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Captain Randi and the boys
are doing the tour of the Yorktown and Patriot's Point right now. Later, Ft.
Sumter which we can see from where we are docked. Everyone seems to be enjoying
themselves and doing what is expected of them. So far, so good. Hope all is
well there.
Ms. Clarice
December 6 2007 3:00 pm
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It was six thirty A.M. Monday 12/3/07, this
morning was the beginning of our trip from Jacksonville to Washington
D.C.to drop off a fifty foot Trawler (Amazing Grace). After Robert and I
were through doing our daily maintenance check on the engines we casted
off our lines and headed off into the sunrise. It was a beautiful
morning to start our trip, and today was the first day of Robert's and
my training. Cpt. Randi and Ms. Clarice are going to teach us all the
things you need to know about traveling down the I.C.W. Cpt. Randi
explained to us how to handle the boat and then gave Robert the helm,
while Ms. Clarice and I went down to the galley to cook breakfast. She
showed me how to use the stove and how to cook on a boat, which is
important because Robert and I are cooking all the meals on the boat
with Ms. Clarice's help. Cpt. Randi took us through step by step the
first day so that we know what we are doing and are able to have a safe
trip through all of the skinny looptie loop channels we will be going
through.
The first day we made it all the way to Walley's Lake in Georgia which
was 85 miles, we set anchor at 4:45 P.M. The next day 12/4/07 we headed
out of Walley's Lake at about 7:45 A.M. due to a problem that we where
having with our starter on our port engine. The selinoid was out so we
used a remote start to crank up the engine. I was at the helm from that
point until noon. Georgia was an interesting place to travel through; it
was cold and the channels where like a bunch of squiggley lines. I think
we went more East and West than we did North, but all in all it was a
neat experience for me. Going through all of the Inlets you have to go
out, then jig back in to get into the channel and the waves got pretty
big in some inlets, the wind blew hard because of the open space.
Dolphins would come up to the bow of our boat and just ride on the wake
that we gave off and they would just kind of sway and glide through the
water. It was beautiful! It started to get cold and the sun was setting
so we docked at Thunderbolt Marina in Savannah, Georgia. We took our
showers and settled in for the night.
It was six thirty A.M. when the dock master at the marina brought us
some doughnuts, and we left the docks just as the sun was rising. It was
a wonderful morning, no clouds in sight, but it was also a cold. Ms.
Clarice woke up and came out of her stateroom wearing full winter
clothing and still shivering. We started to record all of the boats
heading south for the winter and in just one day we recorded 46 boats
and not one going north. They must have thought we where crazy heading
north.
Today, we where heading through alot of skinny shallow channels so Cpt.
Randi taught me how to use the V.H.F radio to talk to the other boaters
so that there was no confusion when we needed to pass each other in a
tight spot. He also taught me how to call the bridges and ask them to
open for us at their convenience. It was a long day, we fought the
current for most of the day so that put us a little behind schedule. We
found a spot to anchor for the night, but the anchor would not set so we
decided to continue to Charleston. It was a thirty mile journey through
the I.C.W., and it was already dark. We got the spotlights out and
started to navigate using the them to spot our markers and objects in
the river. We had a couple little close calls but it was a smooth trip
other than that. We made it to Charleston Harbor Marina at 9:30 P.M.
after a hundred and five miles of traveling down the waterway, we where
exhausted so we fell right asleep after we got settled in.
We slept in until about 8:30 A.M. that morning, Cpt. Randi was already
awake and he was looking at brochures for a place called Patriots Point
Naval and Maritime museum. This particular museum has the tenth aircraft
carrier to serve in the United States Navy. It was an enormus ship that
held a wide variety of historic military aircrafts and the Congressional
Medal of Honor Museum which was really cool. You walk through these
different rooms that have stories of some of the bravest soldiers who
have fought for our country and have gone above and beyond the call of
duty. There are also videos you can watch as well. On top of the Ship
you had a perfect view over the City of Charleston and the marina that
we where staying in that was about an eighth of a mile away from the
museum. There where other neat things like a submarine called Clamagore
and two other ships, one a destroyer Laffey and the other a Coast Guard
cutter Ingham that have interesting backgrounds. It was in the late
afternoon when we finished our tour and got back to the boat. When we
boarded the boat we found our page long list of equipment and food that
we needed to get before we head out because it might be a couple more
days until our next stop in a place that we are able to go to the
stores.The day was over shortly and it was time to eat and catch up on
some things on the boat that needed to be done. We ate a quick and easy
dinner during the meal Ms. Clarice and Cpt. Randi informed us that they
had a suprise for us after we where finished eating. We finished our
meal and left to see our suprise, they took Robert and I to an place
called James Island where we witnessed the most amazing light show you
could ever see it was a three mile drive through a county park with over
2 million lights and 600 different displays that 6 men prepare for each
year all year long and the show lasts from Nov. 9, 07 until jan. 1, 08.
It was very extravagant that we went through a second time before we
left back to the boat and went to bed.
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