Thoughts re now

Commenters wonder if we are enthusiastic about the rest of our trip.  Yes, we can now picture staying on the boat 'til spring and are looking forward to each part of the trip.   When Tom comes back on Sunday, we plan to spend a month exploring the outer banks near here in North Carolina, arriving by the end of September to near Wilmington where we'll find a place to keep the boat for a while while I fly back to Arkansas to handle a rent house turnover and, if time, to visit my family, especially my brother.

Then we hope to poke our way south.  We see many places along South Carolina that we'd like to know better and there are several places along eastern Florida that we'd feel at home in when we visit again.  By the cool weather, we hope to be in the Florida keys hanging out 'til a couple of friends from Arkansas fly the coop and bring their boats down that way.  

After that, we don't know.  Maybe follow one those couples out toward the Caribbean. 

Anyway, most of the time, I can't think of living anywhere else but on this boat.

Just now I was sitting here, in the cockpit typing and a little mist of water (the tiniest rain) hit my face while all around there is a mixture of blue sky and multicolored clouds.   If I were inside, I would never have noticed that little mist.  And all the time, the wind blows a little or a lot and makes sounds in the rigging around me.  I would feel so isolated in a room in a house.

But also, yesterday, the boat pitched and jerked so much in the waves from the south that I found myself wanting to not stand, but sit,  or better yet, get off the boat onto a steady surface.    Sometimes, there are sounds at night that I hadn't heard before and I have to get up to figure them out, in case something has changed positions for the worse. 

The reality is that the outdoors is always very vivid and in my face.   Most of the time I'm fine with it but sometimes want a little hidey hole to burrow up in (and actually, the boat provides that too!)

Tides

 

 
I can't help putting this picture first, even though it's not about "Tides."    I bicycle by it each day here at the entrance to the marina and think "I know that boat will probably never be put in the water again."   Someone sure had fun when they painted it.

Also, nephew Drew coached me so that I could get online again with my laptop, so today I'll be able to catch up a little.
 
Okay, now about tides -
 

 
When I want to know whether the water is low or high, instead of looking at how the boat levels with the dock (it's not a floating one, so the boat does go up and down with the water),  I look across at the blue boat across the way.     Something about the person didn't pay the slip fee here and now the boat is just grounded over near the other shore.     When the water is up it looks nicely anchored there and when it's down it looks like this - askew.
 
We are so far away from the ocean here that the tides due to the moon do not affect us.  Instead, when the wind blows steadily from upriver the water drops about two feet and when it blows from the mouth of the river northeast of here, it rises two feet.   So . . . it's been blowing and blowing from the southwest and the water is low.
 

 

 

Technical difficulties

Just to let you know-   I haven't stopped the blog.    My computer won't go to websites and until it does,I'll wait to post.     It's too tedious by iPhone.  

My nephew Drew plans to get on my computer long distance and sort it out soon.

All is well

Getting better all the time ? ! ?

We've been here in Oriental, North Carolina half a month now and have accomplished quite a bit re the boat, such as establish that the engine and the transmission really don't have a problem.  Four knowledgeable mechanics have now told us this and we will stop worrying about this (We had seen leaks of what we thought were fluids from both, but after checking fluids and watching residues for weeks, and tightening some things, we have no leaks and apparently no problems.  So that's good!  

We've ordered a hatch for the one I broke and will be able to install it mostly ourselves.   Tom, with the help of a fellow boater, has traced down an electrical problem to a wiring problem, not an instrument replacement problem, so that is good.

And we've received a big new cooler that we'll keep in the rear stateroom for vegetables, fruits, cheeses and condiments, freeing up our refrigerator/freezer for the important stuff:  liquors and meats (This is not really my opinion, it just works out this way.)

 

 

 

 

Last Sunday one of the boaters here invited us to attend a "watermelon splitting" party that has been going on for while.  A woman here who owns a farm inland had had a load of watermelons delivered once and when the market for them disappeared, she and her husband decided to have a party and invite "everyone."   And she's been doing this now for 44 years.  Most people there knew each other and we got introduced all around.   It's a great idea for a small community to have a simple get-together in the summer.  Not much preparation or supplies needed.

 

 



 

We've been twice now to their Farmers Market on Saturdays.  Last week we found some wonderful multigrain bread, fresh eggs, kale and locally-raised pork.  This week, it was rainy and we found none of the things we went for.

We've been in this store a few times, mostly receiving advice from Pat who works there.

Yesterday (Friday) we borrowed a car and went 26 miles up to New Bern, near the mouth of the Neuse River, the wide river we're on now.   We wanted to see if we'd like a marina there to hang out a month while we took air trips from the nearby airport.    After seeing three marinas and then shopping for various items that can only be found in a larger place (20,000), we decided we didn't want to be there.   The marinas are right down town, which sounds nice.  But there is hardly anything natural to see - just boats, water and buildings.  And the shopping made us feel frazzled.  When we came back to our little quite spot where you see as many people biking as driving and not many of either, and green and water all around us, we realized that this is home for right now.   We'll just manage ways to get driven to the airport there when we need to.

I forgot to say that sometime last week, we took a sailing lesson.   We mostly sailed back and forth out on the open, Tom steering and me handling the lines.   While out, we discovered lots about our lines and setup so that after we were back we were able  to rearrange some things for much better boat handling.   We'll be taking a continuation of the lesson some day next week when the weather is more conducive.  Right now, it's delightfully cool and rainy so we're doing inside stuff.

A few hours ago, Tom installed our new big DC cooler.  It's just inside the aft stateroom door and handy.  (Notice the grand name I'm giving to this space that contains the queen bed under the boat's cockpit.  I call it this name so you know we do have a space people could stay if they would come visit.  It would just take a little rearranging.

Tongue Tied

We arrived in Oriental., North Carolina last Sunday and now it's Thursday.  I haven't posted because the internet at the boat is so slow, it's too tedious.   But today I brought my computer up to the office and can get on.  So here goes . . . .

We had a lovely ride through southern North Carolina, traveling about 72 miles in one day.   Most we motored, but when the current ran against and the wind ran with us we put the foresail out and picked up some speed through the Beaufort area.   We saw lots of birds.

Someone  has bought an island for themselves and built their dream home on it.   They want to be sure it's seen from the waterway.

It was a Sunday.   In the most southern parts, where water was shallow on both sides of us, people were out everywhere along the way, finding ways to enjoy the water.

 

 

 

We spent the night anchored out about seven miles south of Oriental, our destination.  Then motored along what they call Adams Creek and we would call the Arkansas River 'til we came to the Neuse River, what we would call the ocean.   It's five miles across.   Local literature states that it's the widest river in the United Stated.  We started across the river toward Oriental and (remember it's Sunday) what did we see?

 

 

 

 

Boats everywhere, most headed in the same direction!  It was a sail boat race, the second day of a two-day race, we learned later.

 

 

Knute, the owner, manager  here at Whittaker Creek Yacht Harbor, coached us in through a narrow channel where we since have seen several boats go aground.   He put us in a slip closest to the river and we for the first day or two exulted in the views.   The next four pictures are what we saw from the four directions from our boat:

 

 

 

Then, one night, just as Knute had said it would, there was a south wind and the boat (and I) spent the night nervously pitching from side to side so that I couldn't sleep.   So yesterday we gave up our outside slip for one farther in, tucked among others so that the boat will sit quieter.   

 

Since we've been here, we've bicycled everywhere.   This isn't a gloriously scenic place where everywhere you look you want to send a picture home.  It's a gloriously simple place where the plants are varied and green, the homes are mostly small and meticulously kept.   And best of all, it's small, only 975 residents!    There's only one of most things:  one coffee shop, one grocery store, one hardware store, so you know if you lived here, you'd see the same people again and again.  People are walking and bicycling most places - of course the land here is level so it's easy.

 

We're slowly checking out the restaurant scene - so far we've been really pleased with the two we've been too - wonderful food and very reasonable prices.   And when we went to the coffee shop, we immediately met a couple who have  cruised for eleven years,  just heading up to their home in Carthage, North Carolina to deal with some rental properties before they head out again.   They, like others we've met, say they stay mostly on the boat, but take months or longer for side excursions, like a camping trip to Alaska or renting a barge on a French canal with some more cruising couples.  They make it sound so good.    

 

This little town is nice and the most likely spot to stop if we wanted to, but we seem to keep thinking of things we can do for the boat so I guess we're sticking with her for the foreseeable future.

 

During our month here, we plan to sail more, probably with an instructor, and do as much for the boat as we can.   We'll keep you posted re both.







Some more . . . Trips and Travails

Get this

Our anchorage on Thursday night.   We read that this is the prettiest part of the waterway and now we agree.  It's in a long natural area along the coast of South Carolina.   The water was fresh and tea colored with all the vegetative matter.  We know - I swam in it and leaves floated by me.  It was like in Shangri La.  

 

Ospreys were everywhere along the way, talking to themselves and maybe to us.

 

While I swam, Tom fished.  He advisedly uses the term "fishes" rather than "catches."   We're waiting for that.  Maybe in North Carolina.

 

It gently rained most of the evening and night.  Welcome, because it would have been too warm otherwise.

 

I couldn't stop taking pictures along the way.  See if you can notice differences.

'

 

I was trying here to show the tea-colored water  - fresh (not salty) and clean.

 

Along the way, near Myrtle Beach, cable cars cross the waterway.

 

When we made it to the North Carolina border, we anchored at a place where we noticed the sweeping lights from the Cape Fear lighthouse - two miles away on the ocean.   By day, it didn't look so dramatic.

 

We didn't stop at Southport, N.C. but caught a glimpse as we went by.

 

Somehow, passing into North Carolina, the terrain was different.  More white sand, clear, greener water, more grasses mixed with trees.  We like it, too!

 

 

And more fisherman, Jason, if you're reading, looking. . . . .

 

We meant to anchor just near Top Sails beach, but couldn't find a place we felt safe in. Eventually we called ahead and found someone who would give us a dock for a fee.   It was low tide when we arrived and it took the man, his wife and a neighboring boat owner to pull us into the dock, over a bit of time while the tide rose.

 

But when we settled in re realized that once again, the setting was lovely.

 

 

After a bit, we walked  a couple of blocks over to the ocean and hung out on the deck while waiting for a table.   Very nice there, too.  We don't really see the ocean that much from the waterway, so it was a treat.

 

Now, we're a couple of days from Oriental.  We're told we have to stop in Beaufort, North Carolina and that will take a couple of days to get to.  Then we'll be within four hours of Oriental.  As usual, you (and we) will soon see if this all works out as hoped.

 

Oh yes, the travails part.    Our autopilot isn't working right so we have to steer the whole way; we have to monitor our electricity usage because the voltage regulator on the alternator needs to be replaced and the chartplotter would have had us go through the end of a swinging bridge if we had stayed the course it showed and, and, and.  So needless to say, we still wonder if we will ever get to the end of things to do for this boat.