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Winding Down – Brunswick, GA

By on November 26, 2017 in Istaboa

Brunswick, GA — Tied up at St Simons; a Golden Isles sunset reflecting off the sound, pelicans and gulls ending the day doing what it is they do, all appears peaceful. Though, just a couple days ago, Thanksgiving Day, this was a different picture all together. A damp northerly wind was blowing hard and there was no sunset to be enjoyed, just gray, grayer, then darkness and cold.

In several ways, this trip is winding down.

Leaving Beaufort: With winds and seas in the unsettled state they were in, the choices were to run the ICW or stay put. Staying put was no longer an option.
Motoring south and winding down the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, there are many bends and curves, the shoals around every ocean inlet must be taken seriously, and almost every mile of the way there’s some obstacle that must be overcome. Most are not as precarious as reputed (ActiveCaptain), but all bets are off, you’re compelled to give every one of these complications your attention or one of them could make for a very bad day.  Stress.
(Hindsight is 20-20: Unless there’s an unusually low tide, if you stay in the center of the channel there’s little to worry about.)
The stretch between Beaufort and Cape Fear is crossed with bridges all seemingly set up on schedules that are timed to penalize any boat requiring an opening—of course a fierce current is always pushing as you approach them and the incommunicado bridge tender’s watch invariably runs 5 minutes slow.

Needless to say, if one has taken on the mindset to get home, this is a chore, and this portion of the ICW is not much for stopping and smelling the roses so…  Push.

Past the Cape Fear River and back into the ICW, St James Marina is just a short way. A nicely manicured marina with an excellent restaurant onsite.

The Southport to Georgetown, SC run is not nearly as bad as it’s reputation. The water’s fairly deep and there are fewer shoals to overthink. Once pass Myrtle Beach, other than strong currents, this bit is not bad at all. It’s nice, actually.
Osprey Marina is a good stop. Tucked back into a forest of low country cypress trees is a little sanctuary of a marina. A pleasant stop that’s out of the current and staffed by nice folks who are happy to give you a hand tying up.
Back in the ICW and a full day’s run in deep water is Georgetown, SC. Harborwalk Marina is the nicest and closest marina to the restaurants and shops that Georgetown has to offer. A charming little town that’s at least worth a couple of days.

The next morning, looking across the harbor at a stack towering over a nearby mill, the winds seemed to have settled, the smoke bellows straight up towards the clouds.
The run out Winyah Bay is uneventful as is the run into Charleston and all the way to Ashley Marina.

The winds were relenting and the seas stayed somewhat still. Leaving Charleston Bay and easing out the inlet, all remains calm and the next leg down to Hilton Head is an easy day.

Passing by the 140′ Sailing Vessel ~ Athena

Soon however, the blow’s back and the affected seas have picked up considerably; the pleasant days in the ocean now turn less than so, but still better than working the ICW.

The next run, Hilton Head to Brunswick, offered up quite a bit more texture.

Plowing away from Hilton Head’s Calibogue Sound and out Tybee Roads, the approach was rough and busy. With northerly winds the following sea brought on nice speed and St Simons Sound got closer sooner than expected.

This same strong north to south wind created continuously tall nasty breakers all the way past St Simons. About 7 miles of contending with a beam bashing sea once again makes this a less than pleasurable day.

Though once it’s done – It’s done

Easing under the Sidney Lanier Bridge you’ll find Brunswick Landing Marina. A nice community of a marina that’s quite large. – Free Beer 24/7 – Nirvana for many.

= = = = = =

We stayed at Brunswick Landing for a few days and had a nice time while getting a bit of work done. We’ve tied up here before but it was a long time back. 14 years ago we brought the original Istaboa, a 62 Offshore, to downtown Brunswick and celebrated Melonie’s mother’s 80 birthday. The place hasn’t changed much since then… just the names and faces.
Thanksgiving was aboard. Excellent Roast Beef for dinner then a few episodes of the Netflix series, Alias Grace. Brunswick Landing did put on a nice Thanksgiving feast for the boaters, but it was rainy and cold out so we decided to lay low with the pups and enjoy ourselves.
We’ve now moved over to Morningstar Golden Isles Marina to stage our departure for Florida as soon as possible.

Brunswick marks the end of a long nautical business trip. A tour to visit the increasing number of marinas that we do business with as well as those we’d like to build a relationship. We’ve caught up with many old friends and made several new contacts. It’s time to stop for a while and take stock of our labors.
This little marina WiFi company is a win for all those it touches; we’re proud of onSpot and it’s service.

This trip is also winding down for Mel and me.
Personally, I’m ready to be back home in Jupiter. To walk with my dogs on the warm sunny beach and sleep in a king size bed, to spend all the time I want in a large hot shower and have a car at my disposal; all the trapping that Mel and I happily left behind last May.
Mel is not quite as pleased as I am about tying up Istaboa, but me thinks she’ll enjoy all these things as well … in time.

This life is in our DNA, it’s not a hobby and not an item on a bucket list to check off, but sometimes, stepping away makes it all just that much better.

Something I wrote a few years back:

And, yes I know, there are those who feel there’s no better life than full time living aboard our boats, but we’ve been doing this cruising thing for many years and we like to think of the boat life as a dream being realized. Though sometimes, for us anyway, it’s fun to hop on the bus and say, “there’s no place like home”, and our dream remains floating somewhere awaiting our return. 

So yes, we’re happy to be heading home and now, conveniently, our the boat is just minutes away and we see it almost everyday.
There are a few projects needed to be done; a radar that blinks, electrical gremlins, but all in all Istaboa has been as kind to us as we’ve been to her. She likes to be run and enjoyed; we’ve been doing just that.

Like us, she also enjoys warm weather and Jupiter’s pleasant winter is only a few hundred miles away.

Adios,

Nordhavn 57-26 Istaboa

ENVOY CRUISING WITH GRAHAM AND CHERRY

By on November 24, 2017 in Envoy
Envoy is now in Lefkas Marina for the winter and we’re home in Auckland for the southern hemisphere summer.
I forgot to mention that just before Amy left us our bow thruster’s 24 volt electric motor was repaired and re-installed. Its sudden stop (caused by a line fouling its prop at Lefkas Marina) caused damage to the bases of the brushes and these have been replaced. We only use our bow thruster when berthing in a marina or harbour so not having it for a few weeks wasn’t a problem.
During late September after clearing-in back to Greece from Albania we spend a few days cruising
around northern Corfu awaiting news of our water maker. It’s too late to make much difference for this season but we’d like to have it for next. Actually we haven’t had any problems at all getting plenty of fresh water ashore, but the water maker is a nice-to-have.

Envoy alongside wharf at Saranda, Albania


When the wind increased at Saranda a large ferry started to drag its anchor towards Envoy. Fortunately some crew were on hand to resolve this.

View of Saranda’s waterfront

Agri is a stunning anchorage in settled conditions

This house has been constructed using rocks obtained during excavation of the building site

These guys are shaping the rocks into blocks

We get an interesting weather forecast; SE winds Force 4 to 5 soon becoming cyclonic with thunderstorms. With the storm at Sivota still in our minds we cruise just a few miles to the northern side of Corfu to anchor in Ormos Galiaies – a protected south-facing bay. 


Although we prepare for the worst we thankfully only get winds up to about 25 knots and no thunderstorms. The problem with thunderstorms here being they are usually accompanied by violent squalls and major wind direction shifts.

A few days later a water maker technician, Esideras, from Athens comes aboard at Gouvia Marina to check our system. Angelos, the local technician, thinks our problem is caused by a reduced flow of input seawater but Esideras runs some tests and concludes the fault lies with the high pressure pump. This is despite the fact he’s already had the pump in Athens for testing, but again he takes the pump plus the membrane in its casing for further tests.

Engineer working on our water maker. The pump and membrane are on deck


Envoy alongside in Gouvia Marina for water maker work

In the marina we see a trailer boat on the hardstand with four huge outboards, all with their props badly damaged after presumably running aground. As Di took the photo below a Coastguard officer rushed up gesticulating no photos – but too late.

Laurie by boat with four huge Yamaha outboards


Closer inspection shows four badly damaged propellers and bottoms of outboards


In late September long time Kiwi friends Graham and Cherry Poole arrive for a week with us – their first visit to Greece and to Envoy. We meet them at the beautiful anchorage of Mourtos and during the transfer of their luggage to Envoy one of Cherry’s bags gets left behind in a taverna. No problem though, the taverna’s manager finds it and we collect it the next day.
Being an engineer, ex Navy Reserve Chief Petty Officer and ex Coastguard Skipper Graham is excellent crew as well as being a very keen and experienced fisherman (as is soon confirmed).
Graham and Cherry only have seven nights with us and we cruise across to Lakka Bay on the island of Paxxos, down to Logos, across to Parga on the mainland and down to Preveza. All places we’ve been to and know they’ll enjoy.
Parga is a great place to fill our water tanks from ashore using our jerricans. Many charter yacht flotillas overnight here and have an interesting way of mooring – the small harbour has deep water right up to a calm sandy beach so the yachts put out a stern anchor, run their bows ashore and put their bow anchors on dry land.
While cruising from Parga to Preveza we tow two lures and land four tuna. Graham does an excellent filleting job and we dine on sashimi for the first time in ages.
Graham with freshly caught small tuna

Then we cruise through the Lefkas Canal to anchor off Lefkas where Graham and Cherry leave us.
On our last night at anchor we see these charter yachts moor forming a circle so that their cockpits are in the centre

Two days later we’re in Lefkas marina for the winter.
It’s been an unusual cruising year having lost two months repairing the fire damage.
We cruised 926 miles, less than half our usual annual distance, logging 181 engine hours and having no injuries or major incidents apart from the fire damage on the day we arrived. Two technical issues we encountered were mostly our own fault – that is the inverter failure and bow thruster issue and these are resolved while the water maker problem will hopefully be resolved on our return next year.
Our agent A1 Yachting puts Envoy in Customs bond for the winter to maximise the time she can remain in EU waters with VAT unpaid.
A few days later we dine at one of our favourite local restaurants enjoying some fresh tuna where the friendly chef shows a photo of the tuna we’re eating. Caught off nearby Megani. Island and weighing an impressive 180 kg, he says tuna of this size are still caught regularly.
Next posting shortly about technical matters being attended to in the marina,

First View to the Caledonian Canal

By on November 24, 2017 in M/V Dirona

Our plan to return to southern Scotland via the Caledonian Canal was put together while we were still in Daytona, Florida in February of this year. So we’ve been looking forward to it for a long time. Since the canal is only a short distance from Inverness, we took the bikes over for a preview…

Inverness Arrival

By on November 24, 2017 in M/V Dirona

Inverness, founded around the 12th century, is the capital city of the Scottish Highlands and a gateway to the Caledonian Canal. We arrived after an easy three-hour run from Cromarty Firth, and spent a great afternoon exploring this historic town along the River Ness. Below are highlights from October 7th, 2018 in northern Scotland. Click…

Cromarty Firth

By on November 19, 2017 in M/V Dirona

Following an early-morning departure from the Orkney Islands, we rode the current south to Cromary Firth and found ourselves in an oil rig graveyard. With oil prices declining over the past few years, many North Sea oil companies have reduced production and towed some rigs to the protected harbor at Cromarty Firth. Some have a…

St. Margaret’s Hope

By on November 17, 2017 in M/V Dirona

St. Margaret’s Hope is the terminus for the fast ferry Pentalina between mainland Scotland and the Orkney Islands. The bay also is an excellent anchorage, with plenty of swing room, good wind protection and convenient bus access to the towns of Kirkwall and Stromness. We very much enjoyed the anchorage, especially after the ordeal of…

Stromness

By on November 16, 2017 in M/V Dirona

Stromness, on Mainland in the Orkney Islands, was once a major provisioning stop for Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) ships heading to and from Canada, and a major source of labour for the company. By the late eighteenth century, three quarters of the HBC’s Canadian workforce were from the Orkney Islands. The town has real character,…

Neolithic Orkney

By on November 14, 2017 in M/V Dirona

The Heart of Neolithic Orkney UNESCO World Heritage Site consists of four prehistoric monuments dating to some 5,000 years ago. They include the ancient settlement of Skara Brae, the Maeshowe chambered tomb, and two ceremonial stone circles: the Standing Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar. After freeing our ensnarled anchor at Widewall Bay,…

South To Beaufort, NC

By on November 11, 2017 in Istaboa

It’s a cold morning in Beaufort. The wind is brisk and out of the North, conditions we’ve not felt since leaving Memphis last winter. We actually broke out the jeans, sweatshirts, down jackets, and—oh my god—socks.

For the last couple of days it’s been rainy too. We’ve mentally kicked ourselves for not going with the original plan of spending one night and continuing on South.
On the other hand, after a few hours here, it quickly became apparent that Beaufort’s a bonafide boaty little town, a good hang. It would be shame to leave Beaufort and not get acquainted – as usual we caved to impulse – glad we did.

The first 2 days of our stay the weather was perfect. 72º and sunny

The walk from the marina to downtown is through a picturesque little historic neighborhood. Only about 3 blocks and you’re on Front Street, lined with waterfront shops and small restaurants that overlook the harbor and town docks. Our first walkabout took us to Spouter Inn where lunch was excellent, but after some investigation we discovered the Beaufort Cafe. A local favorite.
Not on Front Street, not a place most tourist would seek out, not expensive—however, The Beaufort Cafe is certainly worth the long walk down Cedar Street to experience this genuine Beaufort style diner. The best Shrimp and Grits we’ve ever been served. $8.95

Yep, we really like it here, however the run down has been appealing as well.

As is always the case, leaving Atlantic Yacht Basin is good; we’ve been here far too long.
When we come and go we always stop and contribute to the AYB Fund, though I must admit the last few trips it has seemed like paying the troll to cross the bridge. But, it is what it is and AYB can be invaluable sometimes so we don’t burn that bridge.

Finally, after almost 2 weeks, AYB dude is driving in the last screw as I’m warming up the engine, waiting on the bridge to open—then we’re off.

Deciding to bypass the customary stop at Coinjock, we keep pushing to Alligator River Marina. This makes for a longer day, but we really like this little marina in the middle of nowhere. Rumors are there’s not enough water for a boat such as ours, but,  as rumors often are …  that’s not accurate at all. FYI: Leaving the channel there’s good depths all the way to the entrance of the marina. Then, it does shallow up to 8′ right up to the long transient dock. The gas station has excellent gas station food. Yes, it’s surely bad for you, but – are we actually doing this stuff for our health? Buy some fried chicken, it travels well.

Full Moon Over Alligator River
Next stop is Belhaven’s River Forest Marina. We stayed here for the first time on our way up this year and found it to be one of those places we’ll always visit.  It seems many boats pass by River Forest and go to Belhaven Marina because it’s closer to town, but Henry gives us a golf cart to make the short run to Spoon River Restaurant and we can use the cart all day.

Sticking with our plan this time, we stayed here for a couple of days.

On our second day, a pleasant Indian Summer day, all was good until a boat full of gentlemen came roaring in to get fuel and waked the crap out of us.  Slamming us against the docks, and badly bending our boarding ladder, we weren’t too happy, nor was the dockmaster . After a few words, with difficulty due to the captain being Argentinian, we got the appropriate insurance info and a possible resolution. We’ll see. Geico?

Leaving Belhaven, promising to come back, we made our way South unsure where we might end the day. 
We made a call to Morehead City Docks, but they wouldn’t commit to a T-Head slip – even though there was one available. At the time our plan was rise early and head outside to wherever. We’ve been held here in the past by a strong unrelenting current pressing us against the dock for hours; we didn’t want to repeat that so a T-Head was important to us. No joy from Morehead City Docks so we started looking for something else.
Mel did some research, made a few calls, and at the last minute we pass Jarrett Bay to go to Homer Smith’s Docks. Not doing any homework, we’re unsure where to get off the ICW and into the marina, but after a call and some fuzzy directions, we make it in and tie up. 
Homer Smith’s Docks and Marina is a perfectly descriptive name. Homer Smith was an old time fish broker, looking around you’ll see his docks, crowded with shrimp boats and fishing boats; where we are out at the end is the marina portion. It’s small but the service is good and attitude here is refreshing. First they give you – for free – 2 pounds of shrimp that you just witnessed being taken off a boat, then they offer to let you buy more at $6.00 a pound so we bought 6 pounds. Floating docks, loaner car, usable WiFi that’s soon to be excellent, we’ve found our, “always stop at”, marina in Beaufort.
The next morning, planning to crank up and leave early, I walk up to find dense fog that’s only getting worse.
Knowing we’d need every bit of daylight to make it to Masonboro Inlet and down to Southport, we quickly realize that staying put for another day will be a good idea.
It was, and around 11:00 AM the sun burned off the fog and presented us a glorious day, the perfect conditions to explore our surroundings.
Checking the weather for the next day, it was forecast to be the same or worse in the morning. So, it was decided to give Beaufort yet another day. And we did—and a week later—we’re still here.
Not entirely because of weather; we really like this marina a lot, just the smell of the place pleases our senses, and they offer a weekly rate after 4 days stay making the next few days were free.

Watching the shimpers and fishermen come in to unload is fun. They’re a friendly bunch, always happy to strike up a conversation as they go about refueling or unloading the days catch.

Staying here is being backstage at the fish docks.

Today, the weather’s howling and outside the Atlantic is building huge seas.

Tomorrow, our time’s up, we’ll untie and head south on the AICW.  Not much fun, but it’s time to go.
Hopefully, the seas will soon subside and we can point outside towards Charleston, Hilton Head, Brunswick, then home as fast as we can go.

We’ve had a great time this year. Worked hard, but enjoyed doing it, got a lot accomplished while living the life we love. Probably stayed at more marinas in more cities than we ever have and that’s been a blast.

We left Jupiter in May with a plan to go to the Bahamas for a couple of months then return. It’s now November and we’ve not made it home yet.

We always seem to know when it’s time to go home.

It’s time.

Adios,

Nordhavn 57-26 Istaboa

South To Beaufort, NC

By on November 11, 2017 in Istaboa

It’s a cold morning in Beaufort. The wind is brisk and out of the North, conditions we’ve not felt since leaving Memphis last winter. We actually broke out the jeans, sweatshirts, down jackets, and—oh my god—socks.

For the last day or so it’s been cold and rainy, we’ve mentally kicked ourselves for not going with the original plan of spending one night and continuing on South.
On the other hand, after a few hours here, it quickly became apparent that Beaufort’s a bonafide boaty little town and would be a good hang  – as usual we caved to impulse. Glad we did.

The first 2 days of our stay in Beaufort the weather was perfect.

The walk from the marina to downtown is through a picturesque little historic neighborhood. Only about 3 blocks and you’re on Front Street with all the waterfront shops and restaurants. Our first day out took us to Spouter Inn where lunch was excellent, but after asking around we discovered the Beaufort Cafe.
Not on Front Street, not a place most tourist would seek out, not expensive—however, The Beaufort Cafe is certainly worth the long walk down Cedar Street to experience this genuine Beaufort style diner. The best Shrimp and Grits we’ve ever been served. $8.95

We really like Beaufort, however the run down has been appealing as well.

As is always the case, leaving Atlantic Yacht Basin is good. It’s the perfect location for a boat yard. As we come and go we always seem to stop and contribute to the AYB Fund, though I must admit the last few trips it has seemed like paying the troll to cross the bridge. But, it is what it is and AYB can be invaluable sometimes so we don’t burn that bridge.

Finally, AYB dude is driving in the last screw as I’m warming up the engine, waiting on the bridge to open—then we’re off.

Deciding to bypass the customary stop at Coinjock, we keep pushing to Alligator River Marina. This makes for a longer day, but we really like this little marina in the middle of nowhere. Rumors are there’s not enough water at this marina for a boat such as ours, but,  as rumors often are …  that’s not accurate at all. FYI: Leaving the channel there’s good depths all the way to the entrance of the marina. Then, it does shallow up to 8′ all the way to the long transient dock. The gas station has excellent gas station food. Yes, it’s surely bad for you, but – are we actually doing this stuff for our health? Buy some fried chicken, it travels well.

Full Moon Over Alligator River
Next stop is Belhaven’s River Forest Marina. We stayed here for the first time on our way up this year and found it to be one of those places we’ll always visit.  It seems many folks pass River Forest by and go to the other marina that’s closer to downtown, but Henry gives us a golf cart to make the short run downtown to Spoon River Restaurant which makes it all more enjoyable.

Sticking with our plan this time, we stayed here for a couple of days.

On our second day, a beautiful Indian Summer day, all was good until a boat full of gentlemen came roaring in to get fuel and waked the crap out of us.  Slamming us against the docks, and badly bending our boarding ladder we weren’t too happy nor was the dockmaster . After a few words, with difficulty due to the captain being Argentinian, we got the appropriate insurance info and a possible resolution. We’ll see. Geico?

Leaving Belhaven, promising to come back, we made our way South unsure where we might end the day. 
We made a call to Morehead City Docks, but they wouldn’t commit to a T-Head slip – even though there was one available. At the time our plan was rise early and head outside to wherever. We’ve been held here in the past by strong current and we didn’t want that so a T-Head was important to us. No joy from Morehead City Docks so we started looking for something else.
Mel did some research, made a few calls, and at the last minute we pass Jarrett Bay to go to Homer Smith’s Docks. Not doing any homework, we’re unsure how to get to the marina, but after a call and fuzzy directions, we make it in and tie up. 
Homer Smith’s Docks and Marina is a perfectly descriptive name. Homer Smith was an old time fish wholesaler, looking around you’ll see the docks, crowded with shrimp boats and fishing boats; where we are out at the end is the marina portion. It’s small but the service and attitude here is refreshing. First they give you – for free – 2 pounds of shrimp that you just witnessed being taken off a boat, then they offer to let you buy more at $6.00 a pound. We bought 6 pounds. Floating docks, loaner car, weak WiFi that’s soon to be excellent, we’ve found our always stop at marina in Beaufort.
The next morning, planning to crank up and leave early, I walk up to find dense fog that’s only getting worse.
Knowing we’d need every bit of daylight to make it to Masonboro Inlet and down to Southport, we quickly realize that staying in Beaufort for another day will be a good idea.
It was, and around 11:00 AM the sun burned off the fog and presented us a glorious day. 
Checking the weather for the next day, it was forecast to be the same or worse in the morning. So, it was decided to give Beaufort another day. And we did—and a week later, we’re still here.
 Not because of weather entirely, we really like this marina a lot, just the smell of the place pleases our senses, but they offer a weekly rate after 4 days stay. The next few days were free.

Watching the shimpers and fishermen come in to unload is fun. They’re a friendly bunch, always happy to strike up a conversation as they go about refueling or unloading the days catch.

Staying here is being backstage at the fish docks.

Today, the weather’s howling and outside is showing huge seas.

Tomorrow, our time’s up, we’ll untie and head south on the AICW.  Not much fun, but it’s time to go.
Hopefully, soon the seas will subside and we can point outside to Charleston, Hilton Head, Brunswick, then home as fast as we can go.

We’ve had a great time on this year’s trip, worked hard, but enjoyed doing it. We’ve probably stayed at more marinas in more cities than we ever have and that’s been a blast.

We left Jupiter in May with a plan to go to the Bahamas for a couple of months then return. It’s now November and we’ve not made it home yet. We always know when it’s time to go home.

It’s time.

Adios,

Nordhavn 57-26 Istaboa