We arrived home around 5:30pm this evening via TOW BOAT US!!! Again, the engines stopped on us about 7 miles from home!!! It was pouring rain and the wind in the bay was 50-60 mph!! That's sub-tropical, almost hurricane winds!!! When we left Charleston Harbor this morning it was beautiful after we were traveling about 3 hours it begin to rain and got heavier as we got closer to Georgetown!! Finally we discovered our water problem it was rain getting into our fuel tanks via the nozzle where we put in fuel!!! SOOOO we called our friend Ronnie Campbell who is the Tow Boat US representative in Georgetown, and bless his heart he came to our rescue in less than an hour!! He towed us home and put us right into our home slot, even in that kind of wind, he parked us like it was nothing to it!!! Chris, our home harbor master, was waiting and took our lines and tied us right up!!! In that kind of wind I rain, I still wanted to get out and Kiss the ground!!!!! we are so glad to be home. we start tours on Monday and of course Rodney will need to clean out the water in the fuel tanks again. Will be hitting the ground running tomorrow!! WHAT AN ADVENTURE this has been!!
I do hope to have another trip at some point, but do hope we have solved a lot of the issues and pray for a little less stressful trip next time!! This is the trials of owning a boat!!!! Also after spending ALL our time together for 60 days, stress and all, guess what? Rodney and I still love each other!! Ha
Love to all!! Fran
Friday, February 8, 2013
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Day 58 of now "Returning from the Keys" 2/6/13
Well we finally were able to leave Sail Harbor Marina yesterday and made it back to the last place we anchored when we had the bad storm and the motors died at Pigeon Point Landing in Beaufort, SC!!! We had a wonderful night last, we even talked about how incredibly smooth the water was all night !!! We left there early this morning and made it Charleston Harbor and have anchored here for the night. The weather is beautiful and we are so excited to be this close to home!!! We cooked BBQ chicken and steamed veggies on our grill this evening and had a salad. We plan to leave as soon as the sun is up in the morning as we really want to get to home port before the predicted rain tomorrow evening!!! We sat this evening and discussed our trip, the good and the bad, and what we would have done different or how we would have prepared better. We are both ready to get back to doing tours and we have several months to talk about all the happenings the past 2 months!!!
I will follow up tomorrow evening just to let all know we did arrive home safe!! I hope all have enjoyed reading about our trip as much as I enjoyed telling about it!!!
Love to all, Fran
I will follow up tomorrow evening just to let all know we did arrive home safe!! I hope all have enjoyed reading about our trip as much as I enjoyed telling about it!!!
Love to all, Fran
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Day 57 of now "Returning from the Keys" 2/5/13
Well we were ready to untie our home and take off this morning at 7:30am, but no go!! We had one motor that refused to start this morning. They had everything running so well yesterday afternoon we were sure we would get to leave this morning. The mechanic is here and working hard to get us underway in a few hours and if at all possible we will start home.
If people ask "How was your trip?" I would have to say we had a wonderful time.!! even with all the problems we have had we have had MANY good times and and met some wonderful people and saw wonderful views that were just incredible. It'd hard right now to be positive but we are hanging in there and know the Lord will get us back home safe and soon!!
Pray for us !!!! I will keep updated!!!
Love to all, Fran
If people ask "How was your trip?" I would have to say we had a wonderful time.!! even with all the problems we have had we have had MANY good times and and met some wonderful people and saw wonderful views that were just incredible. It'd hard right now to be positive but we are hanging in there and know the Lord will get us back home safe and soon!!
Pray for us !!!! I will keep updated!!!
Love to all, Fran
Monday, February 4, 2013
Days 55 56 of now "Returning from the Keys" 2/4/13
Yesterday was Sunday and I made Rodney rest all day!!! We were able to attend church with the people we met here at the Marina. It was a small Church 30 or so members, named Island Community Church. We meet many nice people and the couple that came and picked us up from the marina even took us to lunch at a Japanese Rest after church!! It was wonderful !!! We rode our bike for a while after we got back to the marina and went by Paula Deen's house and took pics and even used her garbage can!!! Ha She has a beautiful home with horse stables and a 4 car garage attached. Her home sits way off the rode but right on the waterway !!! Pics will be attached.
We walked around a small mall and then decided to go home and watch movies. That we did till 11pm and went to bed!!!
Rod started in again this morning before the mechanics arrived working on the motors. They came by and will be starting on our water issue and trying to get a our second motor started here in a few minutes!!! Pray we are able to get completed and out of here tomorrow morning!!
I am ready to go home!!!
Love to all, Fran
PICS: Pics at Paula Deens!!! I am sure she would have invited us in for dinner if she had of been home!! yeh right!!!
We walked around a small mall and then decided to go home and watch movies. That we did till 11pm and went to bed!!!
Rod started in again this morning before the mechanics arrived working on the motors. They came by and will be starting on our water issue and trying to get a our second motor started here in a few minutes!!! Pray we are able to get completed and out of here tomorrow morning!!
I am ready to go home!!!
Love to all, Fran
PICS: Pics at Paula Deens!!! I am sure she would have invited us in for dinner if she had of been home!! yeh right!!!
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Day 54 of now "Returning from the Keys" 2/2/13
Well promptly at 8:15am Tow Boat US Capt. Roy pulled up to us at the Marina in Beaufort and off we went back to Savannah. This is a 55 mile trip and will take most of the day as they can not tow us very fast!! Rod worked in the engine room the entire trip still trying to get the 2nd motor to start!! We have one motor running but can't run it to long as our gas is still contaminated with water!!! The other one just won't start!! 😕
Boring trip as all I did today was sit at the steering wheel and watched just in case the tow boat needed me to do anything. I did have to steer some going under the bridges. Most of the time I played solitary or played with Lexie. Took pics of her enjoying the wind, she loves sitting in the doorway!! and some of her enjoying the view out the window and basking in the sun!! In Hilton Head we switched to another Tow Boat as they can only tow in their territory, so we were picked up by another Tow Boat US Capt Mike that will be taking us on in to the Marina.
So at 5;30 pm this afternoon we arrived at a small marine but big facility and they got us docked and set up for the weekend. They will not start our work until Monday morning. Oh well !!! What can I say tomorrow is Sunday!!
Talked to a few people that live here on their boats and we were invited to go to church with them tomorrow !! We will probably ride our bike tomorrow if weather is good and just hang out!!
Check out the blog tomorrow and i will let you know what we did!!!
Love to all, Fran
PICS: 1. Lexie enjoying the breeze at the door. 2. 3. she loves looking out the window, but she caught me taking her pic. 4. I'm sitting in the drivers seat watching the tow boat pull me along.
Boring trip as all I did today was sit at the steering wheel and watched just in case the tow boat needed me to do anything. I did have to steer some going under the bridges. Most of the time I played solitary or played with Lexie. Took pics of her enjoying the wind, she loves sitting in the doorway!! and some of her enjoying the view out the window and basking in the sun!! In Hilton Head we switched to another Tow Boat as they can only tow in their territory, so we were picked up by another Tow Boat US Capt Mike that will be taking us on in to the Marina.
So at 5;30 pm this afternoon we arrived at a small marine but big facility and they got us docked and set up for the weekend. They will not start our work until Monday morning. Oh well !!! What can I say tomorrow is Sunday!!
Talked to a few people that live here on their boats and we were invited to go to church with them tomorrow !! We will probably ride our bike tomorrow if weather is good and just hang out!!
Check out the blog tomorrow and i will let you know what we did!!!
Love to all, Fran
PICS: 1. Lexie enjoying the breeze at the door. 2. 3. she loves looking out the window, but she caught me taking her pic. 4. I'm sitting in the drivers seat watching the tow boat pull me along.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Days 51/52/53 of now "returning from the Keys". 2/1/13
First of all today is day 53 of our trip AND My Birthday!!!! Thanks to all who text, emailed, call and thought of me as it was the worst birthday I think I have ever had!!!! Let me explain!!!
We left Savannah day before yesterday, a day late if you remember because the weather caused us to stay another day. It was still not the best weather to travel in but we did ok until we got to St. Andrews Sound just South of Beaufort, SC. The wind was extreme coming across that sound. we had waves breaking over the front of the boat, the boat tossing about it turned over almost everything in the house. I got most things to the floor in time to save breakage, and just put it all back together again when we got into better water conditions. (Un-knowing to us water was breaking on the deck of the boat, this water was going in our fuel tank vent tubes.)We were so tired we anchored at a place called Pigeon Landing, a small cove with a great dock landing to dinghy over to for Lexie. This was about 4 pm. By 10 pm the wind was up again and were fighting every wave just to keep the boat at anchor and stay with the wind coming straight at us!! Believe me you don't want to ever have to do that!!! (again water was going into our fuel tanks)
We worked until about 3am wind was down and rain had stopped so we were able to at least rest for a little bit. 5am it started again lasting about another hour. So by 6 am Rodney wanted to try and move the boat some as the tide was really low And we where in some shallow water. When he tried to start the motors, THEY WOULD NOT START!!!!! After an evaluation by my Capt and mechanic, it was discovered that we had LOTS of water in the gas tanks along with 400+ gals of diesel fuel. Nothing we could do but call Sea Tow and made arrangements for them to take us to a small private marina that was close to us for help. It was Marsh Harbor Boat-works Marina. Peter, the owner, Sue his mother in law, Shane an employee there that had knowledge of diesel motors and water separation. They were all helpful and willing to do whatever, but this afternoon it was discovered the problem was way to big for them to handle. So back to Sea Tow for help and they were very helpful!!!
They will be towing us back to Savannah (sometimes do do have to go backwards in life) to a large marina that has a machine that can pull our fuel out, clean it, and replace it clean of NO WATER!!!!!
Got a call just a little while ago they will come attach to our boat tomorrow morning around 9 am and back to Savannah they will take us. Arrangement have been made for us a docking slip and we will just stay there till Monday morning as they will probably not work Sat evening or Sun.
I loved Savannah but this is NOT the way I wanted to return!!!
I pray insurance will help with the cost as I will submit a claim when finished with all this work. it was a mechanical problem and I so hope it will be covered.
I am ready to go home!!! We will have to hit the ground running when we get back as we already have tours scheduled Feb the 11 th with a tour bus of Canadians.
Pray for us a good day tomorrow !! We need it!!! Rodney has worked almost nonstop for 3 days. I hope he will rest some tonight as there is nothing else he can do right now till we get to a place that has the equip we need!!
Love to all, Fran
PICS: You would not have wanted to seen any of us today!! Ha
We left Savannah day before yesterday, a day late if you remember because the weather caused us to stay another day. It was still not the best weather to travel in but we did ok until we got to St. Andrews Sound just South of Beaufort, SC. The wind was extreme coming across that sound. we had waves breaking over the front of the boat, the boat tossing about it turned over almost everything in the house. I got most things to the floor in time to save breakage, and just put it all back together again when we got into better water conditions. (Un-knowing to us water was breaking on the deck of the boat, this water was going in our fuel tank vent tubes.)We were so tired we anchored at a place called Pigeon Landing, a small cove with a great dock landing to dinghy over to for Lexie. This was about 4 pm. By 10 pm the wind was up again and were fighting every wave just to keep the boat at anchor and stay with the wind coming straight at us!! Believe me you don't want to ever have to do that!!! (again water was going into our fuel tanks)
We worked until about 3am wind was down and rain had stopped so we were able to at least rest for a little bit. 5am it started again lasting about another hour. So by 6 am Rodney wanted to try and move the boat some as the tide was really low And we where in some shallow water. When he tried to start the motors, THEY WOULD NOT START!!!!! After an evaluation by my Capt and mechanic, it was discovered that we had LOTS of water in the gas tanks along with 400+ gals of diesel fuel. Nothing we could do but call Sea Tow and made arrangements for them to take us to a small private marina that was close to us for help. It was Marsh Harbor Boat-works Marina. Peter, the owner, Sue his mother in law, Shane an employee there that had knowledge of diesel motors and water separation. They were all helpful and willing to do whatever, but this afternoon it was discovered the problem was way to big for them to handle. So back to Sea Tow for help and they were very helpful!!!
They will be towing us back to Savannah (sometimes do do have to go backwards in life) to a large marina that has a machine that can pull our fuel out, clean it, and replace it clean of NO WATER!!!!!
Got a call just a little while ago they will come attach to our boat tomorrow morning around 9 am and back to Savannah they will take us. Arrangement have been made for us a docking slip and we will just stay there till Monday morning as they will probably not work Sat evening or Sun.
I loved Savannah but this is NOT the way I wanted to return!!!
I pray insurance will help with the cost as I will submit a claim when finished with all this work. it was a mechanical problem and I so hope it will be covered.
I am ready to go home!!! We will have to hit the ground running when we get back as we already have tours scheduled Feb the 11 th with a tour bus of Canadians.
Pray for us a good day tomorrow !! We need it!!! Rodney has worked almost nonstop for 3 days. I hope he will rest some tonight as there is nothing else he can do right now till we get to a place that has the equip we need!!
Love to all, Fran
PICS: You would not have wanted to seen any of us today!! Ha
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