Reflections on Water

Where is the Water?

Double Docks

Strange Perspective

It was such a strange morning. We left Charleston before dawn last Tuesday morning after a lovely last meal to celebrate my birthday and a day for Paul to catch his breath after a whirlwind trip back to Marblehead, headed south again for Beaufort, SC (that's Bu-furt).

It was a little hairy backing down the length of the Megadock in the dock, moving into the river with bits of fog floating along both shorelines, running to pass under the Wapoo Creek swing bridge before its 6 to 9 am closure. It's always a bit disorienting to me to be navigating in the dark in the waterway, lights flashing intermittently on the water, the bridge lights and lights on shore needing to be sorted out. We are happy for a laid out course, for GPS showing the boat's position on the course and I am happy for my competent navigator at the helm.

The morning turned foggy enough that we used our horns, but we heard nothing and saw nothing of other boats until hours later. It was a perfectly calm morning, no wind and as the sun burned off the fog, we could not see even a ripple on the water. I grabbed my trusty Canon and began snapping. The reflections of shoreline features on the water were crystal clear and in fact, so sharp that the near horizon seemed to disappear.

We felt as if we were floating above the water level and the more we looked, the stranger the sensation. I don't know if you'll see what we saw through these photos, or if you just had to be there, but it was a strange morning.

We'd never been to Beaufort before and had originally planned to spend two nights there, but our revised schedule allowed us only one. We docked mid afternoon, took a long walk around this lovely old, but seemingly still vital Southern town, and decided we were far too worn out to even think about walking back to town for dinner.

We were out again early the next morning, snaking our way through the rest of South Carolina, finally entering Georgia. We had earlier plans-- maybe three or four plans ago-- to spend a night at Thunderbolt Marina outside Savannah, where hot Krispy Kremes are delivered to your boat each morning by the dock staff.

Mirabella V at Thunderbolt 

No doughnuts for us this trip, but as we approached the marina, we were riveted by an incredibly high mast with five sets of spreaders. When we were close enough, I could see the name Mirabella V on the boom of the huge sailboat docked in the marina. Again, the photo here does not do the sight justice. If you're at all interested in how the upper .05% lives, do check out the website for the largest single masted sailing vessel in the world. It's available for a week's charter with a crew of 14, for upwards of a quarter of a million-- actually, that's the 2005 price. Fuel and provisions are extra, and as Paul says, make sure you allow for the Cognac and cigars.

We anchored that night in a pretty little creek off the waterway, rose early again the next morning for a long day of some winding rivers, and some open sounds. The weather forecast was again for high winds, passing thunderstorms and high seas developing, although we thought we would be at the southern edge of the front. We had a fairly smooth day and anchored off Cumberland Island (Seashore National Park) shortly after sunset, with quiet winds and still quiet waters.

Fernandina Shrimper

By the time we went to bed, conditions began to change. We could hear the wind and we couldn't miss the motion of the boat. We decided to leave the anchor circle displayed overnight on the computer, so we could check it during the night. As the foredeck crew responsible for retrieving the anchor, I can tell you that we were well set. We needed the power of the engine to pop it out and I hauled up a load full of heavy mud on the anchor.

We had only a 45 minute run over to Fernandina Beach Harbor Marina, where we had a date with a Jacksonville boatyard to drive over and have a look at paint work we'd like to have done. Our timing was just right to see the Fernandina shrimp fleet going out for the day with their paravanes spread and their nets wide open. It was quite a sight to see one after another of them, almost two dozen total, heading out to fish for the day, birds flying around their spread nets.

Despite the high winds, I had a nice walk around Fernandina Beach, always one of my favorite stopovers, and we made time for breakfast out at our favorite local spot before leaving the next morning for Jacksonville. Jacksonville was to have been our locale for the next two months. We had planned to leave the boat there during Thanksgiving week while we traveled to Covington, LA to be with family, then have work done on Carry On and get Paul checked out at Mayo Clinic, JAX, in late December. But it seems our plans are made only to be changed and except for our Thanksgiving plans, and maybe another week in Jacksonville, we are once again up in the air. Maybe we'll get our deck work done in another yard in Jacksonville, maybe in Stuart. Maybe we'll change the Mayo appointment. Maybe seems to be the operative word.

Right now, I'm writing from Daphne, AL, near Mobile, a stopover for Paul to attend to some business and I am very thankful that we have a little distance on boat life and decisions. We had dinner last night with Paul's sister and her husband and our nephew and his wife, who is battling breast cancer with great grace and style.  I am thankful for family and friends, for our mostly good health and many blessings.

Winding Our Way South

It's been a busy three weeks or so since my last blog. We had planned to leave Solomons on a Thursday, but nasty weather kept us, and about a dozen other big boats, tied to the dock until Sunday. Despite the icy glaze on the cement dock and wave reports in the Chesapeake still a bit on the high side, we and most everyone else had had enough of waiting.

"The Boys" Relax 

We were rewarded by an extremely nice run down to Deltaville, VA, the stop mid-way to Norfolk from Solomons,  but marred by leaking transmission fluid. Not a small problem. We had just left Scotty in Solomons, but were soon on the phone with him again. With the addition of more fluid and engine checks every half hour, then hourly, we docked at Zimmerman's Yard with hopes of getting repairs early Monday morning.

As the weather had been so nasty in Maryland and to clear my head of engine issues, I took a long walk down the road from the boatyard and surrounding area. I quickly became nostalgic for the time my parents lived in the Tidewater region of Virginia. Somehow the piney smell, mixed with a little wood smoke, the long pine needles scrunching under my feet and the autumn feel of the late day were like Proust's cookie, bringing back memories from so many years ago. Poor Paul was left behind cleaning buckets of oil from the engine and pump rooms and the bilge. Not fun.

Zimmerman's came through like champs for us early the next morning and we were underway again by 11, feeling good about the experience there and relieved not to be held up waiting for a mechanic. On to Norfolk, where we pulled in to our unfamiliar marina just after dark, a docking challenge which Paul handled nicely. It was a full day, ending well.

Transiting Norfolk Harbor is something we always look forward to, despite all the timed bridges, heavy commercial and recreational traffic. We enjoy looking at all the naval vessels, at downtown Norfolk and the commercial piers. This time of year cruising boat traffic can be heavy and we found ourselves in a pack of 24 boats waiting for the first timed bridge opening. Amazingly, there were three boats from Marblehead, including ourselves, and one that has always been docked one boat away from us in Salem. Small world.

Alligator River- Pungo River  Canal

We made it through several more bridges, the Great Bridge Locks and into North Carolina where we anchored for the night behind a small island. We celebrated Paul's birthday onboard with one of his favorite pastas and since I love an excuse to bake underway, a homemade chocolate cake.

Slade Creek Anchorage at Sunset

The next couple of days we traveled through trees on winding rivers connected by land cuts, some only a few miles, one a numbing 21 miles. The cuts look straight, but the auto pilot needs more tending to stay on track than we'd wish. And then there are the sounds-- wide open, shallow bodies of water which can become nasty with opposing wind and currents. Our tactic is to leave very early in the day, when winds are calm and the water is flat, and we had no weather issues, making it an easy trip.

The upside to this part of North Carolina is the lovely anchorages just off the waterway. Anchored away from any populated area, we frequently find ourselves without cell coverage, sometimes without internet, but incredibly as we only have "air" TV, we enjoyed a choice of channels for the everning news! As we move southward, such anchorages become rare, as depths and protection from current is problematic.

As we were nearing our last day of exposed water, the weather forecast continued to worsen. The NOAA predictions were so bad for the  NC coastal waters (outside) that they were almost hard to believe-- 16-24 ft waves and sustained winds over 40 knots. We had planned to anchor at Wrightsville Beach for a couple of nights as it's a favorite place, but we were concerned about our ability to find enough swinging room there. We are also not fond of anchor watches during the night, so we beat feet to Southport to a cozy marina to ride out the storm. We stayed there two nights, and were happy to be there.

Fishermen in Early Morning Fog

We connected by radio with friends in Southport, also waiting out the weather, and agreed to travel to our next destination, Myrtle Beach, together. We had a lovely day on the ICW and arrived mid afternoon at the Grande Dunes Resort and Marina in 70 degree temps. Motivated by dinner out and embarrassment over the very dirty condition of poor Carry On, we gave her a thorough, much needed bath. We had a delicious dinner at the resort while enjoying the company of new friends.

One more day to Awendaw Creek where we anchored for the night, then up early the next morning to make Charleston by mid day.

Salt Marshes, Cloudy Day

Our lives have been made crazy for the last week by making an offer on a house sight unseen, in Marblehead-- one of the reasons I have procrastinated my blog post. We have rescheduled our itinerary endless times and been totally preoccupied. Paul is presently in Marblehead, overseeing the home inspection and heat loss testing while I am home with Bubba on Carry On in Charleston. The jury is still out on the house, but it looks like it may be quite a bigger project than we expected or are comfortable with. We are feeling stoic about the decision-- if this one doesn't work out, another one will and we are still happy to be living on Carry On. But no more long distance  house hunting-- crazy making!