Life Ashore

Well, it is good to be back on land for awhile...
Enjoying time with family...
(We've had a birthday)

(A fun Thanksgiving)




(And retail therapy in the land of cheap imports.)


Merry Christmas month!

What?

I've complained about my cholesterol medication for years. Every time I try to go on meds, I get stupid. Lipitor was the worst... now I've been on Crestor since last April.
Yesterday my daughter recommended a memory doctor. She's right- I can't remember what you told me an hour ago. I keep trying to put glasses in the dishes and bowls cabinet. And now I'm going to forget to take that noxious medicine.
And here's one of the links that says it best. And it's not the only article, either.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=its-not-dementia-its-your-heart-medication it best...

Photo Workshop 101

We had our kids take "grandparent portraits" while we were in Tallahassee... We said just shoot a bunch and one should work for our Christmas cards this year.





And there are probably 20 more just like this.

I guess we should've checked out our background a little better. :)

Retail Therapy

We thought it might be good to get Sophia used to the mall....

The rest of the cousins came, too. They enjoyed lunch and Build-a-Bear more than Sophie did, I think.


Sophie just slept.



Guess that's what babies do best. :)

Sophia Grace

After 3 days of waking us up in the middle of the night, Sophia finally decided November 4th would be a good birthday to have.
She's a big (9 lb 3 oz), beautiful, healthy baby...
Jamie and Josh are totally enjoying this new phase of life...
And we're blessed to be a part of all the fun!

We were home for two whole days.
Good to see our Ft. Lauderdale kids.
Then Jamie decided we needed to come on up to Tallahassee.
So we drove through the night.
Then her contractions went away.
Figures.
No problem.
It's good to see our Tally kids too.

Almost Home

We've come through Florida kind of fast. We've had several long days of travel without stopping a lot, because we're starting to gear up for our next adventure.
(heading to Tally for the birth of Sophia Grace on or around November 7th!)
Here are a few pictures of the places we did stop...

Daytona

Titusville
Jupiter (we didn't actually stop here... but nice lighthouse, eh?)


We're in West Palm tonight.


Tomorrow morning (at sunrise!), we'll head out the Lake Worth Inlet and turn south towards Fort Lauderdale. Morning Glory will rest along a dock on the New River there while we have babies and holidays and "land time".
It's good to be close to home, but also a little bittersweet. It's been fun, and, while I never thought I'd admit it, I like the boat life a lot. I'm ready to see my baby girls though!
(Oh, and my own kids, too!)
We spent last weekend in Stuart, and saw some of our MBFD friends. Always good to see the Stuart folks. Had a fun dinner out at Shrimpers, then took an afternoon/evening sail on Sunday.


I wish I had a picture of us picking these guys up at the dock...we almost ran aground on the first approach- then went around and backed up to the tip of the dock so they could (literally) jump on. Across a 2-3 foot gap. No one fell in- but it was seriously the toughest boarding job we've ever attempted. Of course it was at a park full of people...bet we provided a few laughs! Glad to help out. (next time, instead of helping people get on, I'm gonna take pictures.) ;)

We're Baaack in Florida

We pulled into Downtown Jacksonville last Wednesday. Stayed about 30 minutes.


We haven't been in a big city in a long time. We forgot that there are many people who want your spare change in big cities. People who will be spending the night in the park where you have tied up at the dock. People who might figure out how easy it is to board your docked boat and find your spare change.

So we fled up the St. John's River to the suburbs.

Where the scruffiest people are also sailors.
They may not have had a bath in a few days, either. They also drink copious amounts of cheap beer. But for some reason we're o.k. with that. I guess it's because they're on their boats, and we're on ours. And nobody asks for money. (They know we don't have any!)

I wasn't referring to our good friends, the Richies, with the above commentary.
But we did spend a lot of time with them once we got anchored in Julington Creek.

When they heard we were coming, they made arrangements for us to use a friend's dock.


They picked us up for dinner. They loaned us their truck, their washer and dryer and their back porch. (Well, they loaned us the whole house... the picture just happens to be on the back porch.)


They took us to a fun Farmer's market.


They fed us. We fed them. We even took them sailing.


There's nothing better than hanging out with folks you've known and loved for 25 years.
They really made our weekend special... now... how soon can we do this again?

St. Mary's... Where the livin' is easy

There's really not very much to do in St. Mary's.
It's a cute little town... there's a good seafood restaurant (Lang's), a nice waterfront park (until the small town goth kids take over at nightfall), and a very friendly boating community. But that's about it. Oh, and the ferry to Cumberland Island... which loads and unloads a variety of interesting people (with backpacks and mountain bikes and fishing gear and birdwatching tee-shirts).

And there's a dog who runs the bait shop.

And it's "Hay Days" time right now; when everyone builds a scarecrow, and everyone else drives around town looking at scarecrows.


And Submarines pass through on a regular basis.


And I think Joy and Gordon had fun just being a part of Small Town America.

For two days. :)

We even took a sunset dinner cruise up the river, and nobody got seasick. Life is good.


And for my parting words...
try telling this guy that "a smile is just a frown turned upside down"!

A Journey, A Passage, and A Safe Harbor

After a quick trip to Washington, I'm back on the boat.

It was good to spend time with my brothers, and their families, but not a happy time. Funerals are hard. This one was no different- I'm glad I was able to go, but I'd rather not need to go. Right?
Jack and Mary dropped me off in Blufton, SC, where Ted was waiting for me. Blufton is tiny... a little town just west of Hilton Head. A friend from my high school neighborhood lives there now (we saw her on our way north, and wanted to have her over for dinner on our way south.) I didn't take a picture to prove it, but we got together and had a great time.
We did take a few pictures in Blufton...



Ted took this one (I just kind of like it! :) )



The next morning we headed out the Calibogue Sound, into the Atlantic Ocean and motored down the length of Georgia (through the night), all the way to St. Mary's inlet. We came in past Cumberland Island as the sun was coming up, and dropped our anchor in the harbor of St. Mary's, GA. We've been here before. It's a beautiful little town. The folks are really friendly, and it's a great place to stop.



We'll be here a few days. Ted's sister Joy, and her husband, Gordon, are coming to visit tomorrow. They're planning on staying in the Historic Riverview Hotel (couldn't coax them onto the boat) till Wednesday. So here we are! Getting a little closer to home... slowly but surely.

We've started looking into docking options for November thru January- guess that means we really are heading home! (Better start cleaning up, Bonnie!)

When you sail through the night, you often have gifts on the trampoline the next morning. For example...
He didn't have much to say. Kind of stiff. He got thrown overboard, too. (see last post.)

Sweet Nicole!

I'm not sure if it was Nicole, or some unnamed cousin, but a gusty little storm system paid us a visit while we were anchored south of Southport. We knew we'd have strong winds through the night last Wednesday, so we tucked into a canal that was billed as "the local's hurricane hole". The winds woke us up at 2:45 a.m., with some rock and roll action. Of course, the anchor drag alarm was going off... and we ended up spending the rest of the night in the cockpit (I dozed, Ted made sure we didn't drift too close to shore...motors running just in case.)
As the sun came up, we could see two or three unoccupied sailboats that had broken loose of their moorings, and were up in the marsh. People were out in their dinghys, getting resettled or checking out their battle wounds- we were fine- and have a deadline- so we left at first light.
After several days of rain, the sun made a valiant attempt to shine. Glad to see it!


Flooding, while a bad thing for land people, means swift tide for water people. We made amazing time yesterday- covering 88 miles in 12 hours. You may be laughing... but we were pumped! Scootin'! And that's a good thing, because, as I mentioned before, we've got a deadline.
We've been going hard (up at dawn and going till dusk) for the last two days.


We were trying to make Charleston by this afternoon... and it looks like we'll be there soon.
I have a family funeral to attend, back up in Washington, D.C.- and my brother and his sweetheart (Jack and Mary) are picking me up as they're driving north. Ted will travel on, all by his lonesome, while I'm gone... I hope to rejoin him in Beaufort next Wednesday.

By the way...How about this house? My first thought was, they were probably trying to irritate their neighbors.



These are the neighbors.


I'd move too.

(Wonder if Ted will update the blog while I'm gone?... probably not...so if you want an update, give him a call! He's probably going to be lonely and talkative ;)

(One of our boat pets. Ted threw him overboard. froggone!)

Onward

...In the rain!

We set sail from New Bern on a rainy Monday morning...
and motored through the drizzle all day.


Docked for $10 behind the Sanitary Fish Market Monday night. Just had to have fried seafood for dinner. Ted says no more fried fish, please!

And set sail for Camp LeJune on a rainy Tuesday morning.

The sun's out now (at 2 pm)... but we're watching the weather, and realize more rain will be coming later this week. Oh Boy! Nicole?
(We're starting to plan for a spot to wait out the winds.... probably Southport, NC.)

My New Favorite Place

Oh, I've got lots of favorite places now... but let's add a few more to the list.


When we left Kitty Hawk, we sailed to Manteo. Probably the nicest city dock we've stayed at. Free for 24 hours, right in the middle of a small downtown area, with a playground, no less!

A very boat-oriented town. Lots of boats and boat people. And friendly dogs.


A couple of highlights here... the best was a young lady named Snow who makes hammocks. We bought some new boat furniture from her... we now have hammock seats that hang and swing and are oh! so comfortable. And not only did she sell us some seats, she also snuck us into her mom's consignment shop after hours, and Lisa and I had great fun going through some pretty cool art work and jewelry stuff. Ideas! Inspiration! Trinkets!

We only stayed one day, because the wind was right to keep moving...



So on to Ocracoke.

Now, I LOVE Ocracoke. It's an island- only accessible by ferry (or boat). This is where Blackbeard, the pirate used to hang out. Really! People do live there year-round, but it's really a summer time destination for most people. Lots of rental beach houses, and a few hotels. Tiny. Remote. Artsy. Friendly. Yes, a little touristy, but not so much. Wild horses used to freely roam the streets (I would've loved to see this!)- but now they're corralled in a corner of the island. Old homes are turned into little shops- like coffee shops and surf shops and craft shops (and a thrift shop!). Homemade signs abound. More bikes than cars. Kind of reminiscent of Coconut Grove, back in the day. But less commercial.

"Season" is really pretty much over, so the beach was deserted



(until a fishing club arrived and got serious about their rods and reels).


We had great fun riding our bikes all over the place with our friends...

The ladies hit the thrift shop (twice!)


The guys found a hammock and some lawn chairs outside the Hemp Clothing Store (almost every business had an yard with chairs in it) and were content for a little while.

We spent two wonderful days in Ocracoke.
But again, (alas!), the wind was right and we had to keep moving...



Now we've followed AJ and Lisa all the way to New Bern (Birthplace of Pepsi), where they will be spending a few weeks visiting family and "taking care of business". They're tied up to a dock; putting down roots. Guess they think they'll finally get rid of us!


Not willing to leave them alone quite yet, though, we tagged along on their Sunday afternoon.
We got to meet AJ's dad and sister, and enjoyed a chamber music concert at the library (their nephew was one of the violinists).

We had a nice walk around town before saying our "See you later"s.

And, as the wind will be right to keep moving, we'll press on in the a.m.

Next stop (probably) Beaufort, NC.


See you later, Tinker! (And her people.) We'll miss you!