Carolina Beach, NC to Charleston, SC

When you last tuned in, Randy and Ellen, et al, were in Carolina Beach, NC. Joyner Marina. Nice marina, but the weather was lousy. Really windy. We rocked back and forth like a cradle. Good for sleeping, ‘cept the noise of the wind. (BTW….notice the picture of the creepy piece of whatever it was that was attached to our propeller shaft! Uglyyyyyyyyy!!!)

Our friends and buddy-boaters, Double Dutch, Painkiller and Smoooth Move, anchored around the corner. They would dinghy on over to our dock and walk on the beach. Now, mind you…my idea of a walk on the beach is barefooted in my shorts with the beautiful sky showing a shining sun. Ahhhh. Not there…not during our stay. We did walk on the beach, but wore our foul weather gear, hats pulled down over our ears, with rain pounding sideways and the wind pushing you back. “I realize this is exercise, but this is ridiculous!” Skye, the wonder dog, loved it…herding us all together.

Because of the wind and weather, we stayed a few days at Carolina Beach and then scooted up to Southport, NC to plan our route out the Cape Fear Inlet to the Atlantic…goal: Charleston, SC. I’m sure Carolina Beach is a nice area…certainly nice homes where we were, but the weather made it miserable, well almost miserable. We were able to dinghy over to “town.” Not much of a town. Sort of like Pismo Beach in the late 60s. Maybe not even that good. Pismo Beach was fun! We did find The Dive where we had beer and good conversation. Those times are really fun.

While we were at Carolina Beach we were able to catch up with one of Ellen’s dear friends she hadn’t seen in years. How odd that we both were now on the East Coast! Mary Ann Miller and her beau Bryan live in Wilmington, NC now. They came over to the boat one evening bearing ingredients for Blue Sapphire martinis …along with flowers and fresh basil for the boat. And…a wonderful bottle of Pinot Noir. Excellent! Though it was cold and windy, the martinis made for great fun and catching-up conversation before we jumped in their car and found a place down the road for dinner. What a great evening. We are actually hoping to catch up with them again out here on the coast before we get too far away.

Now we had to plan our departure to Southport. Because of the wind and the big current where we were docked at the Joyner Marina, Randy and I had to plot our exit from our slip very carefully. We thought if we got up early….really early…the wind wouldn’t be so bad and Kwanesum would slip out of this sideways-current/sideways-wind berth. We listened all night long to see if the wind would stop, and it kinda did…for a minute. “Well, let’s get this over with.”

We got up at dark and went out to survey the situation. Ugh…how are we going to manage this without damaging the boat somehow? We decided to physically pull her back a little, outside the pilings that defined our berth. At least that way she would be in the fairway, somewhat, as a head start. She’s heavy! Empty, she’s 23,000 lbs! But we got her where we wanted her. When in reverse, Kwanesum tends to pull to the port (left), which is not unusual for a heavy, full keel boat, with a regular prop. [Full keel: A keel that runs the length of the boat. Full keels have a shallower draft than fin keels.] It’s called “prop walk.” I do NOT like prop walk. Our other boat in CA had a fin keel and a folding prop and backed like a champ threading a needle. [Fin Keel: A keel that is narrow and deeper than a full keel. It looks like a fish's fin extending below the boat, and the boat usually has a rudder mounted some distance aft, often on an additional keel-like extension called a skeg.] Not so, sweet Kwanesum.

It all worked well, though… our plan. Thank heaven. Her prop walk was in the direction the current and wind were pushing anyway. We eased her back, working the lines along the cleats of the dock and she went right back into the fairway. Yes! Now we just had to see where we were going and it was pitch dark. The plan was to go to the fuel dock and wait there until morning light and the rest of the crew were ready to go. We didn’t have far to go so I stood on the bow and motioned which way to go. It worked. We could relax now and have our coffee and wait for daylight. Stress is gone.

The trip to Southport, NC was short and fairly uneventful. We were there before noon, the point being that it was at the top of the Cape Fear Inlet we would be taking to get out to the Atlantic for our trip to Charleston the next morning. This would give us a head start. I’m at the helm and it all went well…until we got to our docking spot. “We’ll pull into the Provision Co berths. They provide free docking for the night if you eat there.” “Roger that, Ran, just show me where to go.” “OK…pull in here…this looks wide enough. We’ll tie up on the starboard(right) side so just pull over to drop me on the dock.” “Roger that, Ran.” “Good job, El, just a little closer and I can step off. Just a little closer…closer…uhhhh….why don’t you back up and try again.” “Roger that, Ran.” Remember that prop walk I told you about? Well…I prop walked before I got past the port pilings. “Whoa....Nellie!! Dammit! I liked that BBQ! Why do we have that BBQ hanging on the side of the stern rail anyway, Ran? It’s in the way! Ooooo….shoot.” (…or a facsimile thereof). “No problem, El. We’ll just tie up on the port side. I can work on that big dent in the BBQ later.” I have the greatest husband in the world! =) There is still a big learning curve in getting to know how Kwanesum moves. Duh…I guess so, El! The BBQ was put back into shape and I don’t think I damaged the stern rail. It looks ok, right Ran?

The rest of the crew took up the other docking spots by the restaurant. We all helped each other as it was kinda tricky, despite Ellen’s helmanship. The tide change was huge and we had to account for that. Ours was not a floating dock. Placing lines and fenders for that large tide change required mucho planning and vigilance. All said and done…it’s time for a beer…and a sandwich. Great spot. Reminded me of some of the fun spots in Cabo San Lucas, actually. My kind of place.

The town of Southport was darling. The town is old and Southern. Very careful restoration was noticeable and very pleasing. A nice place to walk. Not all the towns we have visited have had their wonderful homes restored and well cared for. A lot of antique stores there, which drove me crazy. I love antique stores but don’t have a home for antiques anymore. Once in a while I’ll look anyway in case there’s something that would look fab on the boat.

Up at the crack of dawn and we’re ready to go out to the Atlantic! Yay! Ran and I have been looking forward to sailing on the ocean instead of just motoring through the ICW. Painkiller, the power boat, was going outside for awhile and then back into the ICW to finish their trek to Charleston. Double Dutch, Smoooth Move and Kwanesum would do the Atlantic over night. Hoping to sail. It was a beautiful day.

But no wind. Where is the wind when you want it!? Not at Carolina Beach when you’re in dock and you DON'T want it! But it was such a beautiful day it was ok. We motor-sailed doing about 51/2 knots to keep everyone at the same pace….at course 230º South to Charleston. Dolphins swam by…the ocean changed to a beautiful aqua color. It was great. Lots of shrimp boats about. Randy was in heaven and much more relaxed. Going down the ICW calls for a lot of focused diligence, which makes your shoulders tense when you’re at the helm. This felt like freedom. Kwanesum could spread her wings.

The sun set as the full moon rose. What a site that was. We had Double Dutch in front of us and Smoooth Move behind. As it got dark our radar was truly a gift. We could keep an “eye” on both boats as well as other traffic. Our running lights aglow, as we’re still motor-sailing. We tried to sail a couple of times as we were making too good of time, but our heavy boat just flapped in the non-wind. Makes it very uncomfortable. We will need to get a lighter sail like a gennaker (a light sail for using downwind...a cross between a genoa and a spinnaker) for such times as these. We just didn’t want to spend money on that one yet.

It was interesting traveling at night. It was still fairly warm which was very nice. The stars were out…though the moonlight kept them from showing their true colors. I was looking forward to seeing phosphorescence in the water at night where things glow…like dolphins passing by. But, alas, it was not to be on this night. Too much moonlight.

I had the helm a lot during the day. Unfortunately our auto helm was giving us a bit of a problem so we had to actually steer ourselves quite a bit. For any length of time this can be tiring, but we were so “up” and glad to be on the Atlantic that it was not bad at all. I look at it as exercise. It’s much harder when your sailing with little wind…the boat is harder to keep on track, but when motor-sailing it’s not too bad. Toward the evening Randy took over. I was ready to relieve him when 3 or 4 hours had passed, as that was our plan. But he was enjoying it. Therefore…I went below and went to sleep. We tried the auto helm switch one more time, and it turned on. Hooray!

Randy ‘roused me at midnight and I took over my shift. Staying awake and alert is the tricky part at that time of night. But adrenaline takes over. I had a Red Bull and some chocolate and that kept me going. I loved watching the radar and seeing if I could see the blips on the screen in the ocean around us with the binoculars. We had a lot more company out there at that time than I thought we’d see. Could see Double Dutch really well, but had a hard time finding Lonnie on Smoooth Move.

I noticed Double Dutch turned off her running light and slowed almost to a stop. I hailed Theo on the radio to see if he was ok and he was. He just decided to sail for awhile. Their boat is much lighter than ours so it sails more smoothly in light winds. Not so the Kwan-ster. I slowed the engine, which I didn’t want to do. We need to keep the rpms up to a certain level. Randy popped his head up. “What’s going on?” Shoot…I didn’t want to wake him but I had a feeling he was sleeping with one ear open. You can definitely hear changes in the engine. He said he was awake, anyway, (he only slept 2 hours!) so he told me to go down to sleep. I was glad to do that but didn’t feel I was pulling my weight in the deal. But Randy was so stoked to be outside sailing that he was actually enjoying it all very much…no sleep and all.

As I lay down below and just sort of catnapped…I, too, was wired up…specially after Red Bull and chocolate…I heard the engines go off. We are sailing! Woohoo! Finally enough wind to sail. Nice. It’s so wonderfully quiet when you sail. It’s so pure. I like that.

As we got closer to Charleston, Lonnie had to call Boat US to be towed. Boat US is for boats like AAA is for cars. He had been having trouble with his exhaust taking on a lot of water and because he was single-handing it was really hard on him. Boat US didn’t respond, so he hailed the Coast Guard. Mind you, this is about 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. Ran and I listened in to the calls. The Coast Guard was great and responded quickly and efficiently to him, even giving him suggestions of what to try. He had tried them all, however. They got a hold of Boat US who then hailed Lonnie and lined him up to be towed into Charleston.

It’s morning and we’re almost there. You get to the mouth of the inlet and feel like you’re there but it takes a long time to get into the port. Lots of traffic coming out the channel from Charleston…including a couple of ships and a shrimp boat…with his nets…right in the channel! Sheesh! You have to watch them as they’re dragging big ole honkin’ nets off the back. Would be ugly to get messed up with that. It was odd to us that they would be allowed to do that in the shipping channels.

I hailed the Charleston City Marina as we were getting nearer to our destination. I wanted to let them know of our arrival and find out where they wanted to put us. Ran and I decided to go into a marina and stay for a month here in Charleston. We can’t go past Savannah River, GA until the end of November due to our insurance restrictions. That’s not too much farther down. We get a better price if we stay for a month and we wanted to see a lot of Charleston anyway. It’s a grand town. And Fort Sumter is here and the Citadel. And the Hunley…the old submarine. We were guided into our berth past the MegaDock. Woohoo! Now there’s some boats that take a little fuel. Fascinating to me who these people are that can own such monsters. And I know these are just babies compared to what we’ll see in the Bahamas and beyond. But there are some 150’ yachts in here. Nice! We were greeted by two handsome young men that helped us tie up at our berth. They handed us a bag of information and made us feel right at home. Our neighboring boats came over and invited us for cocktails. How great is this life!

And of course Skipper Meetings on our boat and Painkiller! Love those Skipper Meetings! Painkiller, Double Dutch and Smoooth Move all anchored out near us. Lots of current here so they each had to put out 2 anchors. They were able to easily dinghy into the docks to do laundry and walk to town, etc. We even had Painkillers one evening on our boat in honor of Al’s (Painkiller) birthday. Then Al, Monica, Ran and I walked the MegaDock after dark to check out the big fellas. It really was pretty as they all had their lights on and we could peek in their ports to see what they looked like.

So…here we are in Charleston. Working on our second week. Our co-horts have since gone on farther south. We will catch up with Double Dutch and Painkiller in the Bahamas, we hope. Lonnie on Smoooth Move stayed and sold his boat on eBay. He had had enough of that boat. Randy just dinghyed over this morning to help him weigh his anchors (bringing them up after such a long time and lots of wind and current is not easy) and take his boat over to the marina where the new owner will take possession. Lonnie is going on to Florida and back to school where he’s working on his masters in writing. He’s glad to be rid of that boat.

I’ll fill you in on our fun stay in Charleston in the next installment. I love this town! You MUST see it if you haven’t already.

Bye, Mon & Al! See you in the Bahamas! (below)

À tout à l’heure….

A collage of the ICW this far

Cruising down the ICW

THIS BLOG POST WILL BE A 2 PARTER...IT'S KINDA LONG....the editor.


Greetings from the ICW….position>>>heading to Camp LeJeune from Beaufort, NC, to stop for the night. We will anchor out there. We’ve come over 200 miles since I last reported in.

Our daily rhythm is beginning to fall into place, but it is taking some adjusting. This is different than just being on the boat in the Deltaville Marina. We are constantly on the move and need to be heedful of where we are, where we’re headed and if we’re safe. Now that’s a good idea, eh? (We’re traveling with some Canadians. =) More on that in a bit.) It’s a good kind of stress but it’s stress none-the-less. Fellow travelers have said this all takes a while to get used to. And that’s ok. We have time. And we love it!

Charting our course is like a game …I like it. Like Myst….trying to figure how to get from one place to the next using all the clues….cool….ok back to what I was talking about. We start with a Skipper’s Meeting every evening at 5pm. While sipping our favorite adult beverages and having snacks, we decide on our destination for the next day, how far we want to go and where we will anchor for the night, or tie up to a free dock. We don’t tend to go into marinas as they’re more expensive and more trouble. Anchoring out is free! Free is good!

The “waypoints” are entered in the GPS on the chart plotter at our helm. The person not at the helm follows with the paper charts to make sure we’re going along correctly, and watches for the red and green markers along the way to be sure the boat is in the ICW channel. It can be shallow along here so we need to be vigilant. Our “draft” (the term for the length of the keel) is only 4 feet which is excellent for this kind of travel. Our fellow travelers have deeper drafts so they have to watch even more carefully. Through these ICW channels we are motoring the whole time. We do put sails up to increase our speed and to balance the boat, but the engine stays on. Our boat carries 75 gallons of diesel fuel so we can go along way before needing to refuel.

I’m sitting down below at the chart table as we travel today, working on this blog entry. I’m way past due. I’ve been waiting for the internet sources but they have been infrequent through here. By the end of the day, I’m so pooped I don’t feel like sitting at the computer. But, wait, Ellen….here’s an idea…try typing some of this up while you’re traveling and not at the helm! Taa daa! I may be slow…but I eventually come around to correct thinking. So now when we get to an internet source I can upload the blog entry. Brilliance doesn’t always come easily. I intend to get an internet booster antenna but haven’t decided which one I want to pay for yet. It’s too bad I didn’t make that decision already as I could have used it through here.

Now…to the flashback sequence….how we got to this point in our travel. We left Portsmouth/Norfolk at 11:45am on Tuesday, September 30. We timed our departure to reach the first lock on the Dismal Swamp Canal by 3:00pm, which was the later of the two openings. The lock only opens twice now to conserve water. They had a peat fire here on the Dismal a month or so ago and a large amount of water had to be used for that. (Peat fires burn very slowly. They’re hard to put out.) Our plan is to go through the lock and tie up at the dock just past for the night.

Several bridges had to be dealt with before we reached the sharp 90º turn into the Dismal Swamp. (Sounds ominous!) This part of the Elizabeth River, leaving Norfolk, is very industrial and full of military ships. Tugs working all around us pushing barges here and there. I like tugs. They have all sizes. While in Portsmouth we got to watch 3 tugs maneuver a huge military warship, turning it completely 180º to get it onto a dry dock pad. Really interesting to see and listen as they tooted their horns to each other. Just a side item bit of info for ya.

The first bridge we came to is “always open.” Not. It was a railroad bridge and I’ll be darned if a train didn’t come just at the time we were ready to go through. Down came the bridge. OK….we’ll circle, circle until it opens again. “Hope this isn’t a bad omen, Ran!” It wasn’t. The rest of the way was perfect. We called into the bridges ahead if we needed them to open or followed other boats and then skedaddled through. Just past the Highway 64 bridge we made our right angle turn into the Dismal Swamp. It’s so beautiful! “Ran! We’re finally going through the Swamp we’ve heard so much about.”

The Dismal Swamp is the beginning of the IntraCoastal Waterway, at least as far as it’s defined. There is a waterway that begins up the coast near Maine, but Mile Zero of the ICW is at Norfolk, VA. George Washington and Patrick Henry thought a canal was needed for effective transportation of goods so that the country could grow and prosper. Construction began in 1793, dug by hand, from both ends. This area turned out to be a haven for runaway slaves. HB Stowe and Longfellow both wrote of the Swamp. The completed canal finally opened in 1805. It is the oldest operating artificial waterway in the US. Edgar Allen Poe wrote The Raven during one of his stays at the Halfway House on the Swamp. James Adams’ Floating Theatre was on the canal, which was the idea for Edna Ferber’s “Showboat.” Is this cool or what? I love it!

We got to Deep Creek Lock about an hour before the 3pm opening. There were 4 other boats waiting, too. Just before 3:00 the lockmaster hailed us to see if there were any boats behind us, and then turned on the green light. We all entered the lock, preparing to hold to the starboard side. The lock tender, Robert, was unbelievably nice. This is the first time I have traversed a lock. Randy had done one up in Seattle. Lock Tender Robert walked down the dock and took our lines, hooking them to the side of the lock. In this lock we prepared for 8 feet of water to raise us up. Robert had his dog UHaul or Uturn (I can’t remember which) as his assistant. Dogs with Jobs. Dogs love to have jobs…and they’re good at it! After transiting through, we tied up on the 100ft dock just south of the lock, with an offer of coffee in the morning from the lock tender. Can’t beat that! One boat continued south, but 4 of us stayed. And this is where we met our new friends.

Theo and Marion, and their trusty dog Skye, are on s/v Double Dutch. (s/v = sailing vessel) They are from Canada, but originally from Holland. So they have nifty accents. Skye is part husky and part border collie, so she’s not Dutch, but she should have her pedigree known, too…and loves us all. Always lots of kisses from Skye.

Lonnie is from la la land. =) He’s on s/v Smoooth Move. He hates that extra “o” in the name but he bought the boat on e-Bay and he doesn’t believe in renaming boats. Lonnie is originally from Iowa, but…he’s been sailing for 30 years…and looks like the salty sailor: long ponytail, funky hat….some teeth. He’s great, with super stories! He’s been there…and done that…in Key West, the Bahamas, at Le Select in St Barts with Jimmy Buffett…. He’s writing a book about buying a boat on e-Bay. Well, there ya go!

Sue and Vick and Beauregard (dog, too) are from Washington, NC. They are on s/v Sandpiper, a cute little 27 foot Island Packet. They’re just putzing around the ICW for a few weeks. We had great conversations in their tiny cockpit with Theo and Marion, drinking our beverages during a pouring rain. Great time. (blog continues below)

continued...

...the saga continues....

Up early and over to the lock tender’s hut the next morning for the promised coffee! UHaul, or UTurn, greeted us and the coffee was poured all around. Robert even microwaved us some little breakfast biscuits. How’s that for service? A morning spent with nice people and listening to really great stories from the lock tender on some experiences he’s had…quite the tales…started our next leg down the Dismal Swamp.

We left Sue and Vick at the dock to continue on their travels, which took them back through the lock, and continued on with Double Dutch and Smoooth Move down the Dismal. After coffee and stories, Lock Tender Robert and UTurn/UHaul had to jump into the pickup and drive down to open up the Deep Creek Bridge for us as we departed.

Our next stop was the Great Dismal Swamp Canal Visitor’s Center where we would tie up for the night. This Visitor’s Center is right off Highway 17 and accommodates both boats and cars! I think it’s the only one in the country that does that. We had a lot of people from their cars come down to talk to us. This area was also the site of a Civil War battle in which Confederate soldiers prevented the Yankees from blowing up the locks. So much history out here!

Later in the evening we were approached by an Island Packet 445 coming down the Swamp. As there was no room left on the dock, they “rafted up” with us. This means they tie directly to our boat, side to side. This is done quite often in crowded areas. If they need to get off their boat they must walk across our deck. The etiquette is not to walk through the cockpit but across the foredeck. And here we met Marthalou and R.T. How’s that for some southern names? And their accent suited them perfectly. They were bringing their boat down from the Richmond area to Oriental, NC for the winter, traveling with their friends Chess and Karen. They use it as a floating condo. Nice, nice people. By the time we left them I was talking just like Marthalou! Y’all!

The next morning we were all up early and ready to go at daybreak, wiping the dew off the boat and enjoying the mist on the water. It’s so pretty. I wish you could all experience this. We were headed for Elizabeth City. We’re now in North Carolina! We had to traverse another lock, this time going down 8 feet. And this lock tender wasn’t as nice or efficient! Oh well, I guess they can’t all be Roberts. He wasn’t even monitoring his VHF radio so we had to figure out what he wanted us to do. The other boats filed in, preparing to tie up on the starboard side. We were prepared for that, too. Then suddenly the lock tender motions with his arms to go to the other side! Like the guys do at the airport, but without the flashlights. “Ran! Does he want us to wait out here on that side or does he want us to go in on that side? What do you think?!” “Hell if I know!” Pretty soon we’re so close we can hear him shouting. He wants us to tie port to. Good grief. Why don’t you use your damn radio, mister? I pulled Kwanesum over and Randy frantically switched all the lines and fenders to the port side. A Chinese fire drill for sure. (Can I say that anymore?) As the water comes in, you need to tend the lines to keep them taut. Much harder for Lonnie who’s single-handing. We were all on our way again in no time. Well, maybe not in no time, but we finally got underway.

As we arrived in Elizabeth City, all the boats decided to tie up at the same spot, the city docks. We fit in nicely except for s/v Gift of the Magi, which is Marthalou and R.T.’s boat. Too big! But there was room around the corner. We had lots of help tying up from gentlemen standing along the dock. Randy jumped off to thank them and low and behold one is the mayor! Great service there in E City. He invited us all to a wine and cheese reception at 4:30pm put on by the Rose Buddies just for us. Apparently it is a tradition in this town started by a gentleman in honor of his wife. He loved roses and had them growing everywhere in his yard. When he saw boats come in he would pick the roses and come down to the dock to welcome the boats with a reception. After his death, the town continues the tradition in his honor. It was very special. It reminds us all to stop and smell the roses.

"As the gateway to the Outer Banks, Elizabeth City stirs memories of the time when Blackbeard sailed the waters, trains were still a way of life and Wilbur and Orville stopped for provisions on their way to Kitty Hawk," mentions a brochure we found. We did not experience these stirred memories but perhaps they're there somewhere. We did however enjoy the little part of the town we were in at the water side in the little time we were there.

This is when we made the decision to travel on with Double Dutch and Smoooth Move. (you’re right, Lonnie…putting that extra ‘o’ in there is a pain in the neck!) We had our first Skipper’s meeting and decided to leave at 0’dark-thirty in the morning, heading to mile 102.2 where we would anchor at Deep Point off the Alligator River. At this point a power boat came in and it was people Theo and Marion (Double Dutch) had met in Norfolk. We invited them over and met our second pair of Canadians, Monica and Al on Painkiller. Skipper’s meeting’s over. Let’s just have fun! It is so damn fun just sitting and talking with these people.

We woke to a gorgeous morning and headed out, waving goodbye to Monica and Al. We decided to take a short cut across the Albemarle Sound. In doing so, we played ‘find the opening’ amongst all the crab pots! We knew this would happen and it’s not too bad, but they were everywhere. It seems as if they can put crab pots wherever they damn well please. And they can tag them with whatever kind of buoy they want…whatever color. Some of them look like recycled milk bottles. I don’t think this would fly in California. They would have some kind of regulation on this. At times…regulation can be a good thing. We’re zig zagging our way through.

Along the way, we saw the blimp hanger the mayor told us about. It is leftover from World War II and apparently this is where they make 99% of the blimps today. Just not the Goodyear blimp. And by golly we did see Snoopy on the Met Life blimp as we sailed by.

As we were trucking down the river who should drive up but Painkiller! They were going to stay in E City a couple of days, but the day was so beautiful and they saw all they wanted to see there in 3 hours, so they decided to follow us. Good deal! Now there were 4 of us buddy-boating.

We crossed the Albemarle, then the Neuse River and turned into the Alligator River. We turned into Little Alligator River and found our anchorage for the night. Ran and I have not anchored much…not a lot of anchoring in the SF Bay… so we are still pretty new at the procedure, but we did well! We’re still getting used to handling Kwanesum anyway, as she’s a much heavier boat with a full keel, which is harder to maneuver and turn on a dime. Thus…the bow thrusters. Bow thrusters are my friend. Good, good bow thrusters.

Captains meeting….5pm! All headed to the power boat tiki bar.

It was such a beautiful night. A zillion stars everywhere. Because we are not used to anchoring, Ran and I were up several times during the night to check on everything. Every little noise would prompt us to check. At one time, around midnight we heard a steady noise and it was a tug pushing a barge…really pretty to see during the night. Kind of an odd thing to say about a tug pushing a barge, but it was neat. And again…the stars were amazing. Up at dawn to get going and another tug and barge passed by. Beautiful mornings and the tug and barge just added that extra touch. OK…you had to be there, but it was neat.

The next point of travel decided by the Skipper’s Meeting would be mile 157.3 on the ICW, the docks of the RE Mayo Shrimp Company in Hobocken, NC. Went through the Pungo River into Goose Creek. The docks here at our stop are….old. Very old. There are 3 old shrimp boats tied up to the docks but plenty of room for us, too. But be careful when you get off the boat. The docks are indeed precarious. Skipper’s Meeting on Double Dutch tonight. Bring the mosquito spray…they’re on a roll. This is a narrow canal, mind you, and during the evening…the tugs come by with their barges. It is a sight to see. The next decided point of travel would be Beaufort, NC.

We woke up to fog. Well there you go! I’ve done fog before…big, tule fog. No problem. We try to wipe off our dodger because of all the dew on it…so we can see. We’re ready…everybody ready? Let’s go. Randy and Ellen…you lead today. OK, no problem. I get behind the helm and off we go. I’m watching the chart plotter and there’s a little fishing boat right in the channel! Well, come on…why are you in the channel?! Sheesh! And they’re crab pots. Crap…I hate dodging the crab pots. Specially before I’ve had my coffee. Pretty soon I hear Theo yelling…”Ellen! This way!” I was so worried about the fisherman and the crab pots I was heading the wrong direction! Even though I had the chart plotter telling me exactly where to go. Ugh. OK…I’m back on track. Then…after Randy wiped off the dodger window a zillion times he said “Why don’t we just unzip it and put it up out of the way?!” duh…..now there’s a good idea! That way we can see! Yay! That would be a great idea!

Now we’re fumbling our way through the fog when Randy says, “I think I see a boat coming straight for us.” Oh, jeez. OK. I’m really putting my Porterville fog eyes to work here which is actually good training. Tule fog is a great training ground for future ship’s captains. I see the boat. It’s Painkiller! They had left earlier, but because they don’t have radar and there was lots of fog, they thought they’d stop and let Randy and Ellen lead since they have radar. Only problem is…Randy and Ellen forgot they had radar and hadn’t been using it! Hello?! Randy and Ellen?! Anybody home?!? We happen to have a super great radar that overlays onto our GPS. But if the brain doesn’t remember that……it’s useless.

Ahem…. After turning on our expensive and wonderful radar…we trucked on down the waterway…headed to Beaufort, NC.

Arrived at Beaufort and tried to figure out where we’re going to be for the night. Oops! It’s getting shallow! We are at Town Creek Marina and wanted to anchor out there, but there are a lot of shoals in that area. We got on the wrong side. The dock master hailed us on the VHF radio and we got back on track. Thought we might go into a berth but the space was too tight. It’s hard to maneuver Kwanesum in tight spaces. So we decided to go back and anchor where everyone else was…but there’s not a lot of room and a lot of depth. Crap. We aren’t great at this anyway, and now we have to decide where to fit in amongst the boats so there’s enough room to swing around. Our technique is still being polished. We found a spot. Let’s drop the anchor. “Ellen…move it back. Reverse. OK. I think we’re good. Get me a beer.” (note from Ellen: we’ll get better at this as we go. Practice makes perfect.) Phew. Wine for me…beer for the Ran-man.

Weather’s not great, but it’s a nice anchorage. We can dinghy to the other side and go into their old town near the water. Very nice. Ran and I go in and walk to town, have some lunch…buy a couple of rugs for the boat and pick up some beer at a store. Back in the dinghy…back to the boat. Good day.

Skipper’s Meeting at the tiki bar. Love that tiki bar on Painkiller. No…wait….I think we were at Double Dutch…oh well…doesn’t matter. It’s always good. Next point of travel, Camp LeJeune, NC. It’s a marine base. You can’t go ashore, but you’re allowed to anchor in this one spot at Mile Hammock Bay. (Skye however was granted permission to go in and do her thing. Skye is special…and we know that.)

We’re in…anchored…we’re getting better at this…and the military are running some exercises. I love it. I just love our military. They have neato boats they’re running around in all around us…after dark, even…without lights. Cool. And the helicopters are flying right over our boats. It all makes my heart pound with pride. I applauded when they went by us. They appreciated it.

Skipper’s meeting….I forget where….point of travel will be mile 295.1, Carolina Beach, NC.

This was quite a day. As we go down the ICW it becomes more of a challenge. A lot of shoaling has taken place. We are following several books that have details of what to expect and what to avoid. We try out best to follow their suggestions and keep in the deeper part of the channels. It doesn’t always work. The first to go aground was Double Dutch. They have a 7 foot draft, which is pretty deep. They got in trouble. Painkiller being a power boat, was able to turn around, go back, and pull them off. Excellent. Otherwise they would have to wait for the tide to rise. Really, really nice of them to turn around, come back, and do that.

We travel on and Smoooth Move gets in trouble. Lonnie turns the boat and powers it forward and gets off. Excellent. Moving on down…being really vigilant of the buoys and the depth…Lonnie goes aground again. He, too, has a deep draft. We are just ahead of him and slow down…back up a bit…try to help. We’ve caught something in our prop. Crap, crap, crap! I hate when that happens. Lonnie turns his boat and gets off. Excellent.

We continue motoring on, feeling the boat shake knowing something must be caught somewhere on the prop or rudder. Not good…but it seems ok. We wait for the bridge to open. This is our second or third bridge we have dealt with this leg, and it gets old. These bridges only open on the hour! Some open on the half hour and the hour, but this one only on the hour! Ugh…. Means you have to putz around and wait and hope you don’t get into some honking current that sends you where you don’t want to be! Double Dutch got into trouble waiting for one bridge. The current caught them and they had to put their anchor out to stop them before they started under the bridge before it opened! Mast would have been gone for sure. But Theo got his anchor out pronto and held fast. Phew! They were ok.

Bridge is finally open and we all file through. We feel this thing we’re caught on. Boat is shaking. OK…just get through the bridge, Kwanesum! Ran powers up and whatever it was seemed to fall off and we smoothly powered through. All righty! Good girl, Kwanesum. All is ok and we’re going on. Coming up on a spot the book said to be vigilant. Stay to the red side, it said…more depth there. We do…we go aground. And we just have a 4 foot draft! Good grief. Randy turns the boat…turns on the bow thruster….we’re off. No harm, no foul. We’re on our way again. Love those thrusters!

We arrive at Mile 295.1 Carolina Beach. It was very beautiful along the way despite the stress of watching our depth the whole time. There are some beautiful houses. Some big boats! Mostly fishing boats. We’re really glad to be here. Ran and I decide to go into a marina. We need fuel, water, provisions and need to do laundry. The others anchor out just around the corner. Randy also wants to have someone dive on our boat to see if something is on our propeller or rudder. It’s time to stop anyway. It’s good to have electricity you don’t have to worry about. When we’re at anchor we have electricity but you have to be careful how much you use and it’s all 12 volt. We have small inverters we can plug in to but they don’t like it when the power isn’t up at a certain level. The solar panels we have really keep the power up. But it goes fast when you use it. So it’s nice not to worry about it for a couple of days.

The diver found the culprit today. A big ole piece of plastic. All twisted around. I’m so glad we stopped and checked this. Kwanesum is glad, too.

There’s a weather front here now. We traveled during a little rain yesterday, so it’s good to stop for a few days. And there’s internet here. Good deal. I slept in. Nice.

Skipper’s Meeting…where are we going next? (By now, I forget where we had these meetings. =) We rotate boats. It’s just too fun.)

Well…the sail boats want to go outside to the Atlantic for this stint to Charleston, SC. The ICW gets even shallower from this point on. It’s just too stressful and difficult for the sailboats…we want to go outside. It would be an overnight sail, but that’s ok. We’ve actually wanted to do this anyway. Seems like the best thing is to go out at Cape Fear Inlet and back in at Charleston. Because of the weather that’s hanging around it looks like we won’t leave until Tuesday. Today is Friday. But we can rest here and prepare. It will be a different journey. So we’ll need to prepare the boat for that. We will need to travel straight through for 30 hours or so, so different shifts at the helm will be in order. Let’s do it. I’ve been waiting for this.

Ran and I have a dear friend that is now in Wilmington, NC and we are looking forward to meeting up with her tomorrow.

We’ll leave you here and keep you posted on the next leg of the trip. Stay tuned!