We had help pushing off the dock by the sail boater tied up directly in front of us. He joked about it being insurance for not getting his boat damaged but I expect he saw my rather ominous landing the day before. Nevertheless, he was helpful and with a cheerful smile and wave he wished us a safe journey and we easily motored into the channel, turned and got several waves from people we had met on the dock.
It was a long but uneventful cruise all the way to Isle of Hope where we were met by 2 strapping young dock hands and the dock master. Hmm!....do these marinas call ahead? No, they greeted everyone that way because there is a swift current and there was 20 knot winds blowing the boats into the dock. This time we got close to the dock and even though the wind was strong we gently bumped up against the fenders that Beth had skillfully placed. Topping up the front tanks with fuel the dock master wanted us to just pull ahead to stay on this face dock overnight. We gently bumped the motors forward as all 3 hands pushed to keep Doc's Holiday from rubbing all the way down the dock. They knew what they were doing but it took an extraordinary amount of strength to push the boat into the wind. No scrapes...Whew!! I thanked them a gave them a generous tip.
Cruising past Hilton Head Marina on the ICW
Summer Fun!
On registering, we found out that the peeps that were here when we came up in 2012 were no longer around. The live aboards mostly worked during the day and the night time pot lucks just didn't happen anymore. They just didn't have the same get togethers that they used to have. The community here had changed! The same friendly owners and staff were here. The old oak trees draped in spanish moss still adorned the quaint streets. The buildings and docks lining the waterway were the same, but things had changed.
My family had moved a lot when I was a child. Just as I would get to know other kids and develop friendships, we would move. This return to Isle of Hope reminded me of something my Mother told me once, "You can never go back. Things just aren't the same. After a time, not only will things look smaller than you remember, but the people will have changed. Enjoy what you have now because the only certainty is that things will change." She was right. If you ever returned to a place where you once lived, I bet things appeared closer and smaller than you remember and no doubt things were different.
One thing that has not changed......."Sunrises at Isle of Hope"
During our trip down we were passed by a PDQ catamaran named "Miss My Money" and were tied up at the same marinas on two occasions. This time they were docked right in front of us. We immediately struck up a conversation and found David and Barbara Doyle to be friendly helpful boaters with a wealth of information about cruising in general and in particular, cruising the Atlantic ICW. They have been doing this since 2006 and had the experience of do's and dont's and watch out for this shallow area and did we know about the free dock near Jacksonville etc. This was great information and much appreciated, but our main concern was the next challenge ... getting through "Hell's Gate" between Little Don Island and Racoon Island. This is the second Hell Gate of our trip and where during our 2012 trip north to Maine, I freaked out because I thought I saw a hand come out of the water! (see 2012 blog)
There are 72 reviews on Active Captain about this area. Many had grounded out at low tide. One reviewer had only 22 inches and sat there until the tide came in to lift him off. On top of that there is a "wicked bad current" when the tide is falling. We confirmed our predictions with "Miss My Money" and followed them as they left the dock even though we observed threatening thunder clouds forming to our south west, the same direction we would be heading.
The catamaran travels at almost double our speed so we quickly lost sight of them and concentrated on the thunder storms that threatened us during most of the trip and our passing through Hell's Gate.
"Piece of cake! I exclaimed to Beth as we went through this difficult passage with just a little cut back in speed. We had timed it perfectly at slack tide. Now all we had to do was keep away from the thunderstorms. It rained intermittently and we did see a double rainbow, but the trip was otherwise uneventful. Surprisingly we arrived at Morning Star marina on St. Simons Island only an hour behind "Miss My Money". Apparently they had to anchor before entering Sapelo Sound because not only was there a torrential downpour obstructing their vision but they had severe lightning. All we got was the double rainbow that Beth said was an omen for a safe trip.
" Miss My Money"
One has to be impressed with the professionalism of the dock masters we have encountered on our trip but the dock master at Morningstar tops our list. He is an experienced boater and coached us into the dock, tying our aft spring line first than telling Beth which line he wanted next.....the smoothest docking we have ever had and the only time I didn't have to personally readjust all the lines. This marina is a little expensive but is worth it just because of the dock master.
Spencer and Sophie get so excited when we dock because they know once we are all hooked up they get to go explore the area......and PooP! Once again Spencer couldn't wait for the grass and "pooped in the wrong place!"....on the dock!.....this mortifies Beth, which cracks me up. I just pick it up with a baggy. Yes, they have puppy pads they could use but they just prefer to go outside.
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