Sunday, July 06, 2014

 

The WHY we do this thing we do


Why do we bother to travel slowly, winding back and forth up the Intracoastal Waterway instead of heading out to sea and doing a straight through sail? Because, we get to spend our evenings and nights safely anchored in beautiful places like this.

In Northern Florida we watched the large PINK Roseate Spoonbill birds go about their daily business, and in Southern Georgia we spent the late afternoon watching the wild horses on Cumberland Island graze the shore grasses. Along the way we passed Bald Eagles sitting atop their nests in tall trees.

We left St. Augustine just days before Tropical Storm/Hurricane Arthur blew in. We traveled north during the "calm before the storm" enjoying the sunny weather. We went through drawbridges and under fixed bridges and only went aground once. What?

Yes, even within the very nice channel markers on the waterway it can get too shallow for our 5 1/2 foot draft. It's not supposed to be that way but it just is. We managed to quickly throttle up and back off of the "hump" or shoal. No biggie. The few miles of channel at the back side of Jekyll island is notoriously shallow. So for this section we planned on arriving about a half hour before high tide. This allowed us to move through it during mostly high tide. Yes, we saw 5 1/2 feet  on our depth gauge but we didn't feel any bump and made it safely through. Why again did we do this instead of going out to sea and around the island? Because of the unique opportunity we had to see the unspoiled beauty of the tidal marshes. Finally, on July 1st, we sailed under the big Sydney Lanier bridge and now are safely tucked into the Brunswick Landing Marina in Georgia.

Of course while Jonesy manned the helm, I sat in the cockpit and made myself useful by knitting through the long daylight hours. Unfortunately I managed to accidentally toss a bamboo double point needle overboard. But not before I finished these little pull-on skirts for the knit teddy bears for the kids in Kazakhstan.
These are knit with worsted weight yarns from the bottom up. To finish, a length of cord elastic is threaded through the last stitches and a ribbon can be woven through the eyelet round. Lazy daisy flowers can be stitched onto it too!


These are sized to fit a 9" circumference around the waist. Many of the children who have received these bears, and will in the future, are quite young so I wanted to make clothes that would be easy for them to dress their bears. Elastic and ribbing should work, and maybe a touch of Velcro.

And we all know that teddy bears also need some socks, so I knit up some sport weight ribbed socks too. No. I don't have a picture of my completed bear because I STILL haven't gotten up the nerve to embroider his eyes, nose and smile. That part intimidates me, but I'll get it done before he gets send to Kazakhstan.

Of course there were people-sized socks started and completed too along the way. These 3 pairs are from yarns donated to me to knit for the kids from Linda P. and Kris. Two are simple plain socks (well the yarn isn't plain) and the purple pair is knit from my Hug Me Socks pattern which makes a stretchy and textured fabric.

So, here we are in Brunswick - another town to learn where the grocery stores are, how to work the laundry machines in the marina and how to get around in general. I wonder if my friend Pam K.who lives here in Georgia felt a change in the "force" when we came back.

Back? Yep. We lived in Georgia up outside of Atlanta for 7 years back in the 80's and early 90's. So in a sense we are returning. But this time by sailboat.

We're living the slow life.

Comments:
Glad to know that you and Jonesy made it to Brunswick before 7/1....and Arthur... You were in my thoughts many times last week as we felt the effects of Arthur here in Vero Beach.!

The bears are a cute idea and the skirts are adorable. I bet you can knit them a bit longer and create raglan or halter style sundress!

Enjoying your blog so much Terry! Cant wait to hear about your Georgia adventures and new projects!
Tina
 
Terri where are you now? We are at the Port Royal Landing Marina in South Carolina - Beaufort area. Let me know when you're getting close.
We always go offshore for the stretches between here and FL, have never done the ICW in Georgia. Glad you got to see it.
 
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