We Have Arrived!!

After 2,197 miles, after 114 days, 14 hours and 15 minutes, after 17 lift bridges, 31 swing and bascule bridges, and 36 locks, on November 22^nd at 1415, we motored into Taylor Creek at Harbortown Marina in Fort Pierce, FL. Holy bilge water, what a trip, what an experience. . Those of you who have done this know what I mean and understand how words just don’t suffice. Marg and I are much better sailors than we were when we started. We were challenged at times and if we knew those challenges would have been laid down before us, we may have thought twice about going. But having been confronted with adversities, being able to overcome them and continue on was what gave us the confidence to meet the next challenge.

We took 100s of pictures – too many to share in this blog.  The ones we’ve shared with you all are only the tip of the journey. Plus, pictures just can’t capture it. The devastation of Irene in upstate NY, the impenetrable fog off the Jersey coast, the sunsets and sunrises, the power of the ocean, the creatures we met along the way (human, aquatic, fowl and mammal), the beautiful seaside, riverside and canal-side villages we visited, the anchorages we stayed in that were in creeks off of rivers that were so isolated and we were so alone, and the nights were so dark that it was claustrophobic, New York City and the Statue of Liberty, connecting with friends for a few days along the way, unseasonably hot weather, unseasonably cold weather, unusually strong winds (I now have a new appreciation for how futile weather predicting is), food, glorious food – grouper, shrimp, low county whatever, spot fish, pizza the way it is supposed to taste, the boating community in general. I could go on forever.

Attached are some pictures we took the last couple of days. We are putting together an album of a more comprehensive recap of our trip. I know many of you will not be able to see it unless we publish a coffee table book that only about 2 people would buy. But trust me, the pictures are great.

Finally, I could not wrap this up without thanking a few people for helping us on our trip. Jeff and Sandy Bacon gave us all of their charts, cruising guides and notes in hopes that we would learn from their mistakes. Most of the info was about their dog, Hatch, but it was invaluable nonetheless. Steve Watterson for his great book, A Year in Paradise.  Steve and Margaret captured the soul of the journey. We used their book often as a supplement to the more technical cruising guides. Our daughter and son-in-law, Janet and Bob, who took care of our house, paid our bills and mowed the lawn, raked the leaves and even shoveled the snow once already.  Our friends, Chris and Sandy Taylor, Blue Janis, Dick and Susie Haller and Jim and Blanche Terracino, who joined us for parts of the trip. I hope you had as much fun as we did. Fred and Lorraine Ford-Smith who sent us many emails with fantastic info from his trawler group about updates on the Erie Canal problems and other navigational changes (the info we got from Fred was usually more accurate than what we got from the Canal Corporation). The heroic folks at the Schenectady Yacht Club who saved our asses and our boat during hurricane Irene, particularly Rick and Kathy Fleming. Andre and Nathalie, our Quebecquois friends whom we spent a month travelling together after the Erie Canal adventure. We now know that if it’s 20 degrees Celsius it is actually a very nice day. To our friend Lee Jordan and daughter Janet for the fabulous send off party, Kenny Juergens and Sherry Cooper for music to cruise by, Stu and Sally Neidus for the fabulous send off dinner, Mary Bookman and our friends and colleagues at Forest Corporation for the fabulous send off party, and our sailing buddies at Dock of the Bay for the fabulous send off party. The folks at McGregor and the folks at Elderhealth for the fabulous send off parties. And to all of you who followed us on our blog and sent your messages of encouragement to us. We hope we can see you all and share the stories directly with you. You are all such good friends.

We’re here now. After a trip to Fort Myers to share Thanksgiving with my parents, we are off to Chagrin Falls to share in the birth of our second grandchild, celebrate Christmas with Marg’s mom, and the rest of our family, see friends in town that we miss terribly, and reunite with some of our Dock of the Bay friends at Rodger Saffold’s and Donna Rice’s annual Holiday Party, we will return to Fort Pierce to prepare for our next adventure – the Bahamas!

A friend along for the ride

Alize at port in Hilton Head

Marg at a bar in Hilton Head

Dick at a bar in Hilton Head

Pelicans looking for dinner

Miles and miles of jelly fish

Birds checking out the shrimper

 

A nuclear sub in Jacksonville

A conga line of 14 boats heading south

At the Palace in Fernandina. This
bar was designed by Adolphus Busch

Our last anchorage

  

Arriving in Fort Pierce

 

The First 1500 Miles

My favorite movie of all times is Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. And my favorite line from the movie comes at the end when Arvie Singer – Woody Allen’s character – tries to explain his ambivalent relationship with Annie. He tells the story about his brother in law who thinks he’s a chicken. Arvie takes him to a psychiatrist who diagnosis the brother in law’s condition and tells Arvie that he can correct the problem. Arvie thinks about it for a minute and declines the psychiatrists offer. When the psychiatrist asks why, Arvie explains that he needs the eggs. This is how Arvie feels about Annie and I think that this is how Marg and I feel about this trip. It’s almost over. Less than two weeks to go before we get to Fort Pierce. Lots of drama has transpired over the last 3 ½ months. Hurricanes, floods, tropical storms, fog, mechanical delays. If I ever hear the words, “The weather is unusually [cold, hot, windy, rainy] for this time of the year” one more time, I might throttle the person that utters them. But here we are, less than two weeks from our destination and I can’t think of a single instance that didn’t make me feel like I’ve been on the adventure of a lifetime. I don’t want to relive Irene, or the fogs of Sandy Hook, or the scary-ass Jersey coast passage, particularly Manasquan, or being so cold at some anchorage that I would have traded Marg for a three dog night. But, seeing dolphins swimming next to the boat, and meeting cruisers from all over the place who have been living on their boats travelling all over the place, and decimating our entire wine supply sharing sea stories… well it just doesn’t get much better than that. And I feel that even though we are going to go back home to share in the birth of our second grandchild, and be able to see family and friends for the holidays, I am going to yearn for a big fat serving of eggs. I have been bitten. Addicted. Being on our boat, every day a new adventure or challenge, it’s what I’ve been waiting for all my life, and I didn’t even know it until now.  Both Marg and I hope the next 1500 miles are as good as the first. 

A bump in the road

Fall color on the Wacamaw River

Remnants of Irene

The good, the bad, and the ugly. That’s the latest synopsis of this voyage. Our journey started at Osprey Creek Marina. A beautiful ride down the Wacamaw River. We arrived in Charleston on Thursday, November the 3rd. What a glorious day and what a glorious city. It was 75 degrees when we arrived and we reunited with a couple of cruiser buddies from Chicago that we met in Oriental, NC a week before. In Charleston we became instant tourists. Marg and I and our Chicago friends walked the city and dined at 82 Queen, a great antebellum restaurant. We did the horse and buggy ride and saw the historic part of the city, and we toured historic homes. That was the Good part of the trip.

Homes on the Battery on the South
shore of Charleston

Marg at the farmer's market clutching
her corn

The horse and carriage tour of
historic Charleston. Pretty cool.

The Calhoun Mansion. Built in the
1800's with the proceeds of financing
the Civil War. North and South.

Write your own caption

We also had a vibration in the boat that we didn’t have before. What could it be?? When we landed at Charleston City Marina, we checked in with the dockmaster who called a boat tech to check it out. The following day, the tech declared that our rudder needed new bearings and we would have to haul out the boat to make the repairs. In addition, we learned that the parts would cost over $500 and the haul out would be $325. Then there was the labor. Plus, we had to take the boat 14 miles upstream to their boat yard before they could do anything. This was the bad part of the trip.

Making the best of it. Grilling steaks
on the boat in the cradle.

This is wrong. But it's alright.

So, on Monday, we drove the boat upstream, against the current, to the boat yard and had the boat pulled out of the water. The tech from Beneteau was there and after he ceremoniously shook the rudder, and  proclaimed it fit and not in need of new bearings.  BUT, he said, the vibration was coming from the folding prop, which WAS in need of new bearings. So here we sit, on the hard, waiting for the repairs to be made so we could be on our way. By the way, the repair kit for the prop was $700. We decided to have Janet and Bob ship our spare prop to us. We will use that one until we get to Florida and decide what we want to do. The spare prop will be here on Weds, the 9th. Hopefully, they will be able to install it and send us on our way. We are in an area that is nasty with tides and currents that limit the distances you can go. If they get us in the water by 3 pm tomorrow, we can go back downstream to Charleston City and anchor out. Then we can leave on the flood tide and make it to South Edisto River to anchor out on our way to Beaufort, SC (pronounce Bew-fort). This has been the ugly part of the trip.

We got an email today from our friends Nathalie and Andre. They arrived in Charleston today and will stay until Thursday. With some luck, we will reunite with them on Weds night or Thursday morning.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

We left Oriental with very mixed emotions. It was as terrific place to spend a couple of days, but we were very anxious to continue going south. Next stop would be Beaufort (pronounced Bo-fort, not to be confused with Bew-fort which is in South Carolina). It was an uneventful meander until we reached the confluence of the Beaufort and Morehead City channels. What a mess. So many channels and rivers coming together along with a million buoys and a bridge that had a very poorly marked passageway which was partially obscured by construction barges. Predictably, I missed a buoy and ran aground. Fortunately, it was sand and we bounced a couple of times and were free. After winding around Radio Island, we entered Turner Creek which took us to the Beaufort docks. This place was as good as Oriental. Expensive but beautiful. By the way, if you think you have a big boat, don’t go to Beaufort. We were the smallest boat on the docks.

A Harrier jet hovering. Interesting.

Also saw an Osprey aircraft. Also cool.

All good things must come to an end. We left Beaufort the next morning and headed down to Swansboro, NC.  From Morehead City to Swansboro we had a 20 knot wind on our nose and had to navigate the narrowest channels we have seen to date.  Stray just a little bit and you’re in very shallow water.  On the way, we passed a naval air station where they trained Harrier jet pilots. Fascinating to see those jets hover over the water then take off like a bat out of hell.  Swansboro was a pleasant surprise. We didn’t expect much but the place was terrific. Great marina, great owner, great little town. Everything you needed was within walking distance. Plus, we met a guy on the docks cleaning fish. He asked if we would like some and I said, “Sure, what kind of fish is this?” He told us they were Spot fish. Each one was about 8” long and very meaty. He said, soak them in milk, dredge them in a fish coating, and then pan sauté in peanut oil. We did and they were even better than perch. I never heard of Spot fish but if I ever see them again, I’m buyin’.

A white Herron we saw along the way

Next stop was Surf City in NC. Interesting trip. We needed to contact the Range Safety Officer at Camp Lajeune to find out if the ICW was open or closed for live fire exercises.  There were none scheduled so we journeyed forth.  We got to Surf City early enough to enjoy an 80 degree day, took a walk on the beach and ate some ice cream. Pretty cool. But as I said, all good things must end. The following day we departed Surf City and headed to Carolina Beach. Big change in weather. High winds, cloudy skies and a 20 degree drop in temperature. We went to the Federal Point Yacht Club. Pretty neat place. We are here for two days because it is too damn cold to proceed. Sunday will be better and we will head down to near Myrtle Beach. I’m getting excited about going south and seeing places like Charleston, Savannah, and St. Augustine. Stay tuned for more developments.

It continues to amaze us

Today is our second day in Oriental, NC. We don't want to leave. What a great place. Adirondack chairs to lounge in, a great tiki bar, showers with towels, soap and shampoo, a marine store a half block away, a coffee bar across the street. It just doesn't get better than this.

At anchor in Broad Creek, a very
beautiful and secluded paradise

We left Coinjock and journeyed to Broad Creek where we hunkered down to wait out some nasty winds that were creating havoc on Albermarle Sound. We wound up staying two nights at anchor. It was a beautiful anchorage but very isolated. It really gets dark at night there. Broad Creek was just what it sounds like... a creek that gets broad. The creek winds back and forth through the sea grass and brush and eventually you come across a wide spot where the water is deep enough that you can anchor and not get stuck in the mud. Although the wind was blowing pretty hard, the anchorage was well protected so we didn't bounce around at all. 

Sunrise on the Alligator River

Les Miserables following the "smart
boat" from Alligator River Marina

The Alligator River Cut. 21 miles of
straight waterway.

A Conga line of boats heading to
Oriental. There were 12 altogether.

On day two, we got our weather window and headed down to Alligator River Marina. There we reunited with folks we met in Norfolk, Wiley and Merry on Les Miserables, from Chicago. They were stuck with us waiting for the Gilmerton Bridge to open in the Elisabeth River. After leaving Alligator River Marina, we traveled together to Dowry Creek Marina and then to Oriental. Very enjoyable folks. They regarded us as the smart boat people because they took a wrong turn on the ICW at Norfolk, and someone at the marina suggested they follow us (like we knew where we were going). Hence, we were the smart people. We've been blessed to meet so many great people. While at Dowry Creek Marina we were invited to a pot luck dinner for Jack who was celebrating his 13th birthday. What a hoot. His parents, Christie and Mike were so interested in our trip and are planning their own adventure as a result. Cool. It just keeps getting better every day. 

Life in an Adirondack chair in Oriental, NC. A beverage, sunshine, Marg,
It just doesn't get any better than this. 

So tomorrow we are off to Morehead City. A short trip of about 20 nm. I don't know much about the area but I am sure it will be another great stop on the waterway to Florida. Stick with us for more installments of Dick and Marg's excellent adventure. 

On the ICW

Sunset over Cape Charles

After two months of sailing and motoring and waiting and worrying, we finally made it to Mile Maker 0 on the ICW on Sunday, October 16th. But I am getting way ahead of myself. On Thursday, October 13th, we picked up Dick and Susie in Kilmarnock and sailed to Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore. Well, we sailed about 1/3 of the trip and crapped our pants the other 2/3. Winds built to nearly 30 kts and the waves built to 6 feet. Waves came over the bow all the way back to the cockpit. We were all pretty wet. After nearly 7 hours we slogged into Cape Charles and bounced into a slip. Cocktail hour was immediately declared. After being tied down for two days due to inclement weather (we are getting very familiar with this), we left Cape Charles and sailed nearly half way to Norfolk. This began the best part of our travels on the Chesapeake. Perfect winds and seas, sunshine and warm weather. Dick and Susie really enjoyed the ride and we got to see the fleet in port. Very impressive. Two aircraft carriers and a ton of missile cruisers and assorted other naval ships. Awesome fire power. 

Major fire power in port

Dick and Susie and the fleet

 

Me and the fleet

Susie and Marg and the fleet

Alize in port in Norfolk

Blue, Blanche, Marg and Jim with the
cruise ship Glory in the background

Norfolk is incredible. So much going on in the downtown area. We also had the good fortune to connect with Jim and Blanche Terracino and my buddy Blue. Jim and Blanche live in Virginia Beach and Blue was on business in the area. We had dinner together and Blue spent the night on board and traveled with us to Great Bridge where his mother lives. Mile Marker 0 is the beginning of the IntraCoastal Waterway and it is directly across from the marina where we stayed. A milestone, that a month ago when we were stuck in the Erie Canal, I wasn't sure we were going to see. Norfolk was alive with activity. There was a wine festival going on, the Carnival Cruise ship Glory was preparing to set sail and there was all the commotion and festivities surrounding that, and it was a beautiful, sunny, warm Sunday and the whole town was out enjoying it.

This is called The Aqua John

On Monday, Marg, Blue and I left Norfolk and headed down the ICW for the short trip to Great Bridge, VA. We passed the naval yards where ships were being refitted or cut up into scrap. We played dodge em with huge container ships and managed to screw up our timing and missed the opening of the first of several lift bridges we would travel under. That held us up for nearly an hour.But I did get to see a unique design in marine sanitation devices for small boats. It's roomy, inexpensive, and unique.

 

Marg locking us through

Eventually we locked through the Great Bridge Lock and went under the Great Bridge Bridge and tied up at Atlantic Yacht Center Marina. At the lock, the lock keeper treated us all to Halloween candy. She was a character. A very happy lady. She even said she would hold us up at the lock a little longer so we didn't have to wait for the bridge to open. She explained that it is more comfortable waiting in the lock than drifting around waiting for the bridge to open. Nice person.

So we are now 12 miles deep into the ICW. On Tuesday the 18th, we will head down to Coinjock which is in North Carolina. We now feel like we are really moving along and will make our scheduled arrival in Florida by December 1. As long as we can find internet connections we'll keep you all up to date on our journeys. Thanks for being with us.

Baltimore to Solomons Island

Alize at anchor in Worton Creek

Our first sunset on the Chesapeake

We made it to the Chesapeake Bay on Weds, October 5th. We anchored out in Worton Creek. What a pretty place. There were about 4 other boats anchored there and we felt like we owned the world. We left very early on Thursday because we wanted to maximize our time in Baltimore. We left at sunrise, froze our asses off and arrived in the inner harbor at about 11 in the morning. Baltimore's inner harbor is a beautiful place. I wish Cleveland had the resources or the vision or both to do something similar.

Marg and I overlooking the show

Andre and I feeling no pain

Look who we ran into in Annapolis.
Robert and Judy from back home

Departing Baltimore. Wished we
could have spent more time there

Friday was boat show day in Annapolis. We rented a car and drove down there (about a 45 minute ride) and had an extraordinary day. Bright sunshine and blue skies, great people and stuff to boggle a boater's mind everywhere you looked. Not to mention the Pusser's rum painkillers. Two nights in Baltimore was not enough. But we lost so much time in the Erie Canal, we couldn't stay any longer. So on Sunday we left Lighthouse Point Marina and headed south to the South River where we anchored for the night. This was a Kodak place, except I didn't take a single picture. Duhhhh! We also said our goodbyes to our friends Andre and Nathalie whom we traveled with the last month. We'll miss them very much but hopefully, we will meet up again in Florida or the Bahamas.

Sunrise over Oxford. That was a
Kodak moment

Marg and I went on to Oxford on the eastern shore. Oxford was probably a pretty town but we never got to see it. We planned to anchor in the Town Creek except the water was too shallow. So much for the cruising guide. We decided to anchor in the Tred Avon River just off shore from town. Two problems. Nobody seemed to know what "no wake zone" means, so we got tossed around pretty well until the yahoos went to bed. And second, the town in it's infinite wisdom did not provide any place to land a dinghy. So we and about 25 other boats at anchor stayed on our boats, ate dinner, drank and read books, instead of spending money in Oxford. I have a hard time understanding the logic of some communities.

We are now in Solomons Island. Every restaurant has a dinghy dock and complimentary dockage for bigger boats if you eat there. They get it. We are at Zahniser's Yacht Center. Gorgeous place that gets it. Need to go to the grocery. No problem, we'll take you there and pick you up. No charge. Someone meets you at the dock to secure your lines, free Wi Fi, and the best bathrooms I've seen on this trip. This is a very good stop.

After this place, we'll spend a night in the Potomac River and then head down to Kilmarnoc on the Antipoison  Creek where we will meet our friends Dick and Susi and her brother Sparky. Can't wait. We'll try to keep these posts coming whenever we can get WiFi. Hope you enjoy.