I love the Dismal Swamp so much. It is my favorite part of the whole ICW experience. Pictures do not do it justice. And I can't decide if I like the bright green of summer or the golds of fall best. They are both so perfect!
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I took the picture of the long dock in South Carolina. The picture does not do it justice. You can see the dock is falling over but you can't see that the little gazebo is also leaning over. I think it needs a little work!
The dunes are in North Carolina. I was just so surprised to see them after all the lush green trees and marshlands.
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Picture of Carolina Beach, NC at sunrise Tuesday morning.
We are anchored in Mile Hammock Bay where last fall we watched the golfers hit balls off the top of the powerboat. There are only 6 boats in here now rather than the 15 or 20 then. The wind was blowing pretty good last night - gusting to 30 knots but is calm now.
We have had a really good trip and have made good time even if the bridges do try to foil all our progress! Sometimes we have to cool our heels for almost an hour. Such a waste of time.
We are going to pass by Beaufort, NC today and find a little anchorage in the trees. We may not have internet and/or phone for a few days as we work our way north and east through the boondocks.
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We are anchored at Carolina Beach in North Carolina. We began the day in South Carolina at Calabash Creek intending to only go to Southport at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. But when we got there it was only 1:30 pm, we didn't like the looks of the anchorage and we weren't ready to quit for the day. The tide would be against us if we continued and the wind was blowing hard but what the heck - let's go for it. So we had the wind pushing us up the river and the tide pushing us out but the wind won and we did just great with only the headsail up. We arrived at 4:15 and so far are the only boat in the anchorage, but - that is not saying much as we are surrounded by homes and condo buildings. The wind seems to be dying down for the evening - well a little anyway. We should be on our way again tomorrow morning making another 40 - 60 miles. Rain and wind is predicted all week - wish we could have left with Rick and Tanya - they had great weather for most all of 10 days.
Internet and phone coverage are hard to predict. Tonight is the first evening we have had internet on the boat while anchored in a couple weeks at least - before Charleston anyway.
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Here are a couple of pictures from Suzie's Barber Shop! I think Casey is handsome whether he has long hair or "no hair". What do you think???? Is he not "one good-looking dude"?
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We had a great time at Bill's Birthday Party!
Kellie, Sarah, Almeda, Lydia, Garrett (in the back), Katlyn and Amanda.
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Grammy and 1 year old Kevin
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LEE and KIRBY
After a wonderful but fast and furious trip to California we are back aboard TOBIAS and heading north.
We flew to San Diego where we visited with Ryan, Lisa, Kevin and Blackjack. It was wonderful getting to know my 1 year old grandson. Of course he is the smartest and cutest ever! Mostly I enjoyed just watching him explore his world and delight in his own achievements.
Then it was on to Tehachapi and a visit with all of Kirby's family. Lee flew in from Hawaii and it was such a treat to get to spend some time with him! We hadn't been there in almost 2 years so it was really fun to see how much all the kids had grown. Our main reason for the trip was Bill's 70th Birthday Party and it was a great occasion. I have never seen so much picture taking!
We arrived back at the boat about 10 pm on Wednesday. Christie was kind enough to let us use her car yesterday so we provisioned up with lots of food and drink, returned to their house and had a great family dinner.
After dinner Casey announced that he wanted his Grammy to give him a buzz cut! Wow - was that ever fun! There was hair all over the place. I wanted to give him a mohawk but he resisted!
As I sit in the cockpit writing Kirby is at the wheel waging a personal battle against all the Deer Flies! They are VERY thick and very annoying. I guess he has killed about 50 or 60 this morning and for each one he kills they send in 10 more!
We talked to Rick and Tanya yesterday and they are already to Elizabeth City - leaving today for the Dismal Swamp. We miss having them with us so much. Maybe - just maybe we will catch them!
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On Monday, May 21st, after 9 months of traveling together, the TOWNKIDS are no longer together. Rick and Tanya have many more miles to travel than we do and they had to head on north without us.
We are at the Wild Dunes Yacht Harbor in Isle of Palms, SC. (The Charleston area) We arrived on Friday and will leave the boat here while we fly to California to visit family and attend an important birthday party.
Saying goodbye to our wonderful friends was one of life's most unpleasant experiences. Rick and Tanya have become family to us as we have adventured our way from Gloucester, MA to the Bahamas and back to Charleston together. We met them in Gloucester after talking on the marine radio as we sailed from Nova Scotia to the U.S. the end of last August. We liked them immediately and started traveling together, realizing that our agendas were similar and our boats traveled at the same speed.
Whenever I was having an off day, complaining about the wind, the cold or some other stupid thing, Tanya would tell me to just "Suck it up, Cupcake!". She is the best and bravest of cruisers that I have ever met. Nothing upset her and she never complained like I did.
It was fun having Canadians as best friends as all Canadians get excited when they see another boat with a Canadian flag and do their best to meet each other. And not only that, but Tanya never met a stranger and she also talked to every person she possibly could. That was real handy for Kirby and I - it gave us more friends. It also made us the Token Americans on occasion.
So, after nine months, our agendas are different. We talked to them last night and they were anchored at just south of the North Carolina border - planning to be in North Carolina by the end of today. We miss them terribly.
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One year ago we untied the dock lines and took off aboard TOBIAS in search of adventure. We have had the most fantastic year traveling from Deale, Maryland to New England and on to Nova Scotia. From there we returned to Maryland and then headed south to Florida and then the Bahamas.
It is 8:00 pm and we are anchored in Beaufort, South Carolina after a 12 1/2 hour day - 73 miles. I think it is a record for us. We are pretty darned pooped but tomorrow will be a shorter day and by Friday we will be in Charleston! Grandsons! Hooray! Can't wait!
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Those of you who have been reading our blog since last summer will remember our great friends Steve and Mollie Odehnal from north Georgia. Steve and Mollie were in Nova Scotia with us last summer and we passaged back to New England together. Throughout New England it was Tobias, Sabbatical and Auriga going from anchorage to anchorage and adventuring together.
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While we were staying in Jekyll Island we called Steve and Mollie and sure enough, they were able to get away for the weekend and drove down to Jekyll Island and we all had a little reunion. We played so hard for 26 hours, hardly taking time to sleep. We sat on the boat and caught up on the past months and reminisced about last years cruising fun. We found the beach and walked and walked. We picnicked on steak and salads and just had loads of fun together. Steve and Mollie stayed until it was time for us to go and they untied our dock lines for us as we all gave hugs and kisses until next time.
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The Girls - Mollie, Suzie and Tanya
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While we were preparing for our picnic and barbeque one of our new friends from the marina, Jason, returned from a day of Shrimping. He had a cooler of fresh shrimp and we just couldn't resist - between us we bought 8 pounds of the beauties. Part of his payment was a freshly made "Bahama Mama" - a rum and pineapple drink we learned about while in the Bahamas.
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Jason enjoying his Bahama Mama!
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