Stuart, FL (Good To Be Warm)

As you can see it is warm! Larry actually took off his shirt! It's a first since on the Hudson River in NY.

We arrived here last night but had to anchor out, there was only one mooring ball available at Southpoint Anchorage. We told Doug and Amy to take it because they were getting a rental car today. Doug took Amy to the airport to catch a flight back to Canada to see their sons. At anchor would have been a long ride to the dinghy dock.

We had a good night at anchor but a storm did roll though. Our anchor held well but we still did the vigil of checking during the night. So much for the romance of this life!

This morning a mooring opened up so we moved over to the Marina. We are both(us and Doug and Amy) at the end of the mooring field with a long ride to the dinghy dock but no worries when the wind picks up during the night of dragging anchor.

Amy and I went to the grocery store and Larry and Doug went to West Marine this morning before they left for the airport. This afternoon Larry and I went for a walk around historic Stuart and for lunch at the Tai restaurant across the street. After, we had a shower at the marina before our dinghy ride back to the boat. We forgot from our last visit here not to take a shower late in the day after everyone has done laundry, no hot water. Tomorrow we will take one earlier.

We are amazed at the number of people we have come across from last year. The couple we dragged into at anchor in Barnegat Bay is here in the mooring field as well. It's good to exchange boat cards that way we remember all their names.

The plan is to stay here in Stuart for a few days, the rest is very much needed!

Vero Beach, FL

We have been at anchor for two nights now and to night we are in Vero Beach on a mooring ball with two other boats. The winds have been active at anchor for two nights now. We had some rain last night after we explored the spoil islands we anchored by. The weather has been very strange with thunder clouds moving in and sun intermittent. We seem to be having warmer weather the further South we travel. It feels good to be warm.

We went for a walk tonight on the ocean side of Vero Beach. It is cool on the beach and warmer inland. We have connected with two couples we met last year. One we me in Deltaville and one in No Name Harbor. It was good to meet them again. The one from Deltaville has plans to go to the Bahamas.
Tomorrow we will travel to Stuart, FL. It will be a short day. Our plan is to spend a few days there. It will be good to be in one place for a few days.

The sunset picture is from the overnight on the ocean.

Thanksgiving in New Smyrna Beach

Time sure does seen to fly by! It seems like just yesterday we were out in the ocean for an overnight. We had a good run down from Beaufort, SC to St. Augustine, FL. I don't know if I'll ever get comfortable doing an overnight. I didn't even like it much when we would do it in the car from NY to FL. We arrived in St Augustine around noon got settled and went to the Sailors Exchange and to lunch next door at a health food place. We arrived back at the marina around 2:00 PM and took a nape which ended up being an all night sleep. Needless to say we didn't get enough sleep on the overnight. We stayed in St Augustine for a few days because of storms coming down the coast at Gale Force.

We left there on Monday and stayed at a marina in Daytona because of another storm predicted. The temps were extremely low also, too cold to anchor. While we were in Daytona my Aunt Dot paid us a visit. She spends the winters in Land O' Lakes not far from there. It was great to visit with her, we look forward to seeing her on the way back up in the Spring.

We left Daytona on Tuesday and arrived in New Smyrna Beach around noon. Larry had bought me a gift certificate for the Riverview Spa in February for my birthday. I used it on Wednesday, it was awesome, it ranked right up there with the gift of the flying lessons for my 50th. We met friends Charlie and Cindy for dinner after, it was a great day.

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving with a turkey dinner shared with Amy and Doug. The sun was bright but the wind was cool. We have had extremely low temps to the point of having snow mixed with rain Tuesday night. We thought we came south to get away from snow, guess it followed us.

The picture of Larry and me was taken by one of the many beautiful fountains in St Augustine.

Tomorrow morning we will work our way further South. Our plan is to be in Stuart by Monday.

Beaufort, SC

We arrived here in Beaufort on Tuesday afternoon after a quiet night at anchor on the ICW between here and Charleston. The anchorage would have been perfect accept for the invasion of bugs. First we had no-see-ums then we had the biggest mosquitoes I've ever seen. We didn't last long in the cockpit then retreated to inside.

The plan was to spend two days here in Beaufort but the weather decided not to cooperate for us to go off shore. We enjoyed yesterday and the day before walking around town being tourists. Larry and I visited two museums and became educated on Beauforts history. Many of the homes and buildings here are made of Tabby. Tabby is a type of concrete but not as lasting as concrete. It's made of oyster shells, sand (fresh water sand is best), fresh water, and lime (made from burned oyster shells). It takes 48 hours for tabby to cure so one course is poured at a time. A structure takes considerable time to complete. When it is complete stucco is put on the outside to protect it from eroding. This area was Summer homes for the wealthy plantation owners. They lived here for three months to escape the mosquitoes and heat, then would return to the plantation for the Winter. Oh the life of the rich and famous!

We stayed another day, as I said the weather decided not to cooperate. Last night a cold front blew through and brought high winds and rain plus lightening and thunder and a tornado watch. A tornado did occur North of here and injured some people and left a few fatalities. We feel lucky that we only lost sleep because of the weather. The winds were supposed to die down this afternoon but they are still strong. Our plan is to go off shore and outside Georgia tomorrow morning if the weather improves like the weatherman predicts. The outside run will take us about 28 hours and we come in the inlet at St. Augustine, FL. We will stay in St. Augustine for a few days to rest up from the lack of sleep before we continue our trip.

I almost forgot to tell you about the photo. Remember a few posts back I talked about collecting shells on the beach with our daughter Patience? This is some of the jewelry I've created with them and some fresh water pearls and silver wire. What fun!

Charleston, SC

We had a beautiful trip on Thursday from Myrtle Beach at Barefoot Landing to Georgetown. We anchored in Georgetown that evening.

We woke early Friday morning weighted anchor and left Georgetown to find the ICW heavily fogged in. I don't know how we used to go in the fog before having radar and chart plotter. I kept watch on the bow for marks so as not to hit them. Larry helmed and let me know when we were about to approach a mark so I could watch for it. Once the sun came out the fog lifted but as you can see by the picture the fog was still heavy down this canal. The fog made for a very tiring day having to stay alert and not relaxing until it lifted.

We arrive in Charleston about 4:00 PM, tied to a dock at the Charleston Maritime Center Marina. We got together with Doug and Amy for a shot of rum and called it an evening early.
Today we did the tourist thing and visited Charleston for the first time. It truly is a lovely city and one we will put on our dance card, as Larry put it, for future visits.

Tomorrow we will leave around 10 AM and anchor half way between Charleston and Beaufort.

Southport, NC

Hi everyone, the weatherman lied today it wasn't sunny and it was very cold! We had to make lentil soup for lunch to get warm. It's amazing we are about a month earlier than last year and it still is cold, go figure. We had a good day on the water in spite of the temperatures. The sky was very overcast and threatening but no rain.

When we entered the channel for the Cape fear river it held up to it's name. The waves were very large and the wind was strong. We clocked 9 1/2 knots of speed with the current. What a ride. It was good to make the turn for the ICW and our marina for the night.

The picture is of Amy and me stylin in our new hair cuts from yesterday. The four of us went to Joseph's for a wonderful Southern Italian dinner. The food was excellent and plentiful, Amy and I brought home enough for lunch tomorrow.

We plan to leave early again tomorrow for Myrtle Beach, SC and look forward to a little shorter day.

Surf City, NC

We decided to take a much needed break and spend a day in Surf City, NC. We were
wondering if this is the city the Beach Boys sang about. It was good to be still for a day even though it rained most of the day and has been extremely windy all afternoon and evening.

tomorrow is to bring the possibility of thunderstorms late in the day but sunny in the morning.

It's good to be tied to a dock and not at anchor even though the boat is moving around and making noise I know we will sleep well knowing we wont drag anchor.

We walked around the small town today even in the rain. Amy and I went to a salon for a hair cut. It was a true leap of faith for me seeing as I have only had hair cuts by a few people in my life and have never just called and been basically a walk-in. I guess it's called growing and letting go.

Larry, Doug, Amy and I went to a little bar by the ocean for lunch today. We had a full view of the ocean and how ugly it was, with huge waves and visibility about 1/4 mile. We were all glad we weren't out there.

Yesterday we did see dolphins on four different occasions and we also saw a deer swim across the ICW then run into the woods. I tried to get a picture but he was too fast, so the picture on this post is of the hanger for blimp production just outside of Elizabeth City.

We will leave early tomorrow morning and spend the night in Southport. It has been very busy at the marinas so we have been calling several day a head for reservations. We are looking forward to anchoring now that the temperatures are climbing.

Oriental, NC

I suspected it would happen sooner or later. The days running together that is. When your main goal is to stay warm, eat, sleep and get further South much further, you tend to loose track of the day. Yesterday was Friday and I was sure it was only Wednesday. I knew I was wrong when I read the heading on the complimentary news paper from Alligator River Marina.

It's been a few days since I last posted a journal. We have been in three different locations in North Carolina. The picture is of us leaving Elizabeth City at sunrise on Thursday. That night we spent at Alligator River Marina. On Friday we were in Dowry Creek Marina just above Belhaven, NC. Oh did I also mention that I'm losing my memory and that goes for Larry too. We had to look the name of the marina up in our log. Come on we were just there last night. It's cold and I think the brain cells are starting to freeze. You think I'm kidding! This morning we woke to ice on the deck of the boat and on the dock. I slipped even though Larry told me to watch it and almost fell on my you know what. Slow learner.

Tonight we are in Whittaker Creek Yacht Harbor just above Oriental, NC. We tried to get a slip closer to town but the Inn was full. We arrived around 2:30 and went with Doug and Amy for a walk to town. After a stop at West Marine for a few things and at the grocery store next door a kind and friendly couple gave the four of us a ride to town. We walked around to see the town and had a tasty dinner at the Oriental Steamer restaurant. Most businesses around here will give you a ride if you ask, so we did and a young man gave us a lift. We were all glad seeing that the temperature has dropped considerable in a short time.

Tomorrow morning we will leave early again and spend the night at Swansboro, NC. The temperature is supposed to get into the 60's. Heat wave!

Happy Anniversary Doug and Amy

Monday we left Deltaville early, we pulled away from the dock before 7 AM. We motored to Norfolk the wind was light and the water was flat. We arrived to our anchorage around 1:30 PM in the afternoon. It was Amy and Doug's 35th wedding anniversary. We celebrated on our boat with a vegetable lasagna dinner and champagne. We retired early and had a quite evening at anchor.

Tuesday we pulled up anchor early and motored though Norfolk to the Dismal Swamp. There are many boats on their way South. We were one of a dozen boats tied up at the visitors center midway in the swamp. We were refuted four deep at a wall that will hold 3 to 4 boats. Our raft was almost the complete width of the canal.

This morning we were all underway by 7:30 AM and arrived in Elizabeth City around noon. We tied to the city docks and went for a walk. We went to the health food store and to a pub for a late lunch early dinner. At 4:30 PM the Rose Buddies treated us to a wine and cheese party after which we sat with Doug and Amy on their boat then retired early. Our plan tomorrow is to cross the Albemarle Sound early before the wind and waves build.