We have not gone anywhere lately except a couple of short day trips. We had to bow out of the club's last cruisng trip because we discovered our motor mounts were broken, causing the engine to vibrate and water to spray into the engine compartment. Anyway $300 later we are ready to go out again.

Before we do go on another adventure, we will be in the Golden Isles Sailing Club's first Christmas Boat Parade of Lights, Saturday, October 11. It will begin at 6pm starting at Brunswick Landing Marina. To sign up go to: the club's website.... From there you can download the rules and see who else is signed up. This is the first year, and will give organizers the opportunity to test logistics for future events.

I hope you can join us, or if you have any questions just email from this blog.

Well, we have been home now for a couple weeks and I thought I would recap the final leg of our journey home. Special thanks go to my brother Mark for volunteering to drive to Brunswick and take care of our dog Maggie. He pampered "Big Sweetie", our spoiled rotten golden retriever, and enabled us to cruise off shore.
After dodging Hurricane Earle we resumed our trip home. We traveled down the ICW from Oriental to Bald Head Island which is located at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. It was a great place to stay. You can only get there by boat, and people get around on the island by golf carts. The night we were there was the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, and they had a festival with a buffet and a live band. It was a perfect close to our trip. The last two legs of our trip home consisted of two off shore overnight passages. The first was from Cape Fear River, NC to Charleston, SC and then Charleston to St Simons Island, Ga.
We departed Bald Head Island on Labor Day, Monday Sept 6 at 8:15am. This was to be our first off-shore overnight trip so we were a bit apprehensive. Temperatures were in the mid 80s and the skies were partly cloudy and the seas were 2-3 ft. The winds were light 5-8 kts from the W-SW and almost on the nose. As a result, we motor sailed most of the way with the main sail helping to stabilize the boat. We set a straight line course for the Charleston Harbor clear water buoy. We were out of sight of land most of the day. About 2 hours into our journey we could see a squall ahead. The ships radar showed it was about 15 miles ahead of us. We were able to turn towards shore and avoid it. Once past the squall the skies cleared and the seas calmed to 1-2 ft. The remainder of the day was a pleasant motor sail. After sunset the wind picked up and we shut down the motor and sailed at 6.5kts for over 2 hours. After that the wind shifted and was on the nose again so we started the motor, furled the sails, and motored on into Charleston. Most of the trip we were 10-20 miles off shore. We could not see land but after dark we could see the city lights reflecting off the sky. Unfortunately it was a new moon so the only light we had was star light. This was our first time coming into a harbor at night. Fortunately Charleston harbor is well marked and deep with very little to worry about. We arrived at our intended anchorage in Charleston on the Ashley River adjacent to the City Marina around 4:30 am. It took a few tries and about 30 minutes to get the anchor set. Finally at 5:00am we turned on the anchor light and went to bed. The knot meter said we had traveled 125 Nautical Miles.
We weighted anchor the next morning at 07:15. Once outside of Charleston Harbor we headed south to "STS", The St Simons Sound Clear Water Buoy. The seas were dead calm, flat, and glassy, so, we motored again. Our course took us 20 plus miles off shore. Again we were out of sight of land most of the day. It turned out to be a very interesting day. Several times we saw Atlantic Needle Fish, at least I think they were, dancing across the water on their tail. They would skip 30-40 yards across the water submerge and then do it again. We also saw a large Loggerhead Turtle whose shell looked to be about 4 ft across and his head was twice as large as my fist. Several times during the day we heard, but could not see, fighter jets flying overhead. Once, when I was off watch and down below there was a loud bang. I scrambled on deck to see what had blown up. It was a sonic boom. That is the first time since I was a child that I had heard one. We heard the boom several more times that day. As the sun set, the wind picked up and the seas increased to 2-3ft. We arrived at STS around 4:00am and turned into the channel and motored on into St Simons Sound. It was not as well lite as Charleston, but we had local knowledge. We tied up on the face dock at our marina and finally settled in at 5:30am. The knot meter registered 144 nautical miles.
As we traveled I would watch the horizon and the ships radar for other ships and buoys while referring to the chart plotter and the paper charts. As we passed Gray's Reef at about 2:00am, I could see the yellow light from the buoy and I could see it on the radar. At the same time, within 1-2miles was supposed to be the lighted Sapelo Inlet off shore buoy. I could see it on the radar but I could not see the light. I called the Coast Guard on the VHF radio to report it being extinguished. I gave them the name and position of the buoy. I had to laugh a little. I was asked what numbers were on the buoy. My response was, "I don't know, it's dark and I could not see it." I was then asked if I had a cell phone. I replied "yes, but I am over 20 miles off shore and no cell service". The Coast Guard then thanked me for reporting it and said that they would check it out and repair it ASAP.
Now that we are home, our plans are to go back to work so we can replenish the cruising kitty. During that time we will start planning for our next adventure.

Well we made it back this morning at 5am. After finding and hiding in a hurricane hole in Oriental, we continued down the ICW and letting the waves settle down a few days and it worked like a charm. We got to Beaufort/Morehead City and decided to travel down to Southport to exit to the Atlantic. We left Southport at 7am on Monday and got into Charleston around 3am on Tuesday. We anchored by the Mega Dock there on the Ashley River and slept. Although it was hot we had a nice breeze to make it pleasant on board. We left there on Wednesday at 7:30am. When we got out the water was very calm and had a glassy look to it. That day we saw a dolphin and a hugh turle. Jim even caught a yellowfin tuna, but it got off the line just as he was pulling it in. No more bites after that however. As it turned dark, the wind and waves kicked up, but we didn't care. We were almost home. We had talked about skipping Charleston, but I was glad we didn't. I don't know how we could be any more exhausted and still funtional. It would have been different if we had one or two more people with us to share watches, but it was also hot below (with the hatches closed) and therefore not comfortable.

Mark (Jim's brother) met us at the dock along with Steve from Dunbar Sales to help us tie up. We drove home getting a bite to eat on the way. When we arrived at home, our dog Maggie was there waiting to see us, and whimpering the way she does when she is happy.

Right now I am doing laundry and Jim and Mark went back to get another load of things and wash the outside to removed salt and dirt. Tomorrow we will give it a good cleaning inside and out, knowing that we will have to do again after our sailing club outing next weekend.

Jim and/or I will add more later along with photos.

Rode out the hurricane without any problem. River Dunes is a great hurricane hole. It has great protection and floating docks. We spent the day putting the canvases and jib back on and inflahating the dinghy. Going out to eat at the restaurant here tonight. Yesterday we had lunch and spent the afternoon with John and Cheryl from Leprechaun, who we knew in the Bahamas and live nearby in New Bern.

Tomorrow we leave eary and head to Swansboro. We weres going to go out off shore but decided to go out at South Port, to allow the waves to settle down. Right now we think we will be home on Friday morning, Sept. 10th.

We decided to leave Belhaven because we didn't want to get kicked out of the marin a and have to anchor out someplace during the store. We traveled up towards Oriental, having made reservations at River Dunes, a very protected harbor (see map) to ride out the hurricane. After arriving we took down the jib and stored it in its bag and place it in the rear cabin. We washed the cushions and stored them below as well. (We needed to "debug" after going through the NC swamp). We then took off the solar panel, stored the dinghy motor and deflated and bagged the dinghy. In the morning we will remove the bimini and dodger and put the deflated dinghy in the cockpit. We are expecting winds around 50mph according to tonight's weather report.

As we continue to travel we are finding out just how small the sailing community is. As we started to dock at River Dunes, Jim saw a Catalina 445 with a hard dodger. Turns out it was the 445 that he helped commission with Steve at Dunbar Yachts. Robert the owner came by to prepare his boat for the storm and we had a chance to talk. We helped him take down his jib, and he gave us a hand in taking down our solar panel. Both jobs were easier with 3 sets of hands. Jim of course had seen the boat, but I had only seen the exterior on the hard. Robert was kind enough to show me interior. What a beautiful boat. Of course I want one now. Oh well.

We will take some pictures and video tomorrow and keep you posted.

Our friends on Leprechan (John & Cheryl) live in New Bern but have spent the summer in Bayfield WI for a variety of family functions. We were hoping to see them while we were in this area, but they were not planning to be back until this Friday. That was until Earl. They let us know yesterday that they would be back on Wednesday to make sure the boat would be ok for the hurricane. I am hoping we can get together for dinner Thursday or Friday to catch up.

We left Coinjock and are staying at the Alligator Marina tonight. We were going to anchor but it is only $1/ft here and we won't have to worry about losing our anchor on a snag, which the cruising guide cautions about. Tomorrow we will have a long slog to Bellhaven. Everyday as we head south, we pay close attention to Hurricane Earl. Right now it doesn't look like it will hit the east coast, but the waves are getting too large for us to go off shore which means it will take us longer to get home because we will have to travel more down the ditch. But safety is our prime concern.