The WB

     No, not that WB. This one is Wrightsville Beach, NC. We are anchored here for Carol's work period after an interesting time since we left Marathon. Interesting. Not quite as bad as an adventure. Those are worse.

     We knew when we left Marathon we didn't have quite enough time to get here and we'd have to do something to pick up days in case we had bad weather or other issues. We went from Marathon to Tarpon Basin, Key Largo our first day. A little rough due to wind and sea direction but not terrible. You'd like your first day underway after a three month layoff to be a little nicer to get acclimated. Well, not this time.

     We left the Keys and instead of stopping in Miami we went out Government Cut and kept going. All the way to Fort Pierce. I expected to go overnight and get to FT Pierce Inlet between 0900 and 1100 but we were on the edge of the Gulf Stream and sailed fast. Very fast. Even though  it was a little choppy we were doing close to 10 knots. During the night I calculated (okay, the GPS calculated) we would get to Ft Pierce before 0300. Dark. I furled the genoa, shut off one engine and near idled the other one to slow us down to a first light arrival. This one overnight passage gave us more than three days in hand for the future. We visited our friends Mike and Carol, topped off fuel and groceries and moved on the next day in late morning. Even though we left three or four hours later than normal we went close to our normal anchorage and were caught up. The next day we pushed all the way to Daytona and so picked up another day. Then we visited St Augustine and had dinner with friends Bob and Jane and their guests from Conn. Things were going great.

     In order to pick up one more day we went back into the ocean out of St Auggie. Things were not so great. It was very choppy, 2-3 ft just off the nose. Not a good direction for a catamaran. We could turn towards Europe or turn towards shore and hit land sooner. Neither option would work and we pounded on. Then the extension of our stern arch that holds up the dinghy and the wind generator broke. This dropped the dinghy down and almost caused us to lose the generator. I managed to secure both at great peril and we headed for the St Johns River and comfort and safety (relatively).

     We hadn't wanted to go this way due to dredging and bridge construction but we managed those areas okay and ended up at Cumberland Island, GA. From here we had normal passage days until we got to Thunderbolt, GA, part of Savannah. We had our damaged arch evaluated and stayed two days for very expensive repairs. $100 for stainless steel and $1000 for labor. We have to consider ourselves lucky that they were willing to do this on short notice at any price. We were docked among multi, multi million dollar yachts who looked down at us in more ways than one. This two day delay was not an issue because we had picked up enough time earlier with our off shore passage and other long days on the ICW. Plus we only stayed one day in Ft Pierce.

     We had good days from Georgia  with mostly positive current until our last passage to here so we still got here a few days before Carol's flight. Pushing a bit and good weather made up for the bad scheduling. Cruisers are NOT supposed to have schedules and one day we could be bit on the  
          if we keep tempting fate.

Damaged stainless steel. Bottom middle pipe leads to the wind generator.

     Our small boat among the rich. They looked down on us in more ways than one. We needed repairs.

Northbound 2016

     It's been a few days short of three months since we arrived in Marathon. Boot Key Harbor. It's time to start heading north.

     December here was very warm and humid, mid to upper 80s, then the El Nino effects started to affect us. Windy, squally, rainy about once a week. Record rainfall amounts but with all that it wasn't really all that bad.

     The end of the month turned out pretty nice for Heather and Mike's Christmas Holiday week. Mid to upper 70s, very little rain, and several beach days. We took the boat out to Sombrero Light Reef for the first time since we started coming here and had a great day of snorkeling. The reef is less that three miles offshore and has mooring balls for public use. Very nice. Mike and Heather treated us to a  New Years Eve sunset cruise off of Key West. Very, very nice. We left them the car and took the bus back to Marathon. Due to poor scheduling and demand we waited a long time to get a bus and spent midnight on the bus somewhere on Route 1. Not so nice. Normally we are asleep at midnight so I'm not sure this was an improvement or not.

As Marathon has become our winter (second) home we have gotten even more involved in the community. I was asked to be the net controller on the morning cruisers net on the VHF a couple of times We also became NOSE pickers and proud of it. I can't quite remember what N O S E stands for besides Nautical Obstruction something something. It's a program where we boaters help clean up the harbor and the mangroves and get a small rewards like credit on your laundry card and coupons at local businesses. We may have done enough in February to get some prize but we won't know as we'll be GONE. No problem. Happy to contribute.

     I also play senior softball about three times a week. I managed to avoid serious muscle pulls until late in February but some of the bruises were impressive. I'll need a couple of weeks to recover once we get to sea.

     January was kinda normal weather for here. Mostly in the 70s with a norther every 10 days or so. Northers are cold fronts but cold is a relative term. A high temp of only 60 is pretty cold. The tourists are in shorts and tee shirts but we are bundled up like the natives. January didn't get below 60 but a few days in February did... 58... twice. Awful.

     It's amazing how quickly our three months here have passed. Too busy, I guess. Worse still is the fact I now have a job. Not just magazine freelancing (previously mentioned) but also writing for the Waterway Guide, Northern Edition. With a contract and everything. Oh, the pressure. It's terrible. The Waterway Guide is a major cruising publication. I will be in the 2017 edition covering most of Long Island Sound out to southern Mass. and the Cape of Cod.

That's my update. Next one should be once we get to Wrightsville Beach, NC, Carol's next work stop.

   
                                           Sombrero Reef Light

Marathon

     We have arrived in Marathon, our winter home for two months. The mooring field is filling up earlier and faster than our experiences in the past. Makes us glad we got here more than two weeks sooner than is usual for us.

     We left Fort Pierce two days after Thanksgiving. We had Thanksgiving dinner with our friends Mike and Carol at their home with members of their family and friends that have also become our friends over the years. Great dinner! It had been breezy in Fort Pierce for several days and the wind was mostly east which meant our crossings of the ICW going to our anchorage in our dinghy were semi-rough to very rough. This trend continued as we made our way to the Palm Beach area, our first stop. The next day continued breezy from a poor direction so we went to Fort Lauderdale on the ICW instead of the ocean. This isn't much fun because of all the bridges we have to wait at due to their schedules. A slow day. We found a spot in Lake Sylvia, Ft Lauderdale to anchor despite it being pretty crowded. This used to be a nice spot but it's hard to get into because, well, it's a nice spot. Form Lauderdale we have to go out into the ocean because a bridge was built in Miami well below the mandated height of 65 ft. It only has 56 ft. of clearance. We often wonder who it was that got paid off to allow this to stand. We know there had to be pay-offs, we just don't know who got them. Sigh. The ocean was not ideal due to the continued easterly wind direction but it was nothing we couldn't handle. Mostly 2-4 ft. seas with occasional 6 footers. Not fun. Not terrible. Our next stop was Key Biscayne, Baggs State Park. This is another very nice spot that can be very crowded, especially weekends. We got there on a Monday and the was only one other boat there. What a surprise! A total of five boats were there eventually. Room for lots more even though one boat cruised by complaining we all were taking up too much room. This boat showed up in Marathon and we overheard them bothering the marina staff. Some people should consider suicide, they're self-centered enough. Their boat name was (censored). Ha! Didn't think I was going to tell you, did you?

     Anyway we spent one more night anchored out. At Matecumbe Key. Mostly an open area with protection to the east which is where the wind had been coming from for a week. Had a nice sunset over Florida Bay.

     Our last ocean passage was also a short one, about four hours, that gets us to Marathon. The only issue was a nasty roll cloud that threatened severe weather for us but just missed us and gave us just some rain, semi-heavy, but no storm. Since it was Carol's turn on the helm, I stayed dry. This was the general pattern since we left Ft Pierce, the storms would cross our path behind us or in front of us leaving us to stay mostly, but not completely, dry.

     So, we're here in Marathon just starting to get into the social activities. We know a lot of people on the moorings and on shore after all our times here. We still like it. In other news, as previously mentioned I been doing some writing and I had my first (of many, I hope) article published. It is in the December issue of Points East Magazine. It is the 'Last Word' column and is about the being a snowbird. What's a snowbird? Read the article. If you don't get down to shoreline marine facilities to pick up this free magazine you can go to www.pointseast.com and click on "read the issue". Hope you like it.

Fort Pierce Pause

     We are now in Fort Pierce, FL, anchored in Faber Cove. We got here in record time and it is hot!

     We were very concerned with conditions in South Carolina after the flooding they had there. A number of bridges were reported to be too low for us to get under. Or at least so close that we couldn't be sure of getting under them. Of course, the bridges did not get lower but the water under them got higher. Another bridge that normally opens on request for boaters broke down and had to be opened by hand, and only hourly. South Carolina had a lot of issues. Boating/ICW issues. It has lots of other issues, of course, but they normally don't concern us. The rest of the country, maybe, but not us directly.

     So... when we left Wrightsville Beach we went down the Cape Fear River and went straight when we came to the turn for the ICW at Southport. Out into the ocean. First time we went out into the Atlantic from this inlet. Once out to sea we spent a day, a night and most of another day underway. We went into the Savannah River and rejoined the ICW. Our offshore passage was okay. Not great. Not bad. Seas were a couple of feet and the wind was almost on the stern. Okay for sleeping but, again, not great.

     Usually we go out into the ocean from Charleston and head to Florida but Charleston is where? South Carolina. See above issues. Leaving the ICW much farther north meant not getting to Florida in one 24+ hour day so we went into Georgia instead. However, that one full day offshore meant we skipped nearly 6 days of twists and turns on the ICW. We picked up a lot of time. This got us to Ft. Pierce more than a week before Carol's scheduled work period. We now had the time to go all the way to Marathon in the Keys but that would have meant major work transportation rescheduling, skipping resupplying and fueling and missing our friends, Mike and Carol. Missing Thanksgiving Day Dinner with them, also. Not recommended.

     The one strange thing about Georgia was we had never gone through it southbound. Only northbound in the early spring. It was more than a little disorienting because our usual anchorages were not in the same place. Okay, THEY were in their usual spots but they weren't their usual distances from previous places we anchored so it seemed we were getting to them earlier in the day than we are used to. Because of this we had to find new (to us) anchorages. Wasn't a problem. Maybe even a new adventure. We normally hate adventures but this wasn't bad at all. We found ourselves cruising with boats we had met years ago in places much farther north and running into people we knew more often than what usually happens. Nice actually. We were semi-lucky to get a mooring in St Augustine because there were so many boats heading south at the same time as us. We usually are a couple of weeks later in the year when we get to Florida. Another 'downside' to this is the weather. It's hot. And humid. And hot. And muggy. And hot. Did I mention humid? Snowbirds complaining about it being too warm? Should be taken out and shot. Of course we're in Florida so that's always a possibility.

     So we are going to spend about three weeks here in Ft Pierce and then head to Marathon. We should be there the first week of December instead of the third as normal. We are hoping we'll be able to get a mooring being earlier in the season. Economy is doing too well, a lot of people are cruising. More than last year which was much more than previous seasons. Maybe the country will vote in Republicans and they'll crash the economy as they usually do.

Here is a video shot at the dinghy dock we use at the City Marina, Ft Pierce.

Momma manatee and her baby.

Chesapeake to Wrightsville Beach

     We're in Wrightsville Beach, NC. It's near Wilmington. Carol is off to Nashville for a conference. We got here 5 or 6 days early so we did some dining out, sightseeing, shopping, lying on the beach, etc. Did I mention it was near 80 degrees? Had a couple of rainy days but that's to be expected over 10 days or so. We hope to head offshore from Cape Fear, downriver from here, but the window is a little small. We could be in Florida by Monday or Tuesday or it could be a couple of weeks from now. That's cruising.

     We left Annapolis is nice conditions and went to the Solomons as usual. Then Jackson Creek, Deltaville, VA. From there we headed back out into the Chesapeake Bay but conditions had really changed overnight. They were pretty bad. 2 to 4ft seas on the nose and 20kt winds. After 13 miles and 5 hours we had enough and turned around and went back to Jackson Creek. It only took two hours to get back to where we started.

                                           A flowing rainbow at Jackson Creek

The next day was fine and we made it to Norfolk/Portsmouth, VA and the ICW. There was a lot of traffic as many boats were trying to get south of a railroad bridge that was scheduled to close and block boat passages the next day. But we got to Great Bridge. Spent some time giving advice to a couple that was heading south for the first time on a smaller catamaran. Advice is very dangerous to give but they seemed to appreciate it. They maintained contact with us and had more questions over several weeks.

     We crossed Albemarle Sound in NC with little difficulty but the Alligator River Swing Bridge was having mechanical problems and we got held up there for about a half hour. Fortunately we got there fairly early because the next group of boaters was held up longer. The next day it didn't open at all. The next day was Pamlico/Neuse day. One of the worst spots on the trip south. It can be very nice, it is beautiful, but slightly adverse conditions feel terrible and nasty conditions are beyond awful. The Pamlico is only three miles across so we went and I could barely hold onto the helm. Because of this we anchored in a new spot for us, Bear Creek. It is just south of the Hobucken Bridge. It was pretty protected but to get to the protected area we had to snake up the creek following the white areas on our chart plotter. Could not have done this without GPS. When we left we saw that several boats had anchored in the open area of the creek. Not as comfortable as we were. Then we continued and crossed the Neuse. This day was not quite as bad. The wind had shifted further aft and eased... a bit. We stopped early in our usual spot in Cedar Creek off Adams Creek. Then it was an easy passage to the Mile Hammock anchorage at Camp LeJeune. Shortly before we got there we saw a long line of amphibious vehicles waiting to cross the ICW. Fortunately they waited to begin their assault until after we passed.

     The other interesting event happened at Brown's Inlet. It is a tricky area that shoals rapidly after dredging and has a really odd buoy pattern. We slowed to let a medium sized sportfisherman pass relatively slowly. He gunned the throttles after passing us and completely missed the buoy pattern and went across the shoal. A week or so earlier a larger sportfish vessel did the same thing and it cost him nearly $100,000. Our guy was lucky it was high tide or he could have suffered the same fate. He was a bit rude (and from Westport, CT) so you can guess which way we might have been rooting. From Camp LeJeune it's one day to Wrightsville where we are now.

     My cousin that lives near here did not respond to my email so we did not see her this trip. Maybe there's a new email address. Or illness. At our age (and she's an older cousin) it could be anything.

Next posting will be from Florida. I hope.

Pasadena

     We are in Pasadena. The one in Maryland. Our annual haulout work is complete and we're just waiting for the weekend to pass to get relaunched. No launching on weekends here.

     We were hauled out on Wednesday and we were done by Friday afternoon but we have to wait before we head to Annapolis for two weeks. In the mean time we are watching sports on TV. NASCAR and WNBA playoffs. Nice lounge here.

     Getting here was pretty painless except for the day we left Mystic. The first time.

     We headed out on Monday, 14 September. Didn't get far. We went out into Fisher's Island Sound and found at least four foot seas right on the nose. That's pretty rough. We've had bigger seas but when they're coming right on the bow it's very uncomfortable. And slow. It took almost 30 seconds of thinking to decide to turn around and head back. Instead of going to our mooring we went to anchor inside the bight at Ram Island, right outside of Mystic Harbor. Comfortable in the lee of the island.

                                 That cloud and chop indicate why we stayed home an extra day

     The next day winds were lighter. We started off sailing but it faded quickly and it was back to our normal motoring. We had the current with us so we got to Port Jefferson before 1600. We picked up our usual mooring there. Wonder who owns it? We've never dragged while on it and it seems to be maintained well. More importantly it's always empty on the weekdays we come to it.

     The next day was nearly calm and as we motored we were calculating our arrival time at Hell Gate if we decided to by-pass Port Washington. Our next calculation was the current heading up the Delaware Bay. It looked like our timing was going to be good so we motored on through the City and then out into the ocean off New Jersey. Current was with us so the passage through the City was quick, not as quick as last fall, but quick. It was calm in the ocean, a very light breeze from the south east and seas of about 4-6 inches, so we motored on through the night. The most interesting event was sighting a large meteor as it passed overhead. It was green and appeared to be the size of a softball. Of course it was much bigger. I watched it break apart and then vanish after travelling at least 40 degrees across my vision. That's a long way. It was amazing!

                                                   Sunrise off New Jersey near Wildwood

      We got to the mouth of Delaware Bay at Cape May a little before 0900 the next day and flew up the Bay fairly quickly with the current and no seas. We got to Chesapeake City on the C&D Canal about 1600 and actually got a spot on the free dock. The anchorage was full and moving on would have been an issue due to the time. We think the monohull sailboats that were anchored could not squeeze into the spot we took between two boats because of their lack of maneuverability. A tight spot is easier for us because of our two engines that are about twenty feet apart. We also had help from the people already there.

     It was Wednesday and we had a week before out scheduled haulout in Pasadena. We waited for a more favorable current in the canal the next day and only went to the Sassafras River. Then it was two days at Worton Creek before heading to Bodkin Creek to wait for our scheduled day and time to start our annual work.

     Except for a nasty, bloody cut while changing engine belts our maintenance and clean up went fairly well. Our only disappointment was the canvas work we scheduled was cancelled at the last minute by the vendor leaving us no time to find another canvas professional. We can no longer recommend The Cover Loft of Annapolis. Too bad. We'll have to find someone in Marathon.

     After we leave Pleasure Cove Marina here we will head to Annapolis until the boat show on Columbus Day Weekend, about two weeks. Then our next work stop should be Wrightsville Beach, NC.
  

End of Summer

     It's the end of summer (okay, not technically) and we're only a few days from heading south again. It was a busy season but we actually got a fair amount of cruising in. Mostly it was doctor visits, maintenance and projects. The norm.

     No major surgeries in 2015 (yet) just a couple of cancer operations. By our new standards that's no big deal. I built a PVC panel hardtop bimini to for our cockpit to replace the old canvas one. The project went pretty well, not perfect but good. We are having the job finished by a canvas shop in Annapolis in October. They will make new side curtains and windows.

     We went to the annual Memorial Day rendezvous to Hamburg Cove with  the Squadron. It was warmer than last year and we had good weather with a good cruise back to Mystic. The major trip this year was the Squadron extended cruise out to the Martha's Vineyard area and we extended that cruise out to Provincetown for a few days and returned via Cuttyhunk and Montauk. Heather was with us on this longer cruise and boyfriend Mike joined us on the very last weekend.

     The most interesting part of this trip was the group decided to go into and anchor in Lagoon Pond, Vineyard Haven for the first time and we decided to join them. Why was that interesting? There is a bascule bridge blocking the entrance to the lagoon and the horizontal clearance is only 30 feet. Infinite Improbability is 24 feet wide making it a very tight squeeze. We estimate we got the boat in with clearances of 18 inches on either side. Carol almost had heart failure it was so close. When I heard her gasp I knew we were close on her side of the boat. If you add up our 24 feet plus 18 inches on each side it doesn't quite come to 30 feet. Something was off here but we made it in. And out.

          Another nice touch to this adventure is I wrote about the lessons learned here and submitted it to Points East Magazine. They will be publishing the article in some future issue and I will be paid for it. Being paid makes me a professional writer now. I think. Maybe. Even if it's a small amount?

     The other interesting event on this cruise was Heather being startled (okay, she screamed) by a whale breaching next to the boat while crossing Cape Cod Bay on the way back to the Cape Cod Canal. I was just a few feet away but by the time I jumped up all I saw was the splash and the "footprint". It was a small whale, by whale standards, but judging by the hole in the water at least 15-20 feet. Maybe a minke.

  That's about it. Just a couple weekends at Montauk and Watch Hill completed our boating while home. We usually don't do much. Our mooring is in such a great location we don't feel the need to leave. Well, we do leave but only because we know winter will come to there and when winter is coming we are going. South. In just a few days as I said.

     As we are travelling blog updates will be more frequent, usually at each longer stop.