Thanksgiving

11/21-24/07 Beaufort/Port Royal, SC
ICW 521 – 539.6

We arrived at Port Royal Marina to meet our friends from “Second Spree,” Bob and Lynn, for Thanksgiving dinner. In Charleston, Bob and I met a couple from the U.K., Angie and Mike, who have been living aboard their Pacific Seacraft for two years. They joined us for Thanksgiving also.

The marina provided the turkeys, and the boaters contributed the side dishes. A group of men who are live-aboards at Port Royal Marina smoked, grilled, and fried the turkeys. The process started on the deck of the marina the evening before, apparently requiring a fair amount of libation to complete the process. The turkeys, however, were delicious! Lynn made homemade lemon meringue and pecan pies; I brought mashed potatoes and a sweet potato casserole, and Angie brought smoked salmon appetizers. Some of the southern contributions were quite interesting: Waldorf salad with Granny Smith apples, cornbread dressing, a creamed corn casserole, a Mexican taco and corn casserole, creamed lima beans, pea soup, and a pound cake.

For the past two weeks I have been hearing a new and very strange noise in the boat. It sounds like the crinkling of bubble wrap or the snap, crackle, and pop of Rice Crispies. At first Bob couldn’t hear it, but as the days progressed it became louder and more apparent. We hypothesized temperature changes in the insulation, defects in the fiberglass, and leaks in the hull. It was altogether puzzling and driving my analytical husband crazy trying to determine its origin. There were times it was more apparent in the bow, other times it seemed loudest in the stern. Perplexed, he decided to call George at Caliber after Thanksgiving to see if any other Caliber owners had reported this unusual noise.

I happened to mention our strange noise to Bob (of Bob and Lynn), who immediately knew the source of the noise – shrimp feeding on the bottom growth of our boat!!!!! It is a South Carolina and Georgia phenomenon that has given us one more story to add to our cruising collection.

Lynn, Bob, Bob, and I spent a most enjoyable afternoon in Beaufort today. The family and staff of this marina could not be friendlier or more accommodating. Larry, one of their managers, drove us into Beaufort and picked us up at the end of the afternoon. We had a delicious lunch on the waterfront at Plum’s.

The weather has taken another turn, with NOAA issuing small craft advisories with strong winds and waves. The boats have rocked and rolled and the winds have howled for four days and nights. We hope to be able to leave in the morning. Bob used the delay to replace the stanchion gate damaged at the Centerville Marina on the piling and do the 250 hour engine maintenance.


11/20-24/07 Charleston to Wimbee Creek Anchorage
ICW 469.3 - 521

Tuesday was a long day, arriving at the Wimbee Creek anchorage just before sunset. During the day, we were treated to several pods of bottlenose dolphins, along with egrets, herons, eagles, and pelicans. Once again it was a very isolated area with only a few small communities. Most of the scenery was wide open marshland with huge expanses of golden bull rush.

As we entered Wimbee Creek, a playful dolphin greeted us. It swam alongside DeLaMer, surfacing and snorting again and again. The dolphin must be the local greeter. Shortly after we anchored, another sailboat came in, and the dolphin repeated its playful antics with them. The anchorage was rural and peaceful with a beautiful sunset and sunrise the next morning.