Finally! The adventure begins!

Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
Do I have to post it to youtube then link to it?
that would be the easiest way.
I think you could also upload it to your SBO gallery and link to it from there, but I'm not sure about that. You can't just upload directly to you post, though.

- Will (Dragonfly)
 

Tom J

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Sep 30, 2008
2,301
Catalina 310 Quincy, MA
That video will be cool. I wish we had time to visit Cape Canaveral when we were there. Watch for the manatees in the marina. When I put the boat in reverse to leave our slip, a big old manatee hit panic mode and smacked the water so hard the splash went over my head and into the cabin. Scared the crap out of me.
 
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SFS

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Aug 18, 2015
2,065
Currently Boatless Okinawa
Well, we watched the video, and it's not all that great. I also don't want to create a youtube account. If anyone can explain to me how to find (or create) my "gallery" for this site, I would be willing to upload it there.
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
Click on you're profile tab. In your profile, you will see a media tab and an album tab. You can probably use either one, but the media tab allows you to upload media to a gallery or collection that you can share or keep private. At the top right side of the page is a button labeled "ADD MEDIA" on mine, the button only shows up after page one of my media. I have 4 pages of media. I have not tried this with video, only pictures, but I'm guessing it will work. You can then reference them as a link in your post, just like a YouTube link; copy the address and paste it into the video media icon at the top of the post text box.

Good luck.

- Will (Dragonfly)
 
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SFS

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Aug 18, 2015
2,065
Currently Boatless Okinawa
Hmm. My profile page does not have a media tab or an album tab. I only have the following tabs: "profile posts", "recent activity", "postings", "contact", and "warnings". Perhaps this is because I have never uploaded any media, except into a thread.

I do have a "media" tab across the top of my landing page, it sits between "new posts" and "members". I'll give that a try.
 
Oct 29, 2016
1,915
Hunter 41 DS Port Huron
Click on your avitar from any post you should see the header, "Media Page" click that you this should take you to what Will was referring to.
 

SFS

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Aug 18, 2015
2,065
Currently Boatless Okinawa
Well, I was able to create an album, but when uploading the video, I get a catastrophic error message. I may or may not keep trying. Sorry all.
 

Sailm8

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Feb 21, 2008
1,746
Hunter 29.5 Punta Gorda
We took two of our grandson's to Cocoa Beach and saw a night launch of a Falcon. The booster coming back at night was spectacular, to say the least. Toured the Space Center the next day and seeing all of the 60's Apollo stuff brought out the inner nerd in grandpa.
 
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SFS

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Aug 18, 2015
2,065
Currently Boatless Okinawa
So after Titusville, we moved up to Daytona Beach. It was a fairly long day, motoring up wind and against the current. We anchored one night on the east side of the ICW, then moved a little farther north, just south of the Seabreeze Bridge, for protection against what was to be 72 hours of an east wind, gusting to 30 at times.

We had no problems that night, but a catamaran dragged down on us (slowly) during the night. In the morning, the pace of his movement increased. When he got too close for my comfort level, with no one on deck, I used my horn and started my motor to move. The captain comes out, and I told him, in a slightly raised voice, as he was close enough to converse, that he was dragging. It turns out that he was one of "those guys", as his response was "how can I be dragging, I've got a hundred feet of chain out?" Because I am unwilling to explain that chain doesn't grip mud very well, we moved. In tooling around the anchorage, our options were limited, so we decided to continue north.

Are we glad we did. The ICW north of Daytona is mostly very narrow, so there is no fetch for an east wind. The wind also was not as heavy as forecast, and we had none of the rain that was predicted. Haulover Canal was full of manatees, and it was just a great trip. We have now spent two nights in Palm Coast, had some fabulous Indian food in a local restaurant. It is supposed to rain all day today, so tomorrow we will strike our for St. Augustine.

I want to see Sailors Exhange. We will probably tour the historical sites, visit the distillery, and possibly the winery/chocolate factory. It will also be my first mooring pickup, and I understand the current rips through there at about 3 knots (we will not be able to arrive at slack water), so it will be an interesting boat handling exercise.
 

SFS

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Aug 18, 2015
2,065
Currently Boatless Okinawa
So we spent 3 nights on a mooring in St. Augustine. Very pretty town, with fabulous Spanish architecture, lots of history, good food, and no shortage of live music. Any town that revolves around food and music (e.g., San Francisco, New Orleans) is okay in my book. There is a nice riverwalk along the historic district:
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This is the Bridge of Lions, which we came through to get to the north mooring field at the municipal marina:
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There is an old Spanish fort that you can tour:

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We enjoyed the mooring. The current was pretty strong, more than I wanted to row against, but the marina has a shuttle boat every two hours that will pick you up or deliver you to your boat. There is also a pumpout boat, that comes to you, for no additional charge.

As you can see, there were no boats between us and the shore, and we were close enough to hear music in the evenings. Here is a shot of the mooring field from the riverwalk. Ours in the boat in the center:
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There were some good sunsets over the town, but the sunrises were pretty cool too. This was taken from the mooring on the morning of 4/26/18:

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And this was the next morning, as we left the area to head to Jacksonville:

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SFS

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Aug 18, 2015
2,065
Currently Boatless Okinawa
We spent a nice day coming up the ICW, through Palm Valley, and onto the St. Johns River, heading west towards Jacksonville. It was this day that I learned about serious current. Active Captain had warned about some currents under bridges in the ICW, but when we hit the river, we slowed to a crawl. Between and adverse wind of about 15 gusting to 22, and an adverse current of about 2.5 knots, all of the current-assisted great time we made between 7 am and 1 pm was forgotten. For the better part of two hours, our SOG was less than 2 knots, and for a few minutes it was exactly 1.0 knot. We debated anchoring and waiting for the shift, but decided than any progress was progress, and finally made it to our selected anchorage.

Well, Active Captain had it wrong. Despite threading our way in carefully, and following the info in the "reviews" and the contours on the chartplotter, we ran into 4 feet of water where there should have been 8+ (we draw 4.0 feet). So we waited for the tide to come up, and in about 20 minutes we were afloat. I made a 180 and we went back out to the channel and proceeded to our backup location.

What a wonderful anchorage. Even though it is very close to a bridge, there was very little traffic noise, and many dolphins.
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There was also (briefly) this unusual rainbow segment, isolated to the water vapor around one section of cloud (the picture doesn't do it justice). Maybe the pilot towing the banner put in a special order:
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This is the bridge we are near, at sunset last night:

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I guess tonight is a full moon, and it was up early, in the east. The house on the far left is not on fire, it has a lot of windows, and you are seeing the sunset:

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Jacksonville has a lot of bridges, and we went under most of them today, exploring as far as the Naval Air Station on the St. Johns River. Unfortunately, the winds were light and variable, so we motored. We wanted to get together with some friend on the Ortega River, who continue their third time on the Great Loop starting next Tuesday, but the water was a little thin (I'm a little gunshy after yesterday) so that didn't come to pass. Instead, it will be breakfast tomorrow with them. Coming back downriver through downtown, there was no room on any of the free docks due to a huge heavy metal festival. So we came back to the same anchorage as last night. Here is the next bridge upriver, to our southwest:

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Tomorrow we will go back upriver, where the river widens quite a bit, and spend the day sailing.
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
Did they fire the canon from the wall of the fort and cause you to jump out of your skin while you were there?

- Will (Dragonfly)
 

SFS

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Aug 18, 2015
2,065
Currently Boatless Okinawa
We've done some sailing here in Jacksonville, though not as much as we would like. We explore every day, by boat, then come back to this idyllic little anchorage each night. It is definitely our favorite anchorage of the trip.

There have been several interesting things happen here. On Sunday morning at about 0645, we were just up and about when this loud WHAM occurred and the boat shook. Clearly an impact of some kind.

I had just confirmed we were still holding, so I looked outside again, to search for a big log or something, and am staring at the transom of the trawler tug that anchored beside us the previous night. There engine is running, so what the heck? Turns out the guy got distracted when "his anchor came up twisted", and he just wasn't paying attention. He admitted fault, and the only damage we have found so far is on the starboard topsides - a rub mark and a gouge in the gel coat. What I can't figure out is, with two people on the boat, how is SOMEONE not at the helm and watching AT ALL TIMES, especially in an anchorage with boats nearby?

Fast forward one day to Monday morning, when we hear what sounds like an outdoor PA system, with a male voice calling out numbers, like auction prices or something. I look out a portlight, and coming by is an 8-woman shell for a rowing team, followed by the safety boat with the coach asking for adjustments in stroke rates over the bullhorn. Closely behind is a second shell. A few minutes later they come back the other way, and then a men's 8 comes by.

It was really interesting to hear the different styles of comunication used by the three different coxswains used. The first woman was very intense, with exhortations jammed in between the beats. The second woman less dramatic, but still into it. The male just called out a rhythm, like a music instructor.

Today we are taking a friend sailing, then resuming our journey northward. We may go outside tomorrow from Jax to Fernandina Beach.
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
My wife and I have found Amelia Island, just to the North of Jacksonville, to be quite charming and full of artist studios and a good restaurant overlooking a marsh with great bird and wildlife to watch.

I'm sorry to hear about your collision and I agree, it is a mystery how people can completely forget or even not realize how important it is to pay attention while boating, any moving object, really.:confused:

-Will (Dragonfly)
 

SFS

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Aug 18, 2015
2,065
Currently Boatless Okinawa
We took our time coming through the Georgia low country, which is beautiful in a very simple way. Lots of stingrays jumping out of the water near the inlets, and still lots of dolphins. We came through Hell Gate at near high tide and had no issues, with some help from Bob Scherer's waypoints. If you cruise the ICW, you need to read his posts on ActiveCaptain (callsign Bob423).

We've spent 2 nights at Isle of Hope Marina, southeast of Savannah. Had a fabulous meal at a place called Sweet Potatoes Kitchen. If you come through here, don't miss it. Impeccably executed Southern food, at extremely fair prices.

Had the bottom cleaned today, and the Admiral got to hear the diver say "It's time for bottom paint", so that's on the list for this season. October will be 3 years, so it's time. Will be interesting to see if the boat is any faster tomorrow.

Our focus during this stop has been projects, rather than R and R. I've changed oil, oil filter, transmission oil, fuel filter, and cleaned the air filter, along with multiple other projects. New fender lines, new dinghy lines, new shroud cleats.

I've replaced the port side cockpit scupper drain for the second time. This time, I put a Forespar Marelon "through hull" type drain, with a 90 degree elbow and a hose barb fitting. Previous repair used a household type sink fitting, which I picked because it sat almost flush with the cockpit deck, thereby limiting the depth of water that accumulated around the fitting. This new fitting is better quality, but sits above the deck about 3/16", so some water pools around it. Bedded it with MaineSail's butyl tape of course, and the squeeze-out was perfect. Leak test passed with flying colors, so I hope this doesn't need to be done again.

Tomorrow we are off to South Carolina, anchoring somewhere between here and Hilton Head. I'll try to upload a picture tomorrow, as this place is quintessentially low country Georgia.
 
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SFS

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Aug 18, 2015
2,065
Currently Boatless Okinawa
Well, I forgot to snap a picture looking east from the marina, so no pics of Georgia. However, I do have pics. We got across the Savannah River yesterday, and anchored in Bull Creek (remember, Bull Creek). So here is our first SC sunset:

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Now, here is the test, and be honest: If I hadn't shown you that picture, could you tell which of the following two was a sunrise, and which was a sunset? Both were taken today:

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Our original plan for today was to keep the day short. We were going to stop in Beaufort SC and pick up a mooring ball. However, we got off the anchor at 0640, and were in Beaufort at 1130, so we decided to press on. Ended up with about a 49 mile day, anchored in, wait for it.....Bull River. (Which is not Bull Creek.)

Along the way, we passed Parris Island, where the water tower was painted with "We Make Marines". Just north of there, on a separate islet, was this sad sight, probably a victim of Irma:

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And dolphins continue to be our constant companions:

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Tomorrow we get another early start for tide help through two well-known AICW problem stretches - the Ashopee/Coosaw Cut, and the east entrance to the Dawho River. Beyond those two obstacles lies Charleston on Sunday.
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,989
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
I was just in Savannah and Charleston. Had a great time visiting both spots. Have fun. Don’t forget to eat Coconut Cake at the Peninsula Grill. Delicious.
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
That "sad sight" pic was probably a guy on this forum, blown up, but could not get his boat off no matter what. Wonder what he's up to these days???