Halloween

We had a great time tonight! We had all intentions of going to the Halloween party at Hampton Park that was so cleverly discovered by my Aunt in England. I thought at the last minute before leaving that I would check the directions again, and I noticed it was held on Oct. 28th!!! So we decided to just walk into the city and see if there were any trick-or-treaters about. We ended up finding lots of houses prepared for kids, and had a great time. The kids collected a bundle of candy, and are now having fun trading with each other. Tomorrow I fully expect a sugar hang-over for all of us!

A lovely witch!

A massive house, that we convinced the kids to go and climb the 2 story stairs to knock on the door, turns out an orthodontist lives there and was giving out king sized candy bars!

Love the palm trees by the houses. So different from Marshfield trick or treating!

Notes on football...

Just in case our faithful readers do not know who Ben Roethlisberger is (I didn't), he's the quarterback for the Steelers.

Pats Game....uuuuuuugggggly

So, for anyone headed to Charleston, just a quick note that the King Street Grill is partially owned by Ben Roethlisberger.  Ooops.  Probably not the best place for a family from Boston to watch a game...

In actuality is was a pretty good spot - we did have to deal with far too many "whoops" this evening.  There is always next Sunday.

More education for the kids....

Friday/Saturday/Sunday

Not too much to write about. On Friday we had an engine tune-up done, which was needed given all the hours we've been putting on it. I took the kids to breakfast at the restaurant at the marina, while the work was being done. Great chocolate chip waffles! As noted below, John took the kids to Dracula in the evening. Apparently it was fantastic, beautiful theater, and very well done stage production. I was feeling a little coldy so enjoyed my time alone on the boat, drinking tea and reading my book (The Passage - Thanks Kelli!).

Saturday it was raining most of the day, so we all laid around, reading, watching movies, and generally being lazy.

Today is sunny but chilly. I think its around 55 degrees right now. Apparently there is snow in the Northeast right now, so I'll take the 55! We're all going to walk into town a little later, to get some exercise.

Dracula!

Aiming to scare the kids senseless! Story at 11....

Thursday

Had a great day, more beautiful weather. School in the AM for kids and Lex. I went to West to buy a oil change pump, anchor trip line bouy, oil filter wrench and a proper stuffing box wrench. These little trips take a few hours as I'm on the schedule of the marina Van, but I enjoy meeting the other cruisers and tend to learn more on the dock and the van (and sometimes a bar...) than I do in the cruising guides.

When I got back to the boat after some more talk with the yard about repair work, we went downtown for a historic carriage tour. Sounds corny, but after I managed my fear of large domesticed animals, we had a great time! We all really like Charleston. Nice folks, lots of character and a very interesting history. It struck us that the civil war was only a few generations back. Folks are still waiting for the South to Rise Again.

Thanks to Freddy for sending a very complete list of iPad apps to us. Very helpful! We hope to catch up with you in person down the road a bit!

Tyler, Liza, and Max

Wednesday

We stayed at the marina most of the day today. In the afternoon we went into the city and walked along King Street, great shopping area. The kids and I bought Eliza new surf shorts at Quik Silver, were going to get a very cute swim shirt for her too until I saw that the price was 99.99!!!! Unbelievable for such a tiny piece of nylon! John bought an iPad, which I am so psyched about since I've wanted one since he had to return the other after he quit his job. Now we'll just have to see how well we all share to see if I have to buy my own!!! We went to a really great pizza place for dinner called "Mellow Mushroom". We stopped by a CVS on the way back to the van, and they had a large selection of Halloween costumes. The kids were very excited and picked some very gruesome outfits.

By the way, since we'll be here for another week probably, we have a mailing address!

The City Marina Dock Office
c/c Zusammen/Schnauck
17 Lockwood Drive
Charleston, SC 29401

Don't send anything past Nov. 1 though as we hope to be out of here by the 3rd or 4th.

Charleston's palm tree lined streets

A fountain Liza liked

The Spice & Tea Exchange and beginning of 'The Market'

Kids on the dock

Costumes

Naptime

Charleston Aquarium

Yesterday we visited the aquarium. We all had a great time and agreed it was one of the best we've seen. It helped that there were only about 20 other people there, so we could take our time through the whole building. We started the visit watching a 4D showing of 'The Wizard of Oz'. Not sure why an aquarium would select this movie but none the less it was really fun, and great effects. My favorite exhibit was the albino alligator. He was entirely white, and about 7 feet long. The kids enjoyed touching rays and horseshoe crabs in the touch tank. There was an enormous aquarium, similar to Boston's, that we watched a presentation about. They had several sharks which are always fun to see. The glass in the aquarium is 18 inches thick to withstand the pressure of the water. When we got back to the marina, we met our friends Marty and Hernan, and two new friends, Marsha and Dan, who are retired high school teachers. We all went back into the city for dinner at 'Wild Wings'.


Today after school our plan is possibly a carriage ride/historical tour and grocery shopping.

Class in session in Charleston

Dolphins Cape Fear to Charleston.MP4

This went on for 15 minutes or so - pretty neat.  They kept switching sides of the boat, swimming right under the keel.  After they had enough, they grouped behind us and watched us sail off. It seemed like they were discussing what they had just seen!

Offshore run to Charleston

35 miles to the entrance channel. Very light wind on the tail and a quartering sea of maybe 2 feet. Pretty good run so far, the sea combined with the light wind makes for a pretty rolling ride. I'll be happy to tie up in Charleston later this morning. The City Marina will be doing the repairs that knucklehead left us to attend to. I would think we'll be there a week or so.
Just around sunset, we had a pod of dolphins playing in our bow wave and swimming alongside and trading sides. They looked like they were having a blast. When we get in we'll post the video Lex shot. The kids were thrilled. It was a pretty cool sight.
My watch is coming to an end until 0230 then back on after a couple of zzz in the cockpit tethered like the ball in the backyard by the pool. No boats, a few birds and no moon. Passages just like we like them. Boring!


Thanks to the Ordways and Marty and Hernan for keeping track of our cruise plan and making sure we arrived in Charleston! Its really nice to have people looking out for us.

Wrightsville Beach

We left Swansboro on Thursday, a very windy day, in search of a more protected anchorage and a good nights sleep. We drove to Mile Hammock Bay anchorage, which is adjacent to Camp LeJeune and used for military manoeuvres. The Osprey jet helicopters flew over our boat until about 10 p.m., noisy, but pretty cool to see. Today we motored to Wrightsville Beach, about 40 miles, which took us longer than we thought because we didn't time the bridge openings correctly. I'm not sure we can move fast enough to get through them all without delay though. Wrightsville is the biggest town we've been in for awhile. Lots of boats, services, people. John went ashore this afternoon while I did school with the kids. We'll await his verdict on all going ashore tomorrow, or continuing on to our next port.

Here's a picture of the Osprey and a couple of interesting sights along the ICW.

Tyler's birthday and Swansboro

The weather is not being cooperative to move. We are still in Swansboro, tied to a dock, which luckily is priced very reasonably. I'm not sure if I mentioned that our GPS broke in Beaufort. John spoke to Raymarine, told them the situation, and they agreed to take ours and replace it with a re-conditioned unit or fix ours at no cost. They have been really great and its been a huge relief to have that issue resolved (almost since we haven't got the unit back yet). They are fedex'ing the new one to us tomorrow, so fingers crossed all will be well. The wind tonight is blowing about 20 knots, gusting to 30, so we have the boat tied to the dock like a spider web. Tyler had a god birthday today I think. We had presents first thing, then cinnamon rolls, played card games until lunch, birthday cake with our friends Marty and Hernan, then John took him fishing where he caught a fish, tacos for dinner, more games, and bed. Liza and I explored the town today, went to several gift stores, and a salt-water taffy shop where we had free samples (cotton candy and watermelon). Tomorrow the wind will still be too strong to travel, so we're here for one more day. All looks great for a Friday run to Wrightsville Beach.

Opening present from Granny and Papa.

Playing cards

Rain

Wind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Swansboro, NC

Amazing jump-jets. I've never seen a plane land vertically before!

Beaufort, NC departure

Because of the crowded mooring field, we had to use 2 anchors to keep us from swinging into the channel. Since we couldn't swing with the wind, we spent the night listening to the waves slap the hull, loud enough to wake John and I up every couple of hours. Because there aren't really any better anchorages in the area, we decided to leave for Swansboro. It is definitely understandable why the mooring field is full, Beaufort is really a beautiful area.

Collision! Knuckleheads at Sea.

So we were just about at Swansboro, I called Casper's marina and Mrs. Casper came back and gave us  instructions to turn to port after a small red nun.  A guy in a C&C was behind and gaining.  I was on the right hand side of the channel and a small Jon boat was ahead of us.  They were fishing for spot, probably shouldn't have been in the ICW, but were.  Not a big issue, I turned to the port side and the knucklehead in the C&C suddenly must have seen the Jon boat and came up hard.  He put the wheel hard down to port and drove straight into the back of us.  His two anchors on bow rollers hit our dinghy on the davits, and powered us 180 degrees around before we got untangled.  I was watching the Jon boat and was hard in reverse.  Both boats narrowly missed the Jon boat and after a dictionary full of choice adjectives we separated.  I drove us out of the ICW and toward Casper's.  The other boat yelled that they would be heading to Mile Hammock.  I insisted that they drop a hook or tie up at Casper's to no avail.  Windquest (of Wilmington, DE) plowed on ahead.  I called the USCG and reported the collision and the fact that  Windquest  was leaving the scene.

Long story longer....The CG scrambled a boat, they met us at Casper's, took a statement from us and the owner of Casper's who watched the whole incident and then shot off to go grab Windquest (henceforth, the knuckleheads....).  The commander was a great guy from Everett, MA and he was back shortly with all of the information from the driver and the owner.  He informed us that the North Carolina Wildlife folks handled accidents and would be down shortly if the damage was thought to be over $2000.

We certainly have over $2000 in damage and the Wildlife guy came along within the half hour.  He took an accident report and interviewed the owner of Casper's as well.  He then went South to find the knuckleheads.  I heard the Coast Guard hailing Windquest three hours after the incident and would guess that the wildlife fellow didn't catch up with him.  The Coast Guard informed us that he would be getting a $1000 fine for leaving the scene and would be responsible for the damage to Zusammen.

Following SAIL Magazine's format of at sea disaster stories...
What We did Right -
1. Zusammen followed all "rules of the road" and adhered to radio protocol throughout the incident as well as prior and post indecent.
2. We tied up and communicated to authorities quickly
3. We avoided hitting the fishing boat.

What we did Wrong -
1. The captain of Zusammen used foul language during the incident, directed at the "Knuckleheads" aboard Windquest
2.  Zusammen could have initiated radio contact with the knuckleheads as we watched them approach from behind.  This wasn't required as the burden rests on the boat intending to pass.  We realize now, that some folks don't know the rules and don't follow them.  We are now aggressively proactive.
3.  We didn't open fire.  (just kidding - so much military around here, it's hard not to joke)
4.  If I had been quicker on the the throttle when I saw knucklehead put his wheel down, he might have missed me.  This one is hard as I keep replaying the incident - I was a touch frozen in dis-belief that this guy is driving into my stern!


All is going to be OK - Progressive Insurance (knucklehead's insurance company) will be paying for all repairs.  We are going to have them done at City Marina in Charleston, NC when we get there.  No problems that money can't fix.  No one got hurt and I hope knucklehead learned a lesson.

Oriental and Beaufort, NC

Adams Creek Canal

After leaving Dowry Creek Marina we decided to go all the way to Oriental, as the sun was shining and the wind was favorable. We had to motor the last couple of hours as it was on the nose. We stayed at the Oriental Marina and Inn, which was nice, but had suffered damage from Hurricane Irene, so was only half operational. This morning we left Oriental for Beaufort, and arrived about 3 p.m. Beaufort is a great little town, with dolphins in the sound, and wild horses across the bay. We explored town this afternoon and bought a few things for the trip. Tomorrow I think we're staying in Beaufort, but heading for the outside beaches to go surfing and shell collecting.

Liza at the helm

Searching for dolphins

Shackleford Horses

Good night at the end of the Alligator River

We spent the night last night anchored at the southern end of the Alligator River and had dinner aboard Oceanaire.  Outstanding!

We made a fairly long run today that one one of the most tedious of the trip.  Very straight, very slow, straight upwind and into a wind-driven current.  A couple of boats were held up at the end of the Aliigator/Pungo canal because the wind had piled water up in this non-tidal area of the world and made the last bridge too low for them to get under.  It was definitely under 64' when we went under.  Not an issue for Zusammen as we are 52' of mast plus a couple of feet of antennae.

We ended up staying the night in Dowery Creek.  Great spot - cool marina.  They have a pool that the locals were amazed the kids were swimming in (because it isn't heated).  We took on fuel and then borrowed a car from the marina to drive to town to get the propane bottle filled.  The cruisers at the marina did a pot-luck super at the clubhouse which was good fun.  We met some good folks and as always picked up some new info.  (My interest in cruising the Florida Keys before we head to the Bahamas is renewed!)

Tomorrow, fairly early (hoping to make an 0730 departure or better) we will head out to run down the Pungo River and then across the Pamlico River.  The latter will be a little messy with a strong West wind, but we should be on a close reach and the breeze isn't predicted to really pump up until the afternoon.  I think we will anchor in Gale or Bear creek tomorrow night - skip the drama of running all the way to Oriental if the wind does come up to predicted levels.  The following day we could make a long run and hit Beaufort/Moorehead city.  I think when we get there, we'll chill out for a while and maybe even look for some surf.

I hear whispering coming from the V-berth - time to threaten a keel-hauling.  ;-)

Bis-Spater....

PS. I forgot to mention that we had our Insurance Line for November first, moved South to the Florida / Georgia border from Hatteras.  Thanks to Bob Peck at Triton for working it out.  Will be good to get down into SC and Georgia before Nov.   

Good morning Tyler (at 10 a.m.)

Trip down the ICW

We had 2 nights at the Waterside Marina in Norfolk. Its a great marina, very friendly staff, and good location. We went to the Nauticus museum, and explored the battleship Wisconsin. There was a retired navy man answering questions on the ship who had served on the Wisconsin during the Korean War as a radio operator. He was very interesting to talk to. He told us about when the ship was hit by enemy fire, putting a hole in the deck, all he felt was a slight thud. The crew quickly patched the deck and went on with business as no one was seriously injured. The museum also had an ocean exhibit with a touch tank, and the kids got to touch carpet sharks. We did a science lesson in this section of the museum, learning about water-flow through canals and locks. The exhibit had movable partitions so you could control the flow of water, and change how fast your boat went down the canal. The kids loved it, and we had to drag them away after an hour of re-routing water in a hundred different ways.

We met some new friends at the marina, Marty and Hernan, who are also going south to the Bahamas. They have a gorgeous Irwin 52 (I think), that we visited for cocktails. They have TV, so the kids spent a blissful hour sucked into the tube, while we enjoyed our drinks with our friends.

We left Norfolk at 8:15 a.m. yesterday to begin the trip down the ICW. All went well, the trip was a bit rainy and long, but easy. We went through our first lock without incident. After all boats were tied, we dropped 3 feet before being let out on the other side. Pretty cool! We tied up at 5 p.m. at the Coinjock Marina, took showers, had dinner, and went to bed. Today we left at about 9 a.m. heading for Albemarle Sound and Alligator River. Our plan is to anchor tonight.

Just crossed into NC!

Click for Hi-Res
Let's just say we gave these fellas a big wave and didn't make any "false moves".

Nauticus

Lex after a long watch....

Answers to a few FAQs......

Just thinking as I wait for the laundry to dry, about how many times I have heard the same questions from folks interested in the trip.

I think that number one is
Q: "So, do you have the whole tripped mapped out and know where you are going to be every night?"

Answer - absolutely not.  We can't (and don't want to) make firm plans for a number of reasons.
1. Weather.  We need to travel when the weather is good and hang in port when it isn't.  We may choose to wait a day to avoid "wind on the nose" if we can sail on a reach the following day.  Currents, wind and fog play a big part in our choice to "stay or go"
2. We don't know what we don't know.  We find folks all the time that are making suggestions for us of things to see and do as we are travelling and meeting them on the docks and about town.  Some of these suggestions have been great and we don't want to miss out on something spectacular to keep a schedule.
3. There are far too many nights to make a plan that far in advance.  Many anchorages are good on a North wind and dangerous on a South...

Q: Do you tie up at a dock every night?

A: Almost never - it's too expensive.  Can be as much as $5 per foot per night.  We anchor most nights. It's free.  Occasionally we'll tie up to a dock or mooring if there is a great deal (so happens, I'm on a dock now!).  The provided transportation to a great grocery, it's right beside a museum that we can get into with reciprocal membership from the museum of Science in Boston (for free), the have no additional charge for AC power (charge all of our "stuff" like batteries for my drill, etc.), pump-out and water in the slip as well as ripping fast internet.

Q: What do you do on a boat all day?

A: We're not on the boat very much during the day unless we are sailing from one spot to the next.  There is always something to fix, clean or upgrade when I am on the boat - I have a huge work list that just changes, but doesn't seem to shrink.  I like working on the boat when I get the time.  She should look pretty good when we're back in Padanaram next!  The kids have school that takes about 3 hours and then we're off doing our trips visiting museums or sightseeing.

Q: Where are you going?

A: South!

Well, we're going down the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) and will cross over to the Bahamas from Miami.  Again, this is a loose plan.  We went outside the ICW along the New Jersey coast - we're too deep to stay inside.  We may go outside again further south and accelerate the miles, but we may just take it slow 40-60 miles a day.  The overnight we did yesterday was 140 mile run - one overnight is 3 days of daylight travel.  That said, I felt like I had a horrible hangover the next morning, and didn't have any of the associated fun!  I'm getting old!

The loose plan is to be in the Southern Bahamas and possibly the Turks in the coldest part of the winter and then northern Bahamas maybe March into April.  We'll then head back North and we're not sure yet via which route.  

Q: Jeez, how can you afford this?

A:  We rented our house, sold both cars, already owned the boat and it isn't that expensive.  Groceries, Diesel, museums, cell phones and repairs are the only bills.  The boat burns about one gallon every six or seven miles when we have to motor and the dinghy doesn't use much gas.  We'll kill one cell soon, we only need one and it won't work in the Bahamas anyway.

 Q: Do the kids like it?

A:  No, they hate it, but we're forcing them to live out our dream with us.  Tough luck kids...  ;-)

Norfolk, VA

We arrived in Norfolk at about 7 a.m. and found a fuel dock and water right as we turned into the channel. Fully loaded, we headed for the ICW, and a peaceful anchorage for a few hours of sleep. We dropped the hook at Hospital Point and slept. We moved the boat this afternoon to a slip at a marina nearby to ensure a good nights sleep. There's also a very cool looking museum nearby, Nauticus, that we'll visit tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be lousy for a few days now, so we'll probably be here for a couple of nights.

End of overnight

Beautiful, peaceful, calm overnight. My first ever all night sail. I was on watch from 11-2a.m., slept, then woke up at 4:30 a.m. and we finished the night off together. The sunrise was beautiful, and all the more spectacular when you've been waiting hours for some light!

On watch....

Nice night for a cruise. 18 miles out of Norfolk, VA

Saturday and Sunday in Annapolis

On Saturday, our friends Jessica, Caroline, and Teddy Williams from Duxbury came for a visit. We had a great time with them at the boat show, and then went to the Naval Academy for a Navy vs. Southern Miss football game. The game was fantastic, even though Navy lost. The entire freshman class was there, as well as many many more cadets, all in uniform. Every time Navy scored the Freshman would run behind the goal posts and do pushups! (see pic below) After the game, we met Forrest and some co-workers, and went to The Boathouse for supper. Caroline slept over on the boat, which both kids loved. All 3 were exhausted, so went to sleep soon after we got back. In the morning, John brought Caroline back to shore, and we left around 10:00 a.m. to start south again, supposedly for Solomon's Island.