Lagoon Cove to kwatsi Bay: We say goodby to Wendy and Leigh as they are going to stay at Lagoon Cove one more day in hopes of another salmon catch. We travel up Knight Inlet for only a few miles before turning onto Tribune Channel. Knight Inlet continues for almost 70 miles and is the […]
Laying Up at AYB
Sunrise – Atlantic Yacht Basin
Yes, we finally escaped the current at Morehead City Yacht Basin and made a short day’s run to River Dunes Marina in Oriental, NC — though not without incident. A storm followed us almost all the way and finally caught up just before we pulled into River Dunes. Running from inside a protected pilot house heavy rain is never a problem, however lightning is a different story. Waiting out the blinding rain storm before easing into the skinny little creek that leads to the marina, thunder and lightning soon became the issues to deal with.
In all the years and all the miles of doing this, we’ve never had any problems with lightning; been in plenty of storms, but suffered nothing worse than the anxiety it brings.
Then, finally, a loud bang, a flash, and we realized we’d been hit or almost anyway.
Sonar, chartplotter, and radar screens blinked then rebooted, I turned to head back out to the Neuse River and deeper water, then started working to bring back some electronics. Luckily, we’ve redundant nav systems on-board and our computer driven system was not affected. Charts and AIS were still running, but we had no depth info.
After a few minutes I had depth coming from sonar, but oddly enough no sonar screen – just the numbers. That was enough to get into the marina so we turned back to the entry point and headed in.
Things could have definitely been worse and we’ve heard many stories that were. We slowly motored into River Dunes basin and saw a beautiful marina with Rich, the harbormaster, waving at us from our dock.
The rain had stopped and the storm had moved on. The rest of the night was quiet as I went about going through all the affected systems.
With all the redundancies aboard I was able to put together a working nav system and we pulled out the next morning, heading for Belhaven, NC and River Forest Marina.
Another cool little town. The docks at River Forest are old, but the electricity is stable and the depths are good. The dockmaster’s name is Henry Boyd III. He and a group of Belhaven citizens bought the marina out of bankruptcy. They’re slowly rebuilding the docks, but the lovely old southern manor next door was brought back to mint condition. Henry and his crew are very proud of the project and love to talk about it. They also loaned us a golf cart and gave us directions to town for dinner. Spoon River Art Works and Market is a fine restaurant. The local Black Drum was killer. The place was crowded.
That evening we went through another storm, but other than rolling us around for a few minutes there were no problems. We ended the day with a peaceful sunset
The next morning we made way to Coinjock to spend the night. Coinjock is Coinjock. No, we didn’t get the steak, but the soft shell craps were very good.
Then, AYB. We always stop here and throw a bit of money at James Taylor’s crew. They do good work and this time we may need to take advantage of that.
All in all, we did okay, as far as storm damage goes.
Our main GPS was acting up, but after a reset it came back for the most part. It now shows us running at .05 knots while at the dock, but it’s position seems to be okay. We have several ways to get GPS info so that doesn’t stop the show.
One of our depth sounder transducers is dead.
Both Raymarine displays are blinky.
Ironically, the Sirius Weather Receiver was fried and has yet to return.
By far the most expensive damage is the KVH Satellite TV dish. It’s toast.
I called our insurance company, and inquired about making a claim. They’ve since sent out a surveyor who thinks the damages are worse than I do. He explained how lightning causes crazy intermittent problems that usually show up at critical times. He’s probably correct.
So, here we are, laying up at AYB, waiting to hear back from several folks.
There’s good friends tied up just behind us and it’s nice catching up with them.
For some reason we’ve always liked it here. Always little projects to do and AYB has the essential supplies to get them done.
We’re thinking The Chesapeake Bay will be our next leg, but news of Sea Nettles (Jelly Fish) may change that. The Bay full of Nettles is not uncommon this time of year. They clog sea strainers and stop air conditioning; not good in 90º heat .
And, as they so often are, our plans are still peculating.
Life’s good ~
Cheers,
Nordhavn 57-26 Istaboa
FIESTA TIME! And a BIG SURPRISE
This is my 3rd year returning to Donna’s village for their Fiesta, honoring the patron Saint, San Ignacio. I look forward to this every year. We take a 3 day motorcycle ride getting here, which forces us to go thru Manila, the traffic Hell on earth. This year we out smarted the traffic, did the first leg getting right to the outskirts of the massive city, then transitioned at 4 am on a Sunday, albeit in the rain. It worked, zip and thru we went.
The rest of the trip to the southern reaches of Luzon Island is fairly pleasant. Riding here is a trip, busses, trucks and big cars ignore you if they are in the oncoming lane. They must know how much I love life as they pop right out in front of you assuming you will head for the side and miss them, yikes!
The last stop is my favorite, a wonderful hot spring carved out of a mountain side. We arrived in the afternoon and could enjoy the morning as the last leg is short and so we did.
We arrived, to great cheers from Piam and the family. After the initial greeting, we headed to our hotel. We found a picturesque place to stay right on the Pacific Ocean, actually a surf destination in the season but we are in the off season so pretty empty. Our suite faces the ocean, has air con and a large separate bedroom, for $26 a night. The manager has become a friend.
Ol Arlo Guthrie, in Alices Restaurant opens with “Let me tell you about Stockbridge Massachusetts…. His small town,, well let me tell you about Gubat, Sorsogon. There are no cops (usually) no ATM, I looked in the 3 stores for mustard, French’s would have done fine, nope that is in the city, haha. I am the only “foreigner” here, so I stick out. First day all the family knew I was in 3 stores and what I bought before I got back to the house! Small town. And the village of San Ignacio is tiny, about 4 blocks, there are 42 such villages tied to Gubat.
This is the real Philippines, not the westernized Subic Bay but the real thing, English is barely spoken, families are paramount as is community. The people redefine friendly with a shy twist.
The Fiesta goes on for several nights, the events are in the public court next to the family house. Night one is Ballroom dancing, where pro male instructors take their prize student to twirl about, like Dancing with the Stars Filipino style. It is quit an unexpected show in this setting. The following nights are for: alumni, where all the classes of the local school have tables, then seniors then teenagers, all dance all night long.
The actual Fiesta Day is Monday and a neighborhood party, starting at pre-dawn with the “killing of the pig”. The main families, Donna’s included, raise a pig just for this day, it is a great day, ok for everyone but the pig.
We strolled from house to house where copious amounts of food were put before us. Every house is jammed with visiting relatives, most related to Donna. As we strolled she would point out “this is the house of my cousin, this is the house of my uncle” up and down the street. I have never seen such open, warm and friendly people. People living in small packed primitive houses sharing all they have. I hugged ancient rugged skinned grannies, kissed babies, danced with teenagers, and sang Karaoke.
Karaoke goes on and on in about every 5th house this gleeful day. I just read a piece by an Irish chap who lives here, he nailed it, the Filipinos sing! Whether they can sing or not they sing, there is no holding back, no self-consciousness the just love to sing.
So normally this ends the Fiesta and all relax, eat left overs and get back to normal life, not this year. After about a year of contemplating, debating, praying, and soul searching, I came to the conclusion that fear was holding me back, not my normal stance. My history with marriage is a dismal train wreck, as it is with most my family. Swore it off! But I find myself in love with a wonderful girl who loves me and my lifestyle. PLUS she comes with a kid I adore. As with all Filipino girls, even more so than other cultures, the wedding is the pinnacle of their lives, they are raised to dream about it as are their families. So, for the first time in my life my decision to marry was not a selfish one, it is for those I love.
Add my “go big or go home” dogma to the huge family forces here and I had to do this right. The sisters and the two ladyboy friends and I started planning this caper weeks before I arrived. By the time I arrived the whole village was in on it, we had secret meetings, always telling the somewhat fearful (she knew something was up) and curious Donna to “go away” when we met, drove her nuts.
The resort has an excellent venue, and they went the extra mile to make it spectacular. Thirty relatives and friends showed up. When we sent Piam to get his mom, who had been banished to our room, she walked into a huge surprise!
I love the traditions here and respect them so my first move was to ask Donna’s Papa for his daughter’s hand in marriage. He beamed like a light house and said yes. then I got on one knee and proposed to my love in front of everyone, gads she better say yes!
Well Yes was the answer, the room exploded in confetti and loud poppers, the banner was rolled out “SHE SAID YES” and the cake presented, with Mickey and Minnie Mouse and inscribed SHE SAID YES. The cake also had a Spiderman for Piam, I am marrying a package deal you know.
We all had a feast, drank, sang and danced for hours, it was a wonderful time! I am very blessed!
Make Your Dream Your Story
Capt. Brian Calvert
M/Y Furthur
www.furthuradventures.com
FIESTA TIME! And a BIG SURPRISE
Fiesta Time This is my 3rd year returning to Donna’s village for their Fiesta, honoring the patron Saint, San Ignacio. I look forward to this every year. We take a 3 day motorcycle ride getting here, which forces us to go thru Manila, the traffic Hell on earth. This year we out smarted the traffic, did the first leg getting right to the outskirts of the massive city, then transitioned at 4 am on a Sunday, albeit in the rain. It worked, zip and thru we went. The rest of the trip to the sou…
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Excelsior Glen
Allan H. Treman State Marine Park
“Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.” —Wayne Dyer
Last Saturday while we were in the Watkins Glen area we hiked to Excelsior Falls. It’s located just east of town off of Highway 414, easy to find but not visited by many. Most visitors in this area go the amazing Watkins Glen State Park, which is very impressive. We hiked that glen in 2014 and loved it, but we like finding little gems that other people over look. Somewhere we don’t have to fight a crowed or be rushed to move on. The trail begins right off the road with a small over grown path that over looks the creek about 30’ below. This trail disappears as it passes a boulder-choked chute where the river is only about a foot wide. This chute feeds a pretty good drop, but isn’t considered one of the waterfalls in this glen, although we thought the little canyon was very impressive.
J-Class Practice Race
A spectacle for sure, watching these Js being handled like dinghies is a real treat. A few images follow…
Return to Seattle
We left Dirona in Scotland, with Spitfire at “The Resort”, while we returned to Seattle for a couple of weeks. This mostly was a work trip for James, but we did find time to enjoy the city, make a day trip to Victoria, and receive and pack over 200 pounds of boat spares to bring…
Gore Bay
Sunset over Benjamins We departed the Benjamins on Monday the 21st making the short 15 nm jump to Gore Bay. Gore Bay is a small community on Mantoulin Island, with a short main street and downtown. It’s a laid back small town feel, the marina facilities are well kept with relatively new floating […]
Why Is It Always Dee Dee?
We all knew kids growing up who seemed to always have issues – broken bones, stitches, head stuck between the banisters… (OK, that last one was my twin brother, actually, all of them were – sorry Joel). On Red Head, it’s Dee Dee. Today she did it aga…
Aug. 19 – Havana Glen
Allan H. Treman State Marine Park
“There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot…” –Aldo Leopold
Saturday we drove over to Seneca Lake to check out the Windmill Market. Friends have been telling us about it, so we thought we’d check it out. The Windmill Farm & Craft Market is one of the largest markets in upstate New York and is celebrating its 30th anniversary. There are over 175 venders selling just about everything you can think of…from fresh produce, baked goods, cheese, wine, jewelry, home décor, collectibles, handcrafted items, clothing and food booths serving all kinds of treats. It was a fun place to spend a morning.
