Today was a busy but productive day. At 0830 we pulled up the anchor and poked the boat's nose into the lift at Hazzard Marina. I have loaded all the pictures. We watched in fear and trembling as she rose into the air. Not so much green goop as we thought, and most of the VC Offshore was still on the bottom. There were a few scratches on the bottom of the keel, and the offshore paint was off. Surprisingly we forgot that the rudder is almost as long as the keel. It had lost some of the offshore paint also and had only one 1/4 inch scratch through the interprotect 2000. Because this is fiberglass, it was repaired, resealed and repainted. We hung around most of the day (sorry about the pun).

While it was up, I hand cleaned the waterline with Culinite by moving a ladder around and around, going up and down. When everything was clean, I went around and around and up and down and got a couple of coats of wax on the sides as far up as I could reach, and the waterline. It looked like new.

Peaches was over talking with some of the people who were here for repairs and some who were on the way south, but not gone yet. She got some very good information. The next 20-30 miles have some shallow areas, just our draft, so we are using calculators, tide tables and our fingers and toes to get the timing right for high tide. Charts and books, notes Peaches took today and out experience combined will give us the answer. I think it is going to be to leave at 0730. We are ready. We also will be using range markers tomorrow to stay alligned in the deepest chanel. There are lots of currents through the Winyah Bay at Georgetown.
We have a brand new shiny bottom to protect.

We talked about the shrimp industry yesterday. Today I bought shrimp directly off the boat, brought in late last night. I cleaned them, they were huge, and used some lime pepper and panko crumbs and a little canola oil. Amazing. I guess I never really had fresh shrimp before. I noticed that Peaches was no longer talking and just eating. This is the way to live!

Just before we left Myrtle Beach, Frank and Valerie took us to the Burroughs & Champman Art Museum on the beach. It was such a great space, a big beach house (150 tons) moved back off the beach. Big open rooms, windows, and great people .It was saved from the wrecking ball by the Arts and Crafts Guild. Peach really loved the Bassmi exhibit. It is called the Isness of Being. It goes from 10/15/09 through 01/08/2010. They were mixed media, an oil wash and acrylic. Great colors and not something you had to make something out of. You just felt the work. (Chris' words from the review of the exhibit)

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This has been a very interesting day. The sky is blue with lots of cumulous clouds. There is no rain like yesterday and it is warm enough to be out in just shirts and shorts. We wrote about how hard it was to wiggle Star of the Sea into Osprey Marina. Shallow but ok, lots of boats, but none as long as we are. I didn'y lose sleep over getting the boat out this time. A 10 day rest does wonders for your stress level. We had help from the dock backing it up. We went back and forth, about a 34 point turn for those of you who remember your drivers test at the age of 16. Success, we were out of the narrow entryway, almost, when a blue motorboat turned in. He got the picture and backed out, letting us out into the deep, beautiful Waccamaw River. Frank had taken us for a great ride a few days ago, so it all looked familiar.He said it would be wider and easier travel than north of Myrtle Beach and he was right. It was beautiful. We pulled out the books and started towards Georgetown, about 34 miles away. It was 0900.

There was lots of floating debris from the storm yesterday. There were a few logs but mostly detached green plants. They weren't lilly pads but something like it from the marshes. There were few other boats out today so we happily moved on, not too fast because of the debris. It felt like Indian Summer weather at home, warm but color in the trees.

In our extra day yesterday at Osprey because of the rain, we got a lot done. I couldn't varnish, but could do 4 loads of laundry. Peaches made one phone call after another to follow up with the bank, insurance for the boat, friends and Raymarine looking for a chip that didn't come. We greased the wheel, it was squeeling. We talked with our friends about their previous 6 trips down the ICW. I might do parts of it again, but never the whole thing in a boat this deep. Hey, maybe in a trawler though? They gave us some great information about moorings in the Florida Keys. We are considering going down there for December, waiting for the Christmas winds to calm in the Bahamas. Andy Lopez from RCRis going to be there over Christmas diving so Peaches could have company. I only snorkle.

We learned so much from Erik and his wife Pam. She is from Honduras originally. They have a 34' sailboat that they have lived on for years. He is a professional captain and has worked in the islands. They have a schnauser named Max. They also left today.

We arrived at Georgetown about 1330 or so, much earlier than expected. After a little discussion about which side of a red and green marker was the safest approach to the Hazzard Marina turn off, we came in and anchored in front of the lift we will be hauled out with in the morning. There were shrimp boats everywhere, one of the main occupations in Georgetown along with the paper mills. (see the surreal pictures)

A grumpy guy crawled out of a beat up small white sailboat without a mast. "Your anchor won't hold there, it's all mud!" He was like a gnome crawling out from under his bridge and saying "be gone, be gone with ya!". Our anchor stuck just fine. We sat out in the sun, watching the boat's position and thinking we were seeing dolphins. Pelicans swooped and dove all over the river. Shrinp boats came in with their catch and other sailboats straggled in at the end of the afternoon. Nice place!

I changed into something to revive my tan while I sanded the new front toe rail for another coat of varnish. The whole afternoon was there to work, to relax. This is the way to do our adventure. With my iPod playing tunes, I started to put the new generators in tandem for our trial run tonight. They went together easily, and as I finished, Nick, my oldest son, called from Columbus asking if we had used them. So, here is the rest of the story.

Like everywhere else in the South along the coast, it was 5:12 and the sun set. Total darkness. The generators are ready so we start them, plug in the cord from the boat and everything goes so perfectly. We carefully close up the parting boards, Peaches even taped the little vent holes. We started slowly by turning on lights, then the fans, then the TV, then I cooked dinner. All was well. We each got a shower with the hot water generated by running the engine part of the day. Then I pulled out the computer, downloaded a bunch of pictures from the camera and just started the blog when there was the loudest beeping, like a home smoke dectector, but louder and more insistant. I dove for the doors to the cockpit. It must be part of the new generator system, no, the sound is behind me. Peaches is tearing out stuff from around the navigation station where the sound is the worst.

Did I mention that with the two heavy generators we were so glad that we could start working with them in the cockpit and not haul them to the pointy end of the boat every night. (We want to anchor as much as possible now because of the, you got it, the generators.) It seemed like a sound decision because the boat will always point into the wind, and the breezes will carry the exhaust out the back of the boat. All the canvas curtins are up and there is lots of breeze. So where were we, oh, in the salon watching TV. All the windows forward of the cockpit are open with screens, fans on. What could happen. Carbon monoxide, that's what. We finally found the source of the sound, on a shelf under the navagation station, right where I put it when we packed the boat, a carbon monoxide detector. What luck we had today.

The generators are shut down, relegated to the bow from now on. We sat under the new moon, trying to shut up the detector that was in our hands. It was so quiet before we had our emergency. We managed to disarm it. When it was safe, we pulled the battery and returned to the cabin. With the battery inserted, all was clear.

So, it was quite a day. Beautiful sun, great clouds, easy trip and somewhat of a miracle. Our hard preparations prior to leaving Buffalo paid off. Peaches put a new battery in it and sent it with me to the boat. I just barely remember placing it in just the right place so long ago. Teamwork.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more pictures. We'll take pictures of the bottom of the boat as she is hauled out. Hope it is just a scratch that can be covered with interprotect 2000 and we can plunk her back in. At least the green gunk will be power sprayed off. Star of the Sea will just slide through the brown water from no on. On to Charleston.

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Today was the day that everyone must expect us to have everyday. It was sunny, warm and I was sitting on the pointy end of the boat sanding the new teak toe-rail with iPod music right between my ears. Perfection! Here was a job that didn't hurt, didn't get me wet and cold, and that went well. Then, I took a shower and we went to an oyster roast and pot luck dinner with Frank and Valerie. So very good; these southern folks are really great cooks. Peaches even tried a little piece of oyster, but just one. S0, as you might have noticed, we took a week away from everything, even the blog. We are doing fine and appreciate the time here so much.

When we arrived here we were pretty battered and tired, even a little disappointed in our slow progress through the ditch (as the locals call it). With the help of Peaches' friends Frank and Valerie, we have recovered well. We have a car we can use from their neighbor Sam, so we have re-provisioned and been to West Marine at least three times for pieces and parts. We have also seen a lot of this tourist area in the off season, when the 29000 locals can actually drive around without any problems. We are posing as locals of course. Frank says Peaches is still talking too fast for the locals to understand.

A lot of you called and emailed us because of the storms along the east coast. It rained here for almost a week, inches and inches, and was cool verging on cold. Most of the big tides and winds were about 100 miles north. I just wanted some sun to do the outdoor repair work on the boat. There is a term I heard from another cruiser about Georgetown that makes sense. It is called the Velcro-harbor. People come in after a long time in the ditch or 'on the outside' in the ocean and get comfortable. They make friends, find out where the stores and post office are and have a couple of favorite restaurants. Then they cannot rip themselves and their boats away from the dock to continue their planned trip. I kind-of of understand. We have made a lot of friends here, but we are getting itchy again to go more south, where the sun shines and where sails can be unfurled.

Star of the Sea Update:
The Broken Toe-rail: a fellow named Richard came over to help us at Osprey Marina with assessing the broken toe-rail. It could have been a big problem if the joint of the deck and the hull was pulled apart by the large bow cleat being loosened when we were towed off of the shoal at Myrtle Beach Yacht Club. The teak board was cracked and broken, but the cleat was firmly attached and the joint of the deck and hull was uninterrupted. Bingo, replace the wood. The wood arrived from France originally via Beneteau USA in three days. It was cracked at one end. They refunded our money and will send another one in......................six to eight weeks. We put the cracked one on and it looks great. Christopher and Lee were visiting from Chautauqua and were a huge help. The crack is sealed with glue mixed with the sawdust from me sanding it for the varnish. The teak plugs were the wrong size, but with some sanding, they fit. Tomorrow the first coats of varnish. Then, away we go I hope.

The Leak: Peaches asked Richard to help us think out the leak. She went through the steps we have taken, closing all thru-hulls with no water in the boat in 24 hours. We opened the thru-hulls one at a time. He looked at the water intake in the bottom of the boat for the heat and air and found it was loose where it went to the filter before the pump. It was sealed with plumber putty and it had dried out. The plastic pipe could be twirled. It now has Teflon tape there and does not leak. As soon as we prime the system, we can have heat again, although it is a lot warmer than last week.

The Battery Banks: They are in fine shape right now because we have been plugged into shore power for the past week or so. We pick up our second Honda generator tomorrow and now have the option to hook them in tandem to produce enough amps to use the heat and air as well as the TV and coffee maker (the big amp draw appliances) when we are anchored. I as the amp-czar will feel empowered (no pun intended) to always be able to keep the big battery banks charged. We are now very much self sufficient.

Peaches Computer and the Raymarine Navigation Software: Christopher helped her clear up some problems that kept her from using it at all to put in the possible anchorages or marinas on the E-80. It would be so much better to have them in the navigation system rather than on a piece of scrap paper. Whew!

So, again, all is well. Our plans are to drive the 36 miles to Georgetown tomorrow morning and check out a boat yard there that might be able to haul out Star of the Sea to check for damage to the Interprotect coating on the bottom of the keel and power wash off the long green strands of marine growth on the hull. Going through the ditch has not been without some biological hitch-hikers If this doesn't work, we will plan to do the pull out in Florida before going across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas.

Peaches wants to talk about Osprey Marina, the unknown jewel in the marches. We were astounded when we found out that we can stay here for $1 a foot for the first two days, then 25 cents a foot thereafter. What a deal. We have paid up to $3 a foot for a 43' boat just for a quick overnight stay when there were no deep enough anchorages available..
She loves the main marina and the grounds with the sheep grazing as we drive out. We heard owls in the woods surrounding the marina. There is a 500 acre zoo next door and people say you can sometimes hear the lions roar. The docks are floating so there is no changing of lines every time the tide goes in or out. The grill is open for breakfast and lunch, free coffee all the time. Other cruisers we have met say they return here again and again, often keeping their boat here while going home for the hot months. (Watch out, VELCROW HARBOR. Even Valerie and Frank said they could add another turkey to their feast at Thanksgiving) One problem, poor cell coverage and you know what happens when she doesn't have coverage for the iPhone. She wanted to dive under the boat here in the marina to check for damage to the keel but it is that famous tea, actually coke colored water and there are alligators, so we will have it lifted. The boat yard down the river a bit sounded good, but someone said they had dropped some boats lately. Scratch that one!

I have one more story. We needed to refill the propane tanks on the boat used for the stove and oven. They are a smaller size than for a backyard grill, and places are few and far between that fill them. I was directed to Socastee Hardware, not far from the marina. I went in the hardware store after West Marine and a great hair cut (thanks Guy). I walked in with one and a man came out to grab it from my hand. You guessed it, "I'll take that heavy ole thing little lady. You wait right here and I'll take it back to the car for you." This little lady took herself into the store and started to look around. This is a great place with everything from supplies for butchering and making jerky to small appliances, paints, hardware, boots, and finally lamps and shades. I spotted the Fabreeze Max and got one to complete the cleaning of the car we borrowed from Sam. (It is her second car, 224,000 miles plus, on the original clutch, but used only to transport her dogs. It is the least we can do to clean it up a little. Valerie and Sam do a lot of yard sale cruising in this vehicle!) Oh, the story. The man came back in with the propane tank, placed it carefully at the door and smiles. "It's so small, don't you want one of these out here?" I said no, it just fit the compartment in the sailboat we were living on. He was tongue tied. I went on to say we were leaving in a couple of days to go on down to the Bahamas. As he carried the tank and the bag with the Fabreeze he said he hoped my husband really appreciated me doing all these errands for him. He opened and closed my car door, smiled and said "drive safe little lady." I'm getting a lot better about this southern hospitality thing. It just makes me smile now.

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I know, I know, it has been a long time since we wrote in the blog. It is not for lack of interest on our part, and we appreciate all the incredible interest on your-all parts, but we have been busy. Whew! Oh, and we are officially on vacation this week. We reached the sanctuary of Osprey Marina on Friday afternoon to the open arms of Peaches' friend Frank and the dockmaster, Miles. (Emphasis on the master part of this)

Let me take you back through the past couple of days in the Intracoastal Waterway adventure of Christopher and Columbus. Yes, we now have a nick-name, given by Peaches' sister Susanne's mother in law, Melva, who is almost 100 years young. She has referred to us this way since we left and somehow if feels like a good way to think of this adventure. We know there is an island paradise somewhere off the coast of Florida. We've heard stories and have sailed in some of those waters, but not in this boat and under our own direction. (Mentally and physically) We are explorers.

We left Beaufort, NC after a great save from the dreaded Anchor Buddy Saga. Somehow I will find a way to leave it with Frank as we sail away. On 11/2 we motored for about 5 hours in bitter cold weather, all canvas down to protect us. It was overcast but good visibility. The wind was cold and the high of 61 was rapidly falling as the little sunlight faded about 4:30. We headed into Dudley Marina where I had the infamous "little lady" encounter with southern hospitality. The next morning it was off to an unknown anchorage. It is always a little more stressful when you are going to anchor because the guides and charts we have are outdated before they are printed because of all the shoaling that happens with the tides, storms, and traffic through these areas.

We ended out day early as the only place we could possibly spend the night was coming up, a place called Topsail Anchorage, a small cut to the left of the ICW. A cute miniature trawler who had been running with us that day radioed us saying that he was also going to try it, although he probably only drafted a couple of feet, we draft six. He called out the depths as he went in through the markers while we followed tentatively behind. We turned the second set of marks in what looked like a marsh, no place for a keel boat to be. We saw 10' then 8' then 6' then oof we were on again, softly. Peaches took the wheel and twirled us off and back to the 10' curve and we plunked the anchor down. It was beautiful there, but we had concerns about the holding ability of the bottom (you can never see that) and also the 24K winds that were predicted later in the evening. We were only a bare strip of sand from the ocean. The anchor held, but the water under the keel kept dropping with the tide. We set up for us to check depth, location and wind speed every 2 hours through the night. We held, slept badly, and successfully made it out in the morning. The winds were only about 14-18 so our preparations were fine. We shared the anchorage with two other large motor yachts (not sail boats) and a catamaran that only drew about 3' at the most. We didn't see our friend the little green trawler until almost Myrtle Beach.

Peaches called ahead as we started out Thursday morning to South Harbor Village Marina just after getting off of the Cape Fear River. He said "come on down" just like on Price is Right. After the Cape Fear River, large, busy, and confusing markers, we were glad to have a safe place to end the afternoon. We did, and were happy we chose this place. They were there to direct us in the very swift current to come inside the wall, turn and plunk our starboard side on the long wall. There was no room to do this but after all this time, we worked like a team with Peach on the bow and me at the wheel. We looked just like we knew what we were doing. We were hooked up to electric and fueled up in minutes. We used almost no diesel the last two days because of the incredible current under the keel. This is cheap fun. We learned a neat trick to getting off the dock in the morning; keep the stern line on and back against it softly and your bow comes right off the dock and away you go. Perfect!

Now, in case you are bored with all this ho-hum down the ditch we go stuff, we headed off to our next stop, the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club in Little River, SC. We, in our hearts, thought we could go the full way to Myrtle Beach but we started counting up the number of bridges we were going to go through and possibly wait up to an hour to pass, and divided the trip up into two days to Osprey. We were going to have a relatively short day, stopping about 3:00, full daylight and all. It was to be a turn to the right off the ICW into a channel to a small body of water with four, count them, four big marinas. We went a little beyond where we should turn because of the current and turned in to keep the small red marker to the right. The current caught us and with Peaches yelling abort it, and me yelling no I think I can make it, we landed on yet another shoal, this on not soft ooze like the other ones we were able to skooge our way off of. There were some rocky parts to this and with the swift current and the wakes of the large boats passing in the ICW, we were in trouble, more than any other time. Peaches took the wheel and tried to move us, but to no avail. The keel was stuck, the rudder wouldn't turn and we needed outside help. We called the Yacht Club, who really hadn't mentioned there was a monster lurking at the edge of the opening and they called Boat US. We also talked with Boat US, and he came after about 15 minutes. Peach was worried about the boat slipping back off of the shoal and coming against the shore. It was a read danger because every boat wake made us bounce a little and grind a little more. Peaches had me empty the back water tank to lighten the load on the rudder.

Finally we saw the familiar BOAT US red boat, this time with a very eager black lab standing on the bow. The young fellow, Brian, came alongside and was immediately in charge. He asked us the right questions to find out which side of this shoal we were resting and whether our engine was okay. He hooked on the large bow cleat on the starboard side and said he would pull us straight to the shoreline of the opening. I was to detach him the moment we moved so he wouldn't run aground himself. He pulled and pulled and nothing. Well, nothing except a sound like a rifle shot. I looked down and the heavy teak toe-rail had split and the cleat was vulnerable. We broke free at that point, I got the heavy line off the cleat and Peaches got us moving forward. The steering worked, we had already checked for water coming in while waiting for Brian to come, and there was none. We followed him into the fuel dock of the yacht club. It was wall to wall large motor yachts with almost no sailboats at all. It was shallow going in, almost low tide, and then the fuel dock was flat against the back wall of this harbor and shorter than we were long. We got on somehow. Man, this Boat US stuff has got to stop.

Brian said that a lot of his business was from that shoal, so who better to be our rescuer? He works down here for Boat US in the summers and goes north with his dog in the winter to teach skiing. He is hoping to be at Holliday Valley this year. He's a reverse snow bird. We filled out papers and talked a bunch. The female black lab had gotten out of her boat, quietly moved along the dock until she was trying to make eye contact with any of us who would invite her onboard. Brian saw her and smiled but didn't acknowledge her. He said between stories to us, 'go back to the boat'. She whipped her head around and immediately looked down, averting her gaze. "Go on, back to your boat." She turned, walked three steps then layed down on the dock. He said she has always shown good intent, but never made it all the way back to their boat. What nice people. We were safe, but wondering what other unseen damage we might have; at the least some scratches to the keel. The rudder and steering are fine. We need to replace the toe rail and check the seam between deck and hull there and the integrity of the cleat.

I felt horrible that I had done this to us and to the boat. Both Peaches and I used all the normal work of setting up the boat, filling the tanks, getting the shore power set just right, closing the curtains to keep the heat in the boat, cooking dinner to avoid conversation. No talk between us except a couple of comments about how nice Brian was, and a gulped I am so sorry from me somewhere along the line. After dinner, we had what Peaches described to Frank and Valerie, our hosts here in Myrtle Beach, as a "come to Jesus meeting". I hadn't heard the term, but it makes sense to me. Something was wrong other that we were both tired. We had each been doing our best not to hurt each other while maintaining our own personalities. We are both very strong, capable, motivated professionals who got on a boat and thought we could run a democracy. Our sailing experiences were different, mine mostly seat of the pants lake sailing since I was about 6 years old, Peaches almost 30 years of sailing and racing a series of larger and larger sailboats on Lake Erie. Frank sold her the first boat and became her mentor in sailing as well as life. Even before we left home, people were making comments about how this might or might not work out well. We thought it would be fine; after all we'd been a good team racing the 36.7 Beneteau.

I didn't abort and thought I could rescue a bad situation. I was sure of it and didn't follow her command soon enough. I did it out of spite, having felt like she wasn't giving me enough credit for what I knew, and the considerable amount of success I had had getting the boat in and out of lots of dockings, anchorages, etc. She does have more big boat experience and had every right to tell me to do something and do it now in this instance. We talked and cried but there was not shouting, no injury, no damage to our goals for this trip, wherever it takes us. Out of this came a couple of things, hopefully things that might help others in this situation. Peaches came from a background of many years of high level administrative health care facility management. She had incredibly huge responsibilities for patients, employees, and the buck stopped with her day and night. You need a tough shell for this and a level of commitment seldom needed in most jobs. She was very good at what she did, and very much deserves her retirement adventure. I was also a professional, but I was at the patient level, dealing with life and death, managing a team of caregivers/colleagues to do their best and not burn themselves out. What to do?

We both decided there was more stress to doing the ICW than we thought there would be. Because of the shallow waters, it takes two to make it. Peach was watching the charts, guides, occasionally looking up to catch a mark number with the binoculars. She seldom saw what was going by her outside the boat, seldom if ever took any joy out of our journey day to day because of the responsibility she felt for our safety. When she finally admitted that she wasn't having any fun, I said, why don't we change the trip or even stop? "No, not a chance." Then what to do? We need to lighten up, take things in smaller segments, and continue after a great rest here in Myrtle Beach. I admitted that I felt more and more pushed around by her and resented it to the point I almost wrecked the boat. The more focused she became on the safety, the less she realized she was ordering me around. It might have stopped if I said something to her sooner. I just thought it would pass when we got rested up. So, a come to Jesus meeting was had, and all better understood. Responsibility is shared and communication is restored to where it should be. There is respect going both ways.

We took off from the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club after much checking and rechecking of the high tide predictions for Friday, November 6th. We got off the dock with the new trick we learned the night before at South Harbor Village Marina, made it out of that mass of boats (so many that there was little open passage through). A rock pile, a narrow channel cut through the rocky deposits of fossils, a floating log the size of a telephone pole in our way, two bridges to wait for, seven to go under, and golf course after golf course to go by (one even had a gondola over the ICW for the golfers to go from one side to the other) made the short distance seem like an obstacle course to us. We pulled into Osprey with fear and trepidation, another channel into a man-made opening of unknown depth. I squeezed the boat around some poles and into the fuel dock. (no currents or winds thankfully) We then got turned with help to go around the docks and into our slip. Miles kept asking us how wide we were, now I know why. I barely avoided a large cabin cruiser with my stern and dingy hanging to enter the narrow short slip. Home.

We are resting and making progress at getting the rail fixed, maintenance done on the boat, and reprovisioning for the next part. We are mostly resting and having a good time with Frank and Valerie, good dinners, great conversations, and meeting their friends. Last night they gave us tickets to the Winya Rivers Foundation fund raiser. Frank said it was not a dress up affair, just dinner and some fun with the "River People". It was a lot more than that. Valerie has been making up theme baskets for a year, going to household sales and shops to fill the many baskets she donates. Frank takes little credit for any of this, just drives Valerie and friends around to the sales and sits with Chloe his black lab and waits for them to get done. I imagine he does a lot more than that. The foundation is made up of volunteers who monitor the river water for pollution and teach others about the importance of conservation. www.WinyahRivers.edu Frank and Valerie showed us their Petri dish incubator for the water samples located in an outbuilding behind their home. This is serious volunteer work. They said with pride that there is no s-coli growing out at this time. The Waccamaw River is recovering. Without the watershed health care projects, the waters could become dead and unable to protect the nature depending on it and the people depending on this source for clean water. Off the soapbox.

The dinner was fun, but mostly it was the people who were a tapestry of occupations and personalities, all colors and textures. It took place at the Ripley Aquarium, a magical place where the fish, sharks, turtles, moray eels, rays, jelly fish, octopi and even the piranhas seemed comfortably close. Peaches went crazy with her, you guessed it, iPhone camera. The results are in the gallery. We will resume our trip in about a week. I am actually looking forward to more ICW if you can imagine that. Coming up is Georgetown, Charleston, Savannah and more. There is a rumor that more swamps await us in Georgia. Hope the iPhone makes it through. Updates in a couple of days.

Post Scrip by Peach,
The come to Jesus meeting, moments of truth, not in anger but love and respect for each other, I too felt responsible, I was not enjoying the trip. The bottom line we are slowing up the pace of the trip...what's the rush?

For those who may not know, Dr. & Dr Moliterno are from Amherst, both racing with the Buffalo Harbor and Sailing Club from it origin. I purchased my first sailboat from Val and Frank, the Bluenose. The other sailboats the Moliternos raced were Penn Central and Megawatt. The deal when I purchased the Bluenose from them was that Frank needed to teach me how to sail, so he did! What a wonderful time we are having sharing many old racing stories from the Tuesday night races. The best one; Val was on the helm of Penn Central, I was in the pit and Frank was on the foredeck showing Val and I how to fly the spinnaker. All of a sudden when I pulled the wrong line, Frank went about six feet off the deck with the spinnaker. Needless to say the race ended early that evening.

What is life about? It's the people we share it with!

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My day began with the iPhone having coverage. The alarm on it was set for 0600 and went off like clockwork. Chris and I had a quick breakfast and were on the deck with a cup of coffee by 0730. When we anchored in Beaufort, NC we were in 17 feet of water, very close to the shore and other boats. I laid a short anchor chain due to the surrounding vessels. However, due to the currents and winds, I was concerned that with a shorter scope, it would not hold. From the black bag on the deck we acquisitioned our new, totally virginal Anchor Buddy. Before you hear the rest of the story, he is no longer our buddy.

Let me describe what an Anchor Buddy does. It looks like a modern sculpture with a ring on one end, line tied to it. It also has sort of a corkscrew cut through it from the bottom to the top with a gate to close it off. You might remember Chris talking about it in not so warm terms as we anchored. So, at 0730 this morning, I tried to pull up the Anchor Buddy which should in theory glide up the chain like butter, but it was stuck.

So, we brought up the anchor chain 10' so I could get a look. It appeared that I had snagged a sunken mooring ball. Now, remember we have swung 180 degrees four times a day with the tides and the 5 knot current. We could have knit a sweater with all the wrapping and unwrapping going on down there. I told Chris, I think we can do this if you get into the dinghy and take the second anchor out to hold us while I sort this all out. Then I remembered that there would be nobody at the helm if the anchor lets loose. Where are Burt and John when we need them? Then Chris said "Why don't you call Boat US. You have the gold do-everything-for-me option card!" I did.

Boat US deployed a boat in a short amount of time. There were two guys, one young fellow named Ian who knew what he was doing. The other older guy, Albert, was from Brockport and had worked for Kodak. They were both so nice. They got hooked on to the side of the boat to support us, then came aboard and had me pull up the chain to show then what I saw before. They tried to push the sunken mooring ball around the line from the Anchor Buddy which was around the anchor chain. They were using boat hooks and a lot of body English, none of which worked. So, after about a half hour I thought, what were my options? I could drop the 250 feet of chain with the anchor overboard and put it on a buoy to recover later, but how? I could bite the bullet and see what it would cost me compared to the loss of the chain and anchor. When he said $150 for the first hour I thought I am not going to tell him I am a dive master with a tank on board. I also thought I will gladly pay the fee, even if it isn't covered under my golden parachute Boat US card.

The wind blew and the tangled mess lay beneath us. Ian put on his suit and used a long hose and regulator instead of a tank so he wouldn't get wrapped up in the lines too. He went down, freed up the sunken mooring ball and then the chain. While Albert held our boat steady, Ian swam back away from the chain and I was able to get it up until it broke free of the water. The Anchor Buddy was firmly impailed to the shank of the anchor. A problem you might think. It was, but after Ian got back in the boat and we talked, they towed us from along the port side to the city dock where we would figure this mess out. I was worried about the tangled anchor and the not so nice buddy swinging back against the bow, but the guys were very careful. We got to the dock and they had to haul the mess over onto the dock and hammer it apart. Please see the photo above! I might just send it to the Anchor Buddy inventor....................I think it might be useful as a mantle sculpture or maybe to sell on E-Bay like the guys suggested. We are free, only out $150 of the $480 bill, and made some really nice friends at the same time. We put things to right, left off our garbage bag from three days and continued out adventure.

We left Beaufort Town Dock at 1030, the small craft advisory done at 1000/ We went through Moorhead City and then picked up the ICW trail south. Chris was cranking it at about 2500 rpms. I wish she would slow down, I don't want to call Boat US again today. She modified it a little and off we went. The day is dark, dreary, and getting colder by the minute. We were planning to anchor tonight at about mile marker 248, but the late start really messed this up. I called several marinas on the way and either they didn't answer or they were way too shallow. The channel is very narrow today, with almost no forgiveness between the 12 feet and the 1-2 feet on either side of the wide expanse of water we seem to be in. Huge summer homes line the water's edge for miles and miles.

We came into Dudley's Marina for fuel, three guys rushed out to catch us. It is very shallow at the end of the T-dock but we made it. There are shoals everywhere, but we were lucky. We are hooked up, fueled up and plugged in to the electricity with the heat on in the boat. Luxury!

We received an email Saturday night that one of our crew-members, Larry Beck, who sailed the Beneteau 36.7 National Championships on the Star of the Sea on Star, passed suddenly. There is a saying that is in our galley in the boat: You cannot change the direction of the wind but you can adjust the sails. Larry has adjusted his. We will think of him often. Our prayers are with Sharon and the family.

Chris has a story about going into the Dudley Marina to pay for the night and the diesel fuel.

I went into the Marina, really a gas station along highway and a huge marina on the water. I looked around at all the fishing boats and sport fishing boats, traps, and the huge launching skid for boats. We are half a mile from the Camp LeJeune firing range. I walked into the store and a wave of hot, dry heat hit me like a wall. We were so cold all day today, even with the canvas curtains up all around. They all were friendly, especially the heavy set balding guy behind the big desk. The store was a large counter with candy and bags of chips. The rest of the store, almost as big as most of the grocery stores we have been in since home and the big Wegmans, is full of fishing gear and the biggest assortment of bait and lures I have ever seen. An entire entourage of good old boys were hanging out waiting to see what was up with me. I filled out the forms to stay and paid for the fuel and for some chips (the only non bait item there). I asked for a splitter to hook up our heat in the boat, but said it so sweet and pitiful that the lady at the counter whispered, "You said that just right!" I done good. The splitter was at the boat before I was. But, back to the story.

The owner, behind the big desk came out and said "You're on that sailboat out there aren't you little lady?" I didn't stop him, he was being so very kind. "I once saw just out there on the water, with my lovely wife, a large sailboat getting ready to go under that bridge. It was about 500 feet from the opening when it suddenly tipped over so we could see the whole bottom and slid under the bridge like a limbo dancer. How do you suppose they did that? You could have knocked me over with a feather!" Since he didn't call me a little lady again, I said I thought it might have been a swing keel or an electric ballast shifting boat. I also said, so he wouldn't call me a little lady again, that even if it was a fancy boat that could do the shift, it took brass balls to do it so close to the bridge. He smiled a big grin and said "You took the words right out of my mouth." We all laughed and as I walked out, he called after me "Now, you have a nice night little lady, and a safe trip tomorrow". I waved and smiled.

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We have been in another world of faraway and even long ago. We have been to the swamps of North Carolina and survived, nay we have prospered! Really, we have been a couple of days now without people, almost no other boats, no houses or lights, and the worst of all, no cell phone reception! Peaches has had severe withdrawal from her iPhone. More about that later, I know you will all understand.

We left Coinjock NC after a nice couple of days visiting and getting off the boat. The current was against us as was the wind. Not good fuel mileage today. No tides here, just currents from the winds. We crossed the Albemarle Sound, Peaches at the wheel, without much problem. The stories of wind driven high irregular waves on the shallow Sound are in all the guides. We of the Great Lakes took them in stride. We then entered the Alligator River, very wide and shallow. I keep making references to the depth of the water we go through because it is key to our success through the Intracoastal Waterway. We draw about 6 feet and we fly along with about three feet under our keel a lot of the time. A large swing bridge let us further into the Alligator River and that is where we went into the swamps for two days and two nights!

The water is like strong brewed tea or bitter dark chocolate with cream colored foam. It is everywhere, staining the bows of all the boats like a moustache. It is a badge of courage for going through the swamps. We weren't too bad because of all the wax we put on the hull in Buffalo. Pictures don't do the water justice. We went into the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal late in the afternoon, 22 miles long and no place to stop. We felt pretty confident we could make it before dark. Then Vero's warning about when the sun drops it is dark came to mind. We soldiered on and found our anchorage in a bend in the Pungo River, pointed the boat into the wind, dropped the anchor and the sun set like a stone in front of us, It was night. Whew! We went 78 miles!!

Peaches had a very hard week without any coverage for her iPhone. At first she just held it in her hand, hoping for a satellite to come over or a distant cell phone tower on a hill to shoot her a signal. There are no cell phone towers in the swamps because there are no hills or people except for us! She would turn it off, but not leave it down in the boat. I caught her looking at it with sadness, even anger. While she slept some nights a signal would creep into the boat and there would be one or two emails. What a terrible tease. No weather data, no GPS of where we were, no comforting email, no feedback at all. I occasionally saw a tear slip from her eye. I even had to stop making jokes. It wasn't funny any more.

So, without help from the iPhone, we managed to make it to Bellhaven where we motored in to get diesel about noon. We again had to come into a strange dock, behind a break-wall where it didn't look like there was room for us to go. It felt like I was driving the bow into the shore, but it worked out fine. When we were done with fuel and water, I walked a long way on shore to pay at the front desk of this glorious mansion where everyone has slept according to the brochure, probably Washington. We talked to a man on the dock who was a retired professor from Syracuse who now sails without his wife. They made several trips to the islands and back. He thought we were pretty well set up for success. He then made the same comment that many people have to us, don't try to do so much in the first year. Hmmmmmmm.

We started out into the Neuse River, which merges with the Pamlico Sound. This is separated from the Atlantic by a thin line of barrier islands and Cape Hatteras. The waves were just as you might expect, so lumpy going parallel to the wind and then some of the best surfing I have ever done in this boat with the wind at our backs. The N-NW winds were strong and our original anchorage for the night was not suitable at all so we crossed the wide river and motored into the Southern River which was deep and offered good protection from the winds. There was still lots of wind, but we could get close enough to the shore. Several other boats were there with us and that makes you feel very good about your critical thinking processes. We are now anchoring all the time. We were awake off and on all night, worrying about the anchor, and about the line we used as a spring. Lots of groaning of that line all night. All was well in the am. Wind was down, and everyone else was stirring. We had gone almost 50 miles again.

Peaches' iPhone still not cooperating did not daunt our spirits. We motored on through the swamps of North Carolina with hopes of making it to Beaufort NC (pronounced Bo-furt), a mere 20-30 miles away. A short day. We took a lot of pictures trying to depict the fall changes in the trees along side the ditch. We also tried to get a brown water shot. What else is there to do? But, the best was yet to come. As we came closer to Moorhead City I saw something by the boat, large fish, no dolphins, two of them. I thought it was a mirage, I was so tired yesterday, almost numb tired. I told Peaches, and soon she saw them too. We could not get the camera out quick enough. We have now crossed the Mason-Dixon Line of Marine Life (a direct quote from the Doyle Guide to the ICW). South of this line, dolphins and manatees are present, cod and northern fish peter out and grouper and other warm water fish start. I don't care about the fist, the dolphins are here.

We passed Moorhead City by (word has it that the motor boat people [sorry Burt] go there because of all the bars and restaurants) and went to Beaufort where the shops, bookstores and the museums are. Tra la la. We rounded the big curve just before going out into the Atlantic and found a beautiful but quite full anchoring field between the main street of Beaufort and the sand spit between us and the ocean. We tried twice to anchor but didn't hold well. We went down further and found a deeper (14' plus) place with more space and stuck it first shot. It was a very good thing as both Peaches and I were dead tired, more than any other time in two months. We found the current very swift and decided to try the anchor buddy to help keep our place. Now, whoever invented this instrument of torture was sadistic, and probably laughing all the way through the bank. It is a heavy weight that you just lean over the pulpit and swivel onto the chain and close the lock. It is so heavy it pulled my arm out of it's socket and wouldn't feed onto the chain. Finally we got the dinghy down and did it from the water. It does work, but again, I wonder if the inventor pictured the long double-jointed arm (and person) it would require to follow the directions. We are safer with it as it rides on its own line about a foot or two off the bottom, holding the chain from pulling the anchor out. The current here is over 5 knots, and the tide changes are the deepest we have experienced.

After sleeping soundly for 12 hours, our outlook was greatly improved. We were eager to get into to town. We got the dinghy down and set to go, took off to look at the town and docks and see where the dinghy dock was located. We went a couple of feet and I saw one of the wild Shackelford horses grazing by the water. I was driving and the current and the waves were not very cooperative, but Peaches got a good picture. We then went around the end of the town to where the fishing boats were and got some good pictures. There were lots of small and big boats in that harbor, but to our great surprise, so were the dolphins. They look so much bigger from a little rubber boat. Still no dolphin pictures, just our happy hearts.

The town is geared to travelers like us, with nautical bookstores, gift stores, and good lunch restaurants. We walked through the Marine Museum where some of the artifacts from Blackbeard's Ship, The Queen Ann's Revenge. It was located here in 1996 and is still being cataloged. Most of the museum's pirate artifacts are on loan to another museum who is doing just pirates. The PBS film was playing on how they recovered the canons. We got a book on Blackbeard and his ship recovery.

As we came home (to Star of the Sea) I noticed about 10 white birds feeding at the edge of the water near where the horse had been this morning. I got the binoculars and hoped for swans, but got snow geese instead. How beautiful. We are staying through the weekend and then the journey to Myrtle Beach. Peach is busy planning it as I write this.

We have been on the boat almost two months now, and we are alive and well and still best of friends. We are doing a great thing for us by going on this adventure. We are growing in confidence, trust, keeping our brain synapses snapping (and avoiding Alzheimer's I hope) and fulfilling our dream. Another couple stopped at our boat after seeing we were from Buffalo. They were from Ithaca, and on their seventh trip down from Ithaca to the Bahamas and back.. They were full of great information and some hints about places to get provisions and engine parts. This was after we anchored yesterday and couldn't get out of our own way we were so tired. One thing he said was to slow down and enjoy it all. This was the first person to say this to us when were so tired. Go to the Bahamas this year and really explore it. Come back to the US before June and work out a place to put the boat with the insurance company here. Don't run through the islands to get to Trinidad. Trinidad is very possible to do, but when we were so tired it seemed like a sentence not a dream. We are going on, happy to be doing this, but maybe in smaller bites. For us, it is on to Palm Beach, FL and across to the Bahamas sometime before the end of the year. We can't wait to go and Peaches iPhone is working like a wizard again!

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