Tag Archives: Georgia

Grass Growing – Isle of Hope, Georgia, USA, July 23, 2026

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Grass Growing – Isle of Hope, Georgia, USA, July 23, 2026

Literally.  I think this is the longest we have been in one spot for quite some time.  In the last month we did spend a weekend in Jekyll Island, Georgia visiting my parents and another week in Columbus visiting our daughters (and wedding dress shopping which was exciting!).  Other than that, we have been hanging out working on the boat.  For anyone not familiar with the Georgia water, it is the swampiest we have ever been!  The weather here is pure humidity and the water is thick.  Since we have not been moving, we have started to have plumbing issues.  This is Ron’s least favorite fix.  He can but let’s face it, no one likes to fix a toilet that doesn’t flush since the through holes are clogged with barnacles!  In addition to that, our AC filters have started to clog which means it is Africa hot in the boat and an immediate fix is necessary with weather that is 100% humidity and a heat index of 104 degrees!  Our poor air conditioner is on its last leg, and Ron was able to keep her going.  Ironically, in the Bahamas we don’t use air and the only time we do use the AC is when we are on the dock in places like Georgia or Key West.  Other projects Ron has been working on include an oil analysis which showed we have minimal leaks and that will require new seals and exhaust elbows.  He has ordered all the parts, and it will be an engine day here very soon. 

We have both been feeling a bit stagnant and although we love the boating lifestyle, we have been yearning for a trip to break things up a bit.  So, we started a new plan.  For the rest of hurricane season, we pretty much have something that falls in the middle of each month, and a big trip does really fit into our calendar.  We just made it back from 10 days away in July between Columbus and Jekyll, in August daughter #1 is coming home from Spain.  This will require another trip to Columbus to ensure we get to see her and then in September we get hauled out to fix the recent boat damage from getting hit as I described in the last post.  October starts with the prep and provisioning for our next cruising season and early November we are off again to the Caribbean.  That means any new travels we imagine cannot happen until we return.    

Now for the new plan…speaking of Africa hot…we just applied for a volunteer opportunity to in Malawi.  It is an incredible opportunity and we are thrilled.  Keep in mind we have just applied and are not accepted.  Let me elaborate.  Elefence International is a non-profit who partnered with Wildlife Action Group and protects people, elephants, and the environment.  They work to build fences around nature reserves, have a team of rangers who enforce poaching laws, and keep villages and farmers safe from any damage the elephants may cause.  This has helped increase the safety of the villages, protect and increase the elephant population.  If accepted, we would spend 3 weeks in Africa initially helping the camp there and potentially helping build the fence reducing human elephant conflict.  This is just as exciting as it sounds and a place neither of us has been able to adventure to before.  Ron’s experience with living off the grid, engineering, auto mechanics, and generally jack of all trades could provide great value to the team there.  I on the other hand could help the office, marketing, and the school kids there.  I think it would be a blast, and I encourage you to review their site for more information.  They also have a very interesting blog which is hosted by my father and describes the journey he and my mother took just a few years ago.   

https://www.elefenceinternational.org

Crashin’ – Isle of Hope, Georgia, USA, July 6, 2026

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Crashin’ – Isle of Hope, Georgia, USA, July 6, 2026

So, apologies for not updating in a while.  After making our crossing and landing to recover in St. Augustine for a few days, we did another offshore passage up to Jekyll Island, Georgia and spent another month there visiting my parents.  We stayed at the marina which was lovely.  They have loaner bikes we used, could walk to the beach, walk to breakfast, and they even have a loaner car so we could go off the island to grocery shop!  We had a great few weeks spending time with my parents but unfortunately the storms had started and forced us to move north.  Brunswick Landing is a bit more protected, however, they are about double the cost of Jekyll, so we only stayed for a couple of days before making the two day trek up to Isle of Hope Marina, which is our hurricane station till mid-October.  We did the intercoastal from Brunswick to Isle of Hope (~80 miles) which was a two-day trip since we anchored at Newport River.  

The marina here is lovely as well with a loaner car to grocery shop, a nice walkable neighborhood, and a community pool we can take advantage of anytime we want!  Isle of hope is interesting though.  You can tell it is old money here since the houses are huge $2M each and many of them are multigenerational.  The houses have been passed down through the family, and many have private docks as well.  The staff here is top notch, and I would definitely stay here again. I have never seen a team of guys work so hard in my life.   We even got a fabulous fireworks display on 4th of July with a front row seat on the back of our boat! 

Personal fireworks show
Front row seat!

The only downside of our position is we are on the outside dock exposed to every yahoo who drives their sport fishing boat through the intercoastal.  They have a fuel dock here which is convenient, but that’s when it happened.  One of the sport fishing boats has already run into us and damaged the bow port side of the boat.  At this point we get to start the insurance game again.  You know how much Ron loves doing that after losing boat #1 to hurricane Beryl, but at least they had insurance.  The adjuster has been down to take a look and was working on an estimate.  One of the local contractors “Gaitor” (fitting for Georgia) was recommended to us and he can work out of Thunderbolt Marina.  He is coming to take a look, but it will most likely need to be hauled out.  We will need to take the boat back to Thunderbolt Marina, about 3 miles away, since they are the closest one to Isle of Hope.  They will need to grind down the gel coat, fix a couple of nice new cracks, then try and match the gel coat.  We had planned to get the boat hauled out in the Bahamas next year in Spanish Wells for a new bottom job, however since we are doing this before our cruising season starts, we will likely do a bottom job at Thunderbolt since it will already be hauled there.  Isle of Hope had security cameras at the fuel dock, so we got a video of the guy hitting us in addition to the photos of the damage to share with insurance.  We were both on the boat at the time but neither of us was hurt.  Ron was, however, cleaning out the port bow side when he hit and it was a bit of a shock!  Check out our damaged haul.

Idiots driving boat.

Other than our insurance excitement, the only other exciting thing was daughter #1 graduated with her master’s degree in Spain in AI Marketing!  We are so proud of her and hope it helps her find the job she wants that could allow her to stay in Spain.  This next we rented a car and are driving up to Columbus to see our other three daughters.  That will be fun too since I am going wedding dress shopping with daughter #4 to help her pick out her dress for the October Wedding.  Yeah!  Some fun things planned visiting family, and we plan to be up there for about a week.   Ron is excited for the pepperoni rolls in West Virginia on the way!