Semi Annual Friends and Family Tour, Spring of '15

It has been awhile since our last post, and while there has been lots going on in our social lives, our poor boat is still sitting in limbo. Despite multiple phone calls and internet queries, neither Brad nor our transmission repair guy has been able to locate a new transmission for us. So, our boat has been sitting disabled at the marina for over two weeks now, with no end in sight. Luckily, yesterday, our luck changed....kind of. Our repair guy called and said he had decided to do a complete rebuild of our transmission using new parts. He had ordered them from Japan and hoped they would come in within the next two weeks. Add another week for the actual rebuild and another week for shipping and the actual reinstallment of the transmission on our boat and it looked like it would be another 3-4 weeks of being here in Dataw. While we were excited to finally hear that a solution had been found, we were less than thrilled at the prospect of being here that much longer.

Dataw has been fabulous - friendly, caring people abound and now with our spiffy new A/C, we are comfortably biding our time. But, we are car-less and there is nothing within ten miles of our little marina - literally nothing. So, here we sit, plotting out our next big move and waiting to see when things will be resolved. But we are hopeful! At least there is starting to be a dim light visible at the end of the tunnel!

Meanwhile, our social life has been great! (Not in Dataw - we are the only liveaboards and often we will go an entire day without seeing another person!) But if you remember from my last post eons ago, we decided to hit the road and start our semi annual friends and family tour early. Usually we wait until we are settled in one spot before we do this, but with the heat, this seemed like the perfect time. So we loaded our kids and our possessions into a rental car and headed out!


We have the best little travelers!!

We had so much fun catching up with everyone (and soaking in their A/C and running water) and were happy to be able to spend so much time with people since we were not on a strict schedule. We made it to Franklin to see my family first, then on to Baltimore to visit Brad's family and to meet our perfectly adorable little niece, Liliana, who we couldn't get enough of!

After seeing family, we starting trying to squeeze in as many friends as we could - Columbia and Richmond were next to meet up with some of my fantastic college girlfriends and then down to Corolla to see our home away from home and spend some time with the ever fabulous Defeo clan.

**Disclaimer: I was a terrible tourist this trip and hardly took any pictures! So sorry for the lack of photos in this post! I will do better next time!


We rounded the trip out with a tour of the North Carolina water front in hopes that we would find a new port to call home. We were surprised that none of the North Carolina towns had much to offer in terms of boater friendliness and convenience and even more surprised when we found that our two favorite cities actually ended up being Little River and Charleston, both in South Carolina. After a few days stay in Myrtle Beach to recharge our batteries, we headed back to the boat.

Although we love our road trips and enjoy our time catching up with all our friends and family, we were all happy to be back in our little floating home and have been soaking up our little slice of heaven.

Transmission Woes

Well, looks like we are going to have to replace the transmission. After having a mechanic take a look at it, he told us there was nothing he could do. The yard has been great with giving us suggestions and letting us know how much and how long this whole process will take. But, it was Brad who did the most research and finally found an alternative to the expensive transmission replacement. He located a guy (one of only three on the entire east coast) who rebuilds marine transmissions and has done extensive work with our brand of transmission.

We soon realized this process was going to take a couple of weeks and after sweating it out in the sweltering heat for two days, we knew that was not an option. So, we decided to rent a car and head up for our "Friends and Family Tour" a bit early. This way, we could enjoy air conditioning and also visit people we hadn't seen since before our Bahamas trip. Visiting everyone now would mean that once we finally stopped for the summer, we would be ready to jump right in to working. So, off we went!

We had to personally deliver the transmission to the repair guy and then made the trip up to Franklin. All of us were thrilled to be in the A/C in the car, especially the fur babies and they were soon passed out in the back seat. It was an easy trip up and we were happy to once again be on dry land and in the comfort of a home. And it was great to see my parents, too. ;-)

The plans from here on out are tentative. We don't know exactly how long the transmission repair will take and we have no plans to return to the boat until she is fully ready to move again - it is just too hot. So, we are playing each day by ear and we will return to the boat once we are either done with visiting everyone or the transmission is fixed - whichever comes first.

In the meantime, we are completely enjoying the comforts of land life and are looking forward to catching up with everyone along the way! We are going to be making stops in Franklin, Baltimore, DC, Richmond, and Corolla - if you are on the way, give us a shout; we would love to see everyone!!

Beaufort, SC

We left Savannah early Wednesday morning and for the first time in awhile, made great time and were able to reach Beaufort (60 miles) in one day! We passed by Parris Island and this infamous water tank reading "WE MAKE MARINES" right around 5pm with the rain clouds hot on our tail. Luckily it had been cloudy on and off for most of the day, so we kept relatively cool and the clouds provided a nice breeze so we were able to use our sails a bit as well! We dropped anchor just South of Beaufort right before sunset and will head in tomorrow morning to see the town!

Thursday morning, we were treated to this entertainment while we had breakfast in our cockpit - summer sailing camp! We must have been right in the middle of their course because they all kept circling around us. It was great! And they all loved seeing Koa on the boat.

Soon after, we upped anchor and moved over to a city mooring right in front of town. Thanks again to the power of the internet, we had learned of a close family friend of the Burgesses who lived right outside of Beaufort. After a quick phone call, we agreed to meet in town for lunch; so off we went! We met at a local favorite, Plums, and had a delicious lunch together while we got to know each other. Caroline was fabulous and we all had a great time, and she gave us some must-sees while we were in town.

So, after lunch we headed over to take a carriage ride around the town, at her urging. It was a carriage ride tour and our tour guide, Bud, was fabulous. The weather was perfect with a breeze to keep us cool and we learned a lot about the city and its history, as well as the fact that many many movies have been made here! We loved every minute of this tour and were sorry to see it end, although I was happy that the tour was over for the sake of our horse, Bob; I can’t believe they run those tours in the hot afternoons!

After the tour guide had familiarized us with the layout of the town, we strolled around for a bit, seeing some of the sites up close, including the old Episcopal Church with a brick wall made from ballast bricks from England and grave stones that were used as operating tables during the Civil War – with old saw marks still visible! We walked along the main street and enjoyed many of the cute little shops there, and then we walked back to the boat via the waterfront. The town has delegated the land right on the water to be used for parks only, so beautiful parks line the River.


We headed back to the boat, fully intending to go back in later, but found that we were exhausted after walking around in the heat of the day and so called it an early night.