S/V Union Pacific : The Megadock, and the first day on the SC, ICW

After turning around we spent a day with Hootie and the blowfish. Not literately of course, but their yacht was docked 500' from ours. The Megadock in downtown Charleston, SC if very overpriced, and for no good reason. The price is $2 a foot, close to $100 for us, and it is nothing special. None the less, it was too cold to be at anchor, so we had to have power, and heat.

Hootie boat

While there, I was watching the forecast, and it was looking rough. I made the captains decision to stay on the ICW for a bit. We left the mega dock early in the evening, and heading back thru Elliot cut, for the third time. This time however we went to starboard.

Dolphins are everywhere down here. If dolphins were rats, there would be an infestation.

We went as far as we could, before our very chilly night.

The trip was uneventful. We have been eating mostly on board the yacht. Dana is starting to get the swing of living on a yacht, and cooking without refrigeration. Not an easy task. The meals are mostly sandwiches, and pizza, and ramen. I am glad I enjoy ramen, for under 30 cents a meal, I can have a full belly. This is an important part of our voyage. The cheaper we live the less money we need to see the entire world. Our goal is to live on under $500 a month, with ALL expenses. We are going to prepare the yacht for life on anchor. Staying at marinas will not get us into a budget, low enough, to go on for a long time. I have been told that on $35,000 you can complete a circumnavigation. I want to do it for under $20,000. There will be places we will skip. Galapagos is off the list. Why? Simple, too expensive. I was reading a blog post last week, of a couple who just made the trip. They had well over $2000 into this one stop.
Things I can do with $2000 that do not involve a flightless bird sighting:
Replace my prop with a feathering prop
New bottom paint
Re-rig our foremast
New high end dinghy
New dinghy engine
A new main sail
A new Raymarine chartplotterwith change left over
All new running rigging.

Get the point? The stop there has become so overpriced, its a dumb move to make, for yet another volcanic island. And that is all it is. Now, if you worship Darwin, and believe all the fairytale's about (0+0=everything) it may be an important stop for you. But no thanks, I will save my money for an ice cream on the steps of
Piazza da Spagna.

Here is Mon Tiki, the only other schooner we passed on this leg of the trip, and our new stalker :) We passed him, then anchored with him, then played leep frog with him for the next week, until he caught up with us yesterday in St Augustine.