Neal & Terri's ICW ship's log

2010-03-04T12:04:00.000-08:00

Well we finally got off the dock and heading south about 10 days later than we have in the past. It was hectic doing so with all the traveling we did from the time we got back from our summer cruise to New England. First it was off to sunny California to celebrate the 90th birthday of Terri’s mom. We all flew in from various points of the compass and descended on Long Beach. Terri and I had not seen Pete since he moved out to Portland Ore. Alex we had seen this summer shortly after we got back from NE. It was a grand time. We flew back from the left coast only to get in a car the next day to drive up to NYC where we were to attend a symposium that honor my scientific mentor from many years back. After an overnight stay in NYC we were back in the car heading for home to get ready to cast off, which we did after two days of provisioning and packing. On Saturday night the 24th of October we were dropped off at the boat by our friends Roberta and Tom so we could spend the night and get off early the next day. Our objective was to get up early and travel the about 70 miles to the patuxant river and the Solomons. Well the day started out fine but with out much in the way of wind we were motor sailing to keep our speed up so that we might make the Solomons by dark. We were on a mission to make our southing as fast as possible so as to keep ahead of the impending cold weather since we had started a bit later than last year where we froze on the way down.

Well the best laid plans…… We were about 5 mile out of the Solomons when the engine started to behave like it had last summer as we were coming down the Jersey Coast. It was doing what they call hunting, which is reving up and slowing down. We pressed on hoping to make the Solomons and get someone to look at the motor, hopefully make it right. We were not to be that lucky for after only about 10 minutes running the engine abruptly stopped dead and would not start. We were so close, but still about 4 miles away. It was time to call our BoatUS towing service. As I have discussed in the past, we like other cruisers buy unlimited towing insurance from the BoatUS foundation. It cost us about $120 per year and we have used it every year we have gone south either for break downs or pulling us off the bottom when we’ve run aground. This year would be no different so we made the call. Not waiting we sailed on in a light wind until our rescuer appeared and appear he did. In fact, it was the same rescuer that towed us in last year when we suffered from what was probably the precursor to this year’s problem. It was back to Zanhizer where they worked on Abraxas last year and relieved us of a big bundle of money. It was deja vu all over again in the words of Yogi Berra and John Fogerty. I was expecting to be relieved of another big bundle since I had visions of having to replace a very expensive part the high pressure fuel pump, which goes for around $1000 plus installation.

Well I won’t bore you with the detail but suffice it to say we were felled by a BB size particle of grunge that blocked the fuel line and starved the engine of diesel thereby stopping us dead. Our problems of the past were but a prelude to our current predicament but thankfully it did not empty our pockets. The next day we were on our way only a few hundred dollars lighter. We took advantage of strong winds from the north to blow us south in attempt to make up lost time and lost time we needed to make up because we learned that a drawbridge just north of Charleston SC was going to close for 10 days starting on the 10th of November. By my calculations based on our past experience we would just make it on the 9th if we pushed hard every day without a lay day. If we ran into bad weather and had to stop we would not make it, which would hold us up for 10 days on the wrong side of an impassable bridge. It took us two more days to get through Norfolk and to the beginning of the Dismal Swamp Canal. On the second of these two days we were in a fog with less than ½ mile visibility, so I was thankful to have radar to keep an eye out for the big guys. At the canal entrance we ran into some Canadian friends we met in the Bahamas last year. They are in a 40 foot Admiral Catamaran (Never Bored), which is the lap of luxury. Three staterooms each with a queen size bed, two heads each with a shower stall large than our whole head and a main salon that is about the size of our kitchen/breakfast room in our house in Maryland. Did I mention that they also have a washer/drier on board? They had the boat made for them in South Africa and sailed it from there to the states via the Bahamas last year. Great people and we enjoyed their company for the next few days.
From here we went through the Dismal swamp canal, which never fails to awe us with its beauty, and ended up in Elisabeth City, NC. EC is a wonderful stopping point, which we have described in our past writings so I won’t go over it again. It was here that we learned that we need not rush so to make the bridge closing because they postponed it until January. This took some pressure off and allowed us to slow down and smell the roses.
Our trip from here took us the Alligator River and Oriental NC where we re-united with our friend George & Mary D. Our travels from here took us through Beaufort, NC, where we parted with the folks on the Admiral Cat because their 65 foot mast would not fit under the bridges we were to go under, then on to Mile Hammock Bay, Wrightsville Beach, Calabash Creek, and finally Georgetown, SC. It was an uneventful but still a beautiful trip, no breakdowns or groundings to report.
After moving on from here after stocking up on Carolina shrimp we made it to Charleston where we encountered the folks on Never Bored with whom we partied for 3 day while waiting out the bad weather. Oh how tough the cruising life, but someone has to do it.
When the weather broke we were off to Beaufort, SC, which is one of Terri’s favorite stops, with an interim stop at the Morgan River where we once again parted ways with Never Bored but with plans to rejoin them at Thanksgiving in St. Mary’s Georgia.
Beaufort was once again delightful to visit and after a few days we pushed on to Brunswick GA where we ran into more cruising friend we had met in previous years. One a Canadian couple on a PDQ Catamaran called Medori and the other on a Catalina 42 called String of Pearls. It was nice to reunite with old friends again with sundowners in the cockpit, a cruising staple.
Our next jump was to be a short one to Jekyll Island, the location of the millionaires retreat turned into a state park and who did we run into—why Never Bored once again. We’ve got to stop meeting like this. Well we enjoyed their company once again as we toured this state park.
From here we were off to St Mary’s to celebrate the cruisers Thanksgiving along with about 120 other boats. Once again we had a blast, the food was great, the company was better and it was great.
The rest of our trip south was uneventful, visiting places we’ve been before including Fernandina, St Augustine and finally Eau Galle where we left the boat while we went north for the holidays to visit with family and friends.

What we did this summer

2009-11-13T13:05:00.000-08:00

Well faithful readers, it has been a long time since I have updated the blog so here goes. When last I left you we were just home from our trip south to the Bahamas. We managed to stay in our dirt dwelling for about a month and a half when we got that traveling urge, so we decided to leave on a trip to southern New England for six weeks. Well more precisely I left in the company of Jay Price (Terri’s brother) Warren U (a sailing friend ) and Bob M (a neighbor) for an off-shore jump from Cape may NJ to Block Island RI. Terri preferred to take the 747 route to join me at Block Island. The boys left the dock after loading supplies (viz, beer and Terri’s precooked meals) and jumped first to Chesapeake city in the west end of the C&D canal. The C&D canal cuts through Delaware from the top of the Chesapeake to the Delaware river just below the Delaware Memorial bridge. Next we transited the canal and ran down the Delaware Bay to Cape May, which is the south most part of NJ. Here we fueled up, got some take-out seafood go a few hours sleep and left at midnight to make the off shore 135 mile 36 hour non-stop run to Block Island. This part of the trip was uneventful with no sailing due to the lack of wind except when we got within sight of BI. We were so starved for sailing that rather than enter the harbor and finish the trip we sailed around off of BI for several hours. I might add that the sailing was great. We did finally come to rest in the Great Salt Pond in BI. Then it was time for shore leave, drinks and food (lobster, clams, chowder, da works). The next day we went out again for a sail in BI sound under wonderful conditions. All in all it was a great time with an outstanding bunch of guys all of whom are sailing fans. Bob and Warren left the next morning and Terri arrive in the afternoon. Our plan was to sail into Newport RI to drop off Terri’s brother Jay, then Terri and I would mess about in boats on the southern New England coast. We did drop off Jay in Newport but left after because Newport was such a zoo with it seems thousands of boat moving, moored and anchored. We were craving a little less nautical urban living so up into Narragansett Bay to Wickford RI a small quaint New England town to secure a free town mooring for the night.

The next day we were off to Cuttyhunk, a small island at the end of the Elizabeth island chain that runs towards the west from Woods Hole Mass. We had last been there nearly 30 years ago and suffice it to say it has changed little. A few more houses but that’s about it. The harbor was just as crowded as it was thirty years ago, but we did manage to find some real estate to put down an anchor. It is a wonderful place if you want to “get away from it all”.

From here it was off to Martha’s Vineyard where we visited Vineyard Haven, Oak Bluff and Edgartown, each of which has their own different character. Edgartown is the home of money, Oak Bluff is a former protestant retreat center but now a major vineyard tourist destination along with Vineyard Haven.

The Vineyard was our jumping off point for the trip to Nantucket which lies about 25 miles from Cape Cod (or as it is call in that neck of the woods- The Cape) and about the same traveling distance from Edgartown. We had a great sail up until the last 5 miles when we ran smack dab into a wall of fog. Boy it’s nice to be back in NE again! Our major concern was to NOT get run down by the Nantucket high speed ferry that was bearing down on us pre-fog so we just moved over and out of the main traffic lanes. As it turned out, we came through the fog bank about a half to three quarters of a mile from the harbor entrance, which was a relief. We have a RADAR set on this boat but I was not yet really proficient with it and I didn’t want to make an “instrument landing”. We only stayed in Nantucket for two days because it was horribly expensive for us pensioners. A mooring cost us $65 a night and there is no place to anchor, but we did walk around and enjoy the sights. Terri had never been to the island and my last visit here was over thirty years ago when I was working in NYC and taking regular trips up to this area. Also, I needn’t remind some of you that this area is where I first started sailing sooooo many years ago.

So, now we’ve been to the three jewel islands of Southern NE, Block, The Vineyard and Nantucket. Let me take the time to describe the “history” of them as it was when I grew up in this area. Nantucket was considered to be an old money community while The Vineyard was new money. Block on the other hand was decidedly no money and largely the playground of the middle class worker bees. It has somewhat change today especially on Block where it has become more “upscale.” These islands along with the Elizabeths and the fishtail of Long Island are a premier cruising ground of the southern New England coast. There is good wind thanks to the always present afternoon sea breeze and the water clear. I do miss sailing here, but the Chesapeake has its strong points too except wind during July and August is not one of them.

Now where were we when I got off track? Yes, Nantucket. Having kinda breezed through The Vineyard on the way to Nantucket we decided to go back to Vineyard Haven and explore a little more. We took a walk to Oak Bluff to look at the cottages, which are part of the old Methodist retreat community that thrived here I believe pre WW1. These little houses are part of a community that surrounded a large open air tabernacle where the pious use to spend the summer months in prayer. They started out as tents on a platform and slowly evolved into small gaily painted cottages. The Methodist presence has left now thought the Tabernacle is still active, but the surrounding community of cottages is largely in the hands the public, though I’m sure that some have come down from inheritance. The town, once dry, is now a Mecca for tourists with bars and restaurants. One big change that has occurred since I was there three decades ago is in the harbor. In this small harbor the boats did not anchor, but there we mooring ball that could accept up to three boats. When I was last there this harbor was chiefly the domain of sailboats. Now we mainly saw large power boats and the harbor is ringed with bars. In addition, the town now has a ferry dock bringing people in for day trips, so it has a decided difference flavor from the old sleepy Oak Harbor that I remember.

From here, with a stop in Hadley Harbor, it was on to Padanaram, Mass to visit with an old friend from grad school days, Jack Mallet. Hadley is a lovely little harbor just west of Woods Hole and Padanaram a quaint little sailing town just outside of New Bedford. It is the home of the New Bedford Yacht club so the harbor is filled with moored boats of all types. It is also the place where they make Marshall Cat Boats. We had a great visit with Jack and his significant, Kendra, who were wonderful hosts carting our butts around for supplies and putting us up in there spare room. Got to re-acquaint myself with Jack’s younger son, Joel, who I hadn’t seen for years.

After a lovely visit here we were off to Narragansett bay to explore here for a few days. We manage to hit Bristol, Apponaug and once again Wickford where we connected with my sister, her spouse and my nephew. We took them out for a short sail outside Wickford until my sister’s inner ear got the best of her.

After our tour of the bay we were off to Block again this time to anchor in the old harbor as we had done many years back. You see Old Harbor on Block was the original harbor and it is rather small measuring perhaps 100 by 200 yards with only a 100 by 100 yard area available for anchoring, but it is a well protected harbor surrounded by a breakwater. It is further tightened by the presence of some large boats on mooring. The standard way to anchor in there is to Med moor against the breakwater using a stern anchor set in the harbor and a bow anchor lodged in the rocks of the breakwater. This is facilitated by the presence of a steep bank of hard sand that extends about 30 feet off the breakwater where one can press the keel against and at low tide step off the bow into about a foot of water. We had arrived here on the Thursday before the three day weekend (starting Friday) where Rhode Island celebrates VJ day or more politically correctly now called Victory Day. RI is the only state to celebrate the WW2 victory over Japan as a state holiday with public offices, banks etc closed. When we got to Block there we a few power boaters med moored to the breakwater, but by Thursday night the virtually the whole breakwater was lined with med moored boats and the partying began. On Friday our boat buddies (Carol & Bob) from the Bahamas trip joined us in their Macgregor 26 which they had trailered from Albany NY. We managed to squeeze them in to raft on our starboard side. We enjoyed 4 days on Block with them, hitting all the high spots by renting motor scooters for a quick tour. Terri and I do love Block.

After a nice stay on Block we were on the move once again headed for the fishtail of Long Island, the north fork to be precise. We got to Greenport which Terri had fell in love with when we came here last summer while we were boat hunting and did a walking tour around the town. Lots of old beautiful houses. From here we were off to Cockles Harbor on Shelter Island then to the Thimble Island just east of New Haven in LI sound. The Thimbles are perhaps Terri’s most favorite anchorage. It is comprised of a number of rocky islands ranging in size from the size of a house to the size of a soccer field or two . Geologically, I believe they are debris carried down and deposited by one of the glaciers that ran over New England during the Ice Age. Some of the larger ones have houses and vegetation on them while the smaller are bare rock although there are some that are barely large enough to accommodate the house that they bear. It is a very charming place to be anchor in the center of with a vista of these spectacular islands surrounding us.

Our next hop took us to the town of Milford where they we having their annual oyster festival. How could we pass this up. This is a grand affair in which they close off the streets in most of down town Milford. The main attraction of course was the oyster booths where you could get oyster from as far away as Maine, but also from all along the coastal regions around here. We focused on blue points, wellfleets, moonstone and several locals that I had not heard of. It cost us $20 for one dozen by they were splendid. It is amazing to me that the same critter raised in differing places has such different tastes.

After getting our fill of oysters we moved on to Huntington Harbor LINY to visit with some people we met in our southern cruises, Jack & Diane of “string of Pearls.” We had a delightful visit and dinner with them getting updated with their plans for the coming winter cruising. We will hope to see them again as we head south in the fall.

From here it was on to City Island NY where we took a mooring at the City Island Yacht Club being in need of a shower where we don’t have to be stingy with the water. In hind sight it was a luck thing for at about 9:00 pm a vicious thunder storm came through. Not much in the way of lighting, but the wind was violent. When I turned on the wind speed after the wind had abated a bit it was registering 55 kts, so I believe we were hit with winds in access of 60 kts. I was glad we were on a mooring, but even that is not guarantee. At the height of the storm I watched a 40 ft ketch come by us dragging its mooring. It came to within 2 boat lengths of us and finally stopped against a boat behind. Later the news reported that this storm bashed through Central Park in NYC with 90mile an hour winds knocking down some 100 ancient elms in the park. A real tragedy since these elms had survived the Dutch Elm Disease. Again we were lucky that we had chosen to pick up a mooring rather that anchor and also lucky that the storm had passed through NYC before hitting us, which undoubtedly had taken some of the punch out of it.

On a bright sunny day we left City Island and headed for Atlantic Highlands NJ, which is just inside of Sandy Hook, to stage for our trip down the Jersey Shore to Cape May. We are unquestionably in heading home mode but we need to hole up in Atlantic Highland to wait for hurricane Bill to pass. Although Bill is no danger from winds, he is sending massive waves (15-20 footers) into the Jersey shore and we’re not keen on going into them. Their biggest danger is not so much being in they as they will be fairly long period wave, but it lies in running into any inlets where they will get steep and break, so we wait. And wait we did, 4 days, but we got groceries, showered, did a wash and walked around town that is kept busy. Finally our window opened and off we went headed for the Barnegat inlet because we were going to run the coast in two hops. It was to turn out to be a motor trip all the way because of a lack of wind. This after all the sailing that we were able to do while in Southern NE, now the winds failed us. On the second leg of this trip (Barnegat to Cape May) the engine started to miss behave by reving and slowing. I switch fuel filters thinking that it was a fuel problem but it didn’t resolve the issue. At this time we were getting a little wind on the nose so we sailed for a while until we were in sight of the Cape May inlet then we fired up the diesel again without problem. As it turned out this problem would continue to plague us for the rest of the trip and into our trip heading south in the fall, but more on that later.

After an over night in Cape May it was out into the Delaware Bay for the trip to the C&D canal. I have transited this stretch of water a number of times and each was a miserable trip. We were riding an incoming current with an apposing wind, which sets up a nasty chop so we were having a most uncomfortable ride that was slow and pounding. All in all we just wanted it to be over and it seemed to take an age, but finally it came to a close and we were in the canal headed for Chesapeake City. After an overnight here we started the last leg back to our home dock and the end of the trip. All things considered we had a great time seeing places we hadn’t visited in many years, renewing friendships and having some outstanding sailing. Now we will be back home for about two months before setting off south for our winter cruise.

The entry was uploaded and partly written during the first part of our 2009-2010 trip south. More to come regarding this trip.

The final leg home

2009-07-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday 28 March-Monday 30 March

Well when last we left you we were in Ship Channel Cay set to jump to the island of Eleuthera, specifically the Cay called Spanish Wells. After a 40 mile jump across the banks then out through Fleeming channel into the ocean for a short section then back on the banks again we were in Spanish Wells. Along the way Neal caught a Bar Jack, which felt like it was a cow. It was a good size fish but allegedly not very good eating so a picture was taken, then back it went. It did give me some serious upper body workout trying to land the fish.

Now Spanish Wells is a very different settlement compared to the one we have previously visited. For one, it is largely white and unlike the Exumas/ Georgetown it decidedly lacks a third world feel. All the houses are well painted and in excellent repair, with no junked vehicles (car, boats, jet skis, etc) lying around. This part of the Bahamas was settled by religious refugees back in the 1700s. The major industry here is fishing and lobstering. They catch lobsters (actually crayfish Viz. clawless lobsters) in very interesting way, that is they do not use traps like in the north east. What they do is place 4 cinderblocks in a square on the bottom in about 20 feet of water which they cover with a large metal panel, then come back after a few days since it seems that the lobster gather to hide under the panel during the day. They simple dive down lift up the panel and pick the critters up.

Off to Royal Island for the night to stage for the ocean crossing to the Abacos, about 50 miles away to the North. A brief overnight stop then we motored across because of the lack of wind. Here we have been inundated with wind since we arrived in the Bahamas and today there was none, go figga. We made landfall at Little Harbor stopping overnight for a rum punch blaster at Pete’s Pub. It was on from here to Hopetown a community again much like Spanish Wells, all spiffy and neat. The Abacos is the real tourist section of the Bahamas. Nice little cottages to rent with a smattering of restaurants and pubs. Hopetown is the site of the famous candy striped lighthouse still using kerosene lamps with a giant Fresnel lens.

From here we went on to Marsh Harbor, which I believe is the third largest city in the Bahamas next to Nassau and Freeport. Now we see the more seamy side as one would in all big cities, but here we can stock up at the “super market”. We run into some Boy Scouts who are participating in SeaBase just like Alex did back a few years ago. They are clearly having a ball. We don’t stay long in Marsh Harbor, poor holding and extremely crowded, “nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there”.

We’re at Man o’ War Cay staying in a marina since we got a great deal on the rate. They are trying to attract people for their first annual “Sojourner Day Celebration”. Man o” War like Hopetown was largely settled by Loyalists displaced during the war of independence. It is the capital of Bahamian boat building where they used to make some of the finest wooden boats around. They still build boats, but now out of modern materials, FRP. I still was able to spend a great deal of time talking to one of the old wooden boat builders who is still building them out of wood. He was in the process of building a small wooden planked hull sailing boat and was willing to answer all my questions. A fascinating man.

We have moved on to Green Turtle Cay to wait for a window to cross the gulf stream back to the US. The weather is a little nasty with high winds. We are somewhat protected, but the bottom has lots of grass, which is lousy for anchoring. I think I have found a bare spot to drop the anchor in so I’m somewhat secure in its holding. This was not true for our buddy boat. While we were at lunch with them on land someone came into the bar and asked if I owned a catamaran, to which I answered no, but the people we are with have one. To this he answered, “well it’s dragging across the anchorage”. In response to this both Bob and I jumped up and headed for the door. By the time we got to the dingy and got out into the harbor, we saw Bob’s boat surrounded by several dingys and people all over the deck. It seems that our fellow cruisers saw the plight of Bob’s boat as it wandered across the anchorage and they went to the rescue, even bringing an extra anchor along with them. This is the spirit of the cruising community; help your fellow cruiser for some day it will be you that is helped. As far as Abraxas was concerned, our sandy spot was good holding and we were held fast, but shortly after this another unattended boat went on a walkabout. This time it was Bob and I who jumped into the dingy and went to the rescue. What goes around comes around they say.

Well we have our window. We leave Green turtle cay in the morning and make the a long jump to Great Sales Cay, which is in the middle of the banks. We’ll stop over here for the night then leave sometime mid-day for the 50 nm across the rest of the bank, during the afternoon, then break out into the gulf stream for a night crossing to arrive at the Florida coast about daybreak.

11 April

Well we made our crossing and are now recovering in Stuart Florida. We left Great Sales Cay at around 11 AM of the tenth. The sail across the banks was perfect. Wind on the beam at 15kts and the chop was mild. We got to the end of the banks and entered the Florida straits just before sunset. The waves were a tad bigger than those we encounter on the banks and a bit more confused, but quite manageable. About an hour after darkness fell the moon began to rise in the east and the wind picked up a bit. Still the sail was quite manageable and we were doing a steady 7 kts with the wind on the beam. Since I finally got the auto pilot to work reasonable well, so we did not have to hand steer except for every once in a while when the drive motor got to hot. We did encounter two container ships the first going north then shortly after one going south. Both we had to make significant course changes to avoid them. I was thankful to have radar because at night it is difficult to estimate distance and headings of these big guys. With the radar it was no problem, mon. We eventually got to the St Lucie Inlet about 30 minutes before first light, so we had to bob around outside it to wait for light. St Lucie inlet is not one to go through in the dark without local knowledge. As I said above we went to the Anchorage in Stuart and picked up a mooring. Both Terri and I were exhausted and plopped down in bed and slept till noon. The only thing that got us up was the temperature in the boat. We did not open her up after the crossing so it got beastly hot down below. Tomorrow we check in with homeland security to make sure we’re not smuggling illegal aliens I suppose.

12 April

We were fortunate to get a ride to the Fort Pierce Airport so we could check in. The procedure took all of 30 seconds. What a farce and a PITA, looked at our passports then handed them back. I have no idea why this has to be done. I guess it is to be sure that we didn’t go anywhere we shouldn’t have gone, like Cuba. One more day of rest then we start the long trek back to Maryland. We will be traveling fast and furious to get back home before Peter leaves on his move to the west coast.

The trip back to the Chesapeake was a whirlwind run from dawn to dusk. We are like the horse heading back to the barn. Our greatest excitement was running through Georgia and parts of South Carolina during the daily low tides made lower by being spring tides. The depth alarm was constantly ringing and on a number of occasions we bumped the bottom, but we never got stuck, except…... We were coming into Wrightsville Beach following the channel in. As we were making the turn in the channel to Starboard (right) around the three red markers the alarm started to howl. Since I was at that time about 60 feet to the left of these markers I assumed that I was to far to the left so I turned toward the reds. Mistake…. We then went hard aground on a falling tide. We were not there two minutes when I got a call on the VHF radio from BoatUS towing asking if I was aground. Ahh yes I said to which he replied, “Do you need assistance to get off.” Me: Yes, Him: I’ll be there in 10 minutes. Apparently he has a lookout at this place who reports on boats going aground probably with regular frequency. A few minutes later a SeaTow boat came up and asked if we needed assistance. We told him that BoatUS towing was on the way and he welcomed us to the Wrightsville beach speed bump. A real cottage industry around here I guess. I don’t understand why the Coast Guard does not put some drop marks in here to warn people that the deep water is on the far left side of the channel. I guess they are supporting the local economy.

We also had an exciting moment when we met a tug towing a dredging barge with a floating pipeline behind in a narrow cut called Snows cut. They were moving against the current while we had it with us. We again bumped bottom trying to stay out of their way. It was a little hairy, but we made it through OK.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We did not get stuck at the Alligator river marina this year as we did last year. Our trip across the Albemarle was rough, but entirely manageable in the 37.

We did have some excitement moving through the Dismal Swamp Canal, however. When we entered the South lock the lockmaster told us to watch out for a few canoes farther up the canal. Well that turned out to be the understatement of the year. When we finally got to the “few Canoes” it turned out that there were 350 kayaks scattered for about 5 miles along the canal all going in the same direction that we were. Now the Dismal is a very narrow canal, with barely enough room for two boats to pass (around 30 to 35 feet bank to bank but the sides are notorious for the presence of logs and other debris). In this we had to weave between the kayakers many of which were wear Ipods so they were deaf to our hailings. We and three other boats finally were able to pass the whole bunch. If you’re a kayaker then this was a great event to participate in, but to the bigger boats plying the canal it was a nightmare.

We finally got to Norfolk and our beloved Chesapeake. From Florida to here we had only experienced one day of bad weather. Once in the Chesapeake the poop hit the fan. On out trip up the Chess from Norfolk to home we had mucho rain with lightning. The normal 2½ day trip up the Ches took us four and even that was in some blinding rain. We did hold up or ducked in early when they predicted thundershowers. There is not much that I get nervous about on the water except for T showers. Somehow sitting out on the water as the tallest thing around is not my idea of fun.

We did manage to get back to home before Pete left to move out to the west coast, Portland Oregon to be exact. We had a delightful couple of weeks with him.

Our future plans are to go back to the Bahamas next winter to visit those places we missed on the first go round. However, our plans are open just in case our president opens up relations with Cuba and allows visitation. From where we were in the Bahamas we were only about 150 miles from Cuba so…….

2009-04-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

3 March-17 March

Well a lot of things have been happening during this period, which was marked by a great deal of activity around the 29^th annual Georgetown Cruisers Regatta. This is about 10 days of activities ranging from Trivial Pursuit tournaments, volley ball, dances, texas holdem tournaments and boat races. Then there are the nearly nightly happy hours on the beach, all of which make for a busy schedule. It is a lot like summer camp for adults. Needless to say we are having a ball and are extremely busy. All this activity and the expensiveness/scarcity of internet service has seriously diminished our ability to update the blog. I am writing this not knowing when it will be posted, but here goes. While we were here Roberta A from our friend from Takoma Park came to Georgetown to visit us on the boat. She got to experience our world for the last several months. The first night there we had her participating in an Ultimate Trivial Pursuit game, the next a potluck dinner on another boat, and the next an around the island sailboat race in Abraxas. Kept her spinning. The around the island race is the highlight of the Georgetown Cruisers Regatta and was attempted by over forty boats divided into three monohull and one multihull class. In addition to the racing there also were side competitions which included best baking during the race, best photographs in three categories taken during the race and the biggest fish caught during the race. We had a great time, the weather was perfect with just the right amount of wind and we flew around the island resulting in getting third place in our class. In fact we beat some boats on uncorrected time that supposedly had to give us time as a handicap ( called PHRF ratings). On top of this, our sea cook (carol M with the help of Admiral Terri) took first place in the baking contest with her crème Brule cream puffs all baked at a 15-20 degree heel and the cook strapped in. As if this was not enough, our photographer took first place in the action photo category (photo attached). A hat trick. We were pleased.

The next day we rented a car to tour the Great Exuma Island. First we went south to cross the tropic of cancer to have a great lunch at a small roadside restaurant called Santanas. We found out that they film some of the Pirates of the Caribbean here and Johnny Dep was a frequent customer. We then went north visiting the five star resort called four seasons. Here we had the privilege of buying $14 drinks. Two other highlights were a visit to a wonderful community at the northern end of the island with very friendly residents and a stop at Mr. Williams farm. Farm does not do justice to this endeavor. Mr. Williams is truly a remarkable person to scratch out of this land the bounty that he does growing bananas, papayas, tomatoes, cabbage, and a host of other vegetables. The man could grow plants on a paved parking lot he’s that good. We bought a bunch of vegetables and fruit (a whole stem of bananas) for a mere $30. We finally sent Roberta back to the states a little tanned and a lot tired.

The next day Neal participated in a volley ball tournament and managed NOT to throw out his back or blow out his knees.

The last two events of Regatta week were the softball game against the Bahamians and then the Closing Talent show. The softball game was a riot because the Bahamians were a bunch of young Turks while the cruisers were a mixture of old men some of who could play ball, women some old some young some who could play and some…….. It was a good natured fun time played for fun rather than cut throat.

The talent show was entertaining with a mixture of acts by cruisers and some of the local Bahamian talent (some pictures attached)

Wednesday 18 March

Left Georgetown today starting the long trip back north. We are re-tracking part of our path down here, working our way back up the Exuma Islands chain then splitting off to the east to head for Eleuthera. Tonight we are back at Lee Stocking island after a great sail out of Georgetown. The swells were in the 3-4 foot range with a 10-20 Knt breeze just aft of the beam. The sun was shining and the fish poles rigged, but sadly no fish tonight.

Thursday 19 March

Next stop, back to Staniel Cay to dive into the Thunderball grotto. The grotto was the location for the underwater cave scenes in the 007 film starring Sean Connery. The grotto is lit through a hole in the ceiling and is quite spectacular though smaller than it looked in the movie. The fish were beautiful and quite tame eating right out of your hands. Even Terri got into the water. You can only get into the grotto at low tide because the entrances are under the water the rest of the time.

Friday 20 March-Sunday-22 March

Hanging around Staniel Cay enjoying the company of fellow cruisers. Bob A of Time enough II, Dietrich of Calliope and I went reef diving on a couple of coral reefs. The small fish swimming in and around the coral heads are simply too beautiful to describe. Their colors are bold and bright, you have to wonder how they manage to avoid the predatory fish. The coral is also quite lovely differing in coloring, shapes and size. The fact that the water is so clears is what makes the diving so special here. You can float around in 20 feet of water and see clearly to the bottom.

Monday 23 March

On the rising tide we head out for Sampson Cay, which is only about 8 miles from Staniel. It is a wild ride. First we had to run against the incoming tide current, which is several places was running 2-3 knts in out face

The harbor where we are anchored at Sampson is very protected from the ne winds so we are very comfortable here. The marina, which is to expensive for us pensioners, is filled with mega yachts, all power. It must cost a fortune to run these babies. Who says there is a recession. We dinghy into the bar for happy hour and have some great rum punches. Rum is cheap down here and the juice that they add is expensive so the punch is heavy on the rum and light on the juice.

Tuesday 24 March

A lay day in Sampson Cay to wait out some weather that is threatening, squalls with high winds. Later in the week around Thursday the wind and seas are suppose to calm down turning from the NE to the east south east, which will give us a better angle on the wind for the trip to Eleutrera. Tomorrow we will likely move north a couple of cays to shorten the distance to travel.

Wednesday 25 March- Saturday 28 March

Sampson Cay to Hawksbill Cay, we are heading home via the Northern Exumas heading for the Abacos. We had a great down wind sail in 20 knts with 25 kt gusts. We were hitting 9 knots surfing down the waves. I am finally getting use to the sailing characteristics of the Tartan 37 and all I can say is WOW does she handle sweet. The autopilot could not handle the following seas so I had to steer all the way but without any strain.

Our next jump took us from Hawksbill to Ship Channel Cay again with the brisk winds off the stern quarter. Another day like yesterday, a great sail. We hid behind Ship Channel Cay from the strong south east wind for the night then proceeded from Ship Channel Cay to Spanish Wells. This was our longest jump so far running off the wind some 40 miles but like the two days before the wind was off our stern quarter. We even caught a fish, a bar jack, but unfortunatly it was not good eating so we threw it back. I forgot to mention that coming into Ship Channel Cay we did two jibes which ripped out the screws for the traveler blocks. JB weld to the rescue and the traveler was back in action. There are three things that are indispensable on a boat: 1. duct tape 2. WD40 and, last but not least, 3. JB Weld. If you can’t fix it with one of these then it can’t be fixed, no way, no how.

All in all we have had some great sailing since entering the Bahamas to make up for the tedious motoring we had to do while coming down the ICW.

2009-03-08T19:51:00.000-07:00

Monday 16 February

Still in Nassau taking in the sights. There is a hotel complex on an island that forms the barrier for Nassau Harbor called Paradise Island. The island is far different than the main city of Nassau in a socio-economic sense. The hotel complex looks like something off the Disney drawing boards. There are pools with tube rides, pools with turtles, pools with sharks (some enormous hammerheads) and massive aquariums with underwater viewing stations. In one of the aquariums (the one called the predator pool) a glass tunnel goes right through the middle of the water so the fish are all around you. There are barracudas, sharks, rays, sawfish and a host of other fishes to numerous to name even if I knew their names. Some pictures are shown on the right. It is truly very Disneyesque.

It’s off tomorrow for Allen’s Cay, the home of the iguanas.

Tuesday 17 February

A bouncy sail from Nassau to Allens Cay but Abraxas took it in stride. The more I sail then boat the greater my respect for her abilities. She is a fast seakindly vessel with very comfortable liveability below decks. We get to Allens late so we stay on board for the night with treacherous a looking shore off our stern.

Wednesday 17 February

Got to shore this morning but the weather was somewhat chilly so the iguanas we largely in hiding. A few brave souls came forth to get our handouts of scraps from making salad last night. They were particularly fond of the carrot peels and the romaine lettuce. Terri was a little weirded out by the critters, they are quite bold and clearly not afraid of humans. She was glad that the bulk of them were not present to rush us on the beach.

After visiting the critters we hauled anchor and went about 12 miles to Normans Cay for better protection from the impending south easterly winds. Normans has the dubious distinction of formerly being the domain of an infamous drug lord. With its airstrip he would fly in drugs then put them on boats for the states. In the harbor there is the remnants of crashed airplane said too be a DC3. We anchored off the beach on the west side of the island with a couple of other boats and were promptly invited to a happy hour on the beach schedule for 5:00. Meanwhile we went to shore to do some exploring. Looked over the harbor with the possibility of moving there tomorrow morning when the wind is to shift around to the west, making our present anchorage uncomfortable. Good news is there appears to be room. We get back for happy hour and meet some fine folks. One Canadian couple is on a 40foot Admiral Catamaran, which they had constructed in Capetown South Africa and sailed it back to here. Sounded like a great trip.

Thursday 18 February

Up anchor and around to the harbor in Normans Cay. From here we can see the remains of the wrecked plane. Neal goes off diving on the reef with Bob of our buddy boat and the Canadian from the Catamaran. The reef is alive with small colorful fish and loads of different kinds of coral. I do wish I had an underwater camera to record this. I also come face to face with a 3 foot barracuda looking mighty mean and wondering just what the F I’m doing on HIS reef. I have been told that to scare said creatures off you just swim at them, so I take a deep breath and charge. Well I’m here to tell you that is works, this time at least. Now I don’t want you to think that it scurried off in a hurry, no it just sort of ambled (if a fish can amble) off whilst giving me the evil eye. I continued my explore of the reef, but always looking over my shoulder for you know who.

After our dive it is off to McDuffs, a beachfront bar/restaurant, for their happy hour ($3 beers and mixed drinks). It is the only facility on the island and is situated along the airstrip. They have a couple of rental cabins and likely cater to amateur pilots who fly in for a weekend retreat. I think you can also get a “commercial” flight in.

After happy hour we are off to a pot-luck supper on board the Canadian 40 foot Admiral cat along with the folks from two other boats in the harbor that moved around from yesterdays anchorage. Talk about the lap of luxury, this thing is huge with a galley that is about the size of our kitchen at home and a head that is nearly as big as out bathroom in TP. It has a washer an dryer to boot. You too can have this for a mere 300K if you go pick it up at the factory and her for 500K.

Friday 19 February

After a late night of revelry we are off to Cambridge Cay hoping to pick of a mooring. We are taking the Exuma Sound route, which takes us out into the deep water on the east side of the Exuma Chain rather than the inside bank route. I am amazed at the clarity of the water here. At present there is little wind and you can see right to the bottom in FIFTY, that is 50, feet of water. As we move farther out into the sound we encounter water that is in excess of 2000 feet. We are luck to get mooring for us and our buddy boat in the snug little harbor that is sheltered from all directions. We also meet the volunteer caretakers of this facility on a boat named Rachael. They are friends of Bob and Carol our buddyboat owners, so it’s hor’deovers and music on Time enough II

Saturday 20 February

After a morning walk across Cambridge Cay to the Exuma Sound side we are off to a more civilized island, Staniel Cay. On the way out of the southern route out of Cambridge Cay there is a narrow shallow spot that according to the charts is plenty deep for Abraxas, especially at the current tidal state. Wrong. On the way through we glance off a coral head with the keel likely scraping off some paint and probably gouging the fiberglass. When we get to Georgetown I will evaluate the damage with a dive. Other than that we have a great sail down the inside on the bank. After not doing any sailing going down the ICW, it is refreshing to get some much sailing time in. I am starting to get the feeling and sense of this boat and I am liking it more and more with each day.

We arrive in Staniel Cay early enough for lunch at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. It’s a Conch burger and a Kalick (Bahamian beer) for me, then we’re off to the grocery store rumor has it that there can be found some fresh romaine lettuce for our salad. Now when I say grocery store you shouldn’t think of a whole foods, Giant, Shopper food warehouse or Shoprite. You need to think, someone’s garage with shelves in it and paying twice as much as you would for the same thing in the states. That is if they have it.

Later we are off for happy hour at the Thunderball Club for $3 beers and mixed drinks. Staniel Cay claim to fame is that the underwater and cave scenes of the 007 movie Thunderball starring Sean Connery were filmed here back I think in the seventies. The Thunderball Club overlooks the Thunderball Grotto. One can snorkel in this at slack tide but for us this will have to wait for another visit.

Sunday 21 February

We are currently anchored to the west of Lee Stocking Island. We had a little trouble anchoring because just about when I was going to let the anchor go tw0 very large sharks appeared in the water just at the bow so I held off dropping 44 lbs of steel on their heads. This carried us into the shallows so we had to move. The second time we dropped the anchor we ended up over an uncharted wreck, so it was move again. The third time was lucky as the old Foghat song goes. Lee Stocking Island is the location of the Carribbean Research Center and we were told we could get WIFI there, but we we unable to make a connection, so it was another bust to check email and get out on the net. A quiet night was spent with the folks from Time Enough II eating homemade pizza and a movie on Abraxas. Tomorrow it is off to Georgetown and summer camp for cruisers.

Monday 22 February

Well we got here, but what a lumpy ride. First off when we ran the inlet out to the Exuma sound the chop was fierce, but it did not improve greatly. I made the mistake of not putting up the mainsail thinking I would put it up once outside, but it was entirely too rough out there to be crawling around out of the cockpit on the back of a bucking bronco. I did get a good upper body workout holding her to course. On the way down I made a troubling discovery. The brace that holds the dingy davits from collapsing appeared to be pulling out of the deck as we bounced up and down on the waves. I ended up lashing it in with lines leading from the spinnaker winch and main sheet winch. If the brace had pulled out it would have dumped one end of the dingy in the drink, not a good outcome whilst bouncing around out in the sound in 20 kts of wind and seas.

Once we got into Georgetown I was able to evaluate the damage. It seems that when the braces were installed no backing plates were used, nor did they even install any washers. So the hex nuts were pulling through the fiberglass. It is a good thing that I caught it in time. Definition of Cruising: “Fixing your boat in exotic places”:

When we got into Georgetown Harbor we beheld a sea of masts anchored in the lee of the barrier island that protects Georgetown. There has to be 400 boats here from all over. We hit the beach for a Kalick and G&T, life is good.

Tuesday 23 February

We are being held captive by the wind and menace of squalls with 30 kt winds so we are here on the boat reading, but life is still good. We hope to find WIFI somewhere but in the fringe anchorage where we are currently located we are too far away for reception even with our super duper antennae. Tomorrow we will move to a more central location and hope.

Wednesday 24 February -Friday 26 February

We move to a location off of what is called volley ball beach, which is where all the action is happening. Socializing with the folks from the other boats here, happy hours on the beach watching the sundown. On Thursday I made a conch horn to blow at sundown. Listen to music on the beach, there are a ton of musicians here so there are jam sessions most every day. Worked on fixing the support for the davits. Had to run around Georgetown looking for some metal bar stock. Finally found some and made those backing plates for the davit braces. It feels solid now.

Saturday 28 February

Today was the practice for the around Stocking island race. I decided to enter Abraxas to see how she would do. I wrangled a crew, Bob of “Time Enough II” and Chris of “Never Bored” to grind the winches. We were given a PHRF rating of 160, which means we are given 160 seconds a mile as a handicap, and started in the first group of boats. Out of the boats in the group we were third off over the line but at that point we took off and pasted the two in front within the first 3 miles. Did I say the Tartan was a fast boat? The leg was a beam reach, meaning the wind was coming from the side of the boat. This is the fastest point of sail for the Tartan. At the end of this leg we turned up into the wind on a close reach and negotiated the cut out into the ocean. Once out we tacked and headed south along the island heading for the south entrance cut. Here we were at disadvantage, first because the T37 does not go real fast and high to weather and secondly we had a little too much sail up for the wind/wave conditions, but we tough it out though we were clearly losing ground we had gained on the boats behind. By the time we reached the south cut we had been passed by the two multihulls in the race but we were still the lead monohull. At this point we turned back north with the wind at our back and another 3 miles to the finish. One boat was breathing down our necks but in about a mile we were to make a turn that would put the wind more on the beam, the fast point of sail for the Tartan. If we could hold them off…. Hold them off we did and we manage to cross the line as the first monohull. Boy I love this boat. She’s fast and fun to sail. Later that day the race results were announced at a dingy drift. First let me explain a dinghy drift. This is an excuse to drink and socialize with other cruisers by going out into the middle of the harbor in your dinghy, tying up to the others present and drifting in the wind. So there we were tied up to maybe 50 other dinghies passing around snacks and having cocktails watching the sundown. So back to the race results. As it turned out we came in second in our class on corrected time, but also on actual time. It seems that they don’t do a traditional start, but start your time when you cross the line. The monohull that beat us took 147 seconds less time to go the 18 miles around the island and had a PHRF rating of 167,which gave them 7 seconds a mile advantage over us. This meant we had to go 7 seconds a mile faster than they did, so as a result they beat us by about 5 minutes in corrected time. This 35 footer also crushed the bigger boats (on both corrected and actual time) to take the overall. This is one fast boat and I think they got the PHRF rating wrong. All in all it was a great time. I was lucky to have a good crew with one type A personality doing sail trim. He was constantly adjusting the sail to maximum. Next week is the actual race and we will enter again and hope to do as well.

Sunday 1 March

The weather report for the early hours of Monday morning say a nasty front is due to pass through, so we are have moved to a more secure location away from the crowded anchorage we are currently in. They are expecting the possibility of squalls with 40 knt winds so I want to be in a place where I can put out 150 feet of anchor rode with no worry that I might swing into someone.

Monday 2 March

Well the front came through in the pre-dawn hours and the squalls with 40 knt winds did not materialize. As the day when on however, the wind built to 25 kts from the northwest, which is the direction that the harbor goes, and the long fetch caused the chop to build up. We sat most of the day bouncing around waiting for the promised easing of the wind. Well finally we got sick of it and when the wind went around to more out of the north we move to protection of the barrier island.

2009-02-17T06:10:00.000-08:00

Sunday 1 February-Wednesday 11 February

Not much to report. We have been waiting on a weather window to cross the Gulf stream. In the meantime we enjoy the sights and sounds of Miami. A bit of history-Dinner Key is the site of the old Pan American flying boat terminal. They use to fly the big clippers out of here to south America and the smaller ones to the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

We finally got our window and will leave at dawn for Bimini.

Thursday 12 February

Yippee, we’re in the Bahamas. We motorsailed the 48 miles from Miami to Bimini in 9 hours. The water in the Gulf stream is an incredible cobalt blue with over 2500 feet of water to the bottom, but when you get to the Bahamas banks the shallows turn a brilliant turquoise. The seas were light around 2 to 4 feet and we came over incident free. We are currently docked at the Blue Water marina where we have a WIFI signal from some part unknown. The water is gin clear so you can see right to the bottom as if it were glass. Tomorrow we explore the island then on Saturday we will head for Nassau, which is around 120 miles from here across the banks then some more deep water.

Friday 13 February

It’s island time mon, don’t worry. Did a little exploring and made plans for the next leg of the trip, here to Nassau. Saw Hemmingway’s hangout here on Bimini, now closed. TO bad would have like to have a drink at the bar and absorb some history.

Saturday 14 -Sunday 15 February

We left Bimini around 10 after fueling up. Turned once more into the Gulf stream for about 5 miles then on to the Banks. The whole of the Bahamas is several underwater plateaus with small mountains (viz. islands) poking up around the rim. As such the interior is barely under water. Our journey across this plateau was in water only about 15 feet deep and clear enough that you could see the bottom, which is largely sand and coral heads. When you are in the middle of the banks there is no land in sight. We sailed across until around 9:30 then headed a few mile off the well traveled route and dropped anchor, we had come about 70 miles and still had 50 to go to Nassau. The wind was just right and we sailed a lot of the way until dark and continued in the dark until we anchored. Now mind you, we did not tuck ourselves in a secure little gunkhole or behind a nice island, but just out in the middle of a vast sea out of sight of any land in 12 feet of water. We stopped because we were a few mile from an exit point off the Banks where the tidal waters flow off the banks creating a strong current and this current was against us, so the plan was to hang on the hook until 4:00 AM to catch some zzzzzs and ride the current off the banks. Mission accomplished, job done to quote our former leader. Made a comfortable exit off the banks into deep water again to complete our trip to Nassau, arriving about 2 in the afternoon. Nassau is the big city on the Island of New Providence. We have taken a dock here because there is some stormy weather on the way and we want to be secure. We went out for dinner to a Bahamian fish restaurant where we had grouper prepared wonderfully, what a treat and so good. Tomorrow we wait out the weather, then continue south to Georgetown.

2009-02-03T14:00:00.001-08:00

Thurs 8 January 2009
We are back on the boat after a wonderful visit with friends and family over the Christmas/New Year holidays. We had a great time with our boys who we miss so. It is now time to get on with the voyage. We will spend the next few days doing work around the boat and provisioning for our Bahamas trip. This is the second year we’ve stayed at this marina over the holidays so we know our way around a bit. The weather is warm during the days and cools to a comfortable sleeping temperature at night, can’t ask for more.

Saturday 10 January
We are now in Vero Beach at the city marina where we took a mooring. This is quaintly named Velcro beach by so of the cruisers because people seem to get stuck here for weeks or months. Last year we were here for nearly a month, but this was largely due to the back problems I was experiencing last year. No such problems this year though. We do have to wait for some mail to catch up with us so that should keep us here until Monday. I will occupy the time with boat projects, lord knows I have enough, and Terri will tromp around doing her usual exploring.

Monday 12 January
Another day in paradise, weather is warm and sunny as we watch the NE cold temperatures. More boat chores and provisioning to do. Terri finally get the mails we’ve been waiting for so that she can register a complaint with the TSA folks. It seems that one of the blokes at Dulles Airport helped themselves to a very expensive bottle of single malt scotch out of our luggage on the trip to California. It was to be a present to me from Terri. I just hope the Philistines did not swill it down on ice with ginger ale or soda.
The mail did not arrive until late so we’re here another day so Terri can go off to the library to print out the appropriate forms to send off to the TSA. I don’t expect we will be compensated for the loss, but we just feel that the TSA needs to get its house in order.

Tuesday 13 January
“Stuck inside a mobile with the Memphis Blues again” as sung by B Dylan. We‘re still here stuck in Velcro. We ran into folks yesterday that we met last year during our stay in Stuart and we invited them over for dinner tonight, so it was decided to stay one more night.

Wednesday 14 January
A late night with good food, company and lots of wine. This cruising life is tough, but as our good friend Bob Leigh says, “Somebody has to do it.” So once again Velcro Beach has struck again and we are stuck firmly. Tomorrow we shall be released.

Thursday 15 January
Well as predicted we made our escape from Velcro Beach and now sit at the newly opened (as of noon today) Southpoint Marina (now called Sunset Marina) in Stuart, Florida. This is where we stayed last year while I was waiting medical treatment for my herniated disc. It is a delightful spot about 8 miles up the St. Lucie River. In the past it was comprised of only a mooring field, but now it is in the process of a major face lifting with the addition of docks, fuel pumps, restaurant and marine store. A big operation by any standard, but for now a partial construction site. For us, the showers and laundry work and the moorings are cheap ($12 a day). We are here because we are waiting the delivery of a part for the steering system. On the way in here the gremlins struck again when I noticed that the light on the bilge pump kept going on. Going below and lifting a floor board I noticed a river of water coming from aft (the back of the boat for youse that don’t speak boat). Since it was coming from the back of the boat I was pretty sure it was not the contents of the holding tank so the next thing was to taste it to determine if it was salt water or fresh. You see, if it was salt water we would have a major problem like a hole in the boat, but alas it was fresh water meaning it must be from our water tanks. Sure enough when I checked the water pressure pump was running full tilt so I shut it down. When we got on the mooring I check it out and found that we had blown the hot water hose on the galley sink, hemorrhaging the entire contents of our starboard water tank (60 gallons) into the bilge and thence to the St. Lucie River via the bilge pump. I re-attached the hose, switched over to the port water tank, then about 30 minutes later it blew again. A re-examination of the reveals a sub-standard fitting that made the transition from hose to faucet, so tomorrow I look for a plumbing store. Tonight it is dinner at the Mexican restaurant.

Friday 16 January
Today turned out to be a frustrating day, one trip to the local hardware store and two to the honest to god plumbing store. It took two because they don’t speak boat plumbing . Finally we cobbled together four fittings to make the transition between 5/8 plastic tubing and a standard household sink. Did I mention that in order for my 6’ 1” 180 lb frame to access the sink fittings I had to extract the sink from the counter? Did I mention that the plumbing store was 2 miles by foot, so I got my exercise for the day but my whole day was blown on plumbing and walking. Let it be known that I hate to work on household plumbing, but I despise working on boat plumbing. As I have said before, the definition of cruising is fixing your boat in exotic places.
Fortunately some cruisers that we met last year in Stuart heard our woeful tale of plumbing hell and took pity on us and issued an invitation to dinner

Saturday 17 January
Back to the original purpose for our visit to Stuart, the part for the steering system. I had called the place where I ordered the part on Friday and was told that the guy how handled it would call me back, which he did on either one of my excursions under the sink or the plumbing store so I missed his call. When I called this morning I got the message “ our normal operating hours are 8 to 5, Monday through Friday”, today being Saturday, crap. It looks like we’ll be here until Monday, provided they are open on MLK day. Well we can spend the day cleaning up the mess from the plumbing project.
This is the boring part of cruising, sitting around waiting on something (weather, parts, repairs etc.). To top it all off, we have no internet access since the Marina has not gotten it hooked up yet so no email or Blog updates.

Sunday 18 January
Slow day, walk about town, lunch, weather a balmy 75 degrees sunny, breath deep and recite your mantra.

Monday 19 January
NO PART, we wait until tomorrow.

Tuesday 20 January
Well somebody dropped the ball. When the place I ordered the part from called the factory guess what, the shipping got lost in the shuffle so they will FEDEX it out today and we should get it tomorrow. So, we’ll drop off the mooring and head around to the outer side of Stuart, where the part will be delivered and pick it up.

Wednesday 21 January
As promised the part was in and now the slop is out of the wheel.

The weather is cooperating so we will run down the coast instead of going down the ICW. The stretch from Lake Worth to Fort Lauderdale has 21 draw bridges that are on such a weird schedule that you end up waiting at many of them so it is a lot less frustrating to do this section out in the ocean. Since the wind is behind us and light we motor sailed this leg, leaving Lake Worth at 8AM and arriving at Lauderdale (Port Everglades inlet) around 2:30 PM Then on to Hollywood Florida where my brother lives. We will do some major provisioning here for the trip to the Bahamas.

Monday Tuesday 26-27 January
We’re finally in Miami where we will stay until we’re joined by our buddy boat, Carol & Bob on “Time enough II”, to wait for a weather window for the Gulf Stream crossing. We took the bus into the city on Monday to get the lay of the land and figure out how to get to South Beach in Miami Beach. Down town Miami is a waste land. No restaurants, bars or nightspots just fast food joints and stores selling cheap crap and everybody is speaking Spanish. It is like being in another country. Tomorrow it’s off to South beach to eat, drink and be merry.
Well you can certainly see that we are in a recession because South Beach is nearly deserted. Vacancy signs all over the place and the eateries along the beach are so hungry for business they are having half price sales. The last time Terri and I were hear you could barely walk the side walks it was so crowded. Today we nearly had the sidewalks to ourselves. Still we had fun and some good food. It’s nice having South Beach all to ourselves.

Wednesday 28 January
We have left the mooring at Crandon Park Marina and crossed Biscayne Bay in search of a shower. Crandon only has outside cold showers and neither of us are at that stage of our lives where that is a viable option. We got to Dinner Key where the anchorage is rather exposed to nearly all directions except west and far off the shore, but we stay because there is promise of a shower and laundry not to mention other amenities of civilization, viz groceries, bookstores and hopefully the internet. People along the way, especially in Florida, are getting wiser about unsecure wireless systems. We are seeing plenty of secure systems but few open unsecure systems. It is these systems that we hope to piggy back on and it’s been slim pickins. As such we have not been able to update the blog or see our email since we got back from our holiday jaunt to Maryland and California. Tomorrow it’s off to the library where there is free wireless we’re told..

Thursday 29 January
Bummer, free wireless yes but for some reason I can’t sent emails though I can see those sent to me. I think the library has some weird fire wall. Other priorities dictate we will have to wait on internet, like food and drink. Woke up this morning to an incredible dense fog. We could not see any other boats around us, the picture shows the view after we could finally see a bit.

Friday 30 January
We fled Dinner Key because when we got back from our shore leave we found the boat about a 100 yards farther east than we left it and tied to another boat. It seems like while we were away a mini storm came through and our anchor dragged. Yikes. Some good Samaritan caught her and arrested her further movement east, next stop the Atlantic Ocean or at the least the other side of Biscayne Bay up on the reefs. I try to reset and fail twice, both times coming up with a ball of grass choking the anchor. This is the first time our Bruce anchor has failed us. It is clear that with a soft bottom covered with grass a Bruce is not the ticket, so since our spare anchor is a danforth, also a poor anchor under these conditions, and another more powerful front is expected to pass tonight we have fled to a harbor across Biscayne called aptly Hurricane Harbor. It has good grass free bottom and is well protected from the winds we expect. It is all in the name of a good nights sleep, sir.

Saturday 31 January
The weather has settled and we are back to Dinner key to finish business here. Finally found a reliable internet connection so it is time to upload. We are still hanging around the Miami area waiting for our buddy boat and a weather window. Perhaps next week for both, stay tuned.

2008-12-15T05:39:00.000-08:00

Monday 1 December

The storm has passed and we go about our chores in Fernandina. Not much to tell or exciting this day

Tuesday 2 December

Chores, chores, chores today not all fun and games

Wednesday 3 December

We slipped the mooring at Fernandina early headed ultimately to St. Augustine. We stopped for the night in the Fort George River after trying to anchor in an oxbow recommended by “skipper Bob’s ICW anchorages” book, but no dice. When we tried to enter at around mid-tide the depth was only a foot under the keel, so we had to pass it up and press on to the Fort George river. A nice anchorage, but we were here last year and wanted to see something new. Another peaceful but cold night. We are hopeful that the weather will begin to warm soon as we head farther south.

Thursday 4 December

We are in St Augustine. This is a great place to visit, very historic and bills itself as the oldest city in the US. Of course it was the Spanish that first settled here, but the English kicked their butts out and took over the city later. Then of course it became part of the US. There is some extraordinary architecture in the city dating from around the turn of the century (1800-1900). Henry Flagler, the man allegedly behind the success of Standard Oil, did a lot of developing down here in Florida. He made it a second career to develop Florida as a vacation spot by building first a railroad down the Florida east coast (ultimately all the way to Key West) then he built hotels. The one he built in St Augustine is an incredibly ornate structure with lots of innovation. It is built out of the then new material called poured concrete, but it is not your cement block house. It also had such innovations as individual bathrooms in each room. It was for its time a truly modern and luxurious hotel. Now it is part of the buildings on the campus of Flagler College a small boutique liberal arts college with about 2500 students. There are a number of other historical buildings and an entire old section of the city, which is largely a tourist retail sector.

It also has what is probably the largest Nautical junk store in existence. You can get most anything from screws to sinks to hatches, you name it. I was able to get a cap for our shore power inlet that had been broken off and lost by a dock line when we were leaving a fuel dock.

We stuck around St Augustine to see once again the Grand Illumination, a ceremony that dates back to when the English held the city. Each night the troops of the garrison would march through the city with torches and fife and drums to secure the city. At this time they checked to see that any one that was on the streets carried a light, the theory being that anyone up to no good would not have a light that would advertise themselves. On the first Saturday of December hundreds of re-enactors descend on the city to recreate this practice. The re-enactors assemble on the square dressed in elaborate re-creations of the British military uniforms of the day, Indian dress and civilian militia to be lead in a march around the square and through the old town by a fife and drum unit. Trailing behind are a gaggle of people dressed in period costumes carrying lanterns. The procession ends up at the old governor’s mansion (now the tourist information center) on the square where they fire several volleys of musket shots. Then a bloke dressed up like the governor leads the people assembled in the square in Christmas carols. Finally we were serenaded by a group of bagpipers. It was great fun to see all of this once again.

Sunday 7 December

We made 74 miles today, from St. Augustine to Rockhouse Creek. We are trying to make time up because we need to be in Melbourne on Monday. This is where we will leave the boat while we head back to the frozen north for the holidays. We will need to go another 70 miles tomorrow in order to get to Melbourne so it’s off to bed and up in the pre-dawn morn.

Monday 8 December

We made it, just as the sun was setting we pulled into the slip. They had to chase out some Manatees who were sleeping in the vacant slip and they were NOT happy. Tonight we de-commission to boat to leave it for a month. This will continue tomorrow, then we pick up a rental and drive home. The blog will go into suspended animation to be started up again in early January 2009. Hope all you that have been reading these ramblings have the happiest of holidays and a great new year. Can’t wait for January 20^th, what a historical event and the promise of a new era.

2008-12-01T08:02:00.001-08:00

A lay day in Brunswick, Terri pokes around in the shops I continue with maintenance. Broken switch on the deck wash is replaced and new stems for the galley sink faucet since they were leaking and I could not replace the washers because the screws were disintegrated. Probably been in the boat since it was built in 1977.

It remains cold with a nasty wind out of the northwest. What we used to call a Canadian Clipper back in New England when I was growing up. Our propane heater is getting a workout. Lest you feel that we are basking in the warmth of this heater, let me dispel this notion right away. At best it takes the chill off raising the temperature from the 40s to the low 50s. The forecast calls for the cold to continue until at least the weekend. The weather has been far colder this year than last. It is a blessing that we have the oxygen tent as we call the full cockpit canvas enclosure. Kinda looks like one, yes. When the sun is out it is positively balmy inside that is if the wind is not screaming. It is a little difficult sailing as you have to open the zipper panels to get to the winches, but it is a sacrifice that is well worth it in our current clime.

Wednesday 19 November

We awoke to the cold once again. Boy is it hard to get out of bed when the temperature is hovering in the middle 40s in the boat. Takes me back to my days as scoutmaster on those cold winter camping trips. We left the marina and slowly motored the 5 miles to Jekyll Island getting there about 2. Walked around a bit and scoped out renting bikes so we could tour the island tomorrow.

Thursday 20 November

Cold again this AM. A catamaran that came in yesterday is high and dry on a mud flat just in shore from us, must have underestimated the 9 foot tides here in Georgia. We are off on a bike tour of this island. It was once the winter refuge of the rich somewhat like Newport Rhode Island except the houses were more modest here, but still quite grand. (see the pictures) The state of Georgia has taken over the caretaking of this historical district used by the Rockefeller, Goulds and Goodyears up until WW2 when they all left lock, stock and Barrel and abandoned the place. Allegedly they left because German Uboats were patrolling the Georgia coast and it was feared that these people were prime targets for a raiding party, true or false I do not know.

The state of Georgia is restoring the houses that are still here along with the “club” where all inhabitants took their meals. Currently the Club is run as a hotel and wedding venue. One of the places we visited was a small chapel with two stained glass windows that were stunningly beautiful, one a signed Tiffany the other from some students of Tiffany. We saw the Tiffany when the late afternoon sun was behind it and let me tell you it was breathtaking. That man had a talent with stained glass.

We bumped into some fellow cruiser who we previously had met in Elizabeth City. Turns out they are the inhabitants of the grounded, but now floating catamaran. When two cruisers meet it is always a time to have cocktails together and so we did.

Friday 21 November

Still hanging around Jekyll Island. Today we go for breakfast in the famous “club.” Nothing to write home about, but one again we walk about the rich man’s compound. One house that any of us would die to live in was used only for the month of February to host grand parties. These people knew how to live. The house, now used as an art gallery, has a grand staircase that I’m sure Terri would have loved to sweep down in a long gown in a bygone era.

All good things must come to an end so tomorrow we move on.

Saturday 22 November

It’s a short hop to Cumberland Island, home of the wild horses. We leave late and arrive early, motor sailing all the way since the wind was behind us for a change. Save a little diesel fuel and exercise the sails a bit, at least the headsail. A wild trip across Jekyll Sound where you have to go out in the Ocean a bit to clear some shoals. Since the wind was hard out of the northeast is was a little bumpy but only for 15 to 30 minutes. This is the nice thing about traveling south on the ICW, it is an easy trip. No, you do not do a lot of sailing, but you’re always in protected water. We walked around the Island a bit, which was once the preserve of one of the Carnegies but they ultimately tired of it I guess and now it is a National Park. One can camp here and a lot of people do even now in the late fall.

Sunday Monday 23-24 November

We are now in Fernandina Beach for a couple of days. We have hit the jackpot and are on the dock rather than out in the mooring field. Apparently the city marina has a person who is not performing their job right and forgetting to write down reservations for the mooring. We had called two days ago for a reservation and when we got here they said that we were not on the books for one and they were all filled. Since this has happened before and the dockmaster knows the problem, he gave us a slip for the price of a mooring. It was nice of him, he could have said tough pay for a slip or anchor out. If we had to anchor out it would have been a long dinghy ride into shore. Sometimes you get lucky.

We provision, shower and do laundry. Terri is off to the antique stores in her quest for fiestaware plates for the boat. Me, I chip away at the “to do” list. Top is to work on the watermaker, which has developed leaks at fittings on the high pressure pump. As it turns out these fittings have been installed incorrectly. Once I install they as specified in the instruction manual, a forty page installation manual, it doesn’t leak. It is turning out that the watermaker is going to be a high maintenance item, with frequent filter changing, fresh water flushing and membrane cleaning. I am sure that it will be a blessing when we get to the Bahamas where good water is scarce and when you can get it expensive and not so good.

Tuesday Wednesday 25-26 November

We are finally in St. Marys where we will spend thanksgiving with a couple of hundred other cruisers. Two of our dear friends that we met on last years cruise are staying on the boat with us for T-day. They are on their way driving back to Albany NY for the Christmas holidays. They stored their boat down in Florida for the summer and were down getting it ready for the jump over to the Bahamas. They have been there 5 or 6 times and are old hands at it. They have graciously agreed to hold our hands and accompany us in our first crossing to show us the ropes. We will all meet after the holidays in south Florida for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream. We all go ashore for the nightly cocktail meet and greet where each boat brings in a hors d’oeuvres. Let me tell you, there are some pretty good cooks among the cruisers.

Wednesday we’re off to the store for supplies needed for tomorrows feast. While the town of St Marys provides the turkeys and hams for this cruiser’s feast, the boat people bring all the “side dishes”. Terri will make her signature Leak, Onion, Shallot Gratin dish that she has made in our past home thanksgivings and I a pumpkin pie.

Thursday 27 November

Turkey day, what a feast……. We all gather around noon in the hotel/restaurant/bar that is normally closed for the holiday but they open up for the cruisers. There are about 80 boats in the harbor so this turns out to be about 200 people. Two folks (Bruce and Conny) we met along the way last year at New Bern then later at Boot Key came from Jacksonville by car. When last we saw them they were working in Marathon after having to get a 10 grand engine job on their boat. Apparently the oil pressure sensor blew out and they lost all their oil. The engine was toast after that. They were working in Jacksonville so they decided to come up to St Marys, which is only an hour away. Bruce is an excellent guitar player and he brought it with him so naturally after the feast out came the instruments. Carol and Bob, our boat guests, broke out their instruments (fiddle, flute and guitar) and we had an old fashion hootenanny. We were joined by a local guy on the five string and another cruiser with an electric guitar. I even got into the act with one of the extra guitars after 30 years of not playing, but it is like a bicycle it come back fast except for the lack of finger calluses. All in all we had a great day with many things to be thankful for. We ate well and shared great company, what more can we ask. We did miss our boys, but talked to them on the phone. Perhaps when we stop this gypsy life and they settle down with wives and kids we will all get together again for thanksgiving. We will see them over the Christmas holidays so that we look forward to.

Friday 28 November

It’s a sad goodbye to Carol and Bob today. They are continuing north for the rest of the holiday season, but we will see them after the holidays. We stick around St Marys for another day for showers, shopping and chilling out from the holiday activities.

Saturday 29 November

We are back at Cumberland Island hanging out with the horses, wild turkeys and armadillos. It is a lovely day to walk the beach and the marine forest with its gnarly old live oak trees festooned with Spanish moss and growing amongst the saw palmetto.

Sunday 30 November 2008

We wake to a nasty sounding weather report. T storms, high winds with a threat of tornados. We head off for Fernandina Beach where we have a mooring reserved hoping to beat the storm, but it does catch us. Thankfully the t storms and the tornados do not materialize, but it does rain like hell and we do get some wind but nothing serious (20-25 kts). We pick up our mooring in the driving rain and are now ensconced in our boat sitting out the storm. Our business in Fernandina will have to wait until the morrow.

2008-11-18T05:49:00.000-08:00

Friday 7 November
We are in Georgetown SC. Very quaint little town that is a good place to provision on the way down the ICW. A fish market where you can get those great Carolina shrimp which are very different from the Gulf shrimp we get at home. These are incredible tasty, sweet with a nutty taste. Both Terri and I find them better than gulf shrimp which are somewhat bland. We are learning one hundred and one ways to cook shrimp. Not much else going on. Soon we will be entering the marshes of SC.

Saturday 8 November
An incredible long day today, all of it through salt water marshes. We went from Georgetown to Charleston. We arrived in Charleston after dark, crossing Charleston Harbor as the sun set. We were expecting to get there before dark, but we missed the opening of the Ben Sawyer bridge by five minutes so we had to wait for one hour for the next opening. We thought of anchoring there for the night but the only anchorage close by allegedly had wrecked dredging gear on the bottom and a steel beam one foot under the water. It did not sound inviting.

Sunday 9 November
We are anchored in an isolated creek in the Marshes called Parrot Creek. We are the only boat around and it is peaceful and quiet. Once again we made good time. This boat has much longer legs that our previous one. That is to say it moves faster and covers more ground. It’s on to Beaufort SC tomorrow for real showers and mail pick-up.

Monday 10 November-Wednesday 12 November
Well here we are in Beaufort, SC. Terri like this place the best of all places we stopped last year. Rich in history, beautiful architecture. Our original plan was to stay for 2 nights in the marina, pick up our mail, provision and get out of dodge. Well firstly we did not remember it was Veterans day on Tuesday, no mail and secondly our other boat, the Tartan 34 was sold and we had to deal with the paper work involve. So, we decided on another day, but we dropped out of the expensive marine and went to the anchorage.
They say that the two happiest days of a boater are the day he buys a new boat and the day he sells a boat. We have has two such days this season. Praise the lord and pass the biscuits. I hope the new owner will be as happy with her as we were, I will miss her.
I took advantage of the lay days to do some needed service and projects on the boat. Also we came to realize that the reason we were rushing was totally off base. We thought Thanksgiving was next week and we were rushing to get to St. Marys. No it is it two weeks, time to slow down.

Thursday 13 November 2008
We slept in this AM, we’re not is a hurry. Our first business of the day was to go ashore and replace a vital store, olive oil. How can you cook a decent meal or dress a salad without it??? Terri and I are after all of Italian heritage. Then we left Beaufort at a leisurely pace, slowly motoring by Paris Island as the Marine recruits learned the skill of war, crossed the Port Royal Sound through the fog and on to Wrights Creek just before the Savannah River. We are a stones throw from Georgia. We sit here at anchor as the thunder storms pass us by and we breath a sigh of relieve for WE are the tallest thing around here.

Friday 14 November 2008
We continue on at our leisurely pace enjoying the beauty of the marshes, which in some places go to the horizon. The tidal range here is large but we are in the lunar perigee or apogee, I can’t remember which, so the tides are immense. The place we stopped for fuel, right out of deliverance for sure, had a floating dock and a gangway from the land to the floater. We got in at low tide and a swear you needed climbing gear to get up. The tide had dropped 10 feet so the land based pier was over 10 feet above the floated.
We are still having problems fueling up. Tartan in there infinite wisdom placed the fuel fill about in the middle of the boat on the port (left) side. The tank vent is all the way aft, over 15 feet away so you have to have one person filling the fuel and the other listening at the vent to hear when it is full (the sound from the vent changes when near full). Even so you need to be careful that you don’t spew fuel out of the vent because there is a big fine for getting petroleum, (right Brian).
We settle in Kilkenny creek because the issue of Skipper Bob’s Guide that we have says you can buy shrimp at the shrimp docks up there. We are informed by the marina guy that they closed that down three years ago, so no shrimp for us, but leftovers instead.

Saturday 15 November 2008
Up late off late, we’re not in a hurry. More Georgia marshes unfold before us. About mid-day NOAA weather starts talking about a strong cold front coming through with strong wind, heavy rain and t-storms. Of course that is what they said about last night and all we got was the rain, but today it looks threatening in the west. Being prudent mariners we look around for cover. Now friends let me tell you, in the middle of the marshes there is not much cover and YOU are the tallest thing around for miles. After scouring the charts I do find a creek with trees on both banks, so we run for cover. We are settled in with at least 4 other like minded souls to wait out tonight frontal passage, secure in the knowledge that we’ve picked a good spot. Time will tell, so we’ll see in the morning if Duplin Creek has filled the bill.

Sunday 16 November 2008
Well the frontal passage was anticlimactic, just a little wind, rain and no lightning. Now it is cooooold. Brrrrrrr. Here we are in southern Georgia and we’re expecting a frost, jeez. Today our destination was Fort Frederica, which we missed last year. The problem was that the dinghy dock at the fort could only be used begining 2 hours before and two after high tide, because any other time the dock was high and dry. We were there last year at the end of the day when the dock was dry because high tide was a noon. Even the next morning we could not get to the dock so we left. I grumbled about this complaining on the stupidity of the people at this National Monument. Well someone must have been listening, because when we got there this year, at high tide this time, there was no dock because they were rebuilding it, hopefully so one can get to it at any tide. We’ll try again on the way back. Hopefully the dock will be finished by then and allow access regardless of the tide.
So no fort again therefore we decided to push on to Brunswick a day earlier. But the marina is full until tomorrow so we wait on the hook a couple of miles away.
We need marina time to shower with lots of hot water, laundry and groceries. We also need some internet time to post this blog.

Monday 17 November 2008
Well we got it all, shower, laundry and groceries but most important propane for the heater and cook stove. We were minutes from running out. There is internet access as well. The trip from Beaufort, SC through Georgia was a vast internet wasteland, but stunningly beautiful.
We were pleased to find a couple from Canada who we met in the Keys last year. They keep there boat in the Brunswick Marina for the summer months while they return to Canada. They got down here a month ago and are commissioning the boat for another winter’s cruise. It was good to reconnect with old friends and hear what transpired with them after we left. And of course we had to show off our new/old boat, we are very proud. This old girl is beginning to grow on us. I finally solved a vexing problem we were having, the autopilot. While not essential an autopilot can be a valued third hand, steering the boat while you accomplish other tasks. The problem was it was schizophrenic for it would go along steering the boat then for no reason it would start turning left and right in ever increasing arcs, so you could never trust it. It ran us aground once when it turned hard over on to the side of the channel. It was not to be trusted. Reading the manual I played around with something called rudder gain without success. Then buried in the text after reading the manual several time I found something called autotrim. I decreased this by one setting a voila the autopilot now works like a charm. I wonder if the previous owner suffered with this for as long as he had the boat because this setting was buried deep in the setup. Now all is right with the world and we have our "extra hand".

2008-11-07T17:56:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-02T17:33:00.000-08:00

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.

Home are the sailors, home from the sea.

2008-05-06T08:25:00.000-07:00

The voyage is over. We had two and 3/4 uneventful days motor sailing up the Chesapeake. When we got to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which is only about 5 miles from our home dock the winds picked up to 20 kts and the direction about 60-70 degrees off the bow. The famous Chesapeake Bay chop built up quickly and we pounded the last few miles home, but home we got to. We are now what the cruising world calls dirt-dwellers. It does feel nice to take a shower on demand and sleep in a bed that is larger than the small twin we have been sleeping on and with a better mattress.

How was the trip you may ask—GREAT. We had a ball and yes we are prepared to do it again so stay tuned for further developments.

Still on the move, Part 2

2008-04-27T05:49:00.000-07:00

Hold up we did for three days at the Alligator Marina, along with about one dozen boats all waiting for a decent weather window to cross the Albemarle Sound. The Sound is a shallow stretch of water with a long fetch in the east/west direction so when the wind blows hard out of the east it sets up a wicked train of close steep waves which run across the path of anyone venturing to cross it. This is exactly the situation that kept us at the Alligator River Marina. Now let me tell you about the Alligator marina. Imagine if you will the end of the earth, well the Alligator River Marina is just past that to the left. The only thing that could be said is that the grille made a real fine cheeseburger and the biscuits in the morning melted in your mouth.

Well we finally went stir crazy after three days there and took off at 6AM hoping the get across before the winds picked up and the T storms marched over. We had 15-20 kt winds about 40 degrees off the bow so we were able to roll out enough of the jib to help us power through the chop (2-3 feet) as well as keep us from rolling and we motor sailed across in about two hours. We felt so good about it that we kept on going though Elizabeth City to the beginning of the Dismal Swamp Canal where the canal lock was open and ready to lock us through, so we did. Then we motored the length of the canal, so much for stopping to smell the roses. The closer we get to home the more antsy Terri is getting to be there. Can’t say I blame her. She worries about the grass and the weeds, etc.

We could not go through the northern most lock because it was too late, but there is a free dock just before it that has a shopping center, (Viz, grocery) and a Mexican Restaurant. Guess where we had dinner.

The next morning we caught the 9:00 am lock through and steamed into Norfolk and past mile zero of the ICW, then on to the mighty Chesapeake where we are now motor sailing along trying to make Deltaville VA. If we do we should be back to home base in two days, but here is a cold front approaching and THAT could hold us up once again because it would bring strong northeast winds down the bay, which would NOT be a fun trip. Along with this would also come the showers and T-storms. I do not care to be the highest thing on the water when one of these babies comes through. The winds I can handle but the lightning is another thing.

getting close to home

2008-04-20T15:09:00.000-07:00

Well we eventually got to Mile Hammock Bay. The weather was a just a bit better than that of our trip into Wrightsville Beach. It was only blowing 20 kts on the nose and a little cold (see picture of Terri). Mile Hammock Bay has an interesting history. It is just on the edge of Camp Lejeune, the Marines training base. It is a small bay and in one corner of it there is an old derelict ship (see picture). This ship was used during WW2 to train the Marines for amphibious landings. The slung cargo nets down the side and the lads scrambled down into waiting landing crafts. The bay is still used to this day as a training venue for the leathernecks. After you leave Mile Hammock heading north you cross the Marines shooting range where they do live ammo firings across the waterway. There is a large sign with lights on it that states: “If the lights are flashing do not enter, live fire in progress.” We did not see the lights flashing, although I am told they also station a patrol boat to block passage. We did hear some low thumping farther inland, so I guess they were shooting something (inland of course). From Mile Hammock we had a long day, doing over 60 miles to Oriental, NC. Oriental is a delightful town of 900 persons with 3000 boats. It is truly the boating capital of NC. If it has something to do with boating you can get it in Oriental. We also visited again with George & Mary Duffie, who we met on the way down. They are fellow Tartan 34C owners. We went to dinner with them and I had a quintessential southern dish called shrimp and grits. Now before you go ugggh let me say it was mighty tasty. The shrimp were sautéed along with some onions and sausage then laid over a bed of grits mixed with cheese.

We stayed in Oriental for two day but are making tracks again. One jump to the Pungo River, then the next jump to the mouth of the Alligator River, staying at the Alligator Marina where I am typing this post. We are hold up here waiting for better weather, like in no thunderstorms and rain. We need to cross the Albemarle Sound which can get kinda testy if the wind is blowing hard from the east. Big waves that are close together. We are now less than 90 miles from Norfolk, but will slow down and smell the daises as we traverse the Dismal Swamp Canal once again. After that if all goes well, like in weather, we will be home in three days. Gosh it seems like only yesterday that we left. We are like horses coming back to the barn, running full tilt.

still on the move

2008-04-17T17:17:00.000-07:00

Our stop at Beaufort, SC was extended by several days at Terri was laid low with some intestinal bug so we did not extensively tour the town as we did on the way down. We did walk to the “Big Chill” house to see the site of our generational film. Note to self: Got to rent that movie for another look. From Beaufort we got a late start and ran to the North Edisto River, close to the site where we helped Mike G on the way down unground his boat. This time with lessons learned from the incident in the Duplin River we anchor well off the shore and in fact we were not set upon by hoards of no-see-ums as you see we were still in the marshes of SC. However, when we woke up in the early morning a thick fog had descended and the visibility was less than ¼ of a mile. We could not see any of the shore that surrounded us, but it eventually burned off and we were off, only an hour later than usual. We got to our next destination (Wappoo Creek) early enough to take a hike to the grocery store to get needed groceries. Wappoo Creek is just outside Charleston, SC. Grocery shopping is a major consideration as we move along the ICW. We have to be attuned to the presence of stops that have grocery store within easy access and we have to do it with some frequency since we can’t store fresh foods for long because the ice locker doesn’t keep stuff cool as the home frig. Terri has manage to provide us with a rich diet in spite of no refrigeration (except for ice) and an alcohol stove to cook on and a galley with about 6 square inches of counter space. With regard to our diet, we are NOT camping. All said and done I am sure that she will be glad to get back in her kitchen at home.

We woke once again in Wappoo Creek to a thick fog, again unable to see the banks of the creek we were on. But again we waited it out and got a later start. However, when we entered Charleston Harbor we were greeted with a large dense fog bank that sat on the harbor. Now Charleston Harbor is a major seaport with lots of big fellas going in and out, fog or no fog. We could hear them announcing themselves on the radio. All of my dead reckoning skills we put to use and we felt our way outside the major shipping channels to our ICW mark. About half way there the fog thinned and finally burnt off. After passing Charleston we passed along Price Creek. Since Terri’s maiden name is Price and her genealogy traces back to South Carolina we made the assumption that this may be named after some relative. Moreover, as we were transiting the Creek we passed two houses on islands at the creek side (see pictures) which we assigned as the Price homesteads.

Our travels took us on to the North Santee River where we again put into practice anchoring well off the shore away from the marshes, no bugs. This time we awoke to a clear morning, sun shinning and it was on to Georgetown for another small grocery stop and a search for an auto parts store where I could buy diesel oil because it was time to change the oil. This is something that needs doing every 100 hours of engine running time, with a filter change every other oil change. Yanny the Yanmar must be kept happy and thus far other than the fuel filter problem has performed flawlessly, knock wood. While this trip could have been made with the Atomic four gas engine, and has been by the previous owner, I am glad that I installed the diesel. It has more power that is delivered to the water and burns about ½ the fuel that the A4 burned. Last but not least, the A4 was looong in the tooth.

Georgetown was a drive-by stop since we got our stuff and hit the road (ah water) continuing on to the cypress swamps of the upper Waccamaw River to anchor in Bull Creek. It is beautiful country with the tall cypresses coming right down to the waters edge. A peaceful anchorage far from civilization.

From here it was on to the Shallotte River where we stayed on the way down, but this time we knew how to avoid the shoal that sits in the middle of the river and anchored for the night. We are in “horse to the barn” mode on the trip home. We are not lingering as we did on the way down. It’s long days with early morning departures. Based on our present track record we should get back to MD in the first week in May.

After a overnight stop at the Carolina Beach State Marina (a bargain at $20/night with free electric) to do some needed laundry, we left headed for an anchorage called Mile Hammock but the winds were not cooperating. It began to blow a near steady 20 knots with 30 knot gusts right in our faces so we diverted after going only 14 miles to Wrightsville Beach once again to sit out high winds. As you may recall we spend two days here on the way down when the tropical storm Noel was raging out in the ocean. We hope to get out of here tomorrow if the winds settle down a bit. We are the only boat anchored in this very large anchorage unlike when we came down in the fall where we could hardly find a spot to put down an anchor. Now we have it all to ourselves.

Out of Florida

2008-04-15T11:11:00.000-07:00

We’re out of Fla and now in Savanna. It took us two days to traverse Georgia and get to this lovely city that is on the Georgia/South Carolina border. We left Fernandina in a dense fog and felt our way along until it lifted. We passed the submarine base at King’s Bay but this time we saw no submarines. We had an uneventful trip until we reached the approach to St. Andrews Sound going down the Cumberland River. We were treated to the effects of a strong wind against an equally strong tidal outflow. It was kinda ugly going for about 3 miles with steep and close together wave which anyone from the Chesapeake will recognize. One we got out into St. Andrews Sound proper, it all settled down and it was smooth sailing. We continued on bypassing Brunswick Georgia and finally stopped as the sun was setting in the Duplin River for the night. The cruising guide advised us that the creek was used by shrimpers and that we should surely display an anchor light. I took this advise a step further and anchored close to the shore. Now mind you, the Duplin is a channel that meanders through the marshes, which stretch for miles around. Since it was later we put in the screens, ate dinner and crashed. I woke up early the next morning prepared my coffee and stepped out on deck to savor it as the sun rose over the marshes. I was not out there two seconds when the swarms hit. The boat was covered with millions of no-sums and I was on the menu. Swat, swat, swat. At this point I could not g back below behind the protection of the screens for in the process I would have brought with me at least ½ of the million of these wretched creatures. So, it was lift the anchor and flee time. I think I set some sort of record for getting the anchor up and getting underway. Flee we did, but 6 knts is not fast enough to outrun the speediest of these bugs so they continued their feast with me as main course until the wind picked up. Lesson learned—do not anchor close to land in the marshes.

Our next stop was the Herb river, which is a stones throw from the town of Thunderbolt where we were to stay at the Thunderbolt Marina while visiting Savanna. You see it is extremely difficult to visit Savanna by boat as there are no safe anchorages. The currents rage in the river front of Savanna, changing directions with the tides. So boats visiting Savanna stay in thunderbolt, which is about 5 miles from Savanna on another river.

Savanna is truly a beautiful city. They have taken historic preservation to a new level. You couldn’t throw a stone in that city and not hit a beautifully restored piece of historic architecture. We took one of those motor coach tours of the city with a truly entertaining and knowledgeable guide. Though a drive-by tour, it hit all the hot spots of Savanna and later we hit on foot the most interesting to us. As I always do where ever we go we hit a local brew pub to sample the brews. I was treated to an exceptional IPA that was hopped wonderfully, smooth with a palatable citrusy taste. It was voted as one of the best of the trip by yours truly.

We left Savanna on a dreary, cold and rainy day heading for Beaufort, SC. Terri extolled the virtues of this town on the trip down.

Still on the move

2008-04-05T15:23:00.000-07:00

We’re on the move, truckin north. We left Stuart and had a long day to just north of Titusville where we anchored in a small boat basin that had a number of browsing manatees. These slow moving large mammals feed on the grass that grows on the bottom. They move so slowly that barnacles grow on them. At one time they were endangered, but due to waterway rules are making a strong come back. So much so that the power boaters are lobbying to get them off the endangered species act because part of the legislation requires that they go slow in the manatee habitat zones. The single most killer of manatees are power boats. As I was raising the anchor to leave in the morning one of these gentle creatures can up to the bow where I was pulling in the anchor and gave it a look as if to say, “What is this thing in my domain?” He/she of course was over 6 feet long and weighed about 400 pounds. By the time I got the camera it was gone, submerged to the bottom to feed on the grass, bored with the anchor.

On the way to this anchorage I decided to drag a lure to see if we could haul in some fish for dinner. Sure enough after dragging the lure for untold mile we heard the reel buzz as the line ran out. My first thought was that I had snagged a crab pot so I grabbed the pole and started to reel in the line when what ever was on the line decide to jump. Well it was “fish on.” This one I decided was NOT going to loose by going for the dingy. Well after a hard fight I brought it on board and subdued it with a shot of gin poured into its mouth, consider it a pre-marinade. To my eye what we caught was a bluefish, but T disagrees. Look at the picture and decide for yourself. It was fish Provencal on the menu that night, yum.

After we left the Manatee anchorage we were head for what was going to be a two day jump to St Augustine. The day started out well until we got to the Ponce de Leon Inlet when all hell broke loose. One power boat after another passed us in both directions. It was like being in a washing machine. You see it was Sunday and the morning was beautiful so they were out in force, but the weather was beginning to turn bad (wind and rain) so they were all beating it home as fast as they could. This continued until we got North of Daytona where by this time the weather had deteriorated. We of course continued on until we got to a quiet anchorage with the funny name of the cement plant. You see there was at on time a cement plant down this quiet canal, but not there is just a plant that makes Sea Ray boats. Since there were trees on both sides of this narrow canal we were spared the wind, but not the rain, but all in all it was a peaceful night. The Sea Ray plant served as our early morning (6:30AM) alarm clock so that we could get an early start to St Augustine. The weather started out as cloudy, cool with wind and rain then went to clear and sunny when we got to St. Aug. We had a short day from the Cement plant anchorage so we had the luxury of a walk around the city. It is a beautiful one at that, old and quaint. We (I) had a pint at the local brew pub, which served a very likable red ale (nicely hopped, rich and malty) to wash down some well done calamari served with a spicy wasabi sauce. Life doesn’t get much better than that. Then it was showers and back to the boat for a good nights sleep for we were leaving at first light so that we could get all the way to Fernandina, which is on the Ga/Fl border. It was a long but un-eventful trip except for coming across some old friends who we met on the way down it Vero and Stuart. It is truly amazing how you seem to run across the same people again and again.

I am typing this as I sit in the laundry at Fernandina waiting for the clothes to dry. Terri is off to the super market. We have pick up a mooring here and have decided on a lay day, staying two nights to rest, re-provision and relax. We will get off tomorrow and make a dent in Georgia intending on stopping off in Savanna for a visit since we missed it on the way down. The warm weather is holding so we want to get as far north as possible.

2008-03-31T16:25:00.000-07:00

Well we’re on the move again. We apologize to those of you who might have been waiting for more frequent reports, but we were busy having fun. We left Boot Key Harbor with strong winds out of the south east, initially going west so that we could go through Moser Channel and get to the Florida Bay side of the Key where we hoped the ride on the lee side of the Key would afford us a smoother ride. NOAA had told us we were in store for winds in the range of 15 to 20 knots, well boy did they get that wrong. It was blowing a steady 25 with gust to 32, but the old girl was able to handle it, thank you Sparkman & Stevens (designers of the venerable T34C). Once we got into the lee of the keys the waves settled down and we were able to raise a little sail. While it was a rough trip we made good time and had a right nice sail. We spent the night off of Islalamorada in the Cowpens anchorage (N24 59.1290 W080 33.7250). By this time the winds had settled to 10 to 15 and we had a peaceful sleep rocking to the winds. Our next jump was to a small key just south of Miami call Boca Chita (see the pictures attached) (N25 31.4489 W080 10.5079). This little key was the province of the bloke that started The Honeywell Company back in the 30s. He built a bunch of stone buildings out of coral there as a retreat, including the light house you see to the right. He also built a nice little protected harbor where you see Aeolus moored. Currently it is part of the National Park that is Biscayne Bay. The only down side was that the bugs were fierce, Moseys and no-see-ums. If you went out at dusk, you gave blood but not to the American Red Cross. From here we had an uneventful sail up Biscayne Bay to Miami this motored up the ICW to Hollywood, Florida where my brother lives. Here we stayed for two nights on the hook, visiting and provisioning. We got hassled here for the first time in our trip. Apparently Hollywood has an ordinance against overnight anchoring and someone complained. So the police boat came up and told us, very politely that we could not anchor here overnight. We did not press it but we knew that such ordinances have been rule against by the Florida Supreme court. They can not regulate boats in transit (such as us) but can so called live aboards.

Our next jump took us off shore and along the Florida coast from Fort Lauderdale to the Lake Worth/Palm Beach inlet, about a 40 mile jaunt. For the first time we trailed a fishing line and sure enough we hooked something. A Chinese fire drill ensued in and attempt to slow the boat and pull in the dinghy which was trailing behind. As I reeled the fish closer to the boat we realized that we had hooked a Mai-Mai due to its shimmering turquoise color. We had visions of a great dinner that night, but the fish had other ideas when it made a bee-line for the dinghy where it cut the line on the transom. Fish one, Aeolus, zero, dinner it was not to be. I rigged another lure in hopes that we would could even the score. We did pass right by a fish roil where some small tunas were feasting on some small fish, but none were fooled by the green day-glow lure we were trailing.

We made the Lake Worth inlet around 3:00 and proceeded to motor in when the diesel began to run rough. Being low on fuel I expected that perhaps we were either sucking air into the fuel lines or crud which was blocking the filter due to the washing machine water at the entrance. We idled back the engine and came in under sail, limping our way into an anchorage just south of the inlet where the motor just died so we just dropped the anchor (N26 45.4440 W080 02.6379). My first thoughts were to get more fuel in the tank so that we could be sure that we were not sucking air or crud, but by the time I got the dinghy motor on and got to the closes marina, it was closed. I went back the next morning and got 5 gallons of fuel, dumped it into the tank and proceeded to bleed any air out of the system. This is where the gremlin appeared. As I was expunging the air from the fuel filter I noticed what appeared to be a drip of diesel fuel from its bottom. Reaching down under I felt what appeared to be a plug on the bottom so I though it must be loose. When I grabbed it and turned it with my fingers it broke off completely allowing a steady stream of diesel fuel into the bilge. I did my best impression of the Dutch boy and the dike while Terri got me a container to catch the flow of fuel. We caught about a quart of fuel which emptied the filter whereupon we removed the filter to asses the damage. Apparently the head of the nylon bolt that they used to plug a hole in the bottom of the filter had sheared off so for the next 5 hours I spend in Palm Beach trying to find a replacement, which I finally did. By this time the wind was blowing 20 -25 out on the anchorage and I have to ride the dinghy straight into it for about 2 miles. Talk about a bucking bronco thank god I had a 5 horse engine to push me along.

The replacement plug stemmed the leak and after we bled the air out of the system the Yanmar was running like a top. I speculated that the problems we had at the inlet were related to this broken plug, allowing the engine to suck in air into the fuel system and finally stopping us. Problem solved, but we stayed another night here because of the heavy winds that were howling out of the north and it was late.

We are currently in Stuart again after an uneventful trip from Palm Beach. We did have one amusing incident. We can up on one of the five draw bridges and announced ourselves to the bridge tender “PGA bridge, PGA bridge, PGA bridge this is the northbound sailing vessel Aeolus standing by for your 11:30 opening”. PGA bridge back to us “roger that, the bridge will open in 4 minutes”. About three minutes later the PGA bridge response to us “Aeolus I don’t see you”, us to PGA “we’re right in front of your bridge next to the Idle speed sign”, PGA bridge to us, “I still do not see you”. AT this point the Parker Bridge tender breaks in and says “I believe you are waiting in front of the Parker Bridge.” I looked up at the sign on the bridge and so we were, the next bridge up the line was the PGA Bridge. Slightly embarrassed we went through the Parker Bridge and motored up one mile to the PGA Bridge.

another day in paradise

2008-03-25T16:15:00.000-07:00

When last we left you dear reader, we were eating fresh fish caught with our own hands. The adventure continues here in Marathon (Boot Key Harbor). I have been some what delinquent in my postings on the blog because we are doing so much that I can’t easily find the time. Bob M from Takoma Park (home) came for a visit and we did some sailing and more fishing. A side trip to Bahia Honda was a beautiful sail down the Hawk Channel which runs along the reef on the ocean side of the Keys. Going down (west) we had the wind on our stern quarter blowing about 15-20. We were able to tuck in behind the key to get out of the wind for the night, but the swell from the ocean still curved around and bounced us a bit. We fished for a while and caught dinner. Don’t know what the fish were except good. The next day we had a great sail back to Boot Key Harbor. After a tack off shore to gain some room, we sailed slightly off the wind all the way back.

Later in the week, Terri and I, with Lenny from Dreamer, went out to Sombrero reef to do some diving. Florida has set up diving sanctuaries all along the keys. In these sanctuaries there are mooring balls that one can tie up to and snorkel in any where from 2 to 20 feet of water. It was spectacular to see the living reef with hundreds of small fish around and the various bottom life that abounds. The water is soooo clear. Even Terri braved the “cold” to take a peek, but cold by our northern definition it is not. If any of you have been in the water north of Cape Cod, that is COLD.

Right now we are sitting on the boat being held hostage by the wind. A cold front moved through last night and the wind is blowing 20-25 with higher gusts. While this is not a problem in this protected harbor, we will get wet on the dingy ride to shore if we choose to make the trip, so here we sit reading and writing. Life is a series of adjustments. Oh how Zen of me.

Another day and we are back to paradise. Mid 80s nights cool to sleep by, what more could we ask. We are on cruiser time and tasks. Read a bit, maintenance on the boat, meets with friends, trips to Key West, etc. Our thoughts are now turning toward the return trip home. We have come as far south as we are going to do and now it’s head north and try to keep just below the cold weather. We expect to be back in mid May so that we can attend Pete’s graduation from Bridgewater. But again, to recite the cruiser’s mantra, no schedules are carved in stone but judged rather by wind and weather, so at best we will get close enough to fly home to Pete’s graduation temporarily leaving the boat behind.

The Keys at last

2008-02-27T11:43:00.000-08:00

It’s bye-bye Miami and hello Marathon/Boot Key Harbor, but I’m getting ahead of myself. It finally quieted down at the Star Island anchorage (N25 46.6120 W080 09.2449) and we got some sleep. We were tired of civilization and wanted to get to the Keys so we got up at dawn and started out. Down through Biscayne Bay, a huge expanse of water some 20 miles long and a little less than 8 miles wide with water around 8-10 feet deep punctuated by occasional reefs some exposed and other just under the surface. On occasion one must pass through these reefs, but the passages are well marked and present no serious problem although it could get exciting if the visibility were to be compromised. The marks are rather far apart in some places requiring some dead reckoning work, not hard but in need of paying attention. This first day we got around ½ the distance to Boot Key, our ultimate destination. We were helped by winds first on the beam then from off the stern quarter, which we took advantage of by rolling out the head sail and catching some wind. This got us to Sunset Cove in Buttonwood sound (N25 05.7060 W080 27.0119) where we nosed our way to the shore and anchored in about 5 feet of water. It was somewhat un-nerving to see the bottom so clearly, but this was an advantage since we could pick a spot where there was no sea grass to drop the anchor.

We spent a quite night here and since the weather forecast predicted the wind from the same direction and with the same intensity we got out of bed early again to try to make the other half of the trip. Again we weaved through sounds and over bars in this skinny water, never over 10 feet deep even though shore was at least a mile away. For the last eight miles we were able to cross over from the bay side of the Keys (north) to the ocean side (south) by going under one of the few 65 ft high bridges (channel 5 bridge) and raise both the jib and the mainsail, actually sailing something we have not done since North Carolina. Yes we have done a lot of motor sailing (for the non sailors this is sailing with the motor on—duh), but this time the diesel was silent. We managed to sail to just a mile off the Boot Key Harbor entrance when the wind die. It was a perfect sail for the Tartan, wind off the beam, blowing at 10-15 knots for three quarters of the trip then it came from the stern quarter. We entered Boot Key Harbor via Sister Creek and to our good fortune they had one mooring left out of the 250 they have there. It is a very popular harbor. The mooring fee includes a weekly pump-out, trash removal, dinghy docking and all the showers you can take. The people here are extraordinarily friendly. the one short-coming is that the internet is not free. Every morning at 9:00am there is a harbor net that meets on channel 68 to welcome new arrivals, good bye to departing boats, announcements, trivia questions, buy, sell, trade and any one needing help. At the end of the day as the sun sinks in the west many of the boats blow conch horns to say good bye to the sun. Every Wednesday there is a meet and greet on the shore where people bring a appetizer to share and chew the fat with other cruisers. We will make Boot Key/Marathon our home base for about a month before we turn around and head back north.

20 Feb

We rented a car and drove down to Key West to do the tourist thing and also meet up with some old friends from our days in Hoboken/Jersey City. Jane G and her partner Terry W have a house down there and were to be visited by Gene, the Singing Plumber, who still lives in Hoboken. Terry was a drummer in a band that Terri and I use to dance to in our BK days and Gene was a singer/song writer in another band that we trip the lights to. He wrote such memorable songs as “A Six Pack and You.” Terry was to play a gig at a local spot and we are hoping that Gene would do a sit in and by god he did playing among other things “A Six Pack and You.” It was great fun to get up and dance to this song once again after 20 some odd years.

We did some other tourist things, bought some trinkets and had a beer at the southern most brew pub in the US, Kelley’s. A good trip except for the late night drive back to the boat.

23 Feb

Went for an off shore fishing trip today sailing off the reef into the deep water (150 feet) to hunt for some big fish like Miahi or tuna. It is really impressive to see the water color change from a turquoise on the reef to a deep blue almost instantly as we fell off the reef into the deep water. From a distance you can see a distinct line where the color changes. We saw numerous Portuguese man-o-wars and one very large sea turtle, but no fish deigned to bite at our lures so we went home hungry except for the beauty of nature that we witnessed.

25 Feb

Another day in paradise. Have I told you that a tee shirt and shorts are too much clothes?? Days are in the 80s and the nights cool off to a comfortable 70s. Today we went fishing again with Lenny from the boat Dreamer and Verne from Chicqui. Verne is the experienced fisherperson here. We anchored next to seven mile bridge (which is just short of seven miles) and put a net bag of ground up menhaden over the side. Within minutes there was a swarm (what is it with fish? Herd? Gaggle? Group???) of fish around the chum. Then we tossed in the baited hooks and hauled them in. Well it was not quite as simple as that. They were masters of escape and bait stealing, but we did get enough for a fish fried for 4. We still do not know what kind of fish they were, but they sure tasted good---yumm! All the “experts” though that they were some kind of snapper or croaker for sure. They were fighters as well, one broke my brand new pole.

Along with the herd of fish we got some uninvited visitors as well. Two very large sharks, one at least six feet long and the other slightly smaller. They manager to pluck a few hooked fish off the line (perhaps they were responsible for the broken pole), but they did let us have our share, after all we bought the chum. We also saw a group/herd/gang of Leopard Rays, some as big as a table top.

We brought the fish back and Rose, of Chicqui, oven fried them and we ate them with a salad and cheese grits (so called Georgia ice cream) along with a good Pinot Grigio. It’s a tough life but someone has to do it. Thus ended the great day of fishing, but I need to now buy a new pole.

2008-02-18T13:23:00.000-08:00

11 Feb

We are on the move again. I am done with the docs and we’re heading for the keys. Our first stop will be Lake Worth about 35 miles down the way. Our plan is to jump out into the ocean at the Lake Worth Inlet and run the coast until we get to the Port Everglades inlet (AKA Fort Lauderdale) an approximately 50 mile run. We do this to avoid the twenty draw bridges in that stretch of the Waterway. Each bridge has its own opening schedule so it is a nightmare for a slow moving boat like a sailboat.

13 Feb

Well we got to Lake Worth and spent a rough night here with winds out of the south which is the direction that LW opens to. We took off real early because we had a change of plans, since the weather refused to cooperate. Winds were to come out of the south at 20 kts with showers and T storms so the ocean route would have been rather unpleasant to say the least. SO----- it’s 20 bridges. With the GPS positions of each and that wonderful box they call a GPS we were able to regulate our speed up or down such that we would limit our waits at each bridge, but wait at many of them we did. All the time we were buffeted by southbound motor yachts being delivered to Miami for the upcoming Boat show. They were in a hurry and showed no mercy. It was particularly intense is a 30 mile stretch called the canyon where the waterway banks have been replaced with bulkheads so the wakes bounce back and forth creating a maelstrom. Hang on for your life my dear. This was in addition to the strong southerly winds we were plowing into. Then to top it all off we were subjected later in the day to intense squalls with driving rain and 35 kt winds. We were fortunate to be in the canals at this point because you could not see ahead and the only reference points were the canal sides—just stay equidistant between them. Our original plan was to anchor out in a place called Lake Santa Barbara but Terri convinced me of my folly and we booked a slip in the Sands Marina. In retrospect we probably should have stayed put in Lake Worth or even Stuart but……. Hind sight is always 20/20.

Now the Marina is another story. They had only one slip available and it was on the outside and entry would require moving perpendicular to the wind and current both of which were going in the same direction. Needless to say the first attempt nearly resulted in an insurance claim, which was averted by millimeters. We redeemed our pride somewhat on the second attempt with the help of the dockmaster and a guy off one of the potential insurance claims. We did however come up against the pilings which were covered with oysters in the shell. We managed to get some scratches in the paint (note to self---talk to Bob L about painting the hull). We did finally get fenders and a fender board to hold us off the pilings and oysters. Our next hurdle was to get a 5’ 2’ crew member (T) from the boat up and on to the 5 foot dock---it was dead low tide and the docks were of the fixed variety. No ladder.

That night we were thankful to be at a dock because the winds and rain was intense. I think both Terri and I slept more soundly. The next morning the forecast was more of same so we anted up for another night tied to the dock even though I was greeted with a beautiful rainbow when I woke up the dark clouds behind it portended of something less so.

15 Feb

We left the Sands marina and went to Hollywood, Fl where we connected up with my younger brother for dinner and talk. I haven’t seen him since his 60^th birthday party some years ago. Good reunion. Then we were off for the long delayed trip to the keys, but first we had to negotiate the 4 or 5 bridges that we between us and Miami. We were not so lucky this time and we ended up waiting a great deal at each bridge, but get to Miami we did and anchored off of Miami Beach to do some heavy duty provisioning at a waterside grocery store. Very convenient. We made a tactical error by anchoring off an island called Star Island. Little did we know that it was this home port for some big name stars (Gloria Estafan, I think, for one) and the tour boats came by at regular intervals to show the tourists the homes of the stars (get a life people). Each time one can by we were rockin and rollin.

2008-02-02T12:25:00.001-08:00

We’re finally out of Vero and moved south to Stuart. The city of Stuart operates a mooring field about 7 miles up the St Lucie River. For $10 a day they give you a mooring, pumpouts and WiFi. The anchorage is more open than Vero and it is aligned in a north/south orientation so I expect when the northerns blow through it will be a bit rougher than Vero. We will wait until the next one comes through to pass judgment. We are fairly close to all our needs, grocery etc, so this is a good location to hold over while we wait for my next needle in the back.

The scuttlebutt around here is that this facility is closing down for a year while a private consortium develops it into a mega marina. I hope it does not destroy this very affordable facility.

1 February 2008

The weather so far has been delightful. Warm during the days and cool at night with winds out of the southeast at 5-10 kts. I finally got to install the float switch in the holding tank so we won’t have any more overflows. When the light goes on it’s time to get a pumpout. I had to install the switch from the inside and let me tell you it is NOT pleasant to be up to your elbow in your holding tank. We did flush it out as best as we could before I started, but……

On the pleasanter side, I also got our new radio installed so than now we can both listen to the iPod instead of just one through the headphones. In addition, the new unit hardly registers on the amp meter, while the old Sony unit consumed over an amp. When you live off the grid and have to generate your own electricity you begin to appreciate those electronics that are low consumers. Power is a problem since our only means o top off the batteries is to run the diesel and all that I read says that it is a killer to run a diesel without a load on it, like in neutral. This is not a problem when we move every day, but when we sit for a long spell, like we are doing now, we really draw down the batteries. Most boats we see along the waterway either have solar panels, a wind generator or both. A few even have small gas powered generators. The big electric consumer is refrigeration, which of course we do not have (we buy a lot of ice). Our biggest power hog is the computer when we use it for long periods (battery only lasts about one hour) to watch a DVD and run it on the inverter. The inverter pulls about 5 amps. The incandescent lamps are power hungry as well, drawing around an amp. Here we have used LED as much as possible, but the light intensity is a bit less. Now to put this all in perspective, we have only about 90 amps of power available to us from our fully charged batteries before we need to charge them back to 100 percent.

The pictures attached to this entry are of the Southpointe Anchorage at Stuart.

2008-01-28T13:13:00.001-08:00

Well we are stuck in Vero Beach. Our original intent was to leave here for Stuart, which is about 40 miles south of here. It is here that I will be visiting a doc for relief from my back problems. But, apparently the mooring field down there operates on a first come first serve basis and there are no open moorings. It seems that there are a lot of boats waiting for a weather window to make the jump to the Bahamas. We have had a steady stream of northers that pass through the region. Northers are strong north winds that when they oppose the northbound gulf stream, build up big waves. As such, the prudent mariner does not leave for the Bahamas until the north wind have subsided for at least 24 hours and the winds will be coming out of the south for at least two days. So, there is a log-jam of boats on the Florida coast waiting. Last night we had north winds blowing at 25-30 MPH, but Vero is a very protected harbor with little fetch so the wind does not make for heavy chop in the harbor. I am attaching several pictures of Vero and its harbor. It bills itself as the gateway to the tropics.
Our stay here is sweetened by the presence of some dear friends who we have met along the way. They are veteran cruisers who have been to the Bahamas 5 times in a 26 foot water ballasted Macgregor sail boat and are currently on a 32 foot Gemini Catamaran. Talk about a quantum leap in comfort. We have had many a great night over food and wine (tequila, scotch, bourbon……) with them. They too are waiting for an appropriate window for the Bahamas and will be off when it comes.
25 Jan 2008
I finally got the treatment for my pinched nerve, which was NOT pleasant let me be the first to tell you. I got an Epidural (like in spine) injection of steroid. Well when to Doc stuck the needle into my back it felt like he stuck my toe in the light socket----Zap. I gotta go back in two weeks for the second shot and I’m not looking forward to it, but I am hopeful it will help my back.
26 Jan 08
RELIEF --Boy the miracle of modern chemistry. I am feeling better than I have felt in months, no back or leg pain. Since I will need to go for a second injection in two weeks we will leave Vero Beach and hang around Stuart for a while. Vero is nice, but our feet are getting itchy so it’s time to move on and see some more of Florida and get closer to the Keys.

2008-01-13T11:26:00.001-08:00

Well we’re back in warm Florida after several weeks in Maryland visiting with friends and California visiting with Terri’s mom, brother, sister-in-law and niece. I did have to resort to wearing long pants for a brief time, but I’m back in shorts once again. We are situated for a few days in a marina where the boat lived while we were on our holiday excursion. We’re hunkered down here for a while because I (Neal) have been diagnosed with a herniated disc which is pinching a nerve causing great discomfort. Terri has dragged me off to a chiropractor and an acupuncturist for voodoo medicine, which I am reluctant to say is doing some good. I guess the folks at NCCAM (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine) must be on to something. The marina where we stored the boat for our holiday trips is quite a trip in it self. Populated by boats that haven’t moved in years, holding local live aboards. Talk about “stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again”.

Well, we are outta there and ensconced in Vero Beach (N27 39.6249 W080 22.2909), some times call “Velcro beach” for its propensity to hold cruisers here. The city provide a free, that is in no cost, bus service that will haul you around to the movies, food stores, west marine, local malls, the beautiful beach is a short walk away, the list goes on and on. The harbor is a well protected mooring field costing $10 plus tax a day so it is not a bank breaker and the weather is warm (shorts and tee shirts). We will stay the week while Terri conducts some business here then we will move on to Stuart where I hope to get treatment for my pinched nerve.

Life is good here in the cruising world. We are back on our cruising schedule, to bed by 9 and up at dawn, living with the cycles of nature. My old college buddy who retired before me use to tell me that this retirement business was tough, but someone has to do it. We’re doing it Bob.

The pictures are of us and friends at the St. Mary's Thankgiving festivities.

2007-12-13T06:26:00.000-08:00

When last we left you we were waiting for the shuttle launch in Titusville. Well they scrubbed the launch 3 days in a row and finally scrubbed it until early January. Boy did we have ring side seats. We were about 5 miles from the launch pad which we could clearly see because there was nothing between us and the pad except for water and some low scrub. I expect that we would have been able to feel the heat from the engines. But alas it did not happen. We are now located in the marina where we will store the boat for the Christmas holidays, coming back in early January to resume our trek south to the Keys. I am NOT looking forward to leaving this T-shirt weather for the cold of Maryland, I may have to break my goal to stay in shorts for a whole year. So far I have managed to keep this goal, but………

So long for now, see you back in January.

2007-12-07T07:54:00.000-08:00

Well we’ve left St Marys and went only about 3 miles to Cumberland Island National Park on, well of course, Cumberland Island. It was formerly the playground of one of the lesser Carnagies, Andrew I believe. At present the island is largely deeded to the feds as a national seashore and a refuge for wild horses. It is quite beautiful and full of wildlife, turkeys, armadillos and other birds of various types. There are camping site that you can use that a close to the beaches. The beaches are pristine and isolated.
We left there and finally got into Florida, Fernandina Beach (N30 41.1839 W081 27.6649) to be exact, where we picked up a mooring. On the trip in from the mooring the outboard quit just as we were about to get to the dinghy dock and refused to start. The symptoms suggested a clogged main jet, because it would run at an idle, but not when to put it under load. I got a tow back to the mothership and field stripped the carb to find what looked like pepper in the bowel and a completely clogged main jet (being a motorcycle mechanic for several years was certainly an asset). We must have picked up some bad gas somewhere. I added an inline filter to be sure that the problem did not re-occur. This killed most of our day there so we stayed another. On the second night we were assaulted by our mooring ball at about 2 in the morning. The wind was against the tide so we rode up on the ball, which kept banging on the hull until the tide changed. Tidal currents are a very common occurance on the ICW, especially in Georgia and northern Florida. You learn to live with them. Needless to say we got and early start the next morning and traveled all the way to St. Augustine, Fla (N29 53.7750 W081 18.5800).
St. Augustine was a great city to visit, both beautiful and historic. Touted as the oldest city in the nation, first settled by the Spanish to guard their ships that were robbing the new world of its riches, it has a great deal of charm. The old buildings are well preserved and of a style us northeasterners are not accustom to. The local college, Flagler College, is housed in part in an old hotel that you gotta see. It was originally built by Henry Flagler the chap that built the railroad from north to south Florida, including the keys. It was an elegant hotel for the rich and famous. While we were there we visited the old fort that was put there by the Spanish. They were daily firing a cannon out over the harbor where we were anchored, a bit unnerving but they said they leave out the projectiles. December 1 was what they call the Illumination, which dates back to the British rule of St Aug. All these re-enactors, dressed in clothes of the era, parade through town while a pipes and drum corps plays the black watch and other classic pipe tunes. It was impressive. They finally ended up in the at the old governor’s mansion to sing Christmas carols.
We left St Aug after about three days to head for Titusville to watch the launch of the space shuttle on Dec 6th. We had and intermediate stopover in Daytona (N29 13.7669 W081 01.2410 ), just to anchor for the night then proceeded on to Titusville (N28 37.6640 W080 48.4970), where we await the launch. WE have ringside seats (on the boat). There is nothing between us and the launch pad but water and scrub, it should be spectacular and we can’t wait. After the shuttle launch we will head down to Melborne to store the boat for a couple of weeks while we head back to Takoma Park, then Long Beach Ca for the holidays. We will get back to the boat after New Years, then it’s the Keys or Bust. While the weather is quite balmy here (T-shirt weather) it still gets brisk in the evenings.
The aerial shot is of St Marys Harbor during the thanksgiving feast.

We're back

2007-11-27T10:57:00.000-08:00

Well we’ve not posted anything on the blog in a while because we had computer problems. We think a cheap-ass 12 volt power supply converted fried the computer battery charger, which resulted in us both not being able to charge the computer battery and not being able to run on 120 volts. Thus, when the battery ran out we had no more computer. so we had to buy a new computer on which I am typing now. So let me start where I left off and catch you up.
We left Charleston, SC headed for Beaufort, SC. On the way we encountered I single hander we had met early on in the trip and hung around with in Charleston. He was hard aground against a shoal held by the outgoing tide. The tidal flows in this neck of the woods is wicked. The tides them selves are 6 to 8 feet and the flows can be up to 2 kts. Any way he was a goner until the tide turned. We anchored in the deep water and gave him a hand along with a dose of moral support. He had called TowBoatsUS but got a call back from them that they would be about 3 hours since they themselves had run aground (yes it happens to the best of us). Meanwhile the tide had turned and we were able to kedge him off just about sundown. Kedging is merely setting an anchor out in the deep water and using it to drag yourself to it and hopefully off the shoal. We then all three boats, the two that stopped and the aground boat, anchored down stream a bit (south Edisto River N32 34.5320 W080 23.1820) and Terri made the group a pot of pasta and we had a merry party to celebrate our success. It’s the cruising life where strangers help strangers and are immediately friends. The next morning we finished our trip to Beaufort (N32 25.7979 W080 40.4480), where Terri fell in love with the town. Some beautiful old southern architecture and history. The house where they filmed the generational movie “the big chill” is in Beaufort. We hung around for a bit and celebrated some more with the aground crew. We also met up again with some people we met in New Bern at the Southbound Cruisers Rendevous. It is amazing that you may be traveling alone down the ICW but you run into the same people again and friends are made easily (more about this later).
Our next stop was the Cooper River, which is a beautiful isolated creek in the marshes. Let me digress a bit and tell you about the marshes. Going through what is called the low country in South Carolina and Georgia you are meandering through creeks that cut through the marshes. These marshes are comprised of salt resistant grasses that go on for miles, sometimes to the horizon. Dotted in these marshes are the occasional “island” of higher ground where the trees take over. We hove tried to take pictures of this, but they do not do justice to the beauty of these marshes.
Our next stop was an even more beautiful creek in the marshes called Cattle pen Creek (N31 38.8310 W081 10.8279 ), which we shared with 6 other cruisers, but still when the sun when down it was like we were the only people there.
From here it was on to Fort Frederica (N31 13.1499 W081 23.7039 ), a pre-Revolutionary fort designed to stave off the Spanish, who laid claim to this part of the Americas at the time. We spent the night and were going to visit the fort in the morning, but the dinghy dock could not be approached for 2 hours around low tide. Somebody was not thinking!! Had they extended the dock some 30 feet there would be no problem. Well we didn’t get to see Ft Frederica, so we were off to Brunswick Ga since we are in desperate need of a laundry and REAL showers (for me somewhere where I can actually scrub all over without bonking my elbows). We also needed to buy a new computer, which is vital to our communications, bill paying and money management. Buying a new computer is the easy part, setting it up, getting connectivity, recovering email addresses…..the list goes on. We are slowly getting back to where we were pre computer disaster.
From Brunswick we did a short hop to Jekyl Island (N31 02.3299 W081 25.5009) then on to St Marys Georgia (N30 43.0550 W081 32.8719) where we intended on having Thanksgiving dinner with other southbound cruisers. As it turned out there were over 100 boats and about 250 people in attendance. The local town (st Marys) provides the turkeys and ham and the cruisers each bring a pot luck dish. There was stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes of all stripes, pies etc. It was a great experience, because each night there was a happy hour with people breaking out the musical instruments and singing along. We met some wonderful people all of whom were trying to convince Terri to make the jump to the Bahamas.
Well enough for now, got to get moving once again. Tune in again.

2007-11-23T08:31:00.000-08:00

We are finally out of Wrightsville Beach. The wind has abated and now blowing 10-15 from behind us giving the boat a little push with the jib up. Our next stop is the Shallotte River (N33 54.9540 W078 22.2309) where we have a quiet night at anchor. We are off in the morning for Barefoot landing, a mall complex adjacent to the waterway, Terri insists. We have more dirty clothes than clean and are in need of a “real” shower where Neal can turn around without barking his shin on the mast so we take a slip in the marina there (N33 48.1080 W078 44.7720). This is very fortunate because we have the second affair of the head. Terri has been commenting all day that she smells sewerage, but I keep poo-pooing her overly sensitive nose. As it turns out she is correct, because we see a stream of sewerage from our holding tank (that’s where we pump out loo in between having it pumped out) streaming through the main cabin. It turns out that we have overfilled the tank and have blown the cover off along with about a cup of raw sewerage. YUKE Well it’s roll up your sleeves and muck it out. Plenty of bleach, water and soap along with one roll of paper towels does the trick along with 2 hours of hard work. This takes us into the night and we are both so exhausted that I eat a peanut butter sandwich for dinner and for Terri nothing. Note to self, buy a gauge to tell when the holding tank is full. Barefoot landing will go down in the annals as a crappy part of the trip. It is said that cruising is where you fix your boat in exotic places.
We were rewarded by a stay the next night in the beginnings of the Waccama River (N33 40.3410 W079 03.8319), which starts in a cypress swamp. The water is deep up to the banks and you can anchor in very narrow side channels (see picture). It was truly enchanting in there, dark as a coal pit and very still. You almost felt that the creature from the black lagoon would soon rise from the depths. Spooky but enchanting. Our journey the next day continued to Georgetown SC (N33 40.3410 W079 03.8319), which is nothing like Georgetown, DC. An old southern city with rich history and a beautiful downtown if you can ignore the stench from the nearby paper mill and the airborne crap from the steel mill. Needless to say we did not stay for very long, but got on the “road” to Charleston with an overnight stop in Whiteside Creek (N32 52.3090 W079 42.8569).
It was a short trip the next day to Charleston, SC (N32 46.8190 W079 57.5400), an outstandingly beautiful old southern city. Much of the architecture is still pre-civil war. Apparently Charleston was never razed by that union general with the unmentionable name so the buildings survived. Post war (the Yankee aggression one) saw the fortunes of Charleston plummet because of the collapse of the plantation economy (no slaves to run them). As a result they fixed up the old housing stock rather than tear it down and rebuild, which is generally how we work as a nation. Thus some pretty amazing houses now restored to their former glory are to be seen all over the lower historic part of the city.
While here we also took the obligatory trip out to the starting point of the war of Yankee aggression, Fort Sumter. Note to southerners: you fired the first shots. We heard some interesting tidbits, including that the fort was built on a foundation of Yankee granite from Vermont and New Hampshire, the Abner Doubleday of baseball fame was stationed there and for all the shooting no one was killed.

2007-11-06T13:25:00.000-08:00

Some photos

It’s been a long time since we last added stuff to the Log, but WiFi has been scarce as has been time. We are very busy running the boat and have had little time to set pen to paper or rather fingers to keys. Let me tell you of a typical day. The day starts out pre-dawn when the urge to stay in bed is outweighed by the urge to visit the loo, so Neal gets up satisfies the latter and starts coffee water. With coffee in hand I begin to prepare the boat for departure and watch to sun rise, while Terri, thoroughly awake from my banging around rolls out of bed. Up comes the anchor and off we go. Terri, after enjoying her tea starts breakfast, very health full stuff like yogurt with granola and fruit, which we eat in the cockpit as we wander down the ICW taking in the sights (eagles, porposes, pelicans, kingfishers etc) it never gets boring because there is something new around each bend.

Around 11:00 AM we have second breakfast of a piece of fruit and by 1:00PM lunch is served (Terri again). We continue on at this pace until about 4:00 PM and we set down the anchor for the night. It’s now time for a sundowner as we watch to sun set. Terri, and sometimes Neal, start dinner (called supper down in this neck of the woods) and we have a grand feast. Terri has become the master of the two burner alcohol stove, sans oven and has put together some fantastic feeds. We clean up and try to read for a while but by 9:00 PM we are ready for bed mainly because we cannot keep our eyes open to read. There are minor rhythms to this daily routine, start a little later-stop a little earlier. Breaks in this routine occur when we hit a town, then it is chore time and explore time. Sound Boring?? Let me tell you it is not at all.

Now let me tell you where we’ve been. When LAST we left you we were in Spooners Creek. From there we went to Sloop Point (N34 24.4509 W077 35.7259) a site recommended by the Guru of the ICW, Skipper Bob. We joined a fellow cruiser there whom we had met in New Bern and they invited us over for dinner on their 32 Catamaran. They were on their way to the Bahamas for the fourth or fifth (?) time. The first third or fourth time they did it in a 26 foot Macgregor, a boat with no standing head room, even for a vertically challenged person. Moreover it is an extremely light weight boat so it rides rough. It would be comparable to riding Cross County on a moped. These people are tough as well as being delightful.

Next morning we were off, well maybe not that rapidly. It seems we crossed over a narrow sandbar coming into this7-8 foot deep hole. This was at high tide, so the next morning when we tried to get out there was the bar hiding under 3 feet of water (we draw 4). There was no apparent hole through which we could wiggly out so we pressed the keel against the bar and waited for the tide to lift us over. High tide was around noon. We got some friendly advice from passing fisherman who state the obvious “you can’t go in there it’s too shallow” We know we’re aground, say we. “You’ll have to wait for high tide” We know, say we. After being there for about three hours a towBoatUS returning from another job sees us and since he saw us on the way out in the same place realizes that we must be stuck, so over he comes. Need a tow? Sure we say since we bought the unlimited towing insurance from BoatUS. Sign on the dotted line says he. While we are doing the paperwork he asks if we came in here on Skipper Bobs recommendation, yes we add, he-I sure get a bit of business from this recommendation. We learn a lesson, Skipper Bob is NOT infallible. One yank and we are off, had we waited another 15-30 minute we probably would have gotten off by ourselves. On we got to Wrightsville Beach, about 3 hours away.

Wrightsville beach (N34 12.4470 W077 47.8949) is a very crowded harbor and we are expecting a cold front with winds 20-25 kts, but we manage to find a little space for us. We are right behind another T34 called “Ginny Song” but they appear not to be onboard (no dinghy apparent). On the way in we pass Dreamer a Catalina 34 from New York single handed by Lenny who we met back in Elizabeth City. He invites us over for bean and Cheese Burritos, so we have a second party in as many days. During the night the wind picks up and by daylight is is howling down the anchorage, blowing as predicted and then some. We register some 33 kts gusts on the windspeed, so we sit out most of the day onboard reading until late in the afternoon when cabin fever strike and it seems that the winds have settled a bit and Terri needs to shop for some dinner. In the dinghy and off to shore. The wind gods do not approve of this and the wind picks up, crashing into the wave Terri gets a face full of salt water as does her phone. Terri survives but the jury is still out on her phone. We wait another night at Wrightsville for the winds to moderate, which NOAA promises will happen.

Only on incident transpires in this crowded anchorage when a French Canadian 50 foot steel motor sailor drags anchor downwind from us. They work for 3 hours trying to reset and finally give up and head for a marina.

2007-11-05T09:41:00.001-08:00

Well where were we. Last we wrote we were in Oriental (N35 01.3729 W076 41.8809) and after a trip to New Bern we are back in Oriental, but I’m getting ahead of my self. While we were in Elizabeth City we heard about the Southbound Cruisers Rendezvous that was to be held in New Bern, so we decided to go. Turns out there were somewhere in the vicinity of 90 boats and more people coming by car. It was a great networking opportunity with seminars on various cruising topics. We ended up spending 3 nights there (N35 06.0289 W077 02.6629). Found a wonderful old time hardware store that had about anything you wanted of a hardware store nature. We also ate one night at the local Episcopal Church’s chili supper and went to a coffeehouse right out of the 60s, where we were treated to a concert by Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen, folkies right out of the sixties.

The trip to New Bern was a great sail for the Tartan cuzz she loves a beam reach (wind coming perpendicular to the side of the boat for you non-sailors) and we flew, 7+ knts, for most of the trip up the Neuse River.

We are now back in Oriental to pick up a package, got here Saturday and did our first marina stop. We’re in the marina to affect repairs on the stinking head (toilet to you non-boaters). The idea is to get it so that it doesn’t leak, rebuilt the workings and reposition it so that a 6’1” person (me) can, if you’ll pardon the expression, sit and contemplate. Well those of you who work on old houses and old boats probably know the term “mushroom factor.” This is where you decide just before a dinner party to change a bulb and the project mushrooms into rewiring the whole house. Well we didn’t have to re-plumb the whole boat, but damn near. First to new pump mechanism did not fit the old base so I needed a new base, lucky for me there was a great marine chandlery. Of course there were the frozen nuts to deal with (hacksaw) and the stripped heads of course, but the

head got re-assembled. Now it was time to put it back in place. Now some of you probably do not know how big the head is on Aeolus, but try to imagine installing a toilet in a phone booth, while you’re standing in said phone booth. Can you picture it? You have to get real intimate with the old crapper. When I got it in place I came to the realization that in order to install it in the location that was most comfortable, see above, I needed to relocate the 1.5 inch hose, which entailed drilling a 2 inch hole in the side of the sink cabinet. Hmmmm all my tools are back in Takoma Park. Well, it’s George to the rescue.

Who’s George? Well I’ll have to digress for a moment. While I was sitting in the cockpit at the dock up to my elbows in head parts, cursing and fuming, I hear this soft southern drawl saying he should have recognized our Tartan. It was George Duffie of Oriental, a fellow Tartan 34 owner. We chatted for a while I cleaned up my language vis-a-vis the head. The next morning George came by and invited us to brunch with he and his wife Mary at a delightful little country café followed by a car tour of Oriental, a very lovely town I might add. We could see why lots of people are settling there, especially boaters because the sailing is great and the town very boater friendly.

Back to the hole saw. I realized from talking to George that he was very handy with his hands and would likely have the appropriate tools, so I gave him a call and sure enough he came by with a hole saw and a drill powerful enough, so it took me about 10 seconds to drill the hole. Well now the head was all installed and working properly, except there was a minor leak in the Y valve, yuck the contents of the loo leaking. Thanks to the power of chemistry (epoxy) we made a temporary fix to hold until a replacement part connects with us.

So after 3 days in Oriental we are off again southbound. Spent the night in Spooner’s Creek (N34 43.7830 W076 48.4269), just south of Moorehead City, NC. Here, I got the fright of my life. You see the entrance to Spooners is a narrow (30 feet wide at the most) with a current flowing across it. So when I turned in I slowed down and asked Terri to read off the depth. She started with 5.5, 5, 4.5, 4, 3.5, down and down. Now the Tartan only draws 4 feet, so I’m beginning to panic. I am watching the markers and realizing that I cannot turn a 34 foot boat around in 30 feet of channel so I’m rehearsing what I’m going to say to the towBoatUS guy when Terri announces sorry I was reading the knot meter (speedometer for you non-sailors). Needless to say I needed a beer when I got into the anchorage, incident free. Spooner’s Creek is a small gunk hole with very expensive houses cheek by jowl along the banks, but an accommodating dinghy dock at the head of the creek. It was shore leave for the crew. Terri hit a Wal-Mart to add more “stuff” to the boat such as a 12 volt vacuum, Neal for a WiFi antenna to increase our range. All in all this has been a wonderful trip.

My Turn

2007-10-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

My turn . . .

We got started on October 11^th, sort of. Neal was so excited to get going that – and so not wanting to start out on a Friday (some sailing superstition about voyages never beginning on a Friday) – separately we both came up with the idea to just get going whatever. So I went shopping and he took the boat to our friends’ dock on the Magothy, which meant we were officially underway, for a whopping two hours, but we were underway.

I finished yet one more trip to Bed, Bath & Beyond (if you don’t own stock in that company you really missed a nice dividend this month), did the fresh grocery supply run, and headed back to Takoma to meet up with our friends, George and Ellen, who kindly agreed to bring me back to the boat and then both cars back home. By the time we finally got back to the boat (a Corridor Fine Wine stop being absolutely necessary), unloaded the supplies, and headed out to dinner, the only place left open was a friendly Friendly’s. Whatever . . . we ate, saw G & E off, and fell into the bunk in an exhausted stupor.

Early Friday morning we took off on a cold, wild ride down to the Solomons. I’m sure Neal wrote of the wind and how fast we went down the Bay. I was – when able to actually stay awake – focused on the amazing quality of the water. If you’ve spent much time on the Bay in the summer, you know how green the water is: deep, dark green. But in the crisp fall morning on the run down I was dazzled by the multitude of colors – blues, greens, turquoise – so captivating.

About staying awake, one of the first signs of mal-de-mer is sleepiness and boy was I sleepy all day, just kept nodding off when not fascinated by the water. The ride was much like a rollercoaster, and I was not yet in tune to my inner ear as much as I would have liked. Didn’t get sick, but didn’t feel top notch most of the day. Fortunately, that has all passed.

Back to the water: it kept changing all day and by the time we were pulling into the Solomons late in the day, with the sun low in the sky, it was looking like liquid mica – fool’s gold. We saw an eagle lazily looking for dinner and many, many snow geese. We also saw one of the Navy’s weird looking take off like a helicopter, fly like a regular plane planes, which they call an Osprey. Why, oh why, would they name something as ugly and ungainly looking as that plane after such a beautiful and graceful creature? It should be called the cormorant, a bird with no flight grace whatsoever, but fun to watch dive (a grouping of which is called a gulp*).

Day two was much like the first, sleepingly dazzled by the water and the birds, the wonderful birds, especially the squadrons of pelicans (squadron, perhaps because of the tight formations in which they fly), which, as Neal already said, are not, according to the Audubon Society, supposed to habitat that far north. Now, they are funny looking, but so elegant in flight and hunt! Sailing into the morning sun on the water was like sailing into an incredibly large chrysanthemum fireworks explosion – so bright and with trailing streams of light coming towards us on the waves. I am really getting sappy here but, boy was it beautiful.

We spent two nights in quiet anchorages and arrived on the fourth day at Hampton, VA. Passing through Norfolk we saw lots more pelicans and lots of Navy ships – kinda cool in a old war movie kind of way. Best part of the stay - $1.00 showers. Yes, we can shower in hot water on the boat, but it uses a lot of our little water stores and is best saved for emergencies whenever a land shower is just not available. Like today.

In Hampton, we took it into our heads to hike to a West Marine. It was a long, long hike. I’m sure Neal already wrote about that. I was in serious BB&B withdrawal but with not a store in sight, had to salve my need with a Chez Target. I’m telling you, you should own stock – I have a serious addiction!

We stayed two nights in Hampton (yea! Extra shower) and then headed out for the Dismal Swamp. On the way down, I called into a SAG Council meeting that I’m sure folks were wondering what in the world was going on as we surfed over wake after wake from VLB (very large boats) passing us by. It was very much like being on yet another rollercoaster at some points and, as I was up on the bow of the ship to be as far from the engine as possible so I might actually be able to hear the conference call, the occasional “wheeeeeee” that punctuated the conversation must have sounded just a little strange.

I’ve not read what Neal’s written so if this is repetitious, I apologize. I’m not sure what I was expecting but boy was it cool. Narrow, and fortunately not very buggy, except for the Visitors Center on the VA/NC border where we spent a night and are still fighting the little, tiny bugs that invaded the boat along with something else that really liked Terri meat. Everyone is safe when I’m there for bug food.

Again about the water. The water in most of NC is this dark, dark brown color – it looks the way an Americano at Starbucks looks – slightly watered down espresso. Can you tell I’m easily impressed by new things? Did Neal already mention that the water is colored that way by the tannin from the Cypress trees? Allegedly, the water won’t harm you as evil bacteria can’t live in it, but I wouldn’t want to swim in it or drink it. Beautiful, nonetheless.

Of course, now I’m losing track of time, I don’t remember when or where I found a Curves and got in a workout and I don’t remember how long it took us to get to Elizabeth City and I don’t remember most of the time what day of the week it is anymore. Sigh, my problems are so great :-).

Our time in Elizabeth City was fun and marked by a wonderful homecoming parade for the local university, Elizabeth City State University. The school is an HBC and the marching band was just superb, as were the many high school bands and other marching groups in the line. I mean they really take their homecoming seriously. There were floats for, I think, all of the educational departments with, seemingly, all of the faculty riding on them. It is so wonderful to be a part of such a proud moment in this little town.

We met some new friends and learned of a gathering of southbound cruisers would meet in New Bern, NC. Stopping first in Bellhaven and then in Oriental, we are now hanging out in New Bern with a great bunch of people, sitting in on seminars, and getting a lot of new information about our future destinations. What a bunch of really neat little towns, anyone of which would make a lovely retirement settlement – that being what they mostly are anyway.

In the harbor, a covert of coots is milling about.

Downside, it’s been more than a day or so since my last shower, we’re at anchor and low on water, and though we planned to leave today to go back to Oriental to pick up a package, it’s pouring down rain and we are stuck here till, probably Sunday. Oh, well. Neal is gallantly humping the 5 gallon water container to and from the dock to the boat so I can have a shower today. He’s so good to me.

*Grouping names of birds taken from Names for groups of animals@Everything2.com

2007-10-24T07:16:00.001-07:00

Saturday, 20 October

We pulled up stakes and left Hampton behind on Tuesday and motored past the naval might of this nation, at least that part which was in port at the time. Norfolk is loaded with the US navy. We cut a corner to get to a marina for fuel, got a little close to one of uncle sams boats and out came a couple of sailors in an inflatable to let us know that we were NOT to get any closer. ARMED TO THE TEETH I AM SURE THEY WERE. One false move and I’m sure they would have blown us out of the water. We got to the lock at the beginning of the Dismal swamp canal to late to be locked through so we anchored in front of it to wait for the morning lock through and by nightfall there were about eight boats waiting with us (N36 44.8670 W076 20.2819). When the morning lock through came we had 14 boats in all being raised about 10 feet to the level of the canal. The canal it self is beautiful. About 40-50 feet wide and about 8-9 feet deep, it runs pretty straight for about 25 miles.

An interesting historical fact relates to the slave labor digging the canal as I mentioned before. During the digging the slaves learned the Dismal Swamp like the back of their hands and later this knowledge was put to use as a stop on the underground railway for run away slaves. Talk about your unintended consequences.

We stayed overnight in the canal, docked at the visitors center (N36 29.9640 W076 21.1510) then took off in the AM to catch the 9:00 am lock out and move on to Elizabeth City, NC. We locked out with only one other boat, but sat in the lock for at least 30 minute all the time with the engine running. The lockmaster was a displaced Chicagoan and very talkative. Along with us in the lock, beside the boat was a carpet of duck weed a sort of miniature lily pad plant about the size of a typed o. Well the cooling water intake sucked tons of duckweed up and just as we left the lock the flow of engine cooling water stopped. We stopped the engine and drifted while I cleaned out the raw water filter, which was stuffed with a baseball size glob of duckweed. We later learned in Elizabeth City that many boats had a similar problem with more dire consequences, burned out exhaust systems, burned out pump impellors etc. We were lucky.

On the Elizabeth City (N36 17.9999 W076 13.0469). When we got there we learned of the passing of an icon, a man called Fred Fearing. You see about 25 years ago he and a pal were coming out of church one Sunday and saw all the southbound cruising boat docked at the city docks so he and his buddy decide to greet all the ladies aboard with a rose. They repeated this every day during the southbound cruising season and soon added a reception of wine and cheese. So he has been doing this for the last 25 years until now. We stayed in EC for two days doing “chores, VIZ. groceries, laundry etc, then headed out across Albemarle Sound for the Alligator river, some 50 miles away. Well let me tell you that this is probably one of the most isolated places on the east coast (N35 40.5809 W076 04.3709). Nothing but bears, wolves and a few anchored out cruisers. The cell phones showed NO bars, nada, none. No shore lights, no loom of “city lights”, it is DARK, but it is beautiful. The sunset was spectacular as you should see if I figure out how to add pictures to this log.

On the AM it was on to the lovely, but dead town of Belhaven (N35 31.8770 W076 37.3). Lots of vacant storefronts, but many beautiful houses. There is a new condominium going up on the waterfront units selling for 200 thou, with a dock included.

24 October 2007

We are in Oriental NC after a hard slog to windward against a 20 knt wind. Go here wet and tired.

On our way

2007-10-16T18:57:00.000-07:00

The odyssey has begun. We threw off the dock lines late on Thursday Oct 11 and headed out on the trip south. Well we only got as far as the Magothy River some 5 miles from the dock, but jeez it was a start. We set off in earnest the next day and headed for the Patuxant River and the Solomons some 35 miles south. What a ride it was with a small craft advisory out and winds at our back at a steady 18-20 knots and gusting to over 30 kts we have a classic Nantucket Sleigh ride although I think the origins of the term refers to being pulled behind a harpooned whale in a small dory. “Hal” the autopilot could not handle the yawing so the captain had to man the helm the whole trip, who says we will be replaced by machines. After we got into the Solomons the wind settle down and we had a wonderful night’s sleep, early to bed at 9:30 and cool enough to bundle up in the blankets. To track our stops I will put in the GPS coordinates for each stop over in parentheses so that the ambitious and curious among you can plot them in Google earth. First stop ( N38 20.2379 W076 27.6159).

We were up at 7:00 AM and out on the water by 8:00 AM heading for Reedville. All the wind we had yesterday has now dissipated and we are under diesel power.

Well the best laid plans…. We never made Reedville but ran out of time and stopped at a little creek call Dymer Creek (N37 40.2279 W076 20.1910). Searching around for a place to set the hook we motored pass a fellow traveler between him and the shore (about sixty feet off his beam) and promptly ran aground, probably this will not be the last time. We were going slowly so it was an easy off. Dymer has some very big houses on shore undoubtedly a lot on money here. Tomorrow on to Norfolk.

Well we didn’t make Norfolk. Hey this is a vacation trip not a forced march. We’re in a small creek off the Poquoson River (N37 11.0759 W076 25.3449). I’m sitting here typing this log listening to the Bob Dylan Hour on Sirius Radio, Terri is whipping up a gourmet meal and lowing about the beautiful sunset she sees out the hatch. Life is good.

We‘ve been seeing some interesting some interesting sights along the way for the last few days. The marines were practicing takeoffs and landings with their Osprey plane that converts from a fixed wing to a helicopter. According to the news they are to be deployed in Iraq. Coming into the Solomons we saw another kind of bird, a soaring eagle searching for dinner. And Pelicans, dozens of Pelicans catching chow by plunging into the drink. According to Terri’s bird book their range only extends to North Carolina…..Global Warming???

Well we got in to Hampton Va (N37 01.4200 W076 20.4429) after an early start from the Poquoson. We will have a lay day here to provision and do laundry and a REAL shower. Nice town, free WiFi in the harbor. On Wednesday we start the actual ICW, the generally accepted start is in Norfolk. It is from here that all the mileage to Key West is calculated. After passing through Norfolk, we will turn down the Dismal Swamp Canal, which I am told was conceptualized by our first President.

A little history about the ICW. In the early 1800s, the government leased land to private businesses to cut canals between various bays, rivers and sounds to create an inshore waterway to move goods. Of course these businesses were allowed to charge a toll for this service. Another note, these canals were dug mostly with slave labor. Well needless to say the business model was not sound and they lost money and the canals languished until the Thirties when we were beginning to worry about the German subs offshore. Congress took back the leases from the original canal diggers and turned the system over to the army corps of engineers, who to this day maintain the canal system, when ever Congress gives them the money. So you see even back then the government was keen on outsourcing.

getting ready to go

2007-09-17T06:23:00.000-07:00

There is a song originally written by Cat Stevens and more recently performed by Rod steward and Cheryl Crow called the “The First Cut Is the Deepest.” If I have permission I will paraphrase the song with the line “The First Step Is the biggest.” Terri and I have taken the first step, throwing off the shackles of work, but before we step on board and throw off the lines we need to get ready for life on board. So our second step is to ready the boat for the trip.

There are a number of things that need doing to make life a little easier on 34 feet of boat, especially when it will be our home for nearly nine months. The list includes boosting the insulation of the ice locker so that we won’t need to lug ice as frequently. Next, and probably highest on Terri’s list is to equip Aeolus with hot running water and a shower in the head (nautical for bathroom). She maintains she is too old to stand semi naked on deck under a solar shower washing up as we have done in the past. So hot running water it is my love. For me, a foredeck sea water washdown pump to clean up the anchor chain, anchor and foredeck each time we bring up the hook. A messy job that is tolerable without one, for periodic weekend trips, but for day to day cruising a must (for me at least). Other projects will have to wait ….

Our date to throw off the dock lines is some time after the first weekend in October. We will wait for a favorable weather window (winds with no southerly component) for the race down the Chesapeake to get to the generally accepted start of the ICW, Norfolk. Until then it’s work on little things and stack the boat.