Hey Gang... Sorry its been so long since my last post but a lot has been going on. I left Charleston on April 7th and headed north. I had fairly a fairly uneventful trip with stops in Georgetown, Myrtle Beach, South Port, Wrightsville Beach, Swansboro and, finally New Bern.

When I checked my engine before leaving Myrtle Beach, I noticed water and soot stains on the absorbant cloth beneath the engine. Closer inspection revealed that I had developed a leak in my wet exhaust hose beneath the floorboard in the aft cabin. It was a fairly small leak but, if it was releasing soot and sea water into the cabin, it was also leaking carbon monoxide. Probably not a good thing....

When I arrived at Sea Path Yacht Club in Wrightsville Beach, I took the courtesy car to West Marine to pick up a replacement hose. Now, this is a heavy-duty two-inch hose that is reinforced with heavy gauge wire. On my boat it comes out of the mixing elbow at the back of the eingine (where raw seawater that cools the eingine and the exhaust are mixed together to be expelled overboard at the rear of the vessel by way of this hose.)

The hose runs beneath the floor boards, through two bulkheads and beneath the bed in the aft cabin and its all one barely flexible length of hose. I don't know what the engineers had in mind when they came up with this arrangement, but it was not the poor son of a b*tch that had to someday replace that length of hose. Well, it took about 3 hours with lots of colorful language and a few rest periods built in but, I'm happy to report that the problem seems to be fixed.

I knew when I left Florida in March that I was risking running into some unsettled and chilly weather as I headed north. That has indeed been the case. (Note to self..... next year, stay south of 25 degrees North Latitude until May!) The morning I left Swansboro it was 38 degrees!

Anyway, dressed in long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, jacket, hat and gloves I left the dock at 6:30 AM in building winds. The good news was that the winds were on my beam and the tidal current was with me most of the day. This allowed me to make it all the way to New Bern in one trip. The bad news is that it was cold!

Anyway, I made it unscathed and have been enjoying being back in New Bern. Those of you who have followed my blog for a few years may remember that I stayed here in the summers of 2009 and 2010. This time, I'm in a different marina that is even closer to downtown. The marina is also tied to a Hilton Resort which provides lots of amenities.

I guess that brings us up to date. I will check in as I travel inland to play some shows in May and let you know when I figure out my plans from here. In the mean time, I'm enjoying being back in a place with so many memories.