05/24/2013, Beaufort, NC
We ate dinner at a charming restaurant, Beaufort Grocery Company. Strange name but great food. They sell their homemade desserts, delicious baguettes and other treats from one area of the restaurant, have an active bar in the back and tables for dining on the other side.
|
Comments [0]
05/24/2013, Beaufort, NC
I typically read longer blog posts to Ed prior to submitting them to check for accuracy. Yesterday he was elbows and knees deep in dirty fuel so I didn't bother. Wouldn't you know this morning when he read the blog he would say, "Well, it wasn't exactly like that..." So here's the correction. When he was talking to Customs on the phone to clear in yesterday morning, the official told him Immigration and someone from the Agricultural Department would be coming by Skylark to inspect our fruits, vegetables and meats. He asked if we had any eggs. Ed said yes. The official said, "Boil them or lose them". We said, OK! When the officials arrived to board us, they didn't have to take the eggs that were boiled, nor did they confiscate any products with US labels. We had frozen chicken without labeling but they let us keep that. It was obvious our frozen fish had been caught by us (yes, we STILL have fish even after giving a large portion away in the Bahamas) so although we wish they would have taken that, they left it. Our bananas from the Bahamas? They weren't interested in those but our potatoes had to go. There you have it, correct details directly from the Captain.
Last night we had a wonderful dinner out with new friends Marie and Craig on s/v Sail On. It was a fun evening and delicious food.
|
05/23/2013, Beaufort, NC
Happy Birthday Amanda! In this photo, Luna stands next to a porcelain dog planter. When we first approached it, she was frightened and didn't know what in the world a dog would be doing holding a basket with plants in its mouth. I would have loved capturing that image but by the time I dug out the camera, she had already made friends with the darned thing.
We are currently having every bit of our diesel removed and the tanks cleaned by a fuel cleaning company here in Beaufort. We got dirty fuel in the Bahamas and probably elsewhere as well. Ed says our diversion was well worth it if for no other reason than being able to have this issue addressed. We were worried the engine was going to quit on us during our passage and it did sputter a few times when we lost our wind. While Ed has been dealing with the fuel I did four (no, that is not a typo) loads of laundry this morning. The boat is a total wreck with the current fuel project going on and so all the clean clothes and linens are piled high in various places. I have a tiny little corner where I can sit at the computer and take care of some internet business. Since our tanks are underneath our berths, our mattresses are here and there as well as all the other things we have in our master cabin. Oh, and we were inspected by two customs officials from the agricultural unit this morning when Ed told customs during clearing in that yes, we did have some eggs from the Bahamas. We turned over our potatoes as well and then they asked to look at our dog food to make sure it had no meat products. Since Luna is a vegetarian and we still have the packaging, we were in the clear. I told the two agents that if they had to confiscate Luna's food I would have to scream. You can't imagine the cost and effort it takes getting that stuff shipped to the Islands or brought to us in visitor's suitcases. Luckily the agents were amused by me and let us keep it. Did they think I was kidding? But then they wanted to inspect her dog cookies. Oh shit, no packaging. Do they contain meat products? Well, maybe, but hopefully not. The officer decided we could keep all 3046 of the cookies since the food was clearly vegetarian so in all likelihood the cookies would be as well. But without proof, I thought they would take those with them. I wouldn't have screamed quite as loud, more like a whimper with a few choice cuss words thrown in for effect. They were spared my antics and Luna kept her cookies. Before they left, the female officer asked if she could give Luna one of the cookies for being such a good dog. And if they had taken all the cookies, what then?
As far as our plans, we are eager to continue our passage up north. Our current dilemma: Do we sail up the ICW and avoid Cape Hatteras (always a dicey endeavor) or make the offshore trip around it? Do we stop at Newport, RI as originally planned or go on up to the mouth of the Cape Cod Canal and maybe through the canal depending on our timing? We are monitoring and talking (sound familiar?) and will figure things out soon enough. It's tempting to go back offshore and make good time, but we also want to be comfortable and safe. We'll leave Beaufort either Saturday or Sunday, depending on our route and weather conditions. In the meantime, we're enjoying the heck out of having marina amenities. I took a hot shower last night that lasted so long it was most certainly considered environmentally inappropriate by those who monitor such things (I'm usually one of those people). I feel bad admitting this but now you know how imperfect I truly am. Just in case you wondered.
|
05/22/2013, Beaufort, NC
Now that we have diverted from our planned course we have time to reflect on why we made the decision we did. If we had continued on our original course, a couple of different scenarios would have greeted us. We would have shown up off Cape Hatteras this morning and there's no reason to expect we would have encountered problems getting through there. The winds would probably have increased to 20-25k with thunderstorms and squalls. Not unmanageable but not our favorite conditions. It takes approximately 24 hours from rounding Cape Hatteras to get to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. We would have reached the bridge sometime after sunrise on Thursday 5/23 and spent that day finding an all-weather (protected) anchorage in the southern Chesapeake bay region before the cold front and developing gale force conditions arrived on Friday morning 5/24. We would have been safe and comfortable enough if nothing changed over a 36-hour forecast but we had only marginal confidence in the reliability of those weather predictions. We had to work off of a 96-hour forecast in order to make a decision to divert and that makes it tough to know what to do at times. That's what felt risky to us. Might the gale force conditions show up early? Late? Or not at all? We typically err on the side of conservative; at least that's been our habit thus far. With Luna on board we are mindful of her comfort and safety and I feel the need for more experience to handle adverse conditions on my own before taking greater risks. It seems unwise to do otherwise or at least unfair to Ed.
In Beth Leonard's book, "The Voyager's Handbook" she suggests that the risk to mariners that cold fronts create include extremely dangerous line squalls that can develop 50-300 miles in advance of the front. In the situation we've been monitoring there is a low predicted to develop in the cold front off the coast of NJ/ LI Sound creating an additional basket of bad weather. This means that ahead of the cold front there will likely be gale conditions, wind and rain. After the cold front passes over there is apt to be near gale conditions and northerly winds (we need southerly to make our passage). The northerly winds will most likely be reinforced through at least the middle of next week. Our entire trip would have stalled at the Chesapeake no matter what because of the gale conditions, the northerly winds that follow the front and the subsequent low that develops along the cold front. There's definitely a no-go weather system for at least a 5-day period beginning Friday morning. In this particular case the front is running into a stationary high-pressure system creating extremely strong gradient winds. Combine the gradient wind with the wind from the squall lines and we could easily end up with 40-50k conditions, either showing up as scheduled or perhaps 12 hours after we arrived in the Chesapeake, which would have made it possible for us continue and not divert to NC. It's also possible it might have arrived early and put us in the middle of it. Hard to say. But what we know is we would have had to wait things out either here or there. Do you see what I mean about having to weigh all the information out and come up with Plan B, C and D and so on? It's freaking exhausting! And then of course there's that irksome second-guessing we do every time we make a call about changing course. Sometimes we think, "Thank goodness we did that!" but many times we think, "Why did we do that?" So far we are comfortable with our decision. The day is still early, however.
|
