Miami to Marathon

11-26-11 thru 12-12-11

We left Miami on Saturday after getting fuel from the fuel barge. It’s a big yellow barge that moves around the Miami waterway and you pull up to it, tie up, and get fuel. We were concerned about it but it wasn’t a big deal. They operator was very helpful with instructions on tying up and getting away. Well, this fuel wasn’t as good a deal as our other fillups. But we are full and should not need fuel until summertime or later, depending on how much we move around.



Final views of Miami







Ken and Margaret had left earlier and were going a different route than we were. When you leave Miami, you can go inside the Keys or outside the Keys in Hawks Channel between the Keys and the reefs. Rocking B will be going inside for a day, and then they will move to the channel. We are concerned that the water crossing from inside to the channel will be too shallow for us so we are going directly to the channel.

After we fueled up we went to No Name Harbor in Biscayne Bay, south of Miami. We actually anchored outside the harbor near the island of Key Biscayne. We only traveled about 10 miles so we had a short day. We were bounced around by boats coming and going but it settled down near dusk.

"Stickhouses" near No Name Harbour

Key Biscayne Lighthouse

We had talked about going about 50 miles and anchoring but decide to go all the way to Marathon in 1 day. We knew the mooring field only had room for 15 boats our size and it is “first come first served” so we felt the sooner we got there the better. We had been told the some people had to wait for several days or longer to get a mooring.

We knew it would be a long day and were ready to leave as soon as it was light, about 6:15. We knew the water would be bad for the first part of the trip but knew it would get better as we turned into Hawk Channel.

The waves were 4-6 feet with a 5 second interval. That means the waves were coming every 5 seconds. That means rough water. I got to feeling bad and took some Bonine and laid down. I think there are some really crazy people that go by the name fishermen. They were out in those waves in small 16’ boats that were bouncing around like toys. No way would I do that. 

You can see how calm the water was after we got to Hawks Channel

The first 2 hours were rough, but as we turned more westerly, the waves settled down, but then the crabpots started. We were shocked since they were right in the middle of a marked channel. We had to keep a close eye out and be ready to change course at any time. The crabpots were difficult to see, since we were driving into the sun and the markers were hard to see. We actually ran over one. Shay didn’t see it until it was too late, so he cut the speed to idle and put the engines in neutral. He told me to watch out to see if it came up or not. We had a few tense seconds, but finally it popped up and we were ok. We got started and paid even closer attention after that.

About 3 pm, we called the marina and asked about a mooring. He told us they had some open, but he couldn’t reserve one for us until we were closer. When we asked when they closed, he told me at 5:45. I told him I knew we would not be there before they closed and he told me to call at 5:00 and he would see what he could do. I called a little after 5 told him we would be there about 6 and he gave us an assignment and told us we could register in the morning. We were glad. If we had not gotten a mooring we would have had to anchor in an area that we were not familiar with and didn’t have a lot of places to anchor.

We pulled in at dark and thank goodness Ken and Margaret were there. They came out in their dinghy and found our mooring ball for us… we couldn’t see in the dark. I had asked the guy what kind of pennant the mooring had and he told me 15’ of rope. So I was ready to pull the line up and cleat if off. Well, of course it wasn’t just rope; it had a thimble on it so I had to drop it. We came back by and I couldn’t get the rope with the boathook. Ken and Margaret to the rescue again. They took my rope, passed it through the thimble, and gave it back to me to cleat. Then we ran another line through and we were secured. They offered to take us to a restaurant close by since we were all starving and we were all ready to eat. We had had a long, rough, 12 hour day on the water.

We got registered the next morning and got acquainted with our winter home. We decided there are some strange people in Marathon. They have been here a long time and have lost touch with the real world. We call them the “tree people” since they sit out under the trees near the dumpsters everyday.

When we were in Vero Beach, Shay went to the lounge early in the morning to talk to the other guys and tell boating stories. Well he tried that here, but it didn’t really work out. There were a few people sitting around but they were different. He was pretty sure that one was smoking pot, but the other told him he was smoking a dried herb from Hispanic health food stores. He said it was cheaper than pot, was about ½ as powerful, and you could still pass a drug screen test if you used it. Shay told him that was good to know.

Now don’t get me wrong… not all the people down here are like that, but we haven’t been able to find out where the others gather. Maybe they just get together on their boats.

When I tell people about Marathon, I keep saying the economy is depressed but Shay corrects me. He said he doesn’t think the economy was every any better. It’s always been like this. There are a lot of empty buildings, no hotel chains like Holiday Inn, and no restaurant chains except Wendy’s, McDonald's and IHOP.

But there are palm trees, beautiful blue/green water, blue sky with fluffy white clouds and a breeze blowing…what more do we need. The scenery changes constantly. Every time the wind blows us around we have a different view.



There are lots of boats here!



 


Beautiful rainbow



We have been pretty active since getting here. We have taken Ken and Margaret’s bikes for a ride and have gone walking several days. Of course we have to walk or bike to get groceries and anything else we need. We’ve checked out West Marine, Publix, Winn-Dixie, K-Mart, and some local stores.

We have enjoyed getting to know the cruisers here. We have been invited to other boats and have also had boaters to our boat. Shay likes to show off his improvements. We went by a boat the other night to invite them to come over to our boat to visit and the guy said he would love to come and he had already heard about our boat and all the things we had done. Everyone is interested in hearing about the solar panels.

The solar panels have really made a difference in how much we have to run the generator to charge batteries. On clear days with lots of sunshine, we do not have to run the generator to charge the batteries at all. We have had several cloudy days so the solar panels have not been able to keep the batteries fully charged, but they are still charged.

Shay just asked me if I wanted a piece of Key Lime Pie and I told him not now, I am getting ready to post this blog. The rainbow pictures are from yesterday. YES, I AM FINALLY CAUGHT UP!
Thanks to all of you that waited so patiently while I struggled through starting and catching up this blog. I promise I will try to stay up to date.

Vero through Miami

11-21-11 thru 11-26-11

Up and getting ready to leave. Its Jason’s birthday and we hope he has a good one. We got water at the marina then pulled out about 7:30. We can see dark clouds behind us and hope the bad weather stays away from us.

Stormy clouds behind us.

We will be in new waters now. We have passed the St. Lucie Inlet, which is where we came out of Lake Okeechobee Waterway on our way to Morehead City. So we will bravely go where we have not gone before… or something like that.

We got to Peck Lake and anchored at 2 pm.

We circled around the area to check out the depths for future anchoring. The name Peck Lake is deceiving, since it’s just a wide place off the ICW. But it does have a pretty beach and the ocean is just a little hike away. We keep seeing a ferry coming and going and wonder what is on the mainland. We hope we have good night and not too buggy. Skipper Bob says its “buggy”. If so we will close the doors and hope for a cool night. We can hear the snapping shrimp again. We have heard a few at other places, but they are louder here, I guess there are more in the warmer water. The island we are anchored near is not very wide and we can hear the waves breaking on shore on the other side. We both thought it was the wind at first, but when we checked, the wind was quiet.

We left Peck Lake about 6:45, it was a beautiful morning.

We got to the Lake Worth Inlet and anchored around 10:45. This is a busy inlet with a big turning basin. We had an easy day of travel and we glad to get here and get settled in early. Rocking B had gone outside from Fort Pierce and got there about 2 pm. We went for a dinghy ride with them to stretch our legs. The water is a beautiful blue-green color. It was so clear that we could see jellyfish swimming by.

Jellyfish

We talked with Ken and Margaret about plans for the next day. The next part of the trip will be very slow since there are 20 bridges. We can go under 10 of them with no problem, but the rest have to be raised. A few of those are on demand which means they will open them when we ask them too, but the others are going to be a problem. Some open on the hour and half-hour, some open every 20 minutes, and some open on the quarter to and quarter after. It would be a major undertaking to make all the bridges in a timely manner without either wasting a lot of fuel getting there or wasting a lot of time waiting for the opening. We talked to Rocking B and they are definitely going out since they have to have all the bridges opened for them. We checked the weather and looked at the outside route and decided to go outside too.  It will be a long day since we plan to come in at Miami.

Up and moving in the dark on 11-23-11. We pulled up anchor and were on the way by 5:30 and yes it is dark. Once we got to the inlet it was lit up like a runway so we had no problems. The weather called for 2-3 foot waves at 4 seconds apart in the morning and changing to 10 seconds later in the day. We went out to the sea buoy and turned south. We stayed closer to shore on this trip. When we went outside at Port Royal Sound, we were sometimes 29 miles off shore since the water is so shallow in some places. The water gets deep quick here so we were about ½ mile off shore most of the time. The waves were ok, but it was bouncy when we went downstairs. We actually picked up some speed from the cross currents off the Gulf Stream. We had planned to be on the water for about nine hours, but got to Miami and were anchored around 2 pm.

We came into a big busy area. We were lucky; as soon as we entered the inlet we took a shortcut to the Venetian Causeway and our anchorage.  Rocking B had to go a different way since they were too tall for the 35 foot bridge.

We are very close to the area that the cruise ships dock at and can see them across the waterway.

Miami skyline

  

Miami wildlife

 

They were as curious about us as we were about them.



  

The area we are in is beautiful, with big expensive houses and great scenery. There is one island called Star Island, where, yes you guessed it, the stars live. We went for a dinghy ride with Ken and Margaret and she kept telling us who lived on the island, but we weren’t sure who lived where. Stallone, Shaq, and I don’t remember who else.

We celebrated Turkey-day in Miami. It was 80 degrees, blue sky, fluffy white clouds, and gentle breeze. We said if we can’t be with our families, then Miamii is the place to be. We listened to Christmas music from the house we were anchored near all day long. They had a catered meal outside and I am sure they were not happy to see us in their waterway. But it’s a free world and they don’t own the water.

Margaret and I had bought supplies for the meal and it was great. We had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and red velvet cupcakes for dessert. We all were stuffed. It’s a good thing we brought our fixings, because the grocery store was closed on Thursday.

Shay and I were working on the blog on Friday and he said the boat wasn’t “swinging” right so he went outside to see what was wrong. The walked to the front of the boat and looked down at the anchor chain. It was wrapped around a sunken sailboat.

It was about 3 feet under water and did not have a mast. He called Ken and asked him to come over and give some advice. We cranked up and started pulling up the anchor and the sailboat started to move. We stopped, moved the boat around and pulled up again. Thank goodness, the chain came up with no problems. We decided to move and anchored in front of Rocking B.

Shay called the Coast Guard and told them about it and asked what they would do. They said they would make an “announcement to mariners” to tell them about the hazard. Shay asked if they would move it or put at caution marker up. No… just make the announcement a few times and that’s it. Well, we decided to post a caution on Active Captain, an interactive cruising guide that we use. It lets you post up to date information about marinas, anchorages, local information, and cautions. We also put a jug with a weight on it over the boat to warn others.  Maybe one of these will keep someone else from getting wrapped around it like we did.

St Augustine through Vero

11-1611 thru 11-21-11

We left St. Augustine in the fog.

 Bob called us on his radio as we were passing by and we thanked them again for their hospitality. It’s nice to have friends to stop in and see while traveling. St. Augustine is a beautiful place and

we plan to stop by again. The fog lifted and we had a good day. It was a windy day, partly sunny, but the water was pretty calm. 

Crabber

Fort Matanzas

We got to Rockhouse Creek, which is a lovely place and everyone must know about it. When we pulled into the anchorage, Rocking B was right behind us. We decided where we wanted to be and Rocking B decided to go behind us. Before we could even get our anchor ready to deploy, another boat came in and started to drop its anchor. As I have said many times before, we are new at this and still learning so it took us a few minutes to get in position. Before we could get our anchor down, the other boat started trying to anchor! We were moving up into our chosen position and they were asking Shay where he was going and was he going to anchor there. He told them yes and they started going behind us to go to the other side. We were still fine tuning our position and had to wait for them to pass to our stern. We had communicated with the boat already in the anchorage as we pulled in and found out how much scope he had out, so we would know how far away we needed to be. We tried to talk to the other boat, but they would not answer our call. We wanted to tell him that we sometimes didn’t swing like other boats and they might want to keep that in mind when they anchored so close to us.

We and Rocking B got anchored and before we could dinghy to the beautiful beach another boat came in. He decided to anchor right in front of us. We were able to tell him how much line we had out but he was still close. Another boat came in close to Rocking B but finally moved a little. Another trawler came in and settled in a “skinny” area away from us.

None of us could believe how some other boaters act. The other boat should have waited until the two boats in front of him were anchored, found out how much anchor we had out, and then decided if and where he could anchor. It’s like trying to steal someone’s parking spot while they are trying to get into it. Just not right. And then when they got anchored, they stood on the back of their boat looking at us like we shouldn’t be there. I hope we don’t meet them anywhere else. I don’t think I could be nice too them. Shay and Ken said we’d probably see lots more stuff like that on our trips.

We knew we would have another night of up and down checking to see that things were ok during the night. Shay said at least the other boats would have a restless night too. During the night, he heard a small fishing boat go by and got up to check things. He said he could see people on the boat in front of us on their boat taking in anchor line so they wouldn’t get so close to us. When he looked at the other boat, they had on lights too. Another sleepless night on the water.

We got up early the next morning 11-17-11 and started getting ready to leave. We could see lightning north of us and were glad we were moving further south. The clouds behind us were dark all day long. We headed to Cocoa. We had partly cloudy skies but we were lucky, the bad weather stayed north of us. We noticed the large boat that was grounded when we came north was gone. Wonder how they moved it?

We anchored in a nice anchorage and took a dinghy ride to shore. We finally got to see “the east coast largest hardware store”. We had read about it in Skipper Bob’s books and were anxious to see it. Unfortunately, we got there just before closing so we could only spend a few minutes there. I told Margaret that Ken and Shay could probably spend the rest of their lives looking around that place. It was so big that it was in several buildings.

11-18-11 we left for Vero Beach. We heard on the weather station that a front was moving thru, with winds 20-25 with gusts >30 miles and hour. The wind made the water a little choppy, but not too bad.

Rocking B was very excited about the wind. They could put out their sails and really move on. I think they were going >9 MPH just on wind alone.

We had called Vero Beach mooring field about a mooring ball and been told that we would have to double up on a mooring ball. We had seen other boats doing that this spring and were not too crazy about that idea. We asked the marina if we could moor with Rocking B, but he said we’d have to be with a trawler so we would “swing” the same. We had discussed the fact that we weren’t crazy about trying to moor with the winds we were having especially if we had to double up. We decided we’d take a look and if we didn’t like what we saw, we’d anchor nearby. Rocking B went in first and when they got to their mooring, it was empty. They called us and told us ours was too. Great, we can get settled in without having another boat to deal with. I didn’t have any problem getting the mooring line but when I was tying it around I slung dirty pond scum water everywhere. Even in my mouth, I think. But hey, a dirty mouth is a small price to pay if we got moored up with no problems.

I had been cooking a crockpot of chilie beans all day and they smelled great, so we stayed on the boat for dinner. After walking the “girls” Ken and Margaret took a dinghy ride to a restaurant. I offered them beans and Margaret said she wanted to get off the boat for a few hours. I understood. We made plans for a provisioning excursion on Saturday.

We took the bus to Walmart and stocked up on a few supplies. We are not sure where we will be for Thanksgiving, so we got stuff for turkey-day, too. Shay and I had been talking about getting an electric frying pan to use while traveling. I can put sauce and noodles in it and have pasta ready when we stop. So we stocked up and hauled our stuff back to the bus and then back to the boat.

Shay and Ken have been working on Rocking B problems so I came back and worked on the blog. We got some good anchorage info for places south of Stuart from Tom and Ollie from Our Freedom.

Several other boaters came to our boat, on Sunday for snackies, drinks, and boat tales. We all had a great time. Ted and Sally came from Ameci, John and Connie from Riverdance, and of course Ken and Margaret from Rocking B. We had talked to Riverdance on the VHF and even anchored near them during our trip up last spring and during the trip down, but never met them until Vero. It was nice to be able to put a face to a name and voice.

We and Rocking B decided to leave in the morning. We are going to Peck Lake and they are going to pick-up a part at Fort Pierce. We are not sure if they will come on down and spend the night with us or if we will meet up the next day. They could go out at Fort Pierce and catch up with us pretty easy.

Beaufort, SC through St. Augustine

11-11-11 through 11/16/11

Leaving Beaufort, SC on a foggy monring.

We left Beaufort early in the morning, heading down the ICW. It was very foggy for a while. Several boats left about the same time we did and we were all glad when the fog lifted. We got to Port Royal Sound and saw a sailboat, named

N Aimless,  we had been traveling with, turn left instead of right like we did. Shay called him on the radio and asked where he was going. He said on the “outside”, which means out to the ocean. He explained that the wind and waves were going to be perfect for the next 48 hours and this was the time to go out. We called Rocking B and asked what they thought. After a few minutes of discussion and listening to the weather we decided to turn around and go outside. We were all a little nervous but definitely excited. Most people plan and plan for an outside passage, we just decide and go. If the weather is favorable and you have good inlets to leave and enter, an outside passage is the way to go. It is faster since you go in a straight line, uses less fuel, has no bridges, no “skinny” water once you get out, and none of the twists and turns you have on the ICW.

We weren’t sure how long we would have cell phone reception for so we started calling people. Shay called his brother, Joey, and told him our plan and if he hadn’t heard from us in 48 hours to call the Coast Guard and tell them when and where we left from and when and  where we expected to at Jacksonville, FL. I called daddy, Billy and Michelle and told them the plan and that we would be out of cell phone range for a while. 

 

Looking out at the sea buoy at Port Royal Sound.

When we finally got to the ocean at 9:30 am, it was perfect. A gentle breeze and small rolling waves. But I got hot and started feeling bad so I took a Bonine and laid down for a while. When I got up I felt better, but not normal. We took turns being “on watch”. Once we got to the last buoy marking the channel into the sound, Shay drew a straight line on the chart plotter to the buoy marking the start of the inlet to Jacksonville.  We set the autopilot to follow this line and didn’t touch the wheel for hours.  

 

Once you get out that far there’s not much out there. We did see a floating marker for a “fish haven” on the chartplotter, which concerned us, since it was not lite and we would not have seen it after dark. But for the most part it was just keeping an eye on the chart plotter and watching a few lights on the coastline pass by. We did see a few other lights on boats through the night but they passed by and were gone. The wind got up a little during the night but we were still ok. We were very glad that we were traveling with Rocking B. It was nice to see another boat going the same speed and to the same place that we were going. They put up their sail and were beautiful in the moonlight.Shay tried to get a picture, but its hard to get a good one if the only light source is moonlight from a moving boat.



The conditions were perfect for an outside trip. The water was calm.
The winds were good and the trip was great.





A beautiful sunset during the outside trip.

Escape doing the passage from Port Royal to
St. Augustine



Me taking a long nap during the overnighter.

  

Shrimper near Jacksonville, FL at 6 am.



We got to the inlet at Jacksonville, FL about 6 on Saturday morning. It was full of shrimp boats getting an early start. We talked about how long it would take us to get to St. Augustine going inside and outside and decided we’d rather stay outside until there. Shay was a little nervous about the inlet at St. Augustine, since he had heard it can be rough. He called several people and they assured him we would be ok as long as we watched the markers and stayed in the channel.

Looking at the St. Augustine Lighthouse as we were coming to the inlet.

The inlet was a little rough and swifter than we like, but we watched the markers and took it slow.

We moored at St. Augustine at 2:00 pm on 11-12-11, Saturday. We had left Beaufort, SC at 6:15 am on 11-11-11, Friday. We were glad to be moored, tired from the long trip, and proud that we had done it. Margaret got a call from Ken’s sister telling her that most people plan for a trip like this, they don’t just decide while passing the inlet. Well that is true, but the conditions were right so we just did it.

I thought we were ready for the moorings at St. Augustine since we had done it this spring. I go to the bow with my boat hook, ready to grab the line attached to the mooring buoy and tie it on. Well, it had a short pendant with a thimble on the end of it and couldn't be tied directly to the boat. We were tired and didn't remember how the mooring was configured. Shay came down and we tried to get a dock line thru the thimble but he had to go back to the fly bridge so we had to start over. I attached 2 dock lines to cleats and tried to run the other end through the thimble but had one going over the rail so we had to let it go and try again. A guy on a moored boat got in his dinghy and came over to our mooring to help me put the dockline through the thimble on our mooring. Shay said he wished he hadn't helped as he was in the way when we reapproached the mooring.  We thanked him for his help anyway. It takes a long time to put things away and turn things off after a days run.  We got everything settled and checked on Rocking B. They were fine and we were all ready to get off the boat for a while and stretch our legs.

We ate at Harry’s on the waterfront and enjoyed out meal. We were all ready for an early night. The next morning Margaret and Ken decided to explore the town since they had never been to St. Augustine. They took a tour and walked down the streets and enjoyed the sights. We ate dinner with them and Bob and Linda, our friends that have live here for a while. We had a great time catching up with Bob and Linda and sharing stories. Shay and Ken had planned to ride bikes to West Marine but Bob offered to take them by car so they made plans to meet the next morning.

Shay had been having problems with a place on his finger and decided to go to the doctor the next morning. He called Bob and found a walk-in clinic and Bob took us there. We spent the morning there getting x-rays and seeing the doctor. He doctor said the x-rays didn’t show any foreign object in the area and started him on antibiotics. Shay had probably gotten something in his finger while working on a project that caused an infection. We hope the meds will fix it. Bob picked up Ken at the marina then picked us up at the clinic, we stopped at Publix to get the meds and stock up, Ken picked up his part at West Marine then back to the marina. We thanked Bob for coming to our rescue and went back to the boat. We all ate lunch then the guys went back to the boats to work on projects. Margaret and I walked around town, rode the red train, visited a Catholic church Linda had recommended and then toured a winery. We were disappointed we didn’t have time to tour the chocolate factory.  

Bull Creek through Beaufort, SC

11-8-11 thru 11-11-11

Up and moving early the next morning and off to Five Fathoms. We had a beautiful day, blue skies and calm water. The wind was up enough for Ken and Margaret to sail. They looked beautiful with the wind pushing them along.

We anchored in Five Fathoms and didn’t see any crab pots like when we were in the spring. We had an uneventful evening until it was time for the shrimp boats to come in. Five Fathoms is and inlet to the ocean so about dark the shrimp boats started coming in. They had on bright lights and could be seen for miles. When they got to us we could see someone on the back sorting and discarding into the water. They were surrounded by birds trying to get a snack. We had about 5 or 6 come in that night.

Early the next morning, we had the same shrimp boats going back out. Some had bright lights and moved along while others had fewer lights and went slowly. Next time we’ll try to pick a spot that is a dead end not a cut to the ocean.

We left early heading south past Charleston. We passed thru the busy Charleston Harbor without any problems. That may sound like a no brainer, but it is a huge harbor, with lots of markers, lots of boats, and lots of water. 




Bridge at Charleston, SC

 

Rocking B

 

We had anchored at Church Creek on our trip up and had thought about staying there tonight. We had also seen several other anchorages a little further south so we were undecided. Margaret had talked to a friend that told her about “the best anchorage on the east coast” and we were going to be near it so we decided to try it. Well, we certainly didn’t think it was the best on the east coast. The anchorage was Tom Point Creek and it was narrow. We like a wide anchorage so we can put out a lot of anchor chain and have lots of “swing room”. This place was tight and also deep. It may sound funny to non-boaters, but you don’t want to anchor in a place that is too deep. You put out anchor rode or chain in proportion to how deep the water is. The deeper the water, the more anchor chain, the wider your swing.

 

 We also discover a potentially big problem with saltwater leaking from the riser on the starboard engine. Shay sent out an email with pictures showing the problem and we hope to get some helpful information about it.

Up early to head for Beaufort, SC. We hope to be able to anchor, but may have to go to a marina to check out our water leak problem. We found a good anchorage and settled in. We had dinner in town.

We decided to stay another day so Shay could work on the leak. He took the starboard exhaust elbow off and found a hole in it. He called around and found a welder to repair it. He and Ken decided to ride bikes to get the elbow fixed and visit West Marine, since Ken needed to pick up something. Margaret, me and the dogs spent the time walking around Beaufort. It is a beautiful old town with pretty houses and lots of history. We went looking for a grocery store and ended up at a small neighborhood store. I stayed outside with the “girls” and Margaret went in to check it out. It was ran by a man in his 90’s. He told Margaret no one else wanted to take over the store so he came in everyday.

We ate lunch in town and then visited a park at the waterfront. After our rest, the guys got back and we returned to our boat to put on the exhausr elbow. He did find out we have bigger problems than we thought. The inside of the elbow looks like “craters on the moon”. He is very concerned and started looking for replacements.

We went back to town for dinner and ate at a restaurant recommended by people who live in Beaufort. Margaret saw a place that had an oyster bar and wanted to get appetizers there. We told them we would watch, since we don’t eat raw oysters. They really enjoyed the bar and even got Shay to try one. Shay decided if you put jalapeno, cocktail sauce, and horseradish on the raw oyster, you don’t even know the oyster is there.  The other restaurant was “Luther’s” and the people said it was the only place they ever ate at. We were pleased with our choice. We all left full. We decided to leave the next day and went back to the boat to chart the route.

Our anchorage at Beaufort, SC

Morehead City Yacht Basin to Bull Creek

November 3rd through November 8th

On November 3^rd, 2011 Escape once again took to the water.



We left with Ken and Margaret and their wonderful dogs, Biscuit and Auggie on Rocking B, a 44’ sailing catamaran.

We took off from the Morehead City Yacht Basin heading south to warm water. There is a boat saying “go south until the butter melts in the winter and north until it firms up in the spring”. So we are in search of melting butter or in our case melting margarine. We are ready and off we head to Mile Hammock for our first night out. There is a lot of traffic heading south and we got in line. There are not many anchorages in the area, and sometimes they get full. Everyone is wondering where everyone else is going and if we’re all going to the same place will there be room.

Our first stop, 11-4-11 is again Mile Hammock, part of the Camp Lejune Military Base. We are the second boat in, but by the time the night was over there were 31, which made the anchorage very crowded. There were only 2 tower boats and the rest were sailboats. Sailboaters tend to be more frugal and are more likely to anchor out than power boaters.

Escape at Mile Hammock

The next morning, 11-5-11, before sunrise, the wind got up and it started raining. The wind wasn’t particularly hard, maybe 15kts. At least 2 of the sailboats drug anchor and one of them wound up across the nose of another sailboat, doing damage to both boats. We had planned to leave at sunrise, but cranked our engines and left early to get out of the mess in that anchorage. As we left the anchorage, there was a caravan of others behind us, as if they thought we knew the way in the rain and darkness. If they only knew.

A rainy day on the waterway

Waiting for a bridge to open

We were stopped waiting to go thru a bridge and noticed we had lots of company. Dolphins were all around us. We enjoyed watching them play around the boat.

  

The next day of travel, was to Wrightsville Beach. We had lots of boats traveling with us and again were all wondering if we were headed to the same anchorage. The rain had stopped and it was overcast most of the trip. By the time we got to Wrightsville Beach, the wind was getting up and it looked like an impending storm.

We dropped anchor and decided to see how we would set. Shay decided that we were really too close to another boat and we should move as soon as the wind let up some. Usually, when we are taking up the anchor, I am at the helm and he is bringing up the anchor. Since the winds were so strong, we decided to reverse positions and I would be handling the anchor.

We started paying attention to a small sailboat, with no one on it that looked like it was dragging its anchor.  We soon realized he was coming toward us and we would have to take evasive measures. We quickly cranked the engines and I went down to start taking up the anchor. I took up as much of the rode as I could and we realize the boat was over our anchor, so we headed toward him. I knew we were going to hit the boat and grabbed the handrail so I wouldn’t go overboard. Shay quickly reversed both engines and got us away without damage. I was go glad he was at the helm and not me. I know I would not have reacted as quickly as he did. I told him later he did a great job.

We had already discussed where we would move to so moved down the channel to the back of the anchorage. We found a spot and dropped anchor and we pleased with our decision for a while. The wind continued to blow hard but our anchor was good. Next we notice chatter on the VHF about the small sailboat again. It was loose and heading back toward us. We watched the boat and shay decided to call the Coast Guard to alert them to the situation. While he was talking to them, the sailboat eased into a dock and seemed to be put. They kept asking us where the boat was located. We told them at the low bridge at Wrightsville Beach anchorage, in front of the Blockade Runner Hotel, near the water tower. We even gave the longitude and latitude. I told Shay you would have thought the boat was lost in the middle of the ocean, not ½ mile from the Coast Guard Station.  When the Coast Guard finally got there, the winds were blowing too hard to try to get to the boat. They tried several times and Shay finally told them to go back to the base and bring the jeep out and walk out onto the dock and tie up the boat. They left and shortly after we saw them in their orange jumpsuits on the dock.  

Later there was more chatter, about other boats near where we were dragging. One of the other boats decided to move and of course came back near us. Shay had been keeping an eye on things and just after dark he saw another boat anchoring in front of us. He called them on the radio and told them we had out a lot of anchor chain and he probably didn’t want to get too close to us. We laid down about 8 pm and set the alarm for every hour so he could check and see how things were holding. He got up every hour until about midnight and then the winds got worse and he stayed up. He kept talking to Chris on the sailboat in front of us to make sure things were staying put. About 6 am things settled down and he rested down until about 9. Terrible night.

That morning, 11-5-11, the winds were still blowing but calmer. We called Lauren and made plans to eat lunch with her. We started getting our dinghy ready to lower and Ken let us know he had his going again. He had taken the dogs to shore last night at Mile Hammock and had problems. We were glad we didn’t have to get our dinghy down, since the wind would have made it difficult. He took Margaret and “the girls” to shore for a walk and came and got us. We met Lauren at Tower Seven a Tex-Mex restaurant we had eaten at during our visit during the spring. We all enjoyed our lunch and then Lauren volunteered to take us where ever we needed to go so of course the guys said West Marine. Ken needed a new fuel tank and hose for his dinghy, we off we went. Back to the boat to rest for a while after the sleepless night before.

We had checked on the weather and it was better for the next day so we made plans to leave early the next day. After plotting our course we settled down but not for long. Shay was up a lot that night, watching things and making sure we were safe.

We pulled out of the anchorage at 6:15 the next morning, 11-6-11, heading for St James Plantation Marina, south of Southport, North Carolina. We had good wind, water, and weather. The marina is nice, but there were pooping birds everywhere. They didn’t land on our boats, but on the masts of the sailboats. When they pooped, the wind would blow the poop onto our boat. The poop was hard to get off since it was colored by the berries the birds had been eating. I know I would not want to leave my boat here a long time; it would get covered with poop like some of the boats we saw.

We left with Ken and Margaret on Rocking B and Don and Margaret on Refuge. We had an uneventful trip down the beautiful Waccamaw and pulled into Bull Creek about 4 pm. We had all planned to meet on Escape for dinner and were anxious to get together and visit. We all anchored near each other and met on our boat at 5.

We had a great time. We all enjoyed the delicious meal prepared by the ladies. After our meal, we all sat around and told boating stories. There are always a lot of them to tell.

 

Refuge and Rocking B anchored in Bull Creek.

  When Ken and Margaret left we were not sure if we were leaving the next morning or not. We were still tired from our sleepless nights at anchor.  Refuge had an appointment with a mechanic in Georgetown the next day so they had to leave. Shay and Margaret wanted a “lazy day”, Ken wanted to move on and I didn’t care. We checked the weather and saw we might have some rainy days to stay put, later on, so decided to move on in the morning. Shay plotted our course and we were ready

Escape anchored in Bull Creek



Bull Creek is a beautiful anchorage. We look forward to being here again.

We will head out tomorrow for our next adventure.