Jumping Ahead...

Seems I can't get caught up with all that has been going on, so I am trying something different. This post will begin with what is happening now, with some posts in the future playing catch up. We'll see how this works. We are in Port Royal, SC at the Port Royal Landing Marina, awaiting the passing of Tropical Storm "Sandy" before heading South again. So, here we go....


 We left Sailcraft in Oriental, NC and headed to Morehead City Yacht Basin, where our friends, Robert & Becky, on Sea Quell, were staying for a month. Don & Judy on Nemo, had left by the time we got there, but will catch up with them along the way. We enjoyed a great dinner at "Ruddy Duck" with them. MCYB is a much better choice to stay than Beaufort. Less expensive and better protection.
      From there to Mile Hammock Bay anchorage for a quiet night, or so we thought. We were the second boat to anchor there, along side Sojourn, a motor trawler that we would play leap frog for quite a while. Another Endeavour, Samara (Mario & Sherry), came and anchored fairly close but not a danger. But the last boat in chose to drop his anchor not 50 ft. from us. Elden decided to move, and when we got to our anchor, we were 5 feet from his boat. If the winds had changed, we would have hit each other. He had no clue, and was amazed we were moving.

Sunset with Carolina Moon and friends










     From there, we headed to Wrightsville Beach, playing the waiting game with the bridges, and  we caught up with Carolina Moon and Mike & Bejay Grackin. Had three days of fun with them and discovered a great restaurant,the Causeway Cafe, on the other side of the bridge. Thursday morning came and headed to Southport,NC hoping to head offshore from there.  We left Southport, NC heading to Little River Inlet to go offshore as the tide was coming in Cape Fear Inlet and would not be safe. The weather sites(at least three of them), forecast 5-10 Kts, maybe 15 and 1-2 ft waves overnight. Boy were they wrong! It started out that way, but soon built to 30 Kt. winds with waves over 6 ft after midnight! It was not fun! Elden was a trooper, taking the midnight watch, and after I went below for "a couple of minutes", he wound up on watch until 7 am. I fell asleep for another three hours, missing the worst of it.

Mile Hammock Bay Sunset








       We made it to Charleston around 9 am and to Charleston Maritime Marina by noon. As there were no available docks at any marina, we went to the anchorage across from the city docks. Not bad, but wouldn't want to be there in a blow. One sailboat had it's anchor drag and started drifting down river! the owner finally showed up and reset his anchor. From Charleston we headed towards Port Royal, anchoring at Rock Creek. Very quiet and calm, and since it's been cool, hardly any bugs. Morning saw us off to Beaufort & Port Royal, SC.

Sunrise at Port Royal Landing Marina before Hurricane Sandy





 We are now at Port Royal Landing Marina,were we were planning on a two day stay to restock and recover some more from out offshore experience to Charleston, but nature has again stepped in. We are here for a week, due to Hurricane Sandy.  We have met up with Sami & Barry on Deja Vu, and Mary & Ron Stegall and have been enjoying the time relaxing.  They had a potluck last night, with around 40 people. tonight is the Halloween party. We are not planning on any costumes, but may wind up going in our foul weather gear. Move over Big Bird! 

Will post more as the weekend progresses.
Til then, fair winds and calmer seas!

Susan

On to Charleston and places North!

After a week of resting and waiting for Beryl to depart, we left Callawassie Island for Charleston. After a stop at Port Royal Landing Marina for fuel and a quick visit with Sami & Barry on Deja Vu, we set out for Toogoodoo Creek, our anchorage for the night, and was rewarded with a gorgeous sunset.

It doesn't get much better than this!














On to Charleston and the Maritime Center. The kids from Iowa were able to join us and we all had a great time exploring the city. The grandkids even remembered the life jacket rule! It was a hoot watching them take off and put in the jackets every time they went from the cabin to the cockpit.!

Ethan playing peek-a-boo with Grandpa

Ethan and Hannah hanging out with Dad (Tim)

Caleb having fun with the camera.









The only down side was a late night rocking from a container ship that didn't slow down. Wound up hitting the mast on the boat next door with only minimal damage to the Windex.


Decided to stay inside for the next leg, as the winds were kicking up a bit. Butler Creek was our next stop, with great views at sunset and sunrise. The moon even cooperated by being full that night!

Carolina Moon and friend.







We enjoyed a great meal on board with Mike & Bejay on Carolina Moon. Mike even came over in their dingy to get us.

Mike at the helm!













Next stop was Cricket Cove Marina for fuel and a night's rest at a marina. The weather was wet, and a little cooler, and they have their own weather forecasting service!

 

  Next day was COLD! Rain stayed with us until we almost got to Wrightsville Beach anchorage. The wind and the tide were against us and it was a miserable ride from Southport on the Cape Fear River. At least it warmed up at the end of the day.

Next post will continue to cover the North Carolina journey on our way to the Chesapeake.

Till then, fair winds and calm seas!

Susan

Fernandina Beach and Alberto, Callawassie Island and Beryl.....

 Now for the weather issues:

First, the storms: they caught us just south of the railroad bridge that had been closed most of the day for a week for painting. We had to be at the bridge after 5:30, but the storms were moving fast. So we (with Carolina Moon who we are traveling with) turned around to go to a less open place. But that didn't quite happen. We got to a turn in the ICW and the winds and rain hit. And what wind! We saw a gust of 35 kts. at one time. It was blowing us both sideways at times. We tried to drop anchors in shallower waters, but wound up in 26 ft. with only 100 ft. of anchor chain out. 4-1 scope at anchor is not good. But the anchor held and with Elden at the helm and the engine running, we waited out the storms for about an hour. We pulled up and headed through the bridge and into Fernandina around 7 pm. As we pulled into the harbor, there were more storms moving in where we had anchored. (Sorry, we were so busy with handling the boat, we didn't get to take photos.)

Next was Alberto, the first of the tropical storms to waylay us. We were only planning on staying a couple of days, but the weather outside was way to rough to even try it. So, we upped our stay to a week, and explored Fernandina Beach.

Aftermath of Alberto: a really great sunset

Tall ship visiting Fernandina Beach. Belongs to a religious group that trains their youth in sailing basics. No not Mormons.

Surprise visitor at the docks. Stayed around for days before we finally got a good shot.

Ft. Clinch at St. Mary's inlet











Offshore stories are up next from St. Mary's Inlet to Port Royal Sound and Callawassie Island.  We headed out around 8 am to the inlet to start our offshore trip. Winds were SE at about 5-8 and building. We had a double reef in and were glad we did. The winds upped to 10-15 and gusts to 18 kts. We were making such great time we had to slow down so we didn't get to Port Royal Sound too early. Elden was thrilled to be able to sail without the engine. After about 2 hours of sailing, we reached the inlet and motor sailed the rest of the was to Callawassie Island. I had made the mistake of taking my vitamins that were oil based and started feeling a bit queasy. Gingersnaps weren't working, so I had to pull out the Sturgeron pills. They worked great! No more fish oil before we go offshore!

 Carolina Moon heading out

 Offshore heading to South Carolina








Callawassie Island, SC

If you wanted a place to wait out a storm, this is a great one. Far enough inland with good protection. Also having friends along who have a place there doesn't hurt either!  We made it to Callawassie Island after a calm overnight offshore trip and tied up for what we thought was going to be a couple days rest and then Beryl decided to join the mix. We spent a week waiting for her to move on, enjoying the area and company of BeJay & Mike.  Got to catch up with Sami & Barry (Deja Vu) and Chick & Dorothy (Illusion) to share MTD games and great food.

Part of the ambiance of Callawassie Island

Low tide from Beryl

High tide from Beryl

Sunsets were beautiful and plentiful

BeJay, Mike, Sami, me and Elden after MTD. Barry was MIA afterwards, doing work on Deja Vu.








Next post Toogoodoo Creek and Charleston.

And hopefully no more named storms!

My bad.... sorry for not posting!

No excuses, I have been sidetracked by relaxing. WiFi hasn't been the great, but still accessible. So I will be posting a lot this week before we start back South.

Again, my apologies for my lack of initiative.

Susan

Next stop: St. Augustine

 St. Augustine was great as we spent three days on a mooring ball. We were able to find the great pizza place and bakery with the $2 bread. Bejay and Mike are great traveling companions and have made the trip a lot more fun sharing experiences. 
Here a  few photos we were able to take while on the mooring ball.

St. Augustine Lighthouse

Shrimper heading out before dawn

Storm clouds over St. Augustine

Bridge of Lions

Schooner that gave tourists a taste of sailing






It was good to spend time on land after a week on the hook. Short days mixed with longer ones made the journey easy.  Next stop: Fernandina Beach and then offshore to Port Royal Sound

Next post will have the report on Alberto and Beryl. Two reasons to spend 8 extra days in marinas!
Til then fair winds and calm seas!

We are on our way!

It's finally begun, we are on our way north and what a journey it has been. We are sharing the journey with friends from Carolina Moon, Bejay and Mike Gracken. From Stuart to St. Augustine was great and uneventful. So much that the next two weeks are making up for it!  First was the line of storms that caught up to us just south of Fernandina Beach. Then the two, yes two, tropical storms that have stalled us during our trip.  This will take more than one entry to cover all that has happened so far.

Leaving Stuart was exciting and sad at the same time. New experiences vs. leaving good friends we made at Loggerhead. We will miss them all!

Loggerhead Friends

            Good bye Stuart!

Traveling companions were everywhere

Carolina Moon at anchor at Titiusville










We anchored every night until we reached St. Augustine. The sunrises and sunsets were fantastic.

Sunset at Cocoa

     
Another gorgeous sunset










Titusville was a great place to anchor as we were close to the Kennedy Space Center, where Spacehip X was waiting to launch.

Space shuttle museum

  Launch and assembly areas










St. Augustine was a great place the first time we visited, and even better this time. The next entry will have more on the time spent there.

Until then, fair winds!

The Journey North begins...

Apologies for no posts lately as we have been getting ready to head North for the summer. We have left Stuart, FL and are going up the ICW with fellow sailors, Mike & Bejay Grackin on "Carolina Moon". As time and WiFi allow, we will be posting more and adding photos. Here is just a sample of the views we have had the past 4 days. Till the next time, fair winds to all.

 Sunset at Cocoa

Sunrise at Cocoa

Evening visitors at anchor at Cocoa

We are a sailboat again!

Finally after 8 weeks of waiting and working and more waiting, Soteria is complete and moving! Ok, if only on the St. Lucie River, but we can move. A friend went out with us to calibrate the auto pilot again(seems we didn't tell it we were a sailboat the first time!) and the wind instrument, while her friend went around us taking some great photos.

Enjoy the following and will post more as we get ready to head North for the summer.

The silence is deafening, and can be expensive......

Sorry for the long lapse since the last post. It has been a rough winter as far as repairs go. Late January we discovered a problem with the compression post and deck. Long story made short, the post was vibrating much more than acceptable and Elden thought that the deck was a bit delaminating. It has taken almost 7 weeks of waiting and working to get to the place where Soteria is back together.

Feb. 3 we pulled into Allied Marine to pull the mast and get started. Mack Sails has been doing the  work, but had a very hard finding a carpenter to check and fix the deck(almost 3 1/2 weeks!) Finally, a local carpenter was able to come, check out and repair not only the deck situation, but replace the water tank top in the V-berth.                                                                                                                                                                         

Before

After

Finished

The deck delamination was not as severe as first thought. There was none behind the mast and very little in front. Both the tank and epoxy fix were done in one day.

New deck plate under the mast

Finally, the crane is requested for the installation of the mast, but still has some things to add before it's lifted. Seems the boss didn't relay the instructions for a wind indicator or new main halyard, and the rigging was only partially attached. After a morning of catching up, the mast finally was reattached and we returned to the marina as a sailboat again!

Final adjustments

Fianlly! A sailboat again!

The big lift

Attaching the roller furling drum

Since the work took longer than anticipated, the wiring had to wait until the next day. So now we are sitting at the dock, waiting for the riggers to come back and do the final tuning to the standing rigging and wire the wind indicator.

Til then enjoy the photos and will post more as it happens!

LED Spreader light

Steaming & Deck light

Wind Indicator

Final mast top configuration

Spreader boot