Days 202 and 203 - Who do the voodoo?

Miles cruised 0, fuel purchased gallons 0, slip fee $94, daily high temperature 68°f

The sky is overcast and the temperature is on the cool side. Hokule’a departed from Savannah early to take advantage of the early morning outgoing tide. The tide was low at 8:30 am and they had 15 miles to go to get to the Atlantic Ocean. We had a leisurely morning. We wanted the tide to come in a bit before we transited the Field’s Cut from the Savannah River to Ramshorn Creek. Turns out we had plenty of water under our keel all the way. Independence also left the dock.

Welcome to Beaufort, SC

As we were crossing over in front of a large freighter they gave us five blasts on their horn to signal danger. I altered course to get even further away from them. From our vantage point we were well clear but from their wheelhouse 200′ in the sky we must have looked too close. At least they got to test their horn.

For those of you wondering if we solved our first world problem with Direct TV the answer is “somewhat.” We now have our national channels restored so we have some shows to watch. Apparently our case has been kicked to the highest level and “they” are reviewing our specific situation to determine if we should be permanently connected to local stations from New York City. It has been four days. How hard is it to make that decision?

Here in Beaufort, SC the Independence has caught up to us. As a result the ship’s concierge had reserved all of the carriage tours until 5:00 pm today. We will go on carriage ride tour of Beaufort at 5:00 pm.

The carriage ride was delightful. Jake the horse and Ken the docent did a good job of explaining the history of Beaufort and the details of filming numerous movies here including the Great Santini, Forrest Gump, the Big Chill and Glory. Tom Hanks and Barbara Steisand rented houses in Beaufort while filming movies.

There is a US Marine base nearby on Parris Island. The war planes flying overhead made it hard to film scenes due to the loud noise. Ms Steisand called the base commander to complain. The next day their were no war planes overhead. That night a 4:00 am four war planes buzzed the house where Steisand was sleeping. They kicked in their afterburners right on top of her house. The commander of the base wrote a letter of apology to the residents of Beaufort. He stated the sound of jet engines is the sound of freedom.

One of the tour highlight’s spoke to the former sheriff using voodoo to fight crime. The great fire of 1907 was stated by two boys ages 7 and 9 that skipped church to smoke a cigarette.

We had a bargain dinner on Wednesday night. Luther’s has half price hamburger Wednesday’s and all night happy hour. We all had great hamburger for $5.00 each.

We will cruise 60 miles to Charleston on Friday. It is forecast to be blowy with east winds 20 – 30 mph. It will only be thrilling docking in that much wind. The trip on the ICW should be fine. It is Charleston race week. Winds gusting to 30 mph should make for challenging sailboat race conditions.

Bonus photo.

Captain Jack chimes in the occasion of his 75th birthday.

Good Friends

What can I say
It’s a great day
sunny and dry
with a glimpse of blue sky
the year’s weather has turned
which seems well earned
so, for 75 years
after many, many beers
I’ll celebrate this rite
with good friends at the Lantern
tonight.
Cap’n Jack
4-14-16

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day.

“It is beautiful, it is endless, it is full and yet seems empty. It hurts us.” – Jackson Pearce

Jackson Pearce (born May 21, 1984) is an American author. Her debut novel, As You Wish, was published by HarperCollins in 2009. Pearce was born in Raleigh, North Carolina and currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She attended Brookwood High Schooland went on to Georgia College & State University before transferring to and graduating from the University of Georgia. Pearce posts humorous online video blogs and manages the author community 2009 Debutantes.