Merry Christman

We spent three days in Vero on a mooring ball rafted up next to a beautiful Island Packet 45, Margarita, with a very nice couple, Bill and Margaret, who we really enjoyed. They were on their boat when we arrived and were able to assist in our rafting . They were waiting for a weather window to cross to the Bahamas. While in Vero we were able to visit with some friends from Annapolis who are heading south and also where able to take the free public bus into town to get a little shopping done. We can't do too much at one time since I am the only one who can currently carry any groceries back to Spunky.

Vero Beach has a mooring field off of the municipal marina in a very protected creek. They pretty much accommodate all boats by rafting (tying together) 2-3 boats on a ball. It is a nice place to stop with easy access to groceries and boat services. We enjoyed our stay but were anxious to get a mooring in Stuart where we planned to stay until John's doc appt. back in Melbourne on Jan 4. We were in touch with our friend Jage who lives on her boat in the Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart and was assisting us in getting an open mooring. They fill up quickly and do not raft boats so we needed to know when one came open so we could get there quickly. Jage suggested we come down and anchor across the river if none were available so we left Vero early Sunday morning and headed down the ICW with plans to arrive between 1 and 2 p.m. in Stuart. On our way we received a call from the marina that our name was next on the list and there was a ball available. On the way down our throttle cable stuck and would not let us accelerate past a certain point so we were a little bit slow in transit but arrived and attempted to pick up the empty ball. Usually John drives up to the mooring ball and I use a boat hook to grab it and attach it by line to Spunky. It is not usually a problem.  We proceeded as usual but as we approached the ball Spunky's momentum kept her going past the ball while I was holding on. I ended up flat on the deck holding on to the pennant as it floated past the bow toward the stern while trying to communicate with John that I needed help. We didn't have a hand signal for Help!! I finally let it go and we circled around for our second try. I was just on edge with all my new responsibilities and didn't handle things as well as I might have. The second time worked fine and we had a chuckle about our first try.

Stuart is a charming town on the St. Lucia River with a small downtown area with restaurants and shops within walking distance of the marina. We have enjoyed the potlucks and 'meet and greets' at the marina. Dec. 21 was a Christmas sing-a-long in the Marina lounge. We have used the marina shuttle to get to West Marine, Publix grocery store, and Walmart.It runs twice a week in the morning. Today we walked into the old downtown area and found the public bus stop which is a free service that goes to the big box stores out on Highway US 1.

It is Christmas Eve and we are back on Spunky fixing dinner and relaxing. Tomorrow will be a potluck dinner with the cruisers and marina inhabitants who are here for the holiday. We are thinking of all our family and friends and hoping everyone has a wonderful day. We are thrilled to have a new granddaughter, born on Dec. 21, Cora Elizabeth Solomon. Know that you all are all in our thoughts and our hearts.

Merry Christmas,
Elyse and John

Heading South

Hello to you.  It has been too long since I sent an update.  So long I have forgotten many of the shortcuts on the Mac.  I will work to do better.  I have added Elyse's updates which are always better written and entertaining.  If you like, you can read mine as the Reader's Digest version.

We are currently located in Stuart, FL.  It is one of our favorite stops along the way.  We are on a mooring and have all of the services of showers and laundry.  We met friends from last year when we were here and Elyse is off shopping with them now. We are back in cruising form.  Only wear shoes to go ashore and the long pants have been stored away.  We are dealing with bugs but that is a small sacrifice.

This past year we made a pledge to renew old friendships and contacts.  We rented a car in Annapolis and drove around and visited kids and grandkids who had not been able to visit us in DC.  We also saw my old VMI roommate, Larry Boese, and his wife.  Larry is a retired 3 star Air Force general.  I wish I had followed his lead in school.  We saw my old boss and close friend Ann Sarles in Memphis and saw friends in Panama City.  On the way back to Annapolis we spent the night with the Larkens in Columbia, SC

The Annapolis Harbor Boatyard again got Spunky ready to head south.  New bottom paint and polish.  Our big purchase this year was a water maker.  We are looking forward to an unlimited supply of fresh water while in the Bahamas.  We worked at the Boat Show again.  More work than money so we are trying to decide if we will return next year.  We spent time with lots of old friends and met some new ones.

We headed south around the first of November.  It was already getting much too cold.  We stopped in Solomon's Island and had trouble with the windlass which pulls the anchor and chain back on board.  They do not make our model any more and parts are getting hard to find.  We decided we would bite the bullet and go replace it and upgrade the size to handle our larger 73 lb anchor.  As we continued south, Hurricane Sandy was coming north.

We had promised to stop and see my old friend Renny Barnes in Fleets bay on the Chesapeake.  Renny and I grew up two blocks from each other from the time we were in 2nd grade.  He and his beautiful wife Lena built and incredible home on a point of land near White Stone, VA.  They had arranged for us to put Spunky at a friends dock because their water was too shallow.  At the same time we research and selected our new Maxwell windlass.  Sandy passed by and we adjusted lines and lived with two feet of water over the dock.  After passing it turned very cold.  We quickly accepted Lena's invitation to move into their warm home.  Through their contacts we selected a yard to help with the deck modifications that were needed.

We have seldom been better cared for.  It was great spending time with Renny and sharing old stories with Lena and Elyse.  Some of them may have even been true.  Because of the hurricane many businesses in the Northeast were closed.  It took longer than expected to get the windlass and I started filling out adoption papers and prepared to change our name to Barnes.  Friends went from it is so great for Renny to spend time with his old friend to, "they're still there?". We went to a neighbor's birthday party and the local Oyster Festival.

We moved to the Weldon Brothers Marina in Deltaville for the installation and they did a fantastic job at a great price.  As you will read, I am very happy we put in the new windlass.  Renny and Lena drove over and took us to dinner.

We had great weather with good wind behind us as we moved south.  We went through the Dismal Swamp that had been built by George Washington and dug by hand.  We stopped in Elizabeth City and spent a couple of nights with Don and Jean Pratt, another childhood friend.  At one point on the Nuess River we hit 9.5 knots of speed, motor sailing with just our genoa out.  For us that was very exciting.  We reached Hilton Head right after Thanksgiving.

We secured the boat in a marina and moved into a time share condo with Ann Sarles and another old friend Marilyn Shane.  While there we saw Michael Griffith and his daughter Ryan.  Like Haley she is still looking for the "right" position.  She spent years over seas in the middle and far east.

We left Hilton Head and sailed overnight to St Augustine, FL.  From their we followed the ICW to Cocoa Village and met up with my Cousin, Mary Solomon.  She is a retired Air Force LTC who at one point had taught Astronautical Physics at the Naval Academy.  She spent most of her career launching missiles and putting up satellites.  She now teaches underwater photography and diving.  She was able to fix Elyse up with all new snorkeling gear for a song.

We left there for the Seven Seas Cruising Association meeting in Melbourne.  It is a great group we listened to some nationally known speakers and saw several people we had met last year in our travels.  On Saturday night we left a little early to return to our boat.  Our dingy was tangled in a group of seven others.  I had to climb around and push and pull lines to get where we could get in and get back to our boat.  At that point things got bad.

I started having increasing pain in my lower abdomen.  It became so severe I told Elyse I needed to get to a hospital.  When we were unable to reach friends at the meeting who had cars I said call an ambulance.  At the hospital it was determined I had an acute hernia.  They had to put me to sleep to stuff my intestines back in the hole.   The next day the operated and repaired it.  Over the years Elyse had learned how to operate the dingy and outboard but as rule I handled it.  She returned to it at 1:30 am alone and started the engine and got back to the boat.  She has had to take over all the chores and lifting on the boat.  I am glad we have the new windlass that enables her to raise the anchor with a foot peddle.

We then went to Vero Beach and now to Stuart.  We will be here through Christmas and maybe New Years.  We will rent a car and drive back to Melbourne for my follow up appointment.  We are still planning to go to Miami and then cross to the Bahamas.

Spunky Fall 2012

After leaving St. Augustine, FL, we had two nice days of motoring down through FL to Cocoa where we anchored out and spent some time with cousin Mary Solomon. Mary was kind to take us to her home where we could shower and do laundry. We were able to use her great expertise to purchase new snorkel equipment. She is a master diver and travels the world diving and exploring.  We wandered through Cocoa Village with lots of small gift shops and art galleries. It is lovely here. We can't believe how many dolphins we saw on the trip down. I dug out my bird book to follow the shore birds. Today the temp is forecast to be in the high 70's. I am finally warm.

We arrived in Eau Gallie Wed. morning and anchored close to the civic center where the SSCA gam will take place over the weekend. We plan to enjoy the speakers and vendor displays and ask a lot of questions of the other cruisers.

Well Friday and Saturday went well and we heard good speakers, saw friends and had a good time. Around 9 p.m. we were tired and headed back to Spunky on the hook out in the anchorage. There were about 6-7 dinghys at the dock and John had to push and pull to get ours out of the group. As he climbed onto Spunky he started having strong pains in his lower abdomen. In a few minutes the pain went from bad to worse. I tried to reach our friend Debbie with a car who had driven down to the gam but the call did not go through so I called 911. They said to get him to shore and there would be an ambulance. We got to shore and rode to the nearest hospital where they determined it was an acute hernia and proceeded to try and push John's intestines back into his abdomen. The pain was intense and the admitting doc called the surgeon who came down and put John under anesthesia so they could push things back together. When that was done it was about 1 a.m. and I left him called a taxi and returned to the dock. Due to my back problems, I don't often start the outboard or run the dinghy but there I was at 1:30 a.m. by myself getting the outboard going and getting myself back to Spunky. I was truly concerned that I would not be able to get the outboard started as it can be temperamental not to mention steering the thing accurately enough to glide up along side Spunky and climb aboard. I did both and arrived totally exhausted but so hyped up that after running the generator to charge the batteries I could not get to sleep.  I managed those trips in to shore and back to Spunky until Monday afternoon when the surgeon released John after preforming repair surgery on Sunday and with a promise not to lift anything or strain for 6 weeks. Our good friend Debbie, with whom we sailed in the Bahamas last winter, was there for us driving me back and forth from the dock to the hospital and back again.

Tuesday we figured out a way for me to raise the dinghy onto the davits since I don't have the strength to pull it up and my back was not up to that task even if I did. Wednesday morning John coached me through raising the anchor and we were off to Vero Beach to catch a mooring and spend a few days trying to do some provisioning. We arrived Wed. afternoon and rafted up with a 45 ft. Island Packet (beautiful boat). Later I will lower the dinghy (not as hard as raising it) and we will head into the marina.

We have pretty much decided we will not attend another gam considering it was last year at the gam in Annapolis when I ended up in the hospital for emergency abdominal surgery late Saturday night. We are not up for a replay of these medical emergencies.

After leaving Barefoot Marina we made good time and arrived at Minim Creek where we dropped anchor. We began to notice there were, would you believe it, mosquitos in the cockpit enclosure. That was our first indication that we were indeed in the south. The next morning at daybreak it was once again COLD so I guess the mosquitos were sorry they made an appearance. I know we where.

We made it through Charleston on the day before T-day. Our timing was right and we were able to get through the Ben Sawyer and Wappo River Bridges on request which was helpful to our schedule. Mon. - Fri. they are both closed from 6-9 in the a.m. and 4-6 in the afternoon. We anchored on the Stono River. It has strong current and often brisk winds but we were fine with our trusty anchor and new windlass. On the way, in the morning after the sun had come up, we passed two eagles. One was sitting on an ICW marker post and the other was standing on the shore. I believe they were soaking up the warm sunshine which I was doing as well.

The past 2 days we have motored as there has been very little wind. By the afternoons we begin shedding all the layers of clothes we pile on every morning. Each day it seems the weather is getting better. We have passed 3 barges in 2 days going down the canal and bumped the bottom twice trying to move over to the side to let the barge,being pushed by a tug, go by. It is nerve wracking when that happens. The barges are huge and really fill up the canal.

We spent the next night, Thanksgiving evening, anchored just south of Beaufort, SC knowing that we would arrive in Hilton Head early the following day giving us time to get up Broad Creek and into our marina for the week we will spend there. We arrived around noon and got checked in. We then washed down the deck and cockpit enclosure which was covered with dirt and salt from our travels. We plan on spending the day organizing and cleaning both ourselves and Spunky.

Our week in Hilton Head was wonderful. It was a very quiet and relaxing time with friends. Hilton Head is a beautiful island that has been comparatively cautious with development as opposed to many resort areas. There are thousands of acres preserved in their natural state with abundant flora and fauna. Our marina was populated with many dolphins that swam between the docked boats throughout the day. We were sorry to leave but Friday at daybreak we motored down Broad Creek and headed out to sea. The day was fair. We had moderate wind and motor sailed throughout the day and into the night taking shifts of about 3 hours each (actually John took longer shifts than I). By nightfall the waves were coming across the beam and tossing us back and forth. Everything not tied down below fell to the floor and what was tied down shifted it's location. Every time that I tried to sleep I was tossed off the settee. At 4 a.m. we reached the point at which we could turn toward St. Augustine and enter the inlet or try for the Canaveral Canal, and although the guides caution on shoaling and the need for local knowledge in St. Augustine we were ready for a rest and we decided to go for it. We slowed down as we approached the entry bouys to try and time our entry for sunrise so we would be able to see the inlet markers and called the City Marina for advice on which areas to watch. We made a successful entry and were safely at the fuel dock by 8:15 a.m.

Tomorrow morning we will once again depart at daybreak heading for the Melbourne area where we will visit friends and family and possibly attend the SSCA gam. Today we took a mooring ball, showered and treated ourselves to a nice lunch at A1A Restaurant. This afternoon John is tracking down small leaks and topping off oil and coolant. The air temp was close to 70 degrees and the water temp over 50!! We are finally getting far enough south to be comfortable.

Elyse and John