Tuesday, July 31--Portsmouth

A small thing of concern resulted in our hauling out the boat on July 8 at Ocean Marine in Portsmouth, VA. That small thing, though not critical, led to other big things and our anticipated two-day stay out of the water turned into the rest of the month of July, as parts were ordered, etc. Above is a picture of Jus' Now as she sits awaiting the work. In the meantime, we visited family in the Baltimore area. A stroke of luck occurred when Mike hooked up with the skipper of Seawalker , Richard Clay, with whom he made an ocean passage in 2005. Note the picture above of the happy reunion. Finally dropped the anchor at Tidewater Yacht Club in Portsmouth signifying the work was successfully completed and we were pursuing our trip.

Portsmouth was a wonderful town though. It is full of history and has beautiful restored homes along the narrow streets. We stayed in a lovely B & B --wish we had a picture. It was run by a Scottish woman with whom we sat on the front porch and in the morning shared a lovely breakfast of yogurt, fruit, scones, eggs, bacon...and the list goes on.

We also explored Norfolk a bit as it was just across the river. We got there by using the ferry, pictured above. The ferry system works well and is inexpensive--50 cents for those over 60--That's us!

Dismal Swamp and Locks, July 7, 2007

Our trip through the Dismal Swamp was enjoyable for the most part except for a couple of detractors. As mentioned in the last section, the Pasquotank River was gorgeous, peaceful and serene. It ran right into the Dismal Swamp, a very narrow canal with few other boats—fortunately. We passed at most three other boats and wondered each time if we could manage to get over far enough to let them by. Of course, we did, but it was iffy. We were very surprised at the amount of debris in the water. We were constantly on the lookout for floating logs, tree branches and other possible dangers. Since we were motoring, we didn’t want to chance getting anything caught in our props. This constant watchfulness became wearying towards the late afternoon when the extreme heat coupled with a zillion deer flies finally got to us.

However, along the way we had two locks to go through. The first was the South Mills Lock, pictured above. There we were one of two boats to go through. We had a great time visiting with Jim and Linda Allred on Boogaloo, an attractive trawler. After this lock we came to the Welcome Center where a rather large sightseeing boat, Bonnie Blue, was tied up. Before she tied up, however, we saw her coming and were sweating out her passing by us. We were sure it would be a very tight squeeze. Fortunately, no worries, as it turned out.

Then we traveled to the next lock at Deep Creek in Virginia. While waiting for the bridge to open—which occurs just before the lock—the heavens broke loose with a downpour. It continued to rain as we passed through the lock. The lock tender, Robert Peak, was quite a character. He had a collection of conch shells and gave us a demonstration of his ability to actually play a conch shell. He not only could play different notes, he could do trills! He and Mike were going to have a contest on who could play the best, but we quickly determined there was no contest. Instead he gave Mike a lesson on playing the shell. Robert also gave a short lecture on the history of the Deep Creek lock and the Dismal Swamp, all the time managing the three boats going through.

Shortly after the lock, we found a pretty little anchorage a few miles from Portsmouth, Virginia, where we spent the night before going into Portsmouth on July 8.

Belhaven to Elizabeth City & the Pasquotank River , NC - July 4-7 , 2007

We left Oriental, NC, a small, but friendly town across the Pamlico River, to Belhaven, NC. Belhaven is a charming small town noted as a place friendly to sailors with old-time July 4th festivities. We arrived around 1 p.m., dinghied to town in search of a town picnic. Some friendly townspeople invited us to join them at their private picnic on the waterfront so we had some fried chicken and moved on to find the rubber ducky contest a few blocks away. Indeed there was no town picnic but instead lots of booths selling the usual things one sees at block festivals including lots of southern food like crackling and barbeque. We found a charming little restaurant, Wine and Words, where after having a glass of wine, Mike managed to buy a coffee mug he wanted. Mind you, the coffee mug was not for sale. The owners use it and others like it. Later that evening, after attending a feast put on by a realty firm for the townsfolk, we were treated to a spectacular fireworks display. We had front row seats as it was right on the water not far from our anchorage.

The next day we proceeded on our way up the Alligator River. We anchored on the Alligator River with the wind whipping wildly around us. The next day, July 6, we proceeded to Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River. Of course, we had to cross the Albemarle Sound, a body of water that can be nasty when the wind is up. However, although we had a lot of wind, we actually had a wonderful sail for a couple of hours to the Pasquotank River arriving at Elizabeth City (pictured above) around 3 p.m. We wandered around the small town on a very hot afternoon somewhat disappointed because the celebrated Welcome Committee, which presents visitors with roses, was not there. It is said that the tradition of giving roses to visitors is to remind them to take time to smell the roses.

With a long day ahead of us up the Dismal Swamp Canal, we decided to get up early enough to make the opening of the Elizabeth City Bridge at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, July 7. The bridge tender opened the bridge a little early as there were two boats already there, ready and waiting. That got us off to a good start up the beautiful Pasquotank River. It was very still—no current, little wind. The reflections of the trees in the water made for a pastoral scene. In fact it was so relaxing that I felt comfortable leaving the cockpit and lounging on the front of the boat.

Georgetown, South Carolina - June 8-20. 2007

We left Charleston, South Carolina, on Thursday, June 7, heading towards Georgetown, SC. As we left the large, busy harbor, our autopilot failed. Bad deal. Fortunately, we knew we could hand-steer the boat especially since we were traveling up the calm waterway to our next destination. We stopped for the night outside a little town called McClellanville, put down the anchor and proceeded to spin in circles as we were beset by conflicting currents from the ICW and a nearby little river. It was 5:30 p.m., quite a bit later than we usually anchor as we’d gotten a later than usual start. We worked and worked trying to still the boat finally putting out a stern anchor as well. Big mistake. That meant the two anchor lines twirled together creating a bit of a tangled mess. In the process, the windlass, our anchor control, broke! Truly a bad day….in terms of equipment. Mike took apart the windlass but couldn’t repair it. At least he was able to fix the controls to pull up the anchor—a good thing, as the anchor rode (chain) is very heavy. In the midst of all this turmoil, we found ourselves aground on a tiny island at the mouth of the river! Of course, we rightfully figured that as the tide rose, we would no longer be aground.

In the morning, we headed for Georgetown finding a marine mechanic who could fix our autopilot—but not till Monday. Alas, our schedule continued to fall behind. Bruce, the mechanic, did a fabulous job and by Thursday, we were all set—except for the windlass. We had ordered a part, but after trying to repair the windlass, we were told it wouldn’t work, and we’d have to order a new one. Of course, we did, but that meant another whole weekend in Georgetown—really setting us behind. Today is Wednesday, June 20, and we’re hopeful the new windlass, which arrived yesterday, will be installed early so we can get on our way.

However, we have had a delightful time in Georgetown, a quaint, historic district with a few good restaurants and charming shops. The town has beautiful live oaks spreading over the streets lined with well-maintained attractive homes—all with appealing front porches. The people here are friendly and helpful. In the marina, we’ve met a few people who have a boat here permanently like Dean Dawson, pictured above with his boat, Pawley Girl. Dean is an avid sports fisherman who has shared his catch with us and even brought us squash and tomatoes from his garden. Bruce Braynerd, the marine mechanic, brought us homemade peanut brittle. We also met a couple from California who along with their two- and four-year-olds were sailing on a large, 42-foot Catana catamaran—they’re picture leaving our boat in their dinghy. Another couple we met in Charleston, Sunny and Blake from Seattle, joined us for the weekend. Before they left Monday morning, Sunny insisted on fixing Korean specialty barbecue complete with sticky rice. It was delicious. We enjoyed their companionship.

Charleston, South Carolina – June 5 & 6, 2007

We spent a delightful couple of days in Charleston. As we arrived at 9 a.m. on June 5, we sailed past a couple—Sunny & Blake-- on a Manta 42’, Slow-Mocean. They seemed very glad to see other cruisers and almost immediately after anchoring next to them, they came over to tell us of their adventure. They had been caught crossing from the Bahamas in tropical storm Barry. They had weather 30-foot seas for 26 hours and had had to deploy their sea anchor. They were very happy to have arrived in Charleston the previous afternoon.

Later on we all went to West Marine as the City Marina provides a van there. That night, as it was Sunny’s birthday, we had planned to celebrate with a nice dinner in town. However, thunderstorms precluded that, so Sunny and Blake brought their Korean dish to our boat, and we enjoyed a pot luck dinner. Sunny & Blake are from Seattle and spent the winter in the Andros area of the Bahamas getting lessons from a seasoned cruiser on spearing fish and lobsters. ( Of course, it was also our daughter Brooke’s birthday, so we called her to sing happy birthday—the first time we haven’t been with her on her birthday.)

Wednesday, June 6, we joined Sunny and Blake for a walk through the city. Charleston’s a beautiful city with elegant old homes. It was founded in 1670 and has preserved its rich cultural heritage. We ate lunch at a wonderful, non-touristy restaurant, Mistral, across from the market, a group of open-air shops selling everything from hats to jewelry to straw goods. Mike and I restocked our pantry from a wonderful grocery store, Harris Teeter.

South Carolina – May 30, 2007

We left Thunderbolt Marina on Tuesday, May 29^th, moving a little south to Turner Creek so that we could stock up at a nearby grocery store. Then on May 30^th, we headed north to Hilton Head Island. Again, we motored most of the way with a little help from the wind. We anchored in Skull Creek just outside too great restaurants, Hudson’s Seafood, and Charley Crab. Of course, we had to try them out. Enjoyable.

We left the following morning for Beaufort, South Carolina, a lovely town we remembered from our 2004 driving trip down the east coast. We walked around the town in the afternoon and found a great little restaurant on the waterway. Beaufort has a lovely riverfront walkway with wooden approximately 10 sets of swings along the path facing the water. It too has a lovely historic downtown district. We had some dinner, went back to Jus’ Now and prepared for the next trip to Charleston, a couple of days ahead.

In the morning we had to wait till 9:15 for the Lady’s Island swing bridge to open for us to go through. With a 64” mast, bridges are sometimes a challenge for us. The only other opening is at 2:15 which would have delayed our progress a bit. Our next stop was Mosquito Creek, aptly named. We’d heard about a great seafood place, which though advertised, was closed when we arrived. However, some local fishermen sold us some freshly caught shrimp and we all were happy. Saturday proved to be a rainy day with the effects of tropical storm Barry inundating the area. We stayed put, visiting the seafood place to replenish our supplies.

Savannah, May 10,2007

We traveled up the Intracoastal Waterway from Brunswick to Savannah for three days. The route was scenic, mostly marshes and trees with many birds and occasional dolphins accompanying us. Of course, many of the areas were narrow, and there wasn’t much wind, so again we motored. Occasionally, we traveled with several other boats plodding along with us at about 6 knots per hour. Most boats however were trawlers or other yachts motoring at much higher speeds. We anchored at three places along the way: Wally’s Leg, Wahoo River and Moon River, before reaching Savannah on March 14. At Wally’s Leg, we had intended to jump in the water for a cool swim in the morning before we left, but just as we were ready, a nearby boater asked if we had seen the alligator on shore. That was all we needed to abort those plans….

As we approached Moon River, the ICW was lined with gorgeous multi-million-dollar homes. It was very pretty. We had hoped to find some seafood restaurants along the route, but no luck.

Once in Savannah, we docked at Thunderbolt Marina, just south of the historic district. We needed a few repairs and planned to visit Denver—a business trip for Mike. After settling on the needed repairs, we were able to make our plans to leave for Denver on Saturday, May 19. On Thursday, we had the good fortune to meet a very nice lady, Brenda Haynes, who worked in a plumbing store we visited after trekking three miles to a Home Depot which did not have what we needed. Brenda befriended us and drove us to get some supplies then to our boat—a welcome gesture as we were exhausted from the heat. Once at the boat, Brenda was joined by her husband, Ken. After a glass or two of wine, they offered to check our boat while we were gone. We drew the line at their more than generous offers to take us to the airport, etc. When we returned from Denver, Ken and Brenda took us on a tour of Tybee Island. We thanked for their generosity with a great meal at Paula Deen’s brother’s restaurant, Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House—for those of you who know the southern gourmet on food TV.

On Friday, we needed yet more hard-to-find propane bottles, and although Mike tried, we were unable to rent a car to get them, a good distance away. As he was repeating his bad luck at 4 p.m. to a passerby, Jim of Wind Dancer III, who had just rented a car for the weekend, said he would take him. Away they went in a hurry. We thanked them with a dinner of low-country boil and ribs shared on their trawler.

Brunswick, Georgia--May 3

Finally, it was time to leave the Bahamas and head back to the states before the hurricane season hit. A good friend, Steve Olson, was able to take some time off and join us for the crossing, a two-and-a-half day trip from Marsh Harbor to Brunswick, Georgia. Steve could not wait to get out on the open water with no land in sight. His help sharing the two-hour watches for the entire trip made the crossing much easier for Mike and me. Fortunately, the crossing was uneventful. Calm conditions though great, with a lack of wind we had to motor most of the way. We were entertained along the way by several pods of dolphin, appearing every once in awhile to cavort around the boat. On our last evening Steve caught a 50-inch dorado, a real treat. We arrived outside Jekyll Island, Georgia, on Wednesday evening and decided to anchor there as it was getting late. The air was murky with the acrid smell of smoke from the Georgia fires, and for the first time since we started the crossing, the seas were a little rough. By morning, all had calmed down again.

We went another couple of miles into the Brunswick Landing Marina, recommended to us by some fellow Coloradans (Bryan and Sharlene from Castle Rock) on a catamaran, Tonga Time, whom we’d met in George Town, briefly. We loved the town of Brunswick.. Its historic downtown, a half-mile walk from the marina, has been renovated and boasts a few very good restaurants and shops. Of course, West Marine and the grocery store, where we really needed supplies, were a two-mile walk from the marina. Steve left us Saturday morning to return to Denver. We wish he could have stayed a little longer, but as it turned out, a tropical depression, Andrea, was making its way outside of Brunswick, so on the advice of the weather gurus, we stayed put till it passed. That meant we didn’t get on our way to Savannah until Friday, May 9.

Hope Town April 17-29, 2007

We spent a week in Hope Town after our friends, Jan and Dutch Daut, arrived from Wyoming. Pete and Amy Brubaker, good friends of the Dauts, live in Hope Town and hosted us for dinners, escorted us on a walking tour of Hope Town, and in general introduced us to the important and fun things about Hope Town. Pete runs the cruisers' net on Sundays and Mondays. We listen to that every morning faithfully as we learn all the activities for the day, the menus in various restaurants, and other information such as new arrivals and departures among cruisers. Since one meets many cruisers throughout the season, it's nice to know when friends arrive or leave.

Anyhow, back to Hope Town. Hope Town is a small, quaint town with colorful cottages all with names like The Jib, Green Shutters, Hibiscus, etc. We frequented Cap'n Jacks, one of the waterfront restaurants where Pete & Amy hang out. Every night there's something going on during happy hour from Bingo, to Trivia, to Red Hat meetings--cards for ladies who come wearing some version of a red hat. Lots of fun. One wonderful day we took advantage of the calm Atlantic side and went snorkeling on the reef in front of the Harbor Town Lodge. Very worth doing! Of course, the precursor of lunch at the lodge and follow-up of drinks poolside provided great enjoyment as well.

Another day we took in the famous Hope Town lighthouse. We climbed to the top--some 100+ steps circling up and up and up. It's the oldest manned lighthouse in the world with a fresnel lens. (Mike says you can google this for more information.)

While in Hope Town, Pete took Mike and Dutch fishing on his fishing boat, Whippersnapper. Alas, the fish weren't biting, so they were back somewhat early. Of course, Jan and I had decided we would shop in their absence and took the dinghy to shore. However, we were chagrined to find it would not start for the return trip. We decided we'd try rowing, but the wind had picked up and the tide was coming in instead of going out. What a joke! Fortunately, just as we were pondering our next move, a dinghy came in looking for a place to tie up. We offered our space, that is if they could get us going. A 12-year-old boy, Nick, hopped onto our dinghy and darn if he didn't start it right up. I'm happy to report this was a one and only occurrence of my not being able to start the dinghy.

Towards the end of the week, Mike decided to take advantage of Dutch's skillful assistance and climb the mast to inspect all the fittings in preparation for our crossing back to the states. Our mast stands 64 feet--not a task I was looking forward to, but Mike said he loved it. Thanks to Dutch for managing Mike's ascent and descent so carefully.

After a week in Hope Town, we headed to Nippers at Great Guana Cay for their Sunday pig roast and of course, their famous rum drink--one apiece was surely enough; then on to Treasure Cay where we walked on one of the most beautiful beaches in the Abacos, enjoyed rum & tonics and pina coladas around the pool, and soaked up the sun. Working our way back to Marsh Harbour, we stopped at Man O' War Cay, a thriving community famous for boat building and its canvas bags of all sorts--totes, backpacks, purses, etc. On our way back to Marsh Harbour we spent the night anchored outside the Sea Spray Marina on Elbow Cay and enjoyed cocktails and appetizers at the restaurant and followed by a gorgeous sunset. Of course, no sunset is complete without Mike signalling day's end by blowing the conch horn given to us by some friends we met in George Town. He has mastered this performance handsomely. The next day we snorkeled at Mermaid Reef where the fish are plentiful, beautiful and seem to look for snorkelers to feed them.

We bid adieu to Jan & Dutch Saturday morning and welcomed Steve Olson Sunday evening. Steve was very excited about being on open water out of sight of land. So the following morning we left at 9 a.m. expecting to be in Georgia by late Wednesday. Although we managed some sailing through Loggerhead Channel near Whale Cay, shortly thereafter the wind died. The good news was that the crossing was very calm with moonlit nights; the bad news was we had to motor most of the way. However, it was a good crossing with Steve, Mike and I taking turns with 2-hour watches. We only saw a couple of boats as we left and a couple as we neared Georgia--with the exception of at least 20 shrimp boats off Jekyll and Saint Simons Island. These were barely visible through the thick haze caused by the wild fires in Georgia. However, we did have occasional pods of dolphins frolicking around the boat. On Tuesday, Steve caught a 50-inch mahi-mahi! What a beauty!

Back In the US

After the Dariens went home, our good friends Dutch and Jan Daut spent a couple of weeks with us in the Abacos where Dutch has old friends, Pete and Amy Brubaker. We have a lot of pictures and stories about their visit, but that is the subject of an extensive blog. We will try to get our act together and get up to date on our travels and stories about that visit.

For now we are safely tied up in a marina in Brunswick GA, while our weather router talks of hurricane force winds over the course we just travelled. Good timing.

Much thanks to my friend Steve Olson who flew into Marsh Harbor, Bahamas, last Saturday and helped us get here. He caught a beautiful Mahi-Mahi on the way. FIFTY INCHES - that's big! Sadly he left today to return to the work-a-day world.

Hopefully both Dutch and Steve can join us on our trip next November when we head to the Virgin Islands and south.

For now we are heading up the ICW to Savannah GA in a few days, then we will leave the boat in a marina for one to two weeks while we visit Denver. Then on to Maine via the Chesapeake, NY, etc.