Seasons Greetings from Jacksonville

Jacksonville  Christmas

It's Christmas Eve, and we've finished all our tasks  and are ready to enjoy the holiday weekend. It's been difficult to realize the closeness of the holiday, despite the wealth of Christmas lights when we happen to be out after dark. Since we're seldom in malls or stores other than groceries, we've managed to miss most of the ubiquitous Christmas muzak and the retail hype that started months ago. Not a bad thing. It's also been very warm here-- not that we're complaining-- as it's been almost everywhere up and down the east coast. We've been sleeping with an open hatch over my bed and the train whistles are loud, one of the sounds we love when we're in Florida.

Our little driftwood tree with its' starfish on top, a gift from my sister-in-law, sits on the table by the chair where Bubba is peacefully sleeping. We're having dinner out this evening at our favorite local restaurant, with friends from down the dock. Tomorrow a quiet day with just the two of us; another dock friend will join us for dinner. I'm cooking a turkey breast in a brown bag-- a first experience for me, but one most other boating women are very familiar with. Marine ovens are small and they don't self clean. I'm usually a very confident cook, but this is making me a little nervous!

A Favorite Tree

Another year is almost gone by. I remember my mother telling me they go faster the older you get and I think she had a point. We're not quite sure what 2012 will hold for us, although in the short term we expect to travel down to Miami where my sister will join us for week's visit. Perhaps we'll travel to the west coast of Florida after that. Of course in the late spring we'll head up the waterway and back for a month or so in Salem before heading to Maine. It's the details to be filled in later that keep life interesting.

To all our friends and family we wish happy holidays, a happy healthy and peaceful New Year and that we'll see you sometime in the not too distant future!

Staying Put in Jacksonville

Jacksonville Skyline

We're still here in Jacksonville and settling in for a while. We've gotten a grip on some of the unknowns, made some decisions and changed plans yet again, but we're feeling like we have a good alternative laid out-- at least for the next two or three months!

We've given up on having our paint work done here, which was a bit disappointing. Having finally gotten a reasonable estimate from a reputable yard, we found that it would likely be mid February before the work could be completed. That just seemed to long to be hanging here, so we've decided to postpone the deck work. We'll stay here until after New Year's, keep Paul's appointment at Mayo and enjoy life here while we tackle a few projects ourselves.

Mossy Canopy

The good news is there's much to enjoy about Jacksonville. According to the marina's handout, Jacksonville ranks number one among U.S. cities in gross acreage for parks, and in the top 10 in percent of acreage devoted to parks-- and yes, there seems to be a park every few blocks. There are lots of beautiful, very old oaks, lots of Spanish moss and acorns to crunch underfoot while I'm out on my daily walk.

The St Johns River winds through the city, and it's possible to see the downtown skyline from a little park by a drawbridge very close to our marina. We are in a lovely neighborhood with beautiful old homes along the creek where we're located, with a very lively center full of shops and restaurants.

More Moss

                                                                   

We've been delighted to find good bread and several good restaurants here, which seem to be supplied by a large number of sustainable farms. Who knew?

We also visited a huge produce market, open every day of the year from sunrise to sunset. While it wasn't really the farmers market we expected from its name, there were literally tons of fresh vegetables and citrus at incredibly low prices. We've since found another open air market close by, and we have a few more to explore-- our favorite Saturday morning preoccupation!

So we're happy to be just staying put for a while, living a dock side life and enjoying a quiet holiday.

Vegetables!

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!

The First Leg South

Point Judith, Rhode Island

Our first few days out of Salem were as near perfect cruising days as could possibly be imagined-- warm sunshine, gentle breeze and seas as flat as they ever get. After an overnight anchoring on the east end of the canal and a quick trip through the canal pushed by current the next morning, we reached Point Judith, RI. It was late Sunday afternoon of the long Columbus Day weekend, 80 degrees and the beaches were still packed as we entered the breakwater. It was hard to believe it was mid October, as it seemed such a perfect summer day.

Hauling Anchor at First Light

We had dinner out that evening with old friends who live in nearby 

Jamestown and had a good time talking with them about their recent decision to go over to "the dark side" and buy a power boat. Life long racing and cruising sailors, this will be a big move for them and we look forward to seeing them in Maine next summer in their new to them Grand Banks. Up very early the next morning, we made our way out of the marina in darkness down the Connecticut shore. We anchored that night at Duck Island Roads, and yawn, were up again early the next day to head down the Long Island Sound, en route to meet our niece and here husband, premier members of our Frequent Floater program.

World's Fair Marina -  Flushing, New York

We discovered a wonderful municipal mooring field at Port Washington, NY, near lots of restaurants and a major grocery store, and spent two nights there, one more than planned. The beautiful weather had come to an end and the rainy forecast included high winds and seas increasing over the next few days to uncomfortable heights, but we had only a short run to the World Fair Marina, right next to LaGuardia and Shea Stadium, where our guests could easily meet us. The marina is a city facility and after chasing the seagulls off the dock and dodging the duck poop, it served our purposes well-- and was well below the going rate of most NY area marinas.

We were surprised that afternoon with a visit from our great nephew, who is now in his freshman year at NYU. He stayed over after dinner and luckily, at 6'4", he still fits in the guest stateroom quarter berth!

The Battery & Freedom Tower

As we knew our schedule would be delayed due to the sea state along the Jersey shore, we opted to take our lay day in NY City, which meant leaving on Saturday when our great nephew could also join us. It is always a kick for us to go through the city on the East River, but our g-n provided a running commentary of city geography and sites for us. It's obvious he's learned a lot about the city in the two months he's been in NY. 

Farmers Market - Easton, Maryland

He left us at the end of the day in Sheepshead Bay, just behind Coney Island. The city marina facility there was not quite all that one would wish-- a dock about 20' shorter than Carry On, a line from another boat run across our bow and an interesting set of barnacled steps and a sidle along a railing, as the access to the dock was locked. But the neighborhood was interesting. Lots of restaurants, sidewalks full of people dressed up for a Saturday evening out and English the least common language heard. There was also a wonderful gourmet food shop staffed by attractive young women whose native language seemed to be Russian, and many of the well dressed shoppers also appeared to be speaking Russian. We think we'll probably stop there again and plan to do some exotic provisioning while we're at it!

Chesapeake Bay 

We had a rough and salty day down the New Jersey coast to Atlantic City-- the crew managed it well, but an exhausted yellow warbler trying to get out of the 30 knot winds flew inside our pilot house. As surprised as we all were, including the bird, someone managed to open the door on the other side and the little bird flew out as quickly as he entered. We were very happy to drop anchor in the bright neon lights from the Harrah Casino. Our guests left us the next morning and Paul and I decided to get the five hour run down to Cape May under our belt. It turned out to be a fine day, so our bravery was well rewarded!

From Cape May to Still Pond, Maryland, through the Delaware Bay and the C & D Canal, then on to Oxford the next day to visit boat friends and meet our Maine friends that weekend. We had a wonderful time in quiet Oxford and enjoyed a trip into Easton for the Saturday morning Farmers Market. Later we took a car drive around, enjoying the bucolic scenery and bought fresh local crabmeat for dinner onboard.

Wanta Go Crabbing?

On Sunday we moved down and across the Chesapeake Bay to Solomons, for our biannual visit with Scotty, our boat guru. He made a good start on our task list last night and was finally convinced to quit after our delivered pizza dinner-- he looked tired, but Paul was exhausted, and left with a "homework" list of things to do to prepare for Scotty's next day on board-- thank heavens Scotty had other work scheduled for today! 

We're here until Thursday at least, maybe Friday and will have some time to catch up, get things done, take a few long walks and relax a bit, before we start the next part of the journey south.

Ready, Set, Gone

We had a whirl wind of a month in Salem seeing friends, taking care of medical issues, looking at condos and doing lots and lots of boat tasks and errands of all sorts. When we dock for a extended time, we almost always have a rental car, and because we're on familiar turf, our stay in Salem is a great time to get things done. Not exactly a relaxing stay this time, but we did accomplish a lot, and managed to get to the end of the A list of to-do's by the end of our dock reservation last Saturday morning.

The Fishing Fleet

October is prime tourist season in Salem, which turns its heritage of witch trials into a halloween fright celebration starting in late September and slowly cranking up to October 31. By last weekend, the Columbus day holiday weekend, with the streets crowded with busloads of tourists and the pedestrian mall filled with sausage and fried dough vendors, we were ready to get out of Dodge. So here we are on an anchor in Long Island Sound, on our way South.

Five weeks ago, we couldn't help but notice hundreds of schools of tiny fish just below the surface throughout our marina. When big boats with underwater lights docked near us, we watched the little fish attract large stripers up to 18 inches long. As the weeks went on, the little fish were obviously growing much bigger and we saw them schooling less frequently. Then early one morning last week, we got another lesson in the food chain. We saw more cormorants than we've ever seen at once, having a fine breakfast of little fish.

Got Netflix?

Our last days in Salem were busy preparing to travel for a couple of months. We loaded dock carts full of grocery bags onto the boat and I rearranged the panty until everything fit. I stowed a couple of cases of wine, each bottle swathed in bubble wrap, under Paul's berth. It's cool and dark under there-- our boat version of a wine cellar. There was one last trip to Trader Joe's for Pound Plus Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds, a must have for the Captain.

I made my last DVD run to to the Salem post office, with the three amazingly efficient and friendly female employees that could make anyone mourn the end of the US Postal Service. It's more amazing that general delivery not only still works, but dependably so, at least in Salem.

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

Then there was the last trip to A & J King, a world
class bakery only a few blocks away from our dock.
We discovered them several years ago when they first appeared at the Marblehead Farmers Market with their artisan breads. Their product line has expanded to include beautiful pastries and scones I could cry over, but the one thing we never leave without is a freezer stock of toasted walnut sourdough bread.

One of my last errands was to pick up our repaired pump. Paul had told me that the shop was something out of another century, so I was happy to make the pickup, camera in hand. The shop owner, repair person (and perhaps the decorator?) was very happy to hold the pump for me for a photo. My only regret was that he was so efficient in checking me out that I really didn't have enough time to inspect the rest of the shop and its contents. That probably would not have been polite anyway!

The Pump Man

During all the getting ready, I found myself looking forward to spending some quiet time sitting in the pilot house, with only the job of getting the boat from point A to point B safely and as efficiently as possible. We spent Saturday night at the east end of the Cape Cod Canal and Sunday morning rode the current through the seven mile cut. Somehow the canal seems like a divider between Massachusetts "home" and our winter sojourns southward. It was a beautiful day, another in a string of beautiful days, calm seas and winds-- the perfect start for our journey.

Long Way Home

Gathering Storm

The more time that passes between posts, the harder it gets to sit down and write — why don’t I learn and take the easier way? Write it before our experiences begin to fade against the backdrop of a familiar dock, friends, our “home” port? I could blame this particular procrastination on exhaustion, and that wouldn’t be just an excuse. But we’re all rested now, I need to cross this off my list (not at all the way I usually feel about blogging) and then move on to fresher territory blog and time wise.

So, time travel back — Our best passage making friends arrived in Halifax as scheduled on the 26th of August, and after a pleasant Friday evening in downtown Halifax and a trip to the amazing Saturday morning Farmers Market on the waterfront, we got underway for Chester, where we visited before with our previous guest. The trip west and south down the coast took us past a spectacular landscape that we’ve seen a few times, but I haven’t really talked about it, as there has been so much else to convey — another problem with infrequent posts. 

Peggy's Cove

The rocky shoreline changes to a grassy slope strewn with boulders of all sizes, many of which are huge and perched improbably along the ridge line or at odd angles along the shore. The boulders are remnants of a receding glacier and make me wish I knew more about the geology which causes such spectacular and unusual results. In the same area, along the coast not far from Halifax, is Peggy’s Cove, where SwissAir 111 crashed  September 2, 1998. We were driven to the memorials and the picturesque village three years ago by Canadian friends, but this trip we were only able to capture the Atlantic side memorial through binoculars and the village in the photo here.

If you looked at my last blog, you know that we were well prepared to weather Irene and sit out a couple of days or longer to wait for the wind and seas to calm down. We were able to begin moving down the coast again quite quickly and by Tuesday were at Carter’s Beach again. Another day and another hop and we were back in Shelburne, our jumping off spot for Rockland, Maine. We had a nice dinner out, did some last minute, passage making provisioning (think roast chicken,pasta entrees to microwave underway, saltines and Ginger Ale). The weather forecast was fine, the crew was well rested, and we set out mid-day for the 30 hour trip.

Ancient Rocks

As we powered out of Shelburne Harbour, listening to VHF conversations between other boaters, we found we would be traveling in company with a large sailboat heading for Camden. We agreed to stay in radio contact overnight and our VHFs during the night were a pleasant diversion during our four hour watches. It was a beautiful night with a first-quarter moon that set early, leaving a black, but starry night with very calm seas. We made good time, although our 54 foot friend passed us under sail early in the evening. We made Rockland by mid-afternoon, in 28 hours, and all agreed it was the easiest ever overnight passage.

Fellow Traveler at Sunset

By noon the next day we left the dock in Rockland for the last leg home to Salem, another overnight of 20 hours. As we headed offshore, the waves began to build enough that we dropped the “fish” to stabilize the rolling component of the mostly head seas. We were all comfortable enough, although moving around the boat required at least one hand, and all was fine until about 3:15 am, near the end of Paul’s and my watch. The port engine shut down, and as Paul headed down into the engine room, the starboard engine also shut down. An expletive followed as the captain realized his failure to switch fuel tanks-- we have four-- and although we had plenty of fuel on board, we had basically run out. Call it a senile moment. Attempts to bleed and reprime the engines were unsuccessful and rather than break the injectors, which were extremely hot and are always fragile, we called the Coast Guard from 19 miles northeast of Thatcher’s Island, near Gloucester, MA, who called TowBoatUS for us.

About five hours later, our tow arrived, and after 8 hours under tow, we threaded our way through Salem harbor. On Sunday afternoon of Labor Day weekend, we finally docked around 5 pm, a tow on our bow and another smaller tow on our hip, providing entertainment to a full dock of holiday partiers. I am reassured to know that the Coast Guard was so responsive to our situation and very thankful that none of the many, many photos that were taken of us that afternoon ended up in the Salem Evening News!