We went into Spanish Wells, which is a nice little town, with good groceries, clean streets, kept up homes, and busy streets - but mostly all golf carts.
Walked to hardware store, visited with a Manta 40 Catamaran Emanuel V who is docked in Spanish Wells, went out for a nice lunch, got groceries, and then back to boat.
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| Quite the Christmas Decorations in the yard |
We spent a couple of days in Marsh Harbor, just hanging out. Walked and got groceries, visited with a couple of folks on the dinghy dock who were thinking of sometime going sailing.
Just relaxed, read some books, watched some movies.
We love good books, but hard to find. Dean currently reading James Rollins, and Kris reading Charlaine Harris. Would not say these are great books - but they are entertaining and pass the time. It is sure nice having the electronic files vs lugging around the paper backs. If anyone has some recommendations - please share.
We decided on Tuesday to head south again just for a change of scenery - hoping to monitor the swell coming in and look for a chance to make the 56 mile jump south to Spanish Wells. It looked like the coming Saturday or Monday may be good.
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| Always enjoy the changing water colors in the Bahamas |
We stopped at the marina at Scotland Cay - as we had friends who own a home there, and a slip at the marina we could stay at. Scotland Cay is fairly small, with only homes, and no businesses. We had a very nice day visiting with them and touring the island. Sad to say, many homes were destroyed there during hurricane Dorian, and have not yet been rebuilt.
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| Beautiful view from our friends house |
Left the U.S.A on Monday morning, around 8:00, and had a very fast sail across the gulf stream and over to the Bahamas. Entered the Little Bahama Bank, north of Grand Bahama Island around 5:00 - averaging about 7 knots for our trip across.
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| Upping anchor at North Palm Beach |
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| West Palm beach, lots of liveaboard derelict boats near here |
Continued sailing throughout the night across the bank, and at around 4:00 in the morning, we were about 8 miles due west of Pensacola cay, when we got a call on the radio. A boat, saw us on AIS (Automated Identification System), and called and said they had run aground and could we please come help. We told them "Yes", and fired up the engine, plus sailing to make best speed to their position. They did not have AIS on transmit, so finding them was a bit difficult, but we finally saw their lights. It was a pitch black night, no moon. Perception of distance to lights is very difficult when it is dark, and we did not want to get too close to shore, so anchored a bit off, lowered the dinghy and zoomed in.
The boat was a 41' Sun Odyssey Monohull sailboat. The captain had fallen asleep on watch, and his buddy was very new to sailing. The boat was in an upright position, as the shore they hit was deep, below a steep cliff about 8' high. Very lucky for them. They had put out an anchor to try to kedge off, but tide was at its low, so no luck. They gave us the halyard, to try to tilt the boat, which worked, and she wiggled, but no luck getting off. So then a bow line and halyard, to pull from the bow and top of mast - still no luck.
We then readjusted the kedge anchor system, to have more leverage, and then we went and pulled mast and bow again with our dink - all 20 hp on full, and then used a winch from the stern on the anchor - that with the tide coming in, we pulled the boat off the beach. We stood by, while they checked for leaks and such - but found none - very lucky. By now, the sun was just starting to come up, so after a quick conversation with them to make sure all was well we headed back to our boat to resume our journey to Green Turtle Cay, where we would check into the Bahamas.
We did not take photos of the event - thought that would be a bit inconsiderate -and in all honesty, grabbing a camera when we went to help did not cross our minds.
The guys were very grateful, and offered to pay us a way too large sum of money, which we declined - telling them to just pay the favor forward - but they persisted, so eventually we took $150 from them to treat ourselves to a nice meal out. We would have preferred to meet them for a lunch, but they had a tight schedule, and were flying out the next day, and needed to move further than we wanted to got that day.
We checked in at Green Turtle Cay, and then went and anchored at Manjack Cay, and spent the rest of the day in our normal - after overnighter stupor, of napping and relaxing.
Manjack is a nice island, with some nice trails to ocean side beach, an Art Trail, where people can make items to place on the trail, and a nice mangrove lined inlet, where there are a lot of turtles and rays. We explored them all over the next three days. We sat on the boat a couple of days as there was a windy weather pattern coming through and this was a nice protected anchorage.
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| Saw several turtles |
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| Nice sunny day |
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| Nice ray, we disturbed his/her hunting. |
The Art Trail is made of art that people make from washed up garbage they find on the beach for the most part. We can appreciate the talent of these folks, as there were several very creative nice items.
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| Great fish. - Says "Fishing from Plastic" on it |
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| Cute use of old floats |
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| Good one - kind of creepy looking - old float, nets and line |
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| Someone has some carving talent |
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| Who does this look like? |
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| Pretty creative work |
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| Does anyone else see a resemblance here? |
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| Nice trail to beach |
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| Beach at anchorage |
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| Beautiful water color, white sand beach - picture perfect |
We spent a few more days at Vero Beach. Vero Beach has a great bus system, free busses, frequent trips, and stops very convenient for shopping. We rode the bus three days in a row hitting different store each day to add more provisions, and a trip to the big Walmart to get folding chairs for the beach. Sure was nice riding the bus because it was raining most of the time and it minimized how much we got wet.
Also got to spend more time with Kris and John on Imagine, and Karen and Duane on Sojourn, when Imagine had us over for a nice dinner.
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| Very rainy, waiting at bus stop watching rain fall. |
We have continued down the ICW motor sailing, as winds have been mostly from the north. Stopped for one night at a free dock, and then for the night at a marina close to Ponte Vedra Beach, as Deans cousin and husband live near by. They took us to Costco for some supplies, and then back to their house, and then out to dinner. Had a great visit with them, they are very enjoyable people to spend time with. Unfortunately, took no photos of them.
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| Free dock |
With the tropical storm Nicole, projected to become a hurricane and move toward us, we made the decision to get a marina. We got the last slip available at Brunswick Landing Marina in Brunswick, Georgia.
Monday, we motored the 15 miles from the anchorage at Fort Frederica, to the marina. They put us at the last slip the furthest into the marina - could not ask for a better spot with an impending storm approaching.
Our slip was .75 miles from the dock office - so after tying up, we took the hike to the office and officially checked in. Also checked out the boaters lounge and laundry. They were only .4 miles from the boat.
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We spent a few more days in Beaufort. Walked in for groceries, picked up our Amazon packages and Met Ed and Cathy for lunch. Nice weather and pleasant relaxing days.
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| View from anchorage at high tide |
We spent a couple more days in Charleston, waiting on our Amazon locker to get fixed so we could get packages. Finally got ahold of a good customer service rep, who informed us that no action on repair had occurred, so we opted to cancel our order we were waiting on, and then re-order all the items to pick up further south.
We left Carolina Beach, and moved just a few miles south, closer to the exit to the ocean in preparation for an overnight run. Nice little spot, not much on shore, except for one important sign.
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| They really should have had another one of these facing the water before I got out and waded in to bring the dinghy to the beach |
We did a couple more boat projects while at Sojourn's dock.
Installed our new wind instrument - as the old one seemed to be failing a bit.
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| New wind instrument on right. |
We left Norfolk, filled up the diesel tank, and headed to our first lock on the Dismal Swamp route of the Intercoastal Waterway. The lock keeper warned us off. Said that the water level was low, and that the duckweed in the Dismal Swamp waterway was two feet thick in places. A normal person would have heeded that advice - but --- so we proceeded. Stopped right after the lock at our normal stop, got groceries, and pizza at Pizza Plus - same pizza - boy it was yummy for lunch on that cold day. Then proceeded down the Dismal Swamp canal - duckweed watch out.
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| Duckweed as seen from Deep Creek lock, as we start the trip. |
The duckweed covered about 75% of the water when we started, but quickly thinned out, so no issues.
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| Dismal Swamp canal - you can see the duckweed is not too bad now.. |
For those of you who might not know - duckweed is a weed, that has very small leaves. The issue with it is that as you motor, your water cooled engine can suck the duckweed up, and it will plug your filter for the engine water, and then you can overheat your engine. Even if you don't overheat the engine, a plugged filter means you have to shut the engine off, and spend time to clean it out, while drifting in a narrow canal, with trees and logs in the water waiting to bump you if you get to close to the sides of the canal. We figured since our water intake was about 2' below the water surface - we would be fine - and we were.
Stopped for the night 3/4 of the way down the canal, and had a nice night docked at the free dock at the Visitor Center for the Dismal Swamp Canal. Unfortunately coming in to the dock there were already a couple of boat, so we were at the end, and Kris did a great job docking, except for looking up, and seeing the overhanging tree. No damage to our newly painted mast, but a bit of debris on the boat.
After a peaceful night we headed south, to the next set of locks - and now we found the duckweed.
Wish we had a photo - but we were both too busy figuring out what to do. It was a mat of duckweed about 200 ' long and unknown depth we had to get through to get into the lock. Kris put the engines on full speed, and got the boat going around 5.5 knots right before she hit the duckweed, then throttled back, hoping to coast through, and not suck any into the engine. Did not work. Made it about 50' into the duckweed and boat came to a stop, as it was so thick. So both engines, near full throttle to make it the last 150', and we only went about 1 knot for speed. Could not steer either, as it was like moving through thick jello. We made it to the lock, where the duckweed cleared out, and tied up, and then Dean went down to clean our engine filters, while Kris manned the lines.
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| The almost solid mass of duckweed pulled out of the port and starboard engine filters. |
On the other side of the lock, we went through a smaller mat of duckweed, and then alternated engines while we cleaned the filters again. Then no more duckweed, and smooth motoring all the way to Elizabeth City, where we tied up at a free dock. Got in around 12:30, and around 3:00 walked into town to get our burrito fix at Big Boss Burritos.
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| Nice decoration outside Big Boss Burritos - it even has sound |
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| Now that's a big burrito |
After a nice lunch/dinner, we relaxed on the boat and prepared for a chilly night. It got very chilly. Dean even had to put on extra blankets.
Next morning could not get the starboard engine to start - had to crank it a lot, but it did finally start. Winds were supposed to be light, but had 8 to 20 knots, so good day sailing down to an anchorage at the end of the Alligator/Pungo River Canal. But it was cold - very cold
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| Shoes, two pair of socks, jeans under the fleece sweat pants, thermal top, with sweatshirt over, then down jacket, and wind jacket. Baseball cap, scarf, and gloves. |
Another day of sailing, 8 to 20 knots again, but made good time to the dock owned by our friends on got Sojourn (Karen and Duane). They are super nice folks, and let us stay at their dock, and also let us ship packages there.
It was also great that our friends on What If (Ed and Cathy) were at the dock as well, and greeted us and helped us tie up.
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| What If - with Ed and Cathy ready to help us tie up. |
It was very ice to be at dock, with power, as the nights are still quite cold. We had some items shipped in, and Duane and Karen offered the use of their truck, so we planned a trip to town.
We put in a Wal-Mart order, and also stopped at the grocery, auto parts, and marine stores. Kris picked up some new glow plugs for the diesel engine, as she figures that is what is causing the hard starting in cold weather.
We decided to do a fairly major provisioning.
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| After the trip. No room to walk with all the groceries. |
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| Pantry full to the brim |
Have been enjoying our time here, Visiting and eating good food with friends.
Kris got the oil and fuel filters changed on the engines, and will install new glow plugs. Dean worked on some small projects, and will clean the boat exterior. We got a new wind instrument display, and will get that installed as well.
Have a couple more packages coming, but should be ready to head south by Wednesday. Kris is anxious to get to warmer weather.
The boat went back in the water on Tuesday. We got all our projects done except painting the boom, but we can do that one in the water later if we still want.
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| Always very nerve racking to watch the boat in the travel lift moving. |
Did more tests in hospital, and they found that Dean did indeed have a heart, and it is functioning completely normally.
After testing for and finding no life threatening issues - they let him go - discharged late Sunday - YEAH.
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| Happy to be out. |
Visiting family still. We had a nice time with Kris's folks. Helped out with some cleaning and painting, and took some cans in for recycling. In Oregon recycling pays well. $20 for our cans.
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| Can recycling in Bend, Oregon |
We had a good time in Boise with our son Derek, this was a short visit, while he had time off work for Labor Day.
We took a break from the 100 degree weather, to float the Boise River, which was great fun.
This is a popular thing to do. The water is clear and cold, and you can rent tubes to float on.
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| Fun floating Boise River |
More work on the boat. Dean finished dewaxing the hull, sanded the bottom, and has put on two coats of new paint.
It can be somewhat discouraging to do a couple of days of work, to end up with the finished product looking quite similar to what you started with.
Had a blue bottom before, and still does.
We moved to Worton Creek, and anchored just outside the marina. Did a few more things to get the boat ready to haul. Had a big storm with dumping rain come through, and we actually drug anchor for the first time in two years. When we hauled the anchor up, found the bottom was just goopy mud, and we had a black plastic bag wrapped on anchor - so don't feel too bad. We did not do anything as we drug, as we had room, and were moving pretty slow. When storm stopped, we re-anchored and got a good nights sleep.
Last time our boat was hauled we had a little green frog that got on the boat, that we gently took off and put back in the marsh area near the boat.
We left Lewes on a good day, and timed the current perfectly to head north on the Delaware Bay, and through the C&D canal to Chesapeake City. We went 64.3 miles in 9.5 hours. We only sailed a couple of hours unfortunately, but to average 6.76 knots is pretty good, considering our best motor speed on one engine (which is what we normally do to save fuel) is only 5.4 knots.
We left Lewes early in the morning and had a spectacular sunrise.
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| Gorgeous sunrise leaving Lewes, DE around 6:00 a.m. |
We had a nice sail to Port Washington. Had a couple of thunderstorms with 30 knots, but we had plenty of warning, and dropped sails before it hit. Charm got a brief fresh water rinse. We also sailed through a race going on. Fun to see all the spinnakers flying.
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| Storms coming |
It has been a hot week.
We left Montauk lake, and motored over to Sag Harbor.
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| Leaving Lake Montauk |
Left Cuttyhunk anchorage and planned to head to Block Island. The winds did not cooperate, so instead of Block Island, we went back to Newport. Had a nice sunrise to start the trip.
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| Sunrise at Cuttyhunk |
We had a couple of good days in Newport before we left, got groceries, had a nice lunch out, and woo-hoo finished the sling seat sewing project.
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| Finishing up the sling seat on the boat. It is 9.5' long, so takes up a lot of room |
We left New London, and moved out to Fisher Island, thinking it would not be as lumpy of an anchorage. Had a nice sail for the entire 10 miles, that was 7.63, but a bit into the wind, so had to tack, adding on mileage and time, but we did not care, as it was a beautiful sunny day.
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| New London Ledge light - light winds and flat seas |
We stayed a while in Port Jefferson. Walked to groceries and relaxed for a couple of days while Kris's hand healed. We also did some boat projects.
Finally finished the dodger. Complex curves are difficult to sew. This one curved section was the toughest sewing project yet. Strained Kris's patience, and several "time outs" were necessary.
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| Starboard side dodger. Short section on right was last bit to sew. |
We left Lewes with a predicted south wind, and for once the forecast was accurate. Had a very nice sail from Lewes, DE, up to New York City. As we have done before we tried to time the trip so we would arrive in time for favorable tide and current, and be able to pass through New York harbor, and the East River and make it to Port Washington, NY.
This is tricky timing, as you are never sure how fast you will sail, as it depends on the winds. We did a spot on job this time, and hit everything with perfect timing.
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| Leaving Lewes, DE |
After another trip into town in Annapolis for groceries we decided to head out.
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| Third time at McDonalds in 6 days - enough for now |
Been a busy week, and unfortunately, we were quite lax on taking photos.
Left Norfolk last Sunday, and headed north, having quite a nice sail most of the 43 miles up to Deltaville. Had to motor last 3 miles, and wind dropped to under 3 knots.
We left the dock after our last packages came in on Monday. Docks are sticky things - they are convenient, and sometimes hard to pull away from.
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| Leaving dock. Sojourn and What If still at dock. |
