"On the Hard" in Southport

Sue checking the keel where SHE ran aground. For
some reason, all the paint was missing!

We took the boat down the ICW two miles on Tuesday March 23 to be hauled out.  We tried to time our arrival for slack tidal current, so we could have at least some chance of getting into the narrow slip for the Travelift.  We made it on our second try, so that's not too bad.

A bit of a climb to get aboard!

The haulout went smoothly with no unexpected surprises (like dropping the boat!)  Our initial walk-around showed that the hull was very free of barnacles, so the periodic bottom cleaning which we had done through last summer served us well.  Most importantly, I thought that in general we had fewer large bulging blisters on the fiberglass hull than I've seen on previous haulouts.  Maybe the fact that we've been in cooler waters for the past year (Chesapeake Bay) has reduced the severity of the blisters.  But make no mistake; this boat was built in Taiwan in 1987 (during a time when inferior resin was used in the fiberglass lay up), so it will always have some blisters.

Sue is earning her new title of "Lead Barnacle Buster".
That anode on the prop shaft (near her head) might
need replacing!  The red/blue paint on the keel are
the 3 coats of paint from last haulout.

We spent the rest of the week starting to work through our list of things to do.  The major effort for us is to closely inspect the boat below the waterline for needed repairs.  And then to clean the barnacles and crud from the hull & running gear.  And then to knock off the old zinc anodes & get ready to install the aluminum anodes for use in fresh water this summer.  And then to closely monitor the boat yard workers as they do the chores that I just don't want to mess with anymore.

We'll have just 2 weeks to finish our own list of chores on the boat, before we hit the road again for 2 weeks to Florida, then to New Orleans, then to Birmingham AL, then to Chattanooga, and finally back here.  Still hoping to splash the boat around April 22, but I have yet to see a schedule from the yard.  Just hope my yard experience doesn't turn into a nightmare like John & Susan's boat in Mobile AL.  Their original 3 week yard period turned into a 9 week horror story!

Southport, North Carolina

The Admiral is back in charge!

We’re on the road again!!  After returning from Florida, we spent only a short week on the boat before we left our winter home in Little River, South Carolina, and headed north to Southport North Carolina.  (yeah, sometimes even we get confused which way we’re headed!)  It has been three years since we’ve hauled the boat out to check the fiberglass blisters and paint the bottom, so we’ve scheduled a 4-5 week yard period.

A mess of Anhinga birds sunning on the dock canopy

We had a weather window on March 18, so we got underway to take advantage of the tidal currents.  In doing so, we ended up traveling on the Intracoastal Waterway across some ocean inlets (that continuously have shifting shoals) at low tide – which means “skinny water”.  We were so focused on recording depths across the inlets that we maybe possibly might have strayed outside the channel just a wee bit, and started plowing through the soft bottom.  Sue, who was driving, said “Something doesn’t feel right” and I responded “Because we’re aground!”  Luckily we were able to plow forward back into deeper water, with no apparent damage (which we’ll confirm next week when we haul the boat).  Oh well, as they say, “there are only two kinds of boaters:  those who have been aground, and those who are going to go aground!”  At least we hit bottom on our first trip of this year, so we got it out of our system & we can check that off our list!

Sunrise along the ICW from our aft sundeck

This Monday we plan to go 2 miles to the boatyard, where we’ll be on the hard for hopefully no more than 5 weeks.  We have big travels plans this season, so we need to be heading north by May 1.  We’ve brought several credit cards with us & closed out two checking accounts in hopes of paying for all the yard work that is needed.  BOAT = Break Out Another Thousand.

We’re spending a couple days now unloading all our stuff from the boat, since we can’t live on it while it is out of the water.  The best part is that Sue was able to rent an apartment right here at this marina, so we only have to transport our stuff a couple hundred yards.  Then, 5 weeks from now, we get to reverse the process!  Ain’t boating fun?!?

We’ll see what condition the hull is in next week.  Should make for some interesting photos and an interesting time!

Reunion

Jacket weather at St Augustine Beach, doing what
we do best

As we’re sitting around this coooold winter, pretending to be busy, we keep seeing how warm the temperatures are in Florida.  Sue starts talking to our boating buddies who used to keep their boats with us at “Hell’s Bar” marina outside Chattanooga, and the idea of a reunion creeps into the conversation.  We hadn’t been together as a group in about 3 years.  Two of the couples (Roger & Laura and Ken & Betsy) have already been smart enough to move to Florida, but the other two of us (Clint & Leigh and Sue & yours truly) still try to freeze our patooties in the middle of the country.

Eating our way around St Aug

So Sue gets busy on the internet, and finally finds us a nice big beach house to rent for a couple days on St Augustine Beach.  We set the dates for the reunion as March 5-9, and, wouldn’t you know it, a strong cold front comes through the area on March 5!

Just before the get-together, we are saddened to hear that Laura had a death in the family, and she & Roger will not be joining us for the reunion.  The rest of us missed them terribly during our few days together.

Sue shucks her first oyster!
(say that quickly 3 times!)

The other 3 couples tried to live up to our reputations, as we ate and drank our way around St Augustine.  Clint & Leigh were our guides, since they had been in the area several times.  We ate at all the good restaurants (and one not-so-good).  We went to the cold beach & squished some sand between our toes.  We told one sea story after another (some of which were actually true).  But most of all, we re-connected with each other and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company.

It was a great way to break out of the winter doldrums.  There will probably be another reunion of the “Hell’s Bar Yacht Club”.

Acting like tourists in St Aug

Main tourist attraction

The crews of M/V Fruition and S/V Nemo

And then, on our drive back north from St Augustine, we stopped outside Savannah to visit ANOTHER boating couple who we traveled with last summer from North Carolina and around the Chesapeake Bay.  Bill and Jeanie from their S/V Nemo met up with us several times at several different places around the Bay, and helped us eat many many crabs.  They were just launching their boat for the spring, and will probably be heading north for the summer again.  It was great breaking bread with them again!

 

The definition of "contentment"

Friends & Family 2014

 

We spent the last 2 months of 2014 doing a lot of traveling to visit many many friends and relatives.  It was a welcome break from all things boating (and all things needing fixing), and a reminder of what is really important in life.

Just south of Mrytle Beach is Brookgreen Gardens. The
caged bird habitat held many egrets & herons. This
blue night heron was common in Louisiana.

In addition to our regular annual family get-togethers in Tennessee for Thanksgiving and in New Orleans for Christmas, we were able to meet up with many of our Power Squadron friends – from both the Chattanooga Squadron as well as the New Orleans Squadron.

We also started acting like tourists in the local Myrtle Beach area, by spreading around some of our social security check.  In particular, we visited Brookgreen Gardens, a complex of former rice plantations which has become an extensive outdoor sculpture garden, and we took in a Christmas show at the Alabama Theater in the Barefoot Landing part of town.

At Brookgreen Gardens, the children's play area
had interesting rules. (click to enlarge)

Sue's uncle in Ohio was pleased to see us again.

And, to demonstrate just how much we’re on the ball, we actually got Christmas cards in the mail BEFORE Christmas!  Ahhhhh…..this retired life, with nothing to do!

Lots of photos here, to highlight our many friends and family.

My aunt in Ohio is just as spry as ever!

Our best friends in Chattanooga, John & Susan,
have opened their house to us each time we visit Sue's mom.
As fellow Power Squadron members, they have become true friends.

Our boating friends from New Orleans, Greg & LizAnn, opened their
home to us when we met our family in town for Christmas.
Greg & LizAnn aboard their sailboat "Lagniappe" (a true New Orleans name)
met us twice along the Atlantic coast as they cruised from Maine to the Bahamas.

3 generations share a laugh.  Sue, her mother, and our daughter Lynne.

At Christmas, we joined the party at mom's place.
How do you like my sweater (from the ugliest sweater contest!)

In New Orleans, our wonderful super perfect granddaughter Madeleine
set up the "Christmas Café" to cook & serve the Christmas dinner.

Where but New Orleans would Santa's skiff be pulled by 8 alligators!
You need to read "The Cajun Night Before Christmas"

Passing thru Atlanta, we stopped at Stone Mountain to climb the big granite rock.
At 700' above the surrounding area, we started getting nose bleeds, since we live at sea level.
We got smart & took the tram back down the mountain.

We enjoyed the Stone Mountain village as it was lit up for Christmas

1700 mile road trip

We decided to visit Sue’s uncle in Ohio sooner, rather than waiting till later this year.  So we rented a car from our friendly Enterprise dealer, checked our maps (to find that we can’t really get there from here), and headed north.  We crossed the mountains in North Carolina, Virginia, & West Virginia and saw all the leaves changing colors.  (I read that West Virginia is actually the biggest state in the country, especially if you flatten out all the mountains.)

With my Aunt (on my mother's side).  I hope I'm
as energetic as she is at 86 years

We spent a couple days in Ashland OH visiting Uncle Dallas, who seems to be doing well – much better than last year.  While in northern Ohio, we also got to see my Aunt Barbara in Huron, who is a spry 86 years young, still living by herself in her home.  We’re looking forward to next summer when we’ll have the boat on Lake Erie, and be able to see all these relatives (and several more) when both Sue & I get back in our old “stomping grounds”.

Bill Bowman's 70 foot Burger yacht.  Burger yachts
are all custom built, and about 20 steps above our boat.

We then pointed the car east, past Washington DC, back to our old marina in Colonial Beach on the Potomac.  We were staying only one night to retrieve our car, so the owner of The Boathouse Marina, Mr. Bill Bowman, invited us to spend the night on his yacht.  We reciprocated by inviting him to one of the better restaurants in town, where he and Sue shared a 3# grilled flounder, which Sue claims was one of the better meals she had ever eaten.  Mr. Bowman has been a prince of a gentleman each time we’ve been to his marina, making us feel very welcome and special.

Sue and Bill Bowman about to devour a perfect
flounder meal

We drove both cars back to Myrtle Beach, watching the changing colors of the tree leaves all the way.  By the time we arrived “home”, we had driven over 1700 miles in less than a week.  Yes, our butts were sore from sitting so much.

We’ll have about 10 days here to do some chores around the boat, and to act like tourists around Myrtle Beach, before we pack up the horses again to head to TN for Thanksgiving and the family reunion.

“Home” for the Winter

Organized chaos waiting for the bridge to open -
boats going every which way

Interesting sights along the ICW

We had a 2-day trip from Morehead City NC down to Southport, and chose to anchor for the night at the edge of the USMC base Camp Lejuene.  There were major exercises going on at the base, and since the weapons range ran right along the southbound ICW, the ICW was closed while the range was “hot”.  This led to another traffic jam of a dozen boats, all waiting for the noontime re-opening of the ICW.  Even after that, the military exercise continued through the night.  The cove where we anchored was filled with USN/USMC river boats, each with several 50 caliber machine guns.  All night, we heard large gun fire, machine gun fire, helicopters, and boat traffic.  Sure gave us a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that the bad guys weren’t going to get us that night!

We made Southport NC the next day, with the continuing northwest wind 15-20 mph.  While there, we interviewed the boatyard where we may haul the boat this winter.  We must have lots of extra money lying around someplace, so we’ll just dump it into our hole in the water.  The surprising thing while in Southport was meeting up with boats whom we had met this past summer.  One was a boat we met in Norfolk a couple weeks ago, and the other was a boat we met in July at Colonial Beach.

Look! She finally let ME drive!

Our final day cruising for this year was the half day trip from Southport to Little River SC and our marina for the winter, Lightkeeper’s Marina.  The trip was mostly uneventful (the best kind of trip to take on a boat), but we still had to plan for slack current at Southport as well as mid-tide or better at two areas of shoaling along the way.  Our marina is a bit north of Myrtle Beach SC, and only 4 miles from the North Carolina border.  We had selected this place back in June when we traveled north from here.



But the Admiral is still the Admiral!

Turning into our marina, right on the ICW.


 

It was a bit melancholy when we docked for the last time this year.  We had a fantastic cruising season through the Chesapeake, eating as much crab as we could, seeing a lot of major towns (and many more smaller ones), and enjoying fabulous weather.  So now we make the transition back to being a landlubber.  One of our first tasks is to retrieve our car which is still at Colonial Beach on the Potomac River.  Then we’ll visit our aging relatives in Ohio and Tennessee.  Then we’ll start working down the project list of boat repair items, which had been growing all by itself this summer.  After visiting with relatives during the coming holidays, it will be time to start planning our adventures for 2015.  Ain’t no tellin’ what’s in store for next year!

We got to the marina just in time for Trick-or-Treat.
These cute kids lived on a sailboat next door.
I wonder if they filled up that basket?

Norfolk & the AICW Southbound

In downtown Norfolk, go west down the street
until you run into a big grey battleship
(part of the Nauticus museum)

We stayed in Norfolk for 3 days, which was one day longer than we wanted.  The winds from yet ANOTHER cold front kicked up to 25 mph gusting to 30 and there were continuous whitecaps on the waves in the harbor.  At our marina, we were tied at a fixed concrete dock, and the 3’ tides coupled with the winds, did some minor damage to the side of the boat.  Oh well, something else to fix.



Our tourist day in Norfolk was spent visiting the Douglas MacArthur museum & memorial, and the Nauticus.  Your history lesson for today, children, is that MacArthur served in WWI as a general, and had already made a name for himself by the time he became a 5-star General during WWII.  When he was young, he lived in the Philippines when his father (also an Army General) was stationed there, and MacArthur was considered an expert on the people & politics of the Philippines.



USS Jesse L. Brown, my home away from home
in 1974.  I flew a helicopter from the tiny back deck
as it pitched and rolled.

At the Nauticus, we toured two museums, and saw mostly the typical marine/Navy stuff.  My big surprise at one of the museums was the selection of free postcards of Navy ships at the front desk, one of which had the picture of good ol’ DE 1089 – the ship that I was on in 1974!  The ship had been decommissioned 10-15 years ago, so how they still had a postcard of it, I’ll never know.

Norfolk has mermaids throughout the city.  I'm taking
the good-looking one home with me!

 

 

 

 

 

 



This mermaid has spent too much
time at sea!

 

  

One other day, we took the harbor ferry over to Portsmouth to see more museums, and to go to the Commodore Theater.  This theater, which was recommended to us by boater friends from New Orleans, shows first run movies inside a restored art deco building, in addition to serving a lunch or dinner prior to the show.  Rather unique.

 

The long parade of boats heading south down the ICW

Along the ICW, as the bridge finally opens, out comes
a tug & barge.  Makes things interesting when the
canal is already too narrow.

We were finally able to depart Norfolk on October 24, when the winds “died down” to only 15-20 mph.  We were entering the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway again, where winds are not as important as in open waters.  Just south of Norfolk are an “obstacle course” of bridges and locks, most with scheduled openings.  With the large number of southbound boats having been held up by bad weather, we now had a virtual caravan of boats going through each bridge opening.  At times, we were number 10 in the long line of southbound boats.  It seemed like organized mayhem as we all “marked time” waiting for the next bridge to open.

We tried to avoid the crowds by bypassing the common marinas, and anchoring in coves on the way south.  However, even the coves had 3 other boats in them.  I’m amazed at how many boats make the trek north and south each year. 

Some parts of the ICW are deserted & boring

The winds were a constant 15-20 out of the northwest for about 3 days.  It caught us on the starboard beam most of the way, and because our boat has so much canvas enclosures, the wind made us heel over to port just like a sailboat.  I think that our boat will have a permanent heel because of all the wind.  And all the sea spray made the decks crusty with salt.  The first thing we did when we got to a marina was to give the boat a fresh water washdown.

 

 

 

 

Our anchorages for the nights were peaceful & pretty

 

The spacious dining salon aboard Lagniappe

We made Morehead City three days after leaving Norfolk and put in to a marina.  Just an hour later, our friends Greg & LizAnn aboard “Lagniappe” pulled in the marina right across from us.  These are our Power Squadron friend from New Orleans, whom we have been chasing south ever since the Potomac River.  We consider ourselves the Atlantic Fleet of the New Orleans Power Squadron.  We were able to break bread together & tell lots of lies – er, I mean sea stories.  You should have heard all the different ways other boaters tried to say “Lagniappe” on the VHF radio!

We spent two nights in Morehead City to do some Christmas shopping and to clean up the boat.  We were then ready for the final jaunt down the ICW to our marina for the winter.