ELECTION DAY - VOTE

We are in St. Augustine hanging out.  May visit the fort today - again beautiful 72 degrees, light wind, sunny now.

This dock gets the tamest birds.  We can get 5' away and they just stay. Egrets

Great Blue Heron




Damage to the cement floating docks at the marina during the hurricane when the dock rose above the pilings and came back down missing the placement.

Wind a few nights ago.

This sign used to be about traveling slowly to avoid hitting manatees.  Now it's about the Right Whale from November through April.  We haven't seen any whales.  Maybe the signs are seasonal.   We can never go as fast as 10k so no problem for us to slow down.

 Drew on the windy day at the Bridge of Lions.

Overlooking the marina from the Bridge

 Reading Commonwealth by Ann Patchett,  page turner, brings you right in from the first page.  Just finished My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout, good, short, meaningful.
Getting a bit stir crazy on the boat.  Headed to Fort Pierce in next 2 days.

St. Augustine, FL

We arrived at 9:30 for the 10:00 opening of the Bridge of Lion's draw bridge. 
 Drew at the helm.

We reserved a slip with the prediction of 25 k winds that we didn't want to bounce around in in the mooring field.

Slipped in nicely and rested after the 72 hour outside rolling trip.   I hosed down the boat from its salty bath.  Mazu collapsed.  I needed to walk so we went to Hyppolyte's  Popsicles - remarkable flavors like cucumber, basil, lemon  and coconut, pear.  Good place and of course Cousteau's ice cream sundaes - Jaquar is the best one: waffle, pecans, maple syrup and ice cream.

 Egret walking on hurricane debris at the docks.  The birds are remarkably tame walking close to many birds.

Enough about food.  I did get the solar charger working to use for the phone and ipad

See details for this Waterproof Rugged Solar Powered Charger Power Monkey Extreme -- website link below.  It has a ton of adapters for any kind of device you might want to charge.  It does take about 10 hours in the sun for the solar panels to bring the battery charger up to 98% but I think too it depends on how sunny the place is.  It does not have to be fully charged to do the phone.  Figure it's a good back up if batteries fail on the boat.  Lots of hikers use these.
http://www.leevalley.com/US/garden/Page.aspx?p=71978&cat=2,40725,45454

We continue to check the leak in the locker without taking the salon apart to get to the bottom locker.  Drew has three long armed helpers to reach into the engine compartment, bilge or deep bins:  a telescoping mirror, a magnet extender and an extension grabber.  Since it's my job to bail any leaky places I took the extension grabber and put a piece of paper towel on the end, stuck it down into the bin after opening the drawer to see if the paper towel would be wet.

It was wet.  Unfortunately we cannot seem to find this leak.  ARGH!

We left for a walk, eating a little at Scarlet O'Haras with music.  Mazu at our feet in the pet friendly restaurant.  But as we walked through the touristy area we found the great musician, Charlie Brown, on the keyboard at the new Mam Thai Bistro.
   This article was written in 2010
 http://gargoyle.flagler.edu/2010/10/local-musician-maintains-strong-fanbase/ 

He's now 80 and everyone dances by this guy at the keyboard.  Still a good voice and great rhythm.  A fixture in St. Augustine.

This sunset on the way down.  The camera is not getting the orange ball that we actually saw.

[Phone camera has lag time and not cooperating with sending pix to computer to insert into the blog : ( more later.]

FLOYD's in Moorehead City, NC

We planned to sail outside the ICW on open ocean when several of our weather apps predicted increased winds. The higher wind wasn't bad, but it was from the south - on the nose - so we decided to go into Moorehead City Yacht Basin sort of an industrial area, but probably not so in 1921 when Floyd's Restaurant (more on this below) was started.

BUT FIRST

We left River Dunes putting all sails up, but as we turned south, pow, wind on the nose, a common theme here.  I'm at the helm with Drew calling St Augustine Boat US and Sea Tow to get local knowledge about the inlet since Hurricane Matthew, I took in all sails and motored, followed the canal for the Beaufort, NC Inlet.

Last night (before we left River Dunes) we had a great time with Steve of SV Alobar who had just arrived in Oriental with his crew of 3: cook and 2 hands Mary, Alex and Pierre.   We drank cocktails at the tiki hut and ate dinner at M n Ms – delicious lambchops for $16.

Here's Alex, Mary, Drew, Pierre and Steve.

 

Another way you know you're in the south: real Southern Sweet Potato Pie. mmm a favorite of mine.

Good country western music on the radio in North and South Carolina.  Some might take issue with that but it fits tonight. “Chicken Fried"

During the day Drew continued to monitor the weather.  The south breeze was predicted to continue through the night.  He made the Captain’s decision to stay in Moorehead City for the night – lucky for us because, though we didn’t know it, one of the best meals awaited us at Floyd’s Restaurant a stone’s throw from the boat and since it's been around since 1921 it certainly predated the industry that's settled here now.   

The marina is in a very industrial area with a couple of great restaurants.   

 These tugs are part of the same company, Moran, that has the 3 tugs in Portsmouth, NH harbor.

We took showers in very nice commodious rooms – our last for 3 days since we were heading out Monday, Halloween!  Guess who?  Trick or Treat

 The Brooklyn Twombly's dressed up.

We walked over to Floyd’s.  (terrible signage, everyone just knows this restaurant.)  Just looks like a white house.

 This is just the tapas - enough great tastes for me.

Inside’s the A/C temp cooled down things a bit too much for me.  It was warmer outside at the bar with two of the nicest bartenders and a random football game on the ever-present TVs.  I recommend you all drive to this unassuming white house where the bartender said all the help from the other restaurants come here to eat.  Red Neck Egg Rolls = rolls filled with Carolina BBQ pulled pork served with sweet chili sauce and Wasaabi slaw-- a perfect special tasty cole slaw salad, A Happy Stick = shrimp and Andouille sausage grilled on a stick perfectly resting on butter rum sweet whipped potatoes and Worcestershire sauced onions.  All of it's perfectly blended with unique tastes where your tongue stops and says, “Wow, what’s this?” Desert: Bourbon laced chocolate bread pudding.  There was also a German specials menu for tonight, Like you couldn’t not eat it.  Not many restaurants get a five star rating from me.  Other menu items will require us to come back with empty stomachs on our way north.  Thank you chef and two great bartenders who knew the fare and the wide range of beers.

  The also served hard apple cider: Bold Rock apple cider from NC.  I have started sampling various apple ciders that have shown up at bars and in the beer aisles in the market.  The one with the least additives like caramel coloring and “natural flavorings” is DownEast, the best on the market – just apple cider and a bit of carbonation..but hard to find.

Now I am at the helm til midnight, my watch.  All the displays: the VHS radio, Navionics/Garmin track on the ipad, the instruments, the Raytheon radar, the compass have their brightness lowered.  See, we're headed 220 degrees SW. 

Tonight is black, black because the sky is thick with clouds, thus no stars or moon.  We are out about 12 miles off shore NO internet Service – no visible shore lights. Sometimes the white caps catch the red or green of the bow lights.  My face lit with the mac pro computer display as I type here in the cockpit snuggled in blankets and puffer jacket. Auto pilot allows me to watch with frequent glances at the radar and instruments. Sounds: the jib and stay sail snap, flapping when we hit a big wave, the twittering hum of the wind generator feeding our battery.  The gentle squeaks of the boom going back and forth as we rock and roll through surf over the waves. Our little boat moves through the mammoth ocean; we're a dot in the black showing a streaming light at midmast, a stern light and leading with the red port and green starboard bow lights.

THEN the track changes the boat turns, and we come about with sails moving to starboard side in the dark.  I pull across the jib and secure it;  I shine a flashlight up on the sails to make sure they are on starboard side and neatly trimmed.  The wind is picking up as predicted.  Nicely going 6.3 k. with no motor Yay.

In the morning porpoises greeted us for about half an hour, but my video was too long to post here.  Oh well.  Maybe someone can help teach me how to get a longer video on here.  Anna?

We close in on St. Augustine timing it perfectly. We must come in at 9:30 AM to catch the incoming tide and currents in the Inlet. The red buoys are back in place, but not the greens yet.

 This sunrise is the reddest ever.  "Red skies in morning, sailors take warning..."  Remember I do NOT photo enhance any of the sunrises or sunsets.  It did rain the next day.

Sounds of the South - Coming to Oriental and River Dunes

Only in the south

The beginning of the day with an awesome sunrise and sliver of a silver moon:

Entering NC

How do you know you've entered the south?

You know you’re in the south when the weather warms up, you can go swimming, palm trees start appearing in the landscape, everyone is a bit friendlier and chatty, and there are names like the Pungo River, Pamlico River, Beau and Bubba, and then a few other experiences.

[We are in Oriental, NC almost at the SC border, taking off from Moorehead City.]

Here’s a tree frog I’ve never seen up north; note the pool I swam in today in the background:

It was dosing on the ladder pole and then:

On the VHF radio there are three channels boaters monitor while moving in the water: 16 - emergency and calling, 13 - bridge to bridge, and 9 - calling.  Any announcement from the US Coast Guard comes on channel 16, like searching for a lost kayaker that happens fairly often, or staying away from a US Warship.  The other channels boaters use to talk to one another.

Here are 3 audio messages from fellow boaters. We could not understand one southern word from this guy. Can you?

Now you can order Shrimp and grits (these in Bel Haven, NC -- I’ve mostly finished it.)

We were near Camp Lejeune and some US War jets were flying around high and low and loud.  Darn, I can't get the download, but it was loud and lasted an hour or so at end of day!

Here are a few pictures on our way from an anchorage in Alligator River (never seen alligators though people say they are definitely there) to River Dunes, Oriental, NC.

Glassy waters to start the day out of the anchorage.

 colorful tug with secret cargo closed up.

Halloween is coming in Bel Haven

 Mansion in Bel Haven restored

Jib aloft  Yea  sailing again.

 Mazu momentarily up from the aft cabin for a view.  Are we near land yet?

River Dunes is a community developed to look like it's built with turn of the century standards, solid and colonial, but new.   There are homes of every size all with the restored architecture of one excellent builder.  It is slowly growing and selling its 800 building lots to make a whole beautiful neighborhood.
Around River Dunes:

 Office and Restaurant

 Mazu up on the lookout

 View from the lookout.

Off to the outside and next stop - Florida where I guess we'll arrive in time to watch the election results.  Yikes.

Hampton to Centerville, VA Oct 24

Sunday we left the mess in the Salon

 Left patient Mazu to guard

And visited the VA Air and Space Museum which was totally redone from the last time we were there -- lots of new exhibits.

 rocket history

 planets

 The museum all lit up:

 Then we went out to dinner to our favorite restaurant, Venture, and had lettuce pork and shrimp wraps, and on Drew's plate of black coconut and pineapple rice. Share plate in the middle.

Monday we returned the key to the marina office, and  I picked some fresh lettuce and basil from the marina garden:

Fun tic tac toe display:

The US Navy had a busy day with lots of War Ships and submarines coming in and out of slips with announcements on the VHF to stay clear 500 yards and asking, "Why are you coming close?", conversations with boats that weren't listening and saying, "Yes, you must move immediately!" close...clueless.

 Navy War ship 6

Way in the background is a huge plume of spray

We Passed all of Norfolk and Portsmouth's cute docking places and went to the locks with a huge barge.  Since our little group of boats now included a barge with a As I came into the lock Drew had put down boards with fenders to keep us away from the wall, however the board caught in the side and ripped off, breaking the rope and cutting through the white plastic of the life line down to the braided metal underneath. Oh well...
The barge is about 30 feet wide and needs to be avoided.  You can just see the lock doors way down at the end.  They close them and the water came up 3' to become even with the other side.

 After the lock we immediately have a draw bridge - here's the barge going through the Great Bridge Bridge - yes, that's its name.

Here's the mileage to places as we head south from Great Bridge, VA.   We are going to Fort Pierce, FL, south of Jacksonville, 734 more miles and a couple of weeks.

We continued the rest of the day to Centerville Marina just before the Centerville Swing Bridge.  The noise from the cars on the grates of the bridge was very loud.  We were able to walk a half mile to a sushi placed and found it closed and a Fresh Market to restock a little - salad, salmon.  Drew added an African Violet to the mint and basil plants on board.

The bridge at night.  See the reflected upside down bridge in the glassy water.

TUESDAY: Up at 7:30 to walk Mazu, got wonderful text from AJ and pix of Violet and CC for school picture day.  

The bridge opened at 8:30 for its first swing of the day opening for 10 waiting boats  to go through.  The barge went through last night.  Two huge power boats got through first since they go at about 15 to 20 k.  Drew is driving today since I did yesterday.  Our little flotilla is following us that soon changed as they all passed us.  Everyone continues to jockey for position throughout the day.  We all travel together but stop at different places for the night.  Tonight's popular spot is Coinjock, NC famously known for its 32 oz. prime rib.  We are staying across the canal at Midway.

Now crossing into North Carolina, mile marker 34 on the ICW - no welcome sign - but then we all know NC has a bit of a problem lately welcoming all types.

Until next time.  

Reading The Year of Voting Dangerously by Maureen Dowd, funny witty quips and insight to some of the legislation passed in the administration before its impact, like H.W. Bush's (Bush Senior 41) tax increase that helped erase a huge deficit and create a surplus during Clinton's presidency.  Yet Bush 43 didn't pay for the Iraq or Afghanistan wars and reduced taxes to create the largest deficit ever.  All in all the book is a bust.