Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Daytona and beyond


Its been clear and cold here in north FLA (30s at night, 50s day) so we've been moving ever southwards. We did make St. Augustine on Sunday, staying in the Salt Run anchorage (ICW mile 777), which was crowded with moored boats but had a great view of the Anastasia Lighthouse (above), a handy park with dock, and no tidal current, which was a nice change. We did have a 1-2 knot head current slowing us most of the day on Sunday.

To avoid more head-current, we got going early Monday and made a short run to Matanzas Inlet (mile 792), anchoring right off Fort Matanzas (below), which is a national monument. The fort was built by Spain in the 1700's to protect against a back-door attack on St Augustine, but the name Matanzas has a gruesome history dating back to 1565. It was a bit tricky getting into the inlet due to shoaling in the ICW there but we got some good advice from another boater and snaked our way in, dropping the big CQR anchor (which we've been using 90% of the time lately due to tidal currents) into a swift current.

We dinghied over to the national monument HQ, where we walked the nature trail boardwalk, and played on a sandy beach. After lunch aboard Spray we snoozed and read in the sun, then some more beach play.

Today we got an early start towards Daytona Beach. This time we had a knot or so of current helping us, and although it was cool, the strong sun coaxed us upstairs to drive from the flying bridge - very pleasant. We made great time and reached Daytona by 1 pm. Riggs was enjoying snoozing in sun so I decided to continue on another 10 miles to our current anchorage in New Smyrna Beach (mile 847). My brother Steve should be impressed that we traveled 55 miles today. Once again we're in strong tidal current, just off the ICW channel. We've already been to shore to empty Riggs and explore downtown. Time to make supper. Tomorrow: an easy 30-mile run down to Titusville FLA.



Saturday, December 26, 2009

Christmas in Florida!


Just Barely in Florida... Fernandina Beach is the very first town you hit after crossing the GA-FLA border.

We spent Tuesday night in St. Marys GA (off of ICW mile 712) which is on the St Marys River (duh) which forms the GA-FLA border. Since we anchored in the river, we might have slept exactly on that border. St. Marys is another very nice town, with a waterfront park and nice downtown. Riggs and I had a late lunch on the front deck of a restaurant that made good fish tacos and spectacular hush puppies. We also saw an interesting art gallery full of paintings of Barak Obama, made from various press photos.

Wednesday we had a very short (6 miles) cruise to Fernandina Beach (mile 716), first stopping at Florida Petroleum, which is THE place to load up on marine diesel. Its all they sell and I paid $2.52/gal for 120 gallons, which is 20-30 cents less than any marina around here. By the way, our last fill-up was back in Beaufort NC, more than 500 miles ago, so Spray is maintaining better than 4 mpg, which is great.

After filling the tanks we picked up a rental mooring in front of Fernandina Harbor Marina, and paid for 3 nights stay ($15/night which includes dinghy access, showers, trash and pumpout services). So we stayed in Fernandina Beach through Christmas, which was a good choice. For one thing, we finally saw some warm weather, especially Christmas Eve (Thurs.) which was in the 70's.

Thursday was a day for walking. Riggs and I walked through downtown where we found much of interest (see photo), then across the barrier island (2 miles) to the beach on the Atlantic where we walked and played chuck-it, then 2 miles back to Spray where I parked a (hopefully) tired Riggs.

Then I took off and walked 2 miles to the local multiplex and saw a matinee showing of Avatar3D, which was very cool (plus I got a free pair of sunglasses!), and then back to Spray, with a detour to a pet 'bakery' for a little last-minute shopping.

Christmas was nice and quiet. We walked through the town which was deserted and peaceful, and had a feast aboard Spray (used 2 pots!). This morning the weather had shifted back to cold (50's) so we filled the water tank, emptied the holding tank, and cruised 25 miles south to anchor just north of the St. Johns River. We are technically in Jacksonville at a place called Sisters Creek (mile 739).

Tomorrow we'll get an early start and should reach St. Augustine.

Monday, December 21, 2009

The souther we get, the colder it feels!


Its not the people who are cold, its the weather. I know it is getting to be late December, but we're within spitting distance of Florida (assuming you can spit 25 miles), and its been in the 30's at night and tops out in the mid 50's in the afternoon. Its been plenty of incentive to keep moving south.

Riggs and I left Charleston (ICW mile 470) last Wednesday (as caught on video by Jeff Siegel here: http://takingpaws.blogspot.com/2009/12/bills-departure.html ) and spent the night in Mosquito Creek (mile 513), at the microscopic town of Bennetts Point SC. One thing we look for at an anchorage is some shore access for Riggs, and this is often in the form of a boat ramp with a dock we can tie the dinghy to. Riggs can then chase the tennis ball in the boat trailer parking area, if there is no better option. We did that, and Riggs met some local pooches, and we walked around a bit.

Thursday we continued on to beautiful Beaufort SC (important to pronounce it 'bew-fert') at ICW mile 536, and found several boats anchored there. A tour of the town explained why: very boater friendly with a nice waterfront park and free dinghy dock. The downtown boasts many restaurants and those along the waterfront have outdoor dining where dogs are allowed, so Riggs and I shared our 3rd restaurant meal of the trip. We had a 2-hour walk around town, and even found a marine store that stocked fuel filters for Spray's diesel. I thought of staying 2 nights in Beaufort, but a big rainstorm was predicted for the next day. Spray is actually pretty comfortable to drive in the rain, so we motored out on rainy Friday.

And rain it did! This storm ended up becoming the blizzard that hit the mid-atlantic coast over the weekend, but here it was warm (upper 60's) and rained 2-3" on coastal SC. We cruised up to mile 570 and dropped anchor in the New River, near Daufuskie Island, which has a rich history, and a new development where brother Steve has purchased a lot for his future retirement home. We went to shore at Daufuskie Landing (boat ramp!) and wanted to explore the island but the weather was too nasty (plus its a pretty big island).

The rain ended Friday night but there were gale-force winds which, combined with the strong tidal currents, made for a rockin time. When the wind aligns with the current its OK as Spray points her bow into the waves, but 6 hours later the current reverses, and Spray doesn't know where to point, and maybe the waves hit from the stern or worse, from abeam. On a night like this you put a lot of faith in the ground tackle. I've been working on improving my anchoring techniques and its paying off.

Saturday we quickly crossed into Georgia, crossing the Savannah River (we had to thread our way through busy ship traffic) and battling strong westerly winds (these raised a stiff chop in the sounds we crossed), we ended up near mile 614 in Kilkenny Creek (reference to South Park?), which had nice trees to block the west winds. We had a much more comfortable night here.

A word about dolphins (like Flipper). We see loads of those every day, and they always impress. They are quite large and very active. I had one great experience where a dolphin was riding our bow wave and I put Spray's helm straight and went to the bow to look down for a couple minutes as the the dolphin jumped forwards again & again. On the other hand its a bit disconcerting when we are in the dinghy and a pair of dolphins dives right underneath us and you can feel the wake from them.

And a word about channel depths. In parts of SC and especially in GA, maintenance of the ICW has been put off, so there are several channels that are shoaling, creating scary numbers on the depthfinder. On the other hand, the tides here are significant (8'), and we've been fortunate with our timing, with rising tides in the morning, high tides mid-day, and ebbing tides in the afternoon, usually after we have anchored.

OK, where were we? Oh yes, leaving Kilkenny Creek on Sunday morning. Still strong westerlies, but not as bad as the previous day. In fact, while its quite cold, we have wall-to-wall sun. Spray has large windows and gets a nice greenhouse effect thing going on a day like this. We cruise another 35 miles (have you noticed how much we like ~ 35 mile days? Leave at 9am and drop anchor at 2 pm) and anchor in the Duplin River, near ICW mile 650. Plenty of time to dinghy to the ferry landing at Sapelo Island, where the U of GA has a Marine Center, which we visit on a georgeous 4 mile walk.

A calm night Sunday brings us to this morning, when we continue south (for ~35 miles of course) to our present anchorage off of Jekyll Island (mile 685). Our anchorages since leaving Charleston (except for Beaufort) have a common factor of remoteness and poor (very poor) ATT web access. Here we are much more civilized since Jekyll is a resort island with hotels, a shopping center, and so on. We took a long walk to explore (a bike would be nice here) and made it to the broad beach on the Atlantic which Riggs loved. Tomorrow morning I will walk 1.5 miles to the grocery store to buy supplies. Then onwards: probably to St. Marys GA, a pretty town near the FLA border.

Note that we've developed a routine: leaving at a leisurely 9 am or so after shore time (empty the dog) and breakfast (Grits!), cruising for 5 hours or so, then time to explore the new location. I could get used to this.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Charleston is great!


We've really enjoyed our week in Charleston SC but, as you can see, they do communicate a bit differently here. Note the palms.

Its obvious that we did pop for the extra marina fees to stay here for a week. In part this was to have more time to do Christmas shopping, boat maintenance (oil change!), and see more of this lovely city, but its also a factor of the Charleston Maritime Center's pricing scheme. For example our last 4 days here cost only 2/3 of our first 3 days. If we extend the stay to a month, the remaining 3+ weeks costs the same as our first week. Its tempting but we've gotta move southwards.

The weather has been mixed: 70's and mostly sunny today, but plenty of rain and cold in the past days. Since we have shore power, I bought a small electric heater that was perfect to keep Spray warm on the cold nights we've had.

The best part of hanging here has been to visit with cruising friends (and fellow Castiners) Karen & Jeff Siegel. We've shared some great meals (especially last night's 'dinner party for five' aboard their boat), evening movies (we've been turned on to 'Red Box'), much boat talk, walks around town, and doggie play times with Riggs and their two labs Dyna & Dylan. They will be leaving Charleston in early Jan. to head south. My guess is that we will rendevous again in the FLA Keys.

This big-city living and marina comfort can be addicting, but its time to head down the ICW and live on the anchor. We'll fill the water tank tomorrow, do some final grocery shopping, and get going. In two days we should be in Beaufort SC.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Into the low country of SC


Riggs and I have been moving southwards in search of warmer weather. On Saturday we left Wrightsville Beach (ICW mile 283) and kept to the ICW, stopping for the night at a free dock in Southport NC (mile 309). We had time to explore Southport's nice downtown area, and did some Christmas shopping there.

Sunday we crossed into SC and stayed overnight at Barefoot Landing (mile 354), a large open-air shopping complex built around an artificial lake and having a long marina-dock along the ICW. Yes, we actually paid to stay there! The dock filled up but the shops were mostly empty. I was overdue for a shower and was disappointed to find that they had no such facilities, plus we were tied up just below the picture windows of a Greg Norman's Australian Grille restaurant. If I did my normal bath on Spray's rear deck I could cause some diners to lose their surf&turf.

So it was a ripe captain who on Monday piloted Spray down the Waccamaw river, one of the prettiest sections of the ICW so far. We past remote Bucksport SC which I'm told has some connection to Bucksport Maine, and eventually pulled of the ICW into Thoroughfare Creek at mile 389 and dropped anchor opposite a huge sand dune that Riggs really enjoyed playing on. Plenty of privacy there for my much-needed bath.

We are now into the SC low country (even though I haven't seen a 100' hill since NY), which is marshland covered with grasses. We are also back into a region of significant tides, and the anchorages have changing currents as a result. Tuesday we continued south (actually more westerly), pausing to tour the harbor of Georgetown SC, which looks to be worth a stop on the return trip. For our overnight we chose 5 Fathom Creek, which is near McClellanville SC. The creek is surrounded by grass-covered marsh (see photo above) but a dinghy ride to explore town was worth it. A fishing community with huge old live oaks dripping with spanish moss.

Since the wind was expected to kick up on Wednesday, and the 5 Fathom Creek has significant reversing currents, we tried using 2 anchors off Spray's bow, one upstream in the creek and one downstream. This seemed to hold during the night but when I woke up at 6:30 am I noticed two things: 1) the wind had certainly kicked up and 2) we were moving!. One of the anchors had broken free and had wrapped its line around the other's. I immediately fired up Spray's diesel and spent an hour getting things untangled and got us underway.

I had originally planned for a liesurely 25 mile cruise today to leave us just 15 miles short of Charleston, but since we were underway so early, and since the wind was screaming, I instead called the marina in Charleston and asked if they could take us a day early. They said yes so we plowed forward into a strong headwind and opposing current. While the wind was strong, the ICW was mostly protected so waves were minimal, until we finally burst into wide Charleston Harbor, where a nasty 4 foot confused sea welcomed us.

We were taking the waves on our port bow, with huge spray dowsing the windshield, when my cell phone rang. It was Jeff Siegel who was expecting our arrival in Charleston tomorrow but was monitoring our progress via our Spot tracker. He says 'Are you in Charleston Harbor?' and I get directions from him on how to find the Charleston Maritime Center while struggling to keep Spray upright. A very bouncy 10 minutes later Spray is pulling into the marina while Jeff and Karen come to the slip to meet us (with Jeff filming on his iPhone - see at their blog: http://takingpaws.blogspot.com/ )

So after a rather hairy morning (what with dragging anchors, high winds and waves, etc) we got Spray tied up and Riggs emptied (thanks Karen!) and the Siegels invited us aboard their trawler 'Acapella' for a lunch of wonderful soup. Riggs and the Siegel's dogs Dyna & Dylan formed an uneasy relationship due to turf issues and size differences. I hope some outdoor play tomorrow will make them (Riggs that is) more comfortable with each other.

This marina (Charleston Maritime Center) is small and ideally located next to Charleston's French Quarter. Riggs and I have taken two long walks, checking out the shops and scads of restaurants. Right now I've paid for three nights here, but I'm tempted to extend that to a week. Stay tuned.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Travel adventures


There have been only two days of travel since my last entry, but several interesting events occurred which I want to record.

Thursday morning we woke in Beaufort NC (mile 202 on the ICW) to sun and moderate winds after the big wind/rain/thunderstorms of Wednesday night. Fortunately we were in a snug anchorage (Town Creek). After raising anchor we hit a nearby marina to fill Spray's fuel and water tanks and headed west past Morehead City and into Bogue Sound, which is quite shallow (3-5 ft typ.) except for where the ICW channel is cut (more like 12 ft deep). There was a decent headwind in Bogue Sound, so allthough Spray was all washed off from the heavy rain, she was soon again covered in salt spray.

Eventually Bogue Sound narrowed down to a bunch of flat islands and meandering channels, as we approached our evening destination of Swansboro NC (mile 229 on the ICW). We were about 2 miles from Swansboro, just passing Bogue inlet when I noticed a US Coast Guard patrol boat (A big inflatable with 2 huge outboards) dawdling up ahead. Sure enough, when we got close, they turned on their blue flashing lights and called Spray on VHF channel 16, asking when we had last been boarded for inspection. I answered 'never' and they asked me to maintain course and speed while they came up alongside. After confirming that Riggs was not aggressive (obnoxious maybe but not aggressive) two soldiers jumped aboard, while two more remained on the CG boat.

So I'm trying to drive Spray into a strong head-current, hang onto Riggs, and introduce myself and Spray to the soldiers. I quickly realized that letting Riggs go to check them out would settle him down, and after a few sniffs and pats Riggs mellowed right out. The CG guys looked over Spray, including below in the engine room and in the lazarette, and wanted to see my documentation. I suggested we wait until I could pull into Swansboro and drop anchor, and they agreed. I still had my hands full as the Swansboro anchorage was quite choppy, with opposing wind and current, and I couldn't get Spray's anchor to set properly. It would hold our position until I backed down on it when it would drag. Finally I decided to shut down Spray's engine so we could finish the inspection and I'd deal with the anchor later.

The CG guys went over Spray's documentation, inspected the head connections, checked PFD's, flares, fire extinguishers, etc. and awarded Spray a perfect score, for which I have to thank Dave Wyman and Jeff&Karen Siegel for their contributions. Even better, after the CG left, I restarted the engine and found that the current had pulled on the anchor and it was now well set.

Once we are at anchor I usually feel like cracking open a Yuengling (official beer of the cruise) and kicking back for a bit but Riggs will not hear of it. He makes a fuss until we get the dinghy unloaded and are headed to shore. So we tied up at Swansboro's dinghy dock and did the explore town/empty-the-dog routine. Swansboro is a pretty town but like many I've seen, all of the shops near the water sell gifts or antiques or such. Useful stores like grocery or hardware are usually a mile walk or more.

By the time we returned to Spray, the anchorage had calmed down considerably, so we had an easy night. Today we wanted to cover some distance so we hit shore at first light to empty the dog, and were underway by 7:30. At last the ICW conforms to my mental images of it, travelling down narrow waterways that separate barrier islands from the mainland. Today we were always within a mile or two of the big, bad ocean, but we never saw it as we traveled. An interesting thing today was passing through Camp LeJeune, where they occasionally have weapons firing across the ICW (see photo above). Their warning sign was flashing, but we saw no patrol boats which would be there to stop us if there was live-fire (so I'm told), so we scooted through with our heads kept low. Caught some glimpses of big hovercraft things, helicopters, and a landing craft being loaded, but nothing went boom while we were there.

Our goal today was Wrightville Beach NC (mile 283 on the ICW) and it became a 'race for the bridges'. Almost all of the drawbridges we have seen up to today were on an 'open-on-request' schedule. Today we had 3 bridges that opened either on the half-hour or on the hour only. We did well with the first one (Onslow Beach), arriving just a few minutes before it opened. The 2nd bridge (Figure Eight Island) was about 2-1/2 hours later and we should have sped up to make the 2 pm opening but instead arrived at 2:15. There was almost no road traffic on the bridge so I asked the bridge operator for an unscheduled opening so we could have a shot at the 3:00 opening at the 3rd bridge (Wrightville). No dice. So when we got through we had about 28 minutes to cover the 5 miles to the 3rd bridge, or we would have to wait another hour to get through (which involves somewhat uncomfortable 'hovering' near the bridge with a current trying to push you into it). It was pedal-to-the-metal for Spray, roaring along at 2000 rpm, and making over 9 knots (with some help from the current). We could see the bridge from 3 miles away and it slowly grew closer as the clock ticked towards 3:00. Thanks to that current we made it just in time, then quickly turned left to get to tonights anchorage at Wrightville Beach.

Wrightville Beach is a surfer's town, plus it has scads of condos and beach houses common on the outer banks. The dinghy dock here is just 2 blocks from the beach, and Riggs had a great time playing ball near the pounding surf. We rewarded our big travel day with a take-out pizza brought back to Spray. And I finally got my Yuengling.


Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Recipes from Spray


There's a gale blowin' outside so Riggs and I are still in the well-protected Town Creek anchorage at Beaufort NC. Good ATT access here so why not another blog entry. While buddy Dave was aboard I did most of the cooking and he did most of the dishwashing. Dave seemed to enjoy what I cooked so I thought I'd share some dishes. I claim that Spray has 'some of the comforts of home' which includes a 3-burner propane stove but we also live just a few notches above camping standards, so you should compare these recipes to a standard such as Dinty Moore canned stew.

Root veg. medley : This falls into the category of 'one-pot-wonders' which is an asset when the cook is also the dishwasher.
-Put frying pan on heat and pour in ~ 1/4 cup olive oil.
-Cut up a potato and put chunks in hot oil. Cover.
-Cut up a couple carrots and add to pan. Cover.
-Cut up an onion and add to pan. Cover.
-Cut up some garlic and add to pan. Cover.
-Think of something else to add such as broccoli pieces or canned beet chunks. Add those and cover.
- Stir things now and then and serve when everything is cooked.

Bill's beautiful beans: Also a one pot wonder.
- Put frying pan on heat and pour in a splash of olive oil.
- Cut up an onion and add to pan. Cover.
- While onions cook open 2 cans of beans. Beans must be of different colors such as:
- Kidneys and cannelinis
- Baked and black
- you get the idea
- Pour beans into pan. Cover.
- If either can of beans has flavoring (chile, tomato, etc.) you are done when things are hot. Otherwise add some spices - whatever you have,
- After serving and consuming, ventilate boat.

Pasta with enhanced red sauce :
- Select ~ 8 oz of pasta (Spag. or Penne or whatever) and cook in boiling water.
- Put frying pan on heat and pour in a splash of olive oil.
- Cut up an onion and add to pan. Cover.
- When onion is mostly cooked add some red sauce from a jar.
- Open a tin of tuna (I use solid albacore in water), pour liquid onto Rigg's supper, and add tuna to sauce. Use fork to bust up tuna chunks.
- Serve sauce over cooked pasta.
(This meal can be cooked with one pot. Email me for details.)

Fritata ala Spray : (Dave didn't get to sample this as we had no eggs)
- Put frying pan on low heat and pour in ~ 1/4 cup olive oil.
- Slowly saute some cut-up onions, garlic, red peppers, mushrooms, etc. (go for some color). Cover pan.
- Crack 6 eggs into a bowl and whip them up with a fork.
- When vegs are soft pour in eggs and cook slowly with cover on pan.
- If you have broiler, put uncovered pan under broiler when almost all cooked, otherwise just finish cooking in covered pan.

If any reader comes to cruise on Spray, this is the type of gourmet cuisine that can be expected.




Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Time to move southwards


Riggs and I are on our own again and are in Beaufort NC (pronounced bow-fort and not to be confused with Beaufort SC which is pronounced bew-fert even though both cities are named after the same guy). Good friend Dave Wyman was aboard for over 2 weeks but drove north from New Bern NC this morning. We had a great time exploring the large estuaries of eastern NC.

Let's see... the last blog entry had us celebrating Thanksgiving in lovely Washington NC up the Pamlico River. Windy weather (and the beauty of Washington) prompted us to stay there 2 nights, so we got to sample some of their many restaurants plus we walked to a West Marine store where Dave bought himself a Christmas present of a Garmin 400c hand-held chartplotter which was on black-Friday sale for half price. It has all US marine charts loaded in it and is an impressive gadget. We had fun playing with it over the last few days.

Riggs really liked Washington since we could play chuck-it only steps from the boat. You've never seen obsession like he has for that tennis ball. Also, by staying an extra day, Dave and I were able to tour Washington's Estuarium which is a great museum based on NC's huge estuaries. Really well done.

About mid-day Saturday we motored down the Pamlico river to Bath NC which bills itself as the oldest town in NC (est 1705). They have a free state-owned dock and some beautiful old homes.

When cruising I like to alternate between longer travel days (say 7 hours cruising) and shorter days (maybe 3 hours), with occasional no-travel days tossed in (usually by the weatherman). Washington to Bath was a short day which we followed by a longer cruise on Sunday to Oriental NC, a sailor's town on Pamlico Sound. They have a small free dock that was occupado so we instead anchored in nearby Green's Creek and took the inflatable (Dave calls them deflatables) to the dinghy dock. The cruise to Oriental included a nice mix of wide sounds and narrow canal travel. When we land at a new town an exploratory walk is usually the first task, and Oriental is a nice town to explore. But I think what we will most remember about Oriental is the great supper we had at the M&M Cafe. Dave says it was the best meal we shared during his time aboard Spray.

If you look at a map of eastern NC you will see the huge areas of Abermarle and Pamlico Sounds, and the 3 arms that stretch westwards: Western Abermarle, Pamlico River, and Neuse River. We had explored the first 2 arms based on sheer curiosity and Dave gave us a good reason to travel up the Neuse since only up there in New Bern could he find a car rental for his return trip. So on Monday it was up the Neuse we went. New Bern is a large town (Craven County seat) with a new convention center, a great waterfront park (chuck-it!), and yes, free town docks. After docking, we did our exploratory walk, then had supper aboard Spray. This morning (Tuesday) I had planned for breakfast aboard Spray but it was sorta cold, so we opted for a restaurant breakfast at the nearby Hilton hotel. It was ritzy but I preferred the diner-type breakfasts we had earlier.

After Dave's taxi picked him up today, Riggs and I fired up Spray's 135 HP Ford-Lehman diesel, and we raced back down the Neuse River (at 7 mph), through the Adams Creek Canal, and arrived here in Beaufort NC by 4 pm, anchoring in well-protected Town Creek, on the back-side of town. We were welcomed into the Beaufort area by several dolphins, which was very cool. At Rigg's insistance, we dinghied ashore and explored the town a bit before retiring back to Spray.

There is a gale warning up for tomorrow into Thursday, so we may be pinned down here. If its not bad in the morning, we may fill the fuel & water tanks, and then cruise 25 miles down to Swansboro, thus moving ever southwards. We'll see.