We left the small township of Oriental last Wednesday and motored 20 miles along the ICW to Beaufort. Thursday morning we exited the ICW (IcyW) at Beaufort and took to sea to travel south and into warmer weather as fast as possible.
All importand Dinghy dock & Live Oak forest and a tourist
THE BIRDS HAVE FLOWN SOUTH AND SO HAVE WE
Our first day was a lively sail with a 15-20 knots breeze just forward of the beam. We sailed 170 miles in 24 hours which is a new daily record for Eye Candy. Andrew keeps reminding me she is only a piece of fibreglass but to my mind Eye Candy has taken on a personality and she was happy to be out as sea and running as fast as she could to get away from the cold. On the second night the wind dropped out and we motored on a flat smooth sea in lake like conditions. The moon was only a slither but the night was well lit as millions of stars which caused star beams on the dark shiny water; what a treat to see! The following morning the wind increased and we had a perfect sail with a polled out jib and 10 knots of warm breeze on our stern. By this time we had found the sun and so off came all the heavy clothes and out came the T-shits, hurray and halleluiah baby.
Relicks of the past - wild horses and "Dungeness" Mansion
ONCE UPON A TIME
So now we are in the state of Georgia visiting Cumberland Island which is protected and preserved by the National Parks Service. In the late 1800s, the Guilded Age, the island was 90% owned by the Carnegie Family. Thomas and Lucy Carnegie built the mansion "Dungeness" and a number of other mansions on the island for their extended family. Yesterday we went ashore to explore the ruins and visit the museum. Clearly the Carnegie's had a very lavish lifestyle. Dungeness was a huge mansion with 200 servants in attendance. The museum shows photos of large functions on the veranda of "Dungeness" and boasts of extravagant parties and champagne flowing freely. There was also a photo of their 112 foot schooner tied alongside their wharf and in the early 1900s Lucy Carnegie was the first female to be admitted as a member of the NYYC - no wonder they wouldn't let us in! Oh well, back to reality we also enjoyed a welcomed walk through a beautiful live oak forest to the beach on the other side of the island. There are wild horses on the island and although one of our friends saw them galloping along the beach (which was quite a beautiful sight) we found only a small group looking rather forlorn.
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| The Ice House Museum |
HAPPY IN THE SUNSHINE
Today we are having a quiet day on the boat. Andrew is repairing our sea boots as the soft foam between the bottom of the boot and the sole has disintegrated. Just when we needed them the most they started to fall apart and left foam everywhere we walked. So we got rid of all the foam and Andrew ran masking tape around the sole and pumped sikkaflex into the gap. At the moment they are drying so I will let you know later if the idea works. I hope it does as the boots cost over $500 a pair, so we are not ready to let go of them yet.
SO WHAT'S NEXT
We will probably leave tomorrow night when the wind and tides are right for exiting here and entering St Augustine some 50 miles south. We will spend a few days there and catch up with Pete and Kourtney on 'Norna'. St Augustine is their home town and they left us in the Bahamas last June and returned to land and work. They are looking forward to the seeing the mob as we all travel back down the coast past their home town.
love Candy xx
At 2:01 PM12/11/2012 (utc) our position was 30°45.77'N 081°28.36'W
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