Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone. Today is beautiful here. The sun is out and there is a nice breeze. John, Moose and I walked into town this morning along the Riverwalk and had breakfast and bloody's at Mulligan's. Stuart is such a nice little town. I keep thinking that I could settle here for a while and be quite content. We went to dinner a few nights back with a group from the marina. They had cars and it was a lot of fun. The town is quite spread out with lots of the usual stores, services etc. but without a car we just stay in the old town area which is great. There is a Publix, ABC liquor and Ace Hardware within a bike ride and the marina has bikes we can check out for the ride. We are planning to take a ride this afternoon and then I will do laundry as it won't be busy on Christmas day. Tomorrow is a brunch put on by the son of a cruiser who is a chef from Atlanta visiting for the holiday. That should be a nice opportunity to bid farewell to everyone we have met here and then we will ready Spunky for our departure on Tuesday morning.

I have to say that walking into town on this beautiful morning I felt so very grateful that I am alive and able to enjoy this experience. As I begin to look back on 2011, it has been quite a year for us. So many challenging days not the least of which was my unexpected surgery. I recognize how fortunate I was to have it all come on so quickly. I really had very little time, only hours, to worry (which, by the way, I am very good at) about upcoming surgery. We are looking forward to 2012 which I know will be an outstanding year if we all survive the end of the Mayan calendar.

Thinking good thoughts of all our friends and family. Much love and cheer,

Elyse, John and Moose

Stuart, FL

We are still in Stuart, FL. After a phone conversation with Foley Marine, we decided to stay through the weekend in hopes they might have an approved mechanic here in Stuart that can take care of the engine while we are here. It is a major fix as the entire front of the engine must be removed to reach the timing case cover and replace the gasket if that is what is actually leaking. While they are in agreement to take responsibility(we think), we want to take advantage as it will be a very expensive repair.

Yesterday was overcast and in the low 70's and a bit on the cool side for me. We worked on projects on Spunky. Some were successful and some were not. John tried to install a navigation program (MAC ENC) on our Mac but the program would not run. He was able to set up our Alfa antenna which will hopefully allow us to access wifi when we are close to a transmitting tower. It is beautiful today. No clouds but fairly windy and once again in the low 70's. Today my plan is to use teak oil on the salon teak and John is going to install copper strips to ground our SSB radio. The Tacktick wind speed instrument which we installed last Monday did not work consistently so John called Ray Marine which had recently purchased Tacktick. After several calls over 3 days,they finally determined that we had been sold an old unit without updated software so we had to send it back to them to be reprogramed. Had we just exchanged it for another, one of us would have had to go up the mast where the transducer is mounted to synchronize the new unit. This way, with the reprogram, the unit should work without a climb up the 62 ft. above the water. Now we only have to figure out where they can send it when the program is complete.

Friday John took one of the marina bikes and rode to the hardware store to find screws in order to mount a chart shelf he had made for me from scraps of teak. It works wonderfully mounted under the navigation table in an out of the way place. Many of our charts are very large and hard to store but this appears to be a great solution for us. The trip to the store was down A1A which is a very busy traffic street and he said it was an exciting ride. All the jobs on a boat seem to take much longer then jobs at home because we have to get into the dinghy and then take a long walk to accomplish many of the tasks not just jump into the car for a ride to Lowes.

We found today the name of a mechanic that can look at Spunky's engine so tomorrow we will take her back over to Manatee Pocket for the day. The mechanic won't work at this marina as they are not accommodating and has recommended another marina where we have permission to tie up for several hours in their lift area. In order to hold our mooring ball we will leave our dinghy tied to the ball when we leave. We will leave early tomorrow morning as it will take a few hours to get back over to Manatee Pocket. This scheduling means we will remain here through Christmas as we will have to have parts delivered after we have determined for sure where the leak is originating. We are hoping the work can be done the week following Christmas. We are having our mail sent here and our wind instrument returned here which will make things a little less complicated.

Yesterday afternoon MAC ENC called back and walked John through installing our nav. software and that is up and running. Now we just have to figure out how it works and what it can do for us. I started putting teak oil on the wood in the salon and it really makes a difference. Tonight we will attend the Tuesday night "meet and great" and see if anyone shows up. The mooring field is full but many of the boats are sitting empty as many folks have left their boats and flown out for the holidays.

Not much too exciting going on but it sure is a nice place to spend the time waiting for repairs and equipment. It looks like Dec 24-26 will be a great weather window but we will not be able to take advantage of it. Another will come around when we are ready.

I am sure you are all frantically completing shopping, decorating and traveling for the holidays.

We wish you all a wonderful time and will be thinking of you.

Being Lazy

Friends and Family,

Life is good. We are currently located in Stuart, FL. We came in here originally at Manatee Pocket to pick up our new genoa (the sail on the front of the boat) Mack sails as always did a great job. We then moved over to Sunset Bay were we are on a mooring ball. It's like being at anchor except they are able to fit a lot more boats together. This has to be one of the best places we have been. The people here are friendly and helpful. We have run into some old friends and made some new ones.

The trip down the Intracoastal Waterway has been pretty uneventful. We stood at the doc in Titusville and watched a family of Manatee feed at our feet. We have had many porpoises join us along the way to be sure we are ok. Vero Beach is another great place to stop. Many cruisers go no further. Many call it Velcro Beach. There is free bus service to take you anywhere you would like to go.

We will probably leave here next week. We plan to motor down to Ft Lauderdale and then we will go off shore to Miami. At that point we will wait in Miami for a "weather window". In order to have a quiet crossing of the Gulf Stream we need to be sure there will not be any wind from the north. North winds make for big waves and uncomfortable seas. Much of the last month the winds have been steady from the northeast. Lots of boats have been waiting. If the weather isn't good we may head on down to the Florida Keys to wait. The nice thing is we are not in a hurry. We have most of the food we will need for the next 5 months. Our front berth is loaded with cans and packages. Our freezer and the refrigerator are filled to the brim. We are told wine if very expensive so we may pick up a little more.

We bought a Spot GPS. When we push the button it sends out our location. Click on it below and it will connect to Google Maps. We can also send out a request for help. It will serve as a backup for our EPIRB which when activated notifies the Coast Guard we are in trouble and where we are located.

Click to see where we are located:
http://fms.ws/6gAWS/27.19985N/80.26123W

If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=27.19985,-80.26123&ll=27.19985,-80.26123&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Today I am using the Internet threw our new extended Alfa antennae. It enables us to pick up wifi from locations on shore. We are settling in to a routine. Moose is doing much better. Last night there was a "meet and greet" at the marina. We sat and visited with a group of people and Moose took turns sitting in people's laps. He would still prefer to be on shore. The night before we went to a Christmas sing along that was organized by a Jewish couple. We included the dreidle song.

Our new engine has a little oil leak. We are talking to Foley engines who remanufactured it. We are hoping they will step up and honor the warranty. I don't have high hopes. We can probably live with it through the winter but it would be nice to get it resolved before we leave.

We miss our family and friends at the holidays. We have talked and if we do this again next year we will probably park the boat and fly off to visit someone, so kids, be warned.

Elyse's son Michael has set up a blog for us. Elyse, as many of you know, does a much better job than I of telling about our adventure. You can read what she says at http://spunkysvoyage.blogspot.com/. You may have to cut and paste it into your browser. I hope that all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas will give you time with those you love. Thanks for being a part of our adventure. Time to take Moose ashore.

Sailing on Spunky,
John

Spot Tracking

We left Mariner's Cay Marina on Wednesday afternoon after John returned our rental car. Monday we had our genoa delivered and our rigging checked and a mobile groomer came and shaved Moose. We had spent Tuesday day at Walmart, West Marine, Office Depot, Petco and Publix shopping like we would never see a store again. I know after this year's trip I will have a much better feel for what can be obtained in the Bahamas but for now we are working in the dark except for what others have advised. There was a Hair Cuttery next to Publix so I got my hair cut by a fellow named Dallas who was born in the Virgin Islands and studied "under Vidal Sasson". We also went to customs at the St. Lucie County International Airport which makes Panama City International Airport look huge. We submitted ourselves along with passports and boat documentation for approval and we passed and now have our "Local Boater's Option Card" which allows us to return to the US without actually going into a customs office for clearing in. It was a long day and we were exhausted when we returned to Spunky. We spent the next hour in the dark transporting bags and bags of provisions to Spunky. Wed. morning we grouped and repackaged purchases and stored them in the v-birth and forward head hoping that we can find something when we want to use it.

We arrived early afternoon at Sunset Bay Marina where we hooked the last remaining mooring ball available for our size boat. We are close to the marina office and dinghy dock which is a wonderful location as it is not so far to take Moose in. It is really pretty here. We are moored with about 70 other boats of all size and design. The marina is about 2 blocks from the old downtown which is a charming village with restaurants, shops and a theater that has a wonderful lineup up of performers for the winter months. I can see why people stay here year round. John stopped in at a barbershop and got a short cut so we are now all shorn. We did pick up some clippers so we can try to keep ourselves and Moose respectable and comfortable in the Bahamas. That will be an interesting experience. A couple we met at Mariner's cut each others hair. Her's looked really good. He said he just puts the 5/8 in. blade on the clippers and shaves like I remember from the film they showed when Elvis went into the Army and they cut off his hair. As I said it should be interesting.

This afternoon there was Ladies Lunch and I went along. It was a very eclectic group of women who live on their boats. All were in long term slips at the marina where they now live as opposed to moving from place to place as we are. My favorite was Amy, who is 70 years old and lives with her significant other Marty who is 82, on a 49 ft. trawler. What a kick she is. Tonight we will attend "Sing-a-long for the holidays".

I am sending the address for our Spot tracking so you can follow us on our journey. The Spot will take a GPS reading and put it on a google map so if you go to the site you can track us on our journey. I think. You will probably have to cut and paste it in order to open it. It also allows us to call for assistance if we are in trouble. Sort of a backup for the Epirb, which we have as well, which calls for help and sends out our position after we have been separated from our radio. As I understand it we will loose phone and computer transmission for a while when crossing the gulf stream and not be able to call on a cell phone until we purchase a Bahamian phone so we will not be able to check in and let everyone know we are ok and have arrived. The Spot, however should continue to track our progress. We will soon see how well this all works.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=27.15765,-80.19528&ll=27.15765,-80.19528&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

We are thinking of you all and I will try to keep the updates coming.
Elyse

Holiday Spirit?

We left St. Mary's Boatyard this morning on a rising tide. We had planned on anchoring after about 45 miles, but the anchorage is unknown to us and only recommended by one cruising guide with all sorts of disclaimers about debri on the bottom and swinging space limitations. With the weather forecast to be 20 mph winds today and possible thunderstorms tonight with higher gusts we decided to stop in a known anchorage only about 7 miles from where we started that will put us within striking distance of St. Augustine if we leave in the dark on Tuesday morning and arrive at dusk on Tuesday evening. So we are here in Fernandina Beach, FL. We went into town and walked around. It is a charming town on Amelia Island. There are lots of little shops with interesting items and a couple of book nooks which I love. There are little parks with benches along the street which Moose loves. We are anchored out in a large anchorage with about 15 other boats and dinghy into shore for restrooms/showers and trash disposal. Moose is napping, John is cleaning stainless and I am on the internet.

Tomorrow we will go into town when it is dry and not too rough hopefully. We have some documents to put in the mail. Right now the winds are picking up and it is getting somewhat wavy with rain showers. We will try to get Moose into shore shortly so we can remain on Spunky through the evening and keep watch on the position of the boats around us.

We have had 3 uneventful days down the ICW. Things are getting easier. We made St. Augustine from Fernandina in a day. We were able to catch the current and went through the Bridge of Lions at 4:30 the last opening before rush hour when the bridge does not open for an hour. We took a mooring ball ($20.00 per night) and stayed 2 nights. St. Augustine is a favorite place to stay. It is charming and the city is all lit up for the holidays.

Leaving St. Augustine, we anchored out in a creek just north of New Smyrna Beach named Rockhouse Creek. It was quite windy through the night and since we are not confident of our anchor, John spent the night watching from the cockpit to make sure we stayed put as there were several other boats around. We have received our final documentation papers after the name change and now we have to find a customs office in order to get our "Local Boaters Card" to make our reentry to the USA much easier.

I have been working on our provision list for the Bahamas. We think we will try to stop in Vero Beach to do this big shopping trip and then stop in Stuart for our sail and then head down to Miami to await a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream. I am not sure how long all this will take but we will probably be on our way by the end of December.

Although the mornings in St. Augustine were downright cold, the days are warming up nicely as we travel south. Spunky likes the warm weather as well and her engine starts on the first try in the warmer temps. The stratoglass in the cockpit cover rolls up easily as the temps warm up as well and of course I do much better in the warmer days.

Here we aren Titusville, FL. on a mooring ball. They have covered almost the entire free anchorage area in mooring balls. On our way up north, in the spring, this was an open anchorage with no charge to anchor. Now it is $15.00 per night and we dinghy in to use restrooms and showers and laundry. There is a great dog park in the city park next to the marina which is very nice for Moose. He has had two playtimes since we have arrived. We will stay two nights and head for Melbourne tomorrow to get some work done on engine. This afternoon we watched a group of 5 manatees feed on grass floating on the water in the harbor. They are such wonderful creatures-the couch potatoes of the marine world.

Two days in Eau Gallie and we have our new anchor. Now we will have to see if it works. It doesn't quite return to its home spot on the front of the boat easily so John will have to figure that out. The weather has been lovely. We have spotted many porpoises and manatees as well as a variety of birds. I love watching the pelicans dive into the water for fish. They look so graceful until they hit the surface. Then it looks like a car hitting a brick wall.

We arrived at Vero Beach on Wednesday and rafted up with another boat on a mooring ball. Vero Beach, or velcro beach as many cruisers call it since it is so hard to leave, is a wonderful stop. The marina is welcoming to cruisers. The facilities are clean and well cared for. There is a free bus(donations accepted) that stops at the marina and goes all through town. The cruisers use it to shop at Publix, Target, Walmart, West Marine and many other shops. We went into town on two occasions and filled our back packs with groceries, wine/alcohol, and boat supplies. We realize that we will have to rent a car to do our final provision in Stuart as there is just too much to carry on our backs. There was a cocktail get together on Thursday night where we were able to meet people going south. We haven't yet met anyone doing the route we are planning. Most were going to the Abacos or not leaving until well after Christmas.

Our next stop is Stuart where we arrived this afternoon after traveling the day in wind and rain. We are in a marina here and the guys from Mack sails will arrive tomorrow a.m. with our new genoa. They will also do a check of our rigging and install our wind speed transducer. We are renting a car and will drive to the St. Lucie County International Airport to meet with customs and get our "Local Boaters Option" number. Then we will shop for our 5 months of meals and other gear and hopefully Moose and I will find a spot to get our hair cut. We both are way overdue.

Hope this finds you all well and getting into the Christmas spirit. It doesn't yet seem like Christmas to me since we are not in the stores that over emphasize the holiday and the weather certainly doesn't feel like wintertime. Please stay in touch and let us know what is happening in your lives.

Update

Not sure where we were when I last wrote. We anchored out at St. Simon's Island awaiting high tide on the following afternoon so we could get through Jekyll Island Creek which gets very shallow. There was a line of about 8 sailboats going through the creek at the same time as us. We made it through and after a nice day of travel anchored in Brickhill River off Cumberland Island where there is a mansion built by one of the Carnegie's and now owned by the state of GA. While walking Moose, the Park policeman came by and told us he had lived on his sailboat until he took this job about 8 months back. He is the only law enforcement/EMT on the island and is required to live in the mansion. His ketch is anchored out in the River.


 We are now far enough south that the days are warm but of course being in the south means bugs. So out comes the repellent. There are always tradeoffs. The sunsets and sunrises in GA are beautiful but the 7-9 ft. tides I can live without. It makes travel and anchoring much more complicated. If we anchor in 15 ft. at night we can be looking at 6 ft. in the morning  The nice thing is that the bottom is much cleaner than in the Chesapeake so we don't spend as much time washing down the anchor chain when we leave in the mornings.  We headed out for St. Mary's this morning and as we traveled along the Cumberland Sound a Patrol boat from the submarine base came charging up behind us with a machine gun on the bow. We slowed and they told us that there would be a sub leaving within the hour and we were to maintain a distance of 500 yards. We were already out of the sound and into the St. Mary's River however before it came through.


 Our chartplotter and gauges have been giving us some trouble. The rpm gauge is intermittent and the temp gauge is not registering at all. When the chart plotter stops working I spend a lot of time with the chart in front of me calling off the markers for John at the helm. I pretty much do that anyway as I don't trust the chart plotter but it requires much more attention when all we have is the paper chart. The ICW is really just a channel down the center of various rivers, sounds and cuts through land. There is shallow water on either side of this channel and often the channel is very narrow although it looks like you have the whole river in which to travel. It is maintained by the Army Corp of Engineers and in the past several years it has not been a priority and there has been little money to keep it dredged. The stimulus funds did provide some funding for the dredging in problem areas. It used to be used much more by commercial traffic but that has fallen off and with mostly recreational traffic there is little pressure for the funds to keep it deep enough for marine traffic. The currents move the sand and cause shoals to form. Many communities on the ICW have lobbied for keeping it open as they derive a lot of business from the boating community but with the economy as it has been not much was done until 2010-2011 when some funds were made available. There are still problem areas so we have to watch the tides carefully as we travel. 


Well once again aground going into St. Mary's River. Waited several hours to float off and as we floated off we lost our steering. John went below to set up emergency steering which was almost impossible. The emergency steering is such that once hooked up it has to be driven from below in the aft cabin where you can't see where you are steering. So the person below must shout out the port window to the person in the cockpit who shouts back which way to turn. There has to be something about this setup we don't understand at this point. John thinks that it might fit  up behind the cockpit through the aft locker but it is not immediately obvious and we will mess with that after we get the steering fixed.


We are now in a repair boat yard. Very rustic. Lots of boats on block stands only a few in the water. Not much dock space so boats are rafted up next to each other. No landscaping just a lot of weeds and dirt. They had to shuffle things around to make room for us. There is one bathroom/shower and a lot of nice people who are living on their boats while working on them.They seem to gather on the porch in front of the restroom and visit. Since we got in late and it got dark quickly and started to rain we didn't really get to know anyone although we said hello and Moose made a few friends on his walk. 


 We are waiting for the repair guy to meet us this morning to see what the problem is. John determined that the cables are ok on the steering mechanism under our bed. Next step is to remove the compass from the steering wheel binacle in the cockpit and examine the cable sprocket. Removing the compass requires marking it in order to make sure it goes back on correctly. It's placement must be very exact of course and will probably require an expert at some later time to reset it. The fellow who will take a look thinks that it is not a major problem-famous last words. Once again it is good this system quit now rather than in the middle of the Gulf Stream. Every time a system breaks down we learn how it works and how to repair it ourselves so it serves a purpose. Actually John learns. I am so far behind the curve in all of the mechanical stuff. I listen but I first have to learn the language before I can begin to understand what is being said.


Steering appears to be repaired. There was too much slack in the cables and allowed the chain to jump off of the sprocket. John, with the assistance of Phil the electrician, pulled the chain back onto the sprocket and tightened up the cable. We believe this has solved the problem. 


Thanksgiving dinner was great. There was so much food. It was held in the dining room of the hotel in the historic downtown on the harbor. The hotel set up many tables to fill their dining area to seat all of the cruisers. We had a very nice time. The winds were sustained around 20-25 with gusts to 30 and many cruisers who were anchored in the river did not wish to leave their boats as there has been much dragging in the anchorage. One couple we met had another boat drag anchor and hit them at 4:30 a.m. They sustained damage to their catamaran. They left the anchorage this a.m when the winds came up and motored over to the river where our dockyard is for some safety. It looks like our plan is to leave here Sunday morning on high tide as our dockyard is high and dry at low tide. 
We met a really nice couple from Toronto who are working on their boat getting it ready to head to the Keys and on to the Bahamas. They have a car and we went to dinner with them and they shared a lot of their experiences and general info about crossing the Gulf Stream and checking in with customs. It was very informative and helpful. We are set to leave just before high tide in the a.m. continuing south to Stuart to pick up our sail at Mack Sails.


Thinking of you all,
Elyse

In St. Mary's, Georgia

Hi gang,

As I think you know we had planned to be in St Mary's, GA for Thanksgiving.  We are here.  As I am sure you have learned, we don't do anything the easy way.  The place with the least amount of water along the ICW is the passage by Jakwll Island.  We have done it several times.  We got all worked up and went through yesterday without any problem by waiting for a bunch of other boats.  In the past we did it on our own and ignorance was bliss.  We anchored in a great creek last night next to Cumberland Island.  There are wild horses and alligators.  We saw neither although I had Moose looking for the latter early this morning.  We then headed for St Mary's.  We were going to be their early and find a place to anchor among what looks to be at least a hundred boats.  Half way up the river I ran aground.  Remember the tides in Georgia are seven feet or more.  The tide was falling.  We had no choice but to wait for it to come back.  When it came back in we started the engine and got ready to float off the bottom.  I instructed Elyse to move the wheel back and forth in the hope it would free us.  All of a sudden Elyse announced that we had no steering.  The wheel would spin.  We called Tow Boat to pull us off and take us someplace.  While they were on their way we floated off.  Actually we were under power.  Instead of dropping anchor which would have been the smart thing, I ran below and started to assemble our emergency rudder.  As I was putting it together the tow showed up.  They took us to this old boat yard full of great characters.  They promised the would be sure to get us to the Thanksgiving dinner. 

We are hoping the steering problem is small.  The guys at the ;yard think so.  it's like the chain coming off your bicycle.  We will see in the morning.  We have now both showered and will have our dinner.  We are safe.  We miss you all and look forward to hearing from you.

Eat lots of turkey.

John & Elyse

Update, Heading South

We left Wrightsville Beach a little later than usual to try and miss the current in the Cape Fear River. It can cut our speed way down. Going under the bridge at Carolina Beach, the fellow in the following boat told us later when he caught up to us that he kept saying to himself "don't do it" as he was sure our mast would not clear the bridge. Another sailboat held back for a couple of hours for the tide to drop as they were afraid their mast would not clear. There is a measure board on the side of each bridge that shows the clearance and this one showed it would be tight but John was confident although he later admitted his stomach jumped to his throat as we went under. We were close but made it through into Snow's cut and on to the Cape Fear River.

We arrived in Southport by noon and turned into a slip at Provision Co. It is a very funky restaurant on the harbor with only outside seating in a rustic setting so to speak. The slips are free if you have a meal at the restaurant and so we did. A burger and a beer. It was great!!  There is no water or electricity but it is safe and does not require a dinghy run to shore in the a.m.

We are now back in the world of tidal currents and big tides where from the time we arrived at noon when we stepped off the boat onto the dock until  3 1/2 hrs. later when we needed a ladder to climb from Spunky's deck to the dock. I was hopeful that if we waited until 5 or so we could get Moose off for his evening constitutional. We could with a hand up from Stephen our neighbor. Then I  fixed dinner and we turned in. We have a minimum of 65 miles tomorrow-75 if we can make it with the currents-and we will once again be up very early and on the way before daylight. In two days we should be in Charleston. If we had our genoa we would have gone out into the Atlantic at Cape Fear and sailed all night down to Charleston cutting the trip down by a day. We would like to make St. Mary's, GA by Thanksgiving Day which is at mile marker 712. It will be doable but could be iffy depending on wind and current. Since loosing the opportunity to go outside in the Atlantic, we will probably wait to take possession of our new genoa til we arrive in Stuart, FL where it is being made. 

Things are falling into a pattern now and I am especially pleased that Spunky is running well. John used this afternoon to check the fluids in the engine and batteries. The engine is slow to start in the a.m. because diesel engines do not like cold but the temps are getting slightly warmer as we inch our way south. I can really identify with our engine. 

It is 5 a.m. and we anchored last night near McClenllanville, SC in Five Fathoms Creek. We are getting ready to depart. In a few minutes we will take Moose out to a small strip of beach near the ICW. It is dark and the wind is up and the wind generator is whining. Yesterday afternoon I called a small fuel dock in McClellanville for local knowledge about the depth in the Town Creek Channel. The chart said only 2 ft. but the cruising guide said that the shrimp boats use it to go out so we believed it must be a deep channel. It turned out that we were correct and we took it out to the creek where we anchored. The channel is marked but narrow. When we left the following morning in the dark it was very foggy. 

Last night we stayed in Osprey Marina in South Myrtle Beach. It was off the Wacamah River and the only place where we could stop to walk Moose. We have to get him to go on the boat. He does when he gets scared so I know he can learn that the boat deck is his"yard". The Wacamah is lined with cypress swamp. All you see along the shore are cypress trunks and tress with massive roots. It is beautiful but no landing possibilities. In order to access the marina you make a left turn into a forest of cypress tress in the middle of nowhere. It was so cool and very pretty but the ramp to the clubhouse was very steep. 

Today we head for the Charleston area and hope to anchor in Stony Creek. A lot depends on the wind and tidal current as to where we will end up. We left Five Fathom Creek in very dense fog. It was a challenge to get out of Town Creek and back on the ICW. The travel was intense watching for the markers in the fog. John was at the helm and I was tracking the chart and we made it through. 

Here we are in Stony Creek just past Charleston. We had a very challenging day. We were in fog like California has on the "5". It would be zero visibility for a long time and then ok. Very stressful. On the ride across the Charleston Harbor, in choppy conditions, Moose jumped down about 5 ft. to the salon and found a place on his cushion with his blanket. We think that was a forward step for him. He slept there until we slowed for the Wappow Creek Bridge and then asked to come up top.

We anchored in Stony Creek near Buzzards Roast Marina which is a large body of water and we are tuned into the weather alerts and are hearing tornado warnings with high winds and t-storms. We are on alert. John is up top watching the weather and our anchor. I am below on the computer. Our plan is to wait until morning before we decide whether to go toward Georgia or to hold here until the weather clears. The good news is that the temps are fairly warm and Spunky is running well. 

Well here we are in Hilton Head. Yesterday we battled wind and current to get to Mosquito Creek by late afternoon. There is a seafood company there that has a dock that will accomodate two boats. We were too late and both spaces were taken. We anchored in the creek in front of the store but the woman who was working there (owner?) said we would have to move as she had a 60 ft. shrimp boat coming in to deliver and it would leave to go out again at 5 a.m. and we were in the way. She directed us to an anchorage around the bend which she said would be better. Well perhaps better for her but we ended up on a sand bar as the tide fell. Who knew it was there? Only the locals and we didn't get to talk to them.The tides are between 6-9ft here in SC. There we sat as the tide went out and Spunkyt listed so far over that we were standing on her side while eating dinner. Sometime after 10 p.m. the tide had risen enough that when we put out our small jib we floated off. We moved and set the anchor in the dark. Always a touchy activity since one has limited vision and space perception. We went to bed but were up at 3 a.m. repeating the anchoring as we were too close to the bank and concerned we would go aground again as the tide went out. The great part was we were able to wait for a change in tide and handle everything ourselves and we were off in the early a.m. followed by a line of 6 sailboats who may have sat out the rough winds of the day before and were headed south once again. The winds continue and we are now tied to a fuel dock this afternoon with the wind and waves pushing us hard against the dock. It sounds like someone is hitting Spunky's hull with a hammer. We took showers and now  will do laundry and we plan on leaving tomorrow for Georgia. The temp only got to 62 today but the forecast is for lighter winds and warmer temps over the next few so our spirits are high. We hope to get to St. Mary's by Thanksgiving and it is looking like we may make it. 

Take care everyone and please send notes.

Update, Heading South

We left the Dismal Swamp this morning at 7 a.m. hoping to make it through the South Mill lock and on to Elizabeth City however the weather called for gale winds so we stopped at the bulkhead before the lock and tied up. The gusts will be to 40 mph and after our day last week we decided not to be out on the water. We could have gone on to an anchorage before Elizabeth City but would have had to take Moose ashore in high winds and we were not up for that. John is using this quiet time to change the engine oil. We hope we will be safe here tonight. We are the only boat in our group that did not go through the lock. I guess the others will find a place to ride out the winds at anchor or in a marina.

We called a marina in Elizabeth City but they don't open until noon. We don't wish to leave the canal unless we know we have space in a protected marina. The free dock at E.C. will likely be full and it gets no protection from the NW winds which will be blowing hard tonight.

We were rafted between two boats last night. The one on the outside was a mess. A real fixer upper that a guy had just bought and was taking it home to NC. The old owner was with him helping him get the boat down to New Bern. He was a piece of work. He didn't understand boat etiquette and put his dog "Cujo" onto our boat without permission. The dog, a Spitz I think, promptly jumped into our cockpit and peed on our rug. (We hope this may encourage Moose to use this in the future). This morning they could not get their engine started and so we assisted them in pulling their boat by rope around the others and up to the bulkhead so everyone else could leave. 

The Dismal Swamp is an area according to the cruising guides and to our friend Ed-our historian-where George Washington purchased 40,000 acres of swamp land with some other investors with plans to drain the swamp, cut the timber and farm the land. He supervised the digging of the ditch. He ultimately became disenchanted with the project and sold his interest to "Lighthorse" Harry Lee,father of Robert E. Lee. The area is now a wildlife refuge and very beautiful. 

At 10:30 we got a call from Pelican Marina saying they had a place for us. John had just completed the oil change and we took off. We entered the 2nd lock and dropped 12 feet to the Pasquotank River. The trip was uneventful and we passed through the Elizabeth City Bridge at 2:30 and headed for the Pelican Marina where Josh stood on the dock in the rain to assist us. We passed the free dock which accommodates 14 boats and it was full. It has no electric, bathrooms or wifi. The marina we found is only $35.00 per night including electric and wifi. It is totally funky. The boats here are pretty shabby and worn as opposed to the boats we have seen along the way. The bathrooms are clean but aging as is the laundry which by the way is free as opposed to the usual costs of $2.00 to $3.00 for a load of wash and same to dry. This evening the store/office is full of people visiting the dock master and drinking beer. It is like a gathering place. Usually a marina charges $2.00 to $2.50 per night per foot and extra for electric.

The winds will stay strong through tomorrow night so we will stay another night here and hope to leave on Sunday. On the next leg we cross the Abermarel Sound which is a large body of water that can get very angry in high winds or when the wind opposes the current. 

Our friends Don and Jean who live on the Outer Banks, picked us up on Sat and drove us to their home to have a wonderful dinner, do laundry and sleep in a warm house. We returned to Spunky after provisioning for the week that Don and Jean will accompany us down the ICW to Wrightsville Beach, NC where they will rent a car and return home and we will continue on our journey. 

The winds were very high again on Sat. night but John had secured Spunky and we felt she was safe while we were gone. Monday morning at 7 a.m. we cast off and motored across the Albermarle Sound in calm winds. We had a short day as we could not make it to the next moose friendly stop in one day without our genoa to assist and needed to break this leg into 2. We made our way slowly off the channel watching our depth to an unmarked area and anchored behind Durand Island and Don and John took the dinghy into shore which was pretty much marsh and cypress swamp to find a spot for Moose. They did find one and fortunately Don had high boots to get Moose through the marsh grass to solid ground. It is really pretty here. Very quiet with the banks lined with cypress and the water a nice blue. We spotted an eagle sitting atop a high tree and leaning into the winds.  

This afternoon we ordered our new genoa from Mack Sails. It will be a few weeks before it is completed and sent to us. In the meantime we have a small stay sail that really is not large enough in winds less than 20 mph to do much for our speed.

Tomorrow we will leave at daylight for Belhaven, NC. It should be another pretty and calm day. We are about an hour northeast of the Alligator River Bridge. There is one marina on this stretch from Elizabeth City to Belhaven and it's entry channel is too shallow for us so we had to choose this anchorage for the night.

We continued on through the Alligator River Swing Bridge this morning and on to Belhaven, NC. This is a nice anchorage and we stopped for fuel along with 2 huge power yachts. One was 122 ft. long and was at the fuel dock for a long time. John took Moose in for his walk while I fixed dinner and we had a wonderful evening with friends. The next morning we were off to the Neuse River and the Whitaker Marina in Oriental, NC. On our way north this spring we anchored in South River 4 miles off the ICW and took Moose into an old abandoned cemetery where we were eaten by mosquitos. This trip we thought our travel companions would appreciate a hot shower and real bathrooms as did we. The marina is new and lovely but the entry channel is very shallow and we went aground for a few minutes but John was able to back us off. We used the courtesy car at the marina to make a run to the grocery store for more wine and to fill our spare propane tank and did a load of laundry so we were set for the next leg which took us to Moorehead City, NC. Here we anchored behind Sugarloaf Island. The winds were supposed to blow 20-30 mph that night and we had some trouble setting the anchor but after a walk through town (which was closed pretty much for the season) we settled in for the night. John got up in the night and sat on watch for over an hour to make sure our anchor stayed put which it did until 4 a.m. when I awoke to see that we were very close to another anchored sloop. We jumped up, threw on our clothes and went up top to pull the anchor up and move farther away. By the time that maneuver was complete it was almost 5 a.m. and we decided to run Moose ashore and take off with the early dawn light. It is always exciting to travel at night and there was just a hint of morning in the sky when we left. Up until now the days had been pleasant but this morning was cold. We knew this would be a long day. It was too far to try to reach Wrightsville Beach but we thought that the one anchorage along this stretch in the middle of Camp Lejune would not accommodate Moose (as it turns out it would have been fine for him) so we pushed on to south of the Surf City Bridge to a small marina that could accommodate only 3 boats on the fuel dock bulkhead. It was a run of 62 miles and that is a lot for us in a slow moving boat on these short days. There are 3 opening bridges between Surf City and Wrightsville Beach and they only open at certain times. If you are not there you miss the opening and have to wait for up to an hour for the next. We had to be in Wrightsville Beach early as we had mail forwarded to us there and with Friday a holiday our only shot to pick it up was Sat. morning before noon. We decided to get through the bridge at Surf City so we would only have 2 bridge times to make before getting to the Post Office the next day. The day was long heading down Bogue Sound and in a moment of inattention while Don was learning how to be the helmsman he ran Spunky hard aground and were delayed over an hour waiting for a tow to get us back into the channel. We anxiously raced to the Surf City Bridge's 4 p.m. opening and made it by the "skin of our teeth". The following morning we were up at the crack to race to the next bridge openings and Don and Jean, now veteran cruisers, ably assisted in our early morning cast off from our sandwiched position between one very large power yacht and some smaller boats. The temp was in the low 30's and there was frost on the ground.  We arrived in Wrightsville Beach at the Seapath Yacht Club in plenty of time to get to the Post Office and now John and I sit below planning the next leg of our trip. We are so looking forward to some warmer climes. 

Jean took some photos which I will forward when she sends them to me. Hope all is well with everyone. You are all in our thoughts.

Photos of Lock at Dismal Swamp

These are photos of the first lock we went through on the Dismal Swamp. Robert the lock master has been there forever. He is the nicest man and plays a conch while we wait for the water to rise. The first lock raises the boats 7-8 feet and the second lock lowers the boats 12 feet. Robert invited all the traveling dogs to get off the boats in the lock area and play while we waited for the water to fill the lock. There were about 5 dogs all together and they all got along well. The Dismal Swamp was lovely and the weather was sunny and comfortable. History of the area will follow in the next update.

I am making an effort to get better about taking photos. These are with John's droid. 

Heading South

Well we met Mike, Jo and Alaina for dinner in Reston, VA on Tues. to say goodbye and the next day met John W. and Haley for lunch in DC.  We sold the car at Car-max in Laurel, Md. and John W. followed us back to Md. to deliver the car and then drove us back to Spunky. We are now carless. The weather report said snow on Thurs so in the morning we took the dinghy into Annapolis and walked to the Harbormaster's office to get a final Amazon shipment and then hightailed it back to Spunky to take off a day before we had planned. We motored to the fuel dock where we filled our fuel and water tanks and headed out at 1 p.m. We stopped 2 rivers south where we knew there was a post office and we hoped to get to mail our license plate back to FL but by the time we arrived the post office had just closed and the mistress said she could not help us. That left us anchored out in an unprotected anchorage as a Nor"easter came through. We were up most of the night checking our anchor and we dragged anchor twice in the high wind. Once we raised the anchor and reset it and the second time we let out more chain. It finally caught and held tight. Fortunately no one else was there in the anchorage area and we were in no danger of hitting anyone but it made for a sleepless and stressful night. The next morning at o'dark 30 we took Moose into land in high winds in lifejackets and with a flashlight to find our way so he could do his business and we then left for Solomon's Island at daybreak. When we arrived at Solomon's we took a mooring ball rather than anchoring out so we could be assured of some uninterrupted sleep. The weather was awful. Cold wind and rain. The front that brought snow to the east coast was moving through.


The next day was so rough that we only took Moose ashore one time as we felt it was too dangerous to go out in the dinghy. We left Solomon's the next morning and headed for Deltaville. We had planned to have an engine tech look over our engine. The trip down was uneventful but the winds were directly behind us so we did not put the sails up and just motored. We were concerned we would not make it into Jackson Creek by dark and had decided reluctantly to anchor outside of the entrance in an unprotected anchorage but the wind came around and we raised the sails and sailed into the creek just before dark. The entrance is somewhat tricky and when we saw a power boat approaching behind us we circled around to follow them in thinking that they knew more than we did but it turned out they were from Canada and did not know any more than we did. They went aground and we found the path in. The following morning we took the dinghy into the marina to see if the Perkins (our engine ) guy could take a look at our engine as we were not confident that the fellow who installed our engine knew what he was doing. As it turned out he was not available so we made a quick decision to leave at 10 a.m. and try to make Portsmouth. Big mistake. The winds were high and the waves as well and we had a very uncomfortable run down the bay. About lunch time John went below and discovered the salon floor was awash in water. We later determined a hose under the forward head sink had come loose bringing water into the boat and our bilge pumps were not working (they were newly installed). He began to hand pump water bucket by bucket while Moose and I stayed up top and kept Spunky on course. After a long day of very uncomfortable conditions (Moose trembling the entire time) we approached Hampton Roads in high winds. We tacked to go across the channel and the genoa tore. We think it may have caught on the radar but are not sure. We pulled it in as we tossed about in the winds. It was not easy to control Spunky and John had to go forward in very rough waters to untangle the jib sheets while I tried to hold Spunky into the wind. It was very scary. Once that was done I, trying to be positive, said that the good news was that our engine was still working well and literally at that moment the engine died. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon. We were just outside a major shipping lane where very large ships move in and out of the Newport shipyards and we were without any engine power or sails. We called for a tow and were told it would be an hour(as it turned out more) for someone to reach us. It was not our best moment. We were drifting into the shipping lane. We were both exhausted and demoralized but we waited for the tow and reached the marina at 9 p.m. John decided that the mangled jib needed to come down before we went to bed so it would not bother others as it was torn badly and blowing in the winds and hitting against the furler. It was tangled and wrapped in pieces around the furler and took some time to get it down. By the time we finished there was still the cabin to clean up. It was wet and in total disarray as John had tossed things out of cabinets and hatches looking for where the water was entering the boat. There were soggy books and papers and towels everywhere. We finally gave up and had some Ramon and wine and fell into bed. The next day was spent measuring the torn jib in order to find a new one, replacing the fuel filter which was clogged with dirt from the tossing in the wind and churning up the sediment in the fuel tank and using the hair dryer to dry lots of wet canned goods before putting them back into storage. By the following day John had the engine running and we had decided to purchase a new $$$ sail rather than a used one. We will order it and have it shipped to us along the way. We left Portsmouth at 8 a.m.( a little less than 36 hours after we arrived) for the Dismal Swamp with more lessons learned.


The Dismal Swamp and the weather were beautiful The trees hang over the water and the leaves are turning to red and gold. We entered the first lock at about 11:30. There were 9 boats that moved into the first lock where we were all raised 8 feet up to the swamp. We got some photos which will follow. The lock master allowed all the dogs to get off the boats and run in his yard. There were 5 including the dock master's lab. They all got along and had a wonderful time. Our boat is a bit slow so we decided not to try to make the secong lock opening in 22 miles and to stay the night at the Visitors Center. By the time we arrived there it was full and we rafted up next to an already docked powerboat. By the time night came there were 3 boats on our raft and a total of 8 boats in all rafted up on a 150' dock. We leave tomorrow morning at 7 a.m.for the next lock which will lower us back down and we will continue on to Elizabeth City, NC. The weather is supposed to be rainy and cold.

More later. Hope this finds you all well and warm. 

Elyse

The Boat Show

I finished my job at the boat show last night and John will finish up tomorrow. They are tearing down today and tomorrow. I really enjoyed working at the ticket booths and filling in at the gates. I hope next year I will be healthy enough to work the entire show. It is interesting to meet all the people. There is a lot of drinking by the attendees and there were some accidents that involved people falling into the water. One guy by John's assigned gate at the powerboat show lost his $200 Raybans over the side and dove in after them forgetting that his Iphone was in his pocket. There were a couple more who fell in following some of the nightly vender parties and at 4 a.m. one morning a drunk teen jumped off the Spa Creek Bridge and could not be found however the boy's brother called the police and a helicopter was sent up to look for him so they had his name and they tracked him down the following day at his home. Pretty expensive drinking night.

The folks that attend the sailboat show in general are somewhat different than those who attend the powerboat show. More jewelry and high heeled shoes at the latter. The sailboaters tend to be less showy and to live more frugally although as sailboat people get older, if they can afford it, they turn to trawlers as they are easier to handle and offer more living space and personal living comforts then are found on the sailboats of comparable size . All the folks I met were very nice, fun to talk to and very much in a good mood and excited about going to the show. Most of the workers are sailboat cruisers but there are some trawler cruisers and some locals who live in Annapolis in houses but work the show every year. It is the boat show's 40th anniversary.

The winds were above 20 knots on Sat. and Sun. and we were concerned about leaving Spunky alone at anchor but had no choice as all the mooring balls were taken when we left the marina on Tuesday night. We were fine but another couple in the show received a call that their boat had dragged anchor and they had to leave quickly and return to rescue their boat. Fortunately someone saw what happened and thought to call the show office and fortunately their boat had not dragged into another boat or dock. When they pulled their anchor up to move, the anchor  came up with an old battery attached that was on the bottom of Back Creek so it never actually dug in and held. They ended up finding an empty mooring ball on Spa Creek one creek closer to the show. They are smaller than we are and fit on more moorings than we do. That mooring field only takes boats up to 35 ft. Two other sailboats have moved into our small anchorage. One looks to be about 38 ft. and another came this morning and I guess it to be 42 ft. It is quite crowded now and if someone drags it could be a mess but the winds have died down and so I am comfortable all will go well. The Harbormaster has made three trips back here today already (at 2:30) to check on boats. This is a very busy time as a lot of boats are heading south and stop for a few days or so in Annapolis to get supplies or make repairs on their way. 

Depending on when John finishes up with the show, we will provision with lots of canned goods as it is helpful to have the car to transport them. We are using our 2nd head (bathroom) to store all the provisions we are taking on and leaving our forward berth open for our friends Don and Jean who will be traveling with us for a bit on our way south. In addition, we have some engine problems that have to be addressed and two more doc appointments. Once all that is complete we will sell the car and be off for points south. We are leaving later then most which means colder weather but also fewer crowds to contend with. Although the destination anchorages in Florida will be more crowded by the time we arrive. I am learning not to anticipate problems and agonize about things over which I have no control.

Moose has been living high and in great comfort with our friends Anne and Michael. He did come down with a bladder infection and Anne went above and beyond and drove him to the vet for x-rays and meds. We were concerned that he might have another bout of bladder stones as he did about 4 years ago hence the caution and the blood work and x-rays. Cha-ching. It turns out it was just an infection and he is on antibiotics for 2 weeks. On Sat. Anne once again went out of her way and dropped him off for a spa day as his hair had grown down over his eyes and he resembled a small sheep dog. I am not sure he will want to return to the boat after his "vacation" time. Anne says that he has settled nicely into their routine and everyone loves him. One of her friends and neighbors brings her little dog Bailey over to play with Moose. I know he will greatly miss this more normal life.

It is truly fall here now. The leaves seemed to change overnight and they float by on the water. It is very pretty. We would leave for our days at the show while it was still dark in the a.m. and watch the sun rise. The sky has been beautiful all shades of pink. We had a double rainbow over the weekend while working and John tried to get a photo but could not get his phone camera to work in time to take the shot before the clouds moved back in. 

We heard this morning that Haley and two friends were witness to a shooting in D.C. while waiting at a bus stop near Gallaudet on their way out for the evening. They were interviewed as witnesses by the police. It was very scary for them but they were not hurt just very frightened.

I hope this finds everyone well. Stay in touch as we love to hear from you.