After an uneventful night in Belhaven, a lovely little town, we set sail at first light to head to Oriental, North Carolina. We arrived around 2 pm which left us lots of time to wander around the town. We were going to tie up to the free dock, but there were a couple of boats there already, and we weren't sure that the water depth would be good, so we ended up anchoring out. Since it was early, there was a reasonable amount of room, but by nightfall, several more boats had tried to squeeze in this small anchorage! It was fun and games, "anchoring 101" as we watched a couple catamarans try to fit in! The shrimp boats come in at all hours of the night, with their humongous lights beaming and I wouldn't want to be in their way! The wind picked up during the evening and night, which made our decision to head out in the morning an easy one. The anchorage was not well protected from the wind direction, so off to Beaufort we went!
But we had the afternoon to check out the town. Beau was so anxious to get ashore that he jumped out of the dingy prematurely, and fell in! Stupid dog! Larry scooped him up and landed him on the dock (so he wouldn't soak us when he shook!). I think it was Beau's plan to ensure he got a good long walk to dry off! We walked through town and found a small grocery store, to pick up bread etc, and strolled around and found the yacht brokers office that Larry had dealt with last year when we were boat hunting. There is not much else in Oriental, so it was just as well that we didn't stay!
The trip to Beaufort, while not long, was very windy! And of course, right on the nose which means we motored most of the way. By the time we got to Beaufort, North Carolina the wind was howling, a steady 25 knots, gusting to 30 or more. Thats a lot of wind! We managed to get anchored in front of the town docks although it was a crowed anchorage and thought we'd be good, but then the tide changed, the wind continued to howl and the boats started to dance around the anchorage....it was not a pretty sight! Star Shadow was doing circles and coming very close to "Wild Card" who was on a mooring ball. Larry made a quick decision to tie up at the marina (despite the cost of $2.10/ft) to avoid going through this again at every tide change! This was our first experience of the wind/tide problem - one we are now quite familiar with, and somewhat more comfortable with, but it is never fun. We ended up staying tied up for 3 days as we decided that we would make our first offshore passage from Beaufort to Charleston, South Carolina. Well, actually, Larry wore me down and promised to take care of me if I was seasick and out of commission the whole time! Graham had a little problem with his ear which required a visit to the doctor (unfortunately, still not resolved totally), and we needed provisions too, so it was not a bad idea to make use of the marina's courtesy car to get us to some of these places. We had a chance to visit with the folks on "Fawkes" (as in the Harry Potter books, Dumbledore's phoenix), who have kids 16 and 14. We first met them in Annapolis, and it was great to have a chance to spend some time with them again. We hope to see them on down the road.
So, on Nov. 18/07, at first light, we headed out of Beaufort into the great big Atlantic Ocean! Yikes! (You'll recall that I was the one who was most nervous and ambivalent about going offshore...) The weather was not great at first, with confused seas, and within 2 hrs, I was seasick! Big surprise! I'm no good on roller coasters for goodness sake! Suffice it to say, I was not much use for almost the whole first day! Graham wasn't much better, but at least he didn't puke his guts up. On the other hand, Larry and Clare were totally perfect. Clare is the toughest person I've ever met! It was cold and miserable, and she just sat there and took it! I finally went below onto the bed in the salon and curled up with Graham to try to get warm and feel better. I did get warmer. I tried to eat some dinner, and that was a mistake! Canned ravioli tastes the same coming up as going down (is that too much information!!!).
By about midnight, the wind had dropped and the waves had settled out, and we were motorsailing. I was feeling better, and was able to relieve Larry on watch for a few hours. It is actually quite beautiful on the ocean at night (when the weather is good anyway). Graham and I chatted and watched the radar for ships and the night passed uneventfully. It was very peaceful. We headed back to sleep around 4 am, so missed the sunrise, but slept very well and I felt great when I woke up.
The wind was very light and we were motorsailing and if this was ocean sailing, I was all for it! The ocean was so clean and lovely. We were escorted by dolphins so often that it was becoming routine! We got some fantastic video and pics. I'm hoping to figure out how to put the video on the blog...When Beau caught a glimpse of the dolphins he barked at them to beat the band! It was hilarious to watch, though we were glad we had him tethered in case he decided to jump in after them! Speaking of Beau, the stupid dog had still not learned it was ok to "go" on the boat, and despite our taking him to the bow frequently and giving the command, he just held it - for 33 hrs in fact! When he did finally go, I think I was more relieve than him! He only went the one time, and he never pooped...poor animal.
Our second night out was also uneventful, though by then, we had taken down the sails because what wind there was was on the nose anyway, so we were strickly motoring. It really was amazing when the dolphins came up beside the boat in the dark for air - when they blow out, it sounds like someone clearing a snorkle! Scared the heck out of me the first time! Thought it was a scuba diver sneaking up on us!
Somewhere along the line, we decided to keep on going to St. Mary's Georgia, since we knew that there was going to be a huge American Thanksgiving pot luck there, and we had friends who where also going to be there. So we kept on going and had some company from a couple of other sailboats, not in eyesight, but by radio - which made me feel not so alone.
We pushed hard to reach St. Mary's on the slack tide as we had been told that the current is quite strong in the river. We got in around 4 pm on Nov 2o, and got anchored amidst probably 50 other boats, all there for the Thanksgiving pot luck! St. Mary's is another small town with a lovely waterfront. For about the past 6 years the locals have been supplying the turkeys and hams for the cruisers pot luck. It has become a huge event, lasting all week and is a great opportunity to meet cruisers, trade stories, have a swap meet, doggy "gam" (play time for doggies) and of course, have a few beverages! By the time we had the big dinner on Thursday, there were 107 boats in the anchorage!!! Let me tell you, when the wind and the current/tide compete for dominance in such a crowed anchorage, all hell can break loose at any given time! There were boats dragging, boats swinging close to other boats and lots of nervous sailors! We had anchored slightly farther away from the dingy dock, which was a pain, but it more than made up for it in fewer boats to cause us problems! We only had one bad night when the tidal current caused the anchor chain to drag up and down the keel all night long. What a God-awful sound it makes. You'd think the boat is about to break apart, but no worries, all it is is noise, and the only thing it ruined was our night's sleep! Thankfully, we only suffered that for one night!
Beau seemed to be suffering some post "holding it" trauma, and Clare and I took a cab to the vet to have him checked out. It turned out that he had a bladder infection (not a big surprise) and he was prescribed an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory. Interestingly, his bill was more than Grahams was, which tells us...what...about health care in the USA. Hmmm.
Taxi's in Georgia are an interesting experience too. The nice lady who drove us to the vet was in a car with the name of the taxi company on it. She was dispatching as well as driving, and at one point was talking on 2 cell phones and driving with her elbows....comforting. But on the way back to St. Mary's, we were picked up by a van, which had only those stick on letters spelling "TAXI" on the side window. Inside the van were two other people, plus the driver, and when I opened the door, a woman screamed when she saw Beau (he is somewhat ferocious looking, being a shaved poodle and all). She was inconsolable and scurried into the front seat of the van. Clare and Beau were relegated to the very back and I sat in the middle row with the other guy in the vehicle. The driver, a woman, said nothing to us at all, and it was the man beside me who asked where we were going. No one said a word about the extra people, why they were there or anything. No one said anything at all. The driver was playing some (horrible) rap music for our entertainment. This driver was not at all talkative but she did seem to like to text message someone from her cell phone while we were driving....egad! So we're driving along and suddenly, the driver heads off in a totally different direction from our destination, and winds up on some street, God knows where. She pulls up to the side of the road (wrong side, I might add) and gets out of the van without so much as a backward glance at us. I was beginning to be a little alarmed at this point. But, being a sport, (and not like we had much choice...) we carried on. The guy beside me gets into the drivers seat and proceeds to drive the woman who was afraid of dogs to her home (I assume). Again, no explanation was offered for the detour. It was getting dark by now, and I'm thinking, I have no idea where I am, and how long it would take to walk back to the waterfront. Anyway, I wasn't sad to see the scaredy cat leave. So now its just us and the driver. I'm thinking, ok, now it's our turn. Wrong. We start driving around again and wind up at another house, and 2 more people get in. At least these 2 were a bit more friendly...even though the guy had those silver caps all across his front teeth - he looked sort of like that guy in the James Bond movie (don't ask me which one), they acknowledged our existance anyway! Well the driver took these 2 to another house and dropped them off and then it was just us and him again. I wasn't exactly panicking, but man, I was thinking he bloody well better not charge me for all this running around! I was never so glad to see the cruisers gathering place! I was required to fortify myself after such a grueling experience with several glasses of strong wine!
Thursday, American Thanksgiving, was cold and rainy, and we managed to get rather wet while ferrying pots of mashed potatoes and rice from the boat to the shore. However, we made it and there were about 250 people gathered for the biggest pot luck I've ever been to! We found a table for us, JocksLodge, Windsong, and Ariel, and we had a wonderful meal! So much food! As usual, there was far more than anyone could hope to eat, though we all gave it a good try! Our gathering made front page news in the local paper!
I've been writing this particular post for at about a week - we haven't had good internet connection, so I will post this now, and carry on with our travels in the next one!
