John's Notes:

Welcome to Northwest Creek Marina and North Carolina. In celebration of our arrival, they are having a party. Everyone will be there. Me, Tommy, Hanna, Ike, and Josephine. Can't wait to see if they add to the guest list.

We arrived at 13:45 this afternoon. Not so gracefully either. We decided to stop at the fuel dock before finding our own slip (C-40). Well, the wind got us a little bit and we ended up a little sideways. Not bad until you look around and see all the people looking at us wondering who the hell these rookies are. Anyway, Bud, the marina manager was right down to greet us. After quick introductions, Bud tells me that I had better get the dingy off the davits, up on deck and start preparing the boat for the coming hurricanes. The marina is a beehive of activity and there are as many preparation techniques as there are boats. We don't know who to emulate. We decide to borrow ideas from several nearby boats.

We are stern to in our slip. That didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked either. We needed the assistance of the staff. Didn't touch anything though. Felt better later this afternoon when I saw the staff assisting other regular residents with the same procedure.

We have traveled 2349 nautical miles over 46 days. What have I learned during that time? There are two possible answers. Too much or not enough, depending on what kind of day I'm having. For instance, never attach anything to your boat that extends beyond the life lines or pulpits. That includes, but not limited to, davits, dinghy's, BBQ's, anything. While totally functional in their own right, they are just accidents waiting to happen in strange marina's and fuel docks. Almost all the docks we experienced on this trip had high pilings on the outside (boat side) of the dock. Almost anything outside your life lines are a target for these pilings or an inattentive dock hand.

When you are sitting around the bar at Port, experts abound. At marinas you stop at along the way, experts abound. When it's your $150-200K boat, you are the only expert that counts. Whatever you do will either work or it won't. Personally, I have my own Bucket List of things that I NEVER want to do again before I die. Where are all the experts when you need them? The answer is, you don't need them because you have to just do it. Some of it will be ugly and some of it will work better than you thought.

I've been sailing for 58 years and have loved every minute of it. I love living aboard. This really is the good life. The reality though is that you can only sail part of the time. When we are sailing in the Apostle Islands, our daily destination is mainly determined by the wind direction. When you are making a trip to a specific destination you have to go in a certain direction or it will take forever. When you have a 35hp diesel, speed is not on your side. Which brings me back to a subject that I have broached a couple of times during the trip. I always figured that I would sail till I couldn't grind winches anymore. It fits with my image of myself. How tough? Tough enough. Well, maybe I'm getting old or soft, or both. What do I have to prove anymore? I've been lucky enough to do more and go more places in this world than the average guy. Not bad for a little Irish kid from San Francisco. We motored most of the way on this trip. Know what? It wasn't all that bad. Now, what if I could go just a little faster with a little more comfort? Could be a good thing. The idea of a trawler is getting more and more appealing. Here I am asking my wife to give up her 31+ year corporate career, go off cruising and giving up a good portion of the comforts of home. Not that we don't have a super equipped boat. It's just that it could be more comfortable and spacious. There are times when I'm working on deck that I would like to not have to be careful about stepping on something round like lines or power cords that just might pitch me overboard. I was thinking a lot about that when I was taking down the main off the Jersey coast with the swells running 4-6' and I'm sick as a dog. It would be nice to have an engine room where you could actually work on it without doing bodily harm to yourself. How many times have I stubbed my toes or gotten boat bites that take forever to heal? How many more toes does Cheryl have to break? Ask me how many bruises I have from trying to retrieve something from the bottom of our reefer. A dodger and bimini will keep you dry, well, most of the time. And what about hurricane preparation? Watched a guy this afternoon on a trawler remove his flybridge enclosure, some canvas from around his sun deck and the next thing you know he is sitting on the stern of his boat with a beer in his hand watching the rest of us fools struggle with sails, sheets, halyards, dodgers, biminis, you name it. I've still got work to do in the morning.

There are times when I would just like to lay around and relax in a more spacious environment. We even want a new cat. A sailboat, at least ours, just isn't conducive to having a pet aboard. Sure we could do it but it would be much easier on a different style boat. Whatever we do, it won't happen overnight but I think the seed is planted. Might cost a little more in fuel but I think that it will be worth it. It will increase our range considerably. It was over 90 when we arrived here today. Would I ever consider air conditioning on a boat? Hell, I hardly ever use it in my car. But maybe..................................

Would I make this trip again? Maybe. If I were 10-15 years younger and under different circumstances. Some of the trip was great and lots of it was just L O N G. This was definitely a power boat trip. There are places I would love to come back and visit. You have to use marinas almost exclusively. Expensive and takes the fun out of cruising. I would rather anchor. Tommy is more into stopping, meeting people ashore, etc. than Cheryl and me. I can't wait to gain some local knowledge about the shallow waters and then start exploring some of the backwaters and anchorages. The fact remains, I did it. Maybe not on the scale or with the success of some of my predecessors from Port, but I've done it while some are still in the planning stage. It's not for me to recommend whether someone should or should not do something like this. But, I do think life has it's rewards if you do some things that are outside the box. I haven't done anything like this in over 20 years and for all I know I never will again. But, you never know...................

Last night, our last night out, we anchored in a little anchorage that was described in one of our guide books. It was so small and shallow that we had to make a special MapTech route to leave the main Intercoastal Waterway and get to it. According to the chart there was enough swing room for a couple of boats our size but the water was only 6-7' deep with everything else surrounding it about 2-4'. We need at least 5'. Well, Tommy drove and I ran the GPS. We anchored in 6' of water and ran out a 3 to 1 scope. Couldn't use more rode because we would have ended up stuck. To celebrate our good fortune and last night, we grilled our remaining steaks and enjoyed the sunset. Later, we noticed that the cruising guide gave the exact GPS coordinates of the anchorage. N35 17.073 W076 37.369. We then turned on our GPS to see where we actually were. N35 17.082 W076 37.344. Not bad!

We have rented a car tomorrow to drive back home. It's much cheaper and will take us about 25-30 hours. A one way plane ticket with no advance purchase notice would have been very, very expensive. We have to stop at West Marine and get more stuff. There is no way we are prepared to dock here. We usually only use about 4-5 mooring lines. Typical here is more like 8-10 mooring lines. I also need to get some shackles that are used on the pelican posts. I'll try and take some pictures that will better explain what I'm working with.

It's over and we made it. Now if the boat can just survive the coming storms. I know that I'm not as prepared as I need to be........neither is the boat.