Happy Thanksgiving

Posted on November 30, 2024 by Ingrid

November 29, 2024

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner yesterday with some friends here in Savannah. They have 2 dogs and 3 cats, and their cat Ruby sat on my lap for most of the afternoon. A really sweet kitty! Their 10 year-old son and I played a game of chess. He’s a good player! The game was a draw.

Ruby

Their neighbors across the street have decorated their house for Christmas to the max! It was pretty astonishing to see it!

It looks like we will have a good weather window on Tuesday/Wednesday for our trip down to Fort Pierce. We are supposed to leave the marina on Sunday, but we’re going to ask if we can stay a couple of extra days. Otherwise we will have to anchor in the river until Tuesday, and it’s really cold. We can do it if we have to, but it won’t be comfortable. Our fingers are crossed that they will have room for us.

I’m really anxious to get back to Key West. A friend of mine down there sent this picture to me a couple of days ago. My Black Skimmer friends are back for the winter. She knew I would be excited to see that they are back, and wanted to let me know.

Black Skimmers at Mallory Square, Key West

Migrating South

Posted on December 6, 2022 by Ingrid

December 5, 2022

Tim and I are migrating south for the winter. We leave tomorrow for Florida. We are not sure how long it will take us, and we don’t know where we will stop along the way. A lot depends on the conditions. We want to sail as much as possible, but it looks like we won’t have a lot of wind. We have several places where we can anchor — we may drop anchor at Sapelo Island or maybe Cumberland Island before reaching Florida.

I will begin posting updates on our tracking page tomorrow. Click here to find the tracking page. I won’t be able to update the blog until we are back in cell phone range.

Some recent bird photos…

We had a White Ibis parade in the marina a few days ago. 26 of them walked through the marina, foraging for food. It was quite a show!

December 1, 2022

Posted on December 1, 2022 by Ingrid

December 1, 2022

Last night my sister asked me how we managed to paint our anchor chain without getting paint all over the dock. Good question! After dragging an 85 lb anchor and 400 lbs of chain onto the dock, we measured and marked every 25 feet of chain. At each 25 feet of chain, we placed 2 feet of the chain into a box, and spray painted the 2 feet of chain in the box. That kept the paint off the dock. Also…the wind was light, so we didn’t have to worry about paint blowing onto the boat.

This is our color coding system: 25′ = blue. 50′ = green. 75′ = red. 100′ = yellow. Then the pattern starts over. 125′ = blue, etc. We have a total of 220′ of chain.

Everyone, including the Navy, has their own system of color coding their chain. Since I’m usually the one raising and lowering the anchor, I wanted a system that I knew I would easily remember. If Tim tells me to lower 50 feet of chain, I know exactly what I need to do.

Here’s a photo of our painting process. It took 24 hours for the paint to dry.

Painting the anchor chain

…and around the marina…

Here is Leigh Ann and Darrel’s dog Argus. He’s just a puppy, and already weighs about 100 lbs. He is a sweetie, and very obedient.

Argus

Dark clouds on the horizon. That huge catamaran is not ours! It’s parked in front of us.

Boats along the dock

Storm brewing

November 29, 2022

Posted on November 30, 2022 by Ingrid

November 29, 2022

We worked hard today. Tim changed the anodes on both engines, and installed a new antenna for our satellite phone. I washed all the windows, and cleaned the isinglass that surrounds our bridge. It took us both all day to get that done. The anodes need to be changed every 250 hours. And just like in a car, it’s important to have clean windows, especially at night!

__________________________

My new cell phone does a good job of taking photos at night. I took this shot from our boat. Mars is above the boat on the left. You can see the constellation Orion rising above the boat on the right. The Pleiades star cluster is between the two boats.

We took a walk on Saturday in Bonadventure Cemetery. Lots of history in that cemetery, and lots of birds. The Mockingbird in the photo was singing his heart out. A nearby Cardinal called, and the Mockingbird mimicked the Cardinal. It was such a surprise to hear Cardinal sounds coming out of the mouth of the Mockingbird. They are appropriately named!

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Mockingbird

Carolina Wren

Carolina Wren

November 27, 2022

Posted on November 27, 2022 by Ingrid

November 27, 2022

We had a nice time with Leigh Ann, Darrel, and their dog Argus on Thanksgiving Day.

We’re almost ready to set sail. Just a few more days of chores, and we’ll take off!

The birds continue to keep me entertained…

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Snowy Egret

Snowy Egret

Happy Thanksgiving

Posted on November 24, 2022 by Ingrid

Happy Thanksgiving!

We’re looking forward to a delicious dinner with our friends Leigh Ann and Darrel. Leigh Ann is a fantastic cook! We keep running into them during our sailing trips. It’s always nice to see them!

Here’s their boat when we saw them in Fort Lauderdale.

Leigh Ann and Darrel’s boat “Only Sand”

Here are some photos of Thunderbolt Marina. I enjoy walking around watching all the birds and boats.

Boat-tailed Grackle

Double-crested Cormorant

November 22, 2022

Posted on November 23, 2022 by Ingrid

We’re still aiming for a December 1^st departure.

Tim installed the new anchor swivel today. Our friend Rob helped Tim get the anchor and chain onto the dock so that we can paint length marks. We need markers every 25 feet so that we know how much chain we are letting out when we drop anchor. I’ll post picture of that tomorrow.

Here are a few birds that have been hanging around the marina…

Goin’ fishin’

A new bird for my bird lifelist…a Ruddy Turnstone

Ruddy Turnstone

Double-crested Cormorant

Exploring Savannah

Posted on August 5, 2022 by Ingrid

Exploring Savannah

For more photos, click here.

While Denise and the pups were visiting us, we took a couple of trips to downtown Savannah and walked along the riverfront and explored some of the historic squares. We spent a lot of time walking around beautiful Forsyth Park — Spanish Moss is everywhere in Savannah.

Since it was so hot, Denise and I got up at 5:30 a.m. and got to the park by 7:00 a.m. It was nice and cool, and we spent a couple of hours wandering around the park. When it started getting hot, we went down to the river and had lunch.

Gizmo waiting at the restaurant for lunch

Forsyth Park

Forsyth Park

Forsyth Park

Gizmo is always trying to get into trouble

While we were walking around downtown, we went into the gardens of the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum. This structure (see photo below) was the official US Government Weather Bureau Kiosk in Savannah from 1900 until WWII. It held instruments to record wind speed and velocity, barometric pressure and temperature, and was also used to post public notices. People gathered here to get information and socialize. It was moved from Wright Square to the Ships of the Sea Maritime garden.

US Government Weather Bureau Kiosk

On our first trip downtown, we went with Tim, and walked along the river. We got so hot and tired (especially the dogs), that we decided to head back to the boat to cool off. The marina air conditioning felt great, and Denise and I shot some pool! We made up our own rules since we have no idea how to play!

pool

We ended the day with a sunset dinghy trip on the river.

Adding Birds to My Lifelist

Posted on July 30, 2022 by Ingrid

Birding in Savannah

While we were in Savannah checking on the boat, I had a chance to do some birding, and managed to add some new birds to my lifelist.

Our friends Rob and Angel have a pond behind their house, and it’s the home of lots of Muscovy Ducks and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. The Whistling Ducks were new for me, although I’ve probably seen them before, but wasn’t paying attention!

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks usually mate for life, and I saw 5 couples in and around the pond.

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks

One morning Tim and I were out in the dinghy looking for dolphins, and as we were headed back to our boat, we made a last-minute decision to go up river a bit more, just to see if we could find any dolphins. We happened to see some small birds along the shore with amazingly long legs. I commented to Tim that it looked like the birds were walking on stilts. As it turns out, they were Black-necked Stilts. A perfect name, and another addition to my lifelist. Adults have black necks and backs, and juveniles are brown. We saw six of them along the shore.

Black-necked Stilts

Black-necked Stilts

Black-necked Stilts

One afternoon as I was walking along the dock beside our boat, I saw another new bird. A Clapper Rail. He (or she) spent about an hour walking up and down the dock, looking for food. He didn’t seem to mind having me around, and I managed to get some photos of him. I think this is a juvenile.

Clapper Rail

Wood Storks were new for me on this trip as well. I posted some photos of Wood Storks at their nests when Denise and I visited Oatland Island Wildlife Center. You can click here to see them.

Wood Storks

Flock of Wood Storks

Although I saw Roseate Spoonbills last year, I’ve seen a lot more this summer. Last year I only saw 2 of them, and this year I saw them almost every day.

Roseate Spoonbill

Roseate Spoonbill

Roseate Spoonbill

Oatland Island Wildlife Center

Posted on July 26, 2022 by Ingrid

Oatland Island Wildlife Center

For more photos of Oatland Island Wildlife Center, click here.

Despite the heat, we didn’t let that stop us from exploring the Georgia coast. Denise and I went to the Oatland Island Wildlife Center, which like Skidaway, is has a forest, walkways along the marsh, and a beautiful pond. It is also the home to some animals that are in captivity, but are in a natural habitat.

It’s the home for several owls, raptors, and two Bald Eagles that are rescues. They were are injured and are no longer able to fly. They have a good home now at the wildlife center, since they can no longer be in the wild.

[Some of the captions in the photos give you more information about our visit].

The wildlife center is along the Wilmington River, and Denise and I stopped along the river to rest and take a selfie.

No dogs allowed at the wildlife center. Gizmo and Dakota stayed on the boat, safely away from alligators!

Alligator eggs!

Nap time!

Ledbetter Pond was my favorite spot at the wildlife center. There were over 18 Wood Storks roosting in the trees, and I saw about 6 nests. I’m sure there were more nests that I couldn’t see.

The pond is covered in Duck weed, which is a very tiny plant that provides food and protection to the turtles and other wildlife that live in the pond. In the pictures of the pond, it looks like grass, but it’s the Duck Weed covering the water.

The Wood Storks were LOUD! Turn up the volume. This recording doesn’t do it justice. They were a noisy bunch!

Wood Storks

Wood Stork

A turtle swimming in the pond, covered with Duck Weed. It swam towards us, and at first we thought an alligator was headed towards us. Then we saw that is was just a turtle! Thank goodness!