Posted 15 April 1998
We are still enjoying our stay at Skull Creek Marina on Hilton Head Island. We bicycle all over the plantation and into "town." It's much easier than waiting for the marina's courtesy van when you have only a small amount to carry. Of course, we experienced a number of bike problems such as a flat tire, a blow out, pedal failure, and crank slippage (gee, this is starting to sound like boating!).
One of the more humorous incidents began while on a bicycle tour of the wildlife refuge on Pinckney Island. Kathy's rear tire went flat and the tour guide came to the rescue, producing a "fix-a-flat" from the recesses of her backpack. Flat tire fixed, Kathy continued the tour. Later, at our cousin's home, we inflated the tire to the correct pressure. Biking back to our boat, the tire exploded with the crack of a .38 Special caliber pistol. We were reminded of the "slime" scene in the movie "Ghostbusters" - bike frame, tire and spokes, the ground, surrounding bushes were all covered with the white liquid from the fix-a-flat.
One of my misadventures involved the right pedal snapping from the crank. Ever try pedaling 4 miles on one pedal? One does develop a different technique.
We biked over to the local hospital (5 miles) for their Health Fair. We participated in the 3-mile walk, got our free T-shirts, and stopped at all the booths for free screenings. It was a full morning!
We did a major bike outing on Friday, April 10th, with our cousins Susan and Bob O'Neil. We biked 35 miles, touring from one end of Hilton Head Island to the other. We covered the distance in a little over 4 hours traveling time, with a break for lunch and shorter rest stops along the way.
Susan and Bob gave us a deluxe sightseeing tour of Savannah, and another day the four of us spent a couple of hours climbing around boats at the Savannah boat show.
We tried to view the Hilton Head Island St. Patrick's Day parade, but the traffic was too heavy. Instead, Susan and Bob drove us to Sun City where we toured about a dozen model homes. Are we ready for a retirement community?
We watched the NCAA basketball tournament on our TV. Cable is one of the freebees at the marina. We enjoyed a marina social hour and cook-out. We ogled the big cruisers (100+ feet) who are staying at the marina for the Hilton Head golf tournament.
Of course, we read our share of books and magazines. Kathy very much enjoyed "The Cruel Sea" by Nicholas Monsarrat, so much so that I re-read it myself. We also enjoyed reading Hal Roth's "Chasing the Long Rainbow," about his first BOC adventure. Hal quotes from T.E. Lawrence:
"Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible."
Kathy just happened to poke her head out of the hatch one morning and sighted a Sheltie named Paco in the water. Apparently he fell off his boat, and couldn't make his way out of the water (the docks are too high for dogs, and for most people, to climb out of the water). Kathy yelled across to the next dock and soon Paco was pulled to safety. A couple of weeks later, Kathy returning from walking our dog sighted a Lhapso apso named Anchor in the water! Apparently Anchor had tried to jump from his boat to the dock, and ended in the drink instead. Kathy plucked him out (he weighs only 12 pounds) and her mothering instinct took over. Instead of placing the dripping, soaking wet bundle on the dock to shake off, she hugged him closely. Two gold doggie bones (stars) for Kathy!
We worked too. The cockpit coamings were stripped, prepped and a product called "Armada" applied. Well, by the time we finished with the coamings, we moved on to stripping the hatch boards, hatch moldings, wheel hub, instrument pod frame, kill switch mount, and the starboard toerail. The wood looks great. As of this date Kathy has 3 coats on the starboard toerail and 6 coats on everything else. I sanded and varnished the main hatch interior trim, and also removed the remains of Velcro from around the exterior main hatch. The boat looks much better.
The night lights on the compass and on the depth, AWI, and knot instruments were not operating. I quickly repaired the compass light but haven't yet succeeded in repairing the night lights for the other three.
The port and starboard tow rings on the inflatable were repaired and strengthened.
One day while out biking I found two pieces of birch plywood by the side of the road. I made a box for our cell phone, and mounted it on the portside of the cabin against the stern bulkhead. Now the phone is quickly accessible and neat and tidy. Kathy christened it the "phone booth."
It's been windy here during March and April and all have been blaming El Nino. We've had any number of tornado watches and several warnings. We spent a worrisome 45 minutes when a warning was called for Parris Island which is just 5 miles away. The TV stations flash the warning across the screen to alert viewers. We've experienced winds of 30 knots with gusts to over 45 knots quite regularly.
Bob from the trawler "Liberty" has invited us to accompany Judy and himself and their dog Anchor on a four day excursion down to St. Catherine's Island which is about 60 miles south. We hope to leave April 13.
Happy Easter to Everyone.
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