were 6 nights (with 3 people), 5 nights (with 2 people and no contact with dry land), and 4 nights (with 4 people). Our water supply was adequate (the extra 42 gallons in portable containers wasn’t strictly necessary, but I’m glad we took it) and our holding tank capacity was never challenged. Note that we used fresh water for a few loads of laundry, showers, and anchor washdowns.
We traveled 1520 nautical miles (or 1748 statute miles). That’s a little more than driving from Rock Hill to Flagstaff, AZ.
We put 246 hours on the main engine, and 86 hours on the generator.
The main engine reported use of 583.6 gallons of fuel. The generator should have used less than 43 gallons, based on run time, for a max total fuel use of 627 gallons. We started with about 300 gallons. We bought 375 in St. Lucie (at $2.31/gal) and 113 gallons in Titusville (at $3.16/gal—prices varied widely!), for a total of 488 purchased. We finished with 169 indicated on the gauges, which equates to 619 gallons used—pretty close to the estimate of 627 (the generator probably used less than I calculated, and the gauges seem to read low at lower tank levels). All in, we averaged about 2.4 nautical miles/gal for the trip, which is a little better than I had expected. With our 600 gallon capacity, that almost puts a round trip to the Turks and Caicos within reach of the US without refueling.
We learned a bunch on this trip. We packed too many clothes (I packed 3 pair of long pants, and only wore a pair one day). Shoes seem to magically reproduce on board. Our recycle and garbage storage is too small. We learned to use rags instead of paper towel, and ended up with more than half our starting inventory. We didn’t use the bikes we hauled along enough to justify the effort. The refrigerator needs defrosting about every 3 or 4 weeks. We took too much wine. But next trip, we’ll bring more rum and tonic. And lime.
If you’ve read this far, you might be as crazy as we are. The Admiral picked up 2 months of mail at the post office this morning, and 95% immediately went into recycling. We’ll go to choir rehearsal this evening—in person! We’ll do the laundry, weed the garden, meet with friends that we’ve missed, and tend to a list of house projects. All good stuff.
But I’m already missing the lap of the waves against the hull, the stars shining in a dark sky, and sunrise at anchor with a hot cup of coffee.
Peace
fks