Stormy weather

We are at a marina in Coinjock, NC. What???? A marina?

Yep.

We needed to do laundry, get fuel, etc.

We had an eventful last few days. Dodging thunderstorms. Braving gale force winds. Bashing into very big seas. See, it's not all fun and games.

We made it into Belhaven without getting wet a couple of days ago and hoped to get ashore to buy some groceries. We got there and it started pouring. And got windier. Then windiest. It's a nice harbor but open to the direction the waves were coming from. It didn't get too uncomfortable but it wasn't great.

The next day it was very breezy but the seas were on the stern and we made it all the way up the Alligator River. We went to an anchorage recommended by 'Skipper Bob' because very bad weather was forecast. Well Skipper Bob never said the anchorage was almost 6 miles off the ICW. It took a while to get there. Once we were there it was fine for the night even though it was a little lumpy. Another boat was there and he took exception to us being in his sight. Weird. We were not anywhere near to crowding him. More than a hundred yards away.

In the morning in got even windier. Up to 40kts. We dragged. We reset. We dragged. We moved to the next cove and dropped the anchor again. We were hooked. The day turned out not to be too bad. Even had some sun but it was very humid. And windy. Did I mention windy?

We emailed several people about our location and the chances of severe weather, up to and including tornadoes. Thanks to all who were monitoring and checking on us!!!! It didn't rain until dinner time and the main (and big) T-storm cells all missed or just grazed us. At 11:30 PM a big one finally caught us. It was too late to be as bad as a tornado but it got windy and very rainy. We were swinging around but all was fine.

Today we finally crossed Albemarle Sound. It's about the size of L.I. Sound but much shallower. That means much rougher. It 15kt winds we had 3ft. seas to bash into. Imagine what it would have been like the day before with 40kt + winds. I shudder to think about it. That's why we stayed in South Lake.

From Coinjock we will be headed into Virginia tomorrow. We hope to get space at a free dock and go real grocery shopping. By Sunday will be off the ICW and into the Chesapeake.

Home soon.

Easter

It's Easter and we're in Mile Hammock Bay which is part of Camp LeJeune, NC. The Marine base sometimes uses this harbor and could toss us out without notice.

Didn't happen and we're underway on Monday. We're going past Beaufort, NC today. My last post was from Beaufort, SC. Bo - fert today, Byew - fert last week.

We met up with friends while we we're underway leaving Charleston. Symmetry has a mooring near us in Mystic and were with us when we spent January in Marathon. They spotted us going by and hailed us on the VHF radio. Because they heard us talking with Symmetry, Voyageur called us also. They winter in St Augustine and we got together with them just before Thanksgiving down there. They followed us up the ICW and we anchored near each other in Minim Creek, SC. We had them to dinner. Great meeting up with friends!

The next morning we left earlier than them and got well ahead of them. Maybe they'll catch up to us up the 'road'.

We stayed two nights at Wrightsville Beach, NC. Oil change day and we got fuel. $250 worth. Ouch. Wrightsville is a beach town. Bikinis on the streets and in the stores. Wearers were all too young to be interesting. Well... most anyway.

So now we're going along the longest state on the ICW, North Carolina. More than 50 hours to traverse. Virgina will be the shortest.

Nice areas, however.

Southern South Carolina is not the greatest area on the ICW. Georgia is the buggiest. And there's one small area of Florida I didn't like. The Cape Canaveral area. Except for these spots it's been pretty nice. Hope it continues.

Cat excited about all this.

South Carolina

We are now in South Carolina. I left Georgia on my own after the windlass replacement was complete. Had to wait an extra week because they ordered/sent the wrong one. While we were there we also had them weld a pole onto our stern arch so we could attach our new wind generator.

Leaving Thunderbolt was fine except it was very shallow in two spots. I got stuck in the middle of the channel a couple of miles before Causton Bluff Bridge. Three minutes aground but it was soft and the tide was rising. Approaching the bascule bridge I touched a couple more times but did not get stuck. A couple of miles later I was passed by a very large powerboat that sped up after I slowed to let him pass. Idiot! He threw a huge wake a nearly killed a nearby canoeist.

Crossing the Savannah River brought me to South Carolina. The air was suddenly like perfume. No, really. I couldn't figure out what it was. I assumed it was the brush along the backs of the ICW. After a few miles the scent went away as the shore was back to the normal marsh/grass.

When I tied up to a marina at Hilton Head I smelled the perfume again. Turns out it was a flowering bush that it plentiful in the area. Cut off some and put in in a vase in the main cabin.

Carol returned from working and together we headed to Beaufort, SC. This is the Beaufort that is pronounced Byou-fert. The Beaufort in NORTH Carolina is pronounced Bo-fort.

We spent the day in town and then went to anchor in nearby Factory Creek, Lady's Island. Nice spot. Boat launch dock nearby as well as grocery, hardware and other stores. Homeowners along the shore were friendly, too. The marina had friendly staff that offered us the code for the showers for free. They also had unfriendly staff that told us the fee was $10 per use. Needless to say, we stopped going after one use.

Carol is working in NYC and visiting Heather and then will spend a weekend in Wallingford checking out the house. On her return we will spend a month pushing home and should be in Conn. by mid May.

See you then!

Maybe