"Oh Carolina's"

Ok…I know, it’s been way too long! But to tell you the truth to have access coincide with time, has proven to be very difficult. I would like to start this blog off by thanking everyone who helped us out in Oriental. For those of you who don’t know…we hauled Meggie out of the water in Oriental and because we live on a budget now, we had limited time to get everything we needed done on Meggie. We were bombarded with the friendliest, most generous and ever thoughtful people while in Oriental. A big thank you to sail craft, our neighbours Doug and Ann, our fellow wood boat owners John from Whompoa and Don and D from Southern Cross, Mike and MaryJane from our next favourite boat Hans Christian and last but certainly not least our good friends from bird of passage, Glenn and Ulrike who helped us beyond words. They made sure we were fed, had ice and sourced material we needed like only a cruiser with a truck and local knowledge could do (not to mention having a best friend as a machinist really helped us out as well…so another special thank you to Manfred for the use of his shop, the steel brackets, and the wonderful gift). Thank you to all of you, we cannot express our gratitude enough.
Ok..enough of that. Since I last wrote, yes…we hauled Megs. There were plenty of things that we wanted to, and felt we had to do to her before he headed any further. I’m not going to bore y’all (that the south coming out of me) with all the details but our list included such things as:
-build new beddings for the engine (which included hauling the engine out of the boat, and once done, revealed 5 damaged ribs that had to be repaired) this was the biggy
-engine overhaul (including injectors, degreased, painted, a overall thorough cleaning-which was unfortunately my job)
-varnish transom and rudder
-have our prop resized
-antifoul (which is paint below the water line and some really harsh stuff, so nothing will grow on the bottom)
-plug the keel bolts (this was to ensure that we did not encounter any toredos…which are nasty worms that like to enter into the end grain of wood and then eat your boat…so we didn’t want that!)
-and we wanted to check our keel to see if there was any damage done when we hit in Portsmouth

So….the above including 4 coats of varnish on both the rudder and transom, new custom built wood beddings with 3 coats of sealer (built by Mike…of course) completed in 8 days AND…we lost 2 days to rain. So needless to say we were pretty pleased with ourselves. We both worked like dogs to get everything completed (especially Mike…you all know Mike!!!). Anyway…it worked out perfectly because Twice Loved ( a fellow boat from Thornbury) showed up the day before Meggie went back into the water, and we are all now successfully travelling south as we speak.
So we commenced our travels again heading into the ICW once more. About 2 hours into our first day something made a funny sound…”Oh no! What was that?” Then these HUGE fish appeared on either side of Meggie…yes…dolphins. Beside the bow, beside the stern, at amidships….everywhere…huge. It was soooo exciting, I was screaming so manically I think I may have scared them away. Anyway…it was pretty cool, but because the water is so dark you couldn’t see them swimming under the water and no pictures cause they’re way too fast. So that was a great start to our travels once again.
We sailed past Beaufort NC and were reintroduced to the currents and within ½ an hour we went from 7.3 knots to 3.7 knots…it’s crazy. Just when you think you have the tides and currents figured out you realize you have no idea what the hell is going on. Anyway, we anchored in a little placed called Spooner creek as foul weather was approaching for the next couple of days and we wanted to be anchored somewhere relatively safe. Well…we anchored and although it was relatively safe, we had a huge concrete wall that surrounded the anchorage…yikes. We put two anchors out and endured 40 knot winds for most of the afternoon and into the night. Meggie rode it out pretty good, and although we felt confident with our anchor set, we did not feel confident with “the wall’’ 60 feet off our stern. Gerry (from Twice Loved) decided he had had enough and asked a homeowner if him and Meggie could tie to their dock and pilings…”Sure…you can plug in and use the power too’’. Thank you Gerry! So Twice Loved and Meggie made our way to their dock and enjoyed a night full of sleep. We awoke the next morning only to discover that our dinghy was almost submerged and flood warnings all over the radio due to the amount of rain we received overnight. We also discovered that we had all been invited to Thanksgiving dinner that night! Yup…2nd Thanksgiving dinner this year. Let me just get something straight here. The dock we were at belonged to 84 foot motor yacht (Meggie is 30 feet) which was not there as it was at their house in Florida. And… the 84 foot yacht belonged to a million+ dollar home (which by the way was their 3rd home) and the neighbours flew in that afternoon on a helicopter…yup…a helicopter. We were thrilled. Wayne, Ellen and their family were wonderful hosts…super nice people who laid out a spread like you would not believe. So with our bellies full we said adios and were off again.
North Carolina along the coast is breathtaking. For the next few days we enjoyed calm weather, sunny days and warm temperatures. So you remember how we didn’t get any pictures of the dolphins? Well…we were just cruising along and “What was that noise?” And there they were…2 fun loving dolphins playing underneath Meggie’s belly. They would go down under and appear on one side and then do the same thing and a couple of seconds later would come up on the other side. This went on for about 10-15 minutes. They were right beside the cockpit of our boat…you could practically reach out and touch them. This time we got some great photos. Every time they would come up they would freak you out cause you didn’t know when or where they would pop up, and when they did…they met you with a spray of salt water. It was a really surreal moment and when it was over we both couldn’t believe that it had happened. Now…I’m sure those of you reading this that have experienced this and have done so many times can recall the first time it happened to you and remember how magical the moment felt. Soooo coool.
So our days have been filled with sunny, warm temperatures as we travel down the ICW. Pelicans meander above and around us and Mike has confirmed that the males remind him of that tall white haired guy from M*A*S*H (neither of us know his name), and the herons stand like statues in the marsh acting as if we cannot see them. Although we have the sails up most of the time, the poor engine does most of the work and we find ourselves wanting to sail. It’s a catch 22 because if you head into the ocean, you’ll have a great sail and cover a lot of miles, but on the other hand you miss all the scenery. If you stay inside you see all the scenery but you don’t get to sail, you rely on the motor and it’s generally slower. To stay inside or go out? That is the question…well the question we’re faced with. So right now we’re planning a 100 naut.mile jump from Savannah river (Georgia) to St. Mary’s inlet (Fernandina beach, Florida). If the weather is co-operating we’ll make the jump off shore and miss Georgia. Weather. It’s what our life aboard revolves around.
So we are now sitting in the harbour in Charleston South Carolina, planning on spending the day here tomorrow. We were fortunate enough to have a taste of this beautiful southern city, with it’s incredible homes with a mixture of moss draped trees and tall palm trees. You really get a sense that you’re deep in the south in Charleston. And the best thing is the southern charm and hospitality, and that great accent!
We plan to be in Savannah, Georgia on Monday and then either hop out and down to Florida via the Atlantic ocean or discover the windy marshy trail of the ICW through Georgia and then to Florida. Either way it will be an adventure that I’m sure we’ll both enjoy.
Thank you to all of you who keep the comments coming. For those of you that we’ve never met, I hope you keep reading and sending your comments. You never know…we could meet in an anchorage somewhere someday.
So until next time…
Kylie & Mike