Kilkenny

We came into Kilkenny Marina on April 15 to take a slip while we waited for an engine part.  We found the marina very interesting, which included an old plantation.  

An old 662 acre pre American Revolutionary property came into the possession of Thomas Young around 1758.  In 1836 the land was sold to Charles Rogers and he built the wooden frame house that still exists today.  The land was used to raise Sea Island cotton.  During the Civil War a union gunboat shelled the property from the Bear River leaving a hole in the side of the house that was later repaired.  Kilkenny has changed hands several times since then and is presently owned by the owners of the Marina who also lived there as children.  A beautiful house with several outbuildings surrounded by very old live oak trees, you can see where they lined the original driveway which is now a road.  The locals claim the live oak trees are as much or more than 300 years old which is easy to believe looking at the massive size of their trunks. 

An interesting feature of the marina is the boat ramp/lift.  Because the banks are so steep boat ramps are not feasible so the marina opted for a lift.  The best way I can explain it is to show you, so here is a series of pictures that hopefully will explain this system  to those not familiar with this kind of boat lift.

And there you have it , from water to parking lot.

We met an alligator hunter at the marina named Tony.  He shared some interesting stories that confirmed that I will never swim in these waters.  He takes people out alligator hunting and claims there are some 10-11 foot alligators in the area.  He also explained how you can tell the length of an alligator by just seeing the snout.  If you can estimate the distance in inches from the eyes to the end of his snout and then convert to feet you will have the length.  For example an alligator with 10 inches from eyes to end of snout will be 10 feet.  Although we couldn’t prove it, we got to put it to practice when we saw an alligator swimming onto shore and estimated it was 3-4 feet. 

We really enjoyed our stay at this fisherman’s marina. 

Movin' on to South Carolina ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cumberland Island and Wild Horses

Hoping to see wild horses turned out to be sweet reality as we were practically within touching distance.  Nope, we didn’t creep up on them, we were sitting at a table watching as they grazed closer and closer.  Beautiful, healthy looking horses it was hard to believe they were wild as they showed no fear of us.  Technically these horses are considered feral as they were once domesticated and then turned wild, they are also a non-native species that have an impact on the island ecology.  The National Park Service conducts population surveys that return counts ranging from 120 to 148 horses.  The first horses were probably left behind by the Spanish Missions established in the 1500’s. 

They have the right of way!

Next was the settlement history of the island which began with Catharine Greene, widow of Revolutionary War hero General Nathanael Green.  She built Dungeness, a four-story ‘tabby’ mansion near the southern end of the island.  A century later Thomas Carengie and his wife Lucy built their own mansion which they called Dungeness, in the same location.  Several more homes for their children including Plum Orchard were built for their children.  In 1959 the mansion was destroyed by fire, alleged to be the work of an arson.  In the 1890’s a small group of African American freedmen purchased property on the northern end of the island and built the First African Baptist Church in 1893.

Dungeness ruins

We also stopped by the Greene-Miller Cemetery near Dungeness.  On March 25,1818 Henry Lee aka Lighthorse Harry died and was buried in the Greene Cemetery on the island.  He was the father of Robert E. Lee.  In 1913 his remains were removed and interred in the Lee family crypt at Lee Chapel. While researching the cemetery, I learned a bit of trivia. The above ground markers do not hold bodies.  This was a style of tombstone that allowed families to come to the cemetery and have a surface on which to have a picnic. 

Greene-Miller Cemetery

We hiked through a forest of live oaks forming cool shade to a saltwater marsh ending up in the openness of the beach with its windblown sand dunes.  We often saw horses in the distance.  If you visit the island be sure to empty your shoes before entering your boat.  I must have brought back a couple of pounds of sand in my shoes.

The forest

Salt Marshes

Beach

Heading North.............

St. Augustine

If I had a bucket list this destination would be a check!  It may be cheating (lol) but I tend to add and check off items after the fact.  We stop in a lot of charming and interesting spots but to me a destination has to have a little magic. St. Augustine meets my criteria for a destination. It is the oldest city in the US and was founded in 1565.  We took two days to explore the city, the first day was a walk around looking at all the beautiful old buildings.  

We had a great lunch at O.C. Whites, est. 1790 which even has its own ghost!  Mrs. Worth, who lived in the building in the 1800’s, reportedly haunts the premises.  I don’t know for sure, but any establishment that can claim a ghost has got to be old.  We did not have the good fortune to see her, but had great food and service.

This is our birds eye view of old town from our balcony table.

We also took some time to walk through the public marketplace.

St. Augustine’s public market is bordered by the cathedral and the Government House providing a storefront for residents to offer goods for sale to the public.  The grid design of the central plaza and city streets were part of King Phillip II’s royal decree of 1598, which was a plan for all Spanish colonial towns. 

The second day was spent at Castillo de San Marcos the still imposing fort overlooking the harbor.  This fortress is such an integral part of St. Augustine’s history that it calls for at least a condensed timeline. 

The city was founded in 1565, work began on the fort in 1672 and completed in 1695.  In 1763 Florida was given to Great Britain through the Peace of Paris Treaty at which time it became known as Fort St. Mark.  In 1783 the same treaty recognizes the independence of the US and returns Florida to Spain.  So back to Spain but in 1821 Spain cedes Florida to the US at which time it was renamed Ft. Marion.  In 1924 Fort Marion is proclaimed a national monument and in 1933 it was transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service.  In 1942 the Park Service restored its original name to Castillo de San Marcos. 

                               

The birds eye view from Wikipedia

Spanish importance of this area became evident when Ponce de Leon discovered the best return route for their treasure ships from the Caribbean was along the Gulf Stream, through the Bahama Channel and past the shores of Florida.  Florida needed to be protected to prevent pirates and their enemies from using the coast to raid their ships. 

                             

Soldiers Bunk

Sally Port

 Officers Bunk

Here Comes the Big Guns

The tools to clean and load the big guns

Finally, a shout out to Gene because I know you are reading this!  Have a good day!

Next destination is Cumberland Island to see the wild horses..................

North on AICW

Went through our first lock of the journey on the St. Lucie River (Stuart, FL).  After all the locks we went through coming down the river it was a cake walk.  

Spent our first night on the hook in Hooker Cove near the mouth of the St. Lucie River.  It's been a year since we lived onboard but it feels just like yesterday.  The second night on the hook was just north of the NASA Causeway Bridge.  

We first tried south of the bridge but the current and wind were fighting for control of the bow and sent us spinning, didn’t look forward to that movement all night so we moved.  Our last anchorage was in Daytona before arriving in St. Augustine where we planned to go into the marina. 

Main St. Bridge  Daytona Beach, FL

We didn’t touch ground until St. Augustine.  So, what do we do at anchor when we don’t leave the boat?  If it is just an over nighter, we rarely take the dinghy out.  After setting the anchor we have a drink while watching our anchor (to make sure we are not dragging the anchor) and listen to music.  Sometimes we just sit and watch the anchor for a while and have a second drink, lol.   After the anchor watch we make dinner, clean up dishes, watch a movie, read a book, check on the anchor and go to bed.  On a good day it is pretty uneventful but very relaxing.  On a not so good day we may have a mechanical or if the weather is bad we are more watchful of the anchor dragging or someone dragging into us.  Most days are uneventful.  

Looking forward to St. Augustine............

Taking Sea Hawk Home

Taking Sea Hawk Home

More on our explorations, coming soon……  That was the last you heard from Sea Hawk Journeys back in March of 2018.  We are back in Florida and ready to take Sea Hawk home to Duluth.  What’s happened in the interim?  We put the boat on the hard in April, 2018 and almost filled a U Haul with boat stuff, but left a case of Glenfiddish on board, lol.  We arrived home one day after a major blizzard, that was quite a reality check!  We didn’t have winter gear with us but toughed it out until we got home and weathered the rest of a northern MN winter.  Summer did come and we did a lot of chores, gardening, cleaning up leftover storm damage from our 2016 tornado event and had fun. 

Now I’ll try and wrap up our Bahamas trip from my journal.  

The best part of a shoal draft keel is getting close enough to swim to the beach.  This is the middle cruiser beach at Big Major Cay and there must have been 50+  boats behind us. 

We left Staniel Cay the end of March, arriving in Fort Pierce early the morning of April 2.  We stayed at the city marina for about a week enjoying the farmers market and music by the marina.  The Sea Hawk was left on the hard at Indiantown Marina and we headed home by land. 

March 29, 2019

Left Indiantown Marina and headed east on the St. Lucie Canal.  It felt just like yesterday we stepped off the boat.  Back to boat life and it feels great!  We plan to sail the boat home by traveling up the east coast. 

While at the dock hanking our main sail on an artist happened to be there painting our boat.  We purchased the painting and now have a nice painting of the Sea Hawk.  Here it is propped up for the camera so it's a little skewed.  

Soon......................................