Blue Blood Moon

Charleston, SC


But early this morning, around 6:38 or so, we finally saw the beginning of the partial lunar eclipse - partial in our part of the US - before the moon dropped behind trees on the horizon.

The trees the moon hid behind are hidden behind these lovely shrimp boats. I do truly love this "creek" at McClellanville.

And this lovely, large boat was nose to nose with us last night.  She left just ahead of us this morning but was going outside on a longer than we.




Ours was a chilly but beautiful 5 hours to Charleston. We were, again in SC "low country."

Long vistas of marsh grass and shimmering water.

Everybody was trying to catch some warming rays this morning, including these lines of gulls  lined up on this dock. The white spots on the high rail and the white spots on the lower dock to the right. Hard to know how it was determined who got the high seats, roosts.





David sort of refused to turn over the helm today. True we did keep running to skinny water. And our past experience caused us to be really cautious where inlets or rivers came into the canal, stiff current. Last trip we ran aground but were not stuck. However, friends damaged their prop and shaft. So, I understand caution on his part. Still.....

So I found this cute little house along the way past Isle of Palms. There were, of course, other houses of note but this one on the point was about my size.

I was wicked nervous about crossing the Charleston sound/bay again. Both crossings o our last trip were really rough.
That is Charleston in the distance. Note the tiny waves. Barely waves at all. Maybe ripples. This crossing was amazingly calm.
Unfortunately our favorite place to land in Charleston, The Charleston Maritime Center, was damaged in the last two storms so were closed to boating traffic. And more unfortunately the place we are docked overnight is way above our pay grade. But here we are, plugged in and comfortable at the Charleston City Marina, with the very BIG boys and girls.

I sat out on the the aft deck as we were coming into the harbor and David was calibrating the compass again. I was bored and needed to get "out of the house." I felt sort of as if I'd been in a car for two days. Being out on deck was perfect. And when we finally docked and greeted people and got the lay of the land, er, marina, I sat on the fore deck and read my book. Warm enough in the sun and out of the wind to enjoy.

We've met some lovely people already, including Will and his wife (Halcyon or did she just found Halcyon Yarns in Bath?) from Bath and a couple from UT (?) but she lived in Portland ME for some years. And a young woman who will buddy with us tomorrow because she doesn't want to anchor alone - she is single-handing - though she has captained Towboat US vessels in Beaufort, NC among other places. I'm loving meeting all these younger women who are captains and experienced sailors. Women rule!

Beautiful full moon tonight, too!

back in the canal-ICW

McClellanville, SC

A joy to revisit this small town with its "creek" lined with shrimp boats. I'd forgot that the docks were aluminum but do remember on our first visit here we met Dana and Craig when their cat tried to escape. Wonder where they are now? Wait, they are living between Bangor and Ellsworth, having left their boat in NY. David saw them when he was there this past October. Oh my.

We left Georgetown around 8:30 this morning. Wind and current was more fierce than we wanted but inside the river we weren't too concerned. Just needed to find the entrance to the dug part of the ICW, off the river. 

Kind of hard to see the entrance. That little red triangle on a post. Even in this photo you can see the mud being kicked up by the current and wind.

We're in low country so the vistas are rather broad. I like the little round puff cloud in the photo left. Following yesterday's discoveries about this area being filled with rice plantations in the 1800 I kept wondering if any of these tall grasses were the off-spring of rice. Probably not since fresh water was needed.

We learned about "trunk gates" yesterday that controlled the flow of water into the rice paddies. At right is a modern version of a trunk gate. Pretty sure there is no rice paddie on the other side but clear that this controls water.


Lots of sky and water and tall grass today. Refreshingly bright and open after 2 days of clouds and being in a "city", small as it was.

Because of the falling tide and cautions regarding shoaling, we took a rest break in the South Santee River. The chart plotter design at left documents our anchoring efforts (the little squiggles) and our success (big black area). We were basically in one place for about 2 hours. Good anchor! I read. David repaired a radio speaker which we are currently enjoying.

Easy continuing with only 2 hours to our destination and there was lots of water under our keel, 7+ feet with spots up to 15'.

This day has really been so beautiful. And, as noted, I loved coming back into McClellanville and seeing the shrimp boats lined up. We're nose to nose (bow to bow) with a really big pleasure boat. I'll try to get a photo tomorrow, and of the shrimp boats.

Heard from friends Peter and Mary who are maybe 3 days behind us. Looking forward to catching up with them, or them catching up with us, soon.

Looking forward to seeing the Blue Blood Moon partial eclipse tomorrow morning before we leave. I tried this morning but was a day early. 

Life is good. I am blessed.

Now, ready for the SOTU address (a small eye roll).

beauty and order day

Georgetown, SC

Still misty and cloudy today and we're pleased with our decision to stay in port another day. There was a short lived squall with winds around 30 mph this morning. Glad it was short lived and that we are at the dock.

It was engine day for David and vacuum day for me..for the first half of the day. We took a walk to Tractor Supply and (sorry) Walmart for some needed supplies. Turned out it was a long walk that David volunteered us to do. The marina manager offered a ride but we decided to walk there and call for a ride back. Reasonable idea but farther than we expected. And it was into the wind. Just can't get away from "the wind!"

Most of Georgetown, downtown, is really pretty. Tree lined streets, sidewalks, lovely small town.

We rediscovered Resurrection Ferns.  These ferns grow on trees, turn brown and look dead but revive - resurrect - when they get moisture. We were introduced to them, I think in GA, when we last took this boating trip two years ago.

The ferns line the tree trunks and limbs and look like dense, soft moss.


We came back from our looooonng walk, dropped off our goods and walked some more the 4 or 5 blocks to the Rice Museum. Rice was a primary - THE primary - economic engine for Georgetown and SC during the 1800s when South Carolina was the 2nd most economically successful state in the US, behind Massachusetts...because of the rice industry. Slave labor. "Enslaved Africans" is how our African American tour guide identified them. She, Zenobia, told us that Africans were brought from specific tribes and had specific skills for planting and harvesting rice, and skills necessary for that agricultural effort from their own homes. I had no idea. We also learned that the swamps had to be drained and cleared to make the rice paddies - gross, another "drain the swamp" effort. Actually, mentioning this Trump slogan in the context of slavery and the work that was forced, people owned, makes my skin crawl.  Is history repeating itself again?

Back to our wonderful visit to the Rice Museum. I also learned that the Gullah culture was the rice- based culture. 

The museum gallery and gift shop had wonderful examples of art and craft work. Wondering what to do with my handmade quilts that are fraying and coming apart. An example is to make dolls of them. Something I'll likely NEVER attempt but what a neat way to preserve and honor those quilts and the time intensive skill of quilters.

We made our way back to the boat along the town boardwalk, stopping at the Independence Seafood. A pound of shrimp for $8 with rice and kale was dinner.

And tomorrow we're off again.

Lay day

Georgetown, SC

What a difference a day, and a place, make. This was the atmospheric scene from our aft deck much of the day today...from the aft deck, the pilot house....wherever you could see the outside.

A lay day, so to speak ...lay around, get laid, lay aside, lay up...?

After the bumpy slog through beam waves yesterday, a full day of trouble, we slept for nearly 12 hours into late morning. Misty morning, rain light or heavy, all day long. We did get out this morning before the rain to take hot showers, Then on the boat the balance of the day. Delicious!  Coffee. Small projects.

David locked the port side pilot house door last night and we couldn't get it unlocked. He took the door handle mechanism out, cleaned it and reinstalled it. Lock works now with both the old and the new keys. It is a beautiful puzzle that needed much cleaning and lubricating.

My project was to install a barrel bolt on the pots and pan door to prevent the p&ps from escaping during nasty passages such as yesterday's.

Finally we had bagels and cream cheese on the aft deck. Brought plastic cushions from inside so our butts wouldn't get wet from all the mist and rain. Chatted with "mad dog", as he introduced himself, a rather iconic wharf elder - yellowing long beard, gnarled hands, faded foul weather coat, pipe. He appeared. We were sitting on aft deck facing away from the dock. We became aware of Mad Dog standing near the bow of our boat, smoking his pipe, not speaking, looking across our boat into the distance. He could of been a ghost...of sailors past. The magic and mystery of misty mornings in harbors. We spoke briefly and then it started pouring rain. We ran inside. He walked back up the dock and disappeared.

This morning I read the blog, Brain Pickings, that I receive each Sunday morning - thank you Suzi. Today the author, Maria Popova, was writing about "leisure," quoting Ursula Le Guin about the import of leisure, and creating. She (Le Guin) wrote about how she had no spare time (time to spare) and of how she "occupied" her time. I'm liking the words "occupy time". Recently David has asked people how they "use" their time, trying to avoid production related words like "do" and "what's your 'work'". Hard to ask people where they invest their time and energy in our workaholic culture without seeming to honor only the work-for-pay concept. Le Guin also spoke of how we, as a culture, don't value creative occupations. A sentence part from a philosopher, Pieper, from the same article, "... leisure is the condition of considering things in a celebrating spirit."

So I spent some time thinking about "leisure" and how both David (more than me) and I tend to keep pushing our boating journey toward a destination without relaxing into a leisurely attitude and enjoying the time/place we are without the need to "be productive." Leisure. Sharyl talks about us being on vacation. Vacation from what? Vacation doesn't seem the same as leisure. hmmm. Now this notion of leisure is a privilege in that I don't have to work all the time to maintain my self, my body, my safety, and such. Empty-of-tasks-time is necessary for dreaming/thinking/envisioning/creating. So why do we not honor that? Afraid of all those "slashed" words and ideas, fear of having no dreams, thoughts, visions, creations? Maybe.

Our boating friends are all dining together in Southport, NC tonight. I'm envious. We journeyed on. An agenda to go farther, sooner rather than hang with our buds. Not totally true but I'm noticing, now that I'm not wearing my long underwear and wool socks, that David and I could have a more relaxed relationship with time. The upshot of all this leisure considering (and the fact that the tides are funky for travel) is that we're going to stay here again tomorrow night, visit museum tomorrow, do 2 errands and 2 projects and have another lay day! Perhaps with less fog.

Our flag stayed out beyond its curfew last night and was still out for bagels this late morning. The waterfront of Georgetown. A larger sail boat left the harbor this morning. We speculated it was going down the ICW which crosses this river about a mile toward the sea. A couple larger sail boats came in today, as well.

I've been impressed with the question, "Were you all 'offshore'? rather than my word for being in the ocean, 'outside.' "Offshore" sounds so much bigger to me. We were offshore yesterday! We'll be "inside", in the ICW when we leave here.

While I didn't create/make anything today except breakfast, I dug around in the art supplies and got some paper out. I'm inspired by the Brain Pickings and the writing and thinking of Le Guin. Until now I've only known her as a science fiction writer. From today's reading she was so much more. I look forward to investigating other genres of her writing. And heeding the advice of many to make something. Make something that has no practical purpose. Do not crochet the hat...yet, or ever just to have something creating (and practical) to do.

Another view of our foggy day.




I'm loving the Barbara Kingsolver book I'm reading,  Flight Behavior.  Butterflies, mudslides, relationships, climate change. What's not to enjoy?

I hung a curtain today in the aft cabin for added privacy, and put bubble wrap on the head (toilet) port light, also for privacy.

Life is good.

Ugh.

Georgetown, SC

Seven plus hours riding the bucking bronco of confused seas. Totally not fun. I never felt unsafe but really uncomfortable. Definitely an ibuprofen night. I'm sure I used muscles trying to stay vertical that I've never used before.

Just out of Little River. We were confident it would get better, i.e. calmer and easier. (above)

  It didn't until 7 plus hours later when we turned into the inlet to Georgetown.




We docked at 5:15 or so after leaving at 7:30. A really difficult day of confused, bouncy, twisty, turney seas. Grace is a terrifically solid boat with a good autopilot. So I was confident of survival, just really uncomfortable. Not nauseous. Just firing and releasing so many muscles in sequence. Exhausting.

When is it going to stop? Oh, another 4 or 5 hours!

David did suggest that if we were body-surfing we'd be loving these waves. Truth.

I think my Jose Limon dance training cam in really handy today. All those head swings and upper body swings and that fall/recovery technique.

It's calm now and we got off the boat almost immediately and had dinner at Rollin' Local, sushi rolls! Rain is predicted tomorrow but rain or not we're staying in port. R&R, rest and recovery. Great day for reading or a movie. Most everything is closed here on Sundays, tomorrow but we have movies and books.

snore!

Anchor NC, Stern SC

Bird Island, Little River North and/or South Carolina

We went outside! In the Atlantic ocean!! New territory and waves!!! Whoohoooo! Beautiful sun. 20 k winds for a few minutes might have caused us to pee our pants but the wind was mostly behind us. Settled down to 12 - 16 knots for the balance of the 5+ hours of travel.

Before we got to the ocean we were in the Cape Fear River trying to get out before the tide changed and the current flowed against us. Traveling with the current we were going faster than usual, as much as 9 k or about 10 mph. One of the navigational aides, aka buoy, in the river showing the current.

Water still going out the river just as we want it to. The long necked crane-looking structures in the horizon haze are long necked cranes. It is a restricted area, military I think. We noticed out in the Atlantic that there is another restricted area for "explosives." We speculate that ships carrying such must stop there for inspection before they come into the river for off-loading. Sounds James Bond-ish. Perhaps there is an underwater tunnel, too.

On the chart to the left, that little dot in the middle is us. The white is the ocean! This is our first adventure into the Atlantic past NJ, except for a little sailing around in the FL Keys. I think of this as practice for tripping to The Bahamas.

Most of the day was gentle rolling swells. We're reading out loud a book cousin Suzanne has lent us called How to Read Water by C. Gooley. I'm loving it. Reminds me of a good science teacher. We have ripples, waves and swells. Today we were in waves and swells. No ripples that I could tell, given my new and limited knowledge or vocabulary.

The water, the day, shimmered. We rolled out a little of the inner jib sail, mostly for steadying and decreasing the side to side roll of Grace. I sat out on the aft deck for maybe 1/2 hour. It was so very lovely, sun and fresh breeze and warm enough to enjoy.

We turned into Little River around 3:30 and anchored just inside the mouth of the Little River which is the border of NC/SC. On the chart there is a border line across the land and water. On Bird Island which is a barrier island there is a granite marker that I can't quite read but looks to be in the general area of state boundary.

We sat out on the aft deck after all was secure with the anchor and kitty. Just as we were settling with our glasses of wine we noticed a large passenger boat steaming into the Little River. Huge! and moving fast. It was a Casino boat. They go 3 miles out where gambling is not ruled by state laws. A gambling party boat. Who knew?
So far I've seen no birds on Bird Island but some interesting Tern-like birds that I couldn't identify in my bird book as we progressed through the ocean today. Great divers.

A few tasks before dinner. Thinking we'll go "outside" again tomorrow and avoid some white knuckle sections of the ICW that we are familiar with from past journeys...the Rock Pile! I thought it was in GA but turns out it is just down the creek in SC. The wind and weather are predicted to be calm-ish and cloudy and the trip should take less than 7 hours. Hoping to have a lay day Sunday (it is supposed to rain) and do some beauty and order on the boat...at a marina...with electricity... and the vacuum cleaner.

Today was a day of noticing opportunity and appreciating privilege.

Pelicans!

Carolina Beach, NC

I have no photos of pelicans but we are definitely in their territory and they are so cool. They fly in formation, skimming the water surface, stand stately on pilings, dive with their wings bent at extreme angles and those long bills that they groom themselves with (as well as catch fish). Really too cool.

We felt discriminated against in that no dolphins swam with us today but did major swimming with our companion boats.

We all left Swansboro this morning within 1/2 hour of each other according to the speed we expected to travel or the dogs that had to be walked or the coffee to be finished. It was fun to notice our departing "rituals" that were not quite rituals. All of us came out to help each boat detach its tethers - releasing lines, fending off, last "safe voyage," "see you at the first bridge" comments. Amazing that the last boat to leave got off, given that they were leaving without "help."

We had an easy day of traveling, with a few moments of sweaty armpits at the places that inlets cut into the ICW. The current is confused, thus pushing our dear Grace around a bit. I really want to be holding the wheel at those times rather than relying on pushing the buttons to adjust the automatic pilot. The boat just responds more quickly to hands-on steering than the computer steering. And, I feel that I/we have more control.

There is a nasty short passage where we have to cross a river and make a turn. Shoaling is cautioned but still unexpected and hard to avoid. Even going slowly. Our lead boat "bumped" (Silence Rising to the right)

and a following boat ran aground. We were about three miles ahead of Ken, who was aground, and turned around to assist but he and the rising tide managed to get him(self) off before we'd gone very far. Phew. Another following boat went hard aground and, I think, had to call TowBoat US, our favorite insurance policy.

By the end of the day one boat was in a marina at Surf City as planned, two others were about the same distance but I don't know where they were spending the night. Ken was in Wrightsville Beach as planned and we made it to Carolina Beach as hoped. We're on a town mooring and using our new "Buddy" (propane heater) that Pat and Kathryn helped us get as our heat source. So far, great. A long day - 10 hours - but a good day of boating. We even put the sail out for a brief while and gained a whooping 1/10th knot, all the way up to 7 mph!

Sights along the way:

A very pink house with very unnatural palm trees. The trees were real it's just that palm trees don't grow here, naturally.

One of three military boats that passed us. From a distance and their rooster tails I thought they were jet skis. Not. More like an amphibious tank. Going fast, carrying 3 people, combat gear, large gun on the front, pretty heavy armor projection.

The ICW goes through Marine training grounds. We called yesterday to see if the way was going to be clear - no live fire!!! No plans to close the ICW today we were told by the "Fire Officer."

Grace is gracefully sitting on a mooring in very calm waters with the town of Carolina Beach in the background. It's only getting down to 37 degrees tonight and was a very warm and sunny 65 degrees today. We are definitely in warmer territory.  Fun today remembering places we "bumped," places we anchored, ran aground, made wrong turns and had to do U-ies. Sweet memories....now that it isn't cold and there is no snow and ice. Amazing what warmth can do for ones/my attitude! I was at the helm a lot more today than yesterday. That helps attitude, too.

What sorts of joys and challenges will tomorrow bring?

Friends

Swansboro, NC

A beautiful morning to get underway again. 

We were off the dock before 7:00 a.m. Clear and calm and lots of water leaving Morehead City. I could easily have this city as home base. There's the water and waterfront. There is my favorite beach, Atlantic Beach, just across the causeway, about 4 miles away. Lots of white sand and a surf that provides enough wave for body surfing. A campus of NC State University to keep one's brain working. A local, large-ish hospital. A marine research center. I think a community theater. Beaufort not far away. Usually warmer than it is now and for me, not too hot in the summer. Hmmmmm. Sigh. I'd miss my Maine friends and family and theater group.

Portside is a sweet marina though just next to a big industrial building that is noisy. The marina is pretty empty just now but is pretty packed later in the season and summer. The manager (owner?) is fun, as is his wife. Taught me how to shell and de-vein shrimp in one quick stroke with a fork!


On the way out of the marina we kept hearing two toots. A few seconds and another two toots. What? Where? Then we saw this rather large lady!

Notice the tiny crane to her left. That is a large crane that lifts boxcar containers. And that little protrusion at lower right of the BIG boat is a rather large tug. The crane is at the end of a dock that is at BIG boat's stern. Oh my!!! She kept coming...looming... and we kept going, assuming she would dock at the previously mentioned noisy dock.

On our way and under the causeway bridge that leads to my favorite beach. Easy traveling. We were joined briefly by a couple of dolphin who surfed in our bow wake, about amid ship and about 2' away from the boat. Joyous!!!




We were almost eaten by a whale - use your imagination  now - but managed to escape.

 
See the Whale about to chomp the little speck of a boat?

There was some pretty skinny water in Bogue Sound. I think this is where David and I tried wind surfing many years ago. We stood about hip deep in water no matter how successful we were at staying on the board which, now that I remember, we probably didn't travel very far before falling off the boards. Still, pretty shallow water in Bogue Sound. 


We found that our Maine friend, Ken, was in Swansboro where we were planning to refuel. Then learned that new friends from common distress (ice and storms) were there, too. Ah, what to do? Stay and visit? Or continue our journey as we'd planned? Get on toward Wrightsville Beach. Such conflict. Press on toward daydream or nurture friends, old and new.  We opted for friends and are on the dock with Amelia Grace and Surrender before noon. Then Silence rising arrived, our new friends from the Alligator River snow and bridge common distress. WhooHooo! A party!

Ken had a borrowed car and took us on a P.O. errand and dropped me off for a haircut (at last!). I walked back to the waterfront, called cousin Suzanne about possibly having tea since I'd be passing her house. She wasn't available so I checked out all (but one) the shops in the old part of town. Managed to not spend $50 on a beautiful pair of earrings.  Such will power.

This photo, though, of a customer's son and the store owner's dog. The child was in a child's pose beside the dog when I first noticed him but got up to squat before I got the photo. I sent it to his parents who were shopping for jewels, too. On my phone this shows up as a silhouette which is maybe more iconic.

A visit from Lee, Suzanne's man friend, who led me back to the one store I missed, a yarn shop. Diane from Amelia Grace stopped by our boat with yarn for a 'vanquish boredom' project she was starting. I thought, "I'm sometimes bored. I can crochet. I'll go get some yarn, too." And I did, enough for a beanie in red. I'd not brought any of my knitting/crocheting stuff, never expecting to be bored. For dumb.

There was a "skippers" meeting onboard Silence Rising to plot tomorrows passage. We kept toasting all ideas and accomplishments including a "real meeting." Truly a fun group of people. Of the group of 5 boats, only one solo sailor, David and I are the only ones who have traveled the ICW. Oh dear!

dinner back onboard our simple Grace and we're done for the day.

Joy

fog, wind, rain....

Morehead City, NC

Lots of rockin' and rollin' last night and today these past 24 hours. A huge rain storm that lasted about 30 minutes in the middle morning. 

All three of us spent much of the day on the boat. I did some more work putting together, populating (!), our ditch bag. We'd copied passports and other important documents a couple of days ago so I put them in the bag and relocated the real passports. Made French toast for breakfast. Bounced around with the lumpy waves. It has been chillier today than past days.

David, with a little bit of my help, changed the oil and transmission fluid. I paid some bills and researched income from various sources. Seems I'll have a little more regular income this year than I had last year...Required Minimum Dispersements from a couple accounts. How is that possible? But I like it.

When I was no longer needed for oil change tasks I went to the solarium to read my new book by Barbara Kingsolver, Flight Behavior. It is hard to put down so I mostly don't. I needed to get off the boat but not a walk in the rain. I'm noticing I can totally flip and flop between good days and attitude and bad days and attitude. Physical movement helps me stay sane and happy but I sometimes forget. And the lack of creating anything is draining. I did NOT get a hair cut today and re-identify myself to/for myself. Wicked expensive and I'm not willing to spend on haircut when I have a perfectly good husband who can cut my hair. Besides, I don't yet have bed head.

Amelia knows how to deal with a rainy day!

More BEST cousins! Suzanne and Lee drove up this evening and took us to dinner. Lovely time with them. They showed us photos from their Panama Cruise.

And now we're getting ready for bed. A big trip tomorrow and we need an early start. Wrightsville Beach, here we come.

delicious warmth

Morehead City, NC


We started the day thinking we'd move onto Swansboro today. Just didn't happen. We even did the laundry and took showers pretending that we would leave. But there was the oil change to consider (but not do) and we hadn't connected with Conni and Al about the package of mail that was being sent to their house, and being plugged into electricity on a dock, in a city that we are familiar with is...comfortable. So here we are for two more nights, waiting out a thunderstorm and some windy lumps in Bogue Sound. Fine. We're getting soft and cautious in our aging bodies and minds. Okay.

I had a bit of a melt down for a brief time. The lack of "a place for everything and everything in its place" drove me to the melting edge. Unfortunately, there is no place for everything so stuff gets moved around and misplaced. And we're living together in all the rooms of our boat. Neither of us has "a room of ones own." sigh. I'm particularly stressed by the "clutter" which really isn't since I don't have a creative outlet to engage me. And I keep doing tasks rather than creating.    Oh woe.  A haircut will help my identity. Maybe. I no longer look like the self I identify with. sigh.

Chatted with Conni and texted Shannon and finally figured out the temporarily lost mail. Conni and Al drove up and brought it to us. I DO have GREAT cousins!!! We had a lovely visit with them and another meal out. Sweet.

David and I sat out on a glider overlooking the harbor this late afternoon, after a walk around our part of town. I was not particularly interested in being on the boat, expecting that we will be on it most of tomorrow during rain. I would, however, be willing to walk in the rain to get to a hair cut. But out on the glider bench was delicious for awhile.

Inside when it started to sprinkle rain. Reading. Napping. Finally, dinner and more reading and napping. May "camp" tonight on an unmade bed. Perhaps I'll have more energy for "domestic" activities.

Two photos from last night's flat calm water around Grace

They don't show up well but the reflections were astonishing.

towndock.net

Oriental, NC

Grace is famous! (towndock.net  - the Oriental, on-line daily) And I have the BEST cousins! What a terrific, social day with lots of sunshine and little wind and we only had to wait for one barge/tug combo.

We called our Alligator River buddy boaters to see if they wanted to join us at The Bean, the coffee/ice cream shop we face when we dock at the Free town dock. We arrived a bit before friends, met a man from Harpswell, ME, who has lived in Oriental for 35 years but still goes "home" for a couple of weeks in the summer. Chatted with him and another with Maine connections and had made fast friends when our boat buddies arrived. More chatting and panning and getting to know each other over coffee and bagels.

Then off to the "Provisions" store which has a bit of everything including a swap library. I gave 2 books and got 1 for later. David and I met Fordyce who owns a 43' Nauticat that he expects to launch on Wednesday. It has been on the hard for a while being repaired. He's heading south so we expect to run into him again.

We took a long walk to find the house my aunt's neighbor owns. Success. It is not being rented just now but is in a lovely spot away from the water.

I really like this little town and today, especially, there was the distinct taste of spring in the air. People riding their bikes, some in shorts (!), lots of people walking. The Bean is clearly a local hang-out and gathering place. Don't know who posted Grace photos but we were known even before we got off the boat. Mary and Peter told us there were people sitting out on the porch yesterday eating ice cream! Yep, spring.

This pic is looking toward the Neuse River from the head of the free town dock. Grace is to the left and The Bean is behind me/you. It is a working waterfront with several marinas along the river, both sides.

We left Oriental around 12:30. David left me at the dock. We were both pushing the boat off. I was to wait until the mid-ship was level with the last piling then jump aboard. When the last piling was amidship the boat was too far for me to jump. Oops. I was pretty confident he wouldn't really leave me. He came back. Phew! It would have been a really expensive taxi ride to Morehead City.

Easy, beautiful, calm trip across the Neuse River and down the canal and into a bay around Beaufort and Morehead City.

The middle of the photo at the right is a tug with a barge. We both arrived at the bridge opening about the same time. We hailed the tug on the radio and said we'd wait for him to get through. Duh. Of course, we'll wait. There's no room to pass and he is so much bigger and heavier than we are.

We arrived at our dock around 4 PM. Cousins, Pat and Kathryn, met us here around 4:30 and took us to do the errands we needed. They brought us a little propane heater we'd requested. And they took us to Staples and to get a big bottle of propane for cooking. We had dinner together and they drove the 1.5 hours back to their home in Winterville. What sweet troopers they are to accommodate us and visit.

 And here on the right we have my Cat Grass Garden. Another sign of spring (!??). I try to have one grown garden of cat grass and one on the way.

Warmth, light, calm seas - I'm thriving again rather than just surviving.


Barefoot in the cabin, too.

Oriental dreaming

Oriental, NC

We arrived at the free town dock around 4:45, having not left Belhaven until around 11:15 or so. A late morning start. Coffee and conversation in the warm sun on the fore deck - conversations about my snippiness and bad behavior and David's alcohol induced deep sleep. My inability to wake him had me imagining the worst - heart attack. Having gotten through that conversation the day went really well.
Fueled up where our boat buddies spent the night. They took off several hours before we but we're neighbors again here in Oriental.

Getting off the fuel dock was terrifically hard with the wind and the tide wanting us to stay. Capt Dave did some amazing and very fancy maneuvering. I expect his armpits were moist. The Pungo River was easy, not calm but not too lumpy and was sparkling with sunshine. Pamlico Sound was luscious. We read to each other, planned how to enter Oriental harbor and where to go for the night. How cold will it get? Do we need to plug in? Not too cold and no need to plug in, just go to bed early.

More memories from the first cruise in these parts. Mayo Seafood processing company where so many shrimpers sell there catches (I guess). This is the dock where we realized there was no electronic or phone connection to our outside/home world. Yikes. Also the place with the "ladies outhouse" painted bright pink with big sunflowers.

We decided to not stop. Didn't need fuel. Already have shrimp on board. To early to stop for the night. Nothing to do off the boat if we did stop, i.e. not a tourist destination. Onward. I'm helms person.

Out of this canal - Goose Creek and into the Neuse River. Broad water but lovely motoring. For some time the wind was going to be on our stern quarter. I asked David if he wanted to put a sail out. "Naw, we'd just have to pull it back in in another 40 minutes." On my. What a change in attitude. There was another similar shift in attitude recently that I don't recall details of just now. I think we're aging.

I was up a lot last night, thinking, writing, reading. Thought I heard the ice crushing our hull, or cracking because our boat was moving so up I went even after I'd had some sleep. Duck hunters, though there was slushy ice around our hull. So I got to nap with Amelia, in the sun, while David was at the helm.



And there was this lovely house to admire:

                                       What a view!



Now sitting with legs wrapped in my blanket and an extra layer of coat. The oil lamps aren't quite the robust heater that the little electric heater is. May end up reading in bed soon or turn on the propane heater. We're definitely in the market for a Little Buddy propane heater. Or in the market for getting further south and into warmer - to - hot weather!  A huge boat just came into the marina across the canal, sleek and white 100+' of power. No clutter on those decks! Probably no clothing with oil stains either, whether or not they have "work clothes". 

Looking forward to seeing cousins Pat and Kathryn in Morehead tomorrow.

No Pungos...

Belhaven, NC

...but a deer swimming across the canal and lots of great blue herons, a huge eagle, and a half dozen snowy egrets along the Albermarle and Pungo Rivers Canal.

The white dots are Snowy Egrets

We crossed under the Alligator River Bridge around 7:30 this morning, following our backdoor neighbor boat since they travel faster than we do. The trip down the Alligator River through the canal and into the Pungo River was filled with memories from our last/first Grace cruise.  Memories: spending the night on the hook in the Alligator River and watching stars filling up and falling out of the sky. I slept out on the aft deck for awhile; my joke about "not even seeing a pungo", never mind bears or deer as the waterman guide promised, and then a bear and 2 cubs swam across the canal in front of us; entering the very wide, rather shallow Pungo river in a pretty large chop and being really scared about being in open water after time in the sedate, narrow, comfortable canal.

Entering the Alligator & Pungo Rivers Canal

The day was beautiful as one can see from photos. A deer swam across our bow and climbed out of the water into the snow. A big white tailed deer but my photo was too far away to be interesting. The deer's head looked like a muskrat or something but then the body appeared! 

David took a nap on the floor, Amelia on the seat, while I shepherded us through a broad part of the canal. In some places the fallen tree stumps encroach. We have to keep steering even though the canal looks relatively straight and the water is deep in the center. Those stumps crowd toward the center.

Farther along there are what might be wanna-be wilderness developments or RV parks - lots of land, docks, a "club house" or owner's large house but nothing else. Wrong season?

And the boat was here two years ago. It is in demise.

Such beauty. A boring passage through the canal. Boring is better than fearful but boring is not good. I read a bit while David was at the helm but also want to, feel the need to, stay alert and check in regularly. I did finish my biography of Fredrick Douglas. And I danced around the pilot house a bit. We made up new words to the song "Wade in the Water": Stay in the middle, stay in the middle, sailors. Stay in the middle, and you won't run into the stumps"...or something like that.  Whatever, to keep each other entertained and active and alert enough. But boring.

I've been thinking about economic class differences and assumptions; how I engage with people who I assume are different economic "class" than me. In Norfolk we were berthed beside a small, rough looking (pealing paint, lots of stuff in cockpit, untidy decks) boat. I was polite and sort of chatty with the man and woman on board but didn't really want to share much about myself or know much about them. Then I watched or felt a similar response from a couple we met later. They were well put together, on a more expensive boat and were neatly dressed down to matching jackets. We, on the other hand, were in our work jeans and vests, the clothes we'd wear in the boat shed when we were changing the oil. And our aft deck was cluttered and our dinghy deflated. Our more put together buddies were a little reluctant to fully engage with us.  In this second case we somehow passed some "test" at least temporarily, perhaps the necessity of being in difficult circumstances together (pretty isolated in a winter storm), and enjoyed each other...through those circumstances.  Hmmm. Maybe we really didn't have anything to talk about with the Norfolk couple. Maybe we really don't have much in common with the "put together" couple. But....we don't really know since we have let difference in life-style (?) impede our getting to know one another. Hmmm, again. I hope I'll change some of my behavior since I'm noticing this tendency in me and in others. Cues are important. How else would we choose who to use our time with? But......

David and I had a tiff about how I abandoned the helm when he gave me a direction coming into the Belhaven dock. He was correct in the direction and my response to his directive was dangerous and completely inappropriate. I hope to never be so pissy and tight again. I was tired, nervous and ... done. It has been an arduous journey these past 5 weeks. It is getting easier as we get to longer days and warmer weather, and I'm glad to be with David and out of Maine. Days and moments of levity and joy and love, yes, but this isn't a vacation...yet. It's work and, for me, not creative work. Guess this is life.

Big trip to the grocery store thanks to Dianna from the Chamber of Commerce, then a beer in the local tavern before coming home for dinner. I just looked out and the stars are brilliant over this sweet town. Perhaps that will help the townspeople recover from the tragic, recent death of a local boat captain.