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Up north our boat is considered to be on the larger side. But that all changes when you head south. About St. Augustine we were back in the part of the world where our boat looks like a dinghy. Keeps us humble….

The ICW is famous for it’s bridges especially in Florida. Seems they don’t know how to make tall bridges down here which means we have to request bridges to open for us as we need at least 32′ of clearance. Doesn’t sound too bad you say? Yesterday we had to pass thru 22 bridges of which only 4 could we pass under without them opening. Most of the remaining 18 bridges only opened at specific times, either on the hour and half hour, 15 and 45 after the hour or the one that opened on the hour as well as 20 and 40 after the hour. We had to figure the distance between bridges to know how fast to go to not miss an opening or we would have to sit and wait for the next opportunity.

 

It was a long day and we were happy to reach our anchorage by 5pm and pour a glass or two of wine. At 5:30 we noticed a few boats milling around our area all decorated for the holidays. Seems there was a boat parade at 6:30 and the starting area was right in front of us. So we bundled up (did I mention there’s a cold snap here?) and watched from the flybridge as 30-40 boats passed by. It was fun and a great way to end the day. We couldn’t have planned it better if we’d tried.

Today finds us in Ft. Lauderdale where we’ll stop for a few days for repairs that didn’t get done before we headed south. Then it’s on to Miami to pick up family next week for the Christmas Holidays.

There is nothing quite so peaceful as sitting on a boat at anchor or even on a mooring ball. As I write this we are just off St Augustine, Florida. After a delightful day walking around historic St A with required stops for lunch and dessert we came back to the boat to catch up on communications and boat tasks.

The windows are open, breeze blowing, temps in the mid 70’s. I can see the traffic on the bridge upstream but can’t hear it. The sun is shining and Isabella and I are feeling lazy. Days like this are becoming more and more frequent as we continue to head south. Of course it’s not all relaxation and naps….

Yesterday coming into St Augustine Gary decided it would be good to tie up to a mooring ball instead of anchoring as there is a pretty strong current here in Matanzas River. Now we’ve tied up to mooring balls in the past with smaller boats but as we’re on a larger boat at the bow my feet are eight feet above the waterline. My feet. That means Gary has to hold the boat in position next to the mooring ball while I fish the waterlogged huge rope from the water with a skinny twelve foot pole, attach it to two separate lines and tie them off to the bow cleats. It took several tries to get it done and not without a few hiccups. Things like unwrapping one of the lines from around the anchor, pulling a muscle as I leaned over the side as far as possible and lifted about 50 pounds of wet rope, Gary not being able to see the mooring ball and operating solely on what I was telling him to position the boat-you get the picture. We were back to what Gary calls the Keystone Cops. But now that we’ve done it the next time will go smoother. After a few more times we may even look like we know what we’re doing.

Back to anchoring. A few nights ago we anchored just north of St A on the ICW. Other than a few small fishing boats that vanished at dusk we were all alone. The next morning was foggy and overcast so we were having a relaxed breakfast when out of the fog appeared two Hawiian war canoes heading our way complete with war cries. Not exactly what you expect to see on a quiet Sunday morning.

It’s never dull and there is always something interesting to see.

Continue reading “Boat Porn-The Naked Truth About Laa-Dee-Dah”

Dolphins we see almost every day. Same with seagulls and pelicans. What is more rare is running ten miles off the coast and getting a visitor. A few days ago we were off the coast of SC on a gray, overcast day. We were on the flybridge (enclosed and warm) and I saw a bird flying right for us. He flew over the front of the boat but never emerged off the back. Hmmmmm. Investigation showed a two foot tall bird clinging to our radar array.

Gary chased him off and he came right back. Consultation with our family avian expert leads us to think it was a glossy ibis that rode along for a good ten-fifteen minutes. He must have been tired with a long flight ahead.

While anchoring out the other night we saw a pair of Black Bellied Whistling ducks. Noisy critters kept buzzing our boat. But they sounded cool.

By far the funniest we’ve seen are the seagull “looters”. The pelicans were feeding one morning as we were leaving, dive bombing for fish. Each pelican had a seagull or two nearby. When the pelican brought up a fish the seagull would land on his back and try to steal the fish.

We arrived in Hilton Head the day after Thanksgiving just in time for the tree lighting and concert at Harbortown. We also snuck in another round of golf.

We decided to skip Charleston and anchored last night just northwest of Blackbeard’s Island in SC and now we’re headed to Brunswick GA for an overnight at a marina and some necessary provisioning. Amelia Island may be next on the itinerary but it’s pretty fluid depending on weather and what we feel like that day.

Although there is some planning involved we’re staying pretty loose. I’m edging Gary closer and closer to the Star Trek version of navigation “out there…somewhere”

So last time we checked in we were heading into Beaufort NC. A very pretty town and we managed to find a gem of a restaurant for dinner. If you’re ever there check out Aqua.

From Beaufort we motored to Wilmington to spend time with family and friends and then Bald Head Island where we played golf for the first time since leaving DC. A beautiful day with some of my favorite golf partners.

Bald Head Island is a really cool place. Good marina, restaurants, golf course and beautiful views. The light house was commissioned by Thomas Jefferson and is open to the public. The view from the top is gorgeous. And no, I didn’t climb all the way up, the kids did. (Thanks for the photos Grace and Amy!)

Nothing like going to sleep after a warm, calm, beautiful day and waking in the middle of the night to 32 knot gale force winds INSIDE a protected marina. That’s how fast things change on the water. Needless to say our departure for Myrtle Beach was delayed a day until the weather calmed down a bit.

We’ve settled into a comfortable routine working our way down the coast towards Florida. Next stops on the itinerary after Myrtle Beach are Georgetown, Charleston, Hilton Head, Jekyll Island and Amelia Island. Hopefully by then the weather will be warmer, we’ll play some more golf and I might even break out one of my new fishing rods.

Well it’s been an interesting few weeks since we left National Harbor October 19th. We took our time motoring down to Deltaville Boatyard over three days and arrived on the 21st. Between sailing regattas and pods of dolphins we enjoyed the trip.

We thought we’d be in Deltaville a week or so for anticipated repairs. One week turned into two. Then we were into week three and finally departed DBY Tuesday. The good news is that our “honey do” lists have gotten much smaller as we had plenty of time to clean and fix the things that we can do.

We spent ten days in a hotel while the boat was “on the hard”. My comment at the time was that the Laa Dee Dah is a boat, not an airplane. It isn’t supposed to be in the air. Just doesn’t look right.

We also met some lovely people on other boats waiting for repairs on their boats to be finished. Every day we checked in to see who would be the first to depart south. I think we were the first with another boat close on our heels.

Two days on the ICW and we’re now anchored just south of Coinjock, NC. Two days of rain, cold and otherwise miserable weather but we’re moving south so have decided not to complain too much. The days are short so we aren’t traveling as far each day as when we brought the boat up in June.

We’ll be on the ICW until Beauford NC when we’ll go offshore, weather permitting.

Now that the house is sold we’re living on the Laa-Dee-Dah full time at National Harbor. We’ll be here until October 19th.

If you haven’t been to National harbor yet it’s an interesting place. Lots of restaurants and people watching. It’s so different from where we lived in Springfield but in a good way. The community square hosts free activities every day; concerts, exercise classes, movies. They even had full coverage of the solar eclipse on the big screen!

We’ve used the water taxi to meet friends in Old Town for dinner and there’s a shuttle bus to the MGM. It’s been fun to meet people on other boats, some that live here some that only come for the weekends.

The plan forward is to leave here and be in Deltaville by October 20-21st. We will rent a hotel for the week while the boat is pulled to replace the stabilizer and do a few other things on our update list before heading south. A few days in Wilmington NC to visit with family and then we are REALLY heading south. Looking forward to blue water so we can snorkle and scuba dive and enjoy the warm weather.

Looks like we’ll be in Key Biscayne by Dec 22nd and Key West from the 28th thru Jan 3rd. After that we’re most likely heading to the Bahamas and south to Turks and Caicos. So if you want to warm up this winter come spend a few days on the boat! We can coordinate airports and dates.

We’ll keep everyone updated on where we are and what’s happening.

Stopped in Deltaville yesterday and overnighted there. Received some good advice about the generator that now seems to be working just fine. Isn’t that always the way?

Left there early afternoon today and will anchor out just off Colonial Beach for the night so we can time arrival at Hampton Landing at high tide tomorrow about 1pm.

Do a first pass at cleaning the boat with a more thorough job on Sunday and we’ll be ready to do it all over again!

It’s been a great trip. We’ve learned a lot and even with the various isssues we still love the boat and look forward to moving onto it permanently.

Absent anything crazy happening in the next 18 hours this will be the last post until we get underway again. So check back once in awhile and see what we’re up to!

We stopped yesterday at Dowry Creek Marina in NC for fuel and  a waste tank pumpout. It’s under new management and the guys there couldn’t have been nicer. They’re offering inexpensive gas and discounted dockage & services so anyone in the area check it out. Say hello to the bald eagles nesting across the inlet!

After leaving the marina we noticed the generator didn’t want to start. We’d had a problem the day before but a filter change seemed to work. No such luck yesterday. Because our boat is basically “all electric” without a generator many things don’t work. Things like a/c, the stove cooktop and the grill to name a few.

The a/c is easy to do without as we are either moving or anchored out and there is always a breeze. The inability to cook was a challenge. Precooked meats, cheeses and hummus/veggies worked in a pinch but it brought home the importance of frozen items that can be microwaved as that still worked.

We’ll stop at a marina tonight and use shorepower (they also have a restaurant which would be a nice change), and tomorrow head into Deltaville to have someone trouble shoot and fix the generator.

The ICW has been interesting. Not many boats, varied wildlife and lots of calm water. The evenings anchoring out have given us beautiful sunsets and peace and quiet.

I think we’ll have to keep doing this awhile….

 

Well we were late leaving Thunderbolt and then we had to pick up a part in Charleston so the decision was made to actually do an overnight run and get into Wilmington Saturday morning. I say “a decision was made” because I’m not sure how much input I really had on that one, but Captain Jim and Gary were quite sure they could do it with 2 hour shifts and I could sleep thru the night.

This also meant that dinner was on the run while offshore. That really limits what can be fixed. A couple cans of soup in the microwave was better than pb&j. Frozen entrees that just need to be heated in the microwave would be perfect for situations like this so that goes on the ever growing list of things to do/purchase when we get home.

We tied up at the City Dock right in downtown Wilmington and spent the day with family.

An early start this morning after moving the huge tree that floated into us overnight and we’re on our way to Beaufort NC for the evening.

It’s a beautiful day and should be a nice run up the coast.