St. Augustine

We left Beaufort, SC at 7 AM yesterday morning and arrived here at the St Augustine inlet at 7:30 AM. Not bad! As much as I dislike overnights, it sure does get you there faster. What took just over 24 hours would have taken us three days travel. We could not have had better conditions last night. Even though it would have been nice to sail as opposed to motoring, the lack of wind ensured calm seas. We had less than 5 knots of wind and sea swells of around one to two feet. The wind did pick up during the night to about 8 knots and we had seas of two feet. We were headed straight into both so we couldn't put out the sails. This only lasted for a few hours then it was calm again.

While I was on watch I saw a breathtaking sight of a shooting star. I felt some what sad after knowing that it would never light up the sky again. We were also treated to sightings of several dolphin. They always give me the feeling of guardian angels watching over us while we are at sea.

I attempted to give you a picture of the setting moon but my camera failed to capture the beauty that I saw with my eyes. It looked like a large orange ball on a black back drop. Some times nature just doesn't allow us to put in print it splendid beauty. The moon was just short of being full and stayed with us until 4 Am when it slid behind a bank of clouds only to reappear and slip to the horizon at 5 AM. It helped to guide our way through the night. The picture I did give you is of the beautiful sunset last evening.

When we arrived this morning Larry and I anchored North of the bridge and Andy and Sally traveled on to a marina. They need to leave there boat for a few days and visit his cousin. We have now caught up with more friends of ours from Virgina. We are planning on visiting on their boat this evening and then traveling together tomorrow morning. We had planned to leave Virginia together but circumstances as they were with us made that impossible. We are glad to finally meet up.

Tomorrow we will leave here because the weather will change and this anchorage is not good in high winds. We will get to Daytona and anchor for the night then arrive in New Smyrna Wednesday early, where I hope to meet up with my Aunt Dot for a visit.

At Anchor In Beaufort, SC

After a very cold night at anchor in the South Edisto River, we arrived in Beaufort, SC before noon today. We are still traveling with Andy and Sally S/V Seaquel. They chose to take a slip at the city marina and as you can see of the sunset picture we are resting at anchor. The temps have been dipping near freezing at night and they don't have an alternative source of heat unless they are plugged into shore power. We have been using our small propane heater for short times before bed.

After making sure we were secure at anchor we went with Andy and Sally in the courtesy car to West Marine. When we got back Larry and I walked down Main St. and visited the shops and book stores. We planned to get back to the boat before dark and as you can see from the picture we were pushing it. Before returning we went to Panini's for dinner and then had a most wonderful long hot shower at the marina. The marina charges a dollar each for this privilege and it's a great bargain.

The weather is getting warmer and the winds are very light for the next few days. We will leave here tomorrow morning and head out to the ocean. Depending on what we find with conditions we may stay out for an overnight to St. Augustine, Fl. If the conditions are not to our liking we will do a day sail and come in at St. Catherine's Inlet in Ga. It's nice to have the option.

Thanksgiving In Isle of Palms

We made it to Isle of Palms yesterday around 11 AM. We were anchored in Awendaw Creek about 20 miles from Isle of Palms Tuesday night. We rode the current yesterday and arrived early. It felt good to have a short day. Our friend Phil found us two docks for two nights. He also was good to us and took the four of us for provisions. We have been traveling with Andy and Sally S/V Seaquel for a few days now. Before we would meet up hit and miss and now we have been traveling together.

The picture shows us before our Thanksgiving feast was devoured. Left to right, Larry, me (Gail), Andy and Sally. We enjoyed a great meal aboard their boat. It was good to spend it together with friends seeing as we are far from our families.

Tomorrow we will leave around 7:45 to get the 9 AM opening of the Ben Sawyer bridge. The bridge is scheduled to close for ten days starting Tuesday December 1. We know there are several boats that will be stuck waiting for the bridge to reopen. Several are stuck waiting for the Sunrise Pontoon Bridge while it is being repaired. It closed the day after we transited though it. It is getting very cold and I hope we don't get stuck anywhere.

Southport, NC

I feel like the days are running together. I like it better when I can get on line each day or so. It keeps me in tune with what day of the week it is and the date of the month. I'm lost other wise.

The weather has been mostly cloudy with rain about every other day. Sometimes every day.

We had a great ride down the Cape Fear River today, at one point we were doing 10 knots speed over ground. It was a sleigh ride.

We decided to go into a marina tonight. The temperature is going to be in the low 50's. It was quite cold this morning and Larry was at his limit and just couldn't get warm. We now are plugged in and have the heat on. We're not used to being warm and have the temp below 70. Go figure!

Our concern is to get to Charleston before December 1, when the bridge at Isle Of Palms closes for 10 days, for repairs. At our current rate of travel we should be there by Wednesday. That will give us plenty of time to stop at Isle Of Palms for Thanksgiving. We plan to use a dock at our friends house until Friday. We will then move further South. I would like to stay in Georgia a few days and go up to Savanna. It will depend on the weather.

Tomorrow our plan is to go as far as Myrtle Beach. If the tide allows us to get there in a timely manner we will go beyond and anchor, if not we will have to take a dock again.

I took the picture above going down the ICW of someones back yard. I guess if you have enough money you can buy and put just about anything in your yard. It reminded us of our trip out to see our daughter Sarah. We visited the Swartz Toy store and they had a giraffe in front of the store about the same size.

Elizabeth City, NC

We spent the entire weekend in Norfolk. It rained for four days straight. I felt like I was in Western NY. After the storm it was beautiful with sunshine and no wind. It was hard to believe Virginia suffered such a severe storm. The picture above was the sunset after the storm.

Monday morning Bruce from Full Throttle came to see what he could do to fix our problem. After a test to see if fuel was getting to our engine, and it wasn't, he found we sludge in our tank, not algae. He removed the pick up probe and the screen was covered. He cleaned it and pumped off the bottom of the tank. We were clean and ready to go. Larry fueled up and I finished the laundry and we were out of there. Our pockets were a lot lighter but we felt more confident in our ability to maneuver though bridges and locks. Having an engine that works is important when doing this maneuver.

Monday night we only went as far as the lock in Deep Creek. We tied up at the Elizabeth Dock for the night with four other boats. Tuesday morning after breakfast with Robert the lock master we transited the Dismal Canal and docked in Elizabeth city for the night. We are checking the weather but it looks like we will cross the Albermarle Sound and anchor somewhere in the Alligator River for the night. We are expecting some high winds and you guessed it more rain for the next couple of days.

This photo is of a blimp. We see from the water in the Pasquotank River a blimp hanger. This is the first time we have seen not only one blimp docked outside the hanger but two. That was a cool first.

Marooned In Norfolk!

Sunrise leaving Deltaville.

Fixed Docks under water during storm.

Ramp on our floating dock raised up in the air but high water.

Larry standing in street in Portsmouth flooded by high tide due to storm.

We left Tuesday morning around 6:30 AM and were running with the tide. It was promised to be a good run all the way to the James River and turn from an outgoing tide to an incoming tide. We have never hit the tide with such luck. The water was like a bathtub not a ripple in site. We were cruising along at about 7 knots and all was well. That is until we got to the York River and our engine died. Larry changed both fuel filters and he kept bleeding the air out of the lines but we just limped along with the engine shutting down frequently. We crossed the James and headed up the Elizabeth River and just couldn't keep the engine going. We put out the sails so I could keep us out of touble in the traffic of big ships. Finally we called TowBoat US to come to our rescue and tow us into Tidewater Marina.

We have been marooned here since Tuesday, a Noreaster has blown in and has caused severe flooding. We were unable to get to shore last night. We are fortunately on a floating dock but to get to shore we have to go across a fixed dock. That was impossible because it was under water several feet. It was quite a ride last night in the 40 plus knot winds. Things were flying off the shelves like we were under way in heavy seas.

This morning we went to shore for a little fresh air and to see what has happened during the night. Oh my! I took several pictures to share with you but the wi-fi signal is weak and I was unable to down load them. I'll keep trying.

We have no clue as to when we will get our engine fixed. The mechanic came to look on Wednesday but hasn't been able to get back to us. It looks like we are stuck here for the weekend.

Ready To Leave Deltaville! Again!

Our plan is to leave early tomorrow morning and arrive in Norfolk before the high winds hit on Thursday. With the Tropical Storm/ Hurricane coming we will receive Ida's wrath in the form of high winds. We will hide out in the Dismal Swamp and wait for it to pass. This won't be the first time we have hidden out there.

The diesel guy came today and suggested we don't have the fuel polishing done. He has had to change injectors on two boats here at the marina three weeks after they had had the polishing done. Needless to say we didn't have it done. He suggested we buy several fuel filters and get a big bucket with a lid so we can change them underway when needed. He also suggested Larry drain the filter each morning before we head out. Say a prayer for us that it will be like carrying an umbrella so it doesn't rain.

The good thing that has come out of coming back to Deltaville is, I've completed all the unfinished jobs I was going to need to do underway. Yeah! Now I can read all those good books I brought with me.

In case you are wondering about the picture at the top. It is the shelf we had constructed and mounted above our counter. I wanted one since day one on the boat. It gives me more working space when I'm cooking. Working was worth the effort this Summer.

Back In Deltaville Again!

We were underway just before 7 AM yesterday morning. It was a brisk morning, calm, very calm, the sun was shinning bright. We had some difficultly keeping the windows of the dodger clear due to the low temps as we pulled away from the dock but the sun soon took care of that. It was a great morning on the water and we were cruising along with the assist of the out going tide. We were about 12 miles out when the boat started to slow down. I ask Larry why he was slowing down and he said it wasn't him. Oh Buoy! We had just entered over the flats at Wolf Trap light. This was very tricky because the wind had started to build and the reef gets shallow near shore. No engine could be a problem.

Larry figured we had air in the lines due to his changing of the fuel filters a few days ago, no problem, just bleed the lines and he did. We were on our way again but not for long. After three or four tries we made the command decision to turn around and go back to Deltaville. If we needed help or parts that was the place to be not in some strange anchorage and with no resources. We put out the sails and turned around with the wind and waves at our back. We had a beautiful and fast sail back to the channel.

We brought the sails back in, the wind was on our nose after we made our turn for the channel. Larry attempted to prime the fuel again so we could motor to the dock. After several failed attempts we hailed Tow Boat US to give us an assist back to the dock at Doziers. It was afternoon by the time we got in. When we were settled at the dock we went in search of more fuel filters. By this time anyone who might have them were already closed or we out of them. We still had two new ones but decided to wait til Sunday to change them when we were fresh with a nights sleep.

Larry's first job this morning was to change the filter to see if we have bad fuel and it appears we do. He called a guy who does what they call fuel polishing. The process cleans your fuel and tank of contaminates. We believe we have algae in our tank, not an uncommon thing. After Larry changed our filter he ran the engine without a problem for almost an hour. We are sitting very still at the dock unlike bouncing on the waves like yesterday, so it's not the best test. Nothing to stir up the tank. We have a diesel man coming tomorrow morning to see if he can find anything else or if he agrees we should have the cleaning done. Decisions, Decisions. We'll make them tomorrow.

Our goal is to leave early Tuesday morning. I'll post tomorrow night with and up date on that.

The picture above is us with our new canvas and davits.

On the Road Again!

Or should I say on the water again. Tomorrow morning is the planned day to let loose the umbilical cord and set sail for warmer weather. Tonight the temperature is to dip and cause a frost upon us. We are overdue to get underway. Summer has passed us by. We have both put in many hours at our Summer jobs, which has afforded us several up grades for the boat. I'll put some pictures on up coming posts so you can see what we have been up to.

This trip South won't have as many posts as past years. We dropped our Internet connection with Sprint and will have to search out connections along the way. I'll do my best to keep you informed as to our progress along the way.

It's just after 9:30 PM and we will soon call it a night. We are both very tired from our preparations along with working. We will leave between 7 and 8 AM tomorrow morning. We are looking for some warmth from the sun before we depart.