Chapter 51: Weekend Break!

This week was another week of checking things off the list. And surgery. Yes, I finally had my carpal tunnel surgery on Wednesday. The early part of the week was pre op testing and working on some smaller projects: building out some shelves to improve our storage (this included sanding and painting), getting our dinghy hoist and outboard harness installed, installing some more water maker parts, researching what to put in our ditch kit, and Bob going up the mast again (twice)! After a week of projects and surgery, we were really happy to host our first guest on Meraviglia! Nick came down from Atlanta for his first overnight onboard.
Nick arrived late on Thursday night so he really didn’t get to see too much other than his cabin. Friday morning we woke up to beautiful sunshine and a light breeze. Nick got to have the full tour and I think he was pleasantly surprised to see how much space we actually have onboard compared to the boats we used to take out on Lake Travis! We decided to head out towards St. Simon’s sound and were happy to find we had decent wind that was favorable for being able to sail out the inlet to the ocean for Nick’s first ocean sail. Bob’s repair to our roller furler for the genoa worked great- we finally were able to smoothly furl and unfurl the sail! We had beautiful beam reaching all the way out and back from the ocean and were able to leave the motor off until we were ready to take the sails down and head into the marina. We introduced Nick to our Friday night tradition of walking over to Arte Pizza for dinner, followed by a trip to Vampire Penguin for dessert. We finished out the day with a great FaceTime with Kat as we tried to figure out our 2023 holiday plans!
Saturday was another beautiful sunny day but less wind. Nick suggested we set a destination and go somewhere for lunch so we decided to take the dinghy with us and anchor somewhere near St. Simons and take the dinghy to go to lunch ashore. We headed out to the sound and entered the Intracoastal Waterway or ICW. The ICW is a 3,000 mile inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following the Gulf Coast to Brownsville, Texas. Some sections of the waterway consist of natural inlets, saltwater rivers, bays, and sounds, while others are artificial canals. It provides a navigable route along its length without many of the hazards of travel on the open sea. To safely travel the ICW it is recommended you have a mast no taller than 65’ and a keel not much deeper than 5’ as there are many bridges with very tight clearance. With the bridges you have to consider the effects of tides and currents carefully and plan your trip accordingly. On Meraviglia, our mast is 63’ tall and the ICW minimum bridge height is 65 feet. Only having two feet of safety net to work with makes tides VERY important! We decided to experience our first ICW bridge with Nick enroute to an anchorage. We needed to go under the Mackay Bridge which has a clearance of 65’. The information we read on it said there would be a tide board on the side of the bridge to mark the vertical clearance by the level of the water on the board. The tide was going out but low tide would not be until 3pm. As we approached, Nick was on the binoculars looking for the tide board but it was nowhere to be found(I later read on the ICW Facebook group that it is indeed MIA!) The current was moving pretty fast so we knew it would be a balance of slowing down to make sure we would clear the bridge but also needing enough momentum to steer in the currents. When you are on deck looking up at the mast and approaching the bridge it totally looks like there is no way you will ever make it under. I might have freaked out a bit thinking we were going to hit but only the top of our antenna pinged the bridge spans- PHEW!!! 😅Through our first bridge and that provided reassurance that when we would be going back under at low tide we would be all good! We motored a bit further and then found a great spot to anchor. As you may recall, we still do not have our windlass installed so we cannot use our main anchor. We instead used one of our secondaries, our Fortress. We got the anchor set without problem and the guys got the dinghy in the water and outboard on so we could go explore. We had not done a lot of advance research so we didn’t know if there were any public dinghy docks but decided to take a little cruise and see what we could find. We found a good beach spot and pulled the dinghy up but unfortunately there was no good place to secure it. The guys pulled the dinghy back off the beach and back in we went. We motored up and around the fishing pier and lighthouse but no dinghy docks so back to Morningstar Marina to eat at Coastal Kitchen. After a great lunch with yummy seafood for Nick and I, back to Meraviglia we went. Passing back under the bridge on the way back to the sound was MUCH less stressful – no antenna pinging on the bridge and back into the sound we went to raise the sails and do a little sailing. We had a nice time sailing back to the marina and got to see some dolphins along the way. After a lovely sunset and grilled fajitas onboard, back to St. Simons (in the car this time) for some ice cream- a great way to end the day.
Sunday brought some warmer temperatures with bright sunshine to enjoy before Nick had to head back to Atlanta. Bob prepared a pancake feast and then off to church at St. A’s before saying goodbye to Nick. It was a great visit and now looking forward to December when we will get to have both Nick and Kat onboard 💕
After a great break this weekend, we need to start the week with focus to keep working towards a December 1 departure goal. Ditch kit purchases, gelcoat repair, engine mount replacement are all ahead so hoping to have a good post op appointment on Tuesday!!!🤞Finally, we wanted to share the name of our new dinghy…. 🥁 ….. “Piccola” Thanks to Greg Andersen for the suggestion- we love it! “Piccola” means small in Italian and aptly describes our new addition to the Meraviglia family!