J &B YACHT ULTRA ADVENTURE

TUESDAY, SETEMBER 1, 2009

We are still here in IOH.Isle of Hope -

Savannah, Ga.A lot has changed, since we last spoke to all of you.

We met some wonderful people.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

Worked on boat projects.Julie, Jerry, Ken and Holly came by in J & J's yellow Boston Whaler "Buttercup".They rafted up to Ultra and invited us to dinner and drinks at their house for Friday night.Of course we accepted and look forward to seeing them all then.We had seen J & J many times, since they use their boat almost every day.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

Today we received a phone call from Carl (brother of Scott that visited us a few months ago) and Suzanne that live in NapaValley.They were in Charleston on vacation and headed our way for a visit.They arrived and we took them for a ride in the dink for a tour of beautiful IOH.They then took us to lunch and to run a few errands.Then asked us if we wanted to go to Hilton Head.Of course, we are always game for any adventure.We arrived at HarbourTown in Hilton Head.We had a great time touring Harbourtown and then headed back to the boat and arrived at midnight.Jack and Nancy were back from vacation and were there to greet us.Carl and Suzanne stayed to visit until around 2:00 a.m.They were headed to Fort Myers, Fla. the next day.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2009

Today we worked on boat projects.We are going out with Jerry and Julie (who are both engineers) and Holly and Ken tonight.Ken and Jerry came to pick us up in Ken & Holly's Key West boat "Jolly Roger".We are having drinks at their house and then to dinner.Holly and Julie were waiting at the house and had all kinds of scrumptious appetizers for us to enjoy.Ken is an Army Colonel and served a year in Iraq and Holly is a 4th grade teacher.When he returned from Iraq, he enveloped himself in everything island style-ish, Margaritaville-ish/Jimmy Buffet-ish and he and Holly created a fantastic masterpiece.They converted their garage into the "Man Room".When you walk in, you are greeted by a very sexy pirate lady.As you enter further, every wall is filled with all things island style.Ken even has everyone sign a dollar bill and staple it to the wall of the Tiki Bar.After drinks, we headed to the Driftaway Café in Sandfly, Georgia.It is just across the Isle of Hope bridge.Since this is the local hang out, they knew everyone.We had such a great time, we stayed until the restaurant was closing down.We then headed back to the Tiki Bar, restocked the coolers and then headed to watch the moon rise.We loaded up in "Jolly Roger" and headed out to watch the full moon rise.It was beautiful.There were several people at the dock swimming the water.Yikes, you all already know how we feel about that around here.Snakes, Alligators, sharks, no way…..As we were making the next bend in the river, the boat died.Ken grabbed the paddle and Bill grabbed the boat hook.They startedpaddling us to shore and Jerry tried to start the boat again.It finally started and we decided to head back to our boat and enjoy each others company there.We were all having so much fun, they did not leave Ultra until 2:30 a.m.They invited us to their Georgia Football Game Party for Saturday at 3:00 p.m.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2009

Today, we slept in since were up so late again.Two nights in a row of 2:30 a.m.We biked over to Ken & Holly's and we're greeted by everyone out in the yard and inside the Man Room.All of the neighbors from IOH came over.It was so nice to meet such great people and enjoyed hearing local stories of IOH and watching Georgia play on the ginormous big screen tv.Many of the people that live here and also grew up here.Ken wrote a book called "Tales of Sandfly".It is sold in Barnes and Noble and on Amazon.com in case you are interested in some really funny and true stories.We enjoyed sharing boat stories with all of the guests.It is so great that everyone here seems to use their boat at least on a weekly basis. The boat that is off of our bow is owned by Ken & Holly.It is named "Imagine" and they bought it in Seabrook, just around the corner from our home in Texas.What a small world.Today we also got to meet the little boy that said to us the night of the space shuttle launch "Hey people on the boat, did you see the rocket launch."Tomorrow, we will leave IOH and head for Darien, but we look forward to coming back to IOH and seeing everyone that we met here, and picking up our signed book..

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2009

Anchored: 31 49.319N 081 03.111W BradleyPoint

Today we left IOH and began our trip to Darien.We day-anchored out at BradleyPoint.The dunes here are amazing. Great anchorage with lots of small powerboats anchored just off of the beach.We loaded up the cooler and dink and headed to the beach for a picnic.While there, a CapeDory sailboat arrived and dropped the hook.This beach is popular for people from Savannah.We met Sam & his girlfriend from the sailboat. Instead of dinking to shore, they swam.They recognized Ultra from IOH and their boat was anchored off our stern.They live in downtown Savannah.We had a great visit and headed back to Ultra.It was getting to be sunset and we were going to reanchor in the creek, but decided we could handle the 20 knot winds and rolling around all night.After dinner, we were having a glass of wine and noticed the C.D. was now anchored closer to our bow.We hailed them on the VHF and told them they were dragging.They told us that they reanchored due to the bad weather and seas.The Atlantic is just around the bend of the island.We told them that we were going to reanchor, since we thought that they might drag, since they did not know how much scope they had out.At 9:00 p.m., we pulled up the hook and headed for the creek.Spotlighting the ahead, watching for shoals, and the chartplotter was not cooperating, since we were taking it so slow.C.D. was going to follow us in, but had engine trouble.We stressfully made our way in and set the hook.C.D. followed about 30 minutes later and anchored off our stern.What a nail-biting experience. This is a lesson to always reanchor before it gets pitch black outside.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

Anchored: Walburg Creek - St. Catherine's Island

31 40.328N 81 09.634W

Today we slept in after being so stressed and tired last night.CapeDory did, too.Around 11:00 p.m., they were headed to the beach.We passed on their invitation to the beach and made our way to St. Catherine's Sound.We anchored in Walburg Creek behind St. Catherine's Island.We have been using the Skipper Bob's Cruising Guide and it is fantastic.We just received the new one for the Bahamas.It is a great source because it provides safe anchorages and gunkholes locations.We arrived late in afternoon, so we took it easy and enjoyed the sites from the boat.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

Anchored:

Today we made our way towards Darien

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2009

We arrived at the City Dock in Darien.The scallop boat was still on the rail, so we were not able to haul the boat.It will probably be Friday.We stayed at the dock for 75 cents/ft.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

Today we rode our bikes around town and then to Piggly Wiggly for some lettuce.We have laid out the plans for the new sofa project.It will be great when we are done, but remodeling sure does make a mess.We have always wished our sofas in the main salon were higher so we could see out of the windows.We are building a platform and making a new table, too.We are putting new upholstery that is much easier to clean than fabric.We found a great company that has great pricing on Ultra Leather.We can't wait to send you all photos of our new and improved main salon.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Today is the big day.We are hauling the boat at George's Boat Works in Darien, GA.We are waiting until high tide/slack tide.To lighten up the boat, we have unloaded a lot of heavy items and are able to store them in the apartment in the shipyard.Since we will have no refrigeration until we go back into the water, we are making block ice in the apartment freezer and then putting it in our onboard freezer.They are super nice people and it reminds us a lot of the shipyard that we always hauled out at in Port Bolivar.Unfortunately, we cannot do our work here.The yard does not have that kind of insurance.However, we are able to do our work inside the boat and live aboard.It took about 1 ½ hours to haul the boat today.We are now living at a 30 degree angle.We travel uphill to get something out of the bow and then downhill at the stern.Sleeping at a 30 degree angle is definitely an unusual feeling.We feel like we are living in one of the Wacky Shacks that they have at the amusement parks.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2009

Today we began framing out the new sofa platform design.It is so great that Bill knows how to make anything. It makes it also easier to make changes along the way, if we see something a design idea that will work better.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

More of the sofa project.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Today the shipyard was able to begin working on the boat.They began prepping the boat for the new bottom paint job.The manager let us borrow his truck for a H.D. and Lowe's materials run.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2009

More of the sofa.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009

Today we worked on the new sofas.We also tore up the original teak floor and glued it to the new platform, sanded and stained it.It turned out great.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

Today we worked on the new sofas.We are almost finished.We have met the scallop boat owner (Raul) who lives in Virginia.We are borrowing his truck tomorrow and taking a road trip to Savannah to buy the foam for the cushions. The pricing is half off, so it is worth the drive.It is a small world.Raul is originally from Aransas Pass, Texas and his cousin lives in Rockport, Texas and is a fireman.Just a little scallop trivia:The permit to scallop is worth: $3.5 million dollars and the boat is worth $1.5 million and scallops are $10 per pound and they work 88 days a year.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2009

More of the sofa project.Off to run more errands.When we arrived home, Raul was making dinner for us and it would be ready in 5 minutes.We quickly unloaded the car, made the salad and dashed over to the apartment.He fixed scallops 3 different ways and made the best cole slaw we have ever had.He even gave us his family recipe! He is a great cook.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2009

Same, thing again and again. Ground Hog Day.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

Same.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER, 21, 2009

Same.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2009

Today JoAnne is rescuing Bill from having to do her hair.Bill does a fabulous job, but the salon is just down the street and Patty will do a great job, too.Bill worked on the sofa project.After the appointment, Peter arrived.He is the guy that we met while we were anchored out at St. Simon's.He drove up from Jacksonville and is on his way to a reunion in New York.We had drinks and then went to dinner down the street.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

More of the sofa project.We are truly blessed to be living here in such a small town.Everyone knows everyone and the Postmaster General himself even hand delivers our mail and invited us to his home for wine.What service!

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

More of the sofa project.Today we cooked for Raul and Orlando.Raul had given us 5 lbs. of scallops that he caught and cooked them up. We set the alarm for the crack of dawn because Bill has a fun adventure planned for JoAnne's birthday tomorrow.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

Well, today JoAnne is another year older.We woke up early and were waiting on Fort King George Drive for our ride.At 8 a.m., Brooke picked us up and we were on our way.We arrived at the ferry dock.This dock used to be Mr. Thomas Spaulding's private dock and the Gullah People had to use another boat dock.Everyone knew it was my birthday, since it seemed Bill had been working on all of the details for a while and he had spoken to everyone in town in the process.The ferry was taking us to beautiful SapeloIsland.We have seen this island in Coastal Living magazine and from the boat on our cruise around these waters, but have not been on shore.We arrived at SapeloIsland and were greeted by our tour guide, Miss Fran.We loaded up in her van and were headed for a wonderfully memorable tour. A quick history of SapeloIsland:It was owned by R.J. Reynolds (Tobacco King).The slaves were brought from West Africa in 1802 to SapeloIsland since they knew how to grow rice.In addition to rice, Mr. Thomas Spaulding's plantations also had cotton, indigo, sugar cane, and tobacco.SapeloIsland is the last remaining group of Gullah Communities on the entire East Coast (Georgia, South Carolina, & North Carolina).

The slaves originated from San Leon in West Africa.The Gullah and GeeChee (from the Kizzi Tribe, pronounced, Geezee) people are descendants of slaves are a very proud of their heritage.Miss Fran's, who is 81 years young, great grandmother were brought to Sapelo as slaves.She told us that if there was a positive part of being a slave for Mr. Spalding is that he never broke up the families by selling them to different owners.The families were allowed to live together in communities and had their own homes and vegetable gardens.The start of the tour was an education on the Gullah Communities: Chocolate Plantation, Moses Hammock, Hogg Hammock, Shell Hammock, Pumpkin Hammock, Fishing Hammock, and Behavior.Our first stop was the Landing Strip and Hanger of Thomas Spaulding.The landing strip is still used today when special guests come for a visit.Our next stop was the BehaviorCemetery.The name "Behavior" came about, due to the fact the slaves would have to walk to and from the fields every day.After a while, they decided not to go all of the way back to their community and to stay closer to the fields.When Thomas Spaulding found out that they were doing this, he said, "Well, if they have good behavior while they are staying there, then they can live there".They then named their new community, Behavior.Also, if a Gullah marries a Non-Gullah, the Non-Gullah assumes the same rights and privileges as if they were born into the Gullah Community.

We were then off to see the Long Tabby and the Post Office.We had some mail in the backpack that was stamped with SapeloIsland and sent from there.Off to the SapeloIslandCulturalPreservationCenter for a presentation. Off to the Mansion.On the way to the mansion, we passed the home that Miss Fran's father built and she grew up in.We arrived at the Mansion. What a beautiful place.It was great to have a leisurely private tour.The Mansion is available for rent and is $165/person per night.It sleeps up to 26 guests.We were then off to the famous red and white striped lighthouse.The beach was so pristine and the remains of Thomas Spaulding beachside swimming and beach cabanas were still there.

The Gullahs are trying very hard to preserve their heritage and their community.Developers are trying to purchase the valuable property and the Gullahs have created a Land Trust.This will issue a $50,000 payment to the Gullahs that they can keep as long as they do not sell their property. Miss Fran gave a wonderful tour. If you are ever in this area and would like a wonderful tour of Sapelo Island, contact Miss Fran at Tours by Fran.

In 1934, R.J. Reynolds purchased the property.Today, the Mansion and most of the island, with the exception of Hogg Hammock, is now owned by the state of Georgia.We headed back to the ferry dock and then Miss Fran gave us a ride back to Darien.We arrived back at the boat.Since JoAnne loves mermaids, Bill gave her a beautiful mermaid that he made for her.Mr. Curry hand delivered some more birthday cards and packages to the boat.Just a few minutes later, a florist showed up with the most beautiful orchid plant I have ever seen.The name of the color is: Red Chili.It was especially emotional since I love plants so much and I had to leave them all behind. I have not owned one in 6 months.Melissa from Golden Isles Marina called to invite us to go flounder gigging tonight.Since Bill had more things planned, we took a raincheck.We got dressed and headed to dinner at Skipper's down the street.On our walk home, we heard Patty call us from the wine and cheese bar.They invited us over for a glass of wine with them. We met her husband Phillip, that runs the charter boat business out of JekyllIsland.We had a great visit.I am truly blessed to have such a great husband.Bill went to a lot of work and I sincerely appreciate his every attention to detail on planning such a spectacular day!

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2009

It is back to reality today, so more of the sofa project.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27-30, 2009

More of Sofa Project. We do get to escape for about an hour and take a bike ride around the beautiful live oak tree lined squares and sometimes off to Piggly Wiggly to restock our wine.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2009

Today, we had a visitor off of the stern. We kept smelling something that was not so great. Well...it turned out to be a dead 10 foot alligator. If it were not for the boom, the tide would have washed underneath the boat. Since it seemed like not soon enough that the tide was to turn, we untied the boom and guided the alligator out into the river. We knew for sure not to guide it with a boathook. We had heard a terrible story of someone that attempted to push a dead wild boar with a boathook out into the river that had gotten hung underneath the dock near their boat. The end of that was not so great, it exploded. The other part of the excitement was that we were filmed by a helicopter today. It hovered and we got some great photos of them, too. They are doing some video footage of the Low Country.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2009

Today we are working on the sofa again. Today the scallop boat owner and crew arrived. They are taking their boat tomorrow morning to the Chesapeake to begin scalloping again.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2009

Today we saw Raul and his crew off. They left at high tide and will be in the Chesapeake in 3 days. JoAnne sanded the dinghy to prep it for bottom paint. Bill worked on the new nav station desk.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2009

Today we worked on the sofa.

We hope that this blog entry finds all of you happy and healthy.We apologize for taking so long to get our blog updated.It seems like we have been working every day from sun up to sun down.There is always a project.

Take Care and Fair Winds to everyone until we talk again,

J & B :)

Trivia…

In Shakespeare time mattresses of hay were secured on the bed frame by rows of ropes.Pulling on the ropes tightened would retighten the ropes after they had stretched out from the previous nights sleep.Hence…Goodnight, Sleep Tight.

Why does many military sailors uniforms have a flap on the back of the uniform?

Originally, sailors thought it bad luck to cut their hair, so over time, sailors grew very long hair, to keep it from getting hung up in the ships rigging, etc., the sailor would take a wad of tar from the ships deck and tie their hair back and secure it with the wad of tar.To keep the tar off the sailors shirts, the sailors wore a hankerchief around their necks to keep the tar off the shirts and prevent skin blisters from the contact of the tar.So the "look" of a sailor with a neckerchief, was adapted by many military, by adding a flap ( looks like a neckerchief).

Heismann Trophy named after Coach John William Heismann and first Full timecoach for RiceUniversity in Houston, Texas.

Gilligan Island T.V. show…Gilligan's first name was Willy.

TV show Mash.Each letter represents a word. What were the words?

MobilArmySurgicalHospital

How do you get Holy Water?Boil the Hell out of it>

A sports game invented in ScotlandG entlemenO nlyL adiesF orbidden

GOLF