Month: October 2018

After our offshore run to Wilmington we anchored out at Wrightsville Beach overnight before running up the Cape Fear River to Wilmington. We had been followed by a flock of seagulls into Masonboro Inlet and thought they just confused us with a shrimpboat. Found out later several small fish (3-4 inches) had beached themselves on the swim platform. Forgot to get a picture before performing a mass burial at sea!

We had a really nice week in Wilmington. The hurricane damage was tough but the recovery is in process. Trees down, houses missing roofs and business signs either severly damaged or missing entirely. Only a few businesses are still not open and things are getting back to normal.

While in Wilmington we had the opportunity to finally see one of our granddaughters, Grace, play in the NC State High School Golf Championship at Pinehurst #3. Although we’ve played with her often we’d never seen her play in a competition. It was fun to watch her focus and concentration as she went toe to toe with some of the best in the state.

Another thing we took advantage of was having all the teak railing varnish stripped. I had done about a quarter of it while we sat at Deltaville and AYB waiting for hurricane Michael to pass but there was still a lot to do. It’s kind of like stripping wallpaper using a heat gun and a scraper. We like the look of the raw teak as it weathers to a pretty grey and requires minimal maintenance this way. On a boat that is huge!

By the time you read this we’ll be at Bald Head Island for a quick overnight before heading down the coast tomorrow. Next stop Georgetown SC and then Charleston. We’ll probably anchor out at Georgetown for a couple days and wait for a bettor weather window.

Docked at Atlantic Yacht Basin we got the port stabilizer repaired. It had stopped working on the way from Deltaville to Hampton. Hurricane Michael blew thru Thursday night with minimal fuss. Friday dawned and it was a beautiful day. Let’s go! Oh, not so fast. Seems although Michael didn’t give us much in the way of wind or rain it was enough to flood the entire area. We’re on a boat, no problem right?

Uh, no. We had a total of two bridges to get through heading south. Two small swing brides that are about 3 feet off the water. Seems the flooding buried the electrical junction boxes and until the water receded and they could dry out the system the bridges were fixed in the closed position. All day Friday and into Saturday morning we sat at the dock just waiting. At 11am we got word the bridges were operating and you should have seen the exodus!

We’re now a few hours south and heading for an anchorage at the top of Abamarle Sound for the night. If the weather finally cooperates we should be in Wilmington midday Tuesday.

 

 

It always happens. You pull into a boatyard for repairs/upgrades and they tell you a week. Guaranteed it will take two. If they say two weeks it will take four. So our one week stay in Deltaville became two. The good news is that we have beautiful new helm chairs on the fly bridge (testing them out as I write this), reconnected with friends from last year and met new friends. That’s what happens at boatyards. Everyone is checking out the other boats, you get to talking and next thing you know you’re meeting for drinks and dinner. It’s a fun time but it’s always exciting to get back underway.

We are now heading south from Deltaville down the ICW planning to be in Beauford, NC in four days where we will wait for favorable weather for an offshore run to Wilmington.

That was Saturday. We had a suspected problem with our stabilizers that developed into a full scale problem mid day Saturday. Normally this wouldn’t be a huge issue as the boat is extremely stable. However we intend to do much of the run south to Ft Lauderdale offshore and it can get rocky. Since Isabella and I both suffer from sea sickness this is something that needed to be addressed.

So we are currently in Chesapeake VA at Atlantic Yacht Basin. They have a boatyard here staffed with incredibly wonderful people. Today has been dedicated to fixing the port stabilizer and hopefully we will have a happy ending to the day. Meanwhile a hurricane has developed in the Gulf which will send some weather our way so we’re going to sit tight until probably Saturday to continue southward.

The interesting thing about being tied up here is that we get a boat parade at 5 to 10 minutes after every hour. Just north on the ICW is the Great Bridge Lock followed by the Battlefield Blvd Bridge. The bridge only opens for pleasure craft on the hour and the lock schedule is timed to operate in time with the bridge. So everyone has to stop either north of the lock or south of the bridge to travel this little piece of the ICW. We are tied up facing south on the side of the ditch so EVERYTHING has to pass us. Lots of boats heading south and a few heading north that must be lost.