St. Augustine Friday thru Thursday

The only sun we saw Friday (sunrise) told it all..."red sky at morning..."  We left before Bella and had rain all day.
The only bright spot was this gaggle of white pelicans.

Brunelle settled in nicely at Camachee Cove for her holiday sojourn.

I know I left you hanging... would we make it all the way to St. Augustine Friday or not.  We did. We pulled into Camachee Cove Marina at 1705 and were barely tied up when Jay arrived to whisk us off to 12 O (as we fondly refer to Jay and Pegg's house) for dinner and the night.   We settled in and spent the night upstairs over Jay's shop.

Robby and Carol were due on Saturday and succeeded in making it to their marina by 1000.  They joined us at 12 O for dinner after settling in and beginning the process of getting Bella ready for her seven week stay in St. Augustine.  We helped with the process by placing two snakes, one inflatable and one rubber, on their covers.

Life at 12 O has been enlivened by two new members of the family, Lula and Liam.  The term "beyond precious" gets used A LOT!  They play hard and sleep hard.

To celebrate our arrival, Pegg and Jay put on an amazing TUNA party Sunday night.

A friend had returned from a California fishing trip with 700 pounds of tuna which they sold to all their friends.  Pegg picked two of the best recipes the tuna friends had shared with them and the hands down favorite was this rare seared tuna skewered with a piece of pickled ginger and dipped in wasabi mayo.



Monday we drove Robby and Carol to the airport.  The trip included  a stop at a CNG (compressed natural gas) filling station in Jacksonville to fill Bella's three tanks.  There are no filling stations in the Bahamas, so they will have to use it sparingly.  We also visited a new extension of Sailor's Exchange that opened recently in Jacksonville.  A great collection of marine "stuff".  They worked on outfitting their replacement dinghy (yet to be replaced) and we found a few bargains too.

Today, Tuesday we drove to Princess Place Preserve and spent a couple of hours riding our bikes on several of the trails in the 1500 acre park.  It is a very interesting place that is well taken care of.

The Princess Place Estate was a grant from the King of Spain in 1791 and only recently has been open to the public.
The site is now a Flagler County Park and  hosts events including weddings. I liked the porch pillars, each was a unique
tree trunk. The walls of the main house are made of blocks of coquina and some of the trees look like they are as old
as the estate!

Tomorrow we button up the boat and then fly out Thursday morning, back to PA for the holidays.  We'll be back...next year!  ~~~_/)~~~M&D

What!?!? Back to Georgia!

We remembered this long face dock, but had been on the inside
the last time we were here.  The inside was MUCH better than
either the outside or the mooring field!

Thursday, November 14:
We thought we'd be in St. Augustine tonight, but instead we headed north--back into Georgia.  We had enjoyed our "weathering in" at Fernandina Beach. Wednesday was spent puttering about installing motion sensing LED lights in the heads and our cabin, replacing the water pump, installing a new clutch for the main sheed and trying to organize some of our clutter.

We walked up town around noon and had a nice lunch at the Cafe Karibo, a mini home brewery.  Our dock neighbors aboard Chantebrise II  recommended it us.  We're pretty sure our visit to Ft. Myers where son John and his wife Brandi live with include visits to several brew pub as the two of them are brew pub experts, so we decided to bone up a bit.

Back aboard, we checked the SPOT sent by Robby and Carol and saw that they had moved from one spot on the Brickhill River to a different one.  That meant they had been out and about in all this wind!  I called to see how they were doing  and learned they had discovered the dinghy missing when they awoke Wednesday AM.  They had spent the day trying to nose into every creek they could manage looking for it.
We decided we should head up there early Thursday morning so Dan and Robby could use our dinghy to explore further.  So....as everyone peeled away from the Fernandina docks heading south, we headed north!  We arrived and anchored by 0930 and headed off in Bella towing our dinghy to the northern anchorage where their dinghy had disappeared.  Despite forecasts that called for lessening winds, it was still blowing 15-20 knots.  Rob and Dan spent the whole day exploring miles and miles of little creeks and inlets along the Brickhill River.  They returned at 1615  windblown and discouraged.  At least we tried.  We all returned to the southern anchorage where we had left Brunelle and Rob and Carol joined us for dinner aboard  Brunelle.

Brunelle just coming into view as we return from our fruitless search for the wayward dinghy.

The wind finally subsided with the setting of the sun, so we spent a quiet night, BUT without enough signal to write and post the blog.  We were underway before 0700 this morning (Friday) because we were awoken by an Amber Alert that came in on my phone at 0540!  We're not sure how far we'll get today as we go back and forth from making 8.1 knots to barely 5.0 knots depending which inlet is closer. ~~~_/)~~~M&D

FLORIDA!

On the van ride back to the marina last night, our driver said he would pick us up in the morning for breakfast in the grand dining room.  He was true to his word and picked us up at 0915.  We enjoyed the drive through the grounds is the light of day and got a better look at all the "cottages" and the main club house.  I didn't remember my camera, so I had to resort to finding a picture of the grand dining room on line,

The atmosphere, service and food were all excellent!

We had hoped to take a tour of the whole property after our luxurious breakfast, but the forecast for this evening predicted gale force winds that are expected to continue through Thursday morning and Dan was worried if we anchored out for two days (as had been the original plan)  we would have problems with our battery charger.  We have a new inverter/charger waiting for us in St. Augustine, but currently the only way to charge the batteries is to run the engine.   So the best solution was to leave after breakfast and push on to Fernandina Beach Harbor Marina where we could plug in and hunker down for the next day and a half.  

The trip past Cumberland Island was going smoothly until we got to the southern end of the Brickhill River.  There was much discussion about this area and sure enough it was a problem.   The magenta line (for the first time) was WRONG.  Luckily for us (if not for the other boat) the boat in front of us ran aground so we slowed to a crawl and attempted to go around him and the shallow area, but bumped, but only lightly and were able to turn around and ignore the magenta line and follow the buoyage instead.  Oddly enough the buoys that were in question were #60, #60A, and 61...just like the last buoy problems back in NC!   We were sorry to miss Cumberland Island, it sounds like a great place to visit.

As we neared the Georgia/Florida we went past the Kings Bay nuclear submarine base which looms for quite a while as you approach from the north.  There is always a navy security boat on station to keep anyone from getting to close.  We traveled by at a slow pace and kept to our channel, so we didn't get challenged by the security boat.  We're not sure what the large structure that stuck out almost to the channel was for, it reminded us of a car wash (keep those subs shiny??)

We made it to Fernandina Beach at 1445 and they put us on the inside of the face dock.  They didn't want anyone smaller than 60' on the outside, and as I sit here writing this I can agree with that decision!  The wind is already howling and we are listing a bit even though we are well protected by the cement dock to windward.  It isn't supposed to really blow until nearer dawn.  Can't wait!!

Aurora came in right behind us, but only stopped for fuel and headed off....I wonder where she'll be during this weather.

~~~_/)~~~M&D

Brunswick to Jekyll Island

We awoke to a bright sunshiny day and it was made even brighter with a trip to Publix.  What a wonderful supermarket.  Connie Dooley drove us there and shared her of knowledge of Brunswick and particularly the Brunswick Landing Marina which is owned by one of the oldest families in the area, the Torras family.  We weren't in a hurry to shove off because we had to traverse the channel by Jekyll Island at half tide or higher, so we didn't leave our slip until 1130 and with a short stop at the fuel dock we were underway right at noon.  The trip back under the Sidney Lanier Bridge took us out to pick up the "magenta line" and on our way to Jekyll Island Marina.

The trip to Jekyll was all of 9 miles, so it took less than 2 hours.  We tied up on the face dock at the marina and waited for Robby and Carol (my brother and sister-in-law) to show up.  They had left the Chesapeake a week before we did, and we finally caught up and passed them by taking our little jaunt "outside".  It was great to see them slip under the Jekyll Island Bridge and anchor right off the marina.  They had called earlier and asked if we wanted to join them as the ate their way down Jekyll Island.  It sounded tempting, and we agreed to give it a try!  We started with an "early bird  dinner special at the Crane Courtyard.

Jekyll Island has quite a history.  It was chosen by the rich and famous as a winter playground just before the turn of the last century.  It is said that at one time members of the Jekyll Island Club  accounted for one sixth of the world's wealth.  Names like Rockefeller, Morgan, Chase etc. were on the membership list.  One name was Crane (plumbing supply magnate) and he was the first to build a cottage that contained a kitchen (plumbing guy ya know).  It also had 26 bedrooms and 17 bathrooms.  All other members took all their meals at the Grand Dining Room (actually a large building).  The Crane "cottage" is now a restaurant where you can eat in a less formal setting that the Grand Dining Room.

The entire place is now a resort open to the public, but it still has an exclusive clubby air about it.  We were picked up by a van from the JI Club and delivered to the front door.  Ed and Connie Dooley and their friends and golfing partners Bob and Sue Hodes had spent the afternoon golfing on Jekyll Island and joined us for dinner. A great meal and the Key Lime Pie was excellent!  Tomorrow morning - - breakfast at the Grand Dining Room.  ~~~_/)~~~M&D

"Roly-Poly, Pell-Mell, Tumble-Bumble, down the hill they went."

We felt like that quote from The Pokey Little Puppy Golden Book story.  Our trip from Charleston Harbor, out to sea and down the coast to the St. Simons Inlet and then up to Brunswick Landing was definitely roly-poly.  We had the anchor up and were out of Long Creek and on our way the Charleston Harbor after 0800  and made it out to the sea buoy a little before noon.  As soon as we got past the breakwater, we knew it wouldn't be a smooth ride.  The wind and waves were out of the NW and we were heading SW...not the best combination.  But the weather forecast was for the wind to die down and come around to the east in the afternoon.  Well, it didn't!  It made for a sloppy ride, but we were committed.  We tried the jib first, but we were to far downwind for it to work, so we set the main, 2/3 of the way up and worked on trying to keep the constant roll from slamming the boom all over the place.  We tried our new boom brake and had it working fairly well, but haven't perfected a way to adjust if to our satisfaction.  As the wind continued to come even further aft  during the night and we kept ending up by the lee with almost every roll, we decided to roll the main down and just deal with the waves.  I decided not to straighten the horizon of this picture Dan took of the sunrise, it kinda tells it like it was!  ...Waves never look as big as they really are in pictures!

The trip was exactly the length we expected it to be---20 hours from sea buoy to sea buoy, so we arrived outside Brunswick at 0800.  What we are always surprised to find is how long it takes to get back inside and to your final destination.  On the way in Dan began putting things away that we always have on deck during overnight passages like the MOM (man overboard module) the life raft and our inflatable life jackets.  We finally got a hot meal (neither of us was ready to try to cook last night.) and a cup of coffee. 

On our other trips south we have left from Savannah and skipped the rest of Georgia completely, so this was the first time for us to see the St. Simons Brunswick area.  We were surprised how big an inlet it was and how much industry we saw.  Still the best sites were the lighthouse near the entrance and the beautiful bridge we went under on our way up to Brunswick Landing Marina.  Ed and Connie Dooley (CCYC friends)

have been trying to get us to visit here for years.

The Dooleys used to have a Catalina 400, but had a hard time balancing their love of sailing with their love of golf, so they sold the C-400 and now have an Island Pilot that can cruise--or I should say race along at 33kts !  It gets them to the golf course fast.

Here we are nestled next to Ed and Connie.  Oops, the ICW "smile is back, I'll have to get some more ReaLemon tomorrow to wash it off the bow.  Brunswick Landing Marina isn't a frugal stop, but the bathrooms and showers are great and the laundry is free!   We should sleep well tonight, last night was a little less than peaceful! ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Georgetown to Long Creek (10 miles north of Charleston)

The wind continued to howl all night, but when we awoke at 0530 (ancient bladders do it to you) things were a bit calmer.  As I headed up the dock to the bathrooms, I spotted what looked like a bird pooping frenzy on the dock.  Turns out it was foam that had splashed up through the slats of the dock!

All looked calm from the top of the dock, but back out at the end of the dock the foam and all the floating flora from yesterday wedged itself  alongside the dock and Fritha's bow.

The tide really rips past Georgetown Landing docks and on out through Winyah Bay on it's way out to sea, so we left before 0700 to catch what we could of the outgoing tide.  We left the dock with Just Desserts, a Whitby 42 we have been seeing and hearing ever since our second night in the Chesapeake.  We finally met them this morning as Dan helped them shove off.  We stayed within a half mile of them all day as we continued through the "low" country along the SC shore.  The strong (up to 24 knots at times) wind from the north brought a very cool start to the day, but things warmed up by noon and we rolled out the jib (part way) and rolled up the leeward side of the enclosure.  Dan had fun with the dolphins and his camera today.  After frustrating attempts over the past few days he decided to try the rapid shoot feature and got some results:

We are planning on heading out to the ocean when we leave in the morning.  It should be a 20 hour trip (from sea buoy Charleston to sea buoy St. Simons) so we won't have to rush out of here in the morning. We don't want to arrive in the dark!

We anchored around 1400 and because of the strong current, we found we were lying to the current not the wind.  This creek is about a mile off the ICW and the entrance depth was 71 feet!  Luckily we found a spot that was 14 feet, but with 6 foot tides, we wouldn't want to go any shallower. The creek offers good protection from wakes, but not from wind.  Nothing but grasslands between us and the ICW.  The boat we accompanied all day can be seen moving on down the way as we set anchor.  ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Osprey Marina to Georgetown Landing Marina

Between the rain last night and recent high tides, the river was full of floating greenery.  We had it with  us all the way to Gerogetown. We enjoyed a continental breakfast at Osprey before setting of a little after 0800.  We spent the whole morning trying to decide our next destination.  Dan was very worried because the inverter/ charger had given up the ghost, at least the charger portion had stopped working, so the only way to charge our batteries is to run the engine... plugging into shore power or using the Honda generator no longer would work.  We have a new one being shipped to Jay's in St. Augustine, but he felt it left us too vunerable.  We finally decided to stop in Georgetown and try to find a battery charger that would enable us to use the Honda as the power source and connect the charger directly to the batteries is we had to.







We arrived at Georgetown at 1330, got fuel and tied up between two
very different boats.  The schooner's transom was something to behold.




 We asked and called around and figured our best bet was Walmart, a 2.5 mile bike ride away. We dragged our bikes out of the forward cabin and set off around 1430 and with the help of our iPhone GPS found Walmart and the battery charger.  We decided the road to Walmart was too busy so Dan "mapped" a new route home which took us by the downtown area along the Harborwalk and past the site of the recent fire that took out at least three buildings less than a month ago.  It also took us past the shrimp marker so we stopped and picked up a pound of fresh shrimp for dinner. Once again we barely blinked and the sun was already down.  Dan still caught a nice picture.

The wind is howling as I write and we're supposed to wake up to chillier weather, but we can't complain.  It has been a great trip so far. ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Southport, NC to Osprey Marina, Myrtle Beach, SC

Earliest start yet.  We had 63 miles to go and wanted to reach Osprey Marina at a reasonable time. By the time we left at 0650 the mega-yachts had already departed!  During the morning we were still near the coast and experienced strong currents both with us and against as we passed several inlets. Some were rough, and some were just nerve wracking because the cautions about shoaling and shifting channels demanded such close scrutiny to make sure we staying on the right course.  We have found that the "magenta line" (the center and preferred course of the ICW) on our chartplotter is amazingly up to date.  We took our data chip home and updated it online the day before we left home.

This inlet was even rougher than it looks here.  

Around 1100 we crossed the line into SC and moved away from the marshy inlet area of NC.  The Pine Island Cut, a 28 mile section of the ICW was the last part of the ICW to be completed (in 1937.) Instead of following a meandering river through lowlands, engineers chose to cut a deep straight ditch through higher country.  This changes the scenery as the sides are steep and high.  It's also the land of bridges, many 65' high, but several swing bridges that require and opening.

We also passed under several power lines and this cable car that takes golfers across the "ditch".

We seem to be traveling with several boats that go about the same speed we do, so we pass and are passed by them as we choose different spots to stop for the night.  We also see an occasional noteworthy vessel like this old Trumpy, SS Sophie.   The other two are gambling ships that go out just far enough offshore to let passengers lose their money.

The day proved to be the warmest so far, so we rolled up our sides an enjoyed the pleasant ride.  We made it to Osprey by 1600 and received their famous welcome and welcome package.  Lots of logo items, but also a fair amount of food and other necessaries.

Osprey is definitely one of the top of the 50 frugal stops!  Besides $1/foot and the goody bag, there is complimentary breakfast available up in the office.  I have been hearing a gentle pitter patter of rain on the cabin top - - - hopefully it will clear by morning.  ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Wrightsville Beach to Southport

Short day today.  We only went about 30 miles.  We had hoped to stop near the NC/SC border, but it turns out there isn't anywhere to anchor and the only decent marina we could find is closed on Tuesdays!  Southport Marina was our choice.  We arrived at 11:30 and sent out the SPOT signal and right away got an email from Robby and Carol suggesting we try the Moore Street Market for lunch, so off we went. Lunch was good and I decided to wander around town while Dan rushed back to talk to a mechanic about our aging and ailing inverter/charger.  As soon as I returned...another email. This time from a Catalina buddy, Gerry Helldorfer, who has been following us-maybe TOO closely!  A few days ago, he alerted us to a cool iPhone app that transmits an AIS (Automatic Identification Signal) that can be followed on the website www.marinetraffic.com.  So, of course, I downloaded the app and have it transmitting our position as we travel each day.  Well, today, I forgot to turn if off when we tied up here and headed off into town with my phone in my pocket.  Gerry's email was titled "Busted!" and he asked how our trip around town was.  (This isn't the same as the "live map" Sam has set up at the top of our blog page---both use cell signal to track us, but the AIS app puts you on the map with lots of other yachts and commercial vessels.)

Here we are tied to the inside of the fuel dock at Southport Marina - - - that is where we were tied up until 4 mega-yachts arrived between 4 and 5 and still another was due needing 1000 gallons of fuel.  The dockmaster offered to cut our bill in half if we would be willing to move to a slip to free up space at the fuel dock.  I love a bargain and we gladly moved to "D" dock for the night.  We decided we could take advantage of our windfall and go out for dinner. We tried the Fishy Fishy Cafe.  Enjoyable, but nothing special.  Tomorrow we will make it to SC and hope to get to Osprey Marina, south of Myrtle Beach.  ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Swansboro, NC to Wrightsville Beach (SOUTH of the bridge)

For those of you who have slogged through all our blog posts, you might remember the significance of a certain spot just north of the Wrightsville Beach Bridge.  That's where we ran aground and with the help of Towboat US pulled off our rudder!  The tide was lower as we passed "Brunelle's little island, so it was much more noticeable, and a palm tree still graces the site.

We also enjoyed watching a pair of dolphins' antics as three of us jockeyed about waiting for the bridge to open.  I especially like the otherworldly effect the sun gave their glistening bodies and spray.

                                                                                                                                                                              We started the day with a call to the Marine Base at Camp Lejeune and were assured there would be no activity along the ICW today.  That didn't preclude a few sights and sounds (from a slew of vertical take-off planes) to remind us where we were.

A good bit of the day was spent worrying about Green Marker 61A.  We had a call from a former Catalina 400 owner before we left the Chesapeake warning us about this spot where the Brown's Inlet has caused so much shoaling you have to be very careful to follow the buoying.  We also read about it in several of our guide books and noted that there were 56 comments in Active Captain about it.  We also listened to lots of chatter from all the boats that preceded us through the area.  With all our foreknowledge we made it through without seeing anything shallower than 10.9 feet!  I decided to "spell it out" for you on the picture Dan took.  Note the green day beacon on the left side of the picture and the red nun to the right.  The new buoy 61A is farther to the right than the nun!  You'd think you should follow the dotted line, but no, out and around did the trick.

As soon as we went through the Wrightsville Beach Bridge. we tied up at the Bridge Tenders Marina. 

As soon as we were tied up, we took a walk to West Marine for a few small items.  It turns out the West Marine is in a shopping center with a Harris Teeter!  Our first visit to one of our favorite food stores on this trip.  Dan wanted to get a picture of me in front of the store... not gonna happen.

Dinner aboard with fresh produce from Harris Teeter.  ~~~_/)~~~M&D

River Dunes to Dudleys Marina, Swansboro,NC

We're back on the way again, our stay wasn't one of the 50 frugal ICW stops, even if we did get one night free, but it is still a favorite.  We waited out the dreaded cold front that never really struck, and had fun doing it.  We puttered around aboard and ashore and even got in a visit with niece Amy Bliss and her beau, Steve and his daughter Brianna.  They met us for lunch at M&M's cafe in Oriental on Saturday and then joined us for a short sail out into the Neuse River to let Amy get her feet "wet" again.

The Neuse was kind to us this morning and we motor-sailed all the way to Adams Creek.  We were away from the dock at 0630 (new time) but weren't the first out of RD's basin.  A teeny boat with two VERY young Canadian guys beat us out.   We passed them about half the way up the river.  The name of their craft was Knotty Buoys, which I think could be translated to Naughty Boys!

In contrast, we were passed by Aphrodite, a 74' "commuter yacht originally built in 1937.  I had read about her fantastic career, starting with whisking her first owner from his home on Long Island to his wall street office while he showered, dressed and read the paper.  It "served" in WWII, became a camp for disadvantaged boys, was abandoned, found, restored at Brooklin Boat Yard in Maine, and look at her now!



The trip through Bogue Sound looks easy if you look at a map (that doesn't feature depths), but it is a nerve wracking trek through a very narrow channel with what looks like vast amounts of water all around!

The bottom picture shows a VERY shallow path out to the ocean.

Just as we entered Adams Creek that leads down to the Beaufort/Morehead City area we spied our first dolphin of the trip.  We tried several times during the rest of the day to catch a picture and finally got a half decent one just before we reached our marina for the night.

I should mention that Dudleys is also on the frugal list. It is only 75 cents a foot and electric is included!  We didn't venture into their showers or bathrooms, but with the temperature dropping to 39 tonight, we're glad for heat!

We had dinner aboard and did facetime with  the grandchildren.  Night falls quickly when daylight savings time comes to an end, so we missed the actual sunset and had to settle for the afterglow. I did blow my conch horn at sunset just cuz.  ~~~_/)~~~M&D

HAPPY HALLOWEEN from River Dunes

This is my little vignette - - a token to the day.   It's tough not to be carving a pumpkin or watching grandkids get all dressed up.  The floral bouquet was a gift from our dinner guests tonight.  We have been e-mailing wit Jerry and Mallory Harwood for four years but never met them until tonight. They have a Catalina 400 and found our blog on the C-400 website and started following it.  They live in New Bern, NC (less than an hour away) so we asked them to join us for another yummy cruisers dinner here at River Dunes.  We had a great time getting to know them and sharing C-400 ideas and experiences. 

We spent the day washing down the boat, both inside and out...a sure sign that it will rain tomorrow. Dan messed with engine coupling and I finished measuring, cutting and sewing the rest of the "skirts" for the enclosure.  We should be ready for the rain no matter which direction it comes from!

My electric knife works like a charm, cutting sunbrella it leaves a clean edge that doesn't unravel.  I brought a 14" square glass shelf (it stores neatly under one of the seat cushions) keeps the hot knife from cutting my plastic cutting board.  With Dan supporting the window part of each panel I can sew the seams easily at the dinette table.  All in all a good system.  I just wish my Sailrite sewing machine didn't weigh a ton.  It also takes up a lot of room and we have to keep it away from the fluxgate compass that is part of the autopilot system!

We had signed up for the courtesy car that is available to dock guests from 12-2, so we headed into Oriental for lunch, a West Marine stop and a small provisioning stop at a small but sufficient grocery store.  That filled to two hours.  When we returned we saw that several boats that we had been with in Elizabeth City had come.  Dinner was quite crowded tonight and there was lots of lively conversations particularly about tomorrow's weather predictions.   Hope it isn't too lousy!  

~~~_/)~~~ M&D

Bonner Bay to River Dunes

Short hop today.  We were less than five miles from River Dunes, as the crow flies, when we anchored last night, but the trip out and around and up the Neuse River was 13 miles.  We still left at sunrise and faced the same tough conditions we've seen the last several days....like a mill pond! We did see a few pelicans out for breakfast.  Don't know if he was successful or not, he left without that satisfying twitch of his tail.!

 We were in by 0945, and by 1400 we had fueled up, pumped out, showered (ahh--River Dunes showers!) and done two loads of laundry.  The courtesy car was already booked for the whole afternoon, so we relaxed ashore and aboard before heading to the clubhouse for a cruisers dinner.  Very reasonable and quite good.  Soup, Salad, Bake Potato and Dessert.

We're not used to having a finger pier that is longer (by 20') than we are.  It's

almost like a runway!  River Dunes is ready for BIG boats.  

A 94' yacht came in while we were at dinner.

Quiet day all around, we think we'll hang out here and let the cold front predicted for Friday make its way through before we head on.  We have typically headed "outside" into the ocean for an overnight passage taking us from Morehead City all the way to Georgetown, SC.  We are still unsure what we'll do when we leave here. ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Elizabeth City-Alligator River-Bonner Bay (10/28-29)

We were one of the first to leave the roost in Elizabeth City, just as the sun rose, a beautiful sight both fore and aft, but....as it rose higher, it made it tough to see where we were going so we opened the front dodger panel and made our way across the glassy waters of the River.  

Unlike previous trips across the Albemarle Sound, it was a mill pond also, so the trip was easy and uneventful.  The entrance to the Alligator River had always posed a bit of a problem with ever-changing water depths and the recommendations have always been to ignore your paper or electronic charts and follow the markers.  Well, we followed the markers carefully, but I also kept an eye on the "magenta line" that indicates the course of the ICW and for once they agreed!  No wind, little traffic and nothing to look at on the way down the Alligator River and true to form no cell signal when we reached the bottom.  We anchored in a different spot from previous trips, but the scenery was the same...

Sunrise had us weighing anchor and heading on...even on the Alligator, sunrises are pretty.

Not a lot of traffic today, we were overtaken and passed by a few snow birds going a bit faster, and we actually did pass a few slower sailboats ourselves.  We did see this river otter swimming furiously to get across the Alligator-Pungo Canal.  The fishing boats at the R.E. Mayo Co. were all hunkered down for the night by the time we passed them on our way across the Bay River to our current resting spot on Bonner Bay, just two miles off the magenta line. Granted, we are dealing with a very calm evening with whatever wind we get will be from the east, but - -what a lovely spot.  Guide books have you going further up the Bay into any of the three creeks that give even more shelter.   

Today was warm enough that we decided to open the "back door", or more accurately the aft panels, of our enclosure and also the front panel of the dodger and enjoyed the fresh air.  The only "breeze" was caused by our 6.2 knots of speed.  

Tomorrow we head for River Dunes-the home of the best showers on the east coast, and a very friendly spot all around.  

~~~_/)~~~M&D

Elizabeth City, NC

Frugal spot #3!  We have been to Elizabeth City twice before, but have anchored north of the bridge mostly due to the wind direction at the downtown docks.  The city maintains 26 free slips for transient boats and the whole town seems to welcome the "boat people" that pass through each fall and spring.  We decided to try the slips as the wind was forecast to be next to nothing and from the "safe"  direction anyways.  We arrived a little after two and had time to kibitz with the other travelers who were already here and to walk 1.3 miles to the Napa store (and back) to buy an extra engine belt.  We also gathered with about a dozen of our newest boating friends for drinks this evening under a tent that Elizabeth City maintains for their Monday-Friday "wine and roses" evening greeting for boaters.

The day started quietly at the Welcome center - not a breath of air and lovely (if not all that warm) sunshine.  Dan walked across the foot bridge to the far side of the canal to get the top picture. I liked the still reflection of the water and the mile marker reminding us we have 750 miles to go until we reach St. Augustine.  Dan enjoyed the warmth of the sun in the enclosed cockpit to study the guide books for todays trip.

We agreed with Marie Lune (the only other boat at the center) to leave together so the footbridge tender would only need to make one opening.   We offered to go first but our French Canadian friends said they'd take the lead.  We were happy they did as we were only a mile down the canal when they alerted us to a submerged log that they had dealt with.  We were able to slide by it without any thumps.  

At one point yesterday the tachometer dropped to zero.  Dan rushed below and checked several things and decided it was the belt.  As things were very quiet (no traffic to worry about) we shut down the engine and coasted while he changed the belt.  We thought all was well...but...   as we headed out this morning the belt began to slip (and smell very hot)  so we coasted again while Dan tightened it tighter than he has ever done before and it seems to be fine now.

Top: The footbridge opened for us as we left the Welcome Center. We then followed Marie Lune, a 49' Meridian, up to the drawbridge/lock combo at South Mills.  We misunderstood the timing and had over half an hour of milling about (without any room for milling about) for the bridge to open and let us into the lock.   I got a kick of the plants growing on the gate of the lock.  It was an 8' drop to the Pasquotank River.  The trip down the River was just as idyllic as the Dismal Swamp and we lazed along to Elizabeth City.  

The little blue arrow point to Brunelle nestled in comfortably for the night.

After our gathering ashore this evening we had dinner aboard and worked with our son Sam to see if we could get set up to have our progress be displayed on the blog in real time.  The wizard that he is... we think were are all set, of course that doesn't take into consideration that we are heading into the notoriously "dead" zone, especially for AT&T.  "Can you hear (see) me now??"

We aren't dreading our trip across the Albemarle Sound as the weather predictions are for light SW winds....we'll see.  ~~_/)~~~M&D