Thursday, July 15th 2010

Got up this morning, ready to take off, and the instruments would not function properly. Then we couldn’t even start the engine!! Finally had Tow Boat US tow us over to the St. John Marina, about 200 feet away. After many, many phone calls, we finally found someone who could be here Friday morning. In the meantime, swimming!!! This is a brand new marina, with a beautiful pool area, and the nicest restrooms, yet! We took advantage of the nice pool, and spent several hours there and lounging in the shade. There was a nice cool breeze blowing off the bay.
Dave has found a new profession. Deer Fly Terminator. Sitting by the pool, his count got up to 14! Much better than having them buzz your head while in the pool. I’m sure the other pool people thought he was nuts! They are not very smart insects though.

It was kind of nice to have a day off today, and we are certainly in a beautiful place to have it.

Friday July 16th 2010

Up early! Electrician came – was here for 1 hour. He replaced a broken terminal, and we were on our way. The trip through Charleston Harbor was wonderful! Sailed right by Fort Sumter again.
After many long hours, we dropped the anchor in the South Santee River. Had another wonderful deck shower, and turned in for the night.

Saturday July 17th 2010

While Dave was pulling up the anchor, I spotted my first alligator!!! About 10 feet off the boat. Thankfully, his beady little eyes were not looking at me!
Not too far from there, Dave spotted another alligator, this time in the North Santee River. This day was a beautiful trip through the cypress swamps to Osprey Marina, just south and West of Myrtle Beach. We turned into a small break in the cypress trees, through a narrow canal, and in a hole in the swamp, was the marina. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get the boat into the narrow slip they indicated. I swear it was 5 feet from the bank. Right next to a 48 foot Carolina Kingfisher Power Boat. I got her in, but I wonder about how we’ll get her out.

Local restaurant, Santori’s Italian restaurant, came by and picked us up and delivered us to a delicious meal. Afterwards, we went next door to get a few groceries, then they zipped us right back to the marina. Such a deal!!!

Sunday, July 18th 2010

We tried for over an hour to find a rental car, with no luck!! One of the employees offered to let us use her car. Can you believe it?? We drove from Murrell Inlet, through Myrtle Beach, and to the South Carolina-North Carolina border and back down.
We took a loooooonnnngggg walk on the Atlantic beach, and had lunch at the Wacca Wache Marina at Hannah Bananas. Then we were off to DQ for our sorely missed Blizzards. Mmmmmmm!

After washing, vacuuming, and gassing up the car, we arrived back at the marina with 10 minutes to spare.

Monday July 19th 2010

On our way again, after expert assistance from the dockmaster in getting her out. After a short time, we were in North Carolina, where the cypress swamps continued and we found a lot of palatial homes with beautiful swimming pools, complete with waterfalls. We ended up at the St. James Plantation, where we had a drink and dinner at the Tiki Bar. We met Al and Peggy (think “Married With Children”) from New Jersey. They are building a new home at St. James.

Tuesday July 20th 2010

We didn’t leave St. James until almost 11:00am, due to the low tides. I had worried a bit about how to get away from the dock and turned around, but Dream Ketcher didn’t let me down. We were on our way and enjoying the cypress swamps in no time. We cruised all the way to Wrightsville Beach, NC. We had to go down another narrow and shallow canal to get to the anchoring grounds, where we finally got anchored (after the 3rd try). The wind was really blowing, and it was difficult to get the anchor to dig in.

We then had our first inflatable launch. As we slowly lowered her down from the dinghy davits, the line going through it, which looked fairly new, began to crumble and fray, right before our eyes!! But we got her down. Back at the Isle of Hope, Dave needed to get some of the rain water out of the dinghy, so he managed to pull the plug out of the end of the dinghy. It never got replaced. We figured that as soon as Dave stepped into the dinghy, it would begin to fill with seawater, and he would have to work quickly to put the plug in. Boy! Were we ever lucky! With Dave in the dinghy, the plug was still just above the water level, so it was fairly easy to get the plug in!

Next came the excitement of starting the outboard motor for the first time! More power!! Dave was doing everything he thought he should, but it just wouldn’t start. Time to get out the manual!! I checked to make sure he had done everything correctly, and came to the conclusion that he had flooded the engine with gas. So he waited a bit, and “Voila!!” it started right up!

Our next challenge was to get from the boat to the dinghy dock. Some sailing club was having their weekly sailing regatta, that we had to motor around. Dave did a good job, and soon the dinghy was tied up to the dock.

We walked around town a bit, then ended up having a beer and a burger at the local Mexican restaurant. Afterwards, we walked a block and saw the great Atlantic, before heading back to the dinghy. On the trip back to Dream Ketcher, we noticed that Aussie Dave had sailed into the harbor while we were at dinner. Back safely on the boat, we chatted with Dave on the radio.

After another refreshing deck shower, we headed for bed.

Wednesday July 21st 2010

This was a very strange day indeed!! Our first mistake was in not checking the tide chart before we left Wrightsville Beach. We went aground in the channel 3 times, each time managing to put the boat in reverse, and get us going again. The trip North was a little scarey, as we kept encountering low water.

We got to one of the bridges a little early for opening. While we were circling, we managed to go aground again!!!! This time, we were having trouble getting off, and the bridge was preparing to open, when a fisherman came along side in his skiff, and offered to pull us off. After 2 tries, it finally worked!! The bridge tender was kind enough to wait until we were free, before opening the bridge. Very Nice!

We pulled into Surf City, NC around 2:00pm. After more depth stress, going through the channel, we finally got moored at the Beach House Marina. The dock was quite nice, but as we approached the marina office, I realized that this place wasn’t quite as nice as the marina book said it was. We had to walk through a sandy-grassy field to get to the office. Then we found out that the $1.00 per foot fee, was now $2.00 per foot, per night. Yikes!! The restrooms were filthy! And, there was only one shower! Also filthy!! One washer and one dryer, but it was only a buck a load (one bright spot!). The biggest disappointment?? No swimming pool!!! We had selected this marina because it was very close to the home of one of George Kuchenbecker’s old B-24 buddies. It was time for them to join us on our journey North.

Dave and I did a little exploring around town, and found that the DQ was only across the parking lot from the marina. After partaking of our favorite diet food, we went back to the boat and started our clean-up and project time.

His parents arrived around 7:30pm. We visited for a bit, then went with them to their friend Bill’s home. It was beautiful! Right on the Atlantic Beach. After a brief visit, we had dinner at “Daddy Mac’s”, then back to the boat.

Thursday July 22nd 2010

Right next to us in the marina, is a big boat called “the Belle of Topsail”. She looks like an old riverboat. They take out groups of people for one or two hour cruises. One that they do is a Pirate Cruise, for kids. They are encouraged to wear costumes. They also do a cruise with Captain Tiger, the circus dog, and he does tricks for all the people. The owners of this operation were very friendly and fun to talk with.

This morning, Bill’s daughter and her 2 grandsons, accompanied him to come see the boat. The boys are 5 and 3, and were totally infatuated with the sailboat. Very well behaved boys, too!

We spent the rest of the day making a trip to Wilmington, to get some supplies at West Marine, and do our provisioning at Walmart. Our biggest challenge was trying to fit everything we bought into the trunk of the rental car. Dave, the masterpacker prevailed!!! After a late lunch, we headed back to the boat for the chore of packing everything away!

George and Gloria took a nap while we were waiting to hear from Bill. It was too late for dinner, when we heard from him, and we were still full from lunch, so we ended the day with a walk to the slowest DQ ever. Then we headed back to the boat and a good nights sleep.

Friday July 23rd 2010

We are still having some intermittent electrical problems, so Dave arranged for an electrician to come at 8:00am. By 10:30am, he had still not arrived! Rather than sit around and wait, I decided that it was time to do the laundry. I hauled it all up to the marina office, and the ONE washing machine. After numerous trips back and forth, it was nearly all done, so Gloria and I decided to do a little shopping!

We spent nearly 2 hours in the same store, looking at all they had to offer, and laughing at the card selection they had. What fun!! Then it was back to the boat, where Dave had abandoned his wait for the electrician, and was now deep into sludge from a blocked head (toilet). He was finally able to get it cleared, after another trip to Lowe’s for more tools. One more project on his list completed! (The electrician finally called and said he would come first thing Saturday morning! Yeah, right!)

We ended the day by going to dinner with Bill at one of his favorite places. It was really good seafood!!

Saturday July 24th 2010

The electrician did show up!! Looked around, changed the battery connections and asked for $100.00. After he was gone, we headed into town to find a Post Office and an auto parts store. Easier said than done. Traffic on and off of Topsail Island, on a Saturday, is quite the test of patience. Being a vacation mecca, old renters are leaving and new renters are arriving. It can be quite the mess!

After our chores were done, we headed to Bill’s and some fun in the surf and sun. The ocean water was almost too warm, but felt great! The surf was a little wild, so I spent most of my time sitting in the shoreline, letting the water come to me. I sifted through the sand to find interesting and colorful shells. So relaxing!!
While George and Gloria returned the rental car, Dave and I stayed on the boat and worked on more projects. Later, we all had a fine meal and then watched a movie until it was time to go to bed! Tomorrow we will cast off our lines and continue the journey.

Sunday July 25th 2010

This morning we had a bon voyage party, when Bill showed up along with his daughter and great-grandsons. The boys loved being on the boat again, and thy waved and waved as we headed out of the harbor.

We headed up the ICW and ran into a few shallow areas, but managed to make it to Swansboro, NC. It was very hot all day! The wind was really blowing when we arrived at our destination, Dudley’s Marina. We were not too excited about the dock where they wanted to put us, and were rather nervous about how deep the water was, but they assured us that it would be okay. It was NOT okay! We ended up aground, very near to the dock, but had to sit for several hours until the tide came in, so we could actually tie to the dock. AAAARRRRGGGGGH!!!

We had thought about switching to another marina after we were afloat, but the wind had us trapped at the dock, so we elected to stay. George and Gloria took us out to dinner. Yummmy!

Now I sit here trying to catch up on my blog responsibilities. How did I get so behind?? It’s late, and we want to get up early and go out on the high tide, so I really need to get this posted and get to bed.

It has been fun sharing our adventure with Dave’s parents, and with all of you as well. We are really enjoying ourselves, and hope that all is well with all of you. We would love to know what is happening back home, so please feel free to leave a comment or email us. PLEASE!!! I may not get an email back to you for some, it’s hard enough to get this blog done.

Love & Hugs,

The Admiral