Visit with Catherine and Bob Naples, FL Dec. 13-16th

We left the Marina in our rental car around 10 am, stopping off  at Morgan Sails in Cocoa to drop of the mainsail to have some cars on the mainsail replaced while we visited with family. Realizing we had 4 hours until our 24 hour car rental was to expire and a  4 hour and 15 min drive to Naples on the Western coast of Florida, we cruised at 80 mph across the state arriving with minutes to spare. My sister Catherine and her husband Bob were kind enough to pick us up from the rental shop and take us to their nice home in Heritage Bay, in north Naples. Arriving at their home was akin to staying at a resort as they overlook a pond and golf course and have their own private swimming pool right off their living room. Bob fired up the grill for a welcome b-b-que on Monday night and we enjoyed catching up as it has been several years since we last saw one another. On Tuesday, Harry, Bob, and I played Canadian doubles on the tennis courts by their clubhouse while Catherine did her own workout at the gym. Tuesday evening we enjoyed dinner at their clubhouse followed by a few games of bocci in the warm evening. Wednesday morning, Bob had a golf tournament to play so Catherine took us for a nature walk at the nearby CREW bird sanctuary where we caught a naturalist’s talk about the flora and fauna in the wetlands. On our way out, we spotted an alligator. Bob and his foursome won their golf tournament that day and we all relaxed in the hot tub and pool before heading out to Naples for a nice Italian dinner, dinning outside where we could watch the passing pedestrians and traffic. The evening ended with a stroll down Main Street to a nice Italian ice cream shop. It would have been easy to stay longer as we were settling in to the country club lifestyle, but we had a plane to catch for Boston to see our new grand child and the family on the 16th.

 

Titusville Marina Dec 11th - 13th

We left Mosquito lagoon around 10 am and motored south about 18 miles down the ICW arriving at the Titusville Municipal Marina and slip A-17 around 12:45. Harry backed Juno into the slip without difficulty, and with help from a dockhand we were tied up and having nan pizzas for lunch in the cockpit by 1:45. Our slip happened to be 4 slips away from Bob and Anne Sherer of “Bob 423” fame. Bob is well known among Beneteau 423 owners as he wrote a cruising guide to the ICW tailored to Beneteau owners. The marina was very well appointed with a little office/store, clean bathrooms, laundry, grills, and a small lounge with a tv. We spent the afternoon with Harry up in the rigging trying to add a piece to the upper shrouds to lengthen them but he wasn’t successful as a part had seized up. Headed to the showers to wash off the sweat and then out to Hoffman’s Table for a dinner of prime rib just a short walk from the marina.

On Sunday Dec. 12th, Harry went aloft again to finish rig adjustments, did some laundry, an then I Ubered to the Budget car rental shop around 3 pm to pick up a rental car. Stopped by Walmart to pick up some damp rids to combat moisture while we have the boat closed up for 4 weeks while we return north. Also picked up some tarps to keep seeds off Juno that are dropped by the starlings that sit aloft in the rigging. Taking advantage of the car, we went out for dinner again, this time ending up at Indian Surprise because La Marimba was closed for a holiday party. We spent the rest of the evening packing and prepping the boat for our departure by car tomorrow morning.

 

Some of our neighbors at Titusville Marina

Juno safely secured until we return after the New Year

Harry attempting to make some rigging adjustments

Holiday lights, Florida style

Mosquito Lagoon: SpaceX launch, Canaveral National Seashore and a Manatee? Dec 9-10

High on Harry’s list was to get as close as possible to a rocket launch and so we arrived in Mosquito Lagoon Wed. Dec. 8th in time to drop anchor before nightfall. Mosquito lagoon is a large (about 2 miles across) undeveloped lagoon surrounded by the protected lands of Canaveral National Seashore and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and is about 15 miles north of NASA’s Cape Canaveral launch site. An early morning (1 am) SpaceX rocket launch was planned for the morning of Dec. 9th. So we got up, and saw the glow of the engines against the night sky shortly after it lifted off. Pretty cool.

During daylight, we were the only boat to be seen in Mosquito Lagoon as the sun shone down but winds were about 10-15 out of the north so it was a little cool. We dighied to the National Seashore where the park ranger forewent the $40 monthly landing fee since we were only going to be there for a few hours. Surprising as remote as we were, there were a few other sunbathers on the “clothing optional” beach who had driven down from New Smyrna to the north. We found flock of terns by the water’s edgeto be more interesting than the naturists.

Since we decided we’d rather hang on the anchor in Mosquito Lagoon than in the Titusville Marina where we’d made a reservation to leave Juno for the Xmas holidays, we stayed Friday Dec. 10th as well. The sun shone brightly and it was warm enough to put on a bathing suit for the first time in many weeks. Temperatures were in the 80’s and privacy led us to shower on the stern for the first time in a long time (bathing suits not required), and then we took both sails down as Harry has ordered a new jib and needs to have some cars on the mainsail replaced. We spent the day relaxing on Juno, writing Xmas cards and aired out clothes from the hanging locker in the warm sun. We weren’t sure, but in the calm of the early evening, we thought we might have spotted a manatee (on our list to do spot) but by the time you see something break the water’s surface it would be gone. Anyway, we enjoyed gin and tonics as the sun set. Eventually three other boats joined us in the lagoon and discovered that mosquito lagoon is aptly named as the mosquitoes did descend at sunset.

 

Sarah on lookout for Manatees

Royal terns on Canaveral Seashore

Sunset in Mosquito Lagoon

SpaceX Launch at 1:00AM

New Smyrna: Home of Bob Ross School of Art, a Lousy French Bakery, Publix, and a nice Business District Dec.6-8th

We arrived from Daytona on Monday Dec. 6th after nearly being hit by a young motor boater en route who wasn’t looking where he was going as he was focused on his cell phone and was steering with his feet.  Sarah flipped him the bird which got his attention and told him to pay more attention. Anyway, we anchored south of Ponce Inlet off of Chicken Island in Sheephead Cut, about 1 mile from New Smyrna, adjacent to a condo complex as space was tight. It turned out to be a great spot as there wasn’t much ICW traffic since Chicken Island is situated in the middle of the ICW thus splitting all traffic in half.

We didn’t know anything about New Smyrna other than our St. Augustine friends Jan and Tanya had said it was nice and we found it to be most pleasant. With the help of Google Earth, we found a Publix supermarket close to a spot where it looked like we could land the dinghy (Callalisa Creek) and set off to pick up a few groceries.  En route to Publix, we were excited to spot a French bakery so we had to stop. Always room for an almond croissants and French bread but we found them both to be mediocre at best and a disappointment. However, the Bob Ross Painting Studio in the shopping mall with Publix was a rare find. The class in session happened to be on their coffee break and they saw us peeking in, encouraged us to enter.  About 15 people had the exact same painting partially completed. Turned out they were learning how to be instructors of the Bob Ross painting technique and one we befriended was from Indiana. We then shopped for groceries at Publix, returned to the boat for lunch, and then dinghied to the town of New Smyrna which had a nice row of shops and restaurants on Canal Street, including an artist’s collaborative shop where we bought a trivet and met the artist. Further along, we found a 1950’s pharmacy/sandwich shop/cafeteria that looked authentic but which stopped serving food after 2:30 pm, City Market Bistro (nice looking restaurant, closed on Tuesdays), and an old fort of “uncertain" origin. 

On Wednesday morning, we explored the mangroves by Callalisa Creek and could easily have gotten lost in the thick growth with many intersecting creeks, all of which look identical, but we managed to find our way back to Callalisa park, left the dinghy, and walked to New Smyrna Beach. It was high tide when we got to the beach, which was nice white sand. Ordinarily they permit cars to drive the beach, but being high tide, there wasn’t room for any cars. As we walked the beach, we saw several surfers in the water and discovered that the beach is well known to surfers. We could tell that in a few more weeks, the beach scene at New Smyrna Beach would be popular with the college kids as it had surf shops and eateries as well as a 1950’s shuffleboard club for the older crowd. 

 

Deciding to Go

[This was originally intended to be published back in October but got overlooked, so here it is.]

We have decided to take Juno on another adventure to warmer climes for the winter of 2021-2022. Getting ready covers a large swath of activities. They range from boat maintenance or upgrades to provisioning and getting everything on board. But first things first, we had to decide to go and where we wanted to go.  After Harry decided to retire from Akamai in June we were pretty sure that were ready for another sailing trip.  We thought we would do more general traveling but COVID has put a big crimp in those sorts of plans.  Our first trip was in the winter of 2019 where we spent most of our time in the Bahamas aboard Juno.  There are 700 hundred of islands and in four months we only visited about 40. That was a lot, but clearly there are a lot more to experience.  Many of those we did not see are more remote and we would need more time for them. So, a return trip to the Bahamas seemed like a good idea.  On the other hand there are many beautiful islands south of the Bahamas in the Caribbean.  Since we are never sure if there will be another trip like this, we started focusing on the Caribbean with the hope that we would get another chance to see more of the Bahamas in some future trip.

The Caribbean is a slightly different beast. First of all getting there is a lot more work. The options we considered were first to join a group of other sailors leaving from Norfolk VA in early November and sail Armada style, non-stop for 10 days to Antigua.  The second island hop through the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico to get south.  While thinking through the first option we knew that we had managed pretty well  as just the two of us on our Bahamas trip, not needing more than a couple of 3-day / 2-night passages.  On these we shared “watches” of two to four hours during the night, then rested during the day. However,  for a ten day offshore passage we decided that we would need to enlist the help of a third crew member to lighten the watch load and also provide a buffer in the case that one of us got sick or injured.  We started making a list of potential crews and felt we had some good candidates.

The “island hopping” option, or the “Thorny Path” as it is also known, was definitely worth considering. We  could do it on our own and we could also see many islands that we do want to see some day.  The challenge is related to the name “Thorny Path”. It gets this name because the prevailing winds in the southern Bahamas are from the South East, just the direction we are trying to go, or as sailors call it, going upwind.  In a sailboat that doesn’t work too well as you have the zig-zag back and forth, about 45 degrees away from the wind. Now instead of going six mph towards your destination you are only making a little over four mph.  On top of that, the waves are coming much more towards you so the boat has to plow through these. The last complication is that many of the sea currents that you encounter on the Thorny Path are also against you. While you can’t do anything about the currents, to get over the prevailing winds coming at you, you can wait for fronts to pass that cause the wind to move to more favorable directions for a few days.  All of this makes for a much longer passage to get to Caribbean.

So while we were mulling the above over in our minds, trying to decide which is the better alternative, there was that pesky thing the world is all too familiar with - Covid - happening.  Each island, or small island group, in the Caribbean is either its own country or part of another European country.  As such, each has its own Covid protocols. Generally though it means going through the “Test-Get results-Request Permission-Travel (hopefully)-Check In - Retest and/or quarantine” routine. This isn’t insurmountable, and lots of people are in the Caribbean managing just fine, but it started us reconsidering the Bahamas. The Bahamas too has added back more restrictions now requiring testing when moving between Bahamian island groups but it still seems much easier than trying to travel between different countries in the Caribbean.

The final factor was the wonderful news that our daughter and her husband were expecting their first child, and our first grandchild, in November. Now thinking about the more complicated, and somewhat more expensive travel options to return home for a visit or two (or three) really started to tip the scale in favor of The Bahamas.  So, sometime this summer we dropped the Caribbean and started focusing our planning on The Bahamas and some time in the Florida Keys.

The image below shows the 10 day, non-stop passage from Norfolk to Antigua in red. The Thorny Path is in yellow with the opposing prevailing trade winds indicated by the green arrow. The first leg of the red path takes advantage of more westerly prevailing winds further north.

Nov 27 -29 St. Augustine, FL: The City of Firsts, New Friends, & Cheap Balls

We arrived in St. Augustine, FL on Sat. Nov. 27 following an all day and overnight sail from Isle of Hope (Savannah) GA with a good northerly breeze. We had arranged to pick up a city mooring as we had heard there was a lot of current and it worked out such that we arrived just after the noon check in and in time for the Michigan vs. Ohio State football game. Despite being close to a busy town center, the internet connection was weak so at half time, we headed ashore where we found the game on tv at the Chatsworth Pub and cheered our team to victory. Afterwards, we wandered through some old streets with Spanish influenced architecture and artist’s shops, then back to the boat by sunset for the evening light display. St. Augustine attracts a lot of tourists between Nov. and Dec. for their “Nights of Lights” holiday light display (https://www.floridashistoriccoast.com/nights-lights/) where thousands of little white lights illuminate the buildings along the waterfront. By chance, our mooring gave us one of the best views of this spectacle and of the Castillo San Marco, the old Spanish fort on the waterfront.

On Sunday, a lot of tourists were still milling around the downtown so we had a slow morning on the boat before setting off to play a game of tennis around 3:30  pm (being further west, the sun has been setting around 5:15 pm). The tennis courts were great but our discount balls purchased on Amazon were duds making for an interesting game. But it didn’t matter as the highlight of the day was to be dinner with Jan and Tanya- local Beneteau 423 owners that Harry had connected with online - at 6:00 pm. Jan and Tanya were days away from casting off for the Bahamas and their boat, named “Sloth” was of similar age to ours so much comparing of maintenance tasks took place over drinks and dinner at the Salt Fish restaurant on Anastasia Island, just across the ICW from St. Augustine. As it turned out, Jan was a very experienced sailor from Germany who had competed in solo trans-Atlantic yacht races (thus he gave his Beneteau the name Sloth because by comparison, it is very slow), and Tanya had spent many years on a trawler in the Bahamas. It was a very pleasant evening and we hope our paths will cross again soon.

First thing Monday morning, we headed ashore to the main attraction in St. Augustine- the Castillo San Marco -the oldest masonry building in the continental USA built by the Spanish between 1672-1695 to protect them from the English. See the virtual tour of the fort at  https://arcweb.forest.usf.edu/dhhc/NPS-CASA/CASA-VR/. The Castillo San Filipe del Morro in San Juan which we visited in San Juan is older and very similar.) There they had  on display several cannons from the period that had been cast in Spain and nicely restored. We skipped quickly past the tourist shops along St George ‘s Street, ate lunch on the boat then walked across the Bridge of Lions almost 2 miles to the St. Augustine Lighthouse that guards the nation’s oldest port. There we climbed the 219 steps to the top of the lighthouse and toured the keeper’s house that was manned until 1956. For us the quiet and calm of the lighthouse was a welcomed reprieve from the hustle of the city. After our walk back, we quenched our thirst with a cold beer from the Ancient City Brewery.

We finished our visit Tuesday morning seeking out bagel shop, a bit of tennis, and a post office. Unfortunately, the bagel shop was closed for a few days. After returning to the boat we cast off the mooring and requested the next opening for the Bridge of Lions to continue south to Fort Matanzas.

Fort Matanzas

Flager College, formerly the Ponce De Leon Hotel

A small bit of the Night of Lights

Boat in the marina getting into the holiday spirit

 

Nov 24-25 Savannah, GA : A Change of Scenery and Thanksgiving with Family

Our time in Savannah provided us a mini-respite from life afloat. No cooking, no concerns about the weather, tides, or future destinations, and the opportunity to see familiar faces and be with our extended family.  As was the case the last time we stopped here, we welcomed a break from our usual routine and relished the complimentary breakfasts, cocktails, daily hot showers, and rooms with right angles our short stay at the Embassy Suites provided us.

We are thankful that Sarah’s brother and sister-in-law (Chris and Tami) live in Savannah for several reasons. First, it meant we could celebrate Thanksgiving with family instead of just the two of us. Secondly, it provided us an address where we could ship needed items and retrieve them. And thirdly, Savannah is a nice walkable, picturesque city. Because we had done the touristy things the last time we were here, we didn’t feel pressed to see the sights this time. This afforded us time to catch up on mundane tasks and with access to a borrowed car, the means to complete the mundane tasks. Top on our list was a refill of our propane tank used for cooking, grocery shopping, a visit to a hardware store, laundry, and to backup a hard drive.

The morning of Wed Nov. 24th was a busy one as we were excited to share news of our new granddaughter with family and close friends and we had a FaceTime chat with fellow cruisers from Boston who were undertaking a similar sailing journey to ours. Before tending to mundane chores, we squeezed  in a visit to the nautical museum of Savannah where we discovered many beautifully crafted ship models on display and a chilling account of the number of slave ships and enslaved people that disembarked in Savannah in the 1700’s. Of note, many of those slave ships originated in Rhode Island. We spent the afternoon running errands with a car borrowed from Chris and later we met up with Chris and Tami for a nice dinner at Churchill’s - an authentic English pub on the Riverfront- and ended up closing down the place. We walked back to the hotel to help digest and around 10:00 pm, started doing our laundry in the machines conveniently located across the hall from our room. We finally got to bed around 11:30 pm but slept well in the plush bed.

On Thanksgiving morning, Nov 25, Chris picked us up at the hotel then dropped us off at our boat which was docked at a marina 5 miles from Savannah in Thunderbolt, GA. We had to move the boat today to another nearby marina called Isle of Hope, GA because the Thunderbolt marina was completely booked for Thanksgiving. This turned out to be just fine as Isle of Hope is another 5 miles down the ICW and is even closer to Skidaway Island where Chris and Tami live.  Furthermore, the isle of Hope marina had a loaner car we could use to get ourselves to Chris and Tami’s for Thanksgiving dinner. We wasted little time on Thanksgiving doing the essential grocery shopping for the next two weeks and storing all the food in the boat before we headed to Chris and Tami’s home for Thanksgiving dinner around 2:30. We were warmly greeted by their two golden retriever’s Bailey and Brady even before we made it to their front door. Tami and Chris had cooked up a delicious traditional Thanksgiving turkey with all the fixings and desserts making us feel right at home and all we did was contribute some beverages. We picked their brains for grandparenting do’s and don’t since Chris and Tami have a 2-yr old granddaughter they recently had visited and speculated about who might win the big rivalry football game between Michigan and Ohio State on Saturday. We said our good-byes around 8:30 pm and left with a plate of leftovers and several supply packages we had mailed to their home. It was a wonderful afternoon and evening and we left feeling very thankful for the hospitality they extended to us while in Savannah.

 

A former power plant, now a hotel

 

Inside the former power plant, now JW Marriott Hotel

Greeters Bailey and Bradey

Together for Thanksgiving and Michigan football speculation

Nov 23 It’s a Girl! Our First Grandchild is Born. We arrive in Savannah

We spent the morning sailing down the ICW with the northerly breeze as far as Hilton Head and then we motored along the ICW to Savannah, GA where we had reserved a dock for a few nights so that we could spend Thanksgiving with my brother Chris and his wife Tami. In Savannah we tied up to the docks at the Bahia Blue Marina in Thunderbolt around 3:00 pm and used the last few hours of daylight to wash the salt off the boat and to pack our bags for the next three nights at Embassey Suites where Sarah's brother Chris is the general manager and helped arrange a room for us. As much as we enjoy the boat, when the nighttime temperatures were in the low 40’s as they were forecast to be while we were in Savannah, it is always  nice to have some warmth and a hot shower which we found and thoroughly enjoyed at the Embassy Suites along with the complimentary cocktails and hot breakfasts every morning. It truly is a great hotel with very friendly staff and we highly recommend the hotel if you are visiting Savannah.  

After checking into the Embassy Suites around 6:00 pm we went for a delicious dinner at Vic’s on The Riverfront situated in an old historic cotton warehouse. As good a dinner as it was, it couldn’t beat the news we received around midnight while snuggled in our plush king sized bed with six pillows that Sally had given birth to Isabel (Ellie) Marie weighing 7 lbs 7 oz  and measuring 20 inches in length. We were overjoyed at the news and for Sally and Luis. 

 

Nov 21 -22 It’s Pronounced “Beeuuufort” SC: Drinks with Friends, Spanish Moss Bike Trail and Gators

 To distinguish itself from the town in NC with the same spelling, down in SC they pronounce Beaufort as “Beeuuufort” while in NC it is pronounced with a long “o” sound. Anyway, Beaufort SC is as Sarah's sister-in-law Tami described, Charleston but on a smaller scale. The town has some beautiful homes and most have grassy yards and live oaks. If you’ve seen the movie “The Big Chill”, it was filmed at one of Beaufort’s stately homes called “Tidalholm”. We dialed back our pace a little while in Beaufort, choosing to play tennis on Sunday Nov. 21 and strolling the shops before sharing a drink with our new friends from Charleston -Franklin and Francie- on their boat Nightingale. 

High NW winds were forecast for Monday but we felt the boat would be in the lee of the shore and well protected so we decided to spend the better part of the day biking the Spanish Moss Trail to Port Royal and back, about a 10 mile loop. We stopped for lunch in Port Royal at the Fish Camp Restaurant situated right on the water overlooking several shrimp boats, then continued on to a look-out tower.  The town of Port Royal is even smaller than Beaufort and seemed to attract residents to their summer “beach” on the ICW and it had some charm. For us in the off season, the main attraction was a natural cypress swamp right in the middle of the town where we saw the first two wild alligators of our trip. They were only about 3-5 feet in length and sleeping but they still seemed worthy of the warnings posted everywhere to be careful. We also spotted several moorhens in the swamp. These are birds with bright red heads, black bodies and which walked like chickens. 

 

View of Beaufort Harbor

 

 

With our friends Francie and Franklin

 

 Example of Tabby construction

 

 

On the Spanish Moss Bike Trail towards Port Royal

A gator in the Cypress Swamp

 

A good spot for a lunch break

"Tidalholm"

Nov 18-20 Charleston, SC

Not having seen a whole lot of civilization the past weeks, we were anxious to set foot in Charleston - a new city to explore for both of us. We arrived at the city marina Thursday Nov 18th at 11:30 am but checking time wasn’t until 1:00 pm so we had to circle around. At 1:15pm the owners of the boat where we needed to dock finally showed up and after 30 minutes, they successfully managed the winds and currents and vacated our spot for the next two nights. We wasted no time securing Juno and headed on foot past gorgeously maintained homes with piazzas (balconies) under live oaks dripping with Spanish Moss to Christophe’s - a French chocolatier near the College of Charleston- where we shared a delicious chocolate pastry. We continued  to walk the old parts of Savannah taking in sights seen on a YouTube video we had watched, and ended up at a rather touristy restaurant called Hyman’s - for supposedly the best seafood in the city. There we started with boiled peanuts, followed by fried green tomatoes and grits, and Cajun shrimp. The place supposedly was frequented by many celebrities as there were photos of them mounted on the wall but we both thought we probably could have found better seafood elsewhere and now know we don’t need to seek out grits.

On Friday morning, we toured the Nathaniel Russell home which had an incredible semi-circular, staircase built without nails, and unsupported except at each floor. We learned about Savannah’s affluence from rice and indigo which were major exports during the colonial period as well as it’s role as a major center for the sale of enslaved people - primarily those born in the US. An old post office museum with the first cancellation stamp was also a stop we made.  Along our walk we encountered a gate with "Public Welcome". The owner of a beautiful garden invites anyone to come in and enjoy it. Lou gave us a little private tour.

Back at the marina, we took advantage of the Friday night happy hour and met Franklin and Francy from Hull, MA doing roughly the same trip as us aboard their power yacht Nightingale. We got a lot of great tips from them on ports of call and a taste of what life could be like with a washing machine and dryer on board. 

On the morning of our departure, we had enough time to visit a little farmer’s market and an authentic French crêperie (Brezhnev Crêpes) before we had to let go our lines and move on southward on the ICW.  We stopped in the middle of the sweet grass marshes in Toogoodoo Creek where we were able to catch the Michigan vs. Maryland football game. No word from Sally and Luis yet about a birth, but she’s shared that she’ll be induced on Monday if nothing happens this weekend.

The beginning of the city market

Locally woven sweetgrass baskets

Row houses on a ballast stone street

The US Post Office

Example of a piazza

Nathaniel Russel Home

"Floating" staircase

Lou's garden

Nov 15-17: Frying Pan Shoals NC, to Cape Romaine and McClellanville, SC

We left the dock at Masonboro Yacht Club and headed back out the Wrightsville Beach NC inlet around 8 am Nov 15 along with two other sailboats. We had a nice westerly wind  of 10-12 knots that was forecast to last about 12 hours. We first had to pass around Frying Pan Shoals - a 10 mile shoal that sticks out into the ocean off of Southport, NC. Having shopped yesterday at the grocery store we had a fresh kale salad for lunch before reaching the shoals around 2 pm.  After taking a marked cut through the shoals and turning more westerly towards the Five Fathoms Creek Inlet and McClellanville, the seas picked up a bit but we were able to continue sailing until 9 pm when the wind finally died and we had to turn on the engine. We motored about 5-6 knots through the night under a moonlit sky arriving at Five Fathoms inlet just after dawn. We went up the inlet through the marshes about 4 miles alongside Cape Romaine which is a national wildlife refuge and as it was morning, the birds were very active. We dropped our hook in a narrow little creek about 1 mile from McClellanvile, SC at 9 am Tuesday and went below to catch a few hours of missed sleep. Awaking around noon, we ate lunch then dinghied to quiet little McClellanville where a few shrimp boats were tied up. We explored the town on foot catching all the highlights - a 1,000 year old live oak tree, the post office, library and the marina tire swing-a very quiet but quaint little town. Back on Juno, Harry found out he’d booked the wrong week for dockage in Savannah where we’d hope to be for Thanksgiving so we had to make some last minute phone calls but were fortunate to be able to find dockage for our desired dates.

On Wed morning, Nov. 17th, we explored by dinghy the salt marshes surrounding our anchorage that were alive with birds, predominantly swallows, but also pelicans and a bald eagle. At high tide we found we could see across the acres and acres of sweet grass that fills the marshes but at low tide, we can’t see over the three foot tall grasses. We thought that Cape Romaine must be on bird watcher’s hit list as it really is beautiful.  We found Buck’s Hall State forest on a map, only 5 miles further along the ICW and so this morning we relocated Juno to nearby Awendaw Creek.  The boat ramp and dock was a short dinghy ride away and by lunch time we were walking the Palmetto Trail through the woods with our picnic.  No one was there save us and a barred owl we spotted high amongst the pines and we enjoyed a scenic picnic overlooking the ICW.  We returned to Juno to haul up the anchor and continue down the ICW.  By evening, we relocated Juno at Capers creek, about 10 miles from Charleston on the ICW.  Again, alone in the creek, we watched what we believe were wood storks fly overhead and dolphins feeding along the edge of the creek as the sun set.

Sunset as we head towards Five Fathom Inlet

A shrimper head out Five Fathoms Creek as we are arriving

A shrimper tied up in McClellanville

1,000 year-old live oak tree

A Night at Sea and a Quick Reunion with a Former Michigan Classmate in Masonboro, NC, Sun Nov. 14th

We arrived at Morehead City a bit before sunset on Saturday so had a quick meal then a nap before raising the anchor at 9 PM to set off for the Wrightsville Beach Inlet 60 miles to the west-south-west. This inlet is near Masonboro where we planned to meet up with another Michigan Sailing team alum.  This time it was Meg Morrison who had crewed with Harry when he was a Junior.  Meg now lives in Wilmington NC and keeps her sailboat in Masonboro where she had secured space on a dock for Juno.  Only a day or two earlier our plans were to get together with Meg on Monday morning and continue to our next destination later Monday but as often happens the weather forecast changed and it looked like a Monday morning departure would be better. So instead we modified our plans a bit to get together with Meg on Sunday evening instead.

Heading toward Wrightsville Beach, we made good progress sailing offshore through Saturday night with just a jib all the way to the inlet. We had winds of 15-20 knots from the north at the outset making it easy to steer a course of WSW for the approximately 60 miles to the Inlet.  Unfortunately, the good winds also came with some moderate waves on our aft quarter which made it very rolly and almost impossible to sleep. For the one on watch, it was a clear night with a bright moon that cast shadows in the cockpit and reflected light off the waves until around 4 am when the moon set. There was little other traffic so the radio was very quiet all night. All we saw were two other sailboats and some red warning lights marking the off-limits boundary for the Camp LeJeune training waters. Despite the rolly conditions, it felt great to be sailing again.  Around midnight, the waves calmed down enough to make some sleep possible, but neither of us got more than 3 hours of sleep all night.  We arrived at the Wrightsville Beach Inlet at 9:30 AM at about dead low tide. Meg's yacht club was only a couple of miles down the ICW but there is a shallow bar at the entrance and Meg had advised us to wait until an hour or so past low tide.  So we anchored inside the inlet near the town of Wrightsville Beach to get a nap and wait for the tide to come up a bit.

After a nap, some lunch and a little bit of planning for our next couple of days, and with plenty of water under our keel, we made our way to Masonboro, traversing the shoal at the yacht club without any problem, and tied up.  Sarah then tuned into a virtual baby shower, and we both took a much needed shower before Meg arrived at 5 pm. The last time Harry had seen Meg was nearly 40 years ago and Meg was a new acquaintance for Sarah so there was much to talk about.  Before heading out for dinner at the Waterside Restaurant in Wrightsville Beach, Meg gave us a quick tour of her center cockpit sailboat, Détente, highlighting it’s sparkling new engine. We learned that Meg has a lot of experience around boats as she has a 100 ton captains license, has sailed across the Atlantic, and currently is very active with her local Sail and Power Squadron helping educate other boaters. We picked her brain for cruising tips relevant to our journey and she was most helpful producing navigational maps and even a street map for Charleston that later proved to be very helpful.  After dinner, Meg obliged us with a quick stop at a grocery store and a gas station for some diesel before dropping us back to the yacht club. We were so glad to have stopped in Masonboro to visit with Meg and really appreciated her kind hospitality.

 

 

Ready to anchor at Wrightsville Beach

 

 

Juno secure at Masonboro Yacht Club

Sarah, Harry, and Meg
 

Moorehead City, USCG anchroage