Jekyll Island to Skidaway Island

We stayed at Jekyll Island for a couple days. It was here that we learned how to communicate in the south. People here are very friendly and you will always get a "How y'all doin?" We would reply "Very well, thank you, how about yourself?" With that we got a quizical look and silence, so we thought we must be saying something wrong. We were determined to get to the bottom of this, so the next time we came across some people, we were the first to give the greeting. Mike said "How y'all doin?" and their replay was "Fiiiine" followed by "It's hot for sure though." Next people it was Kim's turn, "How y'all doin?" their reply "Goooood" followed by "Those clouds might make a visit." So we tried it out, when anyone asked how we were doing, we'd say Fiiiiine or Goood, and we got a smile in return and sometimes even a conversation. It was also here that we found out about Delegal Creek Marina and decided to give it a shot. We had asked about staying at Jekyll Island Marina because we wanted to stay in Georgia, but there was a long waiting list for long term transients, so we decided to head on to Skidaway Island and Delegal Creek Marina.

So here we are a Delegal Creek Marina in Savannah, Georgia working and saving money. We are getting alot of improvements done to the boat, like replacing all the port windows, replacing all all the hatch lexan and revarnishing the teak. We are also working on a new hot water heater, new showers, faucets and sinks, the list goes on. In the next posts we will show you a few pictures of the surrounding area, which is beautiful, and some of the improvements we have made.

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas, Cheers from Mike and Kim on Ka'imi

See VIDEO Of Conception Island

Click here to see the video of Conception Island.

Tiger Point Marina, Fernandino Beach, FL

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Before we left on our road trip we made sure Ka'imi was safely hauled out and ready for the work to begin. The travel lift had a flat tire so they were not able to haul us out until the next day. They never power washed to bottom we had to do it by hand when we came back from South Carolina so we could get started on the sanding and painting. You can see the black creosole on the sides of Ka'imi from Seafarer's Marina which was very hard to remove. The water line is tape that was also very hard to remove, you can see where it had already started peeling off. That happened at soon as we launched in St. Martin, we used old tape :(.

Before they hauled us out, we gave them a picture of where to put the straps - but they obviously didn't use the picture because they broke the cable that goes from the keel to the skeg. We we asked him about it, the owner said oh ya, what do you have that on there for and do you want us to put it back? We thought a moment and said ---"YEESSS, we would please like you to put it back that way it was. It will hopefully protect our prop and strut from crab pot lines. Thank you very much." The lift bay is very shallow at low tide, and since they could not get our boat out right away, you see the mud on the rudder and skeg where Ka'imi had sat in the mud for awhile.

We cleaned and scrubbed the hull, cleaned and sanded the bottom and finally applied the bottom paint. It paid off, doesn't she look beautiful. While we are here in Georgia we will be replacing the back window and next time we haul out, we will be having the name plate redone. We had done it hurriedly when we left St. Martin when we changed to name of the boat to Ka'imi, so we hope to get a more professional job done next time.

One day we were talking to the owner of the yard when we heard a loud noise, then the crunching of metal then some loud profanities. Some guy had been working on one of the boats and removed a boat stand that he shouldn't have and the boat toppled over on it's side, luckily not damaging any other boats but crushing the guys truck who was working on the boat. Ooopss!!! Wish we would of taken a picture of that.

We are finally ready to launch and we say we want to go at slack tide. The owner puts us into the lift bay on the incoming tide and starts to launch us saying he can't wait - crap. To make matters worse they let the lines go too soon, even though Mike told them to hold them until his signal. Well Mike got us out of there, but it was very difficult. We were glad to be gone!!!! We hit the ICW and left Florida.

We anchored overnight in Georgia waters then headed to Jeckyl Island, Georgia

Cheers Mike and Kim on Ka'imi

Seafarer's Marina, Jacksonville, FL

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It was Memorial Day weekend, 2007, and we decided to head up the river to Seafarer's Marina in Jacksonville, Florida. We thought it was a good idea to get off the ICW for the weekend because there would be lots of traffic on the water and it would be a good time to rent a car and drive up the coast of Georgia and South Carolina to look at potential marinas to settle at. We call the marina and they say they have a slip for us no problem, so off we go.

We get to the marina and were not happy campers. First off, it doesn't have protection from three directions of the wind. It was the roughest seas in a marina that we have experienced. The chop was about 3 feet and they wanted us to go into a 35 foot slip with our 45 foot boat and the crosswinds were 20 knots. Captain Mike decided it was not a good scenario so we asked if we could tie off at that only other spot they had at the end of the dock. A tug had just left so the owner's son said we could give it a try. A portion of the end was damaged so we had one shot to come in with the crosswinds and the seas. We needed to go to the forward most portion of the slip, which Mike did and we threw our line to the dock. This is the unfortunate part, the dockhand didn't tie us up far enough and the current and the wind slammed us into the damaged part of the dock. We were stuck between a piling and the broken dock and our brand new stanchions that we had replaced in Venezuela were now bent on the starboard side, where the swim ladder hangs. Captain Mike did an excellant job of manuerving Ka'imi to safety and we finally got the lines tied. As we are on the docks securing the lines we notice that the tug had left a huge chain on the pilings and we were rubbing against it - further drama ensued as we got the chain off the posts. The seas were so rough, and they were slamming us into the dock, that we spent about two hours securing fenders and lines. We had a very sleepless night. When we woke up it was calm, slack tide and no wind, so we started the engine and gentle pulled into a more appropriate slip......although when the winds and seas picked up again it got pretty rough. To further add insult to injury they had creosote (a wood treatment) in the pilings which is a tar like substance that stains very badly. So here is Ka'imi with bent stanchions, scratches in the paint and tar all over her....not our best day. Click here for a video of the marina dock. This day was much calmer that when we came in, and you can see the end of the dock where we first tied off. Lesson learned - never go into a marina in conditions like that.

Since we were there and secured in a slip we went about trying to rent a car. We called five car rental places and none of them had cars available as it was labor day weekend. We were bummed, we had very little provisions because we didn't want to leave a lot of food on board if were going to be away. There were two tiny convenience stores within walking distance but they had very little to eat. Dominoes did deliver though, so we didn't have it so bad :). By Tuesday morning we were ready to LEAVE! At dawn the tide was in our favor so we let the lines loose and proceeded to back out of the slip when something in the wheel mechanism snaps and yep we lose our steering. Captain Mike was able to get us into open water clear of the boats and the dock and we threw out our anchor to see what had happened and to hook up our emergency tiller. It seems the steering cable housing broke off it's mount. So we hook up the emergency tiller, bring up the anchor and take a test run to see if we can get back into the slip. One person had to be at the helm controlling the throttle and the other was at the stern steering with the tiller. We decided we would head out into the open and anchor out instead of going back into the slip, which was hard enough to get into when we had good steering!

We finally jury-rigged the steering and had made the decision to find a haul out yard and pull Ka'imi out of the water to fix the steering, get the stuffing box fixed (which had gone from a drip to a pour) and get the bottom painted. We phoned around and decided to try Tiger Point Marina. It was pretty tense going down the river, about a day's travel, knowing that the steering could snap at any moment. We left the emergency tiller hooked up, just in case that did happen. We finally make it to Tiger Point Marina only to pull into a lift bay up a very narrow inlet that could only be accessed at slack tide otherwise you would be up against a cross current. The travel lift had a flat tire when we arrived so we couldn't be pulled out until the next day. Renting a car here was easy, so we got a rental car then rented ourselves a hotel room and had chinese take out, hot showers and a king size bed :))))))))))))))))))))))))). The next day we headed up the coast to South Carolina to see some marinas. We found a spot in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club, put a deposit down and headed back to Tiger Point the next day.

Cheers, Mike and Kim on Ka'imi

Traveling the ICW to Seafarer's Marina, Jacksonville, FL

We had been traveling via the ICW for many days and it was getting very close to June 1st, which is the beginning of hurricane season. We had not found a place that we wanted to settle and traveling up the ICW was just too SLOW for us to make progress. The weather outside the ICW (in the Atlantic) was very unsettled with northern winds, so it was not a good idea for us to go outside and sail north. So we decided to go to a marina in Jacksonville, Florida, rent a car and drive up the coast to check out all the marina's along the way and decide where we wanted to settle. We would then wait for a weather window, head out the St. John's River outlet and hit the Atlantic to sail north to our new home. So off we go to Seafarer's Marina. Below are pictures we took along the way. We don't recall where all of these were taken, so just enjoy the view!!!!

There were houses along the rivers and beautiful landscape.

This is Daytona Beach, Florida.

More landscape and channel markers to the left. You have to stay inside of these.

One day we had a storm chasing us, every corner we turned, it got closer.

Local Shrimp boat.

A calm day.

Finally, the anchor is down and the Captain is happy.

Ciao for now, next stop Seafarer's Marina, what an experience that was! See ya, Mike and Kim on Ka'imi

New Video

Click here for a video of Mike at the bow of the boat while we are motoring along to Venezuela. The video is courtesy of Ken and Roberta, Second Wind, and you are hearing their voices. You can also hear Kim at the end saying "I concur" on the VHF radio.

If you haven't already noticed below the Video box at the bottom are two sites where you can go to read about other boats that are cruising. Click on 'List All' in the Sailing & Cruising Homepages box, or click on 'List' in The Cruising Yact Site Ring.

Enjoy, Mike and Kim on Ka'imi

Vero Beach to Cocoa Beach, Florida

Sorry it's been a long time since updates but this working thing keeps getting in the way!! Anyway we left off in leaving Jensen Beach heading for Vero Beach. The trip was uneventful and hot! Unfortunately we did not get the camera out for this portion of the trip and the only picture we took at Vero Beach was this one of our friends Steve and Ann on Tai Ann, they also have a cat Ponce, but we didn't get the camera out for that either. I found this other picture on the internet.

We spent five days at Vero Beach and had a great time. There was a free bus that took you to grocery stores, West Marine and a Mall. We managed to spend a little money provisioning the boat, buying a cell phone (we are in the US now you know) and a new pet. This is Polly our new parrot. He is very friendly and has a large vocabulary, although some might call him a potty mouth we enjoy his insults. If you want to hear what Polly says click on the link but - not if you are easily offended. To get back to the blog just click the back button on your browser. http://www.prankplace.com/polly.htm. He looks so innocent too.

We left Vero Beach rather reluctantly, because we were having a great time but we needed to move on and headed over to Cocoa Beach for an overnighter. We traveled for several more days stopping to eat and sleep when we had enough travel for the day. We finally decided to find a spot to leave the boat so that we could find a place to stay. We wanted to get out into the ocean and sail as time was passing and hurricane season start was a few days away. So it was the day before Memorial Day Weekend and we decided to go up the St. John River towards Jacksonville and stay at the Seafarer's marina. We would rent a car and travel up the coast to find our marina. Well that was the plan anyway, what really happened is in the Seafarer's Marina update.

Cheers Mike and Kim on Ka'imi