Wrightsville Beach, NC

We left Jarrett Bay on Friday morning and made it to camp LeJeune without any problems. The dripless shaft seal was dripping a little at 2200 RMPs so Steve fixed it last night, and now it's fine. Today we left early to make it to Wrightsville Beach before a parade and fireworks. I'm not sure that they'll be doing that with such lousey weather though. Now Steve is on deck in the rain arguing with power boaters to get off of our chain. There is one power boater, Smooth, from Wilmington, NC who is just a complete SOB and anchored right over our chain. So we're hoping that this anchorage doesn't turn out too badly.

It was raining and cold most of the day today. The only fun part of the trip here was seeing dolphins everywhere. They were swimming so close to the boat that they startled Michele when they came up for air right besider her. We had to wait for three different bridge openings which wouldn't have been that bad except two of the bridges only opened once an hour on the hour. The other bridge at least opened twice an hour on the hour and the half hour. We seemed to arrive at a bridge just after the previous opening and had to wait. The current was always going the wrong way too. When we wanted to go slower the current was pushing us faster and when we wanted to go faster the current was against us. So that was a little frustrating. At least the scenery along the way pretty too. The houses along this leg of the Intracoastal Waterway are amazing.

Anyway, this should be our last stop in NC. Thank goodness we will be leaving this state soon. It was fun but.... We will probably hang here tomorrow since the forecast is promising more rain. We will post again when we plan to depart and upload some pictures from Jarrett Bay and Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

John Ray is finally back in the water as of yesterday afternoon. We are staying at the dock in Jarrett Bay Boat yard and getting ready to depart first thing tomorrow morning. Our plan is to stay in the ICW until Wrightsville Beach (with a stop for the night in Camp LeJeune). After that we will hop out and do an overnighter to Charleston, SC. From there we will continue on to Florida and hopefully warmer weather. This morning there was a frost on the canvas and docks, but the day has turned out beautiful. We went for a long walk this morning and passed by cows and chickens and a very noisey rooster.

Steve and I will be having our own private Thanksgiving dinner on board with a roasted chicken (turkey doesn't fit in our oven and we even got offered a free one) with stuffing, roasted potatoes, carrots and onions, and mashed potatoes too. We'll also be having string beans, cranberry sauce, corn bread, and dinner rolls. Later tonight we head over to the Back Street Pub to pick at some more food and hopefully find some pie. We're looking forward to a fun time. But, we are really, really looking forward to getting back under way with a nice smooth ride and all our new shiney parts working wonderfully - and yes Carl, we even put on a new zinc. We're good to go.

So have a happy day all! Enjoy the 4 days off!

Quick Update

The boat is being worked on. The shaft is going in as we speak (well, as I write)! (old and new shafts and new prop)

We decided to stay in Beaufort for Thanksgiving and join the festivities at the Back Street Pub. Everyone here knows about it and says it's a great time.

Michele is having elevenes :-)

More to come later.

Boat Yard Blues

We've been here for a week now. Since I last wrote, we have done quite a bit. On Friday night we met Janet and Tom, friends of Pat's. They picked us up and we went out to dinner at El Zarape in Beaufort. We had an excellent time, especially Michele who had a 16 oz. Margaritta :).

On Saturday, we decided to go for a walk. It was a beautiful, sunny day - chilly at first, but warmed up nicely. As we started walking, we thought we would try to walk all the way to Beaufort. We thought we were only about 5 miles away from the waterfront, but it turned out to be more like 7 miles. After about 4 miles into the walk, a woman pulled over and asked if we'd like a ride. We graciously accepted it. Thank goodness, because just after we got into the car, we saw the sign that said Beaufort 3. We spent the day at the waterfront walking around shops, going to a flea market and checking out the Maritime Museum. It was a good take and we couldn't beat the price - free! As we were coming out of the museum we bumped into a couple of friends that we met in Annapolis at one of Leighia's parties, Ans and Gerjan. It was great to see them, and also nice to know that we're not the last ones to get south. After a long day in Beaufort, we took a taxi home.

On Sunday morning (yesterday), Michele met Erika who lives aboard Moonshadow here at Jarrett's. Later in the day, we met her boyfriend Ryan and invited them over for dinner and drinks. Great kids... I say kids because they're in their mid 20's. Erika is getting her Master's degree at North Carolina State in Marine Biology and Ryan works at the Atlantic Beach Sheritan where we stayed last February when we drove down here. Ryan is from NC and Erika is from CT. They are really nice and quite interesting. We are impressed with their lifestyle aboard. They plan to head south to the Keys when Erika finishes her master's degree.

Today, we were hoping the boat would be worked on, but there was no action there (at least not that we could see). The prop shaft is still being fabricated at the machine shop. Hopefully, tomorrow they will start the work. At this point we don't really mind. It wouldn't be terrible to be here for Thanksgiving. We learned about the Back Street Pub's big Thanksgiving potluck dinner. The Pub a big hangout for cruisers, so it will probably be pretty fun. Ryan and Erika are planning to attend (along with another couple we met today at Food Lion that we've seen before). We were able to go to Food Lion and do laundry today because Ryan let us use his car since he didn't have to be at work until 2:30. Things always have a way of working out.

Another big achievement today was running new wiring to the new shower sump. After installing the new pump a few days ago, the sump still didn't want to work. As it turns out the old wiring was not tinned which probably made it deteriorate. As we worked, the boat was trashed because we had to pull everything apart and twist and turn into small spaces to run the wire. So thankfully that project is finished. Sometimes it's nice to be at idle. It gives us a chance to work on projects that otherwise would be more difficult under way. We also had groceries to put away. The bed was also stripped to clean and dry out. We also pulled off all the ship shades to wash and bleach. We put in full 8 hour day today, if you can believe that!!

So for now, we are comfortable and happy. We have electricty and hot showers, and we seem to get transportation when we really need it. And we still have each other . . . what else could you ask for? Nuthin. That's it for now blog fans.

Beaufort, NC

It looks like we're here through the weekend! Jarrett's took off the prop and the stern tube to replace the cutless bearing. Yes, now I know what these things are, how exciting! Steve bought a new prop and decided to also replace the prop shaft. We will have a whole new drive train by the end of this stay. We're hoping the prop shaft will come out without taking lifting the boat to take the rudder off. So that's where we stand now. (stern tube coming off the prop shaft [cutless bearing inside the stern tube] in case you were wondering.)

The staff at Jarrett's has been extremely nice to us. On Tuesday a staff member let us take his truck to buy groceries. Tuesday was also that crazy weather day when it was sleeting, snowing, raining and then sunny and windy and freezing and then snowing and then raining, then sunny, etc. Michele's mood was also chaning as much as the weather that day tool. So, yesterday the office brought us a little electric heater so we didn't have to use all our propane to heat the cabin. It got down into the 20's last night too, so it was great to have heat. Another staff member let us borrow his car today so that we could go on a field trip to Morehead City. We went to Walmart bought our own heater and a few other supplies we needed. It is very maddening that we left our little electric heater at home. Who knew we'd be in cold weather this late into the season or that we'd be plugged in long enough to use one. We also refilled one of the empty propane tanks from turning on the oven so much for heat And of course, there's always the trip to West Marine.

Tomorrow, we are planning to go to dinner with friends of Pat's who used to be cruisers, but now are land locked in Beaufort. They are also inviting another sailboat couple that are docked in Beaufort. We're going out for Mexican food. Yeah Margaritas!

And so the saga continues. But it's all good. This work on the boat is something Steve planned to do anyway. It would have been nicer to do it all in Florida, but we'll get there soon enough! What else are we doing???? Nuthin' So what day is it today? (I never know what day it is, it's terrible :>.

Stay tuned....

Happy Birthday




Domenic - Today !









Ashley - Nov. 6th









Nathan - Nov. 13th







Tom - Nov. 29 th








Chuey - Nov. (some day this month)

It's SNOWING in NC, UGH!!!

Yes, that is correct. Not only is it snowing, but it is coming down horizontally! The winds are supposed to kick up even more tonight - gale force warnings.

If you checked out our position, no, I didn't put in the wrong coordinates. We are on the hard at Jarrett's Bay Boat Yard, just north of Beauford, NC. The boat was hauled out this morning to do some repairs on the drive train. Not sure how long we'll be here, but one thing for sure is that we should have brought our electric heater. We will definitely have to purchase one! More updates will follow. North Carolina is becoming a difficult state for us to get through.

This is John Ray after a being hauled and having a bath :-). She was very dirty coming down the ICW.

Hoping to Leave Monday

The new parts are installed, but we may still have some engine vibration. The boat will probably need to be hauled out to install a new cutlass bearning, but we are still planning to leave Belhaven on Monday. We hope to go towards Beauford, Morehead City, NC and haul out at Jared Bay Boat Yard to have more work done. Belhaven was a nice stop, but it's definitely time to move on. Tomorrow we will fill the tanks and the fridge and get ready to leave at first light on Monday. We might need to anchor near Oriental for night before moving onto Beauford. We should have a good weather window by then too. So we're keeping our fingers crossed and looking forward to moving on.

Parts are Here! :-)

Finally, all the right parts are here! We actually had them all the other day, but one of the couplings was incorrect. J.W. is working on the boat as we speak! I'm not sure if it'll be fixed tonight or tomorrow. Once the parts are installed, we still have to align the shaft and engine. There's also some weather to contend with. Either way, we probably won't leave until Sunday.

JW working

The new part








If you've seen the pictures I posted of Belhaven, the town does look a little deserted. The pictures were actually taken on the weekend when there really wasn't anyone around. Many of the stores were shut down too. When we went to the Farm Boy Restaurant, we found tons of people. I think the whole town was having lunch there on Saturday. During the week, the place is more active. Steve and I went to Fish Hooks twice for their lunch buffet. It was pretty crowded both times we went. And the food was great. If I don't leave here soon, I'm going to turn into a piece of southern fried chicken with corn bread for eyes.

For the past two days, the weather has been lousy. The marina is completely full tonight! The restaurant at the Inn is open every night and many people from their boats hang out there too. We know all the staff here now and we are always chatting with them too. We're actually starting to like it here. I hope we still remember how to sail when we finally leave!

More to come on our departure soon .... I hope! Au Revoir.

P.S. Happy Birthday Carl!

Waiting for Parts in Belhaven

Today makes a week that we've been at the River Forest Marina. If you count the days we were anchored out in the Pantego Creek, we've been here for a week and a half. (At least the hook was free though.) We're waiting for the UPS delivery for today to see if the parts we need will arrive today. Then we'll still have to see if the engine can be aligned without hauling the boat. So there really isn't anything to report on that end.

On the positive side, we've had hot showers every day. Michele has gone out running three days this week so far, and we've also gone for long walks every day. Yesterday we even went on a field trip to Washington, NC. The dockmaster let us borrow his truck to go to West Marine (30 miles away) to look for a part for the shower sump. We were unsuccesful on that end, but did get some other errands done at CVS and Walmart. On the way back we even drove thourgh Historic Bath, NC. It's pretty cool driving by all the farms and creeks, passing huge cotton fields (some that haven't been harvested yet either), horses, sheeps and goats! It was extremely nice to get out of Belhaven for the day because there really isn't much to do here. Although, Belhaven is beautiful, it is a very sleepy town. There aren't any shops or too many restaurants. We did get some pretty cheap grub at the Farm Boy Restaurant the other day though.



We also ran into some friends that we met in Cape May and then say again in Solomons. Dave and Linda from Chimo II came into Belhaven on Monday and left early this morning. It was nice to know that everyone wasn't more than south than we were! They came over for drinks Monday night, but didn't stay for dinner because they planned to go to the Manor Restaurant. Since we had just eaten there on Sunday for their smorgasborg buffet, we declined the offer to join them. Besides, Michele made fresh pesto from our basil plant (the way it was done in Italy before food processors were invented). see -------------->


So, here we sit in Belhaven, me on my rocking chair at the Inn looking out over the water and watching all the other boats come and go and typing this blog. If we have any more updates, we will certainly keep ya'll posted!

River Forest Marina, Belhaven, NC

Our next stop was going to be Oriental, NC which is a good 50 miles from here. However, we didn't want to leave today because the winds were still gale force. Yesterday they were actually blowing steady around 20-25 knots with gusts in the 30's and this morning they were still pretty strong. Steve wanted to stay at anchor and go ashore via the dinghy. However, Michele wanted to go to the marina up the way and fill up the water tank, do laundry, and go grocery shopping before our long haul to Oriental. Long story short, Michele won :), much to Steve's chagrin. He had every right to be unhappy about the decision because it was going to be very difficult trying to get into a slip with the winds kicking up so much. But off to the marina we went - and so far on this trip going into marinas has been a problem every time. This time proved to be no exception.

Problem #1. Michele was at the helm and while rubber necking another boat that we knew, she realized that she was out of the channel and that the depth sounder was flashing 3.5 feet. We touched bottom and got stuck until Steve took the helm and rescued us! Steve kept his cool and said hopefully that will be it for this attempt. Michele was getting a sickening feeling in her stomache.

Problem #2. When we got to the marina they told us to pull into a slip after they already promised that we could pull up and dock parallel to the dock. John Ray doesn't maneuver too well in general, never mind when the wind is blowing us away from the slip at 20 knots. And when we go to back up, the stern always pulls to starboard, which brought us very close to a piling, a break wall, and very, very shallow water. Again, we touched bottom. That was attempt one. Attempt two, was even worse. We had to go back into the very narrow channel and turn around to approach again. All the while, the wind was puching the boat in the opposite direction from where we needed to go. The second time didn't work either and on the way out to turn around again, we almost got blown into a piling. Michele pushed us off in enough time to just clip the outboard, but not to destroy the davits and rip the dinghy off.

Problem #3. Since we were at a slip and he had the chance, Steve decided to check the drive shaft because the engine has been vibrating at different RPM's. After checking it out, he decided to have the Yanmar mechanic look at it because we don't have the right equipment to work on it ourselves. Long story short, we have drive train problems and may be here for at least a week. We're hoping the work can be done with the boat in the water and not have to haul it out. The wind finally died down and we are safe and sound at a marina where we will be until at least next Tuesday. (Darn, I get to take long, hot showers as often as I want.) In actuality, it is a very good thing we stopped here! Steve knew we were having problems that needed to be resolved, but was hoping to get a little more south to deal with them. I guess Belhaven, NC isn't so bad. We're glad that we have the chance to fix the problem before it got too bad and possibly left us stranded somewhere waiting for a tow. I guess things happen for a reason.

The River Forest Marina where we will be holed up for a few days is actually quite nice. There is an Inn, restaurant, laundry and showers on the premises. The town is only a short walk away. The Food Lion is little further, but the marina has electric golf carts that you can take to the store. What a trip that was. We ended up hooking up with another couple and driving the golf cart to the Food Lion. The first part of the trip wasn't too bad, but then we had to turn onto a pretty busy street where the Food Lion was about a 3/4 of a mile up. That doesn't seem like much, but this cart only goes about 4 miles an hour and there wasn't much of a shoulder for us to ride on. The fact that the cart's brakes didn't seem to work too good didn't help much either. It felt like the Flintstones mobile when we had to come to a stop as we had to stick our feet out to use as brakes. Pretty interesting experience. Anyway, all is well. Hopefully, this little stop won't cost too much! We'll keep you posted!

Belhaven, NC

Not much to report. We arrived in Belhaven on Monday, and we are anchored in Pantego Creek. We haven't been off the boat since we got here because the weather is pretty bad. In fact, we haven't been off the boat since we left Elizabeth City early Sunday morning! There was nowhere to go ashore at the anchorage in Alligator River since it was just all swamp land around us. When we arrived here on Monday, we were too tired to go ashore, and, besides it was getting rather late. Since it gets dark so early now, we didn't want to drive the dinghy back to the boat in the dark.

Yesterday was miserable. It was windy and rainy. Today is mostly just windy! Really windy! It has been blowing steady at 20 to 25 kts with gale warnings until this evening. Going ashore would mean leaving the boat alone in high winds - not really a good idea. We're hoping they calm down a bit this afternoon so we can go stretch our legs a bit. (As I'm writing this post, it just started raining though). I may be getting a little cabin fever! The weather is supposed to calm down tonight so we are hoping to head out of here tomorrow. It will be sad if we stopped here and didn’t get to see the town. (I’m sure we’ll get over it.) Besides, who could be sad today? Barak Obama is president. Sorry to all you Republicans. We were good citizens and sent our absentee ballots back in Hampton. Au revoir George Bush!!!!!!!! And thank God no Sarah Palin. That was scarey!

So here we sit all by our lonesome selves (but we have each other :), waiting for a good weather window to head more south and get some additional miles behind us and the cold weather. Caio for now.

Elizabeth City, NC

We arrived here in Elizabeth City, NC on Thursday and are docked at the city's free docks. Elizabeth City is known as the Harbor of Hospitality and they are true to their name. Every night they have a wine and cheese get together and the mayor stops by for a chat and to let all the newcomers know what's going on. The grocery store will come and pick up boaters and drive them back to the dock when they're finished shopping - which we did yesterday. We finally bit the bullet and joined the rest of the boaters that drink boxed wine! Black Box Cabernet was just under $20 and equals 4 bottles. It doesn't taste too bad either. It sure is more economical and we don't have to worry about recycling the bottles. Much easier!

On our way down the Swamp we passed through a couple of bridges and another lock. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. Although it was a bit chilly, the sun was out which made the trip enjoyable.

This morning there is a farmers' market right next to the boat. Lots of fresh produce and baked goodies. That's why we decided to stay another day here. Also, the boat rafted to us, Nelleke, was planning to leave tomorrow too. So that made our decision easier. We met Mike and Barbara (from Canada) back in Rock Hall, MD. We ran into them again at the Welcome Center a few days ago. When they got here to Elizabeth City and the docks were full, we suggested rafting up to us.

They have their cat and a dog aboard with them. Of course, their dog isn't a psycho like my little pal Chuey. They can actually leave their dog aboard while they go off for a couple of hour to sight see. Last night, they stopped by after dinner for dessert and wine. We had invited them to dinner, but they already had planned to go out to eat. They invited us out to eat, but we had already ate out the night before. Since we made sauce and meatballs and sausages. It seemed a little extravagant to eat out two nights in a row. Well, now I'm just babbling, so I guess it's time to sign off.