Charleston is a beautiful city; we have enjoyed some lovely walks in the city, as well as a carriage tour (Colby was allowed in the carriage!). Ashley Marina is very nice, but is a ways from the historic district, so we have had our share of exercise! Sunday we attended services at the First Presbyterian Church of Charleston; this was a highlight, as the church was beautiful and the pastor delivered an excellent message.
Monday we got our prop back, along with a computer printout of all the details, so we look forward to seeing what a difference this makes. (Our engine has been running hot, and we have needed to keep the cover off while motoring, which is every day. Having the prop re-pitched, we have been advised, will help with this.) We had planned to leave this AM, but the weather forecast calls for severe thunderstorms tomorrow. Our next destination is Beaufort, and we would need to anchor out between here and there. The anchorages in the south have little protection from wind, and also, it isn't easy to get Colby ashore in a thunderstorm. So we elected to stay here until the storm passes through, and we look forward to heading out again Thursday morning.
It is interesting how the "rhythm" works when cruising. Before we arrived here, we had three long days (55 miles, 53 miles, and 40 miles). We were ready to rest and catch up. Now, we are rested, we have provisioned, done the laundry, cleaned the boat, done some boat jobs, and are ready to move. But the weather isn't right, so we stay an extra day or two, somewhat impatiently, to wait for good weather. The alternative is to travel anyway, but at what expense? And we love having Colby with us, but getting him ashore from an anchorage is always a consideration.
We have made arrangements to leave our boat at Isle of Hope Marina near Savannah, Georgia, for a month or so. We will rent a car (remember, we have Colby) and drive home for Christmas. We plan to return mid-January and resume our travels south. Isle of Hope is about 120 miles from Florida! In Florida we have many friends to visit, and we look forward to seeing them!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving and Greetings from Charleston!
After days of grey skies, we enjoyed a beautiful, sunny day here in Charleston today! We arrived yesterday afternoon at the Ashley Marina, and have enjoyed meeting some of the friendly liveaboards here. Today we walked along the Battery, and through part of old Historic Charleston, admiring some outstanding examples of southern architecture and the palm trees!
This evening we enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with the Ishmael crew on their boat; turkey and all the trimmings. (Karen forgot to bring the shrimp we had planned for an appetizer..whoops! We have enjoyed shrimp several times recently, purchased fresh from local shrimp boats. Wow! What a difference from what one buys, frozen, at the supermarket back home.)
We will be here another couple of days, as we are having our prop repitched. A great place to be stuck; lots to do and see here!! And the weather forecast is for more sun!
More to follow; we hope all our friends and family have had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.
This evening we enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with the Ishmael crew on their boat; turkey and all the trimmings. (Karen forgot to bring the shrimp we had planned for an appetizer..whoops! We have enjoyed shrimp several times recently, purchased fresh from local shrimp boats. Wow! What a difference from what one buys, frozen, at the supermarket back home.)
We will be here another couple of days, as we are having our prop repitched. A great place to be stuck; lots to do and see here!! And the weather forecast is for more sun!
More to follow; we hope all our friends and family have had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Swansboro,N.C: Another Grand Adventure
Trefoil and her crew left Morehead City at nearly mid-day on 18 Nov. We briefly deliberated the weather forcast and figured that a 50% chance of sun was equal with a 50% chance of rain. So...off we go to Swansboro. (oo, a rhyme) This was a short hike (25 statute miles) but it started somewhat ominoulsy with rain falling after about a mile of travel. Well, no worries, mate! It will get better. (and it did) So, we motor through moderate fog and moderate mist until we get to Swansboro. Everything was fine except for the uncharted red which nearly sent us out of the channel and into the Atlantic! After some words were exchanged (at an increased volume) we regained our composure and continued the last few miles to the ancorage with relative ease. Then, came the rains. Bango-our glasses were soaked, our vision otherwise obscured by the violence of the rain and our relatively good navigating besmirched by running aground by way of a too-tight turn into the anchorage. Hard aground. 3200RPM reverse aground. Rocking the boat +3200 RPM reverse aground. We finally got off the bottom and, still not being able to find the right nav aids, were able to see "Caspers Marina" . We immediately forgot our desire to anchor out and where VERY happy to tie to the dock.
Thus endith the good part and beginnith the bad part: Rain and more rain!! We had arrived somewhat soaked and then the rain got real. Five + inches of rain in 13 hours. Steady, soaking rain. Six inches in the rubber boat. Ninty-four % humidity in Trefoil. Wet dog, wet people, wet clothes. However, the good part is that it did stop this morning and only most of the docks where underwater. Not ours-almost- but not submerged. Then the sun came out, we dried off, went for a walk and all is well this evening. The thermometer on the bank we passed on the way to Piggly Wiggly for provisions said 78 degrees!! Perhaps tomorrow will be as much fun! We'll write!
Love, Dick & Karen
Thus endith the good part and beginnith the bad part: Rain and more rain!! We had arrived somewhat soaked and then the rain got real. Five + inches of rain in 13 hours. Steady, soaking rain. Six inches in the rubber boat. Ninty-four % humidity in Trefoil. Wet dog, wet people, wet clothes. However, the good part is that it did stop this morning and only most of the docks where underwater. Not ours-almost- but not submerged. Then the sun came out, we dried off, went for a walk and all is well this evening. The thermometer on the bank we passed on the way to Piggly Wiggly for provisions said 78 degrees!! Perhaps tomorrow will be as much fun! We'll write!
Love, Dick & Karen
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The "Dog Connection"
As Trefoil (mostly) motors South we have had many new acquaintances and meetings with folks that must be credited to our lab Colby. Women (young and older) wave to him as we walk down village or city streets. People stop and ask us if they may pet him. Folks just walk up to you and ask if he is a lab and might they give him a treat. The owner of one marina in N.C. said " oh! this is the dog I've heard about!! Truth to tell, Colby is the most social member of the Trefoil crew.
What brings this tale to mind occured today when we checked into a marina in Morehead City.N.C. The lady working the counter saw Colby with Karen and, after admiring Colby, related her recent story of her family's rescue lab. A customer in the area entered the conversation remarking on our dog's large paws and powerful chest. The marina owner then entered and, after petting Colby and complimenting him, brought Karen into his office to show her pictures of his Late, Great lab and a poem over the loss of his dog. The customer offered (and we accepted) king mackeral steaks just caught today off the NC coast.
Karen and I enjoyed these kind and thoughtful people and feel honored and blessed with this experience.
There are many ways to meet and enjoy folks but, the most talented of our crew at the "meet and greet" game seems to be Colby. Lucky Us.
Love to all!
What brings this tale to mind occured today when we checked into a marina in Morehead City.N.C. The lady working the counter saw Colby with Karen and, after admiring Colby, related her recent story of her family's rescue lab. A customer in the area entered the conversation remarking on our dog's large paws and powerful chest. The marina owner then entered and, after petting Colby and complimenting him, brought Karen into his office to show her pictures of his Late, Great lab and a poem over the loss of his dog. The customer offered (and we accepted) king mackeral steaks just caught today off the NC coast.
Karen and I enjoyed these kind and thoughtful people and feel honored and blessed with this experience.
There are many ways to meet and enjoy folks but, the most talented of our crew at the "meet and greet" game seems to be Colby. Lucky Us.
Love to all!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Sunny and warm!
Today has been beautiful, temps in the low 70's and blue sky! The rest of the boats that have been holed up here left this morning. We elected to stay an extra day, as we learned yesterday that our friends John, Linda and Roscoe on Triton's Trumpet would be arriving today. They are super people and were wonderful to travel with last year, so we really wanted to see them again. They arrived this afternoon, and Colby and Roscoe seemed to remember each other!!
We plan to head out first thing in the morning, down the Pamlico River and the Neuse River, to anchor just north of Oriental, North Carolina. Today we washed all the portlights and put the screens back in!! After days of being closed in, it is so nice to open up the boat. Tomorrow the forecast is for more sunny skies! It will be good to be underway again.
We love everyone's comments and appreciate email; hearing from our friends is always a bright spot in our day!
We plan to head out first thing in the morning, down the Pamlico River and the Neuse River, to anchor just north of Oriental, North Carolina. Today we washed all the portlights and put the screens back in!! After days of being closed in, it is so nice to open up the boat. Tomorrow the forecast is for more sunny skies! It will be good to be underway again.
We love everyone's comments and appreciate email; hearing from our friends is always a bright spot in our day!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Hunkered down in Belhaven, NC
As the remnants of Hurricane Ida pass off the coast and the high from the West blows through to meet the low, we are experiencing winds of 40 knots or more. We are at a dock, but getting on and off the boat and then walking down the dock can be very tricky. It has rained about 10 inches in the past 24 hours, and our dingy is full of water. Oh, and there is occasional thunder and lightening! Winds may begin to subside somewhat this afternoon. Colby is bored; he gets off the boat 2 or 3 times a day to do the necessary things, but it is raining so hard he doesn't want to stay out long! And when we get back from a "shoreside excursion," we are all soaking wet. The creaking and groaning of our mooring lines on pilings (no floating docks here) sounds like the soundtrack of a 1950's pirate movie! The noise of the wind and the fenders slapping against the side of the boat, as well as the motion of the boat being pushed around in the slip, are all very alarming to the senses. There is no real danger, but the noise is tiring.
The upside is that we are not alone! There are six other boats here sitting out this storm, and there is a very nice clubhouse, where we all gathered for a potluck dinner and adult beverages last evening. Ishmael is here, a British couple who crossed the Atlantic in their 39' catamaran, a couple on a trawler, another couple on a Hunter 33, a Canadian couple on a C&C 33, and a young family with 3 small children on a 29' sailboat. Also, there is a courtesy car, so some of us may go into town to do some errands when the wind subsides a bit. The are also hot showers, which helps to improve the attitude!
To back up a few days, we had very fair weather for the trip from Norfolk to here! We left Norfolk Saturday morning, and entered the Dismal Swamp Canal shortly after. This is a fairly narrow, shallow, somewhat overgrown and dark canal with occasional logs near the surface and also on the bottom which wake one up in a hurry! The canal connects the Elizabeth River to the Abermarle Sound. The North Carolina Welcome Center, about halfway through the canal, has a free dock, and we were rafted up there with 14 other boats that evening! It was a bit crazy, but a calm and well protected spot, so it worked. The next day, we continued on to Elizabeth City, a very welcoming town which offers free dockage for up to 48 hours for cruisers. There we were greeted by Pete Taggett, who has a sailboat at Van Slooten Harbour Marina on Lake Champlain; Pete spends his winters in Elizabeth City. He took us to the grocery store, the hardware store, the post office, and helped us get diesel and kerosene! A big thank you to Pete. That evening, we burned kerosene in our heater for the first time, and the result was very little soot. This was very good news! We are also ordering an upgrade kit, which should help us to control the burn more easily.
We would have loved to stay another day in Elizabeth City, but this weather was forecast, so we decided to move, and we are very glad we did. We left Monday morning, and had a very calm passage across the Abermarle Sound. This is one day we were glad to motor, as the Abermarle has a reputation for becoming treacherous in a hurry. We anchored near the mouth of the Alligator River that evening, along with Ishmael. A very quiet, peaceful spot; the only problem was that there was no good spot to get the dogs ashore. Colby and Kooper had to climb out of their dingies, over a mass of interwoven tree roots, and find a bit of marsh grass to take care of business! A repeat performance at 6:15 the next morning, and underway shortly after. The 20+ miles in the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal made a very pleasant day; sunny, with a light breeze, mid 70's! This was a 55 mile day. We arrived at Dowry Creek Marina about 3:15, glad to be here, in a good place for the approaching storm.....
The upside is that we are not alone! There are six other boats here sitting out this storm, and there is a very nice clubhouse, where we all gathered for a potluck dinner and adult beverages last evening. Ishmael is here, a British couple who crossed the Atlantic in their 39' catamaran, a couple on a trawler, another couple on a Hunter 33, a Canadian couple on a C&C 33, and a young family with 3 small children on a 29' sailboat. Also, there is a courtesy car, so some of us may go into town to do some errands when the wind subsides a bit. The are also hot showers, which helps to improve the attitude!
To back up a few days, we had very fair weather for the trip from Norfolk to here! We left Norfolk Saturday morning, and entered the Dismal Swamp Canal shortly after. This is a fairly narrow, shallow, somewhat overgrown and dark canal with occasional logs near the surface and also on the bottom which wake one up in a hurry! The canal connects the Elizabeth River to the Abermarle Sound. The North Carolina Welcome Center, about halfway through the canal, has a free dock, and we were rafted up there with 14 other boats that evening! It was a bit crazy, but a calm and well protected spot, so it worked. The next day, we continued on to Elizabeth City, a very welcoming town which offers free dockage for up to 48 hours for cruisers. There we were greeted by Pete Taggett, who has a sailboat at Van Slooten Harbour Marina on Lake Champlain; Pete spends his winters in Elizabeth City. He took us to the grocery store, the hardware store, the post office, and helped us get diesel and kerosene! A big thank you to Pete. That evening, we burned kerosene in our heater for the first time, and the result was very little soot. This was very good news! We are also ordering an upgrade kit, which should help us to control the burn more easily.
We would have loved to stay another day in Elizabeth City, but this weather was forecast, so we decided to move, and we are very glad we did. We left Monday morning, and had a very calm passage across the Abermarle Sound. This is one day we were glad to motor, as the Abermarle has a reputation for becoming treacherous in a hurry. We anchored near the mouth of the Alligator River that evening, along with Ishmael. A very quiet, peaceful spot; the only problem was that there was no good spot to get the dogs ashore. Colby and Kooper had to climb out of their dingies, over a mass of interwoven tree roots, and find a bit of marsh grass to take care of business! A repeat performance at 6:15 the next morning, and underway shortly after. The 20+ miles in the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal made a very pleasant day; sunny, with a light breeze, mid 70's! This was a 55 mile day. We arrived at Dowry Creek Marina about 3:15, glad to be here, in a good place for the approaching storm.....
Friday, November 6, 2009
Wahoo!!! We're in Norfolk!!
Yesterday was a long day, but we arrived at the Waterside Marina in Norfolk at sunset! NOAA had a gale warning out, starting at 6:00 PM, so we were just minutes from that. Winds were forecast to gust to 40 knots, so we opted for a marina, rather than anchoring out. This is a well-protected spot, and right in downtown Norfolk, with lots to do. We caught up on some housekeeping chores today, and plan to visit Nauticus and the Naval museum tomorrow morning before heading south down the ICW. This is a real high point for us to be here! It is a busy city, with lots of big ships and naval traffic, unlike anywhere else we have been.
Our trip from Solomon's to Reedville was certainly interesting. There is a Navy firing range south of Solomon's. We starting hearing the Navy contacting boats that were underway, asking them to alter course to move out of target range. We were not contacted, but we heard 5 or 6 calls to other boats. Then, KABOOM!!! there was definitely some heavy artillery being tested. Four times the charges went off! Rather awesome, to say the least. Colby didn't like it at all. Just when we got him calmed down from one charge, the next one went off! We spent the night on the dock at a small marina in Reedville. Unfortunately, the restaurant at the dock was closed, but we enjoyed wine and snacks in Ishmael's cockpit, while Ben was working hard to fish for crabs!
The next day was a short travel day, to Deltaville. We went in on the north side, off the Rappahannock River, and stayed at Walden's Marina, for $.75/foot for the night. Definitely the least expensive marina we have stayed in! Only problem was that we ran aground 3 times exiting the channel the next morning! Good thing it was just mud.....We were underway at 6:45AM, as we knew it would be a long way to Norfolk.
And a long way it was. We started out with good winds, about 15 knots and we actually sailed with no motor for a while, making 6.2 knots. Lovely!!! Then the wind started to decrease and so did our speed, so we motorsailed. After a while we rolled up the jib, as it wasn't helping, but we had some help from the main most of the day. Once we got to the Norfolk area, it took 3 hours to get to our destination. With the current we slowed to 3.2 knots for a while, until we entered the Elizabeth River, then we were suddenly up to 6.2 knots. Colby was VERY happy to get ashore after a 10.5 hour travel day!!
We continue to average about 10 nautical miles or more per gallon, so fuel is not a big expense. So far we have traveled 640 nautical miles (736 statute miles).
We have added a galley strap for cooking underway, as we often want a hot lunch while traveling on cold days. Dick does most of the driving, and sometimes by the end of the day he can't feel his fingers anymore! Karen does the navigating and provides those hot lunches, as well as an occasional break for the helmsman. Colby sleeps a lot, and springs to life as soon as we are at a dock or anchored. He is a wonderful companion, and makes lots of friends where ever we go. While he can't wait to get off the boat at the end of the day, he is always in a hurry to get back on as well! Our mailman, Steve, sends us our mail when we call him with an address, and provides moral support as well!
Our trip from Solomon's to Reedville was certainly interesting. There is a Navy firing range south of Solomon's. We starting hearing the Navy contacting boats that were underway, asking them to alter course to move out of target range. We were not contacted, but we heard 5 or 6 calls to other boats. Then, KABOOM!!! there was definitely some heavy artillery being tested. Four times the charges went off! Rather awesome, to say the least. Colby didn't like it at all. Just when we got him calmed down from one charge, the next one went off! We spent the night on the dock at a small marina in Reedville. Unfortunately, the restaurant at the dock was closed, but we enjoyed wine and snacks in Ishmael's cockpit, while Ben was working hard to fish for crabs!
The next day was a short travel day, to Deltaville. We went in on the north side, off the Rappahannock River, and stayed at Walden's Marina, for $.75/foot for the night. Definitely the least expensive marina we have stayed in! Only problem was that we ran aground 3 times exiting the channel the next morning! Good thing it was just mud.....We were underway at 6:45AM, as we knew it would be a long way to Norfolk.
And a long way it was. We started out with good winds, about 15 knots and we actually sailed with no motor for a while, making 6.2 knots. Lovely!!! Then the wind started to decrease and so did our speed, so we motorsailed. After a while we rolled up the jib, as it wasn't helping, but we had some help from the main most of the day. Once we got to the Norfolk area, it took 3 hours to get to our destination. With the current we slowed to 3.2 knots for a while, until we entered the Elizabeth River, then we were suddenly up to 6.2 knots. Colby was VERY happy to get ashore after a 10.5 hour travel day!!
We continue to average about 10 nautical miles or more per gallon, so fuel is not a big expense. So far we have traveled 640 nautical miles (736 statute miles).
We have added a galley strap for cooking underway, as we often want a hot lunch while traveling on cold days. Dick does most of the driving, and sometimes by the end of the day he can't feel his fingers anymore! Karen does the navigating and provides those hot lunches, as well as an occasional break for the helmsman. Colby sleeps a lot, and springs to life as soon as we are at a dock or anchored. He is a wonderful companion, and makes lots of friends where ever we go. While he can't wait to get off the boat at the end of the day, he is always in a hurry to get back on as well! Our mailman, Steve, sends us our mail when we call him with an address, and provides moral support as well!
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