Tuesday 28 Oct

We finally are out of Elizabeth City heading for warmer climes. Have I mentioned that it has been bloody cold on this trip compared to last year. We are blessed with a propane heater on the new Abraxas which takes the chill off in the morning and evenings but we aren’t able to sit around in a tee shirt and shorts. However, warmer weather WILL come.

In my haste to post the last edition of the blog I forgot the tell about the Billy boo-boo. Remember I told you that Billy of Zanhisers had spilled diesel fuel while working on our engine and that the smell was permeating the cabin? Well when we got to Elizabeth City I decided to clean up his spill so I opened up the engine compartment to remove the absorbent pads only to see that the pan under the engine was awash with diesel fuel. I got out our oil changing pump and drained out one and one half a gallon, with more absorbed in the pads. Later inspection showed that Billy had only finger tightened the fuel line from the fuel pump to the engine fuel filter and it had been leaking fuel since we left the Solomons. So much for quality work at $100 an hour.

We had a bracing trip across the Albermarle on a beam reach with 20-25kts of wind with the occasional 35 kt gust. The 37 handled it with grace with only the jib up and still going 7+ kts. The occasional large steep 5 foot wave would give us a good thump but nothing to be distressed about. We ended up at the head of the Alligator river/pungo canal entrance for the night. All in all a great sail in a great boat.

Wednesday 29 Oct

We’re off early hoping to get close to Oriental NC. From here it’s a motoring trip through the canal and short sail past Belhaven on the Pungo River Then back in a canal past Hobucken. We anchor in a secluded creek called Bear Creek feeling our way in with the depth finder and chart plotter managing not to run aground even once. Tomorrow a short trip into Oriental which calls itself the sailing capital of NC.

Thursday 30 Oct

It’s in to Oriental to hook up with some delightful friends we made down here last year, Mary & George Duffy. We will treat ourselves to a marina right in the center of town. Take a look at the Harborcam @ http://towndock.net/harborcam . the Marina is to the left behind the little building which is the local coffee shop called The Bean. Great coffee and scones in the am. We had dinner with the wonderful company of Mary & George. We are very impressed at the sense of community in this wonderful town with a sailing problem, the number of boats outnumber the residents by at least 2 to one.

Friday 31 Oct

We are still in Oriental and Halloween in oriental, very spooky. Terri has decorated the boat with paper lanterns and a string of skull lights in anticipation of trick or treaters. There are two boats in the harbor with kids aboard who are excited to t or t. Later T and I go to the bar in the marina where they have live music and dancing to old rock and roll tunes. Also this day I finally get the name on the stern of the boat so we are finally official. People can call us on the radio by the boat’s name rather than by the dark blue sailboat.

Saturday 1 Nov

It was to be a short day today, heading for Moorehead City and the Sanitary Restaurant, but when we got there the dock was fully occupied so we pressed on to the infamous, from last year, Spooners Creek.

Sunday 2 Nov

An uneventful trip with the exception of three groundings. The first shortly after we left Spooner’s when Hal the autopilot took us out of the channel while I was busy lubricating the zippers on the cockpit enclosure. Hal the autopilot is not well. He seems to steer along for a while then has a nervous breakdown and begins to oscillate side to side in even increasing arcs. Got to figure out the proper adjustments. It took about 15 minutes for the tide to raise enough for us to get off the bar then we were on our way again.

The second grounding can when I cut a corner a little to close, my bad. We got off rather easily, not losing too much time. Both of these were preludes to our grounding at the site of last years infamous grounding in Sloop Creek. This time we decided to avoid the site from last year and try a new one recommended be Skipper Bob and where the chart plotter showed 7-8 ft of water. The plotter showed that we had to round a point giving it a wide berth then turn to the right, but the plotter was wrong as to how far the shallows extended from the point so bump we were aground again. Since we were going dead slow we easily backed out. All of this goes to show that if you’re headed down the ICW and you don’t run aground you’re not trying. Oh and by the way, for those times when you cannot extract yourself, the towing insurance is invaluable. It is estimated that the average cost of a tow for grounding is around $500. Well worth the $130 spent for the insurance.

Well we finally got in and spent a peaceful night but the forecast is for rain and winds tomorrow.

Monday 3 Nov

A wet trip down the ICW to Carolina Beach, NC. The wind is picking up and the forcast is for a classic noreaster for the next two-three days. We will hunker down in Carolina beach for the duration. While the canvas cockpit enclosure largely protects us from the elements, there are some leaks all of which are over the helms mans station; So I am in full foul weather gear because of the leaks. When we finally get to Carolina Beach we find that the holding for the anchor is abysmal. The anchor hooks into the bottom but slowly drags along, so after an hour we have moved about 100 feet. Unacceptable for a good nights sleep. This time we set reeling out 160 feet of chain and that does the trick. Just for insurance we drop in danny, our big danforth anchor, so between danny and Robert the Bruce, our 44 lb Bruce anchor we feel a good nights sleep is in store for us.

Tuesday 4 Nov

Election day. Today we have a lay day, waiting out the storm that is blowing through and listening on Sirius radio the storm they call election day. Also, today is a maintenance day. Top on the list are the windlass (the device that picks up 44 lbs of anchor and 150 feet of chain so I don’t wack out my back) and the sink faucet which leaks. Just like home don’t ya know. The first is successful, the latter only partially so.

Terri cook yet another fantastic meal and we sit down to listen to the results. We are pleased that our man has made it and that we have witnessed history in the making. Being a child of the 60s, I for one did not think that an African American would be elected to the presidency, but here we are. I am sorry to see that history was not made in the other side, a bimbo elected to the second highest office in the land. I am not counting it out that a real female candidate may be elected to the #1 or #2 spot in my lifetime.

I hope for a coming together of both parties to get the business of our country done without partisan politics rearing its ugly head. Jeez haw did we get so divided and polarized. Soap box mode off.

Cooking. How is it that on this trip of ours south, I eat far better than at home and still shed pounds. Now that Terri has a refrig and a propane stove with an oven she produces even MORE fantastic meals than last year. You want to lose weight, sign on for a trip south with us.

Wednesday 5 Nov

The weather has broken and we’re out of Dodge. Not much to say with an uneventful trip to the NC/SC border. Our hardest job this day is to time our arrival at the Surf City Pontoon bridge so we would not have to wait a long time for it to open since it only opens once an hour. We made it to Calabash Creek for a peaceful night at anchor.

Thursday 6 November 2008

We’re off and running in South Carolina, past Myrtle Beach, the magical cypress swanps, the abandoned rice fields along the Wacama River finally to rest in Thoroughfare Creek, just north of Georgetown SC. Just another uneventful day in paradise. We see beauty all along the way. We have seen less wildlife along the way this year than last. We’ve seen fewer pelicans and dolphins and other birds. We have seen only one eagle, where last year there were many spottings. Also fewer flocks of migrating birds. Perhaps they have all gone through. We speculate that it is because of the colder weather we have been experiencing.

Southbound Redux

These are the voyages of the starship…..no wait that is 1960s TV program!!!! These are the voyages of Abraxas and the Musto’s. We finally cut the lines on Sunday the 19^th a little later than we had hoped to leave, but leave we did with many things left undone. As some of you may know we acquired a new/old boat this summer, a 1977 Tartan 37. We decided that if we were going to continue this cruising life we needed a boat with more “creature comforts” and that was a trifle larger. So after searching the east coast for most of the early summer we found what we were looking for, a beautiful dark hulled Tartan 37. I spent the rest of the summer getting her ready to travel.

We left the dock around 2 and our first day brought us to Harness creek on the South River just at dark after a easy sail. It was great to just get going after a summer of intense work painting the house, restoring the windows, getting one boat ready to sell (the T34 from last year) and getting one ready for a trip to warmer climes.

Monday 20 Oct 2008

The day started calm as we motored out headed for the Solomon’s, but around 1:00 the stuff hit the fan. The westerbeke started to smoke, which I first attributed to the old fuel in the tank, but then it started to make more noise. His kinda alarmed me so I shut old westy down to check the oil to make sure the known westy leak had not gotten worse. To my surprise we had about a quart and a half more oil on the dip stick. At this point the alarm bells went off when I remembered talking to a chap down in Marathon last year who had the same symptoms. His problem turned out to be a leak in the fuel pump diaphragm that allowed fuel to pass through into the crankcase thus diluting the oil. Crap was my first word then my second was; Terri what is the number for Tow boatsUS. Once again we were saved by purchasing the unlimited towing insurance from BoatUS because we were dead in the water with no engine and no wind and 5 miles from the Solomons. Anyone who does this trip without buying this is insurance must also like playing Russian roulette. It was an hour and a half tow into Zanhingers Marina to late to get any work done.

Tuesday 21 Oct 2008

Early this morning Billy the mechanic came with his bag of tools to look at old westy. Now the hatch leading into the cockpit locker is the access point to get to the engine and it is so narrow that I have to turn sideways to get into it. Most of you know I am not a substantial person in girth. Well Billy can be best described as round and substantial but after “sucking it in” he manage to squeeze himself in, but I was uncertain that he would not be taking the rest of the trip with us trapped in the locker.

To make a long story short Billy extracted himself and the fuel pump and bench tested it proclaiming that it did not leak so back on it went. In the process he had to remove the engine mounted fuel filter spilling diesel fuel into the engine pan when he did this (remember this for later). He proclaimed that our problem could have been due to either a leaky fuel preheater or a leak in the seal between the high pressure fuel and the block. We ran the engine hard at the dock doing our best to pull out the pilings but the problem did not rear its head again.

Wednesday 22 Oct 2008

Out of Dodge in a glorious breeze, blowing 25-35 kts out of the northeast with a scrape of the jib rolled out doing 7+ kts. The boat handles this like a dream. We made it to Deltaville Va just about dark and anchored protected from the wind which blew all night.

Thursday 23 Oct 2008

We left Deltaville early hoping to make it to Norfolk by evening. The wind not as strong, 15-20, but still out of the north. Again we made good time and got to Norfolk around 2 some we decided to press on to the Dismal Swamp canal entrance to anchor for the night a wait for the morning locking. Our timing suggested that we would make it just before dark----wrong. When we got to the Glimmerton Bridge we had to wait for just over ½ an hour for the railroad bridge to open while a huge coal train passed. We negotiated the first part of the Dismal swamp canal in the dark using the chart plotter and depth sounder to keep in the channel but make it we did. Talk about tension.

Friday 24 Oct 2008

Woke up to a beautiful morning at the entrance to the Dismal Swamp lock. Mist on the water not a breeze blowing and just us and another boat ready to lock through into the canal. The canal itself is very magical. High banks lined with trees and not much wider than a country road. It can be raging a gale outside, but in the canal all is quiet. We did, however, have a few surprises in the form of deadheads. Deadheads are submerged stuff (usually logs) that get stirred up from the bottom. We hit one with the keel and skeg hard, bang-bang. A short time later we hit another with the prop which started a vibration suggesting that we bent something. This necessitated that we go slow all the way through the canal and on to Elizabeth City, NC. Getting there later than the closing time for the shipyard we were destine to stay in Elizabeth City for the weekend.

Monday 27 Oct 2008

Up early for a 8:00 AM date with a travel lift to be hauled out of the water to look for damage to the prop. I had been fretting all weekend about whether we would have to ship this fancy propeller out to California to be repaired if it was bent or broken. Shipping it to CA would mean we would be sitting on the hard for a week or two while UPS got rich on express shipping our prop coast to coast and back. As the boat lifted out of the water I could see that my greatest fears were realized, one of the blades was bent. As I muttered profanities about the crap that was about to hit the fan the good old boy shipyard owner said that if it was all right with me he could hammer it back into shape. After he described how he was going to do this I said, what the hell, give it a try. And try he did rendering it back to its former shape. In four hours we were back in the water as good as new and ready to go, but it was too late to leave for the trip across the Albermarle Sound. We will save the Albermarle for tomorrow.