Summer 2013

It’s been a long time since I made a post. We got back to the states the middle of May. We put the boat on the hard in Hampstead and then I went to stay with my dad in Virginia. He had a stroke in March and my brother has been staying with him. Now I’m going to stay with him for a while.

Michelle and Daddy

.....and Cake!

Me and my Great Daddy!

Daddy and his girls!

Foggy morning at the lake.

Full moon over the lake.

Storm at the lake.

Curious squirrel.

This is daddy's duck. He has her spoiled. Everytime she waddles up the hill, he feeds her.

We stopped for a visit at Shay’s mother’s house and visited with family and friends. I can’t believe we haven’t been here since Christmas! That’s way too long to be away from them. We enjoyed seeing everybody in Mount Airy, and then we went to daddy’s. 

Shay stayed with us for a few days then he headed back to the boat to start work on the bottom. He had the yard sand the bottom and then he finished cleaning the bottom and painted the bottom. It was a lot of work and he was exhausted everyday. Then he cleaned and compounded the boat from the waterline to the rub rail. More exhausting work! He put in 2 new depth sounders and a new auto pilot.  He came back to the lake to visit us several times and help with things at the lake.

He made a solo trip back to MCYB. That’s the first time he’s traveled without me. Of course, he didn’t have a problem, even though it was a windy day when he got to the marina. He said there were lots of people on the dock, ready to grab a line, but he was on the fly bridge and couldn’t toss them a line. So when he got backed in, he stepped off the boat onto the dock and tied it off himself. They were all impressed; especially when they found out he didn’t have a bow thruster!

There are a lot of liveaboards on the dock this year. Usually, we are the only ones here, but not this year. There are a few transients boats that are here for a few weeks, but there are 3 boats on our dock that have live­aboards. Shay made friends with all of them and enjoyed going to our favorite eating place, Cox Family Restaurant. He had lots of company for the Friday night fried chicken special! 


Shay and John Grooms from Island Time.



John and Beth went for a ride with us.

Freighter leaving Morehead City

Shay was onboard when John and Beth practiced docking.

Daddy came back to the boat for a visit. we took a ride out to the inlet and it was a beautiful day. I'm glad he was able to visit. 

Enjoying a beautiful day at the coast.

Checking out the inside helm

Going for a ride on Escape.

The time I spent with daddy was mixed with lots of different feelings. I was sad that I had to be there because he had had a stroke. I was glad that I could spend time with him when he needed me. It was frustrating to try and coordinate doctor visits and all the other visits. It was great getting to spend time with daddy. It was painful to see my daddy go from an absolutely independent person to someone that needed help with just about everything. It was hard to think and talk about changes that might have to be made. I was there about 2.5 months and it was definitely a roller coaster ride of emotions.

Visitor at Daddy's

I think he's knocking. He wants in.

Daddy and his "Mama bush". He calls it that since it blooms close to mama's birthday.

Another picture of daddy and the bush. There are more blooms now.

So now I am back on the boat and helping Shay with projects. We had our bimini top removed so it could get repaired. We cleaned the top before they removed it and then cleaned the flybridge and stainless in that area. Shay has been drying out the back deck on the lazerrette so he can repair a crack. He has drilled holes in the deck and during the day he has a heat lamp on them drying them out. At night or when it looks like rain, he tapes them up to keep more water from getting into the deck. He has been doing this for about 2 months now and we finally filled the holes the middle of August. He still has some cosmetic work to do, but it won’t leak now.

Travis, Sarah, another couple, and Lauren spent the 4^th of July on the boat. They had a good time fishing, swimming, and enjoying the pretty weather.  

Lauren visited us again just before school started. I think she came to see us so I wouldn’t come to Wilmington. Its easier for her to go back to school than run me out of her room at school.

We cleaned the rest of the stainless and it looks so much better. We experimented and used Ajax on part of the stainless and it worked OK. We kept wetting the stainless and scrubbing it to get the rust off.  We used a stainless cleaner on part of it. The cleaner is easier to use since there is less scrubbing but the Ajax is cheaper.

Jason and Lauren came to the boat for Labor Day. It was pretty weather, so we went to one of our favorite places, Cape Lookout!


Enjoying the ride to Cape Lookout.

Beautiful

We have never seen so many boats anchored here.

Lauren and the lighthouse



Yes, we climbed the lighthouse.....

....all the way to the top! We have never seen so many small boats anchored near the lighthouse.

My beautiful daughter.

The view from the top. There are lots of boats and lots of people!

...and more boats and people!

Lauren and mom.

She looks happy!

Shells at the lighthouse



Swimming at the Cape!

We went back to Mount Airy for the Glass Family Reunion. There was a great turnout and we had lots of fun visiting with family. It was fun to catch up with other crazy Glasses. It looks like everyone wanted to have their picture made with our newest addition, Aryanna.

...with Aunt Jenny.

...with Mamaw.

...with Meme.

Haley and Julie at registration.

...with Haley.



Shay and Brian

Jean checking out the display room. Each family  had pictures on display.

...and Daddy.

Our friends, Richard and Connie from Sea Salt came for a visit during the Seafood Festival. We enjoyed having them spend time with us.


Richard and Connie

We went back to Mount Airy for the Autumn Leaves Festival. Since Lauren was going to the festival, we could kill several birds with one stone. We could go to the festival, visit Lauren and other family and friends. Of course, we ate at Chile Rojo 2 nights!

Our friends George and Pam had a "low country boil" on Saturday and invited the "beach bums" and others. We had a great time with the "bums". Michelle, my sister and Sarah, her daughter were there. It was fun for all of us and the food was great. The cleanup crew had a great time after we got all the leftovers put away. OK, what happens at the "boil" stays at the "boil"!

I went to daddy's and stayed with him a couple of nights. I always look forward to spending time with him. I think he enjoys it too. daddy's birthday is October 24th so we had a get-to-gather for him. Me, Michelle, Billy, Shay, Sarah, and Ethan were there. I wish the other grandkids could have been there, but we had a good visit.

I went with him to the doctor on Tuesday and then we headed back to the boat. We stopped at an investment seminar on the way home so it was late, after 1:00 a.m. when we got to the boat.

Its good to be back home again, but we miss our family and friends too. Our friends, George and Pam are coming down Friday evening for a visit. that will be fun.

We have decided to stay in Morehead City this winter. I want to be closer to family so I can visit more. We will probably take some short trips to Ocracoke and Cape Lookout. It will be strange to be in cold weather for more than a few days. I hope it will be mild and not freeze our toes off. Well, we do have winter clothes back in Mount Airy. If we need to we can make a run home for winter stuff.

Heading to ...a Haulout

5-15-2013

Since we knew the water would be shallow in “that spot” again, we pulled up anchor and left before the current could move us over it this morning. At 6:15, we backed out of the anchorage and started our day.

It’s hard to say if we had more current with us or more current against us. We would fight it some and then be pushed by it others. There are so many places for the water to enter from the ocean that it would be impossible to go with the current all the time. Sometimes we would be with the current on one side of an inlet, and be against it on the other side.

This sad boat looks worse every time we come by. It's been here since our first trip on the ICW/

There are several sad boat here.

You can see the difference in the water as the tide comes in.

Oh, we were attacked by horseflies again. They were so bad that we came downstairs to drive. There’s something about South Carolina that the horseflies like. Maybe it’s the smelly paper mills.

There are a lot of boats heading north. In an hour’s time, we were passed by 15 boats. But that sail boat didn’t catch us, HA-HA. We were a little concerned since most were heading to Georgetown. We didn’t want to get here and not have any room.

These 7 boats passed us one after another.

Ferry on Estherville/Minim Creek

Paper mill

Looking toward the marina.

Our beautiful anchorage! That's the paper mill, another factory, and the recycling plant.

Our anchorage. The yellow line is a reminder to us. The red markers are on the right when you come in from the ocean. Once you move out of the entrance, the red is on the left and the greens are on the right, as you see in the picture.

But we came around to the “scenic” area, where the big factory and recycling plant are located. No one else wants to come here. It can be smelly and it is definitely noisy. Well, that’s ok as long as we have a good anchorage. We would much rather be here than at the waterfront in a crowded anchorage.

We took the dinghy to town and walked around. Guess what we found? McDonald's! Yes, its been a while since we've eaten at a McD. We enjoyed our "hot and spicy" and sweet tea! We took a picture of Shay and his meal and sent it to FFF. 

Yummy, hot and spicy! FFF, wish you were here!

Guess what we saw in the water today? An alligator. Shay asked if that was a long floating in the water or an alligator. We watched it and couldn’t tell until got line up so we could see its tail moving in the water. It was headed for shore. Hope it wasn’t hungry!

Yes, that's a gator!

Shay spent all day researching, planning, and interneting, and making lists. He wants to do a bottom job on the boat this summer, so he's researching paint. He has several things he wants to get done, so he's planning that. He is looking online to get suggestions about paint and stuff. He is making a list to make sure he gets it all done.

We have really smelled the paper mill today. The wind must be blowing from that direction. unlucky us.

We took another walk around Georgetown. It is a beautiful place. The houses are a mixture of  old ones almost 300 years old and new one that look like they have been there almost that long. The streets are lined with a mixture of palm trees and live oak. There are lots of shops and  restaurants. It all adds up to a  pretty place to visit.

We plan on leaving here tomorrow but the final destination hasn't been made yet. We need to think about it some more.

Shay took the dinghy and hand-held depth sounder around the anchorage this evening. He was looking for deep water. He said he stopped because he saw a gator in the water and decided he wasn't going to put his hand in the water anymore.

We got everything ready to leave tomorrow. The anchorage book told us to leave at low tide to catch a push going up the Waccamaw River. We hope we have it calculated correctly and can get a push. We are leaving a lot later than we usually do, 10:00am. We are usually moving by 6:30 most of the time.

Beautiful sunset

It seems strange to not be hurrying to leave this morning! We got up, worked on routes, called family, and checked our emails before we left. It seems strange to be doing all this instead of traveling. Most mornings we are "on the road again" long before now.

We had a great day on the Waccamaw. I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's beautiful! We saw a few logs floating in the water, but that's not unusual here.

We saw lots of nesting birds. I'm not sure what kind of birds they are. Maybe you can tell from the picture.

What kind of bird is this?

We've talked about this before. If it's in the middle, how do you know which side to go on?

A pretty beach, but remember, there are gators in this water!

We say lots of turtles sunning on logs. Hope they don't turn into appetizers for the gators!


Entering Osprey Marina

We got to our marina about 4 pm. We got some diesel and then went into a slip. Do you have any idea how long it's been since we did that? Not since our slip in Morehead City, last fall! But Shay did a great job and made us look like we know what we're doing.

Then we spent over 2 hours washing the boat. Do you have any idea how long it's been since we did that? Not since Morehead City. Yes, its been that long. When we were at Marathon, we didn't want to use the water and then have to buy more. In the Bahamas, we were on water rations. Shay did clean the boat a little when it rained, but today is the best cleaning it's had since October. We are bad people! So when we leave in the morning, we will be full of water and have a cleaner boat! Yeah! We are tired so we're turning in early.

We got started about 6:35 this morning. We have a long way to go and want to get started early. The river was so calm. You could see the clouds reflected in the water.

Calm water

We went by miles and miles of big, expensive, beautiful houses. Each year there are more and more along the waterway. We are getting near Myrtle Beach, SC.

This house looks like it belongs in the Bahamas.

 I have talked about the “Rockpile” before. It is an 18 mile area of the ICW that is lined with rocks along the bank. When the tide is up, the rocks are under water. We’ve got to pay attention when we go thru here. We would not want to have problems and get onto them.


The chartbook makes sure you know about the "Rockpile".

At high tide all this is under water, so you must stay in the channel.

These signs are on the waterway, alerting you to the danger ahead.

Chico, the bandito! Shay wears this to keep the sun off his face.

We have seen the “vortex” before. Shay thinks it has to do with Doppler weather. I think its aliens.

He's looking for dinner.

I have suddenly developed a craving for fried shrimp. Could it be caused by the fact that we keep seeing shrimp boats?

Again WHY?

Ok, these people can say, “Oh yeah, we live beside the lighthouse.” Easy directions.

Just after we passed these casino boats, we heard one announcing he was leaving the dock and heading out to sea. Get you gambling money ready!



Redneck trailer park still there.

Shallotte Inlet. This can be a tricky place. We have to watch the markers very closely. The bottom is constantly changing and the markers are being moved to indicate this. So what you see on you chart may not be what you see in front of you.

Yeah, we are back in NC now! Getting closer and closer to Mount Airy, which means family and friends!

Shay stomped on the fly bridge floor, which is our signal to come up. When I stuck my head out the back door, he told me to bring the camera and come up. When I got there I saw about 10-12 parachutes coming down! We were near an airport and they were landing. It looked so pretty. Like ornaments suspended in the sky.

The little dots are parachutes.

We checked currents around Southport for this afternoon and tomorrow and then Cape Fear for this afternoon and decided we’d get a better “push” if we went all the way to Wrightsville Beach today. If we’d stopped at Southport, we would need to leave later than we wanted to tomorrow.

So we got here about 7:30 pm, yes a 13 hour day. We had a good trip and got a lot of help from the current. We don’t get lucky often, so we decided we’d take advantage of it while we could.

Since it’s the weekend, there are lots of fishing boats, pleasure boats, and jet skies on the water. We have to be very careful with all the traffic.

We have also seen lots of dredge equipment on the waterway. Looks like they’re doing “spring cleaning” on the ICW. Moving all the sand that the current has brought in.

Carolina Beach State Park. We stayed here on "Miss Lauren".

Fishing in Snow's Cut.

Carolina Beach

Different

Fun on the ICW

Looks like this is the place to be on a Saturday afternoon.

Here we are, again.

We called Lauren to make late dinner plans, but she didn’t want to wait that late, so we will see her tomorrow. We plan on spending a few days here to visit, to take our car to Morehead City, and run some errands. Remember, our can has been here since Terry drove it here when he visited us in Marathon.

We spent a great day with Lauren. We ate a quick lunch at McD, yes, “hot and spicy”. Then we went phone shopping. Remember, my phone died in the Bahamas. We didn’t make any decisions, just window shopping, I guess.

Next to Walmart, do you have any idea how long it’s been since we’ve been there? It’s been since mid February. No Walmart in the Keyes or Bahamas. We had a few things we wanted to pick up and looked for some things for Lauren. She found several “teacher dresses” and a few other things.

We were going to eat at Tower Seven, a Tex-Mex place we like, but the wait was too long. We ate at Dockside instead and enjoyed our meal. Lauren couldn’t decide between the fish taco and shrimp po’boy. So I got the shrimp po’boy, since I wanted fried shrimp and we shared.

Back to the boat to get settled in for the night. We really enjoyed spending the time with Lauren. Oh, she had given me my Mother’s Day present. She made candy. White chocolate, pistachios, dried cherries and strawberries what’s not to like? Yummy.  Shay and I enjoyed some of it before we went to bed. Rich, sweet, yum. Thanks Lauren!

It looks like a yucky day, with dark clouds all around. Lauren has to work today, so maybe it will clear off by the time she gets off work. We had some drizzles but it was a nicer day than I thought it would be.

Beautiful houses along Bank Channel

Dark Clouds

 

Shay has done lots of internet research about bottom paints, depth sounders, and boatyards. He has spent hours and hours making notes trying to decide which products he wants to use. We spent one afternoon visiting 2 boatyard in the area.

We’ve seen Lauren each day after she gets off work. We had pizza on the boat one night and ate at Tower 7 the next. She brought me a birthday cake the night we ate pizza. I asked her if she was trying to fatten me up. It was a lemon cake with raspberry and white chocolate filling. Need I say more? We really enjoy spending time with her and getting caught up.

Happy Birthday to me!

Make a wish and blow out the candle while they sing to me!

She looks sneaky!

This boat has really strange masts!

Our poor flag.


We bought this flag last year when we left Morehead City. It looks like its been thru a war. We'll get another one when we get back to Morehead City.

We have decided to haul out the boat in a yard near Wrightsville Beach. We made arrangements to be there at 9:00 am 5-22-2013. That means we leave here at 6:00. After we get the boat out, we will get things ready  and then head home. Yes, tomorrow night we plan on being in Mt. Airy. It will be great to see family and friends again.

We had dinner with Lauren on the boat. I made pasta with homemade alfredo sauce and Shay grilled blackened shrimp. It was good. After dinner, we took our car to the boatyard and Lauren brought us back. We had Dairy Queen on the way back. We have enjoyed our time with Lauren and will miss her.

We got up to a drizzly morning, but we left at 6:00 am anyway. We need to be there early, before the wind gets blowy.

Rainy morning to be leaving.



Looking back at Wrightsville Beach. We will be back.

Looking down the ICW.

We got to the bridge at Wrightsville Beach at about 6:30. It's an open on demand before 7:00 am so we requested an opening. We were told ok in a few minutes. It took 15 minutes for him to open the bridge. So much for "On Demand".

Slow opening bridge.

We had a good trip. We were running with the current most of the way! We don't do that very often. We got to the yard early and there was a boat in the way. So were "played stay in place" for about 20 minutes waiting for the guys to move the boat. Finally they were ready for us to come in.

Of course, it was intimidating. We're always nervous going into a new dock. But as always, Shay made it look easy. They got up picked up and then onto blocks and started pressure washing the boat. We got our things into the car and left around noon.

We had to wait for this boat to leave the dock. so we could get in.

Ok, now he's out.

Heading in

Looks small for this angle.

 

Ok. make sure everything looks OK.

OK, up on this side and down on that side!

It's out! Looks big!

Pressure washing

Captain Shay putting things in order!

Here we are!

We are excited to be heading back home. We look forward to seeing family and friends. Shay will be back in a few days, but I will be staying with my dad for a while. Shay gets to do all the hard work-- painting, cleaning, waxing-- while I get to visit with daddy.