Polite Compromise

Summer has just been rushing by. We returned to the Bahamas for a few months beginning in May, this time clearing in through Great Harbour Cay. Great Harbour is part of the Berry Islands and is in the middle area of the Bahamas. This time we wanted to spend all of our trip further north - in the Abacos. Our grandson, Connor, was joining us for a visit and we wanted to be in an area that would offer a 6 year old as many distractions as possible!

Our son, Brian, would be bringing Connor and then returning to California after a couple of days. And I would fly with Connor back to San Diego at the end of his visit. They landed in Marsh Harbour and as soon as everyone was settled on the boat, we sailed over to Hope Town for the evening. We spent the next couple of days exploring the beaches, touring the old light house, and learning how to body surf. We went to Marsh Harbour to stock up on groceries (and juice boxes!), sailed to Green Turtle Cay, fed the pigs on No Name Cay, and petted the sting rays on Monjack Cay. We kayaked, snorkeled, swam, collected sea shells, motored around in the dinghy, and watched movies at night on the boat. When I left to take Connor back to San Diego at the end of his visit - I’m pretty sure Ron went back to the boat and collapsed from exhaustion! It was a great visit and I hope we get to do it all again soon.

We returned to Florida the last week of June, clearing customs in Riviera Beach. After fuel/groceries resupply we headed back offshore to Cape Canaveral. Very cool to see the NASA launch pad - imagining what it must have been like to see the rocket launches for the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo programs. I remember watching them all on TV, listening to Walter Cronkite.

We went offshore and dodged thunderstorms, arriving in Savannah, GA on July 1st. What a great place! We stayed for a few days visiting with family and catching up with friends. Watched the July 4th fireworks display at Hunter Army Airbase. Beautiful city - really enjoyed our visit there, especially visiting with Chris/Melissa/Zander and Cathy/Rick.

After leaving Savannah, we headed north on the ICW, arriving in Charleston on the 7th. We anchored for a few hours in the harbor next to Fort Sumter and took the tour. Our cruiser’s guidebooks cautioned that anchoring in the harbor could be difficult and to watch for strong tidal currents. As we were looking around for a place to stay for the evening, Ron saw a fast moving thunderstorm coming and decided to quickly drop an anchor to ride it out. Good call. I got the anchor down with no time to put on a bridle. Closed all the hatches and put away loose gear - and then we got slammed by the winds. We had been towing our dinghy/motor - the wind flipped it, putting the motor upside down in the water. The anchor held (still love that Mantus anchor) and we had our engine on to help take some of the strain off of the chain. It passed quickly. Ron flipped the dinghy back over and that little 15 year old Tohatsu motor fired right up! The bench seat from the dinghy was gone, and we lost one flotation cushion. No other damage. We found out afterwards that the wind speed hit 60 MPH! So instead of trying to save a few dollars and anchor out for the night, we decided instead to splurge and pull into the marina for an evening with air conditioning and adult beverages… In spite of the rough start, Charleston was beautiful. We stayed two nights and took advantage of the marina's free shuttle and roamed all over the city. From there we headed back offshore to Cape Fear, NC. All the bad weather had all passed us by and we had a really nice evening sail with a full moon. I still don’t sleep well on three hour watches, but I’ve learned to “bank” a few hours of sleep in the afternoon ahead of time to make it more comfortable. Ron can sleep anywhere at any time! Once we reached Cape Fear, we decided to stay in the ICW for this part of the trip - and just take our time.

On Monday the 17th, we passed through the USMC training area of Camp Lejeune. We left our anchorage early that morning in order to pass through a swing bridge that had a timed schedule. When we radioed the bridge, we were advised that they were having live firing exercises and that the bridge would open later in the day on odd hours. It was interesting - we could hear the concussion sounds of the explosives in the distance, and then the bridge master calls us and says to come on through. So there’s a couple of small military patrol boats and they give us the thumbs up. The explosions stop and we motor on for an hour to the next bridge and wave at a couple more patrol boats. And then the explosions start again. Just another day in the ICW.

Oriental, NC, is our current spot. The city marina has a free transient dock (up to 48 hrs). Right across the street from a nice coffee shop with free wifi! AND the Piggly Wiggly has a shuttle van that will come and take you to the grocery store! How cool is that!!!

I’ve been sending post cards to the grand babies from every country and/or state that we pass through - they are getting quite a collection!