Cruising Blind

Our northward progress is going well.  Of course, there have been a few glitches, but nothing extreme.  After leaving Charleston we traveled to Southport, North Carolina, where we put the boat in a marina, for 5 days, and rented a car to drive to Atlanta for the final grandchildren visit.

We saw plenty of cargo being moved…this ship is really loaded.

Interesting architecture.  This design is supposed to be hurricane ‘proof’!

Obviously, some boaters don’t ever look at a chart!  That sandbar was clearly identified.

The timing was perfect for our Atlanta visit.  We were able to attend Alexis’ gymnastics competition.  She was AMAZING!

We made time for a little mountain fun, but she was too light to make it to the end of the zip line.  They were able to retrieve her quickly.

On the other hand, my excessive weight allowed me to smoke Gage in our zip line race!  Funny how he thought his youth and fitness would give him the edge😀

After a wonderful weekend it was back to the boat, and northbound to Norfolk, VA

Where once again, the wind pinned us down for 6 days…ugh!

Whitecaps in the anchorage didn’t stop me from cooking. I was able to spend that time preparing large scale batches of beef stew, chicken & dumplings, stuffed peppers, and mini meatloafs.  My efforts allowed me to stock frozen portions for our freezer, and my Dad’s freezer.  Thanks to Shelly, from Oh Henry, for enlightening me to the concept of grocery delivery.  I know that has been a ‘thing’ for a long time, but I never considered it was an option for someone without an address.  My first attempt with Kroger was a massive FAIL, because they wouldn’t deliver to an address other than my ‘official’ address. Walmart, on the other hand, had no such qualms!  I am definitely a convert…easiest shopping experience of my life!!

Finally, on one evening the wind, clouds, and rain gave way to an amazing sunset.  

Everything in Norfolk Harbor was golden.

Beautiful!

When the wind finally died down, we were able to continue our trek north.  However, the old adage, “be careful what you wish for” came into play.  The wind did stop, just as we had wished, but that meant that there was nothing to blow away the fog!  We planned to travel up the Bay, to our home port in Pasadena, MD, in two (long) 75 mile days.  They turned out to be the strangest two days of navigation we have experienced to date.

This is literally the view we had for 10 hours each day, for 2 consecutive days.  Visibility was less than a quarter mile for 95% of this trip.  Keith described the feeling as someone turning a Tupperware bowl upside down over the boat. Between the fact that there were no waves, and we couldn’t see the relative motion of objects as we passed, it essentially felt like we were not moving at all.

Radar was our best friend, but not foolproof.  This shot clearly shows two sets of York River channel markers, but what is the blob almost dead ahead? For those of you unfamiliar with radar…we are the dot in the center, and the line running from us to the top of the screen represents ‘dead ahead’ at that moment.

This is the chart for the same location. The blue boat is us, and the yellow square is the unknown object.  In these conditions you must watch the course and speed of all objects to make sure you are never on a collision course.  This example is pretty simple. Keeping an eye on one object is easy peasy!

This example is a totally different story. There are at least a dozen targets, within a mile and a half, that need to be analyzed (for speed and direction) and tracked.  This type of navigation is exhausting!  The big green blobs you see on the left are land (we certainly don’t want to hit that either).  During one of my helm duties, I had a brief scare when a small target appeared to approaching from behind and gaining quickly.  I stuck my head out to listen for a small outboard, or possibly jet ski…nothing, no sound. However, the radar showed the object passing us up the port side, only an eighth of a mile away. Then the target started to turn in front of us…’WTH’ (what the heck), I shouted as I grabbed the throttles ready to pull back, and instantly two pelicans broke through the clouds and cut right across our bow. Unbelievable! 

I thought, WOW!  Our radar is amazing…until…

While Keith was at the helm this sailboat came from our starboard (right) side and cut right across the bow.  We were both totally shocked, because there had been NO indication this boat was there.  NO radar signature, NO engine sound, NO fog horn. If you operate a sailboat in fog, PLEASE invest in a radar reflector! The life you save might be your own (or mine).

Finally, 4 miles from our home anchorage the fog lifted just in time for us to have a nice view of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, as we passed under!

Southern Express

We re-entered the US, from the Bahamas, on March 29.  Since that time, we have been working our way up the coast, stopping along the way for extended visits with our children and grandchildren.  We currently have 5 grandchildren, under the age of 19, and we got to visit all five during the month of April. 

Our trip up the coast has been a primary on the ‘inside’ route, sticking to the Intracoastal Waterway.  We have, however, been able to slip ‘outside’ a few times when conditions were calm, which allows us to cover more linear mileage since we aren’t twisting and turning through the marshes.  The ocean route also allows us to save a little on fuel since we aren’t beating against a tidal current.

This was our last fill up…

Add the number’2’ in front of the 384 for the total cost😬, and to think we are heading to Canada where we have been told that diesel is $9.00/gallon.

Planning to fill up in New York before entering Canada!

Even though we have traveled this route a total of 5 times, we still see interesting sites.

Have you ever seen a floating bridge?  The bridge actually pivots on that large black piling to align with the ramps on either side of the canal.

Who has a commercial lifeboat at the dock?  Maybe their hurricane survival plan🤷🏼‍♀️

Our first stop is outside of Jacksonville…

Captain in training!

Once again, we fought weather issues while visiting Anna, but luckily we were able to squeeze in a boat weekend to Cumberland Island.

The walking paths are beautiful.

Wild horses abound!

Beach days are the best.

As we continued north, we visited one of our favorite towns along this route…Beaufort, SC.  We love this town!

The walls of this, now private, home have an amazing story to tell.

Wow!  The history here is amazing.

From Beaufort, it’s only a one day trip to Charleston…where our next scheduled stop includes two more grandchildren.

Weather was better during our visit with Lucy and Maggie.  

We were anchored near very active park where people participate in all sorts of outdoor activities.  The girls named this the ‘buttcopter’.  This guy took off (seamlessly) right next to us, and flew over the boat.

The landing wasn’t as seamless, but still pretty impressive considering…

Pop and Maggie enjoy dance parties on the top deck.

I thought it would be fun to have boat races. Sounds fun, right?  Again, I failed to envision how this would really play out.  We had a great time constructing and painting our boats.  The the races were also super fun, with one exception…the current.  Each race, from the swim platform, actually meant that grandma was paddling feverishly in a kayak to retrieve all of the vessels.  Of course, Keith’s boat won most often, because he thought to double over his rubber bands to increase the tension…always wearing his mechanics hat!

I never tire of cruising with pelicans!

But clearly, sometimes pelicans get tired of flying😁. I count almost 100 hitchhikers on the shrimp boat we passed in an inlet in South Carolina.

Once back on the ICW, we are definitely part of the great northern migration.  Usually we are spaced out, as everyone travels at different speeds, but we inevitably pile up again while waiting for bridges to open.

After leaving Charleston, we traveled three days (yes, it would have taken three hours by car) to Southport, NC where we left the boat in a marina, rented a car, and drove to Atlanta for one final grandchildren visit.  That adventure will be included in the next post…

We will also get into some of the planning details for completing the Great Loop.  Did you know it was possible to circumnavigate the eastern third of the country?  

In our past three years of cruising we have completed all of the green, and most of the blue, but this summer will be dedicated to the RED!  We will be traveling up the Hudson River, then turning west across the state to follow the Georgian Bay route…I am sooo excited!!

Smiling in Eleuthera

It’s sad to say goodbye to the Bahamas, but this post will finish up our Bahama adventure.  These pictures were all taken during the month of March.  The next post will highlight our trip up the coast thus far, and introduce our new adventure…The Great Loop!

If you are anchored in Hatchet Bay for any length of time, you are bound to meet Emmitt.  Emmitt is the entrepreneur extraordinaire of Hatchet Bay. He has a waterfront bar & grill that seems to be the community gathering spot.  He has a dock where he allows cruisers to tie dinghies, he lets people use his cans to dispose of garbage, and rents cars to island visitors.  When you meet Emmitt he will most likely be singing, and his favorite song has this line…

“No other island will keep you smiling like Eleuthera”

It’s been three weeks since we left Eleuthera, and I still find myself singing that line…just the way Emmitt sang it…

“ No uda island will keep you smilin’ like E-leu-tra”

As previously mentioned, we hid out in Hatchet Bay for a long time.  Luckily, we had great company in the form of our good friends on Seaquel, and our new friends (a wonderful family from Canada) on Oh Henry.  

Keith organized ‘The Great Crab Roundup’ to add some fun and excitement to our dreary week. Everyone was happy to participate (I stayed on the boat to start the boiling pot of water and take pictures…I was confident they would prevail).  Catching spider crabs is no easy task. Someone must first dive down and spot one hiding under the rock ledge, then surface and make a plan.  The actual capture involves one person attempting to scare the crab with a ‘tickle stick’, with the hope of the crab running out from under the rock directly into a net that a second person is holding over the opening.  Keep in mind that all of this requires holding your breath underwater 5 or 6 ft down.

The leg does look like a spider, with weird hairs and a very pointy tip. However, the claws look like a mandible on the end, with teeth that fit together perfectly.

This is how a successful crab roundup ends.

Oh Henry’s crew members were happy to help pick crab meat, and we all enjoyed crab dip as the reward for a job well done!

Our most exciting snorkel pictures for the week go to two squid that were as interested in us, as we were in them!  

Squid have eight arms and two long tentacles used for catching fish.  At first I had no idea what was in front of me.  There were two identical alien creatures with flailing arms and tentacles, and I was looking straight down and only saw the crazy arms.  Now that I have had time to reflect, I believe I might have interrupted some type of courtship dance…sorry!

Keith’s first attempt at getting pictures resulted in both creatures shooting away like bullets, but he didn’t give up.  He did quite a bit of swimming, and followed them around until they calmed down enough for a picture.  Once they realized he wasn’t there to eat them, they allowed him to get very close.  Now they look like squid.

The Queen’s Bath (also known as Hot Tubs) is located on the east side of Eleuthera.  Erosion in the cliffs has left a series of natural pools that fill with water from crashing waves at high tide. As the tide recedes, the water in the pools is heated by the sun, and people enjoy soaking in the warm salty water.  Also, the view is spectacular!

Abandoned marinas are so picturesque.

Our niece, Allison, flew into Eleuthera to spend her Spring break with us.  She had no trouble climbing on top of the golf cart to reach coconuts…getting them open was a different story. In the end, power tools prevailed and we enjoyed fresh coconut water, and freshly grated coconut meat toasted in homemade granola…yum!!

So many places…so little time!

This is a conch pen in Spanish Wells.  I guess someone caught these conch and is keeping them alive for future sale or food, but they don’t look mature so maybe the intention is to allow them to get bigger first🤷🏼‍♀️

Make sure to have a good grip when shaking rugs and door mats over the side of the boat!  I jumped in the Whaler to retrieve my mat while Keith grabbed the camera for this photo op…good eye, this mistake does make an interesting picture.

We visited the pink sand beach on the east side of Harbour Island.  It looks the most pink right at the surf.

We discovered some interesting fruit trees.  This is sweet sop or sugar apple.  We were lucky to find a woman who made sweet sop ice cream from this local fruit…yum!

This fruit is called dilly in the Bahamas, but is known as sapodilla on other islands.

Need salt?  No problem…pour a cup of sea water into a pan and leave it on the deck all day.  The sun and wind will evaporate the water, and salt crystals will be left behind.  This ‘experiment’ has been ongoing for 4 days, adding a cup of seawater each morning.  I learned by trial and error that it is important to cover the pan each night or the salt crystals will absorb moisture out of the air, and there will be a half inch of water in the pan in the morning. 

Finally, the weather cooperated and we got a chance to snorkel the amazing reefs on the north side of Eleuthera.  There we found a plethora of conch.

Our second squid encounter consisted of finding this guy dead on our swim platform one morning.  Something must have been chasing him overnight and he was unlucky enough to jump out of the water, and onto our swim platform.  Looks like the sea gods have blessed us with bait👍