Trawler School Charters Blog

Day 9.       Tuesday      5–26

Hilton Head was Captain Fred’s place to hop off and head back to FL. Now I’m on my own for the next 4 days until I pick up my new clients Paula & Carey on Friday night in Wrightsville Beach NC. I never did long range cruising alone before. I will take the advice and experience of Captain Fred’s 45 years of experience on both power and sail, and along with my trawler school training, I should be just fine.

One problem: I became sick with the flu, fever, whatever, last night and felt a little groggy. I never get sick and this is the worst time ever. I must be fully alert at the helm. I’m by myself, must concentrate.

Left at 9:30 anchored at 6:00 went by a place I’ll never forget, Parris Island, SC. Yes Sir, the Marines were out marching and I could hear the Mr. Drill Instructor yelling, “Hamilton, you knuckelhead, we didn’t promise you a rose garden!” I just increased my speed wide open until I was safe.

Went 7 hours, 65 miles no problem. I’m receiving a lot of navigating information with no one to turn to but myself. I’m anchored between Charleston SC and Beaufort SC.
I’m taking medicine and going right to sleep for about 12 hours see if I can shake this cold. Good Night!

Sea U
Captain Bob

One person on the beach with there dog pretty cool.

Parris Island USMC ARRORRA
Captain Robert Hamilton

Day 5 Friday 5–22
Bad Northeast winds 15 to 20 kts in the ocean, rough and not good. We decided to cruise the inside of the Intracoastal thru Georgia. It was exciting, and what a view- twisting and turning. You must be on your toes at all times, one mistake and you’re in no-mans land. 100 miles of swamp and marshes.

Just as we were getting tired, out of nowhere came the horse flies (HELP!). First there was a few, I was beating them off with a shoe. Then an army of them came. I got better at killing them, then another million of them surrounded us. We were on the fly bridge, back to back, armed with one shoe each, and the battle went on for hours. By the end of the day there were so many dead flys on the deck we needed to sweep them off the boat. We are now certified serial fly killers, the word out is don’t mess with the crew of the Miami Mermaid!

10 hours and 105 miles we are 50 miles from Hilton Head SC. My friend who came along to assist has been a great help and I learned a lot from him. Thank you, Captain Fred from Key Largo, I put him thru Captain’s school 15 years ago and he was my back up Captain on my charter school. All my clients loved him, he is a great teacher and friend. We have a huge party to attend in Hilton Head tonight. We will be pulling in there about 3:00 pm, we’ll stay a couple days to laundry, clean the boat, get supplies, change all the oil in the engine and generator- this is very important. And of course, relax. More info on the Hilton Head big party tomorrow.

Hit rough waters on the way, went through it in 1 hour.

Captain’s Log      Day 2.      May 19th 2015

Ahoy Matey’s, another 10 hour day. We covered 90 miles on the Intracostal, dealing with currents, tides & sand bars. I sure don’t want to run aground. Great sights and learning a lot about long range cruising. Anchored at Cocoa Beach, (I Dream Of Jeanie) need to dingy ashore to get a part at West Marine, my clients are forcing me to go to the Sugar Shack bar, Roger that,tuff job! Back to the Miami Mermaid. Oh well it’s been a long day. Good night.

Captain Bob
Over & Out