Marriage Madness in Miami

We did it! My lovely auntie Marianne took us to "Chef Allen" for an outrageous rehearsal dinner replete with bottles of Mumm's, exciting and unusual cuisine, and personalized menus. That's the first picture of us looking reasonably refined. Then, then next afternoon on the 27th, we drove to the Biscayne Boulevard Courthouse in north Miami and waited...on line...for about 20 minutes. We sat down at a little window, and the gentleman helping us was about the only thing that resembled our original plan - a rasta with waist-length dreads. He took the license we had obtained in Fernandina Beach, disappeared for a while, and came back and asked for $30. We wondered, is that it? Are we married now? All my family was in tow, and were equally dismayed to think that was the whole thing. But no! He laughed at us and said, "come with me to the marriage room". It was a cute litte room decorated with silk flowers to look like a little wedding place. They even had a fake flower bouquet for the bride to hold. He told us to look at eachother and take eachother's hands. Then he said the usual words. He was impressed that we had remembered to bring rings for eachother. It was very cute and sweet, and culminated in the joyful statement; "You may kiss the bride!" I threw the bouquet, my daughter Cate caught it, and the deal was done. More later, but we are now struggling to get on track to cross the gulf stream. In any case, HAPPY NEW YEAR from Wayne and Isabel Francis. May love, peace, and health fill the new year for all.

Merry Christmas from Paradise!

Claude came to the Sailing Club this morning to continue preparations for the "crossing", and we thought we'd send a Christmas card to all of our blog readers the only way we know how...so...MERRY CHRISTMAS! We are preparing supplies, charts, cramming the boat full of as many canned goods, paper goods, and extra filters, etc. as we can. It is a monumental task but hey - if we run out, we'll just figure it out I'm sure. How bad can it be to be in the Bahamas?

We have enjoyed Coconut Grove even more these last few days - we found the clean and well-maintained public tennis courts, and Wayne has been trouncing me the past 2 days. It is embarrasing, as inevitably next to us are young people in the developmental mode of Venus and Serena, who smash the heck out of the ball. Still, it's fun to jog in the park, play tennis, stroll around the streets and enjoy the hospitality of the bar at the sailing club. We can only wish those of you in the north great skiing and snowboarding and happy trails for Cross-Country.

Claude's family is already here and mine arrives tomorrow so there is nothing more we could ask for this Christmas.

Bisous a tous - hugs for all -

Isabel, Wayne and Claude

Life on the Bay

Life on Biscayne Bay is great. The first photo is the Sailing Club taken from the street side. The second are a couple of kids learning to sail at the Club. It's just such a great place. Regrettably, it is being threatened as a developer wants to tear it down and build a Cuban Restaurant. Sheesh. Of course I emailed the entire City Commission of Miami with a protest, but I doubt it will do any good. You never know though - I got an update regarding the North Carolina and Georgia stretches of the ICW. Those are the ones we had such trouble with as they have not been dredged for 2 years. Apparently funding was added in the last Federal spending bill, and the ICW should once again be possible for all boats with a 6-foot draw or less. People power!

We strolled to a great outdoor bar/restaurant last night called "Scotty's Landing". We had dolphin fish sandwiches and listened to a couple of guys playing live reggae. Inexpensive and great fun. Luckily, this establishment was running on Carribean Time when the bands play from 6 until 10pm and you can get to bed early. Our morning runs have become less horrible (we appear to be getting in shape again) and the parks are so beautiful. We also checked out the shops at the CocoWalk and happy hour at the Cafe TuTuTango. It's like a total vacation. Well almost - we also scrubbed the entire boat yesterday and took her for a pump out, but that's not really like work.

We are honestly thinking of everyone in the Great White North, but cannot say we'd like to be there with you. It is too incredible here, and a vacation from the vacation was certainly in order. The library will most likely be closed for the next few days, so if we don't get another chance to say it:

Peace, love, joy, and health to all of you in this holiday season and into the next year! Be well, be happy, you are in our thoughts.

put the lime in the coconut...

OK, no -we have not had a chance to put the lime in the coconut yet. We are still loving it here! The days are warm and gentle, the nights cool and lovely. We had a chance to spend some time at the Clubhouse again last night, enjoying the company of Bill and several other members. The bartender, Lisa, is a talented flute player that - like many musicians - tends bar. She is a scrappy little thing who does not fear Mr. Bill Beavers either. Must have learned it from Debra Pepper. Our gorgeous friend Karen Stene is actually a former model (we should have known) and at an indeterminate age looks fantastic! Her husband Wayne Tepper is an optometrist with a great belly-laugh and a huge capacity for love and generosity. They have gone up north for Christmas (family) but we hope to see them when they return. Last night we met a couple of identical twins - Jim and John Adams. As with Wayne's sisters, they are both great-looking but it is not hard to tell them apart after a few minutes of conversation. They tend to cause quite a stir among the ladies at the club, being elegant and slim 50-ish gents, and confuse the heck out of the guys who have had a few more than usual. We also met a professional environmental activist-type guy from Illinois(?) named Sam. He seems to mostly just kayak around while here in Miami. He is here visiting a buddy named David (also from Illinois) who does sailboat charters. David looks like he needs to get out of the fast lane and spend some time on a kayak but maybe he was just tired that night. Stuff is just going on all the time here - live music, fab food, nightlife, etc. Too bad our bodies have not yet been able to make the adjustment to staying awake much past 9pm. We'll practice up for the next few days in anticipation of the arrival of the kids who will for SURE want to sample the Miami nightlife. The big day? The 27th. Nobody has backed out yet...We'll keep you posted.

Coconut Grove: that's a royer

See the big smiles on the faces in the first picture. That's us (still on the boat) as we sail into the entrance channel for the Coconut Grove Sailing Club. The next picture is a little boutique in the hip/funky/slick Coconut Grove shopping district. The last picture was provided by Doug - what he saw on arrival back in Canada. I am sure the UP looks very similar. You don't have to guess why we are smiling.

Our last day sans Doug was a challenge for Claude, as he not only had to do all the driving but all the talking to the bridge tenders as well. We knew we were in Miami about half-way through, when one of the bridge operators - in replying to my identification of our boat - said, "that's a royer". That's a royer...hmmm...oh yeah - "That's a Roger" in spanglish. Between Claude's delightful French accent and the bridge tender's pronounced Spanish accent, we could only imagine what fun they had communicating! At any rate, the nice bridge tender told us to stay about 200 yards away from the bridge due to strong current. He was right, and when we were able to go through about 15 minutes later, we were suddenly swept up into a nice rush of current which carried us swiftly - about 6 1/2 knots - to any number of the remaining bridges. We anchored outside the Miami Yacht Club at first- just near the Government Cut - but re-anchored elsewhere later so that we could dinghy to a grocery store. It was blowing quite a bit, the current swift, and the wind was due to switch in the middle of the night. Claude put out a second anchor - so did we. The next morning, Wayne tried to lift the second anchor. No luck. It was stuck. Or the line was stuck. Something was stuck. Claude and Wayne took the dinghy to explore. No luck. We had to cast off our primary anchor and tie it to a fender so the line would float. Claude climbed aboard, and used Cassie's big diesel to try to unstick the anchor. He got us moving, but both guys realized the anchor was not stuck - the line was wrapped around something mighty heavy! Claude went back to Merope to tie the boats together just as Wayne dove to check out the situation. Wayne was so excited to be able to free the anchor line that he unwrapped it and surfaced - just as Claude was trying to throw me the line from Merope. Now it's better but Cassie is basically just floating free. Wayne says, "start the engine!", Claude jumps in the dinghy, speeds over to Cassie carefully avoiding Wayne who is still in the water, leaps onboard and takes the tiller. Boy I never saw Claude move so quick! We take Cassie back to the first anchor, pick up the line, and secure her. Then the guys pick up the second anchor, bring it on board, and life is back to manageable. Wayne gets on Merope to muscle Claude's auxilliary anchor onboard ( both of them hoping it's not wrapped around another monolith) and success! Wayne's back on Cassie, Claude's anchor winch works perfectly and we are off for the 6 or 7 mile trip to Coconut Grove. It rains along the way but WHO CARES? We get there just as the sun is peeking through and are greeted by Claude's utterly charming brother-in-law, Bill. Bill is recovering from a knee replacement, and is still in painful rehab. He discovered he was allergic to Codeine (always a bad thing to discover in the hospital) but thank goodness is still able to drink beer. So, we all sat down to a real Coconut Grove Sailing Club welcome over many, many beers. We met so many fascinating people I cannot do them all justice in this long entry, so I'll start with Bill. He is a mighty sailor, having sailed his boat Finesse (Tartan 30 I think) in myriad races from Miami to Bimini and many, many others. He speaks with a prounounced West Virginia accent and an extraordinary command of English vocabulary. He speaks like a gentleman, and is very fun to listen to. He has the usual assorted salty stories to tell, but more than that he offers genteel opinions in silver tones reminiscent of the State of Virginia Attorney General of our Solomon's Island blog. I am mesmerised listening to him speak, it's just so fun, and the beers are starting to take hold. His nemesis is a fiery little Canadian lady aptly named Pepper. She has sailed with him many years and is a mighty sailor herself. She has piercing blue eyes and a mane of blond hair, some short shorts and a great laugh. Pepper and Bill get into it about any number of things, and the action heats up. Other Club members come to join us, and join in the fun! Among them were the incredibly gorgeous Karen Stene and her cuddly teddy-bear husband Dr. Wayne Tepper (more on them later). Canadians are not in short supply at the CGSC, and the discussion heats up nicely. The afternoon simmers down, and we trundle off to Cassiopeia, nicely moored a stone's throw away from the dinghy dock. What a great arrival.

Vero to Coconut Grove: part I

The best news in Vero Beach (other than the arrival of Celeste) was the arrival of Claude's "muffler". Here is his, proudly holding up the one he cobbled together in Oriental, NC. Yes, the darn thing worked since then! Claude got the actual correct part, installed it, and we were off for 5 big days. Here is Doug in Vero as well, just before leaving. He should have stayed with us, as he went home to a blizzard in Canda, but that's another story. The third picture is Merope in the rainy weather we were encountering on the way. Miami looms in the background, and we are getting there!

From Vero Beach we put in a 40-plus mile day to stop in Hobe Sound. This was one of those anchorages where you just pull off a bit to the West, throw out the anchor, and stop for the night. We had a long discussion about going "outside" to avoid the 38 bridges or so between Hobe Sound and Miami. The bottom line was we did not have the stuff. Claude had nice charts (paper) and of course complete charts on the computer, and also had a great GPS unit. We still cannot use our GPS as the sole source of navigation, and do not have a complete set of charts. I thought that perhaps we could make the overnight run outside if we borrowed Claude's charts, but then he rightly refused because then HE would not have any backup way to navigate. Add to that the huge container ships and cruise ships we would be likely to encounter in the dark, and a less than perfect weather window, and we decided to stay inside and brave the bridges.

The next day we went all the way to Lantana, where a bridge was our undoing. Waiting for the Lantana Bridge, Wayne shifted into neutral. When he tried to shift back into forward, the cable snapped and we were adrift. I steered over to the side, he threw out the anchor and we let the bridge tender know we would have to wait for the next opening, a half-hour later, due to technical problems. Wayne figured correctly that he could shift into forward manually, so we managed to get through the bridge 30 minutes later and pull into the anchorage. Whew! About an hour and several phone calls later, we miraculously found a place in the Lauderdale area which had the appropriate cable and a salesman who was so nice, he said he would drive it to us after work. This is a plug for Boat Owner's Warehouse and a guy named Jeff who was an outstanding guy. We said we would meet him at the "Old Key Lime House" restaurant, luckily a famous restaurant in the Lantana area. He got there around 7pm and would not let us buy him a beer but we gave him $10 and he graciously accepted. The next morning, Claude and Wayne installed the new cable and we were off again by 9am. Oh, did I mention that Doug, that GREAT GUY, picked up dinner for us all at the Old Key Lime House in celebration/mourning of his impending departure? What a guy!

We really needed that cable, as from Lantana to Fort Lauderdale there were about 15 bridges to go through. We miraculously timed them quite well, but it required Merope to run full-blast quite a bit. We anchored up a little river in the Lauderdale area, and were surrounded by Claude and Doug's compatriots. Truth, we were the ONLY American boat at the anchorage! A discussion of the cultural aspects of the prevalence of Canadians making the trip down the ICW bears examination, however that will have to wait for a moment. It is interesting, however, to note that young French Canadians with kids and dogs and the whole shooting match somehow manage to acquire great sailboats and make the journey. The Canadians are doing something right!

We left Doug on a street corner in Fort Lauderdale and went on our way to Miami. He cried and said he did not know how he was going to survive being separated from Claude again. (OK, I made that part up but it sounds like a great movie scene). Doug did send us a great shot of a 5-foot snowbank right outside his house upon returning to Canada. It's great to be in Florida. Here ends part one, with Merope and Cassiopeia about to arrive in the magical destination - Miami. More on that tomorrow.

Heavenly Celeste

I thought I would take this opportunity to post a picture of Celeste! She has been a sweet and bubbly addition to our gang of boat mongrels, always excited and upbeat. Her enthusiasm for the beach was not diminished at all by the red tide, and her parents will have a devil of a time trying to avoid it. She and I played cards at anchor in the swamps of Georgia and discussed things that are of great importance to 9-year olds. This is far less taxing than editing college-level political science papers. It is always uplifting to see her cute little smile and touseled hair. She is like the Energizer Bunny - in constant motion and near-constant sound. Although captivating, I am now enjoying the benefits of being able to say, "I'm sorry I have to go, sweetie" and hand her back over to her folks. They really have to be slightly crazy to live on a sailboat with a small child. Dogs, children, and the like are too challenging on boats for my taste.

Boyz in the Hood

Here are the "boys" peering out of the cockpit of Claude's boat, Merope. We had such fun last night at a local bar/restaurant called "The Riverfront Cafe". We took Doug out in the afternoon (via dinghy) to watch the Packers and the Lions play, and then returned a bit later in the evening to watch the Patriots/Steelers game. After the game, a band consisting of two guys, started to play. The guitar player resembled local rock legend and sprinkler king Tim Preston. The other guy was a large gentleman wearing bib overalls and a rasta beret, playing a washtub string bass. For real. He had a metal washtub on the floor, to which a single "string" or metal cable, was attached at one end. The other end was attached to what looked like a cut-off broom handle. The sound it made was unbelievably fun and amazingly in tune or on key. I could not help but dance, and Wayne and I had a great time doing our crazy jitterbug/swing/free form dance styling. Not ready for "Dancing with the Stars" but a good time. Everyone was having such fun! I even got Doug to take a turn on the floor with me. We hope this will not aggravate his back, but at the time he thought it was well worth it. Just as we were about to call it a night, Sue and Brian from Sogno appeared. We had originally spied them in the swamps of Georgia - Kilkenny to be exact. We hooked up in Fernandina at the Palace one night, and were pleased to see them again here in Vero Beach. It was Brian's birthday, which gave us a good reason to stay for a little while. More fun, more boat discussions, but no more beer as we are learning to pace ourselves. As a result, this morning was not nearly as painful as usual after a fun night out.

The best news yesterday was the sighting of our friends aboard Grayling. They're here! They had actually gone a bit further than Fernandina Beach (not the original plan) and then spent 5 days in Titusville trying to catch the space shuttle launch. It never went, but neither did they. Little Celeste popped right up into the cockpit to greet us, and a happy reunion took place. She is excited to be somewhere she can walk to the beach. We warned her about the red tide, giving me an opportunity to "google" it and a learning occasion for all. Hopefully the red tide will have abated today. The foot gave me no trouble dancing last night, so Wayne and I are about to test drive it on a gentle jog. My sanity may be restored yet.

Claude is waiting for the arrival of parts today, and we intend to take off tomorrow. In a couple or three days we expect to be in Lantana Beach, and in Miami within the week. It will be good to STOP for a little while. We are enjoying making new friends, reuniting with others we have seen along the way, and discovering new towns and anchorages. Vero Beach has been particularly user-friendly, but our ultimate destination is still some distance away.

The internet surely keeps us connected in ways one would never dream of ten years ago. This has it's good and less than perfect aspects. We loving hearing from people at home and knowing about friends and family. Last night, however, I committed myself to an action I thought i was done with - the editing of college papers. My daughter Catherine is slogging through finals at the University of Michigan. Dumb me, I reminded her that I had a degree in political science and I think I even offered to help edit her final paper. It took about 2 hours this morning to read, edit, and re-send this paper back to her. I have encouraged her to take science instead ( anatomy, physiology, biology, chemistry). This is a good possibility as she is considering declaring as a pre-med major. Hopefully that will launch her into a wonderful career field and eliminate the need for editing of papers!

Boat life is a great metaphor for humankind. Boaters are committed to a lifestyle which encourages, and almost requires maximum cooperation. If you are having a problem of any kind, there is always someone around who offers to help in any way. Yesterday the free bus service was not running, and Wayne needed to go to the Napa store to get oil and filters for the maintenance he is doing today. A nice guy that was just hanging around at the dock said, "I'll run you there". This nice young man lives in Vero and slips his sailboat at the municipal marina. He was just out for a little Sunday on the boat, when he offered to take the time out to give Wayne a ride to the store. Claude is forever helping us with our mechanical issues, while we are always happy to run to the grocery store for him. People from all over the US and Canada meet and make friends. This morning, little Celeste met another little girl who speaks nothing but French. What a great way for the two of them to learn about eachother's language and culture. The basic culture of a live-aboard child is the same no matter where they come from. From frustration with home-schooling to the boredom of being boat-bound kids are endlessly creating things to do. Similarly, those of us who have succumbed to the temptation that this kind of voyage offers have the opportunity to endlessly re-create ourselves based upon the locale and the collection of boaters present. That said, the basic tenets never change: we all have to respond to the challenges of weather and wind - and it is in our best collective interest to look out for eachother. If only we could apply this model worldwide, we might be able to solve some of our most basic problems.

The hidden (almost) terrors of Florida...

Don't let this idyllic sunset in Dragon Bay fool you: Florida has it's own ways of tormenting humans. Lest one think this is a complaint let me preface this entry with the statement that the abnormally beautiful weather here makes up for everything else. BUT, there are two pests that presently are affecting all of us. The first is the dreaded no-see-um. These little critters are worse than mosquitos! They are practically invisible, no larger than the point of a fine-lead mechanical pencil. They are able to fly through our netting that would catch larger insects, and come in at night to feed. They bite. It is a little tiny bite, but a bite no less. It itches and wakes one up from what would otherwise be a blissful sleep. We have taken to spraying the nets with anti-bug stuff, but these guys are persistent. The other phenomenon is the "red tide". This is an algae which floats in at times and causes humans to cough and eyes to itch. Regrettably, just when Wayne's sister Jean came yesterday to enjoy a walk on the beach, the beach was not friendly. As soon as we jumped out of the car to see the beautiful Atlantic, Jean's husband Vic and I started to cough. Strange. We walked into the restaurant where they were kind enough to treat us to lunch, still coughing. The hostess explained the red tide had come in that day, and EVERYONE was coughing. Our plans to dine on the balcony overlooking the sea were dashed as the restaurant had closed up the balcony due to the irritants in the air. We had a lovely lunch, and bold Jean and Wayne decided to take a brief walk on the beach anyway. No picture could do justice to the sight of this brother and sister walking gently along the beach, surf pounding, conversing quietly. In sum, although the forces of nature conspire to remind us that life is not perfect, it is in fact not bad.

Vero Beach update

We continued to make good progress at 30+ miles a day until we arrived at Vero Beach yesterday. The weather is so lovely, it is practically unbelievable. I asked the gentleman at the dock whether it was a particularly nice day for November on arrival. He said no, this is pretty normal. Wow! It's between 70 and 80 degrees, with a gentle breeze and a few feathery clouds drifting by. Wayne's sister Jean is driving from Orlando to meet us here today, and Claude has already met up with friends of his who did the journey with him 10 years ago. There is no free wifi and the library is far away, so I bit the bullet and signed up for 24 hours access for 8 bucks. Sometimes you just have to do it. We hope to spend today and tomorrow here in Vero Beach prior to moving on again. The 30 to 35 mile days are not horrible, but a little fun now and then really breaks up the "work".

Delightful Doug!

We have been going like gangbusters since the arrival of Claude's sailing buddy, Doug. We have made it to a little town of some sort called Satellite Beach, half way between Titusville and Vero Beach. We are taking advantage of favorable winds and currents when we can, and so pushed on from Titusville even though there was a space launch scheduled for today. With the goal of Miami firmly in mind, however, it is imperative that we go when the going is good. Doug is the perfect foil to Claude's convivial French flair. He is wonderfully dignified and slightly reserved. Of course if you come from Canada, he speaks like everyone else...however if you come from our neck of the woods his charming Canadien accent appears just when you would expect it...as in "out" and "about", etc. Like "Fargo". It's too cool. We have enjoyed getting to know him and Claude has certainly enjoyed having a helping hand. We are making good progress, and the warmth and sunshine keeps us going with much more enthusiam than the cold swamps of Georgia. The waters are much easier to navigate here as well. While we had to travel a dozen miles sideways just to make six in Georgia, we basically get up every morning and point the boat south. Then we go south for about 30 or 40 miles, and stop. In sum, every mile is STRAIGHT SOUTH!!! This is the first time we can go directly south in a straight line since Norfolk. This aspect, along with the gradually warmer weather, provides encouragement to all. There is only one worrisome spot: we have lost track of some friends. I mentioned the boat Grayling before, with it's Captain Chris, First Mate Nichole and their charming daughter Celeste. They were kind enough to give us something to eat during our worst time, and we were on the same track for Fernandina Beach. The last we saw of them was at the Jekyll Island marina, then they "poofed". They were having some boat troubles, but it would seem logical (since they left just before us from Jekyll Island) that we would have seen them along the way somewhere. I hope that we will run into them soon and be able to report they are well. Any number of things can happen to boats and boaters, and we have learned to look out for eachother.

One of the most uplifting things about this part of the voyage are the dolphins! Our first sighting, as you may recall, was in Mobjack Bay all the way up in the Chesapeake. Now we see them daily. Today as we were sailing under one large bridge, a trio of dolphins appeared off our bow. They swam right up to us, then performed several daring gymnastics in unison just like a group of sychronized swimmers. It was absolutely thrilling! At our little anchorage here at "Dragon Point" we were also greeted with a number of these lovely sea animals. For those wretches like myself that have been taken in by the Illuminatus trilogy, it makes one think of Hagbard Celine and his dolphin allies. They are incredibly smart, playful and fun to watch. Wish we could just talk to them...

Swamps of Georgia to St. Augustine

I thought I would share a picture of the Kilkenny marina with everyone, which is the top one. Beautiful live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, but not much else there. The next shot is one Wayne took in Fernandina beach of the persistent pelicans at the waterfront. Last shot is a narrow street scene in St. Augustine, the "oldest continually occupied european settlement in North America". Founded by Senor Pedro Menendez de Avila in 1565, this beautiful waterfront town has become a real tourist mecca. Charming anyway. We arrived to a crowded anchorage, and were guided into our current spot by a St. Augustine live-aboard named Rudolph. He is actually from Belize and had been stranded on his boat for two weeks due to lack of a dinghy. Whatever. We brought him over some food and a couple beers last night, and gave him a ride into town this morning. In exchange, this nice man who happens to be a diver is going to install a zinc anode on the prop shaft for us to prevent the shaft and propeller from corroding in the salt water. Thank goodness Claude told us about this! Great Lakes sailing requires no such device. The powerful negative electrical charge produced by the sodium cations in the water discharges into the metal of the shaft, unless a zinc anode is present to absorb the charge. Chemistry/physics lesson for the day. Lesson to the world: positive karma flows from all good actions. We had not idea about this anode business until this morning. When we mentioned it to Rudolph, he offered to get on his dive gear and install this for us at no charge. Boating is an undertaking that is full of opportunities to generate positive karma. As the Christmas season is upon us, we feel the true meaning of the season is most meaningfully illustrated by this kind of energy flow. As my son would say, "namaste".

Brett goes down! So do we!

We were once again at the Palace in Fernandina Beach last night as they were the only bar in town to have the Packers/Cowboys game on tv. Claude joined us for a while, but being an intelligent human being he left after the first half. Meanwhile, the bar got smokier and smokier and we were suffering from smoke inhalation, but persisted. Just after the start of the second half we met some nice gentlemen from Atlanta who were curious about our adventure. They offered to buy us a "Pirate Punch", so naturally we accepted. We chatted some more. They insisted on buying us another Pirate Punch. Whoa. We figured we would be fogged in this morning so we stayed until the end of the game and took them up on their kind offer. We watched as Brett Farve, our hero, was injured and removed himself from the game. His young replacement tried valiantly, but the nasty Cowboys went on to win the game. Poor Brett! We got back to the boat around midnight ( or a little later) and then next thing it is 7 am and we are NOT fogged in. We called Claude on the VHS and he was ready to get going. A quick cup of coffee later and we are flogging ourselves to get on the trail. The weather was not bad - cool and cloudy but not much wind and the current was going our way. We arrived in Jacksonville Beach exhausted but alive and well. Wayne is still napping! The great news is that Claude's friend Doug has arrived in the USA and is at this very moment driving up from Fort Lauderdale. What a guy! He will join us around 8pm tonight, and off we go for St. Augustine tomorrow. The pictures have nothing to do with this post, really, except that I love the one of the shrimp boat that looks like it is about to eat Cassie. Yes, that's Cassie at anchor at Hilton Head with an incoming shrimp boat behind her. The other one is from our little private beach in the Georgia swamp. We'll get some Florida pictures to share with you once Doug gets here, so everyone can get at look at our new foursome.

Connecting with Quebec!

We are happily in Fernandina Beach, expecting to watch the Packers/Cowboys game somehow. Hopefully Claude's friend Doug will join us in Jacksonville Beach. Doug: Claude would like me to ask you to be sure to bring your laptop and GPS. Cathy: Thanks for the comment! If you have the email address of Doug - can you email it to my gmail? OK, it's true we are developing a serious network of lovely Canadian friends. Last night we met Guy and Micheline aboard Pegasus. They may be waiting for us when we get to St. Augustine. If Doug can join us as well, we would be a multi-lingual troupe of 6. What fun it is to meet so many new and interesting people and share the voyage. Yes, I used the "f" word. Fun. It's starting to be fun again. The bad weather that rocked us at anchor 2 nights ago blew over, the fog lifted this morning to brilliant sunshine. We are wearing shorts and loving it. The picture of Wayne was taken in Georgia at one of our swamp stops. We spied a teeny, tiny, bit of sand amid the marsh weeds, with a lone palm tree. Of course, we got in the dinghy and pretended that we were at the beach. Now, Wayne can actually walk to a real beach. There is a phenomenal tennis facility here, but unfortunately I still can't really walk too far, never mind play tennis so I'm hoping he'll find a partner. He does not seem too unhappy about it though, since we have re-emerged into civilization we have all been feeling better. Claude's fuel filter part should be here this afternoon, and we will probably take off again tomorrow morning for the 2-day trip to Jacksonville Beach. From there another couple of decent weather days and we could make it to St. Augustine. It's amazing what some good weather and a cute little town can do for the drooping spirits of water-weary sailors.

Fabulous Fernandina - we are in Florida!

I could not be any happier than to be sitting in the incredibly friendly public library in Fernandina Beach, Florida! We were able to leave Jekyll Island yesterday on a warm and breezy 5 to 10 knot NE wind and make both the St. Andrews Sound and the Cumberland Sound with no trouble. Last night was rough at anchor, but hey, who cares, we are in Florida now! We took a mooring ball and Claude a slip at the marina as he will be engaged in engine maintenance the better part of the day - changing fuel filters and fuel pump - and we will be playing. Yes, playing! Fernandina Beach's primary employer is probably the large and fragrant paper mill just to the south of where we are moored. As long as the wind continues to blow from the north, no problem! If it blows too strongly we will have to think cautiously about where we are going tomorrow, but we hope to start journeying southward again then - provided engine maintenance is successful. We are experiencing a continuing issue with our glow plugs not receiving enough power at times to engage. This electrical quirk is concerning, but probably not life threatening since Claude removed the "bad" wires. As for the town, it is extremely cute, very touristy, caters to tourists. It has a great history as a former pirate enclave (no joke!) and has the distinction of having had the most flags flown claiming ownership of any location in the US (eight!). From the Spanish to the French, British, back to Spain, various pirates, the US, Mexico, and then finally again the US. Last night we stopped in at a saloon called "the Palace", built in 1878. It claims to be the oldest saloon in Florida continuously operating the in same location. It's pressed tin ceilings and magnificent wood carvings reminded me of some of the finer places in Marquette! We encountered the crew of the sailing vessel Sogno there, Brian and Sue, who hail from Mahhhblehead, Mass. (Marblehead is quite the ritzy address) They were so friendly, so willing to share advetures with us, that we stayed and chatted until sunset when Wayne remembered we would have to dinghy back and find the boat about 1/2 mile out in a river anchorage close to town. We found her, but in the nick of time, as it got dark moments after we got onto the boat and nobody had their masthead lights on yet. I did not have the change to ask Brian about his past life as a landlubber, but Sue explained she had been in Information Technology for all of her career, the had no kids, and so she was able to retire at 48 and start cruising full-time. Wow. Of course I would NOT trade my incredibly wonderful children for anything and I am at 48 living the cruising life, but I will certainly have to go back to work upon return. Ah, I miss them and will be so happy to see them again. At any rate, life is sure looking up. There are challenging stretches ahead on the ICW, and I read the internet updates frequently (causing Claude to laugh at me because he says as long as you stay in the middle of the channel you'll be alright...) Well, I just read that at mile 803.1 (the ICW is measured in "regular" or statute miles) there is a shoal encroaching on the starboard quarter into the midline of the channel which stopped a friend of ours dead and he ran HARD aground while in the middle of the channel. His, and other experiences with this hazard were posted on the CruisersNet website that I read as often as possible. This nice gentleman and excellent sailor, Jeff Bacon aboard Manatee (a beautiful Beneteau if I remember correctly) said that the force of the impact threw him out of his seat hehind the wheel and propelled him through the air into the forward portion of the cockpit. OK, that kind of action is not for me, so I am going to stay to port at mile 803.1 for sure. I am going to continue to neurotically read and note these updates, and stress about running aground (and other hazards) until we actually make it to Miami. Then, a whole different set of neuroses can be substituted for the present ones...but the best news is it looks like we are going to make it!

The end of the fun and games...but Florida is in sight.

We made it. Whew. We are in (on?) Jeckyll Island, Georgia. More specifically, we are tied up to the dock at the Jeckyll Island Marina, about to get some groceries. The wifi is weak, so sorry about no picture this time. But here's the word. After Charleston, our first day took us to Tom Point Creek. I think. The creeks are little creeks, just like you might imagine, surrounded by marshland. Or basically, just cutting through endless marshland. No trees. No buildings. No anything. Just a little swatch of water bisecting an endless area of what some might call swamp. We throw the anchor out and tell ourselves it was a good 25 miles! We will get up again and do it tomorrow if we can. After that, we navigated some of the nastiest shoal areas in Georgia, paying close attention to the nine foot tide (!) and timing our departure so that there might be sufficient water not to run aground in these treacherous areas. See the previous complaint about lack of US Army Corps of Engineers personnel thanks to war in Iraq = no dredging. From Tom Point Creek we got to Bass Creek. Repeat above description. From Bass Creek we got all the way to Skull Creek. Now this was actually great, as there was a marina we could dinghy to a little ways off. We did so, and found out we were at Hilton Head. We took a nice long walk. Heaven. OK, back on the boat in the morning, and our motor won't start properly. The preheat (glow plugs) function will not engage. Claude has a look at our electrical as I have a feeling this may be due to a short. YIKES!!! There is a burned out live wire which was inappropriately attached to the fuel line. The what? The fuel line? What kind of idiot would attach an electrical wire to the fuel line? Claude wants to KNOW~! Wayne says, well the guy who put the engine in I guess....Wayne won't let me identify the business entity responsible for the engine installation, but perhaps it could have been done differently. We have dodged the bullet here. Claude pulls a bunch of wires, gets us out of immediate danger, but there is much to be done yet. At least the boat won't burn due to a spark from a corroded, live wire attached to the gas line. Merci, Claude. Next day we are on the trail again, to the Wright River. Throw out anchor. Read. Repeat. Next day on the trail to Kilkenny Creek. This is the day before Thanksgiving. There is a marina at Kilkenny Creek! We are so excited to be pulling into range of civilization that I am distractedly jumping around on the boat and SMASH my foot. Nice gouge. Luckily, the resident RN stopped the bleeding, cleaned it and put on a good bandage. That will take a while to heal, but whatever. We try to figure out where the marina is, and decide it is probably the long dock with several boats tied up. We try to call on the radio, but no one answers. Just as we are going for it ourselves, a guy who looks like he walked straight out of "Deliverance" saunters out of the "marina" office and says, "bring 'er on in...". I say thanks and throw him the bow dockline because jumping out of the boat onto the dock with this foot is a really, really bad idea. The marina office sells groceries. Cans of "Beenie Weenie", cans of cocktail franks, cans of boiled peanuts, Dinty Moore beef stew in individualized portions. Pop. Beer. Chips and candy. That's it. There is a God and there is a restaurant within hobbling distance, so Wayne, Claude and I have a pre-turkey day decent dinner. Nice food. Regrettably it gives Claude serious indigestion and keeps him up all night. We try to take off the next day (Thanksgiving) but the Sound is all whipped up and we are DENIED. The dinghy tries to fly off the boat. We are NOT losing another dinghy, so we turn around with our tails between our legs and head back to the safety of Kilkenny Creek. Thanksgiving dinner is macaroni and cheese. It tastes REAL GOOD after that experience. OK, next day is nice and we make it to Wahoo River. See description for creeks. Repeat. We think we are going to make progress the next day, but again, we get to the first Sound and it cannot be crossed due to waves, wind, and weather. Back to the anchorage. We meet up with our friends on Grayling, another sailboat, at the anchorage who are taking refuge there as well. They are kind enough to turf off some pre-prepared Indian food to us as we are basically out. Lovely lentils and potato stew. Actually we still have some rice, black beans, and corn so we keep the Indian food for...tomorrow. OK, the next day we get up at the break of dawn, no not even. It is 5 am and we are up. We need to leave at first light to make the Sound before the wind whips it into a frenzy. The tide runs 9 feet high. It is high tide. You can't even see the land bordering the river, it is submerged. Claude gets us out using his GPS coordinates, running blind. We all have our depth sounders on, and believe in the Claude. He gets us out into the Sound, and now we are screaming across with wind at the back and that 9 foot tide rushing in to push us down. 8 knots. Get us the hell out of here! We flew all the way (well of course not really flying but going fast any way) and we are making time when Claude's motor starts acting weird. OK, pull in. We literally pull off the ICW into a creek, throw the anchor down, and we are done by 1pm because of engine trouble. Claude changes his oil filter and thinks it's going to be ok the next day. We are in debt to Chris, Nicole and Celeste on Grayling because had they not given us the Lentil Stew we would not be eating tonight. Next morning we are ready to take off by 8am. Nope. Fog. It's supposed to lift by 9am. Nope. 10 am? Nope. 10:30 comes and now we are beginning to see. We NEED to get to Jeckyll Island because there is precious little left. No bread. No meat. No cheese. No vegetables. No fruit. OK, we could survive by eating rice, but we are spoiled Americans and have generally not had to do this in our lives. We get about 2 miles, and it's too foggy to continue. Claude tosses in his anchor, we raft up (we hope we are out of the channel) and wait. He has to re-do his GPS waypoints because they did not all transfer. As soon as he is done, we notice we are dragging anchor. Right into the channel! The fog has lifted sufficiently to get going, so we untie quickly and get GOING. by 2pm we make it to Jeckyll Island where the first thing that happens is we see a guy we met in Annapolis. Well technically, we met him at anchor just before Annapolis in front of Cantrell's Crab House. He works at this marina when he wants to. He had given me a discount card this summer which I actually kept and found. The guy is astonished. We get a discount on our stay here and a shower. Immediately. Have not had a shower since Charleston. Don't even know how long ago that was, but about a week. Have not bought groceries since Charleston. No internet since Charleston. Cell phone battery dead, can only use it when hooked up to the boat battery via the "car" charger. I am sitting here clean, and on my beloved computer. We will go grocery shopping soon. My foot is healing. No tennis or running for another while yet, but the smash is clean and healing well. I need some bandages and tape, but there is a pharmacy here too. Incredible. Life is getting much better. We are most thankful this Thanksgiving season for our friendship with Claude, his great help, knowing that our families are safe and well, and that we have re-entered civilization at the present moment. Who knows what the next day will bring? As we leave here, we will enter St. Andrew's Sound, one of the "four most dangerous bodies of water on the ICW". Luckily we have already done the other three. We are NOT going out if it is not just right. We will wait it out here until we get a good weather window - favorable winds, no fog, little waves and just the ride tide. At least we are somewhere, not in the middle of the marsh. I would stay here for a week if I could, just to have some fun. But, we are trying to get somewhere so that's quite unlikely. It's a team effort. I "drive" or steer the boat about 50% of the time. The other 50% of the time, I look out for the buoys, watch the depth sounder, and do the job of the navigator. OK, the best news I ever heard was Claude's remark just this very moment that today is Monday, and he made reservations to watch Monday Night Football (go Steelers!) tonight at the little restaurant/bar at this marina. Heaven. For real. I can't wait.

To Infinity and Beyond (or at least Miami)

We have reviewed all the web updates, the navigational challenges ahead, the "skinny" water in the rest of North Carolina and Georgia, the date, the weather, our committments, and capabilities. The best plan appears to be 25+ miles a day until we get there. We could walk faster perhaps. But then, the boats would not get there. Darn. We do have a cool but good weather window, so we are casting off as the tide is rising this morning, so as to catch the first land cut after Charleston on a favorable tide. Apparently the current is killer there, and it can knock your speed down to near zero if you are battling against it the wrong way. Oh, happiness. Yes, it is starting to feel a bit like a job. There are of course still wonderful parts, but honestly the challenges ahead are mainly running aground and crashing into other boats. If we just keep going and put in 5 to 6 hours a day, we can make it! We will probably be out of electronic contact for a few days, anchoring in marshy creeks in the North Carolina wilderness. Honestly, you see these houses just like in "Water Boy" and wonder how folks can live in such desolate surroundings. That's when you can take a moment to divert your attention from staying EXACTLY within the narrow channel defined by the navigational markers. It's easy to drift slightly one way or the other given the wind and/or current, but to do so is foolhardy. It is also foolish to navigate this part of the ICW without first checking on the tide schedule and planning accordingly - all of which we have been doing. The most unfortunate thing is that our country can no longer afford to maintain the ICW as it was in the past - the Army Corps of Engineers is actually the maintenance crew. They have all been drawn off into our bizarro war (?) effort and there are neither funds nor personnel available to do the needed work in order to make the ICW user-friendly again. Last night the 3 of us sat around the dinner table and knew this was the last time we would ever do this trip, and wondered how many sailors will be able to even make it at all in the future. The Dismal Swamp canal is closed - perhaps permanently. The ICW is in peril, but very few people actually care. It is reportedly much easier to go "outside" or into the Atlantic Ocean to bypass the ICW between Charleston and Miami, but we just cannot do that. That requires round-the-clock sailing with shifts of 4 on and 4 off. Claude is alone, and would have no one to spell him. So, we are armed with all the information available and mentally and emotionally ready for the inherent and probable eventuality of running aground again a few more times. Charleston has been delightful. Many beautiful sunrises and sunsets await us. The Bahamas are like the brass ring on the merry-go-round - if only we can stay on long enough and stretch ourselves far enough, we will reach it!

from North Carolina into the real South: Charleston!

We are in the lovely Harborage at Ashley Marina in Charleston, having enjoyed free laundry facilities and a free round-trip to the grocery store in their courtesy van. Heaven! We had a few long, long days to get here. Departing from the St. James Plantation Marina, we encountered three ocean inlets, 2 swing bridges and one "rock pile". The rock piles was INTENSE. We had been on the water for at least 7 hours when we made the decision to press on toward the Barefoot Landing where we had reservations. The rock pile is a land cut that is populated with serious rocks which jut up from the bottom if ever you should leave the narrow channel of the middle. Rocks and sailboats do not mix. With intense concentration, we both made it through and arrived and tied up by about 4pm, just whipped. Exhausted. We went for beer and burgers, and cast off again early the next day. We thought that one 45 mile day was enough. I guess not. With wind and current primarily against us, we managed just about 5 knots for another about 9 hours to get to Georgetown, SC. It is something out of Forrest Gump. If my picture loads up, you'll see the shrimping boats tied up in Georgetown harbor. Once again, just stay on board, early to bed, early to rise, and another 30 miles to go. But that 30 turned into 45 again, as we finally caught a good current at the end of the next day and bashed it out to within 20 miles of Charleston. This part of the ICW afforded few anchorages, and they were mostly 10 ro 12 miles in between. SO, we decided to press on once again. The next morning we were wary of the weather report which indicated SW winds 15 to 20 mph, gusting to 30. Of course, this is exactly the direction we were trying to travel. Rain was also in the forecast. Dicey. We decided to make a run for it at 6:45 am, and lucked out! The current was actually with us, pushing us in to Charleston harbor. The Atlantic comes right in where the ICW spills you out, so we had a few big waves and some reasonable wind to deal with, but came into our lovely marina here by 11:30 am. What a relief! Last night we were treated to the company of Wayne's sister Lois and her husband John, who took us around to see the sights and to enjoy dinner at the most touristy place possible, Hyram's. We wanted to go there to do the real tourist thing. Even got a T-shirt for 4 bucks. Today, having done all the chores, we are about to walk to the intriguing French Quarter and flea market, just for fun. We will have a captain's meeting later today to decide when to cast off again. For now, my picture won't load up as the wifi is slow, but that would be the only small thing marring our stay at this boater-friendly marina in Charleston.

Heading to South Carolina: the evil spell is broken

Our positive karma has returned! Claude's new part performed flawlessly this morning. We did NOT run aground anywhere despite a challenging day full of ocean inlets and color reversals. Lots of occasions to get confused on the green and the red, as they reversed twice during the course of our travels today. We made it to the St. James marina, a great deal at $1.05/foot for BoatUs members, and were so happy to be able to borrow bikes and play tennis. This marina is situated in a very large gated community filled with lovely, expensive homes, golf courses, and three clubhouse/workout facilities, each one with tennis courts. The courts were clay, a new experience, and very fun. We intend to head to Barefoot Landing in the Myrtle Beach area tomorrow, and then press on at about 30 to 40 miles/day to make it to Charleston by Friday. Each day presents unique navigational challenges, but we are very happy that our energies seem to have turned to the positive, and our progress begins again.

leaving Wrightsville...luck changing?

Claude's part (brand new) that he installed yesterday did not work. Yes, our worst fears were unveiled when it became apparent there was no way for us to get back on track today. So, after great thought, Claude figured out what was wrong with this brand new thing and asked the West Marine folks if he could just not change one little part from the new windlass for one little part from the old windlass. They let him do it. At noon today he installed the new part from the old windlass onto the new windlass and Voila! it worked! So we are finally leaving here tomorrow for St. James Plantation marina and a shower. Please, lord, let there be no running aground. We did have a fun afternoon watching U of M football at the Allen and James' bar as pictured above, but our team lost to Wisconsin. Disgrace! Well, it was still fun. We met some more lovely folks from Canada on the pilgrimage down, and are now wrapping up the day at the funky Cafe Delmar again. The sunset picture is Merope rafted up to Cassiopeia. We were sad to see Claude "go" today, but it was time to unraft - it was blowing big today and rather noisy last night. We hope for light and fair winds tomorrow and the rest of the week as we have some time to make up.

Hanging Loose in Wrightsville Beach

Wrightsville Beach is a beautiful place to spend some time! Besides the big city allure of Wilmington, this little beach community offers - well - an outstanding beach! We have enjoyed our morning runs there as well as the hospitality of the North Carolinians. I am presently at the Cafe del Mar, a cute little coffehouse with wifi and great coffee. Unfortunately, our time here ends tomorrow as Claude's part arrived at West Marine and the boys are itching to get "on the road". We have researched and researched the ICW from here on out, and it challenging but hey, alot of people have gone before us this year and made it. We intend to leave early tomorrow morning for the Lockwood's Folly area and then on to Myrtle Beach and the Barefoot Landing the following day. They have a House of Blues there that we are all anxious to go to. In the meantime, it's been cool but beautiful here and the people are very friendly.

Aground Again...Naturally

If any of you are old enough to remember Gilbert O'Sullivan, you'll know how to sing the above. We left the Camp LeJeune area, hoping to have a peaceful trip to Wrightsville Beach. Unfortunately, it was not to be so. at Browns Inlet we were slowed up by about 5 of 6 boats who were creeping through the buoys carefully. One catamaran was aground in the middle of the inlet. We were following Claude in Merope. The wind and waves were in our faces. It was cold. I was at the tiller, trying to prove my prowess at navigating difficult, shoal stretches of the ICW. We had almost made it through when, what the ****? The guy on the catamaran comes SCREAMING toward us in reverse. He had managed to get unstuck, and was not about to stop for any other sailboats that might be in his way. What? We were on direct collision course. I said, "reverse, reverse!!!!" Sailboats are not like cars. Wayne grabbed the tiller and threw it over, avoiding the catamaran but of course now we are aground. (Sailboats don't actually stop and go in reverse, no matter what you do....they have a bit of "way" or momentum built up that is not so easily altered.) This caused the normally mild-tempered Wayne Francis to utter such profanity that you would be shocked. He really gave it to the guy who just said, "sorry, man........." Yeah, right. I wrote about this in the last post...but I'm still angry. We got to the Harbor View marina that night, had to walk about 1/4 mile to get to the showers, but it was heaven to have a nice shower after such a day. Next day going on to Wrightsville we are spooked and going to follow Claude exactly. We come to a big dredger at another inlet. Claude draws about 3.5 feet, we draw about 4.5 Claude is going really slowly, taking the dredger to his starboard side. This puts us closer to the inlet than to the ICW, but the guys are not answering his radioed requests for directions, and so he is just guessing. He bumps, manages to get off, but TOO LATE FOR CASSIOPEIA. We are aground, again. More cursing. Claude pulls us off with a minimum of fuss this time, but we would just like to spend one day not going aground. We made it to Wrightsville, bumped and narrowly escaped another potential grounding on the channel into the anchorage, and are now rafted up with Merope, waiting for a part for Claude. The good news - we are learning how to avoid running aground if we bump. We are learning the hard way, experience. The bad news, Claude's windlass is not working and it will take at least another day to get one shipped to the local West Marine. What a run around the poor guy has had. The "extra" insurance he took when purchasing this product is practially useless it is so full of loopholes. Claude was supposed to have service on his boat for anything that could possibly go wrong with the windlass. The insurance company that Claude called yesterday seemed to be unable to locate another windlass by that manufacturer anywhere in the world. They are also contracted to utilize a local technician who told Claude he would not be able to do any such work for at least 3 or 4 days. Phone call after phone call. To the insurance company. To the technician. To West Marine in Wilmington, NC. To West Marine in Canda where Claude bought the part. Ah - now we are getting somewhere! The manager at his local West Marine knows that Claude is only looking to get what he paid for, and has had previous dealings with him in this regard. This gal gets on the network, and within about 1/2 hour they have magically managed to locate a replacement part and will have it sent to the West Marine here by tomorrow morning. We hope. Still, the local technician is required by some contract to pick up the part and bring it to the nearest marina for us. Is he going to do the work? Of course not! Claude has already got the defective part out, and it will take him and Wayne about 15 minutes to put the new one in. At any rate, we are rafted up in the anchorage at Wrightsville Beach, and had to have a lovely linguine with white clam sauce dinner together last night to chase the boat woe blues and the chilly weather. It's amazing the nice dinners you can have onboard with a little imagination and the recipe from the can of clams. The road ahead does not look promising, this section of the ICW is almost constantly being updated on the various internet information blogs due to shoaling and sinking boats. I just read that the whole ICW is shut down out of Norfolk, as a boat went aground and sank near Great Bridge, and the Dismal Swamp canal is closed as well. We are lucky we made it this far, and will continue to hone our skills. We hope to make it to Barefoot Landing in the Myrtle Beach area on our second day out of here. In order to get there, however, we will have to continue to sail the shoal-laden waters of the North Carolina ICW and sweat it out for three miles in the dangerous section known as the "rock pile". This is a very narrow section of canal heading into Myrtle Beach which has rocks jutting up into the channel at either side. As such, it is imperative to stay mid-channel. It is recommended that all small craft radio ahead to make sure there are no commercial vessels transiting this area, as there is not enough room for a barge/tug and a small boat to both safely go through and you know who is going to be on the losing end of that one. We will take every precaution, believe you me, and will keep the posts coming as often as possible. For the present moment we are working out our stress and tension by visiting the gorgeous beach on the Atlantic Ocean that is just moments from the boat - sunset strolls and morning runs should keep us sharp and prepare us for the days ahead.

Sun Bum.....SOME BUM!!!! Dinky Doo, we love you!

What an eventful couple of days. We left our lovely little anchorage in Spooner Creek, and not too far away encountered the first of numerous inlets from the Atlantic Ocean. What we didn't know is that there are these little moveable buoys that mark the newest shoals. We were supposed to follow them. We didn't. We went aground. After launching the dinghy, putting the motor on it, and putting an anchor out, the combination of me gunning the boat in reverse and Wayne pulling HARD on the anchor line got us off. More motoring in dangerously shoaled waters, taking turns at the helm. We were rounding the very last turn toward our anchorage at Camp LeJeune's Mile Hammock Bay and I handed the tiller to Wayne and whammo. Aground again. He was disgusted of course. This time, we were prepared and we were off that shoal in 5 minutes or less. He handed back the tiller, said "I'm NOT driving!". We made it into the anchorage, dropped the hook, and there were naval helicopters circling and circling above while the mortar rounds were going boom in the firing range close by. Wayne was even more dejected as this was reminding him of his draft experience during the Vietnam War. Thankfully the noise stopped after about 1/2 hour and he was able to relax. That is, until today. I took the boat out of the anchorage and through the very first dangerously shoaled inlet. We had just about made through, when some IDIOT on a Catamaran named Sun Bum comes screaming in reverse, right into our path. He had run aground far to starboard (how I don't know) and when he came off, he simply gunned it in reverse into the oncoming boats. There was nothing to do to avoid him, but throw the tiller over. Regrettably, this caused US to run aground, hard. There are not enough nasty words in any language to describe how we felt. Let's try...oh that's right we have a Francophone readership so I can't even use those for fear of offending the ladies. So anyway, poor Claude has to come back, wrangle his motor onto his dinghy, come get Wayne, get a line hooked to the main halyard, dinghy around in this horrible chop and blowing wind in a narrow, awful ocean inlet with boats all around...but he persists! Claude had to drop his own anchor in order to come and save us, but even his mighty motor was not enough. Finally, a lovely man in a large power boat named Dinky Doo (for real) came and attached a line to our stern cleat and with him pulling, Wayne pulling on the main halyard, and Claude pushing we came off. Now, for the third time, I almost collided with Merope, but I managed not to do so, not to dump Claude into the drink as he came off Cassiopeia and back onto his dinghy, and not to run aground again today. What a miserable day. Claude and Wayne both got soaked and were both exhausted. We decided not to turn around, but to continue on to the Harbor Village Marina where Claude and Cathy had stayed some 10 years ago. The wind was hard on the nose, lots of current, and even a swing bridge to wait for, but we made it! As soon as we got to the marina it was delightfully calm and warm. That's where we are now. Just REALLY PO'D still at this bum guy. Oh, the pictures...well it is pretty as you can see in the first picture. And it can be scary, as you can see the patrol boat in the second pictures. Oh, do you think your tax dollars pay for us to get help from the patrol boats? Think again, no way. They just cruised past us as if they never saw us. Enough whining for today, we are about to savor Claude's famous pancake supper and then get a nice, hot shower. Life could be worse. We are still headed south at about 20 miles a day. Never mind we could walk there faster and easier. What could be more fun than boat life?

"You've come a long way...are you going to Walmart?"

These were the words that greeted us as we were entering the channel leading to Spooner Creek and our current anchorage. More on that later. We left Oriental early this morning (8am) and the very first thing that happened is that Claude's GPS went on the fritz. That meant that Wayne and I had to navigate the whole day the "old fashioned way" with charts, compass, and a sharp eye for navigational aids. The day was not too difficult - we even saw porpoises in the canal around mile 185, but the difficulty level increased sharply near Beaufort. We elected to give Beaufort a miss, take the Morehead City Channel, and go farther. Unfortunately, the first thing we saw coming out of the canal was a huge dredger, not the green daymarker we were hoping to see. Leap of faith and we followed everyone else around to the dredger's starboard side and we were able to get back on track. There are any number of channels marked with a significant number of cans, nuns, and dayboards. We wove our way through, with Claude flying blind - no GPS, no chart, only us to rely on and follow. The great turning basin in Morehead City was absolutely packed with fishing boats, increasing the challenge of staying on course. We persisted, avoided all crashes and most wakes, and ended up on the other side in the Bogue Sound. I don't really like the name of that but oh well. At that point we were only about 2 or 3 miles away from the chosen anchorage. We radioed to Claude, "follow us slowly and hope for the best". He said ROGER THAT! As we made our turn into the anchorage entrance channel (known to be subject to shoaling and therefore perilous), some guys on a fishing boat yelled out the quote of the day in a friendly manner. Wayne, being a friendly guy, started a conversation. Me, being less friendly, reminded him this was time to "stay on task..." We made it into the channel, took a sharp turn to port in a very narrow space, and this beautiful little gem of a harbor appeared before us. We are anchored in 6 to 7 feet along with a number of trawlers and 1 other sailboat. It's true, we selected this anchorage based upon a number of criteria, not the least being a WalMart just 2 blocks away from the dinghy dock. We have just returned from there, laden with vitamins, gloves, warm socks, etc. I would love to post a picture, but I am pirating the wireless from the Spooner Creek marina and it is none too strong or reliable so - we'll try to take one and post it up on a future blog entry. We plan to brave the Camp LeJeune firing range tomorrow (Skipper Bob says they station a boat on the ICW right before you get there if they intend to fire rounds across the waterway that day) and hope to end up at Mile Hammock Bay. One thing we are going to do: verify the GPS tonight and keep on using the charts and compass. You can teach an old dog new tricks, but you better not forget the old ones just in case.

After the flood - happy trails

Here are the second set of images, taken today. The waters came slowly but relentlessly yesterday. They receded with amazing speed! The cold morning offered the perfect temperature for a little run. Now the sun is beginning to show it's power again and the clear blue sky is such a welcome sight. It's perfect football weather here, and at Michigan State as well according to the fabulous and inimitable Catherine Lydia Edgell, with whom I just had the good fortune to speak. Chores being just about done, it will soon be time to engage in one of our favorite activities: watching U of M football. Cate is visiting friends at State, so we'll be looking for her in the stands. Then off to Spooner Creek? Mile Hammock Bay? Wrightsville Beach? Can't really say exactly when we'll be making our intended anchorages or even if, but the storm has delayed us too long and it's time to get on the road again.

Noel floods the town, Claude goes to town

Yesterday the pressure and outside winds from Hurricane Noel combined to create a mini-flood in Oriental. Last night the halyards were clanging all night, the boat rocking even at the marina, rain fell intermittently and no one slept very well. Today it's incredible: the water is gone, the day is clear and the NOAA Tropical Weather report does not even mention Noel any more. We decided to stay one more night just to be sure the wind and wave predictions are likely to be accurate, and will start moving south again tomorrow. We have been doing boat projects: I should say Wayne and Claude are. I get to clean and polish stuff and sweep, all the easy stuff. Oh, but I also have to try to post pictures on a weak wireless network that takes a long time. I am going to post the "after" pictures in a few moments, because it will only load up 2 at a time. Claude was in great spirits this morning as his new friend Rob Stevenson from Oriental picked him up for dinner at his mansion. After a beautiful dinner, it started raining and Rob lent Claude his Jaguar to drive back to the boat. How does this guy do it? We are continually amazed at his "Claudaciousness", and ever thankful that we managed to hook up with him.

Oh, Mama, can this really be the end - to be stuck in Oriental with those Beaufort Blues again...

Yes, Noel is now an official hurricane, and we are just slightly south of Cape Hatteras. No going any further until the big boy blows out. What in the world to do? Two nights ago we had a lovely music party on Bill and Caroline's boat. Clearly we were having some fun. Yesterday they took their boat out for a day sail. The opportunity to sail their gorgeous 40 foot Pacific Seacraft was too much for both Wayne and Claude, and they were delighted to take turns at the wheel. Scratch that. Wayne was delighted to take a turn at the helm. Claude pouted and whined when he had to turn it over, and demanded a St. Pauli Girl as compensation. A couple of St. Pauli Girls later, il ne fasait plus la guele. It was sunny, breezy (10-15 knots) and nice yesterday afternoon, and I broke my self-imposed rule of NEVER going for a "pleasure" sail again. Knowing that we would be at the marina for a few more days, I figured what the heck, why be a party-pooper. I felt no need to demonstrate my lack of prowess at the helm, but Caroline was the real helmsman that day, bringing that big boat into the slip like a pro. Caroline and I took a trot to the grocery store, and on the way back what do we see but Claude behind the wheel of a Lotus! One of the local gents we met at the Tiki Bar took a liking to Claude and somehow that bugger managed to convince the guy to let him drive his racecar. We are still trying to comprehend how he gets people to do these things. Claude rocketed out of town from 0 to 60 in 5 seconds (according to his own account). We were happy to see him arrive safely back, as this British racecar has the steering on the right and therefore a left-handed stick shift. The evening came to a blissful close as we shared a potluck dinner under the stars on the deck of the Oriental Marina. Our other friend Rich on the Kelly Rae joined us - you can still see his boat on the towndock harborcam. Do check it out if you get a chance. You will see that the water is steadily rising and has now obliterated the road in front of The Bean. We can still step out onto the dock finger next to our boat, but this will almost certainly be underwater by the end of tonight. We were lucky to have made it to this very safe hurricane hole just as Noel decided to play hardball. We took borrowed bikes to the grocery store this morning, and are probably tucked in for the rest of today and tomorrow. It does not look like we'll make Beaufort before Sunday at the earliest. Rich thinks he is going to Beaufort tomorrow to catch a weather window to make the crossing to Bermuda on Sunday. This sounds like certain death, or at the very least a suicide wish to me, but what do I know? I am glad to have reservations for tomorrow night as well as tonight, and so many new good friends with whom we can share this storm experience.

Parts and Friends in Oriental: how to weather the storm

Claude is fixing his "muffler" himself with a combination of rope, goop, nuts and bolts. He tried to get a new part, but unfortunately it seems no one makes that part the correct size for his boat any more. As you can see from the photo above, he is proud of his workmanship. The part is installed now, the boat is running, but we are not moving. Tropical Storm Noel has threatened to spank us, and we are tucking in and staying in Oriental until the the big blow that is coming will pass. We are very happy at the town dock in our little 'pod' of boats. The nice folks sitting with us in the other picture are Carolyn and Bill from the Worthless Wench. We had a little happy hour on the dock, all you can eat shrimp dinner at a local restaurant and then a musical party with guitars, harmonica and accordion. It was such a lovely evening! Other notable events include a Francis-Edgell tennis match in which Edgell took Francis all the way to 7-5 only to have Francis win the set. This incredible feat was repeated the very next day. Someday I will win fair and square, just like the occasional game of pool. Anyway, this little town is so cute, so well maintained, so clean, so amenable to boaters, we are certainly falling in love with it and we are extremely glad to be able to wait out the storm here.

Oriental Webcam

For all of those who pick up on us the next day or so, the following link will take you to the Oriental, NC harbor webcam. We are the boat at the end of the dock. You can see our blue sailcover, and the bow. Claude is on Merope on the right hand side of the dock, and new friends Carolyn and Bill on the "Worthless Wench" on the other side. Beautiful, sunny and clear for now, but as Noel makes it's way around we may be looking at some nastier weather later in the week. Oriental is a sweet little town, very boater friendly. We even found a tennis court, so we'll be taking some more pictures this afternoon on the way to play. Here's the webcam link:

http://www.towndock.net/harborcam50.shtml

Bienvenu Claude! We create a team.

Meet Claude, our new travel-mate in the photo above with Wayne at the M & M's cafe in Oriental, North Carolina.
The sail from Belhaven to Oriental, North Carolina was made much better by the addition of our new team member, Claude! Claude is from Quebec and he is single-handing his 29-foot sailboat Merope all the way to the Bahamas as well. We travel about the same speed under sail and under power, and having anchored near eachother in Belhaven started to chat about teaming up. Claude is a fantastically smart and talented person in addition to being a mighty sailor and Harbormaster at his yacht club back home in Canada. He is a diesel engine expert among other things, which makes us feel incredibly safe. He is teaching us to actually use the GPS as it was designed to be used. He is a charming French-Canadien gentleman with whom I can even practice my French! We are so lucky to have teamed up with him, and hope to make the whole voyage together. The teamwork element was very important yesterday, as we sailed from Belhaven to Oriental in a huge, following wind. We crossed 2 of the "4 most dangerous passages on the ICW" - according to our chart book. The first was the Pamlico River/sound. The wind was about 15 to 20 knots on our tail, and the waves short and choppy. We had the main out and were flying along around 7 knots motor sailing. Surviving the Pamlico, the waterway narrowed down into the entrance of a 4-mile long canal and we had to maneuver upwind to drop the main. Claude, of course, had to leave the helm during this as he was all by himself. I was at our helm, and Wayne up front taking the sail down. Well, of course I did not quite realize that no one was at Claude's helm and nearly ran into him! The only casualty was my head as the boom swung a bit quicker than anticipated. We got the sails down without any great difficulty, and enjoyed a nice quiet motor down the canal. I was able to give the captain a break at that point, as the sail down the Pamlico had been athletic to say the least - especially after the fun Halloween we had. Exiting the canal, we entered the Neuse River and 14 miles of rolling, short choppy waves from 2 to 4 feet or so, a howling wind and screaming downriver with the Genoa out. Poor Claude had engine problems ( go figure, he's the mechanic) and so we cut our engine too and made great time without it. Regrettably, the changeover from mainsail to Genoa and subsequent rolling of the boat, the bang on the head, and the general poor condition from the night before all conspired together to completely incapacitate the first mate who is prone to motion sickness. Oh yeah. I was over the rail the whole time, nothing left to even spew out but heaving anyway. From time to time Wayne would need help and I would verify position with GPS and charts, look for a buoy, or take the helm briefly. Mostly, however, I was completely limp and useless. Several hours later we made it to Oriental harbor and were blissfully accomodated by the Oriental Marina. We will post some pictures of our host and hostess Thomas McIlhenny, Daisy Taylor and dockmaster Bub. Joe and Laura and the rest of the crew are as friendly as can be, and extremely helpful. Taking a hot shower last night in the beautifully clean facility - complete with fresh towels, shampoo, soap and hand creme - I thought I had died and gone to heaven. That was until we went to the M & M's cafe and had a fabulous dinner. Life is good again! We regret having missed most of the World Series but Go Sox! and Go Blue who also won this weekend. We will be happy as 2 little clams watching the Packer game tonight on the Toucan Grill's big-screen TV and knowing we have a wonderful new friend and an easy day to Beaufort tomorrow.