Sunday, May 31, 2009
Heading North
We left Oriental bright & early on Thursday morning - "Kismet" was looking brand spanking new after all the hours of shining her up! On day 1 we made it to the Pungo River anchorage just before the Alligator Pungo Canal. Day 2 we were tied to the dock in Elizabeth City by 1730. We had a great sail up the Alligator River & the Pasquotank River. On Day 3 we headed into the Dismal Swamp with Pat & Kollette on "Senara"; folks that we originally met in Atlantic City on the way south. We tied up at Elizabeth's Dock just south of the Deep Creek Lock. Went out for Mexican Food at La Familia in Deep Creek. Today we locked through Deep Creek and motor sailed by Portsmouth and Norfolk; and crossed over to anchor for the night in Mill Creek, in Hampton VA. In the past 4 days we traveled about 200 miles - alot for us! We are looking forward to lots of sailing now that we are in the open waters of the Chesapeake.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Life is not Easy on "The Hard"
It has been a very busy week since we hauled the boat to do annual maintenance. The list of "To Dos" is quite extensive...wash, prep (remove a million barnacles!), and paint the bottom, raise the water line significantly - loaded we weigh 21,000 lbs, sand & redo the teak rail with Cetol, replace the cutlass bearing, change the impeller, and the list goes on! We have been working 12 hour days. Sailcraft Services is a great place to get this work done - there is good access to hardware & grocery stores, west marine, restaurants, farmer's market, and fish market. The marina has a very efficient & knowledgeable staff. We hope to be back in the water on Tuesday or Wednesday. We met a very nice couple; Melanie & Harry that live in Oriental. They invited us to join them for a chicken barbecue at their home to celebrate Memorial Day today. That will be a nice break!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Meeting New Friends & Old in Oriental, NC
Being at the Town Dock was great! Lots of people to talk to. On day 1, we met Heidi & Ken on "Rising Tide" who it turns out that we have mutual friends - Barry & Susan on "Swan". We had a fun evening at "M & M's". On day 2, friends that we met in Rock Hall, MD, John & Bobbie Jo on "Don't Look Back" showed up on the dock - we had a great night with them at the "Silo" restaurant! Our 48 hours were up at the free dock, so yesterday we motored to Whittaker Creek Marina (a big 1 mile trip)! We spent a night there while a front went through with lots of rain. We also wanted to be close to SailCraft Services where we are getting hauled out tomorrow.
Friday, May 15, 2009
See Kismet on the Oriental NC Webcam
For those of you who want to see "Kismet" go to http://www.towndock.net/harborcam. We arrived in Oriental NC at about 1300 today. Fortunately, there was a space for us at the free dock. We can stay here for 48 hours. There isn't any power or water hookups; but is it nice to just step off the boat onto a dock to enjoy the town!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Reunion in Beaufort NC
Yesterday we motored another 40+ miles to anchor in Town Creek, in Beaufort NC. We came here to have a reunion with Yvonne and Jonathan "Speranza" who we traveled with in the fall from Swansboro NC to St. Augustine FL. They have been at the Town Creek Marina for about a month to begin their search for Jonathan's new career. Fortuitously, this AM he was asked to come to Washington, DC tomorrow for an interview! Beaufort is a lovely town. We will also be leaving tomorrow to head north on Adams Creek to go to Oriental NC. We decided to have the boat hauled out of the water at the Sailcraft Yard to do bottom painting, change the cutlass bearing, refresh the teak, and other tasks........ so we will be in Oriental for a week to 10 days.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Lay Day in Wrightsville Beach
We arrived safely in Wrightsville Beach NC, despite dodging all the power boats in the ICW and Wrightsville Channel on a Sunday afternoon. The current was against us up the Cape Fear River - at first we were only going 2.5 knots. Fortunately that didn't last too long and we were able to motorsail at about 4 - 5 knots. We decided to stay an extra day in Wrightsville due to Monday's forecast of thunderstorms. Jim had planned to rent a surf board and go surfing; but the waves weren't good. We just did boat stuff - Jim changed the alternator belt. We took a late afternoon walk into town, had a chicken stirfry on "Kismet", and went to bed. Today we weighed anchor at 0640 and for a change timed the bridges on the ICW perfectly. We motored 40 miles and put down the anchor in Mile Hammock - by Camp LeJuene at 1300. Today is a beautiful sunny day with temps in the 70s. We are happy that it has cooled down a little - the high 80s with humidity were abit uncomfortable. Last night we actually appreciated the down comforter for the first time in a very long time.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Bashed into Calabash
After a relaxing afternoon & evening at the Osprey Marina, we left bright & early on Saturday at 0700 with the intention of going to Southport NC. At the Little River Inlet we decided to go outside up to Cape Fear bypassing the Sunset Pontoon Bridge and Shallotte & Lockwoods Folly - it was very rough going out the inlet, the wind was blowing about 25 knots and the waves were about four to five. We were going to have beam seas rolling us as well, so we turned around to go back on the inside on the ICW. By the time we motored to the Sunset Bridge he couldn't open because of low tide so.....we motored back three miles and anchored in Calabash Creek for the night. This AM we left the anchorage at 0630 hoping to make the 0700 opening.....when we arrived the bridge tender said that there was a power outage so we put down the anchor and waited til 0800 to transit the Sunset Bridge. We are underway once again and hope to get to Wrightsville Beach today. Happy Mothers Day to all!
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Friday, May 8, 2009
Vacationing in Georgetown SC
Been a week - time is flying by! We anchored in Wappoo Cut outside of Charleston SC last Saturday. Very nice anchorage - only 3 boats were there. We thought we would get an early start on Sunday morning so that we could get to Georgetown SC by 1700 ( high tide). Left the anchorage at 0630. Crossed Charleston Harbor - as we were entering the ICW by the Isle of Palms we (Laurie) did not stay close enough to the green marker and before we knew it we were aground in 4 feet of water and the tide was going out fast! Without waiting too long we called Tow Boat US & and they were there within 20 minutes (Thank Goodness)! It wasn't too easy to get us off, but with all sails up to heel us over abit - we shot off the shoal! We love unlimited towing plan with Boat US!!! Back on track with the current with us we motor sailed to Georgetown and arrived by 1630. Bill and Karen have a beautiful townhouse in Belle Isle; their homeport. We went into their marina and ENJOYED five days with them. We went to the beach at Pawley's Island, toured around Georgetown, did boat maintenance, had wonderful lunches & dinners together, counted alligators, turtles, and deer, and went to "The Grill" at Belle Isle Marina for a parting dinner. This morning we said good-byes to Bill & Karen and headed north to "Osprey Marina" just south of Myrtle Beach.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Into South Carolina
Spent the past few days winding our way through the rivers, creeks, and sounds of Georgia - crossing the Savannah River to spend a couple of days back in beautiful Beaufort SC! We are traveling with "Blue Moon" until Georgetown SC where they now call home. On the way we anchored by Lanier Island, the Duplin River (Sapelo Island), Kilkenny Creek, Bull Creek (a very pretty spot), and made it to Beaufort SC. We walked the town, explored cemeteries,& had a great dinner at "Plums". Today we walked to Piggly Wiggly and they graciously drove us back to the dinghy dock. There is a wonderful bagel shop here and so I stocked up on my favorite breakfast treat. Jim spent the afternoon changing oil, transmission fluid, etc.
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