5/8/2012
New Bern, NC
George Stateham

We are home in our marina and have made two trips to unload the boat. That only scratches the surface but often when we get home we are so pooped that we just walk away for a couple of days. We also made a quick trip into town to get Lynn's glasses fixed (they were closed in our folding table top, oops). While there, we had some of the pine pollen washed off the car, picked up our bottom paint from West Marine, and bought some diet pop for the fridge. Oh yes, and a box of wine.

The wind forecast that had me dreaming of a nice sail up the river didn't develop. Our anchorage was flat calm this morning and the river had only a few ripples on the water. Still it was a nice motor back to our dock.

We rigged lines and docked without assistance. Lynn is an awesome foredeck crew. We plan to post a summary of the trip so don't stop watching this space just because we are home.

The computers are hooked up and working. We tested the TV and got the usual resumption of service problems resolved. I think we will either get carryout Chinese or delivery pizza tonight.

We are glad to be home, but sorry the cruise is over.

5/7/2012
Cedar Creek, ICW
George Stateham

We don’t usually spend a lot of time planning our days on the ICW to consider tides. They are helping about half the time and hurting the other half. There are a few stretches where the effect is more severe and this time we are paying more attention since we are in no hurry to get to any particular place.

I mentioned delaying our departure from Charleston. That worked well. Saturday we delayed our departure from Myrtle Beach so that we could catch a flooding tide in the Cape Fear River. When we got to the Little River Inlet, we made a snap decision to go outside rather than up the ICW. We would still catch the flooding tide and we would avoid Lockwoods Folly and the Shallotte inlets where bottoms shift causing shallow areas and difficult steering.

We had about a 2’ swell off our starboard quarter early but by the time we were near Cape Fear it was about 4’. Certainly less comfortable but in general a nice day outside with good sailing. As planned we caught the incoming tide and had a quick trip up the Cape Fear. Snow’s Cut was running the other way so we have a mile and a half of slow going and really active steering. Then once through the cut we modified our plan again. Instead of turning into Carolina Beach to anchor, we opted to push on for Wrightsville Beach. We managed to get there and be on the hook by 7:30 pm. Not much daylight to spare.

Getting to Wrightsville made getting through the bridges easier the next day. We were through the Wrightsville bridge before 6:40 and the Figure eight we made at 7:00. Then dragging our heels we made the Surf City bridge at their 10:00 opening. These three bridges are inconveniently spaced for sail boats and unless you are lucky you spend a long time loitering waiting for a scheduled opening or, as we did, you slow way down to get there at about the right time.

Farther along the Onslow Beach Bridge opens on both the hour and half hour so it is not as difficult to schedule. We were in Swansboro about 3:00 pm. They have free wi-fi, so guess what we did. Wrong, we sat in the cockpit, had a couple of glasses of wine and walked to the Icehouse restaurant for a nice dinner to celebrate the end of this cruise.

The hordes of power boats, sport fishers, water skiers, waver runners, etc were not as great as normal between Carolina Beach and Wrightsville because of the late time of day. Then today, it was gray and cool and that reduced the number of crazies near the New River inlet.

We thought we might go all the way home today or stop in Oriental if the town dock was open. If it was we would celebrate again. It wasn’t and we didn’t want to keep going so we are stopped at Cedar Creek. This anchorage used to be wide open but apparently it is good crabbing and there are so many crab pots it is hard to find an area large enough to anchor and allow some swinging room. Winds are supposed to be good for sailing tomorrow so that will be a good way to close out the cruise. A nice sail up the river.

It has been just six days short of six months since we slipped the lines to head south. Maybe we should turn right down the Neuse and go to Ocracoke for a few days and get home on the day. A fun thought but we have already made a vet appointment for Toby on Wednesday. We have signed up to be a host boat for Boat Bash and we want to get ready for Alisha’s visit. Time to get back in the swing of the land lubbers life.

5/04/2012
Myrtle Beach, SC
George Stateham

More about those Georgia flies. We decimated squadron after squadron of the aerial invaders, but their numbers were without limit. There appeared to be no way to win the war, thus, we decided to execute a strategic withdrawal. Since we were in Georgia that is pronounced “with drawl.” If our boat were faster we would not have executed a strategic withdrawal, it would have been a hasty retreat.

As soon as we crossed the Savannah River the problem abated. That is not to say there aren’t biting flies but the numbers are manageable. One thing we did see shortly after the Savannah was a 6’ gator sunning on the bank. We know there are gators along our route and sometimes scan the banks in hopes of seeing one, but mostly we are watching where we are going and cruise right by without spotting them. We do see the occasional gator swimming but this is the first one sunning itself we have seen in a very long time.

The full moon is causing extreme tides and we are modifying our daily float plans to accommodate them. Currents going up the Port Royal sound helped us make an earlier bridge opening and thus allowed us to get to Dataw Island. That in turn helped us get all the way to Charleston the next day despite nasty currents in Elliott Cut but that is a short passage and once out of it things were good.

Lynn has reported on Toby’s leg. We believed he was hurt but not injured. Does that make sense? My coach used to ask me, "are you injured or just hurt?" Still, he is an important member of the crew and we decided not to risk it without a professional opinion. The vet recommended by Jim Amy was just the ticket. He concurred with our diagnosis, but we will have him checked again at home if he is not showing marked improvement by the time we get there.

The extra day in Charleston allowed us to get together with Don and Peg on two consecutive evenings we it was a real bonus to spend time with them. What great people.

The shallowest water we saw while southbound was the area near McLellanville, SC so we delayed our departure from Charleston until about 10:00 so that we would be transiting that area on a rising tide. They must have been dredging because there was no problem. We did see shallow depths in the area east of Charleston. We had a mix of favorable and unfavorable currents, but knew once we got past Minim Creek that they would be favorable and we would scoot right up to Georgetown, SC. The problem was to get to Minim Creek early enough to make that happen. If we got in a little late, we would anchor there and go on today. As it was the time seemed right on the margin and we took a chance. The good news is that the current was really moving and we picked up about two extra knots and got into Georgetown well before sundown.

Georgetown’s anchorage had lots of room and we found a great spot. We love the nice little downtown area but George the Grinch/Captain wouldn’t launch the dinghy for a drink or meal ashore.

If one leaves Georgetown about an hour before high tide it is possible to have favorable currents all the way to Myrtle Beach. We were off the hook with most of the mud rinsed off the deck by 6:30 and made great time. We did 62.5 miles in 7 ½ hours. That averages 8.3 mph or 7.3 knots. That is a full knot faster than our normal cruising speed. Add to that that we had to slow down for 3 bridges and it was an awesome day.

Tomorrow tides are unfavorable at about he time we would get to the Cape Fear River but we will delay again to ride them up the river. The last start will mean we don’t get as far as normal, but should be at Carolina Beach by sundown.

The areas we have been transiting over the last few days are just beautiful and are some of our favorites. Huge areas of wet lands filled with wild life means there is always something to see. We really enjoyed the Waccamaw River today. We only met one other boat and we passed no others and no one passed us. It is wide and deep so the steering should be easy but the helmsman needs to keep a good eye out for logs in the water.

5/3/2012
Charleston, SC
Lynn Stateham

5/2/2012
Charleston, SC
Lynn Stateham

4/29/2012
Thunderbolt, GA
George Stateham

Something I should have included in my random thoughts was that the sunspots must be really active. Propagation on the VHF radio has been downright freaky. From Titusville we heard Coast Guard stations from Texas and Louisiana. Then from Melbourne, we heard Mobile Alabama. We frequently hear conversations between boats 200 to 300 miles away.

Our plan had been to go outside at St. Augustine Friday and run overnight to Beaufort, SC arriving Saturday. After a stressful crossing back to the US, I had promised no more night passages that weren’t perfect. The weather had a period of winds just beyond our accepted comfort limit and the radar has been erratic so we changed plans. We have opted to just stay inside and enjoy some easy days on the water.

We seldom get bird poop on the boat. I guess we have just been lucky. In St. Augustine the cormorants took a liking to our rigging. When we got up Friday morning, the boat was an absolute mess. Lynn used a bucket and brush to get most of the stuff on the deck, but the bimin and dinghy are messy as well.

We went from St. Augustine to Cumberland Island, about 5 miles north of the St. Mary’s inlet. A new anchorage for us and it would have been nice to stay a day or two and explore this end of the island.

From there we stretched a bit and went 81 miles to the Wahoo River. This is not one of Lynn’s favorite stops but she admitted we had a very nice night there and were protected from some blustery southerly winds.

We have had beautiful days and in the early morning light the marsh is an iridescent green. Marsh birds stalk the shallows and we have seen osprey pluck fish from the water directly ahead of us. Bald eagles perch high in dead trees. We have taken a ton of egret pictures and will check to see if we got any worth keeping.

Of course we have been providing sustenance for the biting flies that are so numerous this time of year. Raid, Off, fly swatter and even an electric swatter that gives the culprits a nice little zap when you make contact, all these are pieces of our arsenal. We win some battles but the war is as yet undecided. We should nominate these critters as the Official Georgia State Bird.

Temperatures are cool at night requiring a sheet to cover. With the sun in the cockpit during the day it is toasty. I stood in the sun for a few minutes yesterday and my shirt smelled like it was being ironed. Felt about that way as well.

Currents are once again a big part of our lives. Depending on whether we are running with or against the tides our speed may run as low as five knots or as high as 7. When trying to make a scheduled bridge opening, it seems to hold us back, and then when we get there it changes and wants to drag us into the bridge.

The currents also move the bottom around and the waterway in Georgia is notorious for some shallow creeks and cuts. I am writing this underway and we just passed through Hell Gate. We have never grounded here but many boats have. Lynn says it wouldn’t be so scary if they called it something else. How about Raccoon Cay Cut? It is just on the north side of Raccoon Cay. Another skinny spot is the Little Mud River. Some names are very descriptive.

We have agreed to stop in Beaufort, SC and pick up some boxes for people moving to New Bern. Another boat was transporting them but has changed plans and is now not going to NC.

Tonight we should be at Thunderbolt Marina. It is one of Lynn’s favorite stops but I think the Krispy Kreme doughnuts delivered to the boat at 6:30 am is the reason for that.

Sunspot Baby stays pretty clean when we are home and even in the Bahamas, but when we are moving every day she doesn’t get the attention she deserves and now she does not shine. We got a huge rain in Vero with that thunderstorm bearing 62 knots, and the boat looked pretty good.  Then we ducked into a marina in Melbourne, FL to escape some westerlies, and were docked right next to a bridge, negating the nice rinse and adding a fine layer of black dust.

The crew are overdue for haircuts and now that he is not swimming on a regular basis, Toby is beginning to small like a dog. Those that think spending six months cruising is living in the lap of luxury are mistaken. It is a great adventure and we love it, but right now we are not very lovable.

We should probably stop somewhere and regroup, scrub the boat, get haircuts and shampoo the dog but we are like a horse headed for the barn. Now only about 400 miles from home we hate to stop.

I mentioned we were underway as I wrote, so now we are in Thunderbolt and because we ran extra miles yesterday we were in early enough to hose down the boat and get most of the bird poop off. Lynn ran three loads of laundry and we each had a shore shower. That unlimited hot water is nice.

The boat is not as clean as we would like but as I always say, incremental improvement beats postponed perfection.

4/26/2012
St Augustine, FL
George Stateham

Random thoughts of the last few days.

The water pump I had rebuilt in Green Turtle began to leak like a sieve and threw salt water all over my engine. Called my good US mechanic and he drove down with the right stuff and actually fixed it. Did the guy I trusted in Green Turtle just do enough to get me out of his hair?

We see dolphin virtually every day in the ICW and maybe one or two animals a year in the Bahamas. Water in the ICW is usually green or brown. Water in the Bahamas is usually crystal clear. Why do the dolphin like this better? Food. Clear water but not much to eat in the Bahamas, that’s my guess.

Have been blessed as the recipient of the Grady White Wakefest today. The smaller boats aren’t bad but the larger ones need to learn to plane out. Stern down, bow up pushing big wakes, ouch. The ones that try to give a slow pass just don’t know the technique.

Head winds really slow you down.

Beans have a lot of fiber. Boy was I regular for a while. Regularly on the head that is.

We eat extremely well on this boat. Wisely but too well? I should take smaller portions.

Just changed Racor filters again. Boy we have had a lot of dirty fuel this year.

Lynn broke and lost a boat hook last time we came into St. Augustine. She certainly got over that today. You just don’t pick up a mooring any better than that!  

Looking ahead: Hope to go outside tomorrow and run to Beaufort, SC overnight. Wish us well.

4/23/2012
Melbourne, FL
George Stateham

After caution induced by the pre-frontal activity we saw on Friday we sat in Vero for two days to let the front move through. The forecast was for more of the same. The good news is that while we had some wind and rain, most of the really severe stuff moved by either north or south of us. The bad news is that during the deluge, our trusty Honda 2000 generator quit working.

With some extra time on our hands, Lynn opted to do a couple of loads of laundry just to keep us topped up. I tried getting the generator going without much luck. While at the laundry, Lynn talked to Will off Antares who said he was good with generators. Will came by and found a bad on/off switch. Probably got too wet, but it didn’t want to work even after a shot of WD40. We disconnected it and the generator runs fine. The downside is that I have to choke it to kill it but that works OK even if it does take a while to stop.

Saturday evening during one of the nice periods of weather we were watching dolphin in the harbor. One was popping its head out of the water and jerking it. Watching closely, it had a small fish in its mouth that it would toss away. I assume it was like a cat playing with a mouse, catch, release, catch, release, repeat. I have never seen this behavior before and wish we had a video.

This morning we took off in calm conditions against a current so we weren’t making quite as good time as planned. Headed to Titusville we still had time to get in and anchor with plenty of daylight. Lynn was looking at mileages and anchorages and figuring out how we could be home in two weeks. Yeah, sure.

As the day progressed the wind picked up to 20+ knots coming right down the waterway. Our speed decreased further but my concern became not time but finding a protected anchorage. After looking at lots of options, we opted to cut the day short and go into a marina in Melbourne, FL. The forecast for tomorrow was the same as today, but now it looks like it might be easing, so with any luck we won’t lose another day, at least not right now. We shall see.

Toby, however, is happy. This means he can get shore patrol even though the dinghy is stowed.

There is supposed to be wi-fi here but we can’t get the signal, even with our big external antenna. We are taking turns using my smart phone tethered to the computers to get internet. How nice to be able to get internet anywhere I have a decent cell phone signal.

4/22/2012
Vero Beach, FL
Lynn Stateham

4/20/2012
Vero Beach, FL
George Stateham

We waited for a good weather window and didn't have to wait too long. On Monday 4/16 we left Bluff House early to catch a tide high enough that we could get out of the slip. We had a nice 3 hour sail up to Crab Cay anchorage at the north end of Great Abaco. We spent a calm night on the hook and did final preparation for an overnight passage.

Tuesday morning we listened to Chris Parker and got a personal forecast. Then we raised anchor and were away about 7:15. The wind was almost dead astern but shifting enough that it swung from port to starboard and back. I could get wind in the Genoa for a while and then have to furl it and wait for the wind to change sides. After a while I decided I was working way to hard for the little benefit I was getting from the sails. We sheeted in the main so that when we jibed it wouldn't travel far and furled the Genoa for the duration.

Motor sailing was the mode of the trip. Lynn had a bit of excitement on her watches (read her report). My anxiety level was much lower.

We arrived at Ft. Pierce inlet shortly after sunrise on Wednesday and caught the flooding current going in. Just like we planned.

Going up the ICW to Vero was almost boring after an overnight passage.

As I write this things are not boring. we are in the middle of a severe thunderstorm with hail.  Lynn just saw a wind gust of 62 knots. The boat behind us has its dinghy flipped over. Fortunately he doesn't have a motor on it. Our boat and dinghy are OK so far.

There are more thunderstorms forecast over the weekend so we will probably wait until Monday to leave. I certainly wouldn't want to be underway in confined waters in a storm like this one.

4/18/2012
Vero Beach, FL
Lynn Stateham

4/11/2012
Bluff House Marina
Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham

4/10/2012
Bluff House Marina
Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas
George Stateham

The deal is not as good as it used to be. Last time we were here it was cumulative. You could dock a couple of days and build up a fair sized credit and then really splurge on a meal. Now the credit is only good for each day you're docked. In other words if we spend $45 docking today we must  use it today or lose it. There is no roll over.

Lynn says that the engines Laverne and Shirley are  jealous of each other and anytime one gets something, the other wants one too. Well we put a rebuilt raw water pump on Shirley (starboard engine) in Nassau. Now Lavern is leaking. We used our only spare so now must decide to live with the leak until we are back in the states or try to get it fixed here. We would hate to miss a weather window to cross waiting for parts. We are trying to reach a mechanic here that we have used before and trust.

Meanwhile, tonight is steak night at the restaurant. I think we will enoy it rather than lose our credit.

4/9/2012
Fischer's Bay, Great Guana, Abacos, Bahamas
George Stateham

We may not have internet depending on where we anchor although we might go into the Bluff House Marina if they still have their docking for dollars plan where you get a restaurant or gift shop credit for the amount you spend on docking. We shall see.

I posted a couple of pictures of our stay here at Treasure Cay.

4/9/2012
Treasure Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham

4/5/2012
Treasure Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham

4/4/2012
Treasure Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
George Stateham

Then we were on to Hope town where we spent two nights. We spend a little time ashore in the tiny town center and had a snack. We shared an order of conch fritters. I had a beer and Lynn opted for a mango daiquiri.

We saw some old friends and made a few new ones.

Then, today we sailed from Hope Town to Treasure Cay. This place has a great reputation and somehow we have missed it in our three previous trips through the Abacos. The dockage rate is reasonable and there is a squally cold front due this weekend so we will stay put for a few days. We hope to see some of the Masters Golf Tournament while here.

Things close up around here for the Easter Weekend so any shopping we want to do will be done tomorrow. Come Tuesday, we plan to move to the next island, which one is dependent on which way the wind blows.

4/1/2012
Spencers Bight, Abacos, Bahamas
George Stateham

3/29/2012
Nassau, Bahamas
George Stateham

We will leave the dock early tomorrow. It has been two months since we were at a dock and it has been nice to be plugged in and to have a good internet connection.  We hate to see that come to an end but we plan to work north through the Abacos and last time we were there, there was pretty good internet accessibility. Hopefully, that is still true.

We thought long and hard about whether to head back to the states or extend our stay in the Bahamas. Lynn was about 60/40 in favor or the US. I was 60/40 the other way. There is a forecast benign weather window over the next few days so wherever we go, we will be motoring. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, it is the Abacos. Keep your fingers crossed.

We have really taken full advantage of our time in Nassau. A highlight was lunch at the Twin Brothers stall on Potters Cay. We have eaten at their big restaurant at the Fish Fry but this was the first at their stall.

When you gorge yourself, it is usually called a pig out. Well, most of what we ate was made with conch so I guess we conched out. Conch salad, conch fritters, and cracked conch were accompanied with Bahamian style mac and cheese. I ate so much I could hardly waddle to the new big grocery store for provisions.

Except for taxes and washing down the boat, we have crossed out most of our to-do list. We still have a little time on taxes and the water pressure at this end of the dock is so low that a wash down is not practical.

Our buddy boat, Midori, left this morning to return to the mainland. We hope they have a good trip and have enjoyed their company.

3/27/2012
Nassau, Bahamas
George Stateham

The leaky water pump was a seal, not the casting. I couldn't see that well using an inspection mirror and flashlight trying to find it. Our spare pump is installed and looking good. All the sanitation hoses in the head are new. The old ones had so much calcification that the opening was about the size of my little finger. No wonder the head wanted to clog at the least provocation. A hose that was leaking at the macerator pump has been spliced and the mechanic found that the macerator pump itself was leaking. We now have a new one.

Of course, with sanitation issues there was some yucky clean up to do but we did it and it is behind us now.

To get to the holding tank and macerator pump we had to remove all our provision boxes for the forward double berth. We couldn't do that until we closed up the starboard engine room where the water pump leak was. So as soon as the new pump was in, the mechanic started in the head and the Sunspot Baby crew started lugging and stacking boxes. The we removed the floor under the berth and cleaned up the area where the leaks were.

Getting the floor back in after the work was a challenge. It has always been tricky to get those boards back into exactly the right spot so they will all fit together. The we moved all the boxes back. Lynn filled her on-board shopping list from the boxes as they came and went.

We were pooped (pun intended) by day's end and neither of us felt like cooking. Here we are in a city with restaurants so why not take advantage? The crew of Midori joined us at the Poop Deck (how fitting), the eatery right here at the marina.

When we came in here, I would have given even money we wouldn't be out of Nassau in a week. Now it looks like we can take advantage of what is forecast to be mild weather Thursday or Friday and continue our cruise.

We will do a little shopping for provisions and some boat parts today. We were concerned that we would have to head home because we are running low on wine, but we can re-supply now :-)

It is dangerous to talk too much about our plans because they are so flexible, but we think we will go from Nassau to Royal Island, then cross the Northeast Providence Channel into the Abacos to spend a few weeks there.

Wi-Fi here in Nassau is good enough that we can use Skype and have talked to many or our family. We even found our granddaughter in Germany on line and video chatted with her. Lynn has been able to make contacts about possible plans for a celebration of life event for her Mom this summer.

3/25/2012
Nassau, Bahamas
George Stateham

That meant we skipped a final stop at the Exuma Land and Sea Park and sailed about 40 miles to Normans Cay. Fortunately the Park had some business to do with a Megayacht anchored nearby so the Manager, Andrew, stopped by in the patrol boat to say hello and wish us well.

The sail from Sampson to Normans was really nice and we made good time on a beam reach most of the way.

After an easy night at Normans, we departed early with less wind and slower going. Still we were at a fuel dock in Nassau by 1:30 pm. From there into our favorite marina here, Nassau Yacht Haven. Docking was not as easy as usual, They were short handed and no one was available to take a line. Also the slip they wanted to put us in looked pretty tight. We opted to tie to the face dock where a charter boat, Amarok, stays. We saw them leaving and knew they wouldn't be back for several days. The wind and current were carrying us off the dock and we had to make a couple of passes to get close enough to get a line on a piling without banging into something hard. Of course, we got it done although not as prettily as normal and we were secured in time to help Midori with lines when they came it.

We had a nice Chinese dinner aboard Midori last night and plan to walk to a Chinese restaurant they like tonight. Chinese two nights in a row? Of course, when we lived in Singapore we sometimes ate it 10 or more times a week.

We called a Nassau mechanic while we were in Sampson to get on his schedule to replace the head hoses. A confirming phone call Monday morning will hopefully put things in motion. 90% of the hoses are easy to reach so maybe if they get on it quickly, we might be out of here in a good weather window later in the week. Our experience with what should have been quick repairs so far this year would indicate that may be wishful thinking but hope springs eternal. If we don't get out we will have to move so Amarok and return.

3/22/2012
Sampson Cay, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham

3/19/2012
Black Point, Bahamas
George Stateham

3/15/2012
George Town, Bahamas
George Stateham

3/14/2012
George Town, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham

3/12/2012
George Town, Bahamas
George Stateham

Every year it seems we end up “blown in” somewhere when we would rather be moving. This year it is George Town. There are many wonderful places in the Bahamas so we really shouldn’t gripe. George Town is nice because we are here at the time of the annual Cruisers’ Regatta with a lot of activity.

Knowing we have a repair to take care of we went onto a mooring and have been well protected from the stronger winds and seas.

Cruisers plans are written in sand at low tide and as we have watched the weather we have continued to change our expectations as the clock has continued to run. Our typical year (if there is such a thing) would have us go from here to Long Island, then Conception, Cat, Eleuthera, Spanish Wells or Royal Island, then up into the Abacos. There is no near term weather window to go east toward Long Island and we have now decided to head north through the Exumas. From there we see where next. We will probably still do the Abacos but there is no need to decide now.

Saturday, the winds calmed enough and the tide was high in the morning, so it was a good day to cross the harbor and buy fuel and water. We had consumed about ½ our fuel since we filled in Staniel Cay over a month ago. Water was a little more critical. We carry 175 gallons and when we filled we added 140. We make our drinking water with a little 1 ½ GPH water maker. We run that a couple of hours per day to make the gallon + per person water that we consume in drinks and cooking. It draw only 4 amps but that is enough drain that we only run it when we are charging either with engines or the little generator.  We did add a little by filling a jug on a couple of town trips and occasionally running the water maker into our tanks, but we were getting really low.

The weather forecasters had predicted rain squalls. Unfortunately they missed us because with a good hard rain we can fill our tanks in about ½ hour and not have to pay for water ashore. Then after we filled on Saturday we had a couple of good rains on Sunday and through the night and into today. Perfect timing on our part eh?

Our visas expire in a little less than two weeks. The plan was to renew them on Long Island but now we are headed to the Exumas where there are no immigration officers so we will go to town today or tomorrow and beg for an extension. They really don’t like for us to come in until we are within a week of expiration. Maybe I should wear my knee pads so I can grovel adequately.

Winds are down a little by Thursday and the seas will be closer to six feet than the ten that they are running now. The latest plan is to run from here to Lee Stocking Island (Adderly Cut). Then depending on how well we like the sea state we will either hop back out into the sound on Friday or continue on the inside route into the central Exumas. It would be nice to do one more day outside to get past some very tricky areas on the inside on that first day.

I have a birthday coming up on Saturday and again we expected to celebrate that on Long Island. Now that it looks like we will not be near a settlement on the weekend, Lynn decided to treat me to dinner ashore last night as an early celebration. We ate at the St. Francis Resort which is only a short dinghy ride from the boat. Very nice. Thank you Lynn.

3/10/2012
George Town, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham

3/8/2012
George Town, Bahamas
George Stateham

Let me add my thanks to friends and family who have expressed concern, sympathy, and support after the death of Lynn’s mom. It is wonderful to have such a large support network.

As Lynn said, we will complete this cruise on a somewhat normal schedule. So let me update you on some of the happenings here in George Town, Bahamas.

We went into this protected hole to deal with a major oil leak on the starboard engine. We have reported the completion of that work and the engine no longer leaks. Hurray.

The annual George Town Cruisers Regatta runs this time of year, so there have been plenty of events to keep us busy when we were waiting for parts. No sooner than we were ready to go, Mother Nature treated us with what the weather forecasters have called the major event of the winter in the Bahamas. Winds have been gale force and above. Seas in the Exuma Sound are running 10’ or so. Not a safe time to be out there sailing.

There is a small gap between frontal passages this weekend but not enough of a gap to get out of here and head to other islands.

So, we will hang around another week or so and hope for favorable conditions.

We have participated in a few activities but the wind is so high that standing on the beach is painful as the grains of sand scour your legs. Our caps are secured with tethers (we call them a lid latch) to our shirt collars so when the wind takes them off our head, they remain attached. Lynn climbed in the dinghy yesterday and forgot to secure hers. Fortunately, it floated long enough for us to go back for it.

We may have mentioned previously that our catamaran dinghy is a very wet ride in choppy conditions. We took it for beach golf yesterday and arrived soaked

Beach golf is an absolute blast. Holes are only about 50 or 60 yards long and you play with only one club. The beach is sloped so if a ball lands where the sand is packed, it promptly rolls into the water. At least we were on the lee side of the island so there was not a large surf. I played two balls out of the water rather than take penalty strokes. Lynn had the misfortune of going into the drink a few more times than that.

The green is defined by an area of sand surrounded by a small ditch or moat. On most holes once on the green you were done. On three holes there were buckets or cups to chip the ball into. There is no putting in the soft sand. The ball will not roll.

The course was only 9 holes. Any resemblance between beach golf and regular golf ends after the club, ball, and tee.

I have no idea how they established par but the total for 9 holes was 35. Lynn shot a 33 and I had 29. The winner had a 25 and the worst score of the day was 49.

The harbor between Stocking Island, where we are and Great Exuma where the town of George Town is, is very choppy in these winds. I mentioned that our dinghy is a wet ride and even in a dryer dink it is an uncomfortable couple of miles. In years past we have shunned the water taxi, but a couple of days ago, George went across to buy phone time and today we both took the water taxi to town and did laundry topped of by treating ourselves to lunch in town. We also bought a few more fresh provisions.

We have been hoping this weather would bring us a serious rain shower because our water tanks are getting really low. We have not filled them since we were in Nassau. We stopped at the fuel dock in town today to check conditions and have opted not to try it in these winds. There is not much room to maneuver and wind and waves would make it more than a little difficult. In calm conditions we would have no problem. There might be a break Saturday morning for a few hours. If so and we aren’t part of a general stampede of boats wanting fuel and water, we might try it then. Keep your fingers crossed.

In the not too far distant future we need to renew our visas. They expire on the 25^th. Immigration can be hard to deal with if you go in too early. They do not understand the constraints of moving around the islands in a sail boat. We used to get 180 days on request when clearing in, but in the wisdom inherent to bureaucracies, they now normally don’t grant more than 90. Of course the cruising permit on the boat is good for a year. The logic escapes us.

3/7/2012
George Town, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham

Thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts and condolences, emails and Facebook postings.  It is comforting to know that you are all out there supporting us.

I will not go to Wyoming right away.  After talking with my sister, Kim, and brothers Kevin and Kerry, summer seems a much better time to gather in Wyoming and hold a memorial and celebration of life.  The weather will be better, school will be out and more folks will be able to travel, and George would be able to be with me.  Mother chose to be cremated so there will be no graveside services and the like.

As far away as we are, we have always known we can get home in a hurry.  George checked on flights out of George Town (where we are now) and I could get a flight out of here arriving in Denver the same day, rent a car and drive to Casper in about 4 hours.  When George’s Dad passed away three years ago, he flew out of George Town and was in Kentucky that night.

So for now, we are thinking of Mom and how she filled our lives.  Our kids and my siblings have sent emails with thoughts about growing up knowing her, some serious, others that bring a smile.  And we’ll finish up Cruise #7 on a fairly normal schedule.

3/5/2012
George Town, Bahamas
George Stateham

Marilynn Sandbak (1/9/1922 to 3/4/2012)

We received sad news yesterday. Lynn’s mom, passed away in her sleep. It was her desire to be cremated so there is no rush for a funeral. We will probably have a small family gathering in Wyoming after the snow melts to celebrate her life.

She has been seriously ill for quite a while and has been in a nursing home for about a year and a half. We have expected her to go anytime and she held on longer much than the doctors thought.

Although we have spoken to her often by phone, we last saw her in September when this photo was taken. We were with cousins Sue and Rod.

She was loved and will be sorely missed.

3/2/2012
George Town, Bahamas
George Stateham

When we talk about cruising, many people ask, “what do you do with all your time?” Well, we do read about 30 to 40 books each over the course of 6 months, and we do enjoy beach walks, regatta activities and the like, but we spend a lot of time doing things that come easy at home like getting to the grocery store and doing laundry. It is worth saying again that cruising is defined as working on your boat in exotic places.

We mentioned that the oil leak on the starboard engine (Shirley) appears to be properly fixed after 2 weeks of waiting for parts, and special today, the wind generator is fixed and cranking out amps after we found a boat with parts from two failed units. But, the parts we needed were good and we only have about $150 invested. We have REALLY missed the wind generator. It is so nice to have it back cranking out those free amps.

We have made a couple of trips to town. For those not familiar with these, they entail a two mile dinghy ride across the harbor. If there is any wind and chop it can be a wet ride. Wednesday was choppy enough that I opted to take the water taxi across to fill a propane tank. We last filled in Vero Beach. Lynn stayed on the boat expecting delivery some of those mentioned parts from those failed wind generators. The parts didn’t come so on Thursday we made another trip across the harbor and in the process, picked up the dead units.

While in town, we picked up six gallons of water and seven gallons of gasoline. Lynn picked up provisions at Exuma Markets. We had lunch at the Driftwood Café, a new place this year. It is a spotless little deli/sandwich shop. Normally we try to soak up Bahamian atmosphere when we eat out, but this was very nice.

Lynn makes the best boat pizza you can imagine. By this time (three plus months into the cruise) she would have normally have served it up a few times. However, this year we had it for the first time last night. We kept the generator running and watched a movie on DVD an pigged out or pizza and red wine. The movie was only so-so but the pizza was fabulous.

We have a period of high winds forecast and are considering options but right now, it looks like our preferred plan is to hunker down right here and ride it out. Two years ago we were blown in here for quite a while. It seems the norm here, we get caught up in a couple of projects and remain a little longer than we want, then there is a late winter weather event and we find ourselves riding out an extended period of near gale force winds. Our favorite weather forecaster says it is the most significant even of the winter.

Weather so far this year has been most favorable. The systems that have moved through have brought only a few short days of rough weather and we have been blessed with favorable winds for sailing where we wanted to go. I hope this is not a change in the pattern, but is only an anomaly.

The good news is that all the Cruising Regatta events are going on so there islots to do and in our protected little hole we are close enough that we can reasonably take the dinghy to the beach and/or the St. Francis Resort where so many activities are centered.

We also have internet access, all be it slow and intermittent.

During these periods we get lots of time to read and play games.

2/29/2012
George Town, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham

2/23/2012
George Town, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham

2/19/2012
George Town, Bahamas
George Stateham

Darn! On Saturday we disassembled the back end of the starboard engine. When I ordered parts they told me I needed a main seal and two O’rings. When we got in, there are three O’rings and we don’t have one of them. The one we took out is not where the leak was but the ring has taken a set an is flattened a bit. If it were and emergency, I could probably goop it up and stick it back in, but we don’t want to risk having to pull it apart again.

We asked on the cruisers radio net this morning and lots of boats have O’rings but we haven’t found the exact size we need. Looks like we will probably order a new one and have it flown in. That means we will have the guest cabin emptied out and stuff stacked everywhere while we wait.

On the upside, we attended Beach Church this morning and it was a good service. This afternoon, I played volleyball on the beach and Lynn got in a Scrabble game.

My VB skills are a little rusty but I made about as many good plays as bad and had a good time. I need to work on my service.

Now this is not regulation VB. They call it fun volleyball, I would call it geezer ball. No overhand service, no spiking, you can hit the ball as many times as you want getting it back over the net. Only the front row can return a ball with only one hit. Otherwise it must be hit at least twice before going back over the net. I only played two games, not to overdo the first day but I’m sure I will be back. My diving saves are not as graceful and getting back on my feet takes a little longer.

The Scrabble group is slow and they allow looking up words before playing. Lynn did well.

Tonight is Trivial Pursuit. Hope we come home with wine again, or even better a bottle of rum.

2/17/12
George Town, Bahamas
George Stateham

When we last reported we were headed to Black Point. That village is widely loved by cruisers but one main reason is the great (not cheap) Laundromat. We connected with some old cruiser friends and a couple of new ones and got our clothes clean but failed to reprovision. The mail boat didn’t come in until late in the day and the store shelves were empty. Since we planned to depart soon for George Town, we decided not to participate in the weekly rush for fresh vegetables, etc.

On Thursday 2/9 we slipped out Dotham Cut and headed southeast toward George Town. Wind was too close to the nose to sail well and we were trying to make enough miles to get there so tacking was not really an option. The mainsail was up and was helping a little and sea state was calm enough that we were not banging into a chop so it was a fairly nice day.

Well you can’t have things go too smoothly so the port engine decided to break an impellor on the water pump so we had to shut that engine down until George replaced the impellor. This is not a complex task but access to the front of our engines is limited so hanging upside down and doing a lot or work by feel rather than sight makes it more challenging than it should be.

Also the starboard engine oil leak increased so that is something we will deal with while in George Town.

Sunday night we played in the Trivial Pursuit Tournament and placed second, winning a bottle of Chardonnay.  Good thing, we are getting low on white wine.

Tuesday we danced the night away at the Chat and Chill Valentine’s Day Dance. I was sore the next day. I must have really been shaking my booty!

Wednesday we attended a HAM (amateur radio) get together at the St. Francis Resort followed by lunch.

Thursday we rented a car and drove to the airport to pick up a new oil seal and a couple of O’rings. Bret & Lori also rushed to get our accumulated mail and some prescriptions on the same flight. Thanks for the full court press and doing it on such short notice.

While we had the car, we ran a few other errands and had lunch at Bid D’s Conch Shack. We drove by Emerald Bay Marina and it is almost vacant. Not many boats in there.

Today we cleared the guest cabin so we can get to the starboard engine and tomorrow, we will start work to replace the seal.

Wi-fi has been pretty iffy here so reports may be intermittent.

2/15/12
George Town, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham

Valentine’s Day Report

In preparation a few days before I gave myself a pedicure and changed from pink to red.  Woo hoo!  Valentine  morning was a romantic interlude where we determined the cause of the oil leak in the starboard engine (Shirley) was a bad rear seal, whereupon George got busy ordering parts, and I placed several calls to Bret and Lori to see if they could get our mail and a prescription overnighted to the Florida freight forwarder.  Good job, Bret and Lori, and many thanks.

Late morning, Jim and Linda from Winsome to commiserate about wind generator issues.  Ours was still perched atop its pole, loosened but we couldn’t get it down.  Jim climbed up the arch, straddled the top and removed it for us.  Yay!  We had lemonade and conversation while we got to know each other better.

Valentine dinners were available off the boat but we decided to eat on board.  The menu:  Pork chops with mushrooms and cream (not cream of mushroom soup), salad with fresh blue cheese in the dressing, fingerling potatoes and coconut cookies.  George picked out a nice Syrah for us to enjoy with our meal.  I worked on the prep in the mid afternoon.

Late afternoon we took Toby ashore.  He has been so happy to get off the boat, he completely loses his marbles (by the way there is a boat here called Lost Marbles and I think he should be on it).  He had nice play time in the water catching his toy, a short walk on the beach, and when it was time to get back in the dinghy he would jump in, jump out, land on the beach, gather up another 5 pounds of sand, then back in the dinghy.  We got him corralled and back in the boat which by then was coated with sand and sea water, not to mention dog hair. 

Back at the boat we sluiced Toby off and George cleaned the dinghy, because we had a date for the Valentine dance.  We took showers, dressed up a little, white capris were part of my ensemble, had a nice romantic dinner and about dark set off for the Chat & Chill Beach.  The beach is steep, and I missed getting out of the dinghy on the first try, upon which George ran it up harder, I fell out of the dinghy and landed on my knees in the water.  So covered with seawater from the knees down and with my charming black and white polka dot flip flops coated with sand we trudged to the dance.  He found a hose, sluiced me off, bought drinks, and we settled in for a lovely, loud, Valentine dance party hosted by the Chat & Chill and Ron and Karen on Sea Dancer as DJs and event managers.  Saw lots of friends, had wonderful rum punch, danced a little, talked more, and in a couple of hours headed home to our boat which was wonderfully just a five minute dinghy ride away.  The anchor lights of the several hundred boats are spectacular at night, accompanied by a beautiful sky.

Just another day on the boat, and a very nice Valentine’s Day.

2/6/2012
Staniel Cay, Bahamas
George Statehamb

Next destination Black Point, a favorite village on the next island south, only about 11 miles from here. Weather mid week looks fair with mild winds. They aren't going to be in a favorable direction so we may opt to motor to Georgetown. We shall see. This is a great area in which to hang out so if we don't go, who cares? Still, we have spent a little longer in this area than we typically do primarily due to the now resolved fuel problem.

We have been using the Pactor modem with our single sideband radio to send and receive "guilt free" email with the family. I still have some learning to do, but am making good headway.

2/3/2012
Big Majors Spot, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham

Chris Parker, the cruisers' weather guru, is predicting strong winds for the next several days and unstable weather into the middle of next week. We aren't leaving soon, so that's ok. We have made a reservation at Staniel Cay Yacht Club docks for Sunday night. They are having a Super Bowl party, and even though the Broncos aren't in it, we are looking forward to dinner out and seeing the game.

2/1/2012
Warderick Wells, Bahamas
George Stateham

Less than perfect performance from our high frequency single sideband radio caused me to redo the antenna connection. Test of efficacy are on going so don't know yet whether or not I was successful.

Aromas from the galley this evening included fresh homemade bread and jasmine rice. It's no wonder I am so round.

We plan to sail to the Staniel Cay area tomorrow. 15 knot easterly winds should make a good day. At this point we believe we will fill with fuel, take a dock slip on Sunday and enjoy the Super Bowl there. After that, who knows?

1/30/2012
Warderick Wells, Bahamas
George Stateham

We looked at the weather and decided to make a break the next morning. We filled water tanks, did a final load of laundry, took our last shore shower for a while (love that unlimited hot water) and checked out at the marina. We would depart prior to the office opening the next morning.

We did not fill our newly cleaned fuel tank. I am hoping that Staniel Cay Yacht Club (SCYC) includes new fuel in whatever settlement they make with us. To celebrate our unexpected early departure and the money saved on dockage, we went out for a very nice dinner and returned to our boat stuffed and content.

Sunday morning we were away at first light, maybe a little earlier. Two days is our norm for getting to Warderick Wells but we opted to go all the way in one hop. There wasn't much wind and what there was was on the nose so sailing wasn't an option. We are in the Emerald Rock mooring field, new to us, and it is nice here. There was probably room in the north field but we wanted to try this. The current really rips in the north but is almost non-existent here.

A weather front is moving into the area and winds are predicted to be in the 20 knot range. We could sail in that but are addicted to more comfortable conditions. Thus we will probably sit here until Thursday or so. Of course, the weather forecast changes often and it could be sooner or later than that.

We have just heard from the SCYC owner. We had expected to be treated fairly and we were. Thank you David.

1/28/2012
Nassau, Bahamas
George Stateham

The bad news is timing. We also have a small problem with the governor on the port engine. That is why it has died when pulled into idle. The lever is missing the idle adjust stop when pulled all the way back. Our mechanic has a replacement part but hasn't had time to install it. Now it's the weekend and we won't be ready to go until at least Tuesday. Of course a cold front is moving through and we will have strong unfavorable winds for several days starting Monday.

This happens often. We get into Nassau and then get "blown in" for several more days than planned. Now we like Nassau and will find some fun things to do, but at about $100/day in the marina, extra days can add up to a lot of extra expense.

We have already done some shopping for needed supplies, parts, and provisions. There is a better selection here than down island. George has been mostly boat bound thinking each day that the mechanic might return. Thursday we told him we were busy and did the Cruisers' Lunch and bussed up to a big auto/hardware store for a few of those supplies we mentioned, then bussed back to the boat.

A bus ride is $1.25 and they have pretty convenient routes. If you come here you should ride the bus if for no other reason than the cultural experience.

1/24/2012
Nassau, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham

Susan asked what is involved in being a volunteer mooring host.  Exumas Land and Sea Park has a number of mooring fields.  The park staff takes care of the three at Park Headquarters, which are the North mooring field by HQ, the south by Hog Cay, and Emerald Rock on the west side of Warderick Wells.  Add to that Hawksbill Cay, Shroud Cay and Cambridge Cay, the southernmost of the fields, with 13 moorings.  They offer experienced cruisers who have a relationship with the Park (supporting members of the Bahamas National Trust, who know the area and are willing to follow their criteria for welcoming guests and collecting payments), the opportunity to be a mooring field host.  In turn you don’t have to pay for your mooring ball.  Shroud and Hawksbill, although beautiful, are open to the west and partially to the south so you are subject to the fronts that pass through on a regular basis and when that happens you are chased back to the protection of Park HQ, to wait for your next opportunity.  Cambridge Cay, on the other hand is protected to the west by a large shallow sand bank and some small islands.  There are islands to the north and south as well, and Cambridge Cay to the east.  It’s the most ideal spot to be a mooring field host, with great wildlife, beautiful beaches, good snorkeling, and fabulous sunsets.

When a boat comes in, you take the waterproof case provided by the park, which contains your receipt book, snorkeling and trail guides, “Don’t feed the fish” pamphlets, “Clean Green” pamphlets, etc.  We wear clean-ish clothes, our golf straw hats (sometimes even shoes) and dinghy over to meet and greet.  Mooring fees run from $15 for a boat up to 40 feet, to $100 for a large motor yacht.  We explain that this is a no take zone by land and sea, not even shelling is allowed.  No pets on the trails, just on the beach, and only on a leash.  The saving grace of that is a “dry at low tide” area where Toby can run and chase his ball or his Wubba, on a nice sand bar that will soon be covered with by the tide.

We meet all sorts of folks, usually friendly, cruisers, large motor yacht folks, park personnel, Warden Henry, who normally has a Bahamian Defense Force officer with him.  We always invite them aboard for lemonade or coffee and a chat.  Once a week we try to host a sundowner social on the “mailbox” island where people can pay for their moorings if there is no host on site.  Anchoring is permitted to the west and south of the mooring field, but we still visit those boats to give them the trail, snorkeling, and rules information.  We also get the skinny on who owns what island (Johnny Depp, the Saudi Sheikh, etc.) and what the latest brouhaha is in the area.  Poaching is a continual problem, and there is a secret code word to call HQ if you see this going on and it doesn’t id us as the squealer.  Then the Henry comes down to deal with it. 

There are lovely beaches and good snorkeling spots here.  Big southern stingrays cruise the water.  Folks on Moon Shadow saw a pilot whale jump completely out of the water.  We have seen parties of bat rays jumping and playing.  There used to be two bull sharks, which we didn’t see this year and it’s not a big loss. 

Hurricane Irene deposited a lot of “stuff” on the Exuma Sound side of Cambridge Cay.  A number of boats helped us to pick up and localize a good amount of this.  When Henry has time and fair weather, he plans to bring a flat bottom boat to the west side of the island and collect it.

Even though we don’t have internet for an extended period of time, this is always a nice interlude for us and an opportunity to give something back to the park.

1/23/2012
Nassau, Bahamas
George Stateham

Wow, three weeks since our last report. Sorry, but we have been seriously out of touch.

After our last report, we left Warderick Wells and went to Staniel Cay and Sampson Cay to fuel up and buy a few fresh provisions. Lynn bought the last dozen eggs in Staniel so we went to nearby Sampson and bought a couple more.

A funny thing happened after fueling. We motored around the corner of nearby Big Majors and as we were about to anchor, our engines died. When both engines die at about the same time, it points to a problem in the fuel system. They draw from the same tank and filter. I changed primary filters and we were ok getting to our post in Cambridge Cay the next day, Thursday, Jan. 5, but the engines died any time we pulled them into neutral. We had to keep them revved up.

No problem right? We weren’t going anywhere for a couple of weeks and we would almost certainly work it out before then. Well, therein lies a story.

When we went into Staniel, we had been running on our forward tank and it was almost empty. The aft tank was almost full. I put over 40 gallons in the forward tank and very little in the aft. Seems the engines will run fine off the aft tank, but not off the forward. Both tanks run through the same filters so it was not a filter problem.

We have bought fuel at Staniel for years with no problems, but here is what we think happened. Staniel was in the process of installing a new fuel dock and storage tanks. We got ours near the bottom of the old tanks and we got the sludge.

This sort of took the luster off our time in Cambridge. While volunteering there are plenty of tasks to perform but there is still time to go snorkeling, beach walking, and socializing with other boats. The fuel issue consumed us mentally. Every day we came up with new things to try to fix it. We have pumped and filtered until blue in the face without resolution. The time has come to pump it all out, clean the tank and replace it with clean fuel.

We spoke to the folks at Staniel and they have been supportive but we haven’t worked out what they might to do mitigate our issues yet.

Still Cambridge was lovely and we did get in some beach walks. There used to be a couple of resident bull sharks but we didn’t see them this year. That is fine because we weren’t anxious to be in the water with them. Bulls can be unpredictable.

There were far fewer boats in the mooring field this year than in years past and there were 5 nights that we were alone. It was great to see the folks running the Park again but with so few boats we felt our contribution was not as great as it could have been.

After leaving the Park, we returned to Staniel, topped off the one tank we can use and loaded on a little water. Then around the corner to Big Major’s again.

A funny thing happened while we were anchored here last time. We heard a thump/bang outside but when we looked we didn’t spot anything. Well a couple of days later, I noticed that our American flag was missing, staff and all. That must have been what we heard.

Now that we were at Big Majors again and had a decent idea where to look, I donned snorkel gear and Lynn towed me with the dinghy, running a search pattern hoping to find and recover the flag. It was a brand new flag and the staff was solid stainless steel. I guess if we had a wooden staff, it might have floated and we wouldn’t have lost it in the first place.

We did not find it. The water there is so clear and the flag was nice bright colors. Someone probably spotted tie colors and when they inspected it, found and retrieved our flag. We were the entertainment in the anchorage for a while. Lynn says the other boaters were like prairie dogs popping up to watch what we were doing. Seems most of them haven’t seen the sled for towing a snorkeler with the dinghy. It is a great way to cover a large area quickly and easily. It is a simple device and we will post a photo.

We don’t really mind returning to Nassau. We sailed right through here going south and we do like it here. One of the dock masters, Sidney at our favorite marina passed away since we were here last and we miss him. I think he was about the age of our kids.

We had two nice days sailing from Big Majors to Norman’s Cay from there to Nassau. Yesterday we were sailing at 6 to 7 knots the whole way.

Having been without internet and phone so long, we have a lot of catching up to do. We will post pictures soon.

1/3/2012
Warderick Wells, Bahamas
George Stateham

We reached Nassau Harbor shortly after sunrise. One of our options was to swing by the fuel dock and fill but there was a sport fisher tied in the middle with not room for us. We figured we had enough fuel and could proceed, which we did.

After clearing Nassau Harbor I did my usual twice daily shut down of engines for oil check and a general look-see. When I tried to restart the port engine it was a no go. I tried my usual quick fixes but when my dedicated starter button in the engine room had no improvement I knew something outside the norm was wrong. The engine would turn over but only very slowly and not enough to start.

After spending a while trouble shooting I eliminated all the easy things and decided the starter was just plain drawing too many amps. I have a gauge in my tool box at home that would check that, but of course, it was not on board. One just cannot carry everything that might possibly be needed.

Our engines are under our berths and all access is from above so any work requires getting into some unusual positions. Still, I did have a spare starter and all the needed tools. Lynn kept the helm and I swapped out the starter. Hurray, it starts easily now.

Shroud was nice and we lowered the swim ladder and cooled of in the sea before a nice shower with fresh water..

The next morning (12/31/2011) we proceeded to Warderick Wells, headquarters of the Exumas Land and Sea Park. The usual Saturdaynight shore happy hour was our New Year/s celebration.

New Years day we celebrated all day with special foods and drinks. Breakfast was Eggs Benedict and Bloody Marys; lunch, quiche and chicken; dinner was a traditional Southern meal of black-eye-peas (so you'll have money), cabbage (folding money) and cornbread topped off with champagne.

Yesterday we made our pilgrimage up Boo Boo Hill. Our sign was still there and we brought it back to the boat to update the years we have visited the park.

Today we are hunkered down on our mooring ball to let a strong front pass. If it exits the area as forecast, we will go a little farther south to Staniel Cay to get fuel and a few provisions. Then we return to the park as volunteer mooring field hosts at Cambridge Cay.

While at Cambridge we will have no phone or internet access. We may not have sailed off the end of the earth, but we are so addicted to internet access that sometimes it feels like it. We might get one or two updates posted before we get to Cambridge but after that they will be on hold until we are on the way again.

The family can still reach us on our Skymate system and I am working to get a pactor modem going to increase our email access.

1/1/2012
Warderick Wells, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham

We are invited to be mooring field hosts at Cambridge Cay for about two weeks, but we will stay here until some weather blows through and probably Wednesday move to Sampson Cay or Staniel Cay to provision and get fuel, assuming they have fuel and that we don’t regret skipping through Nassau.  That means we will arrive at Cambridge Thursday-ish.  If you are cruising this area and reading this, come on to this beautiful spot and join us!

12/28/2011
Bimini, Bahamas
George Stateham

We were up at 5:00 am checking weather one more time and doing last minute tasks. Leaving No Name Harbor at first light the day after Christmas, we raised the mainsail, not because we were expecting sailing conditions but as a stabilizer. There was little wind and what there was was right on the nose. It was a little lumpy at first but improved steadily throughout the day.

We arrived a little after 3:00 pm and tied up at the Big Game Club marina. Currents rip through here and George had to back out one time and make another run using more power. No gentle nudging into the slip here. It was Boxing Day and although Customs and Immigration were open they hoped to close early at 4:00. I barely made it before they shut the doors, but both offices stayed to clear us in. They could easily have told me to come back the next day.

The last time we were here was on our first cruise and we were put off by the staff at the marina. They would not respond on the VHF, were not there to take lines and/or help us tie up. Yet their hands were still out for a tip. We didn't have time to tour the island or to do much more than check in, spend the night, and push off the next day. We left with an unfavorable impression. Other cruisers have told us they like Bimini but we have avoided it ever since.

This time the weather window allowed us few choices so here we came. The new channel entry is not well marked and is not where it is shown on my charts. The entry to the channel is marked and once there, we just read the water, judging by color where the deeper areas were. I'm glad we had good light coming in.

The marina staff have been friendly and helpful. The facility is clean and in excellent condition. We hit the bar/restaurant for dinner, swapped lies with some of the fishermen and had a nice evening.

With a day or two to wait for weather we had time to  rent a golf cart to tour the island ($60 for 1/2 day is not cheap). We stopped at the Batelco office and activated our Bahamas cell phone. Cell phone calls are a little more expensive than pay phones, but they don't seem to be maintaining the pay phones anymore and finding one that works is becoming and ever greater challenge. We drove through Bimini Bay Club, and exclusive development at the north end of the main road' stopped at a local cafe for cracked conch, bought some bread and generally enjoyed sightseeing. We turned in the cart about an hour early because we had seen about all there was to see from the road.

It was a stress free day that even included a nap in the afternoon.

There was a possibility to leave mid day today but if the forecasters are off even a little on the timing of the wind, we could be attempting the channel going out is some unfavorable conditions. Tomorrow looks much better both in wind speed and direction. If the plan holds we will leave about noon, sail across the banks and into Nassau early Friday. There we will fill with fuel and continue south into the Exumas. Conditions will dictate where we anchor for the night.

12/27/2011
Bimini, Bahamas
Lynn Stateham

12/23/2011
Key Biscayne, FL
No Name Harbor
George Stateham

We biked to the Floridian for an Eggs Benedict breakfast, window shopped along Las Olas Blvd, chatted with pedestrians and dog walkers along the river walk and enjoyed the free Wi-Fi from the nearby court house. One afternoon we walked to the nearby Publix store and stopped along the way at the Down Towner waterfront restraunt to have a cold beer each and split a dozen oysters on the half shell.

For a few hours we thought our granddaughter Alisha might fly down for a few days. Our hearts had wings. Unfortunately no good deals on airfare were available on the days she needed to fly, so that fell through. It was kind of like buying a lotto ticket and thinking about all the great things you could do with the money. We dreamed up about a month's worth of stuff to do in the 3 or 4 days she would be with us. Then, like the lottery, it didn't happen and we weren't really surprised.

We are finally south of the myriad of Florida bridges and anchored in No Name Harbor, our favorite jumping off place to cross the Gulf Stream, We changed our planned overnight in Miami near the Venetian Causeway and proceeded here. With the holiday weekend, the local boating celebrants will fill the anchorage and it was good to get in early and get a good spot.

We took a little dinghy cruise along the mangroves and saw neat birds, iguanas and a manatee. One iguana abandoned its tree branch and leapt into the water mere inches from the bow of the dinghy. We were both relieved it didn't land in the dinghy. It might have been hard to get it out without someone being bitten.

Our hoped for weather window this weekend is a little rougher than we want to experience so we are waiting for the next. That means we are celebrating Christmas here. Not a bad place to be if you aren't with your loved ones.

12/18/2011
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
George Stateham

We spent the night in an anchorage new to us, Hobe Sound. Many of our friends recommended it. It was peaceful and just across the ICW from some lovely homes. Since it was a fairly short day, we relaxed through the afternoon and read. A moderately large power boat anchored near by and the couple's on deck amorous activities were about to get out of hand when they finally went in the cabin. Maybe they realized that George was watching them through the binoculars.

Saturday morning we had an incident at our first bridge of the day, the 707, that got our heart rates up. After telling us to "bring it on down" for an opening, the tender decided to make us wait for a slower boat to get close. Now we were close to the bridge and the current wanted to carry us under it. George quickly pulled the engines into reverse and the port engine died. That is the second time that has happened on this trip. Added to this, we have a relay in the starting circuit with a loose connection and George has to (as Lynn puts it) "fiddle" with before starting the engine. So, Lynn had to take the helm in a strong current without room to spin the boat around and operate on only one engine, George dashed below and started the engine. By then we were at the side of the channel and near a marked shoal. He tried to maneuver away but by the time we were in gear and powered up, we had run aground. Not hard aground mind you but aground. We were off quickly and away from the offending bridge. After that, the day was pretty calm. 18 bridges for the day.

Last night we anchored in Boca Raton and they held their annual boat parade of lights. There were many beautifully decorated boats and a super moving fireworks boat. We were not really close and trying to hand hold a long lens at night yielded few good pictures. We will post a couple anyway.

Today we only had nine bridges and are into Ft. Lauderdale fairly early. We love docking here along the banks of the New River right downtown. Lots of people strolling the waterfront, Christmas lights everywhere, a constant parade of boats  motoring by, free wi-fi, and nice shops and restaurants nearby. We plan to hang out here a few days before working our way a little farther south and starting to look for a weather window.

12/14/2011
Vero Beach, FL
Lynn Stateham

There isn’t a good weather window any time soon, but today we finished our grocery shopping and loaded fresh provisions on. Some folks who have been here since before Thanksgiving tell us they’ve done that more than once in anticipation of leaving, and yet they are still here, so we hope we will actually be on the move in a few days. Chris Parker the weather guru says there might be a good opportunity in about a week, but as George says, there’s always a good weather window a week out.

12/12/2011
Vero Beach, FL
George Stateham

A couple of boat tasks popped up, but we let them slide to get full use from the car. We did do a dinner and movie date Saturday night which we both enjoyed, well all except the prices. $18 for tickets and $16 for a medium pop corn and 2 small drinks. Ouch, $34 for a movie and pop corn. No wonder we like Netflix so much. We saw Tower Heist and thought it was good.

I mentioned boat tasks. The fresh water pump has quit. We used to go through almost one a year but this one has been going strong for over three. I guess I started to take it for granted, oops. The good news is, I have a spare and they are not hard to swap out.

A little tougher is an outboard engine that doesn't want to start when cold. At this time, I think the problem is the primer diaphragm which means it won't prime. The real solution is to rebuild the carb, but no time for that this weekend. I could start it by pulling the engine cover and squirting a little ether in. Pulling off the engine cover every time was a pain so I just drilled a hole in front of the carb and can squirt some in.

I do have a spare carb from when it was a 9.9 engine. I will lose power putting it on, but plan to do that and then have time for the rebuild of the 15 hp unit.

Added to this, our starboard engine has developed an oil leak. Now I have a bilge to clean and a leak to find and fix.

That's OK though. There doesn't seem to be a good weather window in the near future so we may just hang out here and take care of things.

12/07/2011
Vero Beach, FL
George Stateham

We have been pushing reasonably hard each day to make the miles that would culminate in getting to Vero today. Task accomplished..

I last updated from Thunderbolt, GA. Since then we have anchored in the Duplin River, the Brickhill River, and the Ft. George River. We spent a night on a mooring ball in St. Augustine, then anchored in Daytona and Cocoa, FL before arriving here today. With only about 10 hours of daylight, we are limited on how far we can get each day. Several times we stopped earlier than we would like, but we couldn't make the next anchorage in the daylight remaining.

However, you should not feel sorry for us. Days on the water have been beautiful. At every meal, wonderful smells waft from the galley into the cockpit. Even when I don't think I'm hungry, I am like Pavlov's dogs and am salivating in anticipation. Up early, we see majestic sunrises. By sunset we are listening to music from the iPod, having a light libation, and watching the world go by. Traffic on the water is light and anchorages are not crowded. I think we can thank and/or blame the economy. At night the motion and sound of the water is a great soporific; we sleep better here than in our bed at home. We have been so fortunate to do this for all these years.

Some folks think it is like a long vacation. There is always something requiring repair. Often things critical to continuing and/or are downright dangerous. There is the occasional scare; we had one of those today at the fuel dock here in Vero; a large power boat missed us by inches. While it is not a vacation, it is an adventure, a life style. Recently, our granddaughter, Alisha posted the Mark Twain quote on our Facebook saying it reminder her of us.:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover"

Our adventures are on a small scale compared to some, but so many buy the boat and never sail away. We will not be disappointed by what we didn't do.

Amazingly we made it all the way to the Sebastian Inlet before a Floridiot boater in a huge powerboat battered us with a vicious wake. All others have at least made an attempt to give us a slow pass. Sometimes we wish sailboats still carried cannons.

Many of our Fairfield Harbour cruising friends are already here. After long days of motoring, the dinghy is covered in diesel fumes; we took Toby for a shore walk and he tracked mud in the inflatable, and in that messy state we stopped and visited our frineds. Gee I wonder why they didn't invite us aboard :-) Actually they did but I wouldn't have. We will get serious about cleaning up tomorrow but for tonight we are going to relax and enjoy making it to this convenient regrouping point.

We have a car reserved for the weekend and a long list of things to do and buy. Most important is to go to to an appointment with Customs and Immigration in Ft. Pierce to finalize our "Local Boater Option." That makes it much easier to check back into the good old US of A coming home.

We are really enjoying the raw water wash down system we added to the boat this year. It facilitates the rinsing of mud off the anchor and chain plus other yucky stuff like Toby's depth charges on the foredeck.

Happy to be here, much to do , and anxious to be on our way. Never satisfied are we?

12/3/2011
Fort George River, FL
Lynn Stateham

So here we anchored off Fort George, with its sparkling white buildings and bright green grass. Tonight’s dinner will be Irish Stew, made at home and heated up, and homemade bread with butter. The stew is a terrific recipe from Finbar Kinsella at the well known restaurant Lily’s, in Louisville, Kentucky. It’s made with beef, not lamb, and surprisingly when we tried it with lamb we found it was better with beef. Tomorrow, the St. John’s River and on to St. Augustine.

11/30/2011
Thunderbolt, GA
George Stateham

The cold front did come and it has been cold with lows in the upper 30's. Wind off the water and into the cockpit felt frigid. Lynn bought some things called hot hands that once opened and shaken are exothermic. One in each glove warms the palm and thus at least partially, the whole hand. Boy I remember some Bronco games in the 60's and 70's where I could have really used these things.

On the 29th we motored to Beaufort, SC and had favorable currents nearly the whole way. Wow was that nice. It really reduced the time in our open cockpit frosting our buns. We anchored near the Marina a little farther down the channel than normal but hooked up good and spent a comfortable night. The new windlass retrieves the chain a lot fast than the old one did.

Boaters Note: The Lady's Island Bridge has not returned to its normal schedule and only opens on the hour. There was no noon opening. I suspect there is a restriction in both morning and evening rush hours as well.

An early departure from Beaufort meant the only really adverse currents we had were fighting the tide going down the Beaufort River to Port Royal Sound. Then we made good time the rest of the way.

Our plan had been to go outside tomorrow and run from Thunderbolt to St. Augustine. The winds are favorable but as cold has it's been in the day time, we can imagine how uncomfortable we would be on a night watch with 38 degree winds blowing off the water and into the cockpit. I have taken the chicken's way out. We will stay inside.

Add to my chickeness, instead of anchoring nearby in Herb River we are in a marina, filling water jugs, doing laundry and taking shore showers. We will navigate through the skinny waters in Georgia instead of racing along the cost. Hopefully the temperatures moderate as we get further south.

11/27/2011
Steamboat Creek, SC
George Stateham

Actually, after we got the windlass mess behind us, we had a nice stay. We could have rushed out Thanksgiving day but decided to enjoy the town a little. There were some things we needed to buy that could have waited to Vero, but why not get out in the crowds on Black Friday? It wasn't bad at either Best Buy or West Marine where we purchased some needed gadgets.

Lynn took advantage of the good food stores nearby and restocked some fresh provisions.

Saturday we turned in the rent car and toured the aquarium. We might be described as aquarium groupies and really enjoyed this one. Later in the day we did some boat chores to make our Sunday departure easier. We then took advantage of the shore showers. It could be a little while before we have unlimited hot water again.

Sunday, two weeks since our departure from New Bern, we slipped the lines and are underway again. We caught the Wapppoo Creek Bridge before it went on restricted openings and rode a 3 kt. current through Elliott Cut. This is planned as a short day. With the late fall daylight we don't have enough hours to make it all the way to Beaufort, so we opted to stop at a favorite anchorage, Steamboat Creek.

A front with high winds and thunderstorms is forecast to move through tomorrow so we will probably just hunker down here and sit it out. Then assuming things go as planned on to Beaufort, SC on Tuesday.

Being able to tether my smart phone and do internet is great. I am actually posting this from the middle of the creek with no Wi-Fi in site.

11/24/2011
Charleston, SC
Lynn Stateham

Wow! What a departure! We had hoped to leave our home dock before November 10, to beat our earliest-ever departure. We were embroiled in replacing four large deadlight (meaning doesn’t open) windows across the deckhouse, and we could see we weren’t going to leave any time soon. I secretly hoped for an 11/11/11 cast-off, but finally on Sunday the 13^th the windows were finished and Sunspot Baby was loaded for Cruise #7. Keeping with tradition, our nearby neighbors came to see us off. We had coffee and pastries and reminisced about past departures.

The fridge and freezer are packed to the brim. As usual, we started out with two thick Styrofoam coolers loaded with frozen meals for our first few days. Trouble is, temperatures were in the 70’s, a blessing for us and a curse for frozen foods, but the coolers are so thick (thanks, Marge) everything lasted well.

Town Creek in Beaufort was a new anchorage for us – we will definitely go back there. It gave us a little jump on getting to Mile Hammock Bay the next day, we dropped the hook, had LBJ chili for dinner, and with no current, wind or wakes we slept like babies.

We were reacquainted with our first cruising friend in Mile Hammock Bay. Bill on Long Winded and his sheltie, Laddie, came by for a visit. The next day we made it through all three bridges in good shape, and picked our normal spot at Carolina Beach for our third night. Dinner was chicken curry with jasmine rice, raita, chutney and pita, which acted as an impostor for naan.

Hoping to make the current in Snows Cut, we planned to up anchor at first light. Our port engine, Laverne, had other thoughts, and George spent about 10 minutes tightening a belt, and we were off in light fog. In Snows Cut the fog was thicker, and once we were out in the Cape Fear River, it was almost but not quite pea soup. We thanked ourselves for the chart plotter at the helm, turned on Radar, and activated the AIS (automated ship identification) feature. Several boats ended up following us, because they weren’t as well set up. If we thought it couldn’t get worse, the visibility was almost zero when we arrived at Southport. We pulled into Southport to wait for the noon forecast lift, but noon came and went and there was only slight improvement. With ½ mile visibility just enough to see the marks, we departed Southport and moved only about 10 miles further to St. James Plantation, a cheaper and well protected marina.

With a front moving through and thunderstorms forecast, we spent two days at St. James, then blew through Myrtle Beach and stopped at another new spot, Osprey Marina. Good fuel prices $3.75/gallon diesel before a 10 cent gallon discount.. Terry from SunStar 2, a Prout Quest, came by for Prout chat (our boat is a Prout as well). We talked through dinner, and the next day we were headed down the beautiful Waccamaw River for a short trip to Georgetown.

Finally, out of marinas and back to anchoring! Georgetown has ridded itself of some of the derelict boats which used to clog the harbor, and arriving early we found a beautiful spot right off the Riverwalk, in about 8 feet of water. George headed for the bow to drop the anchor but the windlass wouldn’t work. I stuck to the helm and continued to claim our lovely spot, but it was not to be. We moved to a marina dock. George came up with the plan to move on to Charleston where services and parts would be more readily available. We took a walk and had a consoling beer in a waterfront bar.

So here we are in Charleston. The Charleston Maritime Center is right on the main peninsula, and is open to the North and East, separated only by a small breakwater from Charleston Harbor. The staff is friendly, and dockage is inexpensive, if you stay 5 nights you get two free. We are within walking distance of a large Harris Teeter grocery store (which made me feel right at home), and just a little further is Old Downtown Charleston with its charming history, open market, restaurants and shops.

We are the proud new owners of a Lewmar windlass (actually capstan), and this one has a “recovery system” which is in effect just the same cover with an additional hole for a winch handle, for which we paid over $200. Henry Cannady did the manual labor – he helped us before in Charleston and we would recommend him as an excellent contact. The old windlass (new in 2005) had almost disintegrated. Henry said this is common, that salt water and air eventually destroy cast aluminum. The new unit is cast stainless steel. Let’s hope that holds up better.

While we were waiting for the new windlass to arrive, we rented a car and drove home! Picked up a number of things we had forgotten, did lots of laundry, left our sleeping bags at home so they are now off the boat and not in the way, and had a lovely steak dinner at our neighbors, the Hices. We were back in Charleston the next morning (yesterday) when the parts arrived and Henry was on the boat shortly thereafter.

Our intrepid boat crew, Toby, is aging. He doesn’t hear the dolphin blows and no longer scrambles out of the cockpit on dolphin duty. That is a blessing for us, but we know he would still like to do that. He seems a little forgetful, no longer knows a kibble is dropping into his dog dish when he is at the farthest point on the boat from the food. We are watching him with a little concern. He will be 12 years old this week, on November 26.

We will be in Charleston another day or two, and then will head toward points south again. We missed a pretty good weather window to go outside, but we can always move along in the beautiful ICW.

11/24/2011
Charleston, SC
George Stateham

Tuesday we ordered the new windlass, rented a car, and drove to New Bern. Why? Well it seems we forgot all our shorts when we packed clothes. Silly heading for the tropics and not taking shorts, but we were really pressing to get out of town and some mistakes were sure to happen. We could buy new shorts, but it was probably a breakeven to rent the car or buy all new shorts. The marina has only one set of laundry machines and they each take an hour to run a load, the line to use it is long. We took laundry and sleeping bags to the house, picked up shorts and spent a short night before driving back. Thanks Bruce for fixing us a delicious dinner.

Wednesday by 11:00 we were back at the Marina and the Windlass had arrived. At 1:00 the electrician arrived and about 5:00 the installation was done. The mounting flange and gear housing on the old one were originally one casting but came out as two pieces that had corroded completely in two.

Today the wind is blowing into the mouth of the marina and bringing choppy waters with it. If you were really prone mal de mer you could get queasy right here at the dock. We are catching up on computer chores so there will be a few new pictures added. We plan to goof off here a couple of days, go the the aquarium, sightsee, and maybe even send some mail. Departure is probably Sunday and the weather looks like we will stay in the ICW for a while. 10 to 20 knot winds outside are kicking up waves that would make any outside transit more than a little bumpy.

11/21/2011
Charleston, SC
George Stateham

Still good fortune was on our side, we went through at 3:00, had favorable currents up the harbor and caught the tide at just about slack at the fuel dock and our slip. The currents really rip through here so catching them at slack was good.

This morning our mechanic called and gave us an ETA. He was here pretty much on time and quickly determined that the windlass is dead. The cast aluminum case is corroded through. He was able to pull off chunks of it with this fingers. So much for our hope of fixing it for a couple of hundred instead of a couple of thousand.

Lynn's bicycle rear tire has been leaking so we used part of our down time to walk it to a bicycle shop downtown where they replaced the tube. It was a nice walk.

I called Lewmar and know which windlass will fit the same foot print and the old one and am waiting for a call back from the mechanic to see which of us has the best price to order. It is late enough now that we probably can't get it on order today. Even if we order early tomorrow and get quick delivery, I don't have much hope that we will be out of here before the weekend. We shall see.

11/19/2011
Georgetown, SC
George Stateham

We thought we would go out of Charleston on Monday and sail overnight to Fernandina Beach. Now it looks like we will spend some time in Charleston fixing the windlass. Bummer. It's not that we don't like Charleston, we do, but we want to get south and soon. We will use the time productively but we will be tied to the dock at the Charleston Maritime Center.

After losing two days to the fog, we were falling behind out "plan" and figured by going out at Charleston we would be pretty much back on schedule. So much for our plans.

Nothing ever breaks during the week when there are people working.

An interesting event happened on the water today. As we passed Bucksport Marina there were dozens shiny, low slung bass boats with big engines. A short while later they came zooming by us at speeds around 50 mph, maybe higher. Many of the  two person crews were wearing crash helmets. We thought it must be a race. Lynn call Bucksport. It was a fishing tournament, but the boats often race to get to the best spots first.

Later we saw them fishing in spots that seemed indistinguishable from a zillion other places on the rivers and creeks. I guess I'll never be a real fisherman.

Yesterday morning when we left St. James Plantation we had ice on the deck. Today was a little warmer.

11/17/2011
St. James Plantation, NC
George Stateham

Up early was no problem but the port engine alternator belt started squealing. That meant George had a repair job to do before we took off. He begrudged every minute it took, but soon we were hauling anchor. There was a light fog as we hurried out of the anchorage.

The fog in Snow's Cut was moderate but we could see reasonably well and rode the current through. For a while in the Cape Fear the fog was heavy but we could always see the next mark. By the time we got to the main channel that was no longer the case. We felt the best option was to stay near the main channel and press on. Visibility was frequently less than 50 yards.

We watched radar, our chart plotter, and the AIS (Automated Identification System) to avoid other traffic and navigate our route. A delayed departure and slow progress in the fog meant the flood tide did catch us and we had to fight that was well.

About 9:00 am we reached Southport where we turn out of the river and back into the ICW. As impossible as it seems, the fog became even heavier. We opted to pull off the waterway and into a marina where we sat until about 12:00 when the fog finally lightened enough to find our way. It never did clear completely.

By this time it was too late to continue on to Myrtle Beach, our planned day's end destination. We went only another six miles or so to St. James Plantation. A nice marina and much cheaper than Southport.

It was a stressful day of steering.

There is a frontal passage today with showers and thunderstorms, and of course, more fog. We have opted to stay another day and then press on.

Lynn has been managing all the frozen food we had packed in two Styrofoam coolers. We have been eating the prepared curry, chili, soups, and stew. Now she has the coolers empty and we have given them away. Everything is crammed into the fridge or freezer.

George has been trying to get all our computer gear working properly. We can now connect either computer to the web using his smart phone. It took a while to get our laptop navigation software to find the GPS but now that works. Big steps forward. We still can't get either computer to talk to our Skymate system so can't change the reporting frequency or send or receive email. We have been on the phone with Skymate and have tried lots of fixes, none of which have worked so far. After that we need to get our new Pactor modem going.

People ask us, "when you're cruising, what do you do with all your time?"

11/15/2011
Carolina Beach, NC
George Stateham

We have had three nice days on the water so far. The first night we anchored at Town Creek in Beaufort, NC, a first for us. Wonderful. Then on to Mile Hammock Bay with favorable conditions all the way.

Today, however, we fought head winds and currents most of the day. This added to the frustration of trying to time arrival at three bridges inconveniently spaced, Surf City, Figure 8 Island, and Wrightsville Beach. I couldn't make good enough time to catch the right openings so we puttered along, taking over an hour more than normal.

We have seen dolphin everyday, but Toby's age is showing. He usually hears them before we know they are near and strains at the rail to see them. This cruise he has missed them. I guess that sharp hearing is fading, unfortunately following the hearing of his owners/slaves.

Rain is possible over the next couple of days, but that probably won't impede our progress much.

11/15/2011
New Bern, NC
George Stateham

Recognizing that most of our stress was self imposed, we opted to take the morning off and played 18 holes of golf. It was George's 3rd outing of the year and only Lynn's second so we were both pretty rusty but hit some good shots, along with a lot of bad ones of course. Still, we had fun and were rejuvenated to go after the windows and finish. Plenty of tasks remain on the inside, but they are MUCH easier than fabricating and installing the windows themselves.

Now we can go after the more normal tasks of cruise preparation.

11/5/2011
New Bern, NC
George Stateham

I failed to mention that last Friday night some vandal stabbed a slit in our dinghy and in the next boat's as well. I realized it on Sunday. The boat is already repaired thanks to a great turnaround time from Will at Offshore Rafting. The marina has security cameras and they think they know who did the damage. The Sheriff's Department is working the case. I suspect we will be long gone by the time there is any resolution. If they have the right suspect it is a young teenager from a dysfunctional family. I am sorry for his situation, but really wish he wouldn't destroy our property.

11/2/2011
New Bern, NC
George Stateham

The new window project may be the death of us. Not really, but we have been busting hump and are both stiff and sore. At least we started work on the last window yesterday and have a couple of good weather days ahead so, with any luck they will be done by late Thursday.

Lynn has most of the provision shopping done and our guest room is overflowing with supplies. We finished the window in the forward cabin yesterday (that's where we stow most provisions) so we can start loading stuff on the boat.

Our departure target was November 1 plus or minus a week. Right now, I can't prove we won't be gone by the 7th, but right now it looks iffy. Our earliest departure ever was last cruise when we left Nov, 10 and it looks good to at least beat that date.

I have posted a hew photos of our preparations.

9/23/2011
New Bern, NC
George Stateham

Lynn is mailing the pet permit request today. We have our Customs Decal, the EPIRB had a new battery and we have been doing lots of repairs.

Two big projects remain. I have to finish the flooring. Only one cabin left, but it's a tricky one. We also have 4 windows to replace across the front of the deckhouse. We hope that will go smoothly. We are doing research on materials for that now.

The family all came to visit us at our reunion this year, so we don't have a cross country trip planned. That should make preparing go a little quicker. Watch this space for further developments.