East Coast Northbound

 Back in the U.S. of A. and Toby is very relaxed on the deck with Sunspot Baby tied up at Vero Beach.

Haulover Canal is a manatee zone. These gentle beasts are frequently seen here, but they are hard to photograph because, unlike dolphin, when they surface, they just take one breath and then they're gone again. Still we must run through here at idle speed and Lynn takes the camera forward hoping for a good manatee shot.

She invariably has to settle for several less difficult subjects. Several are shown here.

Unfavorable currents and cool days have made some of the ICW tough. It isn't good to push too hard but we have things that need attention at home.

George takes a break (obviously Toby is "dog tired") and Lynn takes the helm.

In Fernandina we met, face to face, with the crew of Holding Pattern. They are members of the Cruisers Forum on the internet in which we participate.

There was a cold snap in April and we dug out our snuggies. Lynn and Toby share a little body heat.

Two boats from our Marina, Barbara's Joy (top) and Breaking Wind (bottom) were headed south from Georgetown, SC. as we were headed north.

We begin to feel we're in home waters somewhere in South Carolina and by the time we reach Myrtle Beach the cruise is really winding down. Only 3 or 4 more days on the water.

This year it really wound down in Myrtle Beach. The starboard saildrive started acting up, making bad noises in the area known as The Rock Pile. We shut down that engine and kept going on the port while making quick contingency plan. We found a marina and boat yard that could haul us and headed there. Unfortunately, we aren't very maneuverable on the one engine and needed help, so we called Tow Boat US. The assisted us in.

After a couple days of no progress, we finally decided it is at least bad bearings in the saildrive and it will have to be repaired. We left the boat and headed home to take care of a sale of some of Ray's stuff in Kentucky. Who knows how long it will take? We were on the hard 3 weeks with a similar problem on the port side but we're hoping this one is not as bad.

We usually post a picture of our house or the boat in our slip to indicated the end of the cruise. However, we think Cruise #4 ended here, on the hard in Myrtle Beach. We will get the boat home but are out of cruise mode.