Hell bent…

May 1

I have read and heard about a treacherous passage called Hell Gate, just south of Savannah, Georgia. Got there at low tide today so we dropped the anchor and waited for the tide to come in. In Charlotte Harbor where our Florida home is the tides run about 1 foot. No big deal. Tides here run 7 feet! 7 Feet is a BIG DEAL. The tides here on the east coast dictate when you travel. Since our terribly expensive running gear hangs 4.5 feet beneath the boat, I want a LOT of water. High tide at Hell Gate was at 7PM so around noon we dropped anchor to wait. Off loaded Half Pint and took a dinghy ride. DAMMIT, we ran aground! In the dinghy! It has maybe an 18 inch draft!

Well Shit, Damn Sonofabitch, now I’m scared. Nervous as hell (no pun intended). While we are out screwing around on the dink 3 more boats drop anchor to wait for the tide. Our plan was to wait till about 6PM (2 hours before sunset) for our transit. The other boats anchoring with us would not wait. One of them was a 45 foot sailboat.

That thing has at least a 5 foot draft. When we saw the other boats headed for the channel I hailed them on the VHF radio and asked them to report depths as they went through. All boats reported 9 – 11 feet. Only other issue was the channel is 30 feet wide. Whisky Business is 15 feet wide. Which only left 7.5 feet on each side. Oh yeah, the 12 MPH wind was blowing on our starboard side trying to push us into shallow water. All the boats told us to favor the right side of the channel. As we entered the channel I stationed Bill on the aft deck to back sight us through the channel. On the flybridge I am paying attention to the channel markers in front of me. If the wind is blowing me out of the channel I won’t notice because I still have the bow of the boat pointed between the markers in front of me. Bill’s job was to keep a keen eye on the markers we were passing to make sure the wind was not blowing us off course from behind. WHOOPED ‘EM AGIN JOSIE!!!” Our plan was to head to an anchorage for the night but I was a wreck so we stopped at a great marina for the night. We will be in Savannah the next 2 nights. Man, this gin and bitter lemon is really working it’s magic. Came across another Looper today, Honey badger. Looking forward to shaking their hands.

Notice how they carry their dinghy? Dekploying that thing is a cake walk. Half Pint is a royal pain in the @$$.

Another Jennie!!!

In a recent post I had mentioned the things and people I miss while underway. I have been away from home for over a month now. Take a look at these two folks. I know what you’re thinking, Jerry knows a starlet and a GQ cover guy. You would be close. This lovely couple are dear friends, Steve and Terri Bass. She’s quite the looker, right? (Truth be known, Terri really digs ME!) Steve looks like he just came off a cover shoot. Home in June for a short spell so a fish sandwich at Cunninghams will be in order, right Steve?

Back when Debbie and I cruised the Keys we came through Biscayne Bay and then through Miami. At the time I was unable to post this video of that transit but for some reason I was able to upload it now. Really cool, enjoy.

This is the Delegal Creek Marina where we stopped for the night. Great spot. They have a golf cart we can use to go the 2 miles to a local restaurant for dinner.

So I’m thinking 1 more cocktail before we get ready for dinner. This place has a golf cart we can use to go to dinner. Well I start to wak down the stairs to the aft deck from the flybridge and I spy…