This picture got misplaced but we saw this geodysc dome floating down the ICW. He had a 9 horse power motor on the raft and he lived on it in the ICW. Amazing!!!
Here I am walking down the beach at Bimini, The Bahamas. We are in Port Lucaya on The Grand Bahama Island but I want to write my sailing blog in chronological order so the pictures start back on the ICW. More pictures of The Bahamas to come.
This is a rainy day and a typical fishing boat you would see with a typical building on the shore, actually I think this is a restaurant.
Here is our VHF radio. If you want to call any of the marinas or Yacht Clubs you do it on 68, usually. When just cruising you leave it on 16 for emergency calls. If you're going through bridges you turn it on to 09 or 13, the bridge masters would be listening on them. Our AIS is hooked up to this too, that shows us the big boats, the container ships, military ships, etc. AIS stands for ....I don't know. I'll have to look it up.
A lot of homes have these very long docks and little porches at the end in front of their homes. They would have a sink too for cleaning fish and a hydroulic lift to lift their boat out of the water.It was pretty handy.
Heading down the ICW you often have a bunch of boats infront of you or behind you heading down the ICW. Doesn't this Cat look like a spaceship? 
This is not an eagle in this nest, it's a seagull but it is an eagle's nest on one of the red buoys. Cleaver birds, eh, to have such a secluded area for their nest, no one can reach them except by boat?
This is one of the BEAUTIFUL homes on the ICW.
Sheila this made me think of you paddling in Hawaii. I have never seen a picture of the boat that you paddle in, is it like this?
This a beautiful custom made steel boat we saw along the way. It isn't a Bruce Robert's like our boat. It is a Ketch not a sloop. A Ketch has 2 masts the mizzen is to the aft and it's smaller than the main mast, if it's before the steering stationg it's a Ketch, aft of the steering station and it's a Yawl. This is actually a Yawl. Our's is a sloop with one mast. It could be a Cutter if we put our Stay Sail up and had two fore sails stays.
As we are going by these posts can you tell if it's high tide or low or inbetween. Which way is the current flowing?
Here we are heading to this little bay to anchor. Skipper Bob in his book, "Anchorages on the ICW" he says this is a good anchorage. Other boats we have met along the way, "Brilliant" and "Sun Cast" are here too we can see them already anchored. We are slowly motoring around to check out the depth and pick our spot and ...wham...you're right....we're aground. We affectionaltely call The Swan, Sandbar Magnet. So we try to rock and roll out of it and finally put up the sail so we are tilted enough to get off the bottom and get to hell out of that area. We did find a nice place to anchor and dropped the hook and settled in for the night. Roman and Olya, the people on Sun Cast said they met you last year on the ICW.
The houses are one story off the ground level because of floods.
Here's a fixer upper for us. We could make a business out of this one.
Another Fishing boat called "Southern Lady". We saw a lot of fishing boats.
I love older delapidated buildings. To me they tell stories of people they have housed and lives that have been lead in them and near them.
Another different kind of fishing boat. This is one takes tourists out. Note the name "Aquaholic" I thought that was clever.
Ohhhh, ohhhh, this guy didn't make it home last night. It actually looked like it had been there for quite a while.
This is a sunset along a canal. It's hard to remember exactly where we are but I know it's narrow and probably a canal ....or a river. We stopped at Skull Creek Marina for refuel in Hilton head. I was listening to CDs from Mariposa Folk Festival on my CD walkman, I haven't graduated to an Ipod yet...my walkman still works and that's all I need. People I thought of while I was daydreaming and steering and birdwatching: Hi to Mom, Doris, Sarah and Kate. Deb, listening to Mariposa makes me think of you. Are you going to the folk festival this summer in 2010? Thinking of you Bonnie and thankyou for the tea cups and whiskey glasses and salt and pepper shakers, Nip/Tuck, Sopranos, etc.....I really enjoy them all. I get to do lots of birdwatching all day long, makes me think of Don Walker, Birdman Dave and Valerie.
What a great reflection, I was lucky to get this pic.
Oh, I remember this place, Myrtle Beach. We stayed on the wall here. We thought it would be free, we read it would be but now it cost 1.50 a foot and we're 43 feet long. No showers, just a wall and electricity. We went for a wee shop at the little mall right beside the boat and had wings and beer and a Sport's Bar. I can't remember which Bar. There were lots. This is a picture of a gondola going over to the golf course and the golf bags are in carriers on either side of the gondola.
This a hazy morning on the ICW. You can see in the distance a bridge so we have to call that bridge on 09 and request their opening time. Some were on request and some had definite times to open. Some swang open and some lifted up and fixed bridges were high enough for us to go under.
Just showing you what it looks like to us a the wheel, looking through our forward window. Now we have the plexi glass out because it's too warm not to have a breeze blowing through. In the mornings the windows would be covered with very heavy dew and we had a squeggy to clear them off and had to do it a dozen time before they would dry up and the sun would come up.
Here we are coming up to the most beautiful bridge on the ICW. Very classy. It was a draw bridge. Get on that VHF on 09, we're coming up to a Bridge, "St. Andrew's Bridge, St. Andrew's Bridge, this is the Swan. We are a sailing vessel approaching from the North. When will you be open?"
See the Spanish Moss in these treas. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. Places we passed were: Bull Island, Haig Point, Cooper River, Daufuskie Island, Melrose Landing and Jones Landing.
Are we in Georgia yet? There aren't state signs telling you when you are leaving a state and entering a state. We can tell by looking at the charts but no land signs. Birdwatching was awesome, I saw Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Turkey Vultures. We passed and met boats during the day, "Second Wind" a red Bayfield from South Carolina on the Skidaway River.
This was the beautiful and peaceful looking place. The sign says Osprey Marina and Grill. In the middle of no where in this swamp was this cute little marina. We were totally surrounded by trees. A young couple were fishing at the mouth of the little waterway that went into the Marina. Last night Anthony and I played Scrabble, we play Scrabble or Crib or Backgammon every night. One game a night. He won 137 to 136, man soooo close.
I'm listening to my tunes and loving the scenery. Kate and Rich thanks for the hoodie, it came in handy a lot. I got these great sun glasses that are bifocals. They are so handy. I could read the chartfinder and have glasses on at the sametime. I love them. I bought them in Beaufort, NC.
This is a buoy with a nest on it and a ladder on it. Very interesting buoy. I must be in Georgia, it says on the chart that Savanna is down this river coming up.
It's getting warmer, tanktop day. I got these reading glasses in Beaufort too.
Man, he has his shirt off, it must be hot. He has my glasses on.
These are solar panels on the back of our boat. We have 5 of them and they give us enough electricity from the sun to run our refrigeration system, lights at night, a bit of TV and 12 volt fans on the boat and my computer. The little white disc is our TV antenna. Most of the time we can't get anything so we watched DVDs of movies and TV series, Nip/Tuck, Heroes, Sopranos and The Tudors.
Now there is a happy Captain.
We dropped anchor this evening in the middle of no where in a marsh so big you saw marsh as far as you could see in all directions. The ICW is very windy here but there are lots of birds. This immature pelican was looking for fish from us....I think he thought we were a fishing boat. He hung around for a very long time, then the sun went down and was gone.
This looks like a morning shot, we're cold with many layers on. The mornings are very cool. Mom I put baby powder on our bed and opened all the ports to air out the aft....makes me think of someone else that uses powder and airs out their room, you Mom.
Another rainy day. We had a bit of rain here and there. We just put foul weather gear on and kept going.
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