We woke up to thunder and lightning about 2:30 pm, only 2 hours of sleep. We had to close hatches because of the rain. We decided to make breakfast. Our schedules were really out of whack. We had some English muffin bread that we wanted to make French toast with. We decided to try making it with our powdered eggs. It actually tasted pretty good. The storm was getting more intense with lighting, then all of a sudden there was an instant boom with the lightning. We didn’t think we had a direct hit, but we heard a strange beep or pop. I asked Dave “how would you know if we had a direct hit?” He said “you would see water rising over the windows.” I had forgotten that a lightning strike can put a hole in the hull of your boat, depending on where it travels through.
We noticed that our Single Side Band radio wasn’t working. There wasn’t anything we could do about it now, with the rain. So as long as we were still afloat, we went back to our naps. I woke up at 8:00 pm and stayed up a couple hours, but Dave slept straight through the night. I turned on our anchor light, but couldn’t tell if it was on. So I checked with our friend who was anchored near us, and he said it was not on. Not sure if it was damaged by lightning, because we haven’t had to use it for the last month in Charleston. I thought I heard something hit our deck a couple mornings ago. So we’ll have to check that out.
We noticed before that when we do an overnight sail, it really takes a day to recover. But it was good to get here before this storm arrived.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
July 14-15, 2014 Overnight sail to Wrightsville Beach, NC
We had a good weather opportunity to leave today, but Tuesday and Wednesday looked worse. So we decided to do an overnight sail to Wilmington, NC/Cape Fear area. We left the marina about 10:30 am, but it takes an hour to get out of the harbor. We passed Ft Sumter on the way out. So much history here. Once we were out of the harbor and heading north, we tried to set the autopilot and it wouldn’t work. And the boat symbol on the chart was pointing about 120 degrees off course. Dave had replaced the autopilot drive, but it tested ok while in the marina. He upgraded the firmware and software for the chart plotter, so maybe they aren’t communicating properly. He tried recalibrating the autopilot, but no luck. This made the trip much longer mentally and physically because we had to manually steer the boat for 24 hours.
We raised our Genniker sail about 12:00 and with the south east wind, we were able to reduce our RPM’s from 2200 to 1200 and still get 6-7 knots. Saving fuel!
Dave decided to go below to check on the autopilot controls and discovered water on the floor splashing up from between the floor boards. So he opened the bilge and found about a gallon of fresh water in the bilge-about the same amount of mystery water we had in Charleston. So he cleaned that up and put it on his list of projects. After later discussing it, we think it came from our aft water tank. We have not been using it unless we are in a marina and can fill it with a hose. The water maker fills our forward water tank. We have had a poor seal on the tank cap, and if we overfilled the tank, water would then leak into the bilge. We thought that was taken care of but will follow up on that theory later.
About 3:00 the winds picked up from 10 knots and below to a 12-17 knot range. That increased the swells from 4 foot average to 6-8 foot swells. The boat moved smoothly because the waves were behind us (following sea). But it was a constant struggle to keep the boat on course.
About 6:30, Dave was below and was able to get the boat symbol to point in the correct direction. Funny how you can get excited about such a simple adjustment.
We had unusual watches throughout most of the day because of the work Dave was doing on the boat. But throughout the evening, we were taking 2 hour watches. You were physically tired after 2 hours. And there was quite a bit of rocking motion with the wave action. During my 1:00-3:00 am watch, our AIS started beeping alerting us of a ship in our area. It was far enough off to our port side, that we wouldn’t cross paths, but our friend was closer to it’s path. He was on his boat alone and had an autopilot for the first time. So we called him on the VHF radio to be sure he was awake and saw the ship. He did, but he had nodded off a few times, so he appreciated the call. It was a large cargo ship from the Netherlands (the AIS told us that info). By 2:30 am I could see the light house at Cape Fear where we would go to anchor and catch up on our sleep. Always a comforting sight. I was feeling good, so let Dave nap a little longer so he could bring our boat into the harbor on his watch. About 4:00 am, we started entering the shipping channel outside Cape Fear and Dave started his watch. I just stayed awake with him, since we would anchor once we arrived and would both sleep then. Well, it took us about 2 1/2 hours to get into the Cape Fear River.
So now it’s 6:30 am, we are getting close to our anchorage, we are tired, and talking about cooking a breakfast and going to sleep. Gary calls us on the VHF. He just checked the weather, and the anchorage he had in mind would be exposed to the south winds from this storm moving in. So he wanted to go another 20 miles to a more protected anchorage in Wrightsville Beach, NC. Now remember 20 miles by boat on the ICW will take about 4 hours. We decided if he could keep going, so could we. So we had cold chicken for breakfast and continued on. I took over the helm the first two hours and we swapped for the second two. I really slept hard during my off time. We anchored about 11:30 am on Tuesday the 15th. It took about an hour to settle everything and take showers. Then we crashed.
We raised our Genniker sail about 12:00 and with the south east wind, we were able to reduce our RPM’s from 2200 to 1200 and still get 6-7 knots. Saving fuel!
Dave decided to go below to check on the autopilot controls and discovered water on the floor splashing up from between the floor boards. So he opened the bilge and found about a gallon of fresh water in the bilge-about the same amount of mystery water we had in Charleston. So he cleaned that up and put it on his list of projects. After later discussing it, we think it came from our aft water tank. We have not been using it unless we are in a marina and can fill it with a hose. The water maker fills our forward water tank. We have had a poor seal on the tank cap, and if we overfilled the tank, water would then leak into the bilge. We thought that was taken care of but will follow up on that theory later.
About 3:00 the winds picked up from 10 knots and below to a 12-17 knot range. That increased the swells from 4 foot average to 6-8 foot swells. The boat moved smoothly because the waves were behind us (following sea). But it was a constant struggle to keep the boat on course.
About 6:30, Dave was below and was able to get the boat symbol to point in the correct direction. Funny how you can get excited about such a simple adjustment.
We had unusual watches throughout most of the day because of the work Dave was doing on the boat. But throughout the evening, we were taking 2 hour watches. You were physically tired after 2 hours. And there was quite a bit of rocking motion with the wave action. During my 1:00-3:00 am watch, our AIS started beeping alerting us of a ship in our area. It was far enough off to our port side, that we wouldn’t cross paths, but our friend was closer to it’s path. He was on his boat alone and had an autopilot for the first time. So we called him on the VHF radio to be sure he was awake and saw the ship. He did, but he had nodded off a few times, so he appreciated the call. It was a large cargo ship from the Netherlands (the AIS told us that info). By 2:30 am I could see the light house at Cape Fear where we would go to anchor and catch up on our sleep. Always a comforting sight. I was feeling good, so let Dave nap a little longer so he could bring our boat into the harbor on his watch. About 4:00 am, we started entering the shipping channel outside Cape Fear and Dave started his watch. I just stayed awake with him, since we would anchor once we arrived and would both sleep then. Well, it took us about 2 1/2 hours to get into the Cape Fear River.
So now it’s 6:30 am, we are getting close to our anchorage, we are tired, and talking about cooking a breakfast and going to sleep. Gary calls us on the VHF. He just checked the weather, and the anchorage he had in mind would be exposed to the south winds from this storm moving in. So he wanted to go another 20 miles to a more protected anchorage in Wrightsville Beach, NC. Now remember 20 miles by boat on the ICW will take about 4 hours. We decided if he could keep going, so could we. So we had cold chicken for breakfast and continued on. I took over the helm the first two hours and we swapped for the second two. I really slept hard during my off time. We anchored about 11:30 am on Tuesday the 15th. It took about an hour to settle everything and take showers. Then we crashed.
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| Gary's boat mid day |
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| Gary's boat at sunset |
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| Sunrise after we entered Cape Fear River. That's why there is land to the east of us. Threw me off for awhile |
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| Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor |
July 11-13, 2014 Last Days in Charleston
Friday
I putzed around this morning. Then I walked about 30 minutes to my massage. This massage therapist has an office in West Ashley, across the Ashely River. But she sees clients on Mondays and by appointment at the Wentworth Mansion Spa. It was going to be $87 for an hour, more than I have ever paid, but I could walk there and I was in pain with my back. Well, for $87 you get a locker room with shower with shampoo, conditioner and body wash, robes, towels, & slippers. I loved it. Since I was sweaty from walking there, I took a shower before and after my massage. It was great to have the luxury of a full size shower and all the water I wanted. Amazing how the simple things tickle you.
This was the best massage I have ever had. And as a dentist, I had massages regularly. Afterwards, I was light headed, so I walked about 6 blocks and caught the trolly home. Then I was worthless for the rest of the day.
I checked out the Wentworth Mansion online. It is rated one of the top hotels on the east coast. There were 21 bedrooms in the original mansion. Each room has a fireplace and king beds. Looks like they added bathrooms. Weekday price was $400/night.
Dave always has projects for the boat to work on. Looking back we’re not sure what he did that day. If I don’t write things down, the days just run together.
Saturday
There had been a new boat in the marina for two days. Today I noticed they had left. I said to Dave “well, they weren’t very sociable.” He replied “they couldn’t afford to be. When you make friends, you stay for a month.” At least that happens to us.
We spent the morning sorting through what other important documents we should put in the computer in our Evernote files. Then I can finish them around other projects. Before leaving a port, I stock up on groceries as needed. Then I usually cook up a few things that we can eat while underway.
Dave helped our neighbor, Gary, install an autopilot. He and Dave are going to take a diesel engine class in Annapolis, MD the end of July, so he decided to move his boat back there along with us instead of driving and getting a room. We are making plans to “buddy boat” to the Chesapeake Bay. Since he has sailed this area a few times, it will be nice to have his local knowledge.
We joined Gary and his date, Katherine, for dinner and a couple drinks on his boat tonight. There was a beautiful full moon. I guess it is closer to the earth than usual and will affect the tides, being higher and lower. We learned that years ago, but it didn’t have any significance until now.
Sunday
I went to my favorite “southern” catholic church this morning, St Patrick’s. I love the music and everyone visits afterwards wondering where I am from or asking me to join the church. Then Dave and I met at a restaurant on Broad St that Gary and Katherine had recommended, but it was closed on Sundays. So we took another recommendation and walked to the Blind Tiger. It was an old place built in 1803. Their Bloody Mary’s were voted #1 in Charleston several times. And they were good. We had a great brunch. In the days of prohibition, people would pay an admission to see the “blind tiger”. While waiting for it to appear (which it never did), the establishment would serve “refreshments”.
The plan was then to go for a walk around the southern tip of the peninsula that Charleston is on. Battery park is there and south of Broad street is where the big money was spent on homes in the early years. We have both driven through the area, but wanted to go for a walk though there. Well the rain turned that into a quick walk between showers. Then we took a taxi back to the boat so we could see the second half of the final world cup soccer game. Congratulations Germany!
We then spent the evening finishing little projects to ready the boat to leave Charleston. We have said 4 times that we are leaving, so stay tuned to see if we really leave this time.
Today was my mother’s birthday. She would have been 96. A dear lifelong friend of hers passed away at 97 this week, Kay Nelson. Our families grew up together, and the bridge club helped raise all of us. They had a bridge club that played together for 50+ years. Kay was the last charter member to pass away.
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| locker room/shower at Wentworth Mansion Spa |
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| Best Bloody Mary in Charleston |
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| full moon on Charleston Harbor |
Thursday, July 10, 2014
July 10, 2014 Pedi cab
Today, Dave finished cleaning the hull with the hookah system. Our marina has harbor tours on a replica of a paddle boat that leaves about 4 times a day. And there is a water taxi that leaves from here. So there are always tourists on the dock above us. Dave uses a wet suit when he cleans the hull, so he wears a tight fitting swim suit under it. When he went out into the cockpit today dressed in his suit he said “did you hear that collective moan from the tourists when I stepped outside?”
I spent some time on the computer continuing to organize our documents on Evernote.
It seemed like I was working on 3 things at once today. I guess it was because we received our mail today and there were things to follow up on.
We went out to a Mexican restaurant tonight. It was very good and I am always surprised at how cheap everything is on the menu. And their happy hour went until 8:00pm. We ended up carrying a heavy bag of leftovers home again.
After dinner, we walked about 6-8 blocks away from our marina to find the place I am going to tomorrow for a massage. We got about 2 blocks into our walk home and Dave flagged down a pedi-cab. We have seen them around town and this was one of the things Dave was looking forward to doing while we were here. He was tired from being in the water today, so he decided this would be a good time. The temperature was in the low 80’s with the humidity close to 80%, so I didn’t argue.
I spent some time on the computer continuing to organize our documents on Evernote.
It seemed like I was working on 3 things at once today. I guess it was because we received our mail today and there were things to follow up on.
We went out to a Mexican restaurant tonight. It was very good and I am always surprised at how cheap everything is on the menu. And their happy hour went until 8:00pm. We ended up carrying a heavy bag of leftovers home again.
After dinner, we walked about 6-8 blocks away from our marina to find the place I am going to tomorrow for a massage. We got about 2 blocks into our walk home and Dave flagged down a pedi-cab. We have seen them around town and this was one of the things Dave was looking forward to doing while we were here. He was tired from being in the water today, so he decided this would be a good time. The temperature was in the low 80’s with the humidity close to 80%, so I didn’t argue.
July 9, 2014 Hookah day
July 9, 2014
Today, Dave and our neighbor, Gary, used our hookah system for diving the hull and helped each other with projects. Gary needed to replace his prop. So they took the 50 lb air compressor hookah system over to his boat. Dave was his assistant on the boat helping with tools. Then they brought it back to our boat for Dave to clean the hull, especially our prop. I had the important duty of preparing lunch. If you didn't know, the hookah is a system like scuba diving, but you are connected to the boat/compressor that is providing the air.
Being on a river in a harbor, they had to plan work around slack tide. Otherwise the current would be too strong. So by the time Dave started, the current was getting a little stronger. So he only finished cleaning half of the hull. His main objective was to clean the propeller. Sailors place zincs on the boat to protect the metal prop. In a marina, there is a lot of current in the water from the boats using the shore power. Dave noticed all of our zincs had been oxidized and disappeared. So he replaced them, but that’s a signal that it’s time to leave the marina.
I had planned to do laundry after Dave finished cleaning the hull, but it was getting late. So I left anyway while he was under water. I positioned myself at the laundromat so I could see the back of the boat and flailing hands. But he survived.
Dave also placed the new circuit breaker today. He had to shut off the air conditioning while he did that, so that was when I planned to do laundry. He finished shortly after I returned, so all was well.
We enjoyed the soccer game between Argentina and the Netherlands on the computer in the comfort of our air conditioning.
Today, Dave and our neighbor, Gary, used our hookah system for diving the hull and helped each other with projects. Gary needed to replace his prop. So they took the 50 lb air compressor hookah system over to his boat. Dave was his assistant on the boat helping with tools. Then they brought it back to our boat for Dave to clean the hull, especially our prop. I had the important duty of preparing lunch. If you didn't know, the hookah is a system like scuba diving, but you are connected to the boat/compressor that is providing the air.
Being on a river in a harbor, they had to plan work around slack tide. Otherwise the current would be too strong. So by the time Dave started, the current was getting a little stronger. So he only finished cleaning half of the hull. His main objective was to clean the propeller. Sailors place zincs on the boat to protect the metal prop. In a marina, there is a lot of current in the water from the boats using the shore power. Dave noticed all of our zincs had been oxidized and disappeared. So he replaced them, but that’s a signal that it’s time to leave the marina.
I had planned to do laundry after Dave finished cleaning the hull, but it was getting late. So I left anyway while he was under water. I positioned myself at the laundromat so I could see the back of the boat and flailing hands. But he survived.
Dave also placed the new circuit breaker today. He had to shut off the air conditioning while he did that, so that was when I planned to do laundry. He finished shortly after I returned, so all was well.
We enjoyed the soccer game between Argentina and the Netherlands on the computer in the comfort of our air conditioning.
July 8, 2014 Jestine's Kitchen
Our new circuit breaker arrived, but we had to pick it up at an electronics store a few blocks from here. Dave still wanted his southern fried chicken, so we thought we’d go out for lunch. We had walked by Jestine’s Kitchen a couple times and finally looked it up on the internet. This was exactly what we were looking for.
Jestine’s was named after Jestine Matthews, born 1885 and lived to 112. In 1928 she went to work for the Ellison family. Jestine’s Kitchen is owned by the Ellison’s grand daughter. They played music from the 30’s-40’s, like you would have heard in the south. Jestine’s table wine was their sweet tea. Dave ordered the fried chicken dinner. It came with 3 huge pieces, a breast (which we took home), thigh and leg. His sides were mashed potatoes and gravy and okra gumbo. I had a pecan crusted chicken breast with the okra gumbo and black eyed peas. They brought us a bowl of sweet pickles before our meal. They had t-shirts with 10 questions asked at Jestine’s. Some of them were “what’s fried orca, how big is the 4 oz meatloaf, what’s the difference between the 4 and the 8 oz meatloaf, are you Justine, which beach is closest to the ocean?”
After walking home in the heat and humidity of the day, and after a big meal, I had to take a shower and a nap, just because I can. Maybe going out for lunch wasn’t such a great idea. (Or maybe it was the big meal. I felt fine after my salad yesterday.)
We met an older sailor from the south that once told us “if your projects aren’t done by 10:00 am, they aren’t going to get done.” Now I think I know why he said that.
Jestine’s was named after Jestine Matthews, born 1885 and lived to 112. In 1928 she went to work for the Ellison family. Jestine’s Kitchen is owned by the Ellison’s grand daughter. They played music from the 30’s-40’s, like you would have heard in the south. Jestine’s table wine was their sweet tea. Dave ordered the fried chicken dinner. It came with 3 huge pieces, a breast (which we took home), thigh and leg. His sides were mashed potatoes and gravy and okra gumbo. I had a pecan crusted chicken breast with the okra gumbo and black eyed peas. They brought us a bowl of sweet pickles before our meal. They had t-shirts with 10 questions asked at Jestine’s. Some of them were “what’s fried orca, how big is the 4 oz meatloaf, what’s the difference between the 4 and the 8 oz meatloaf, are you Justine, which beach is closest to the ocean?”
After walking home in the heat and humidity of the day, and after a big meal, I had to take a shower and a nap, just because I can. Maybe going out for lunch wasn’t such a great idea. (Or maybe it was the big meal. I felt fine after my salad yesterday.)
We met an older sailor from the south that once told us “if your projects aren’t done by 10:00 am, they aren’t going to get done.” Now I think I know why he said that.
July 7, 2014 Boat Cards
Another boat neighbor asked me to join her for lunch today. Bev was from Minnesota and had spent the last 23 years sailing around the world. We visited with them last week on our boat. It was fun to visit more about their adventures and how they handled some routine things. I then showed her how to use the free trolly in Charleston. Then at the visitor’s center, she showed me how to use the city bus system to go beyond the historical part of Charleston. I should have checked into that sooner. I guess if we unexpectedly stay longer, I will check out the surrounding area.
When the UPS truck arrived today, no one was in the marina office, so they didn’t leave our packages!! Dave is going to camp out at the office tomorrow.
One thing I did accomplish was to input “boat cards” into a system on our computer called Evernote. Everyone we meet gives us a boat card. And they keep telling us we need to get our own boat card. It’s like a business card, but it has your contact information for you on your boat. I am sorry, but I am not going to carry around a stack of cards to hand out, or put their cards into a card holder to refer to in the future. This is the 21st century people! What I have done so far is take a picture of their card and give it back or throw it away. Then I can contact them with my information (if I choose to). I met a guy in a bus stop that gave me his boat card. I am not going to hand out my contact information to everyone I meet. I have been planning to come up with a spreadsheet where I could input all this information.
We recently read a tip about using Evernote for important documents. Then if we are away from our boat, we could access this information through our phones, since it will sync with our phones, or through another computer. We are always trying to figure out how to store important documents. Some you need to have with you, but you could lose them if the boat goes down. So while I was working with this, I saw where you could upload photos of business cards, recipes, instructions and warrantees, etc. So I decided to try it with the boat cards. It is fantastic. I upload the boat card photo. Then I can add where I met them and when, maybe some info to help remember them, whatever I want. Each card is a “note” in my boat cards “notebook”. And I can search by any word, even if it’s in the text of the boat card photo. So in a year from now, if I want to remember the name of the guy we met in Charleston, I can search Charleston. Makes so much more sense to me than flipping through a book of boat cards. Besides, I couldn’t remember how to do a spreadsheet, so this saved me. I am still computer challenged, but I am learning.
When the UPS truck arrived today, no one was in the marina office, so they didn’t leave our packages!! Dave is going to camp out at the office tomorrow.
One thing I did accomplish was to input “boat cards” into a system on our computer called Evernote. Everyone we meet gives us a boat card. And they keep telling us we need to get our own boat card. It’s like a business card, but it has your contact information for you on your boat. I am sorry, but I am not going to carry around a stack of cards to hand out, or put their cards into a card holder to refer to in the future. This is the 21st century people! What I have done so far is take a picture of their card and give it back or throw it away. Then I can contact them with my information (if I choose to). I met a guy in a bus stop that gave me his boat card. I am not going to hand out my contact information to everyone I meet. I have been planning to come up with a spreadsheet where I could input all this information.
We recently read a tip about using Evernote for important documents. Then if we are away from our boat, we could access this information through our phones, since it will sync with our phones, or through another computer. We are always trying to figure out how to store important documents. Some you need to have with you, but you could lose them if the boat goes down. So while I was working with this, I saw where you could upload photos of business cards, recipes, instructions and warrantees, etc. So I decided to try it with the boat cards. It is fantastic. I upload the boat card photo. Then I can add where I met them and when, maybe some info to help remember them, whatever I want. Each card is a “note” in my boat cards “notebook”. And I can search by any word, even if it’s in the text of the boat card photo. So in a year from now, if I want to remember the name of the guy we met in Charleston, I can search Charleston. Makes so much more sense to me than flipping through a book of boat cards. Besides, I couldn’t remember how to do a spreadsheet, so this saved me. I am still computer challenged, but I am learning.
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