Tuesday, April 20, 2021. Day 135. My mothers birthday.
Everyone was up early, but the anchor was very muddy, so the 15 minutes it took to clean the anchor, caused a delay getting to the Onslow Beach Bridge (the USMC bridge). There was a barge with a crane that let us pass under first, and the tender opened the bridge even though it was between opening times, otherwise we would have had to wait 20 minutes for the 8am opening. The marine corp felt comfortable accommodating us under the circumstances (and thank you to the barge captain). It was our only request bridge of the day.
The water was a flat calm, an 180° opposite from yesterday afternoon with wind and the white caps (a/k/a “wavelets” lol, the Captain refers to them as wavelets.....they are whitecaps to me!).
I did a quick work out. Mornings were getting chilly as we cruised north, but the sun was warm. There were dolphins on the bow, and at 9:10 am, we passed Little Wing, from Annapolis,. A very hearty couple, in a very little, steel-hulled, 1970's, 30 foot sailboat. I so admired the young woman captain. We just love seeing them along the way, and always wish them the best. They far surpass our adventure bar!
We arrived at Homer Smith’s in Beaufort, North Carolina, at approximately 1pm. At first we anchored at the fuel dock, the wind, pushing us off the dock. Roland was docking from the flybridge and Matt, the marina the owner, had to pull us in with the spring line. With Matt's help and the bow thruster, we made it and tied up.
We asked Matt about the GFI issue (he is building several new docks and very clear about the issue). He explained the new regulations and the timing. We must jump on this issue asap, so Captain Roland agreed to call the expert from Vero Beach soon.
The forecast for tomorrow was for very heavy winds, so the question was: to leave tomorrow, or not to leave....I do not do well in heavy, choppy, seas! The decision went back and forth, but regardless, Matt asked us to move to a slip, which the Captain did beautifully, not withstanding the conditions, and we tied up.
We had lots of laundry to do and the
marina washers and dryers were available, so I did laundry at the
marina as well as on the boat, while Michael and Roland borrowed the
marina courtesy car, and went to West Marine to pick up our
replacement grille (thank you very much Gail and Michael for the
treat). While I continued the laundry, Gail went with Michael and
Roland, to do the food shopping.
Between running up and back to the marina laundry, I had a chance to speak to Nancy and Randy from “Bella Vita”, a couple from Denver who had bought their boat in Atlantic City (Farley Marina). It was their first boat (Randy was a former pilot and was loving the boating life). We exchanged boat cards and I went back to the marina to move the wash to the dry and take the dry back to the boat. When I got to the marina office, I found that everything had been locked up and Matt had gone home. We had been in such a rush to get our chores done that I had failed to get the code; I was locked out the laundry was locked in. I waited for someone to come by who knew the code; I called the food shoppers to find out if they knew the code; no luck. In desperation, I called Randy (I had his boat card and he had the code!). It felt very weird to call him 2 minutes after meeting him for the first time. He was very gracious.
There was a Kadey Ladies zoom at 7pm which I attended and asked about GFI and learned that almost all the other boats had already taken care of this problem. Again, I stressed about this issue and wondered why our surveyor hadn't addressed this issue, knowing the requirements. I was unhappy about the surveyor again!
At 8pm I had a TCPW zoom with three national White House correspondents which was really terrific.
The decision was made to leave early tomorrow to minimize the choppy seas. I hoped for the best.
Wednesday, April 21, 2021. Day 136.
We had planned to leave at 8am and I was ready at 7:50am, however, Roland and Mike had de-docked at 7:15 am. I was told Captain Roland did a beautiful job. I took a pill and put on the wrist bands; it was windy and rough. At 11:30am to 12:30pm we were in the Neuse River, and it was choppy. When we entered the canal connecting the two larger bodies of water, what a relief, it was calm. Short lived. Warning to me: The sound after the canal could get choppy again, and it did, but I managed (no computer, nor zooms, nor notetaking, nor reading....just watch the horizon and breathe deeply)....all was OK. I actually was able to use the time to handle some telephone calls for Wil and TIAW.
The original plan was to go to River Forest Marina in Belhaven, NC, but the winds being so heavy and in a very inauspicious direction, caused us to make a change. Captain Roland called Henry who was very understanding and agreed that we should spend the night “on the hook”, in a nearby protected area. So at 3:50pm, we anchored in Pungo Creek (bonus: we get to try our new grille for a steak redo), everybody was happy!
After we anchored, Captain Roland and
Mike gave me some instructions as to lining up points on the shore to
check the boat's position, from time to time, to make sure we were
not drifting, while at anchor.
The steaks grilled on our
new “secure on the staple” grille, were delicious, with wonderful
sweet potatoes and string beans, and a nice red wine. We zoomed with
Howard and Debbie (Gail's and my brother and sister-in-law in
California ). And the captain who was tired after several early and
long days, was looking forward to sleeping late tomorrow before we
cruise over to the marina.
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