We left Hilton Head under perfectly clear skies with the morning sunshine dancing on the water. Our destination was Charleston, SC where I was some somewhat anxious to have to Cummins Engine folks meet me. It seems we have developed a small (and slow) oil leak from one of the Zeus pod drives. Engines and drives on boats aren't supposed to leak, and I know enough about boats to know what I don't know. Time to call in the experts!
So what is so cool about that?
Well, as we were transiting the many rivers and cuts along the South Carolina ICW, we were about to enter Fields Cut when Rachel spotted something off in the distance that just didn't look right. Now we see all manner of boats, ships barges and tugs as we cruise, but as she peered through her high power binoculars, said this was something very different. As we got closer we soon realized we were coming up on a pair of "tall ships" painted black and very, very old (at least in design). When the time came to pass them through a relatively narrow cut, Rachel said the name on the first ship was Pinta and the second one was Nina. WHAT???
Sure enough, just about that time, I see their names op up on the AIS (Automatic Identification System) confirming Rachel's rather stunned assessment. These two ships are exact replicas of Columbus' sailing ships to America (sans the Santa Maria) that are touring the United States waters as a "floating museum". If your interested, here is the link to the Columbus Foundation and the planned stops of the ships over the next few months. http://www.thenina.com I guess they didn't build a replica of the Santa Maria since she sunk on her return visit to Spain.
Now THAT was cool!
We arrived in Charleston in good time and after fighting a very strong current and cross wind while docking Endless Summer, fueled and cleaned her from the days run. All in all, a great day on the water.
The engine tech showed up right on schedule and confirmed that while the leak would need to be repaired, it could wait until we reached our final destination in Connecticut. Just have to keep a close eye on it and make sure to keep the fluids topped off after each stop. I can do that.
The weather forecast for tomorrow looks good so we will make way for Myrtle Beach.
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