Saturday, October 18, 2008

Paradise Lost!!


Paradise Lost!! What I’m referring to is my paradise has been lost.. Or at least it will soon be if I don’t find my wife’s missing rings. Yesterday I had a mishap of moving a mattress pad which upset the wooden cover over the attached hole and a tray with my wife’s jewelry fell in. Not on that visible plastic tank but BEHIND it!! I was able to reach all but her three favorite rings. At any rate she let me wait till today to figure out how to retrieve them.

The hole is a utility cavity with the holding tank and assorted plumbing and some electrical switches. The cavity curves down under the tank and is closed off in a sealed bulk head. I tried but could not find them by feel but my arm is just so long. I thought about removing the tank but that wouldn’t do much since it is mounted on a shelf. The alternatives is to create holes into the bulkhead -- not a good idea.

I tried “C'est La Vie” but that didn’t work. One of the rings was quite expensive -- now I didn't buy that one, but she wanted it back. I fished a video camera into the hole along with a flash light and panned around – aaaha I saw them. Down low and trapped by a hose from going any further.. Hmmm where to cut a hole and not damage the hose (a sanitation hose mind you) or find the ocean.. Another AAAAHA – Mr shop vac. Maybe I could suck them out. It took several tries but I did retrieve the rings along with 2 dimes, a stainless steel screw and 2 unused cable ties. Not a bad morning.

With it be a rainy very cool day this was not a bad job. I then pushed my luck and replaced the light switch in the refrigerator. Now that works better. Then I tackled why my AIS receiver is not reporting commercial traffic. After much troubleshooting the connections and computer port setup I discovered I had not declared the view properly in the software. Ohhh well should work now – just waiting on some commercial traffic to come by but with this the weekend – none today.

The rest of the day was spent topping off water tanks. Ohh found a leak in a hose there. After filling tanks the bilge pump started to run. Not good. Investigation found a vent hose put on without the hose clamps tightened being the culprit along with overfilling and filling the fill tube. Me bad..

Going over the engine and all the nuts and bolts I removed and reinstalled when I replaced the prop shaft packing log -- none found loose -- yet.

Well time for a leisurely dinner then maybe a walk amongst the 150+ shops here. The gale conditions predicted for here today have not yet materialized. It is flat calm at 5:30pm tonight.

We will probably leave for Georgetown, SC in the morning. Unless the wind is gusting over 30 MPH. They won't open the Socastee Bridge if it is.

It's a long run of some 50 miles from here to Georgetown so we will probably anchor in the Waccamaw river for the night then go into Georgetown Early in the morning. The anchoring is difficult there because of the soft gooey mud bottom and little swing room so if we stay the night we may have to go to a marina otherwise a day trip then down to one of the creeks to anchor for the night.

Friday, October 17, 2008

BareFoot'in in South Carolina


Welcome to South Carolina!!! We are moving..

We had a great sunrise this morning as we left the Pipeline canal>




We had a very nice run through the most troublesome spots on the Intracoastal in NC namely Lockwood Folly and Shallotte Inlet. We were able to hit both near high tide and carried a minimum of 11.2 feet through each.

We traveled 38 miles today but it was slow going through all the areas with adverse current. The worse being from Little River Inlet to Barefoot Landing – averaged only 4.5 kts..

The scary place in SC – the “Rockpile” was not so scary. It was just half tide when we went through there so many of the scariest ragged rocks were not visible but they were there. Be sure to run center channel through here.

We made a nice landing at Barefoot Landing. The first time back at a dock in nearly a week. We will stay here at least 2 days till this cold front and developing low off the coast passes – expecting gale force conditions at the coast tomorrow!!


For you shoppers out there check out their web page – http://www.barefootlanding.com/.
You can also get a feel for the place by viewing the satellite view of my position report.

I’ve never been here before but it is a shoppers Mecca.. Not for me since I’m not a shopper. I go to the store buy the intended item and leave.. Karen will have a good time here and well I’ll just people watch and maybe add to my T-shirts. I’ll need to do laundry soon unless I buy a couple of new T shirts.

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Then again I may not have time to leave the boat tomorrow. I had an accident today. Karen keeps a lot of her day to day jewelry in a fancy tray next to the bed. When I was doing a routine health check this morning on boat and electrical operation I pulled the mattress back to check battery temps – they are charging at 50 amps! The mattress upset the shelf next to her bed and the tray fell into lower reaches of the boat. I fished several pieces out but she is still missing 3 rings -- expensive and sentimental. I may have to remove the holding tank tomorrow to gain access!!! Ohhh Yuuck.

I hope you all have a nice day tomorrow..

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Last stop in North Carolina

A good run today.

With Jim and Barb leaving today and the advent of a 2-day blow beginning tomorrow night we elected to “run” the Cape Fear River today. We left about 8:45am this morning so we could have high tide or near high tide through the troublesome spots – Carolina Beach inlet and Snow’s cut. We hit Carolina Beach Inlet just 1:15 minutes after high tide and carried at least 11.2 feet through. Snow’s cut was no problem and we had a favorable current carrying us down cape Fear. A lot of big boat traffic with no manners so we had to fight some wakes a bit. We made the Pipe Line Canal Anchorage around 1:30pm. We could have gone on but then we would have hit Lockwood Folly and the Sunset Beach Pontoon bridge near low tide and would have been held up there. By leaving 7:30ish tomorrow we will catch those troublesome spots near high tide and hopefully have no problem.

The anchorage here is nice but a lot of small boat traffic waking us. Only one boat already on anchor when we got here. I suspect more will arrive before sun down.

Just a nice afternoon to set and soak up the rays today -- hopefully a quiet night and then out early to beat the bad weather. We will tie up at a marina near Myrtle Beach tomorrow to wait out the bad weather expected tomorrow and Saturday. Time to do laundry and top off the fuel and water tanks.

Well back to watching who comes in tonight and how close they anchor to us. Space is limited here.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Just hang'in in Wrightsville Beach


Ahhhh just hanging around in Wrightsville Beach!!

This was just another great beach day. We took a long walk on the beach in the morning and splashed in the gentle waves. Poked around in Wings and still did not find a T-shirt to add to my wardrobe. I mean I had to pass on the “Shut the Duck up” and “Support Single moms – with a silhouette of a pole dancer”, but nothing appealed to me.

Back on the boat for a few minor maintenance jobs then back to the beach with the Thompson’s for a late lunch at the South Beach Grill. Excellent seafood made immeasurably better because Jim and Barb treated us. Ahhh food just tastes better when someone else is buying.

After lunch I took Karen back to the boat for a nap and I went back to the beach to swim in the delightful cool 73 degree emerald green water – Felt great. I’ll probably not be in the water again (barring an accident) until we reach the Bahamas.

It was just a nice easy afternoon with temps reaching 80. I charged the batteries and just hung around till dinner. We plan to hit the beach again tonight.

Looks like we might leave tomorrow. Some weather is coming in Friday and Saturday and I don’t want to be here then. Jim and Barb have to head back to our old Marina and they will leave tomorrow.

So tomorrow we will probably be back on the waterway and negotiating the Cape Fear River.

It is hard to explain but every time I’m on that river I’m ill at ease. I’ve heard that from other folks too.

I should call Ralph tonight to see how he faired today. He left at high tide this morning and went up the Cape Fear to his new home – marina in Wilmington. He has been great company on this trip

Enjoying Wrightsville Beach

Just a wonderful lay day. The weather doesn’t get any better than this.

It felt good to not be traveling today. I started a leisurely morning just enjoying the anchorage and watching half the boats leaving on their continued trips. Had a nice breakfast then visited with Ralph aboard Luna C to try and figure out why his batteries are not charging.

We discovered 2 problems. The battery charger is not outputting any significant current on any of the 3 banks, his fancy battery monitor has been mis-wired, and the battery combiner switch is not operating correctly. We found a work around where he can combine the batteries via the battery switches then all will charge off the engine alternator.

After that Karen and I did a little light shopping at Wings and Robert’s Grocery store. Unfortunately Robert’s is not the same store anymore. They have removed the entire fresh produce section and replaced with a hot sandwich/deli/coffee bar. Expanded the beer and wine coolers but not the selection. It’s only good for drinks and chips and a few regular grocery items – very poor selection of fresh foods now.
On the way back to the boat we stopped and talked to Jim and Barb and they came along with us to Mott’s Seafood Company where we could buy some fresh fish and shrimp. This is a great place – right on Motts channel and you just dinghy up to the rear of the building.


After lunch I charged my batteries via the genset, enjoyed the anchorage from my swinging chair. Cooked the shrimp and mounted the sunshade. I spoke with Diva awhile and invited them over fro shrimp this afternoon but they had other plans. Ralph Jim and Barb came over and it was a delightful time.

After an easy dinner we met the Thompson’s on the beach to enjoy the beautiful moonlight over a near calm ocean. I still took the opportunity to chase a few waves or better let the waves chase me.

Just a great day.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Cruising to Wrightsville Beach


Cruising Heaven.. The only way to describe today.

We left Mile Hammock early – 7:30am to round the New River Inlet as close to high tide as possible. We did good, and apparently it has been dredged. We saw plenty of water.

We had a fine run down the Intracoastal through one of the prettiest sections of the Intracoastal. When we approached the Surf City Bridge we bunched up with the boats that left earlier – the obsessive cruisers that have to be first out at first light and first in… . We hit the bridge on a dead run with the “hammer”down and made the opening with no wait time. That doesn’t happen very often. Now we all formed a long parade of snow birds heading south. It was ideal conditions riding the in Intracoastal today. We hit the Figure 8 Island bridge with a short wait but got through at 12:30pm.. The Wrightsville Beach bridge is just 5 miles away but opens on the hour. With an adverse current there is no way to make the 1pm opening so we just drifted with the current to make the 2pm opening. About 1:20pm the bridge tender hailed us and said if we could all bunch up quickly she would open at 1:35pm – we put the hammer down again. I thought I had a lot of power but Ol Ralph passed me easily.



The lead boats were reporting skinny water at the entrance to Motts channel and by Green 19 in the channel. When we turned I had plenty of water but the current was so swift I crabbed into the channel – a little scary since I did not have full control. We made it to Banks channel with plenty of water and did not find the anchorage too crowded. We picked a spot near the homes (hope for a “Free WiFi connection) and dropped the hook. That big old Lemar claw hooked first time.

Jim and Ralph came in later. Apparently Jim found the bottom near green 19 – stopped dead in the water according to Ralph but got off easily – note it was near dead low tide when we got here.

After launching the dinghy and cleaning up we just relaxed awhile. Did a little visiting via dinghy, had dinner aboard then we all met at Jim’s boat to heads to the beach about 7pm.. What a night. Full moon, cool evening, and fine breakers on the beach. It was a beautiful walk on the beach. Then back to our boat to relax in the moonlight till cruisers midnight – 9:30pm.



Looking forward to a nice couple of days here at Wrightsville Beach.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

This is what it is all about!

Ohhh it was a GREAT run today. Yesterday was a pretty paltry cruise of only 8 miles. Today we ran some 51 nm! We left Cedar Creek at 8am under cloudy skies - still blowing 15+ from the NE. We had a favorable current down Adams Creek and not to bad a time running between the Turning Basin and Atlantic Beach high rise -- usually a torture from hell with all the small boat wakes. The expensive gas has certainly affected the number of boats on the waterway.

We just motor sailed along towards Swansboro our intended anchorage for the night. We had both favorable winds and current that sped us across and we hit the Swansboro Anchorage around 2pm. We decided to press on for Mile Hammock Bay so we would have a short day tomorrow. We got stopped at the firing range across Camp Lejeune but only had to wait 10 minutes till they let us through. The trip was not uneventful. It was slow going around Bear inlet and Brown inlet. We made Mile Hammock bay about 4:30pm – a good 1.5 hours before what I thought we could do.

The anchorage was not too full with only 7 boats already here but we were a pack of 5 more arriving. Most boats opted for the back side of the bay but I moved right into the loading ramp area and dropped the hook in 14 feet of water – I love this place – hook stuck first try. Jim and Barb came in and rafted up to us. There is a good breeze but the water is flat here.

As I walked back from the bow I saw the boat DIVA here.. What a small world. Carl and Debbie aboard Diva advised me on my crossing to the Bahamas in 2005. I crossed the Grand Bahamas in their company just before New Years Eve 2006 and had News Year dinner with them in Green Turtle Cay Abacos. They are continuing on to Wrightsville beach and will be there a few days so we can have a proper visit then.

It’s a beautiful evening here in mile hammock. There is nearly a full moon on a clear sky and NO light pollution. Time to get out some treats for the Thompsons and Ralph tonight.

What a GREAT day compared to yesterday.