April 22-23, 2021 River Forest Marina, Belhaven

 Thursday, April 22, 2021. Day 137.

It was very cold and windy last night, and the anchor chain banged against the boat, sounding like fireworks to me; it was loud and, needless to say, interrupted my sleep.

As predicted, the morning was cold (39°), and Roland turned on the heat; I did yoga and we had coffee. We were anchored minutes from River Forest Marina in Belhaven, North Carolina, where we were to spend the next 2 days, so there was no rush in the morning.

Our plan was to dine in the evenings, at the two restaurants we had visited going south; one we ate outside, the other, we had takeout. Oysters outside and take out from Spoon River, known as the best restaurant on the AICW. We planned (all of us vaccinated), to dine in (they do not have out side space), as soon as they opened, when no one else was there. The tables were really far apart, and we reserved one tucked into a bay window slightly separated from the rest of the room. We were really looking forward to both those opportunities.

Although it was cold, the sun was strong and bright and we hoped it would warm up a bit during the day. Unfortunately, the boat was covered with teeny bugs; really unpleasant.

Roland made blueberry pancakes for all, our first breakfast altogether. They were great, a little uneven, as usual due to the electric stove top (sometimes I think Roland is serving uneven pancakes as a lobbying effort – he wants the a gas stove in lieu of the electric stove top). My sister said, if he is doing the cooking, he should have a replacement stove. Thank you, Gail; more nautical units! Unfortunately, she had a point.

We arrived at River Forest Marina at 12pm, and Henry, the dockmaster, was there waiting for us. It was really windy and we needed his strength and experience to help us tie up to minimize the movement of MM on the dock.

As usual, as soon as we docked: the laundry. Gail and I used the marina's free machines; they were large and made the task much simpler. And we were the only ones using the machines.

Henry arranged a tour of the turn of the century (the 19^th to 20^th), estate house that had fallen into ruin, and then, some years ago, restored by a group of local residents, several of them, skilled craftsmen. It was stunning in every way: the woodwork, the floors, the leaded glass windows, the plaster decorated ceilings; all of it was magnificent. The mansion is available for weddings, family reunions and other celebrations; along with the common areas, the 5-7 bedrooms are spacious, welcoming and worth the trip. Because of the pandemic, there had been no events since December 2020, but a wedding was scheduled for the first week in May, and everybody was sprucing it up and very excited. By the way the estate and the marina are for sale. There is a great area for a restaurant, bar and commercial kitchen, and the marina for fishing charters...... a good retirement project for the right folks!

We walked around Belhaven, and after finishing the laundry, got ready for our 5:30pm dinner. One of the fun parts about River Forest Marina is the golf carts we can use for transportation. Captain Roland loves driving the golf court around town and to the supermarket.

We had dinner at Spoon River in a private room with just the four of us (the owner, apologizing, had inadvertently seated the wrong four folks at our reserved table, but the private room was just fine). It was my first planned indoor dining experience and although it was fun, the owner was challenged. She couldn’t get the help she needed to properly operate her restaurant, and it showed in the quality of the food. The service was still excellent, although the bartender was extremely slow. Not being able to properly staff the restaurant was consistent with what we experienced in Beaufort, South Carolina and, the complaint we heard the following evening at the outside oyster bar. Workers, during the pandemic, are leaving small towns or making more on unemployment. Business was beginning to pick up; hopefully the workers will return.

 

Gail and Michael took the golf cart back, and Roland and I walked back to the boat. When we arrived, the boat was covered with the little black insects that Henry called “blind mosquitoes” because they don’t bite. The air was thick with them; it was overwhelming!

After dinner, the crew and the captain watched old Star Trek shows on television and I worked on my blog, happy to skip vintage TV.

Friday, April 23, 2021. Day 138.

It was cold again this morning but I enjoyed my 3 mile run around Belhaven. Roland and I had poached eggs for breakfast. Roland and Mike prepared to change the engine oil after trying to rid the boat of the insects. Henry lent Roland a big blower to blow them off first, before washing them off. I don’t think anything worked very well.

Changing the engine oil did not work out. One of the major reasons for staying in Belhaven for 2 days (other than the food), was to change the engine oil: it was time (the oil has to be changed every so many engine hours). Roland couldn't get the built-in pump to remove and replace the oil, to work. Not only was this a disappointment and a waste of time, but we were now talking additional nautical units ($$). The Captain now had to figure out how to fix or replace the pump, order the pump or parts, online, and find a place to install it and change the oil, which is something that really can’t wait too much longer, based on engine hours. It is highly likely that it would have to wait until we are back in Philadelphia.....and Mike won't be there to help....a loss!

We put our disappointment aside, and took a golf cart to Food Lion, which is a bit further than the center of Belhaven, going on the back roads. It was kind of crazy, but fun, and I was amazed that we were able to get all the groceries and the four of us on the golf cart.

I reached out to the Kadey Krogen Norfolk Harbor Host. Unfortunately they would not be around for the weekend when we arrived but they sent a detailed email with tons of suggestions and information. So cool.

At 5:30m, we took the golf cart the Tavern at Jack’s Neck, for oysters, shrimp, wings and ribs, topped off by apple pie with ice cream. The owner and her staff were terrific, we sampled a lot of her Bourbons and rum and had a great time. She was only serving outside; she had to defer the inside renovations until business picked up.

We were to leave Belhaven tomorrow, and Henry assured us he would be there early in the morning to help us off the dock.

Lap of luxury March 25 - 28, 2021

 Thursday, March 25, 2021. Day 109 .

Up early so I could get to the ladies room at the boaters' lounge (there was only one bathroom for the women and it as a bit of a walk). Because there was no water on the boat, I was dependent on the public facilities.

I ran 3 miles around the marina and walked another half mile. After breakfast I went back to do another couple of loads of laundry.

The repairman called this morning and said he would, in fact, be there today (Yay!), but not until the afternoon. This was really great. It delayed our plans to go to the supermarket to get food for Passover, but getting the hot water tank in and operating was the most important thing.

I spent the afternoon by the pool (the facilities at the Williams Island Marina club were absolutely lovely), and brought lunch from the bar at the club to Roland, who was on the boat helping Dave the repairman. I was totally enjoying this time in the lap of luxury, while doing Roland and Dave the favor of staying out of their way.

Talking to the waiter and waitress at the pool bar, I learned that all of Williams Island is a membership club. As a transient boater, I was a “guest”, and could pay with my credit card (they added a small fee - that was the case also with the a Island Grille where we had dinner the night before). It was a beautiful afternoon and I enjoyed the opportunity to be sitting outside by the pool relaxing and doing almost nothing. And, I was thrilled that Roland and Dave completed the work on the hot water heater. Magic Moments was back in operation again.

Friday, March 26, 2021. Day 110.

   

It was warm and lovely. I woke up early and swam laps for 40 minutes to the pool. There was nobody else there; it was just delightful.

Roland had assembled our folding bikes, while I was swimming laps, so that we could go to the supermarket and do some other errands. Aventura has every store one can think of within a reasonable distance. I was familiar with the shopping area because I had passed by Aventura for years when I lived part time in Bay Harbor Islands, which is fairly close by. 

 We cycled to a supermarket, and I was pleased that would be able to put together a reasonable facsimile to a Seder. Bryna was coming to join us Saturday evening for the first night of Passover; our first dining-in guest on the boat since we left on December 6, 2020.

Saturday, March 27, 2021. Day 111.



Williams Island is quite beautiful. It is dense with high-rises, although they appear to be barely 1/4 occupied. It is our understanding that many of the units are owned by central and south Americans, Mexicans and Russians. A place for some folks, apparently, to keep their resources. Many of the boats at the marina are also owned by Hispanics and Russians.

Saturday morning we walked to West Marine, about a mile or two, to pick up our new dinghy motor and some equipment that we needed for this gas outboard. The motor weighed 59 pounds so it would not be possible for us to carry it back to the boat. Fortunately one of the employees at West Marine said he would drive it over and drop it off during his lunch hour. That was terrific, and Captain Roland remunerated him generously. We are really hoping that the outboard makes using the dinghy a joy.

Williams Island is lovely, the pool was terrific, the weather was wonderful, and I was enjoying my “vacation” in Aventura. After a few more trips to a different supermarket on the bikes, Roland and I spent most of the rest of day preparing our Seder dinner, cooking and preparing the Seder plate, and setting the table.

Bryna arrived before 5pm, with our yacht club membership and my replacement credit card that we had arranged for her to bring us from Philadelphia, and we took a brief tour of the island. She had to leave by 8:30pm because South Beach had a curfew until April 12 , due to the mobs and lawless behavior of tourists during spring break.

I think the hit of the Seder dinner was the brisket that Roland made in the Instapot.

Sunday, March 28, 2021. Day 112.

The original plan was to leave today to go back to the upper Keys. I went swimming for about 45 minutes (I love swimming laps in this incredibly great pool that I have all to myself in the morning). Roland wanted to stay another day, so we lucked out and they agreed that we could extend our visit, one more day.

Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink March 23-24, 2021

 Tuesday, March 23, 2021. Day 107.

So, after our absolutely wonderful paddle board ride, when we returned to the boat, and heard the water pump running, and realized that our hot water heater was leaking all of the fresh water, and there was no turn off valve, our only choice was to turn off the fresh water on the boat.

This was not a happy day. Here we were in the Upper Keys, no marina and no water. This was a major problem; this was serious; and this was not fun!

Captain Roland went to work immediately: calling, texting, and emailing, to find a replacement water heater, identical to our current, 14 year old unit to enhance the chances that the install would be relatively simple and would work on Magic Moments, and a repair person to install it, all near Aventura, where we hoped the marina where we had reservations would allow the repair, and let us arrive a few days early. This was a major undertaking and a logistical nightmare.

After many calls and emails, he located the unit we needed, not too far from Fort Lauderdale, a repair person, not too far from Fort Lauderdale, and confirmed that the marina in Aventura (not too far from Fort Lauderdale), would allow the work and allow us to arrive Wednesday. It was a minor miracle that he got all of this together in a couple of hours and got everybody to agree to a Thursday install. Of course this was going to be extraordinarily costly but at that point Time was of the Essence and reliability, and skill were the key points. Not the time to shop for a bargain, and.....not DIY.

Fortunately, I had to leave the entire mess in Roland's hands (he really works better alone in a situation like this), and normally, I have a few thoughts and opinions, but we lucked out; I had my own crisis starting a 3pm. I had an enormously stressful and time sensitive issue to handle involving one of my angel funds. Because I was busy with those issues, I had no time nor bandwidth to “contribute” to the water heater situation solution, and Captain Roland was free to make his miracle work.

OK; we had the miracle, we had a plan, so now we had to execute. We turned on the freshwater pump for short periods of time to fill up a bucket for washing some dishes, and for collecting some drinking water, and some water for us to wash (no showers), and to flush the head. The bilge pump took care of the water leaking out of the heating tank as we filled the containers.

We went to bed early, trying not to stress.

Wednesday, March 24, 2021. Day 108.

We were up at 6:30am, with the sun. Neither of us slept well; I was up from 1am to 2am or longer and tossed and turned and stressed about the water and no water. We brought up the dinghy (only the fourth or fifth time and we were actually getting better). We tried not to use too many dishes or utensils. It was a beautiful day and we pulled up the anchor and started for Aventura. It was a sunny, calm, beautiful day (perfect for the beach- too bad, we were on a mission). The views approaching Miami, the city and “the Beach”, as the natives say, were very cool.

 I love, love, love, Miami Beach architecture and the views were fabulous. At 11:05am, we arrived at the Venetian Causeway Bridge which opens on the half hour so we had to idle for 25 minutes; ugh!

Hopefully, at five knots, we would make all the bridges without waiting. We snacked on kind bars to avoid dishes and utensils, and we drank water, sparingly.

The next couple of bridges went well and we were making good time. The West 79th St., Bridge tender, held the Bridge open for two extra minutes so that we could get by. We were very grateful.

As we approach the Broad Causeway Bridge, connecting Miami to Bay Harbor Islands, it was old home week for me. I had lived there as as snowbird for eight years and it was great to see the island and the building from the bay. I got a real kick out of going by. I called Allen, who has lived in the building for decades, and he came out on his balcony and waved as we passed. I hadn’t seen him for many years and he said that this is the first time he knew anybody going by on a boat. It was a kick for him too.

We passed Haulover Cut, and the Haulover sandbar, where dozens of boats were anchored on the sandbar and families were playing in the water. I had lived there for 8 years and never saw or knew about this area. It was astounding to see folks spending the day in waist high water as if it were a beach.

As we passed Sunny Isles and approached Aventura, we went down a narrow canal into Lake Maule, where we idled to set up the docking lines, and the fenders, vertical on the port, and horizontal on starboard. It was a narrow entry to a narrow slip, and Captain Roland was attempting his first stern in docking. He wanted to make it as easy as possible for the repair people to be able to get the water heater aboard, and felt that the stern at the dock was mandatory.

It was not an easy docking; it took him three tries (this is not really unusual), to line up the boat for his first stern docking.

My job was to watch the sides and make sure that he was coming in straight and guide him if he needed to go more to port or more to starboard. Unfortunately, I was so distracted by the port and starboard issue, that I failed to pay as much attention to the swim platform which is a foot or so longer than our stern and 3 feet below the rail, and not easily visible when on the deck. As a result we had a bit more forceful “contact”, shall we say, with the pilings, than we should have had. I don’t think it did permanent damage but it did make us look like we didn’t know what we were doing, and will require repair. Fortunately for the Captain, the dockhands were there and saw that it was I who didn’t know what she was doing, and that it wasn’t the Captain's fault. The dockhand also pushed the boat away as much as possible to soften the “contact” and thereby, to minimize the damage.

We got into the slip, notwithstanding, although tying up was a little bit of a challenge. One of the dockhands (masked), with permission, boarded the boat and went to the bow and helped the Captain tie the lines to the pilings. Again, this was our first (and maybe our last), stern in docking, and I think, considering the circumstances, Captain Roland did a fabulous job.

In the slip we connected to the marina's water. Captain Roland was able to wash off the boat, and I collected the laundry to go to the boaters' lounge where I was told there was a beautiful, free laundromat, and a wonderful bathroom and shower. After 36 hours sans water, I was delighted to hear and hoped it was true.

They were right, instead of doing 4-6 loads of laundry, I did only two or three; the machines were huge. There was one minor problem: the washers and dryers were stacked and the dryer was so high that, not only could I not reach the buttons, I could not even see them! Fortunately, there were several young crew members in the boaters' lounge and one of them gave me a hand.

I had a lovely shower and washed my hair, and was really pleased that this problem occurred over two weeks after our second vaccine, so that using the boaters' lounge (even masked), did not feel like a major risk.

After my shower, I went for a walk and checked out the restaurant near our slip, and made a reservation for the first available time for an outside table, on the terrace at the Island Grille. We had a great dinner and even had leftovers to take back to the boat.

It was a great evening. We were safe, we had the boaters' lounge, water, washers and dryers, a shower, and a bathroom. The only disappointment to the evening was the email from the repair people that they would not be there on Thursday (tomorrow), but they would come on Friday. Captain Roland was not happy with this. He was concerned that they might cancel again; however, he had a back up plan, already.