Sail Felix

The Adventure always continues...

2010-07-05T09:50:00.002-04:00

This is the Blog of the Sailing Vessel Felix. Felix has been sold, so I probably won't update the blog much more, just leave it here for posterity and start another one. This blog was primarily the record of our trip from North Lake Worth, Florida up to the Chesapeake Bay and our summer there before moving back to Florida.
Because Blogger won't let me rearrange the posts into chronological order, it has to be this 'latest post first' format, here is the link to the beginning of the journey. You'll just have to select the posts by month and read in reverse order.
I hope you enjoy, and I'll post up the new blog here whenever and wherever it begins. Thanks

New Place

2010-05-22T08:25:00.003-04:00

We've moved to a new villa here in PSL that we love so far. Fully furnished 2/2 along the St. Lucie River overlooking the Club Med Golf Course. There's an amazing amount of nature around here. I took this photo of a local resident about 15 feet behind our screened patio, swimming through the narrow canal while I stood on the bank about 4 feet away from him with my cell phone camera.

There's also a couple of rabbits bouncing around every morning and night taunting me, daring me to go buy a pellet gun.

A pretty nice place to bide our time waiting for the short sale we made an offer on to be approved or not.

Chief of the Boat

2010-05-09T12:02:00.004-04:00

"Heaven goes by favor; if it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in." Mark Twain

We long for an affection altogether ignorant of our faults. Heaven has accorded this to us in the uncritical canine attachment. ~George Eliot

Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really. ~Agnes Sligh Turnbull

I talk to him when I'm lonesome like; and I'm sure he understands. When he looks at me so attentively, and gently licks my hands; then he rubs his nose on my tailored clothes, but I never say naught thereat. For the good Lord knows I can buy more clothes, but never a friend like that. ~W. Dayton Wedgefarth

Chief 12/12/95 - 5/8/2010 Rest in peace, little buddy

Win a Free GarageVac!

2010-03-11T10:00:00.003-05:00

Click here to register for a free GarageVac that we're giving away for Father's Day.

No purchase necessary. Just trying to introduce people to the GarageVac. Please pass the link around; the GarageVac is also great for boats and RV's!

Sailing Felix

2010-01-31T09:50:00.002-05:00

A little late, but I finally got the cable I needed for uploading video. Here's Felix sailing up the Pamlico Sound of North Carolina in June of 2009.

Felix is for sale, you can find out more about her here.

The Ultimate Garage Vacuum

2010-01-12T11:28:00.005-05:00

"When your dreams turn to dust, vacuum."

Sail Felix is really starting to branch out now. Not a lot of sailing going on these days, and since the blog has become more 'the life of Star and Andy' I'll use the chance to promote the GarageVac, since that's what I'm doing these days. I'm working to help promote the website, so if you missed clicking on that link, here it is again!! :-)

The GarageVac is a powerful yet compact central vacuum system for your home, workshop, or garage. That's not just marketing bs, it really is a strong vacuum, and it comes with an 8' hose that stretches out to 40' to reach anywhere in the garage, into the home, and out of the garage into the driveway. It uses Hepa filters to keep the dust from coming back into the home, and because of the slim, low profile design (It's only 4" deep!) it can be flush mounted into a 2x4 studded wall.

The best part? It's manufactured right here in Palm City, Florida. Providing jobs for people...like me, and comes with an incredible 6 year warranty.

And for the boaters, yes, that's what this blog was supposed to be all about, Intervac Design makes a central vacuum system for home,boats and RV's, perfect for your land or sea Yacht.

Settling in

2009-12-30T09:26:00.008-05:00

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist......" General John Sedgwick, killed in battle, 1864

Ok, the quote doesn't fit the blog entry today, but I thought it was funny. More on the story of Sedgwick at the end.

We've been settling in to my Mom's beautiful house here in Port St. Lucie, and basking in the novelty of newness. It just feels strange being in a new house with new appliances, new fixtures, new everything! Don't worry Mom, we're treating it better than we would our own!

There's more than a little culture shock moving from Deltaville, VA down here to Port St. Lucie, where we have a Publix, a pharmacy, a Walmart, Arby's, and everything else significant, all within a quarter mile of us. We'll miss all of our friends, family, and good people in Virginia but not the cold and snow.

After looking at numerous oil leaking, dilapidated, wrecked, junkyard destined cars; I finally found my 4 wheeled machine. A '96 Chevy Blazer with a 4.3 Liter engine, automatic, AC, and four wheel drive. A good strong engine with 131K miles; I think we got a good deal on it because I was willing to put a little work and money into it. It didn't test drive well; the steering was horrible because it had a bad tire, the AC didn't work because it was out of freon, and the radiator was cracked. I drove it straight to the tire place and got 2 new front tires for $150 which fixed the steering issue, bought a new radiator for $200 and installed it, and will charge the AC today. It rides surprisingly well, has a strong motor that sounds great and has no leaks, lots of cargo space, and 20 mpg on the highway. Not bad for $1,000!

While checking the veracity of the quote I put up in the beginning of this entry, I found this on Wikipedia:

In a rather ironic turn of events, Sedgwick fell at the beginning of the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, on May 9, 1864. His corps was probing skirmish lines ahead of the left flank of Confederate defenses and he was directing artillery placements. Confederate sharpshooters were about 1,000 yards (910 m) away and their shots caused members of his staff and artillerymen to duck for cover. Sedgwick strode around in the open and was quoted as saying, "What? Men dodging this way for single bullets? What will you do when they open fire along the whole line? I am ashamed of you. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Although ashamed, his men continued to flinch and he repeated, "I'm ashamed of you, dodging that way. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance."[4] Just seconds later he fell forward with a bullet hole below his left eye.

I may be slow, but at least I'm honest

2009-12-22T17:34:00.002-05:00

"My Karma ran over your dogma."- Anonymous

This one goes in the "true, but hard to believe" file. We were at West Marine this morning picking up bottom paint and a few other items when we noticed a black pouch on the floor by the checkout counter. I picked it up and told the girl at the register "It looks like somebody dropped their pouch, if there's any money in there it's mine!" I flipped it open and there was a wad of $100's!!! About 150 of them!! No I.D, nothing else.

My name's not Earl, but I know when Karma is testing me, and we gave the pouch over to the manager to put in the safe while we tried to track down who lost the pouch. The most likely customer was a German guy who had just bought a dinghy, but the store didn't have any contact info for him, just a vague idea that he was leaving soon on a boat he just bought, and he may be at a local marina. We drove over to the marina where they thought he may be, and sure enough two guys were there blowing up a new West Marine inflatable dinghy. I asked, "hey, do either of you guys own a black pouch with a Dodge logo on it?"

"Yes" one fellow replied as he patted his jacket pocket. Then he got a horrified look on his face!

Turns out it was his cruising kitty for the next 6 months as they were preparing to sail to the Caribbean, and they were just moving out of a hotel and on to the boat today. Needless to say, he was incredibly grateful, gave us a generous reward, and will probably be telling the story as much as us!!!

Eight Below

2009-12-19T14:44:00.005-05:00

There are three faithful friends--an old wife, an old dog and ready money. - Ben Franklin

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. - Mark Twain

Just to sweeten the thought of moving back to Florida, it's been blowing a blizzard since last night. Probably 10 inches of snow on the ground right now and poor Chief can hardly make his way through the shoulder high (for him) snow. We had a harrowing ride to Tappahannock from Deltaville last night in conditions where we never saw pavement the whole way. Flipped over SUV's, trucks in ditches, cars on their backs, and sections of the highway shutdown for emergency crews. It took us 2-1/2 hours to navigate the 45 miles, and we only slid off the road and had to get pulled out once.

Felix was lifted out of the water two days ago, winterized, and now the fun part of cleaning her up begins as soon as we can get back to Deltaville and clear the snow off of her. It should make for some interesting pictures when we see her tomorrow!

Illegal Taxation?

2009-12-15T10:33:00.004-05:00

What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue. ~Thomas Paine

Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss. ~Robert Heinlein
From Article 1, section 9 of the United States Constitution:
No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state.
No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over those of another: nor shall vessels bound to, or from, one state, be obliged to enter, clear or pay duties in another.

I think the writers of our Constitution were being very clear in their intent on that last line.

nor shall vessels bound to, or from, one state, be obliged to enter, clear or pay duties in another.

So how can a Florida registered vessel, owned by a Florida resident, legally be charged duty (property tax) simply because it is temporarily in the waters of the State of Virginia on January 1st?

The Middlesex County tax collector has informed me that Felix's owners will be charged close to $700 because she is going to be located here on January 1st of 2010. How is that not a direct violation of both the intent and literal translation of Article 1, Section 9 of our Constitution?

If any lawyers read this, please explain to me how this can possibly be legal. Also, if Felix is exported from Florida and sold in another state, doesn't this line "No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state." clearly prevent a tax being charged just because it is located in the state on one particular day of the year?

Yes, yes, I know that I have no hope of avoiding the tax even though it seems to be quite obviously in direct violation of both the literal text and intent of our Constitution. Yes, yes I know that the State of Virginia will steamroll right over me because there is probably some esoteric loophole in some arcane state law that supersedes our Federal Constitution. But hey, one of the reasons for writing a blog is to be able to publicly vent when I feel wronged. All five readers can feel my frustration. ;-)

Selling Felix

2009-12-07T09:54:00.003-05:00

Poetry is the journal of the sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air. Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable. Poetry is a phantom script telling how rainbows are made and why they go away. - Carl Sandburg

Selling Felix, not quite as romantic as Sailing Felix. We've never been afraid to make bold moves, and so once again we are picking up the large brush and repainting the canvas of our lives with the color of change. I've been offered a marketing job with a growing manufacturing company (yes, some things are still being built in the USA!) in Palm City, FL. We'll be hauling Felix out of the water in the next week or two, winterizing her, and listing her for sale with a local yacht broker. We'll be packing up and moving to my Mom's house in Port St. Lucie, until we can find a place of our own. Work starts the first of the year, so we've got 3 weeks to move and get settled in. Ho, Ho, Ho!! Merry Christmas and we get away from the snow!!!!

Things will be hectic and busy for a while, but I'll try to keep updating this with our progress.

The Bucks of Madison County

2009-11-23T09:32:00.007-05:00

Life hangs on a very thin thread and the cancer of time is complacency. If
you are going to do something, do it now. Tomorrow is too late. - Steve Goss Thanks Pavy!

I completed my week of physical therapy up in the mountains deer hunting with my brother. Thanks Mike for taking care of everything and finally, after a few frustrating days, putting me in front of one. The pic above is of the two Madison County bucks that he dropped while sitting in the same spot last Wednesday, while his buddy Darrel and I got to sit and stare at the relentlessly unmoving trees for 10 hours. The funny thing about luck though is that everyone eventually gets their turn at some.

I got my opportunity on the morning of our last day hunting, when after walking into the woods only 200 yards from the truck we jumped a deer up. Mike and Dean let the sick boy from out of town go ahead and try to stalk the deer while they hung behind watching. Being a young and not so wary deer, I was able to sneak up and get a good shot on it. So with 3 deer at home we spent the entire day of Saturday cleaning and processing deer meat. I was able to go home with not only great memories, but also about 50 pounds of the finest, leanest meat one can have the pleasure of enjoying.

I also want to thank all those concerned about my health, and obviously because I was able to go hunting I'm doing better now. Still have a bit of a stitch of pain in my side, but I'm getting my strength back and eating a lot healthier higher fiber diet these days. After 3 weeks of being away, it's nice to be back aboard Felix and the ever-present motion of life on a boat which stirs not just my body but also my soul.

To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen, who play with their boats at sea -- "cruising," it is called.
Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in.
If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about. "I've always wanted to sail to the South Seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is _not_ to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of "security." And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine -- and before we know it our lives are gone. - Sterling Hayden

Veteran's Day

2009-11-11T11:02:00.004-05:00

Every Veteran at some point when they enlisted, wrote a blank check to their Country and Government payable for any amount up to and including their life.

A fitting day for my first blog entry in a long, long while since I spent all of last week in the Veteran's Hospital in Richmond. I was admitted for a case of perforated diverticulitis with an abscess. The care I received was great, and I'm extremely thankful for it because like 1 in every 5 Americans I have no health insurance.

We came up here to Deltaville for the summer, arriving a little late, and it seems we've been captured for the winter. Star is working part time at West Marine, and had a brief stint selling boats for Gratitude Yacht Sales. After working the Annapolis Boat Show, she was 'let go' last week when she chose to visit me in the hospital rather than sit in the office/residence of the managing broker for no pay. She was told her 'priorities are wrong'. Some jobs just aren't worth having.

I wish I had some sailing pictures, or tales of the high seas to tell, but Felix has been penned in her stall like a frustrated thoroughbred at the Deltaville Marina for the last few months. Maybe with Rockfish season coming we can get her out for some trolling this winter, but I'll have to get better and scrape the reef off her bottom first. We have plans to haul out this spring and put some fresh bottom paint on as well as a few other minor projects so that we can enjoy the summer season next year.

The Opal project has fallen through, not because of the car but there's no clean title on it. I'll try to start updating this more often, although it's going to become more of a "Star and Andy's Life" blog than a sailing blog, at least for a while.

The Opel

2009-09-10T18:18:00.004-04:00

Sometimes when I reflect on all the beer I drink, I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams shattered. I think, 'It's better to drink this beer and let their dreams come true than to be selfish and worry about my liver.'" - Babe Ruth

Went and checked on the Opel electric car project vehicle today. We were going to tow it back to the shop, but have a few obstructions to clear along the path out of the woods, and need to take some air for the tires back with us. We'll make a thorough inspection of the underbody once we get it back to the shop. The body is a little rough, but nothing that can't be fixed. Sweet lines!!

Whitewater Rafting

2009-09-07T11:00:00.005-04:00

"I think a man's duty is to find out where the truth is, or if he cannot, at least to take the best possible human doctrine and the hardest to disprove, and to ride on this like a raft over the waters of life” - Plato

This weekend we went over to West Virginia for an adventurous time of camping and Whitewater Rafting to celebrate Star's birthday. Well, camping in a cabin, which you can see behind Star in the picture. We don't like to rough it too much anymore. :-)

We used the outfit Rivermen, and rafted the lower New River. A first class operation, we have nothing but good things to say about the staff, facilities, and operation. I would definitely recommend them and use them again. We signed up for the package deal, two nights in the cabin and 3 meals on Saturday for the 6 of us; Big Joe and little Joe, Big Wes and little Wes, and Star & I. While we sort of expected greasy burgers and hot dogs, we were happily surprised to find that like everything else, the food was first rate.

Stunning vistas are always hard to capture in a picture, so I know I'm not really doing the New River Gorge justice. It's something you'll have to go see yourself. River pictures will come later, my camera isn't waterproof but the Wes' had one and when they get the film developed I'll post some of the water pics.

Screw OPEC

2009-08-31T09:46:00.007-04:00

"Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people" Eleanor Roosevelt

Tesla Roadsters, running the 1/4 mile drag strip in 12.4 seconds, 121 mph; Hagerstown, MD.

Next time you fill up your car with gas, think about where your money is going. We send 6 Billion dollars a month overseas for oil! They are building indoor ski slopes in Dubai with your money. 70% of the oil we use goes towards transportation. We need to shift our transportation to electric, it's in our national interest. Plain and simple. I really don't care much about all the tree hugging, greenhouse gas, pollution part; but it's so clearly in our nation's best interest to quit using more oil than we can produce ourselves. Patriotism is not putting a little yellow sticker on the back of your SUV, it's about doing something that helps your country.

This weekend my Dad and I went to the electric car show and drag race in Hagerstown, MD. Apparently electric car conversions are a lot more popular in California than over here on the east coast, as usual we're lagging behind. There were a few neat cars though, and I was able to learn a lot talking to the very helpful owner/builders and checking out their work. While I had a great time, I was a little disappointed by the fact that the drag races were held by putting the electric cars in between races of gas powered hot rods. Kind of like racing sailboats beside cigarette boats. The silence of the electric cars was eerie and anticlimatic after the deafening roar of petroleum exploding. Which one do you think will get the kids blood pumping?

I'm determined to build an electric car conversion, which is why I travelled 5 hours to the show, and I've got an Opal GT to use for it. My current plan is to do it on the cheap, trying to scrounge up an old forklift motor, and hoping I can get away with only spending $2-3K. If anyone reading this would like to sponsor me, for about $5,000 I can build something that will achieve highway speeds and get out of it's own way, with about 40-50 mile range. For $15,000 I could build a car that would have 75 mile range as well as freeway speed. Any money donated would be returned when the car is eventually sold. Just throwing it out there....

No sound except squealing rubber!

Still Floating

2009-08-14T09:30:00.005-04:00

“Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they only unveil them to the eyes of men. Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or weak; and at last some crisis shows us what we’ve become.” - Brooke Foss Wescott

This quote doesn't really have anything to do with the post, but I read it this morning and liked it. I know, I know,.... I haven't updated the blog in a while. We've just been real busy, and haven't travelled anywhere and this was originally a travel blog. That's my brother Mike holding up a double hookup of Croaker, which we slayed last weekend fishing around Gwynn's Island. We've been catching plenty of little croaker, but not much else.
If only the water were a little more clear --------------> <*)))><
We've been hard at it, trying to find steady work to keep this champagne lifestyle running on our beer budget. Times are tough everywhere, and Deltaville isn't exactly a metropolis, but it's a great little place and we've got friends here and family nearby. As usual, our plans are written in jello(we're nothing if not flexible :-) and we're waiting to see how things shake out before we commit to any departure date. Next week I'm off to Florida to fetch the car, and I'll try to take some pictures and post a blog about that little travel adventure!

Family Weekend

2009-07-19T12:49:00.004-04:00

"Men go back to the mountains, as they go back to sailing ships at sea, because in the mountains and on the sea they must face up." Henry David Thoreau

This weekend my brother Mike and his daughters Megan and Brittany came down from the mountains to go sailing on Felix. The weather cooperated and we had a great weekend of sailing, fishing, and buzzing about in the dinghy. With overcast skies and 10-15 knot breezes we headed out of Jackson Creek Saturday morning and sailed into the Bay on a beam reach. Early on we caught a small bluefish while trolling a piece of squid, and sailed back and forth for a couple of hours before anchoring to spend a while bottom fishing. Mistakenly, we anchored by some charter boats, thinking they knew where the fish were, and got skunked. The girls were naturals, and seemed to take right to this boating stuff like it's in their genes.

After returning to the dock and securing Felix back in her slip, we launched our inflatable with the 15 hp outboard and took a high speed tour of the local tributaries, an exciting contrast to the relaxed sailing. Afterwards Star and the girls went to the pool for a swim while Mike The Croaker Slayer and I went back out for another, more successful, attempt at dinner. This time we drifted back and forth across a ledge right outside the creek entrance and pulled in about 15 keeper croaker which we filleted up and Chef Star baked for another fabulous, gourmet dinner.

I think every one had a great time, and we're looking forward to the next time they can all come visit again, hopefully soon. The girls took most of the pictures and video this weekend, so when some of the good ones get emailed to me I'll update this and post them here.

The Flying Cat

2009-07-09T11:16:00.003-04:00

We were in Urbanna yesterday having lunch, and our timing was perfect for watching a Power Catamaran being launched. Built by Felix the Catman, this behemoth is powered by twin 370 hp diesels and is over 50 feet long. Their shop is just around the corner from Dozier's marina where we were eating lunch, and they had to use two cranes to carefully, very carefully, lift it up and out into the water.

Time to buy a lottery ticket......

Fourth of July

2009-07-06T10:10:00.004-04:00

Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he'll spend all day in a boat drinking beer.

We've had a great 4th, hanging with Wes and little Wes. Fishing, riding in boats, loitering on the sandbar in Jackson Creek, grilling out, and every other fun thing that we could think of. Tomorrow we head to Tappahannock for a little while to stay at my Mom's place and then back to Deltaville to get serious about work. The weather has been great, about 10 degrees cooler than it ever was in South Carolina, and we barely even need the air conditioner up here at night. It's great to be in a sailing area also, unlike Florida where 3 out of 4 boats are power boats, here the marinas and anchorages are full of masts and when you look out at the Bay during the afternoon all you see are sails. Sailboats, sailboats everywhere! Nice protected waters all around, we're looking forward to being able to take some day sails soon.

For those who read this and know him, I ran into John Tiller the other day, by accident. Wes had sent me up to Wendy's Canvas to get some new snaps put on our mosquito netting, and when I walk into the shop a guy working on a cushion says "We'll be with you in a minute". Of course, I recognized the voice, it was John! The man does everything, cabinetmaker, upholstery, etc. He's staying low over the holiday weekend, but we agreed to all get together when we get back from Tappahannock. For those who don't know John, he was more than instrumental in getting Moria started when we left Deltaville 14 years ago, and we owe him a huge debt of gratitude for all he did for us.

We finally captured the elusive 'dolphin jump' on video on our way up the bay from Norfolk. We see dolphins all the time, but capturing them on film has been a little tougher than it sounds. Here's a short clip I put together.

D'Ville

2009-07-03T09:12:00.002-04:00

We made it here to Deltaville Tuesday evening, and it's been a whirlwind since then. This is just a short update, I'll tell more when I get some pictures. We've been hanging out every evening with my old friend Wes and his son Wes, who've been a great help getting us settled in. We've had a truck to use around town, and Wednesday we pulled into a slip at the Deltaville Marina on Jackson Creek. A nice place with a swimming pool, great facilities, close to town, a swimming pool, full service boat yard, screened patio with grill, and did I mention, a swimming pool!
Lots more to write, but I'll leave it for after the weekend. It's crazy with festivities here this weekend, and in a one road town that means we need to get all of our errands done before the crowds come. We have to leave the marina and go anchor for the night of the 4th because they are booked full that night, so I'll update more when we get back to the dock.

Pungo Ferry to Norfolk

2009-06-29T07:48:00.005-04:00

In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. - Anonymous

We left Broad Creek on the North River two days ago and made the slog straight into North winds up the Currituck Sound. The passage was fairly smooth because the winds were light, and we were looking forward to a peaceful night in Pungo Ferry to prepare for the 5 draw bridges and one lock on the way through Norfolk. Unfortunately, there are no good anchorages in Pungo Ferry, and the Marina is now closed. I think there were once anchorages in Pungo, because the NOAA charts show several deep areas and Skipper Bob's Guide mentions a couple of places. We tried them all. Same old story that we've seen up and down the waterway. Places that are charted at 10 or 16 feet of water have less than 6 and we end up hard reversing to get ourselves back out. We must have tried 4 or 5 places around there that looked good on the charts but had no water, and finally ended up hanging our butt out slightly in the channel for the night. We really do need the Pavlidis Guide to the ICW.

We got up the next morning for an early start, expecting a long day because of the lock and many drawbridges that are all on strict schedules, and moved through the first few smoothly. Passing the Centerville Marina just north of the Centerville Bridge we had a guy come out of the Marina office and start yelling at us "Slow down, this is a no wake zone!!" I couldn't stop laughing. We couldn't make a wake if we tried, and we were about to be overtaken by a 100' megayacht. Anyway, after giving him the hand signal to let him know "You're number one!" we followed the flotilla of huge powerboats into the Great Bridge Lock pictured above. A short drop down, only a foot and half, and we were back underway.

We were pushing the old engine hard, because the distance between the bridges and the timing of their openings was just on the edge of what we could make. We had a pretty funny thing happen at the Steel Bridge, where all the big power yachts had zoomed ahead of us and were in line waiting for the opening. I had just taken this picture of the flotilla all lined up in formation to go through the bridge, with us pulling up the rear when the bridge tender called us on the Vhf, "North bound sailboat you need to move up closer to the bridge if you want to make the opening."

"Ok" I replied, "I was just waiting my turn, I didn't want to be greedy."

"They're the ones that are greedy!" She said back to us over the radio. "You bring it on up here to the front of the line!" So Felix charged on up and took her place in the lead of the pack, much to the chagrin of the megayacht owners who gave some disgruntled "huumphs" over the radio!!!

With the sky darkening and rain drizzling on us, we made it past the Navy Piers where I was all set to take some pictures of the submarines, but there were none in port. We carried on to Old Point Comfort and anchored in the basin where Moria had anchored her first night out of Deltaville 14 years ago. We are now only 55 miles from our destination of Jackson Creek in Deltaville, and plan to sail up there tomorrow and arrive in the evening.

One last picture because we're such fans of the birds of prey. We saw this national symbol proudly sitting along the canal just north of Pungo Ferry yesterday. Yes, the 12x optical zoom is a nice camera feature!

Crossing the Albermarle Sound

2009-06-26T13:12:00.005-04:00

A Human Being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. - Robert Heinlein

Yesterday's sail up the Alligator River and across the Albermarle Sound was a glorious one. Captain Clyde would have been proud; as soon as we entered into the Alligator we shut down the engine and left it off all day except for the short transit through the Alligator River Swing Bridge. Through the morning we made 6-7 knots while we had a good wind forward of the beam, falling off to 4-5 when we turned off of the wind and it started to lighten. I have some great video of Felix under sail that I was planning to post today, but thanks to the 'new and improved' microsoft Vista I'm unable to upload from my video camera until I can get to a store and buy a new type of cable. Hope to have it up in a few days.

We're anchored here in the North River and staying a day catching up on projects. We're two days from Norfolk and contemplating a reluctant weekend passage, although we just may linger and travel Sunday evening and Monday instead so that we are among lighter traffic.

I'm uploading a couple of small videos that I just shot with my still camera, mostly as a test to see how it works. One is a 360 of our anchorage here on the North River, as you can see it's pretty wide open. The other is just a short clip of Felix's deck.

Deadheads and Eagle Fans

2009-06-24T16:58:00.003-04:00

I read somewhere that 77 per cent of all the mentally ill live in poverty. Actually, I'm more intrigued by the 23 per cent who are apparently doing quite well for themselves. - Jerry Garcia

First, thanks to everyone for the comments and emails about deadheads. Partially submerged logs, and the 20 mile long Pungo-Alligator River canal was littered with them. We passed through there this afternoon and saw 3 of them like in this photo that were smack in the middle of the channel, and another 4 or 5 off to the side of the channel. Fortunately when you're travelling at 6 mph these things are easy to spot.

Now I need to back up. Yesterday we had a great sail and motorsail from Oriental up the Neuse River and Pamlico River to Belhaven. Belhaven is becoming one of our favorite places. We had stopped there 14 years ago and loved it, this time we learned to love it even more. To begin with the harbor is excellent with a deep well marked channel leading into a huge, well protected anchorage that could easily hold 50 boats, although there were only 3 of us there. We fueled up yesterday afternoon before anchoring, and then this morning we needed to trek to the Post Office and send out a package. Although the P.O. was about a mile away, we had only walked 100 yards before 'Slingblade' in an old pickup with his grandson in the passenger seat and a shotgun between them stopped to give us a ride. We hopped in the back with the machete and scythe and he drove right to the front door. When we left, again we only walked a couple of hundred yards before another guy stops and asks "Do you need a ride back to your boat?" I guess we've got yachtie written all over us. You've got to love a town like that, two public boat ramps with places to leave your dinghy, friendly people, and a great harbor. Belhaven, we'll be back to see you again someday.

We're now anchored here in the Alligator River with the Albermarle Sound to cross next. We saw this beauty perched up in a tree just as we were entering the Alligator River. There's no mistaking this guy!

Oriental

2009-06-22T12:22:00.009-04:00

Currently, North Carolina is the only state on the U.S. Atlantic coast that allows shrimp trawling to take place in its estuarine waters. - NCSU.edu

"The Sailing Capital of North Carolina" is written across the flags flying along every street here in the town of Oriental. Friendly people, well stocked and accessible marine store, public dinghy dock, all of the things that cruisers love.

The temperature has been great, it finally cooled off to a comfortable 85 degrees, and I'm not going to complain about the heat anymore, I'm embracing it! It's 115 in Baghdad today, so I know how good we've got it! Today we went ashore and explored the town because we've always heard so many positive things from other cruisers about Oriental. We were offered bikes to use to ride to the grocery and hardware store, which we gladly accepted, but then I ended up pushing one of them back after the tire blew out. No fat boy jokes!!

We were a little surprised by the size of the harbor, it's really small. Room for 6-8 boats to anchor if their packed in like sardines. Even more surprising, guys are trawling shrimp nets behind skiffs day and night through the anchorage. Seriously, anytime day or night there are 5-6 boats dragging nets along the bottom for shrimp right through the anchorage and zig-zagging between the boats and over our anchor lines. I was a little stressed at first when I watched these guys drag their nets right over our anchor yesterday evening, but apparently they don't snag the anchor because I watched the trawls run over it at least 10 times before I started to relax. Still it's a little disconcerting when your home and everything you own in the world is being held off a rock jetty by a 40# anchor, and someone else is dragging a net back and forth over it while you sleep at night.

Somebody please help me out and tell me what a Deadhead is. The Coast Guard has been making regular announcements on the vhf radio lately that "There is a report of a Deadhead in the Pungo-Alligator river canal". We'll be passing through the area soon, and I didn't want to call the Coast Guard back and ask them why I should be concerned about hippies in the water who used to follow a band that broke up years ago. Is this some term for a tree or submerged object that I've never heard before?

Sanitary Conditions

2009-06-21T08:31:00.003-04:00

I've always found it very sanitary to be broke. - Orson Welles

The Sanitary is a Morehead City waterfront landmark, established in 1938 as a fish market and restaurant and still churning out a large menu of mostly fried seafood to tourists and locals alike. They also have a rough dock with no electric or water, but $10 a night to tie up. 14 years ago when we came through on Moria we tied up here for $5, and had decided on this trip that we would just anchor. We're not going to stop there this time, no way, no how, besides it was a Saturday afternoon and there won't be an open spot.
Well, the anchorage was jam packed and there just happened to be a nice hole at the dock for Felix, so we went ahead and tried to repeat the past and stopped once again at the Sanitary. It turned out to be a nice respite, we ate dinner ashore, Chief watered the fire hydrant, and we got to once again be the local tourist attraction. As soon as I'm done writing this we'll be taking off for Oriental, about 25 miles away and against the current.

Sweating in Swansboro

2009-06-19T12:34:00.004-04:00

Felix is Hot! - Paris Hilton

Apparently Paris is a big fan of the blog.

She is right, Felix is smoking hot today, it's about 95 degrees in the shade here in Swansboro, NC where we are anchored right out in front of this quaint little waterside town. The Marines blocked off the anchorage at Mile Hammock Bay for training exercises, so we had to push on yesterday and make a 56 mile run up to Swansboro. We didn't argue with them, I know when we're out gunned. We had fairly good luck with the 3 draw bridges and current, and were able to keep the jib up for most of the way. The town here is a welcome relief from the waterway down south. Restaurants on the water where you can get a reasonably priced lunch, free public dinghy dock, commercial fishing/shrimp dock, and also a cool touristy type atmosphere with all the standard trinket shops. Swansboro has yet to be invaded by the hi-rise condos, megayacht attitudes, and the $4 bottle of beer. It's good to see some of the 'old' waterway charm still alive, so we decided last night to hang out for a day here. The dog got a walk on the beach, the cook got a lunch ashore, and I get my afternoon nap.

We've been making good progress lately and are now at mile marker 229, with 0 being in Norfolk and 1015 where we started in Palm Beach a couple of months ago. We've made 306 miles in the last week, and hope to be up in the Chesapeake within 2 weeks. It looks like we'll have some ideal sailing conditions through the open rivers and sounds of North Carolina so we intend to motor as little as possible once we make it to Oriental in a day or two.

The Food Shot Du Jour is Paella made with sausage, chicken, shrimp, mussels, and saffron rice; served al fresco in the cockpit.

Stopover at Wrightsville Beach, NC

2009-06-17T08:32:00.008-04:00

You can't teach people to be lazy, either they have it or they dont. - Dagwood Bumstead

Herb & Laura, you left a day too early. After admirably toughing out the oppressive heat for 4 days, yesterday's overcast sky's, 15-20 knot winds, and drizzling rain kept temperatures down to sub-sweating levels as we pushed on up to Wrightsville Beach.

We were up at 4:30 AM to get an early start at twilight, and then just as we were about to cast off the lines a classic 'Duh' moment. We realized the Sunset Beach pontoon bridge which is 8 miles away only opens on the hour, so we hung out a few more minutes and then slowly motored up to the bridge, delaying any chance for a good, early head start. Otherwise the morning was uneventful, until we reached the entrance to the Cape Fear river where we had decided earlier that we had to enter the river before 1 pm to catch the flood tide to carry us upriver for the 12 or so miles. Any later than 1 pm and the tide would have turned on us and made for a long, slow stretch. Of course, we reach the entrance at 1:01 pm, decision time.....Go for it!

The Cape Fear pilot boat coming in to berth just as we entered the river was a clear telltale of what was coming up the river behind us, an impressive 400' container ship which we decided not to jostle with for room in the channel. The water got a little lumpy as the building winds blew against the swift current and we were taking lots of spray over the boat while Felix shouldered her way through the foamy whitecaps. Even on the slowing tail end of the flood tide we were making 8 mph up the river, and soon turned off into more ditch as entered the clean, green water of the stretch just south of Masonboro Inlet and Wrightsville Beach. At the end of the day we had made 65 miles and anchored by 5pm in the well protected but busy anchorage in Wrightsville Beach. Today is a lazy day, catching up on emails, blog, and waiting out the winds which should settle back down by tomorrow when we aim for Mile Hammock Bay.

All photo credits on this entry belong to Laura Moore, who was the Ship's Photographer for the last few days. Thanks for the photos Laura! The one to the left was pretty much what we saw for the 20 miles through Myrtle Beach on a Sunday. Like Ft. Lauderdale, but with more boats, more alcohol, and less brains. We watched one couple who seemed determined to kill their little girl by dragging her on a float and trying to swing her off in front of every passing boat.

Here's one of the Boatpix.com helicopter. Do you think they will pay us $500 for the picture?

Raptors on the River

2009-06-15T09:54:00.008-04:00

I think he'll be to Rome as is the Osprey to the fish, who takes it by sovereignty of nature. - Shakespeare, Act 4 scene 5 of Coriolanus

The last few days have been marked by beautifully calm anchorages and great times with our visiting friends Herb and Laura. The fates were cooperating and every night we watched magnificent thunderstorms roll by while the sky seemed to part and clear over Felix each night. We made 50-60 miles every day and stayed dry until the very end, when the Heavens finally parted and dumped torrents of water just as we were approaching the Marina in Coquina Harbour, north of Myrtle Beach. That's the way we like to come into new places.

After hundreds of miles of travelling through marsh flats all the way north from Fernandina, Florida, the change in scenery on the Waccamaw River came as a welcome surprise. Shores lined with Cyprus trees and Ospreys nested on almost every channel marker made for a spectacular morning yesterday. Our crew members have been great and we haven't had to flog or keel haul anyone. The extra hands on deck have made everything easier and the hot, long days have passed as if we just left Beaufort yesterday. Tomorrow will be another long day as we hope to make it into North Carolina and run up the Cape Fear River towards Wrightsville Beach, but the watch standing will belong solely to the permanent crew aboard Felix.

Goodbye Beaufort!

2009-06-11T16:17:00.009-04:00

Always stand clear of the ladder Boss!- Capt. Ron

We left the dock this morning just after 9 so that we could catch the 9:30 opening of the Ladies Island bridge. Hot, hot, hot!! We raised the vertical awning for about an hour and watched it flap lazily before finally admitting to ourselves that there was just not enough wind. We tried to make some of our own, but 37 horses can't push this 'ol girl fast enough for that.

Our new crew members Herb and Laura got a taste of the idle life motoring up the ditch today. So sad, nothing exciting (read scary!) happened today and we were anchored by 3:30 here on the South Edisto River 30 miles north of Beaufort. The plan is for an early 5:45 departure tomorrow so that we can get past Charleston. Great place, but we've been in the 'city' too long now, and we want to stick to anchorages like this one, where we are the only boat and there is no house, town, or sign of life about us. Of course, we still have internet access, thank God!! :-)

The great thing about having crew aboard, you can put them to work!!!!

Star says I need a food shot, so here, proof that I do eat green stuff occasionally, a chicken caesar salad.

Origins

2009-06-06T16:32:00.016-04:00

A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?- Albert Einstein

While still killing time here in Beaufort before we leave next week, I thought I'd share some of our recent history and our life before Felix. Because we must be rich, living on a sailboat and not working and all, this is a good chance to show future dreamers our fool proof path to wealth and happiness. ;-)

It was 2003 and everybody it seemed was making money on the housing bubble that was blowing up around us. We were living in West Palm Beach, FL spending a ridiculous amount of money on rent while saving nothing, and thought it might be a good idea to buy a place to live that might make us some money in the future. We knew that with $15,000 of life savings we weren't going to be able to buy anything in South Florida, so we started looking north in the state. Looking at the map we saw a town in north-central FL named 'Chiefland', and if you've read much of this blog you'll notice that we have a fondness for the Chief, and we thought it fitting that he move somewhere named after him. So that's where we went looking for property.

It turned out that we couldn't even afford much up there with the money we had, so instead of borrowing money to buy a rundown old single-wide on 5 acres, we decided to borrow money and buy a piece of raw land. It was near Bell, FL that we found the piece that we just loved. Rural, unimproved, unspoiled, full of game, and at the end of a county dirt road. The picture above shows the only entrance onto the property when we bought it. While doing this, we still had our minds set on buying a boat, this was going to be our short term break from the water while working and saving money.

For 6k we bought a used 30 foot travel trailer and a Coleman gas generator, which was going to be our short term home while we improved the property. We cleared land, ran underground electric onto the site, put in a well and septic, and then ended up living in that camper for over 2 years until the roof just rotted out on the thing. The funny part was, that travel trailer was a lot like our previous boat, only bigger and more comfortable! During the early months when our only electricity was from the generator, it really did feel like we were living on the hook off of some remote island. The only traffic in the area was deer and turkey, and we found out that yes, cows really do make good neighbors.

When the roof started to crumble on the camper and the mold in it had gotten so bad that we could hardly breathe inside, we knew we had to upgrade our digs. I was working the night shift at the time and Star was commuting into Gainesville during the day, so big construction projects were going to be tough and we opted for a repossessed mobile home that we found a fair deal on. A lot of people look down their noses at mobile homes, which is a shame, because after 3 years living in ours I don't regret a thing about it and I'd have no problem living in another.

All this time we had been thinking we wanted to get another boat, but the housing prices were still going up and we didn't want to sell too early. I think what really made up our minds was the day the black widow bit Star. We had been working out at the gate by the driveway entrance putting up a few new posts when Star said she didn't feel right. She started to walk back to the house and only made it about 5 steps before collapsing into the dirt, vomiting, and then losing consciousness. She recovered in the ambulance on the way to hospital, and we figured out later that it was probably a bad reaction to a black widow bite on her finger. But I think that was the turning point when we finally decided that we couldn't sit out here in the woods anymore dreaming about doing what we really want. Sometimes you've just got to go do it, even if you don't think you're ready, because we never know how much time we have left. We put the home on the market a few weeks later.

You've got to love a place where you can take pictures like this from your front window.

Dressing the Wheel

2009-06-03T15:04:00.007-04:00

In my own experience, such knowledge as I possess was acquired with difficulty, involving the expenditure of considerable time and effort that was often hard to justify. But in the final analysis, the pleasures that I have derived from the practice of these skills more than compensate for the endeavour. - from 'The Arts of the Sailor- knotting, splicing, and ropework' by Hervey Garrett Smith

This is one of those jobs that I think only the unemployed would tackle. Nothing like spending a day on decoration. Now I'm sure that some great, big maintenance item that I've forgotten will come back to bite me as soon as we take off again next week. This picture of Toots reminded me of our friends old steering wheel, and that I've been needing to cover ours. It has a couple of purposes besides just looking cool. On those freezing cold days, which we hope to see as few of as possible, even wearing gloves doesn't cut the chill from holding on to that frozen piece of metal. And while I know that it won't really keep me from getting shocked, there is at least some illusion of safety from not clutching directly onto the wheel when I'm soaking wet in a lightening storm.

For better or worse, one of my traits is that I research almost everything before I start anything. So I was a little surprised that I didn't find much on the internet when I

googled for wrapping a wheel, macrame covering, or anything similar. Maybe the next guy will find this, and begin by being informed that our 30 inch diameter wheel needed almost 200 feet of 5/32 nylon cord to completely wrap. Hopefully he won't have to make a second trip to the store for more line and make 4 splices out of 50' lengths like this foolish underestimator had to do.

The French Hitching that I used was just a basic series of half-hitches wrapped around the wheel and each one snugged up tightly. Not a job for well manicured hands.

Welcome Aboard

2009-06-02T12:40:00.011-04:00

"The only way to get a good crew is to marry one." - Eric Hiscock

Since we invited a couple of friends to go sailing with us next week when we head north from Beaufort, we decided that it would be a good idea to try and come up with a list of crew suggestions. Just a few things to help prepare them or future guests for the way things work aboard Felix and to help the transition to life aboard a cruising sailboat. This is a list in progress, so please help us out and feel free to add suggestions in the comment section below.

Packing: We recommend that you bring foul weather gear. When the afternoon thunderstorm rolls through and reduces visibility to nothing with lightening crashing all around the boat, we're going down below to curl up in the fetal position and leaving you at the helm to drive the boat.

Safety: Safety always comes first aboard Felix, unless we are in a hurry or tired.

Water Usage: Don't use any! We carry a limited amount of water on board. Water is only used for cooking, washing dishes, and the dog's bowl. If you're thirsty, drink rum or beer.

Garbage: Garbage is never thrown overboard when someone is looking.

Deck duties: See this picture of Chief. He'll instruct you on your clean up duties when you come aboard.

The Marine Head: Since we have two heads on board, guests will have their own bathroom to use. This is not for your comfort or convenience, this is so that we know who to blame when it clogs.

Yes, we are lunatics. If you forget to bring your aluminum foil hat for preventing the Government from intercepting your brain waves, don't worry, we'll make you a new one to wear.

Oh, and one last thing, don't forget to pack your sense of humor! :-)

The Stormy Season

2009-05-31T11:10:00.010-04:00

Well, the wind is blowin harder now

50 knots or there abouts,

there's white caps on the ocean,

and I'm watching for waterspouts.- Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season, by Jimmy Buffett

It's finally here, another hurricane season. Although, as our friend Clyde reminded us recently, the daily thunderstorm can be more of a nuisance to us than the occasional big storm. The photo above is a squall line that rolled through here on Friday with enough wind and lightening to leave us feeling pretty happy to be tied up, and not at anchor. No photoshop on this one, just a boiling black line of angry sky.

Lots of people have a real fear of hurricane season, but we've been living on boats and in the 'Sunshine' state long enough to have a healthy appreciation for them, and not a debilitating fear. As much as we like to joke about the inadequacies of NOAA and their weather forecasting, they and the National Hurricane Center have gotten pretty good at short term weather guessing. We now have plenty of warning for approaching storms and have ample knowledge to prepare the boat. CNN, Fox, and the Weather Channel have all learned how to dramatize the coming Tropical Storms because it keeps people tuned in. They take full advantage of what I like to call "the dart board effect". If your eye was in the middle of a dart board, and someone 15 feet away throws a dart toward the board, as soon as it leaves the hand it will look like it's coming straight at the board. Even if the throw were to hit 5 feet above the board, from the perspective of the center of the target it will look like it's coming straight at you until the last few feet where it veers off. It's an illusion which makes every storm coming off of Africa look like it's coming straight at everyone from the Caribbean all the way up the east coast. Considering that the width of deadly winds in most storms is about 30 miles, the odds of any one location being hit in a year are far lower than the Insurance Industry would like you to believe. Yes, I know, that's little consolation if you are in that statistically small area! So, we prepare, we plan, we pay attention, but we don't lose sleep over living in the hurricane zone.

For the foodies out there, Star has been baking bread almost daily lately, a sure sign that we're starting to get bored and have too much time on our hands. We're really getting antsy to get moving again, but still have a week and a half of our month at the marina left. It's a good thing she enjoys baking, because I sure love eating!

On a sad note: Heaven has a new African Grey Parrot, Toots, who's probably flying around barking like a Schipperke and screaming at all the other birds "Don't fuck with me, dammit!" Toots, I forgive you for biting the crap out of my nose that time, and our hearts and sympathy go out to her parents.

The Surreptitious Crab Pot

2009-05-27T10:19:00.008-04:00

You can not teach a crab to walk straight. -Aristophanes 450-385 BC

Travelling the waterway from South Florida up to South Carolina has taught us a lot of different things, but one of the more surprising is the art of crabbing. Having grown up on the Chesapeake, I thought I knew a thing or two about catching crabs, but apparently I didn't understand the stealth involved.

You see, the crabs down here have incredible eyesight, a requirement for surviving in the murky brown waters. The local crabbers have needed to develop some especially crafty techniques for working around the blue crab and stone crab's defense mechanisms. One of the first things that a boater notices when watching these crabmen is that the proper color of the float buoy attached to the pot is critical. Bright orange or yellow are out, the crab would see those from down below in his muddy lair in an instant, and avoid the baited pot like a Congressman avoiding his conscience. Likewise red, chartreuse, or any other easily noticeable color could never possibly work. It's best to paint your floats black or a very dark blue so that they can't be seen from down below. White can sometimes work as well, but only when it's windy and the whitecaps from the waves obscure the float. Sure, you're thinking maybe boats would run over these hard to see floats and tangle the lines around their props, but that's irrelevant. The stealth needed to hide these floats far outweighs the loss of a few pots because of careless boaters.

Find the crab pot float in the picture. (Hint-you can click on the picture to enlarge)

The next most important thing to know about successful crabbing is pot placement. You can't just put them out in random lines, you have to know where the crabs are and put your pots there. And crabs just love the deep water along the center of narrow channels. Again, you need not worry about a few pots lost due to boaters who like to travel in straight lines and are too lazy to figure 8 around your floats. Just put them where the crabs are, that's all that matters. Particularly in small anchorages. I don't know why it is, but crabs tend to congregate around areas where boats like to anchor overnight, so this is an ideal spot for placing most of your traps. The trick here is to space your pots about 50 feet apart, so that someone needing to put out 75 feet of anchor line will find it impossible to anchor and have swinging room between your floats. Don't worry, they'll just get discouraged and go somewhere else.

Lastly, if you're a crabman, don't ever forget that you are saving the country! From 'Blue crabs fight terrorism' "A substance found in crab shells called chitosan has very useful properties. For example, it has been used in bandages to stop bleeding. But now, researchers at the University of Maryland have used the chitosan from blue crabs living in Chesapeake Bay as a component of a nanoscale sensor system which could save many lives in the future. These blue crab nanosensors will be used to improve security in airports, hospitals and other public locations by detecting tiny amounts of explosives or chemicals in air and water."

So feel free to place your pots anywhere you want!

Why we use all chain anchor rode

2009-05-26T13:03:00.007-04:00

Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also. -Carlos Gustav Jung
Among most boaters there is a continual debate over whether to use all chain anchor rode or a combination of some chain and rope. If your only anchoring is the occasional afternoon fishing or for a short dive, than the ease of needing to haul only a line and the attached anchor back on board makes plenty of sense. However, if like us you are usually anchoring for the night or for several nights, than all chain rode is the only way to go.

It was 1994 and my buddy Wes and I were heading down to the Islands through the Intracoastal Waterway in our Chrysler 26 daysailer. With the enthusiasm and naive energy of a couple of guys in their early 20's with very little sailing experience, we headed down the muddy ditch with visions of crystal clear water in our future. 'Vagabond' was a centerboard boat with a flip up rudder and could travel through 2-1/2 feet of water, although we usually left the centerboard partially down so that if we ran aground we could just crank it back up and get off the bottom. Early on in our trip we anchored for the night out of the channel along the edge of a river somewhere in North Carolina. Wes had been determined to have an extra large anchor aboard, and by God we had one, a big heavy son-of-a-gun with about 20 feet of chain and nice, thick 3/4 inch line to run back to the boat.
At some point during the night while we were sleeping soundly, the kind of sleep you have when resting comfortably on a nice big anchor, we awoke to the sounds of the hull bang, bang, banging against something solid. Flying out to the cockpit, we discovered that we had somehow, inexplicably, drug our anchor and were in the weeds alongside the bank of the river. We both immediately took to our roles without a word, Wes firing up the outboard and me rushing to the bow to retrieve the anchor. The line pulled in surprisingly easy, too easy, and after hauling in only 10 feet I reached the line's frayed bitter end!! Later, we deduced that the boat had swung, wrapping the line around the centerboard and chafed through the rope, setting us adrift. The immediate concern was to re-anchor, but we were both feeling a little confused and unfamiliar with exactly where we were. The surroundings outside just didn't appear to be anything like where we had anchored a few hours earlier. After finally getting back into the channel and finding a marker, we were still confused when we looked at the chart. It took us a few moments to realize what had happened. We had drifted almost 3 miles down the river in the dark while we were both asleep!!! Fortunately, no barges ran us down, we didn't run into any other anchored boats, no docks or pilings in the way, just a nice mild landing in the mud and reeds. Several miles away, as luck would have it, along our intended path to the South!!!

So while it may be a little more work to haul back aboard, and it does add quite a bit more weight in the bow of the boat, we will always use an all chain rode for the primary anchor on board Felix.

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-25T15:33:00.009-04:00

The brave die never, though they sleep in dust:Their courage nerves a thousand living men. -Minot J. Savage

In honor of all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our Country, the crew of Felix took things slow and easy on Memorial Day and reflected on how we have so much because others gave so much more. We were able to watch the parade wind through downtown Beaufort this morning from our cockpit on the first sunny day in over a week, as if the sky finally relaxed and sighed with the ending cacophony of the Gullah Festival. Now that the drums and angry rap music have ended and a little peace has returned to the waterfront, my thoughts on the festival are still a little jumbled. It wasn't what I had expected, or rather what I had hoped for, since I don't feel that I really had much of a cultural experience. Rather than tasting traditional Gullah rice dishes or unique foods, the lineup was pretty much the traditional fair fare, with the normal roach-coach vans selling 'meat-on-a-stick', hot wings, sno-cones, funnel cakes, turkey legs, corn dogs, etc., with fried catfish and gumbo soup being the only things that would have surprised me if I were at Disney World instead of a Gullah Festival. There were stands of merchandisers selling books, clothing, miracle soaps, native African garb, and the most interesting for me, wood carvings. The carvings were beautifully and intricately chiseled, and they also represented what struck me as the irony of the festival. All of the displays seemed to be marketing Africa to the local Black-Americans rather than displaying any African-American culture. The carvings were imported from Africa, because no American would spend the time needed to carve them for the price they could be sold for. The modern African dresses, the gift-shop drums, and the coconut shell bags were all foreign made, to be sold as souveniers to 7th and 8th generation native born Black-Americans looking for some other, outward identity.

The highlight of the weekend for us was getting together with several of the other boatowners here in the Marina. Feeling like a group of expatriots, we all got together each night for the carousing, dining, joke and lie telling, that comes naturally when soon-to-be long time friends meet for the first time.

Living in the fish bowl

2009-05-22T09:22:00.006-04:00

In sharp contrast to the remote wilds that we've been cruising through the last few weeks, Felix and her crew are now part of the scenery that hundreds of tourists flock to stare at every day. The floating docks of the marina ride up and down along the sea wall of the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park, where daily busloads of geriatric tourists are deposited for a day of Bay Street shopping and dining. The American Spirit, a river cruise ship, seems to stop in and tie up to the seawall every few days as well. Stepping out into the cockpit, we're often greeted with the snapping of shutters as the tourists take pictures of all the pretty boats resting in the Marina. Now, I feel like Wally the Gator.

It's been a good time to be tied up securely, since the area has seen gale force winds for the last 4 days which have been right on the edge of tropical storm force. We've taken the time to do all of the mundane but necessary tasks that have become due; changing the engine oil and oil filter, engine fuel filter and water separator filter, clean the seawater strainer, clean the air filters, change the boats freshwater filter, several loads of laundry, clean the bilge, and still on the to-do list scrub the brown water stains off of the hull sides. We've even managed to still eat a few gourmet meals, of which I have a backlog of photos. One note of importance on all of these meals that we've been showing, this has been mostly long life foods. We have a good freezer/fridge set up, but since leaving Palm Beach we've only spent $14 in groceries until this week, when we spent another $40. The first photo up is our tasty tongue-twister of a treat, Grilled Tatonka and two-tone taters. If you don't remember what a Tatonka is, than you need to rewatch 'Dances with Wolves'. The two tone taters are Star's creation of Russett and Sweet potatoes.

The next meal up was an excellent Duck a l'orange, the fowl we found hiding in a corner of the freezer trying to remain unnoticed. He flew in with a side of Country Dijon potatoes and Spinach in Bechamel sauce. As you can see in the photo it took every bit of Chief's minimal will power to not pounce on the duck and rip it apart!!

This weekend the shoreside party gets even bigger since the Park is hosting the Beaufort Gullah Festival. The Gullah are African-Americans of the South Carolina low country who have held onto their traditional African culture.

This should be interesting because we have to walk through the middle of the festival to get to the showers, bathroom, laundry, marina office, etc. The charge to enter is $20 a day but I think we're already inside. I'm hoping that we don't feel like the lone Indian at the Custer family reunion. Tents and booths started arriving yesterday afternoon and people were working through the evening setting up displays and food concessions. I had never heard of the Gullah before finding out that we are living in the middle of their festival, so it should be an enlightening cultural experience which I hope to share in the next blog entry..

Blue Angels welcome us to Beaufort!

2009-05-20T09:03:00.003-04:00

"Money is not the only thing one has to spend; the other thing is life. The difference is that you never know how much is in the bank, or what your balance is. Your life is your inheritance. As soon as you realize this, you start trying to spend your life wisely." - From "Advice to the Sealorn" by Herb Payson

Having heard the commercials on the radio during our trip up, we were excited to arrive in Beaufort, SC in time for the weekend airshow. This event marked the first return to Beaufort for the elite Blue Angels since the tragic 2007 show in which Lt. Commander Kevin Davis was killed after apparently blacking out during a high-G maneuver. His plane crashed into a residential area and several people were injured, but only Davis perished. The near passes of Friday's practice session left us excited for the Saturday and Sunday shows. While the show was mostly rained out on Sunday, the weather cooperated on Saturday for a stunning aerial display. From several miles away on our boat at the Downtown Marina we caught glimpses of the C-130 "Fat Albert" and bits of the stunt planes as they shot skyward with their glimmering contrails and thunderous roar. Undoubtedly, the star of the show came out around 3 pm as the Blue Angels began their airborne acrobatics. Since the FA-18's travel so fast, they cover a lot more ground during the show than most of the other planes, and as luck would have it one of the paths they were using around the area was right over top of Felix and the marina. There was a fair bit of cloud cover so we were often hearing the planes and staring up in the sky saying "Where are they?....There! There they are!!", as they came barreling in over us. Photography was a little tough because they were coming in so low and fast, I ended up getting a lot of shots of blank sky, and one really cool close up of the back half of all 6 planes in formation :-( Still, some came out ok and you can click on the images for larger viewing.

It was near the end of the show that we were really surprised, when we looked skyward and saw the most incredible sight.........

Into South Carolina

2009-05-17T09:29:00.009-04:00

Livin on the road my friend, was gonna keep you free and clean.

Now you wear your skin like iron, your breath's hard as kerosene. -Pancho and Lefty, by Townes Van Zandt

Plenty of extra time this morning since we had to wait until about 7:30 for the tide to turn and start coming in. With the Savannah River in sight from our anchorage, we headed through the Elba Island Cut and forded the mighty Savannah with heads swinging side to side to check for approaching freighters. All was quiet and still without another boat in sight as we entered the Fields Cut north of the river and into South Carolina. Star was standing up on the bow with Chief on a leash, since he hadn't done his morning...duty before leaving and was acting restless. Beep,beep,beep!!! The depth sounder yelled at me. Our 10 feet of water had dropped to 7, and then back up to 8. I just had time to clear the alarm on the screen of the chartplotter when Beep,beep,beep!!!Bam! We came to a sudden lurching stop and Star & Chief surged forward into the bow rail. It finally happened, we had run aground.

We were only travelling 6mph, so this isn't like crashing in a car, but it's still heart pumping adrenaline action. Luckily, it was just a thin ridge of mud across the channel, and our momentum pushed us right through it, still continuing on at 1 mph with the engine in neutral as we watched the depth increase again. We had 1.8 feet of tide above low at the time, so it was a definite 4 foot spot.

We continued on unperturbed and passed beautiful Hilton Head Island where as we expected the normally relentless horseflies succumbed to the will of the wealthy, who simply would not tolerate a biting fly on their island. The dark clouds began to gather over our shoulder as we sailed out into the Port Royal Sound. With full jib out and Smokey the Engine running hard, we just skirted the edge of one thunderstorm and turned up the Beaufort River only to run smack into another. Just a little rain and no major winds as we passed Paris Island, the roots to many a Jarhead's fond memories. With the sky brightening and the dense haze of a spring shower still in the air, we pulled up to the fuel dock of the Downtown Marina here in Beaufort, SC. We're still trying to sort out how long we will stay here. We only want to spend about 10 days and then get moving again, but they have a ridiculous pricing structure here. The weekly dockage rate is $1.45 a foot per night. The monthly rate is $15 a foot. So 10 nights at the weekly rate costs the same as one month. For the same price, we'll use their services and courtesy car for a month.

Dinner after arriving was an Indian Treat, courtesy of Sono and Andy in Gainesville, of Chicken Malabar with a side of white rice. Mmmmm!

The sweet smell of the South, of camellias and azaleas, clings to Beaufort's ancient and historic buildings. Around America, Walter Cronkite

Enough Georgia already

2009-05-16T11:07:00.010-04:00

Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any; also to strangers, and sometimes to others. If a person offends you, and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measure; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick. That will be sufficient. If you shall find that he had not intended any offense, come out frankly and confess yourself in the wrong when you struck him; acknowledge it like a man, and say you didn't mean to. -Mark Twain, Advice to Youth speech, 15 May 1882

Two days in Kilkenny Creek was one day too many. Eager to head north again, Felix and the ubiquitous band of horse flies motored out of the creek just as the tide started to flow in. With lots of anchorage choices along the way, we left without any set destination. Early in the morning we motored through Hell Gate, which had been another of the dangerously shallow spots, except that they finally started dredging the cut and in fact the dredge was still in operation in the middle of the channel. The only excitement was when Captain Retard on a sailboat, who I kindly won't mention the name of, decided that passing through a shallow, narrow cut named Hell Gate with a dredge rig in operation in the middle would be the perfect time to try and motor past Felix. And of course, with the dredge in the middle, the idiot decided to pass between us and the dredge, forcing us out of the remaining bit of channel while waving cluelessly at us. Mind you, this is all happening in slow motion as we're travelling at 5 mph and he's moving about 5.5 mph. There's about 40 feet of channel left but unmarked and unclear in it's location, and two 15' wide boats passing side by side. Since I was more willing to play bumper boats than run hard aground, I angled Felix's bow towards the side of the moron's hull while explaining to him at the top of my lungs what I thought of his seamanship. I think he got the message when he started to turn to starboard and almost ran into the dredge pipe, and we both barely sneaked through.

The clouds were gathering again in the early afternoon, and the radar showed rain all around us, but we decided to push on past Thunderbolt and clear the Causton Bluff bridge because it's restricted in the mornings and we wanted to be moving early the next day. For the sheer irony, we decided to anchor in St. Augustine Creek which flows parallel and right next to the Savannah River. It seemed so out of place from the deck of our sailboat to be watching the humongous container ships plying back and forth along the mighty Savannah. The creek itself was strange and interesting, with deep water, 25-40', right up to the edge of both it's banks. To say that anchoring was a little tricky is an understatement. With water that deep, you need to put a lot of chain out, but in a narrow creek you need to be careful about swinging into it's sides. Bands of rain and clouds passed through all afternoon and into the evening, which along with the strong current and surprising amount of boat traffic through the creek, made for some very restless sleep in the evening. Our vicious guard dog finally came to life in the evening when he spied a crabpot float about 20 feet from the boat and started barking like it was a cat! We had to distract him from the scary float with a traditional southern meal of grilled ham, green beans with potatoes & vidalia onions, and homemade corn bread muffins.

Wally's Leg to Kilkenny Creek

2009-05-16T09:04:00.011-04:00

OK, first another shot of Wally the Gator. What can I say, I like big animal sightings:-) You can click on the images and look at the larger versions if you're interested.

We're now in Beaufort, SC but we missed a few days of posting our travels, so I'll catch us up to the present over the next couple of entries. We left Wally's leg early in the morning just as the tide was starting to come up and help lift us over the shallow Buttermilk Sound and Little Mud River, which turned out to be sort of anti-climatic because we went through right at high tide and had plenty of water underneath our keel. Our friends Sam and Ginger on 'Grace' led the way for us with their one foot shallower keel, and were kind enough to call back with any trouble spots later in the day when we were on the falling tide. We had decided to push on and do a 50 miler because high winds were forecast for the next few days, and we wanted to get the open Sappelo Sound and St. Catherine's Sound behind us while the weather was light. This meant travelling through the falling 8 foot tide in the afternoon. The treacherous nature of sailing on a large dropping tide was highlighted later on about 1-1/2 hours before low when we came across a beautiful 45' sailboat laying on it's side, the giant maple leaf on the stern still flapping proudly while the irritated and frustrated owners snapped at every passing boat who called on the radio to see if they needed help. There was nothing anyone could do. "Da time an da tide wait for no mon" I'm sure they had a long night, since it was going to be another 5 hours or so until they floated off after dark. We decided to just treat them as another green marker and increase our vigilance until slack low.

With the sky darkening we neared our destination of Kilkenny Creek, which I believe was the inspiration for a Southpark character, and were crossing our fingers that we would get the hook down before the storm. We didn't make it. Just as we turned off of the ICW into the creek, the wind started howling and building to about 30-35 knots and heeled Felix over on her side under bare pole. Lightening crashed around us and the first few sprinkling drops of rain fell right as we positioned the boat and the chain began rolling over the bow. The storm passed but the wind stayed with us through the night. At about 1 am we held the dreaded Midnight Anchor Drill. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Star was sleepless because of her itching horse fly bites, and happened to notice that we had moved closer to a barge in the creek(Which you can see in the picture, along with the natural herding instinct of most cruisers). A glance at the chartplotter which we keep on at night and face into the companionway so that it can be seen from in the cabin, showed that we had drifted about 50 feet behind where we'd been all evening. Once an anchor slips, we don't trust it. So it was fire up the engine, haul in the chain and anchor, and motor around the creek in the dark looking for another spot. So you can see, cruising isn't all gourmet meals, sailing in 10 knots, and cool nature sightings. Because we were tired the next morning and the wind was blowing hard, we decided to take a day off and relax and spent a second night in Kilkenny Creek.

We met Wally

2009-05-14T17:21:00.004-04:00

We missed a few days of blogging due to connectivity issues in the GA swamp. We've got them worked out now and have a few updates to post, most of which I'll do in the next few days.

While we were anchored in Wally's Leg, we had a nice nature encounter with Wally himself. Wally the 6 foot gator. Wally swam up to Felix and started eyeballing the Chief, who was only concerned about what Star was cooking him for dinner, and oblivious to the possibility that something was looking at him as dinner! Wally stroked over to within 15 feet of the side of our boat, floating lazily on the surface and watching his potential meal strut back and forth along the cabin top.

After about 10 minutes, the hungry gator slowly drifted back in the current until he held himself about 30-50 feet behind the boat, gently swishing his tail back and forth to hold in position for the next half hour. Lucky for the Chief there were no missed steps or slipped footing, and eventually Wally swam away.

We have lots more to write, but we'll save it for tomorrow when we're better rested. All in all, we've come to appreciate the Georgia swamps a little more. The place is teaming with life. We saw a marsh flat overrun with wild hog, at least 30 on a couple acre flat, I saw a fish jump that had to be 40#, the gators, birds, just so much out there. If you can see past the hordes of horse flies and no-see-ums there's such an incredible diverse sort of life out there that it's definitely worth it, maybe once every 14 years:)

More to follow in the next few days....

Little Cumberland to Wally's Leg

2009-05-10T14:58:00.005-04:00

This morning the anchor came back aboard just as the first rays of light were bending around the horizon to brighten the sky. Felix made about 30 miles by 11:30, and we transited the Jekyll creek which was the first of our problem areas but not the worst section. That will be tomorrow, the Buttermilk sound and the Little Mud River.

Today we're riding with both hooks in the mud in a river called Wally's Leg, just off of the ICW south of the Buttermilk. As Star said today, "Georgia is pretty. Pretty buggy, pretty hot, and pretty shallow". We know there are other sides to the state, and we don't really dislike GA, it's just not always an easy trek down it's ICW. A lot of winding back and forth between rivers and sounds and inlets, but at least it's always interesting. Today while travelling up the Mackay River, only about 10 miles North of the St. Simons Sound and inlet, Star's eagle-like eyes picked up the unmistakable form of an alligator along the banks edge. This was a surprise for me, I thought they were strictly freshwater creatures and would never have expected to see one so close to an inlet.

Clouds are starting to roll in as I write this in the afternoon, and a cold front is expected to pass through the area tomorrow. Being the middle of May, it hopefully won't swing a strong punch at us and we'll be able to make a few more miles tomorrow in slightly cooler conditions. The final picture will be food again, last nights Spaghetti Carbonara Alfredo with Fancy bread. Sorry, Star has a real name for the bread but she's resting and I don't want to wake her just to ask what the bread was called.

Georgia on our mind

2009-05-09T12:04:00.009-04:00

...all men--kings & serfs alike--are slaves to other men & to circumstance--save alone, the pilot--who comes at no man's back and call, obeys no man's orders & scorns all men's suggestions. The king would do this thing, & would do that: but a cramped treasury overmasters him in the one case & a seditious people in the other. The Senator must hob-nob with canaille whom he despises, & banker, priest & statesman trim their actions by the breeze of the world's will & the world's opinion. It is a strange study,--a singular phenomenon, if you please, that the only real, independent & genuine gentlemen in the world go quietly up and down the... river, asking no homage of any one, seeking no popularity, no notoriety, & not caring a damn whether school keeps or not. Mark Twain, in a letter to Will Bowen, 8/25/1866
With plenty of Cumberland Island left to explore on our return trip, we took advantage of the pre-frontal weather and made a short hop up to Little Cumberland Island for an early anchorage. We're staged for an early exit at first light tomorrow morning so that we can catch the rising tide through the Jekyll River, one of the 3 big problem areas in GA that require tide help for us to get through. Unfortunately we're finding some other problem areas that haven't been written about, like passing Red #60 at mile marker 704. I had read to mind the markers there and not the chartplotter because they have two different ideas of where the channel is located. So, carefully minding the markers, we passed through 8-1/2 feet of water while making the turn. Not a big deal except that we had +6 feet of tide at the time, simply impassable at low tide for a sailboat. We've pretty much decided to only travel the flood tide, which is 4:30 AM until 10:30 tomorrow, and getting about a half hour later every day. It means a lot of short 6 hour or less days, but at least we can float off if we get stuck.

We got to see the blue shirts mustering for weekend duty on the boomer sub as we passed by Kings Bay Naval Base this morning. I'm glad they're out there protecting our country, I'm also glad it's not me anymore.

The Georgia State Bird has proven itself to be in abundance here, and a hearty bloodsucker he is too. Unfazed by pungent burning mosquito coils, constant swatting, and the limp carcasses of their comrades spilled on the floor, these green headed horse flies have a bite to rival the Florida Alligator. (Too bad Georgia's bulldog can't rival the Florida Gator!)

Thankfully Felix came to us with especially nice screens and mosquito netting over all of the hatches, so while it's not comfortable hanging about outside, we've got fans and bug-free luxury down below in the cabin!

The last picture I'll leave you with, so that you're not stuck with the indelible image of the Georgia State Bird, is another one from our stay at Cumberland Island. No, it's not delivery, and no it's not DiGiorno either.

The other side of Fernandina

2009-05-06T13:19:00.005-04:00

Felix is now anchored in the lee of Cumberland Island on the very southern end of Georgia. For those who haven't been clicking on the links like the one in the first sentence, they will show a map of exactly where we are anchored in every blog page as we make our way up to the Chesapeake.

It would have been easy to only see the ugly industrial side of Fernandina, like the pulp plant pictured above that belches noxious fumes out over the anchorage, but fortunately we had our friends Herb and Laura to show us the much nicer, greener, friendlier side of Amelia Island. We had a great time, and it's been our best stop since we headed north from Palm Beach. Even the Chief got to go ashore with us for lunch and beers at the Green Turtle, which is one of those relaxed type of bars where they see you walk up with your dog and no one says anything, but they go get him a water bowl to sip from while he hangs out at our feet. After the ladies made a quick grocery store run, we all went back to Felix to enjoy more of the beautiful afternoon. It doesn't take a Nostradamus to forecast that we'll be seeing Herb and Laura swinging at anchor in some distant harbor on their own boat in the near future.

With our 2 days on the mooring over, we left in the late morning for the short 7 mile trip across the Cumberland Sound and over to Cumberland Island. Still trying to sort out our immediate plans, we're thinking of just travelling on the rising tides until we get to South Carolina, so lots of short days versus white knuckling it through shallows on a falling tide. We'll see.....

A special treat today, as we were leaving Fernandina,

a ballistic missile-carrying Boomer sub was coming in the inlet and heading up the St. Mary river. We had to make a u-turn when we came around a corner and saw it marching up the channel with it's escort of Coast Guard gun boats. Like the proverbial iceberg, this thing is 9/10 under water, and nothing we want to get close to. I've been close enough before. Maybe one of my old sub buddies can chime in to the comment section with a good description. Surely some salty diggit can probably tell us the make, hull number, year it was built, etc. Chief Demma, 2JV.......

Pine Island to Fernandina

2009-05-04T16:29:00.007-04:00

Sunday was spent idling around the boat taking care of small projects, both of us moving a little slowly after a great time Saturday night with Fred and the acrobatic Rick from 'Freedom'. Pine Island has such a snug little anchorage it was a great place to hang out and avoid the Sunday boat traffic and we were able to scrape the waterline of 4 inch long grass and miniature barnacles that have accumulated already. Star made good on her promise of making my favorite dish after we crossed north of our starting point in St. Augustine. Lapin a la moutarde. For those like me who don't 'parlez vous' very well, that's Rabbit in mustard sauce.

Today we were underway at 7:15 heading north with a couple of stopping options available, but we were staying flexible and had no certain destination. We crossed the St. Johns River and transited the Sister's Creek area at low tide and were on a just barely rising tide for the notoriously shoaling Nassau Sound area. To say it was a nail biter is an understatement. There's some comfort in travelling at low tide because if you ram your boat into the mud you can just sit there waiting for the rising water to float you free. The drawback is that the depth sounder's shallow water alarm is going off constantly. I was going to keep this politic free, but the last few days of shoaled Intracoastal Waterway have me frustrated and angry. If anyone thinks that our infrastucture is not degrading, they need to take a moderate draft vessel down the ICW. Our Grandfathers created and dredged the great inland waterway to a depth of 12 feet almost 90 years ago. And today, we can't even maintain it to 6 feet. So sad. In St. Augustine I saw a boat with a 4-1/2 draft run aground in an area charted as 23'. The next day on the way to Pine island I passed another 4-1/2 draft boat that was aground in the channel, although on one side of it. Today, albeit at low tide, I found 3 different spots with 6' and dropping as I had to veer off to one side of the channel and find water to pass through. The depth alarm is set at 7', to give us a foot and a half of warning, and it went off probably 6 or 7 times today. And we're not even in Georgia yet where the real problems are. It's getting difficult to figure which risks are greater; heading offshore without a life raft or epirb, or heading up the ICW without tow insurance. Ok, the rant is over.

So with the blood pressure already up, we decided to push on to Fernandina, and we chose to tie up to one of the City's mooring balls at $17 a night. This gives us access to their dinghy dock, laundry, showers, and some security considering the strong tidal current ripping through here. We plan to stay a couple of days and meet up with friends tomorrow, and this seems like a good place to relax for a little while before pushing onward to Beaufort, SC which is where we also plan to stop for a week or so and enjoy the town.

Star likes to call me 'The Paparazzi' because I take pictures of everything. Even the poor Chief sometimes falls victim to my stalking photography. The most often asked question when people find out that we have a dog onboard and don't go to shore very often is: "Where does he go to the bathroom?"

Well, let this last picture put the question to rest. I tried to save him at least a shred of dignity by photoshopping out the bad part. Please have a sense of humor. :)

St. Augustine to Pine Island

2009-05-02T13:49:00.003-04:00

As promised Tom from Irish Sail Lady delivered our repaired mainsail to us yesterday morning, so at slack tide in the afternoon with the boat pointing into the wind we ran it back up the stick and furled it in. Up at 5 am this morning, we had the anchor aboard by 6 and made the 6:30 am opening of the Bridge of Lions. After a detour into Camachee Cove Marina for 38 gallons of diesel and a topping of the water tanks, we were back underway at 8:15 and heading north to the Pine Island anchorage. We arrived with one other boat already here, the beautiful Hinckley Bermuda 40 'Freedom'. Plans are for a leisurely but hot and windless afternoon watching the multitude of dolphins feed around us in the obviously fishy anchorage. Still trying to decide what the plan is for the next few days, the weather is forecasting "nocturnal surge events" for the next few days. Not exactly sure what that means, it's the first time we've ever seen that terminology, but guessing we may get some gusty nighttime winds and we want to be sure that we're securely anchored. We've got both hooks in the mud here today, mostly just to practice for the heavy current areas that we'll be passing through in GA and SC during the coming weeks.

Back in St. Augustine

2009-05-01T08:06:00.004-04:00

Underway at 7 am yesterday, we made the 52 miles to St. Augustine by 3:30. We got passed by a couple of other sailboats yesterday, and after looking at the side of the hull from the dinghy I think that it's time to mow the lawn. Our two weeks parked in the nutrient rich North Lake Worth was long enough to grow a nice beard all the way around our waterline, and I think it's stealing a little speed from us. Still, we made it here in time to get the sail in to Tom and Linda, The Irish Sail Lady 904-377-0527, who came and picked it up and said that they'd have it back to us this morning!! Woo Hoo! The incessant slapping of the mainsail's wire halyard inside the mast is driving us bonkers, so we can't wait to get the sail back up.

We're anchored in the St. Augustine South anchorage, south of the eternally under-construction Bridge of Lions, and just off of the Municipal Marina. I wish I could say what a great anchorage it is, but really it sucks. I think the bottom fishing head boats are cooperating with the City to try and eliminate the many near-derelict boats anchored out here. They've sent some pretty incredible wakes through the anchorage, one which I thought was going to sink a couple of the small boats. I'll try to keep the camera handy to catch an image of one of these mini Tsunamis rolling through the anchorage.

Because the food portion of the blog seems to be a hit, and as a way of justifying my slightly larger than necessary abdomen, I'll keep posting these gourmet meals. After travelling all day and under the weather with a cold, Star prepared last night's feast of Crusted Chicken stuffed with pepperoni and mozzarella, and a side of Cheese tortellini with Sun-dried tomato pesto sauce. Mmmmm! Maybe I'll change the name of the blog to Eat Felix!

Melbourne-Titusville-Daytona

2009-04-29T17:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we sailed up to Titusville, a short 15 miles and were able to anchor by lunch. This is one of the cruisers prime Intracoastal Waterway stops. A fairly well protected anchorage right outside the Titusville Municipal Marina with a public dinghy dock, and walking distance to West Marine, Napa, grocery store, KFC, and Burger King. We took advantage of the Napa and I went ashore to fetch a gallon of anti-freeze because I had used up our onboard supply with the coolant leak. The evenings sunset entertainment was provided by the Bagpipe Guy, who serenaded the anchorage at sunset with an incredible performance. I wish I could name the tune because it was so familiar, but then a lot of bagpipe music sounds the same to my tone deaf ear. That's always one of the great pleasures of cruising, there is such an eclectic group of misfits out here all searching for their own piece of paradise.
Today, we got an early jump and were underway at 7:00 under main and iron-genoa. We motorsailed to the Haulover Canal bridge just past Canaveral and then turned more off the wind after the bridge and motorsailed with the jib. We had an excellent day and made it here to Daytona in the mid afternoon with only one blemish. We ripped the mainsail. I wish I could report that we blew out the sail while beating to windward in a full gale, but alas, it was nothing so glamorous. In fact, it's downright embarrassing. When we rolled it back in right before transiting the Haulover bridge, we apparently got a loose roll. So when we went to pull it back out later, it got jammed inside it's housing(It's an in-the-mast roller furling mainsail). As I was tugging on it to free the loose folds, I snatched about a 2 foot rip in the bottom of the sail. Disheartening, and a little frustrating, but ultimately not a big deal because we can get it patched. Our plan for tomorrow was to push onward to St. Augustine, which turns out to be a fortuitous stop because we know a sailmaker, The Irish Sail Lady, who has done some sail and canvas work for us in the past when we were keeping the boat in St. Augustine. As much as we love St. Augustine, we had planned to breeze through there this time because we've just spent most of the last year in her clutches. It looks like she has captured us for at least a few days again....

Free Fuel!

2009-04-27T12:46:00.000-04:00

We pulled the anchor and chain aboard this morning in a light 10 knot easterly breeze, with the forecast calling for an increase to 15-20 during the day. Soon after unfurling the sails and shutting off the engine, we were escorted north by a frolicking and spouting pod of dolphins while loping along at a steady 5.5 knots, accelerating to 6.5 knots in the building gusts. We took advantage of the excellent conditions to save fuel and enjoy the serenity of soundless motion through the water. It's truly amazing how much more comfortable the boat is under sail than when motoring, and the cost is a nice fit with our lean budget.

Although we had hopes of making it to Titusville today, we decided to stop early because our timing would have put us at the two drawbridges near Titusville right during afternoon rush hour when they are restricted and won't open. Except for a brief 5 minutes in Ft. Pierce, we haven't been ashore since leaving West Palm Beach, and we're looking forward to a layover in T'ville and a necessary walk to the Napa. So, the plan is to head for Titusville in the morning, and this evening we'll enjoy another feast al fresco anchored h ere in Cocoa like last nights Rack of Lamb in mint sauce, Cous cous, and Cognac carrots. Yes, this sailing life is tough!

A Good Sailing Breeze

2009-04-26T13:05:00.000-04:00

Decided to make a short hop today and take advantage of the great sailing area here in Melbourne. Hoisted the anchor aboard at 10:15 and then unfurled the jib as we headed out into the channel. Sailed past the start of a sailing race under jib alone in 15 knots of wind while making 4.5-5 knots of speed. After passing under the first of two bridges, we unrolled the full main as well and with the wind on the beam were making a steady 7 knots. We got buzzed by a helicopter from Boatpix who snapped some photos of us under sail, but after excitedly checking out their website we realized that the shot, no matter how cool, is a little out of our price range. So, if anyone is trying to come up with a gift idea for us......

In no time at all we were sailing under the Eau Gallie bridge and made our turn up into the wind, dropped sail, and started the engine to motor up to our next anchorage snug in the lee of Merritt Island just north of Dragon Point.

Jensen to Palm Bay

2009-04-25T14:30:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we motored the 15 miles north to Ft. Pierce to say goodbye to our good friends Arthur,Kelley, Aiden, and Sachi. Besides being great company, they helped us out in so many ways while making our preparations on the way down. So, for the second time in a few weeks, we said goodbye and spent the night anchored near the entrance to Faber Cove. N 27 27.308 W 80 18.551 Last night we were the A-holes anchored in the middle of the channel. Not intentionally, we had dropped the hook out of the channel between two boats on moorings. Because the water was about 20' deep we put out a lot of chain, and with east winds predicted and east/west current we should have been fine. Oddly, when the west setting current flowed against the east wind it made us pull all our chain in a straight line to the North, as well as spinning 360's in both directions, putting us right in the channel we had tried to avoid. Oh well, there was still plenty of room for the small boats that were buzzing by and we set out our full array of lights. Sleep was ok until about 3:30 AM when the wind started kicking up to 15-20 against the tide. We got up early and were underway by 6:15 at first light.

The engine seems to be doing fine now. Still a little nervous about it, and I was doing hourly engine room and coolant(visual) checks today, but all seems well so we're confident to keep pushing on. We saw a couple of boats that we knew today, one was Lo Que Se A which I helped build at Mirage, and the other was Sea Trek which I immediately recognized from having read Chuck & Susan's blog. We made 45 more miles today to the southern end of the Melbourne area, just south of Palm Bay where these consistent East winds that we're having allow us to anchor out in the wide open by ourselves, yet still protected from the seas. I don't think there is another boat anchored within several miles of us.

The next stretch of ICW through Melbourne is nice and wide, so we're looking forward to finally being able to sail some of this and give the engine a break. And for those who know us well, we're going to take pictures to prove it!

Working in the field

2009-04-23T10:00:00.000-04:00

The anchorage, although we stopped here for all the wrong reasons, has turned out to be a really nice one. Of course with 5-10 knot winds you can anchor almost anywhere and be comfortable, but fate has decided to float us here where there's not another boat in site except for those travelling down the ICW. As usual, the only waves are coming from the big powerboats. Star made a great Cornish Game Hen dinner last night and we tried to take our minds off of our engine issues, saving them until this morning.

Up with the sun bright and early I started work on the coolant leak, working here in field conditions with Star yelling down to me whenever a big wake is approaching. The fitting is on the exhaust manifold after the waterpump, and the only way to remove and work on it is to loosen the alternator, remove the alternator/water pump belt, unbolt the water pump and starter, and pull the pump out. I did this, and found that the little rubber bushing had folded back. I set it straight, realigned the tube, and put everything back together. Filled the coolant back up with the last of my anti-freeze, and had no leaks. Started the engine, still no leaks, until it got warm and I revved it up to 1500 rpm, then I had a drip from the same spot every 7 seconds. That's about 9 drops a minute too many, so now I'm waiting for the engine to cool back down and I'll give it another go. This time I think I'll try a little of the 'waterpump and thermostat housing rtv silicone gasket' that I have onboard, and see if that will help. I'm starting to wonder if the pressure relief in my coolant reservoir cap is not working, and maybe I'm building up too much pressure. I had just rented a coolant pressure tester two weeks ago and it held pressure at 10# for an hour. The cap is labeled with a metric pressure that converts to 7.5#, so I'm a little surprised to be having the problems. Oh well, back to it.....

Update 1:15 PM- Took it all back apart, this time completely removing the water pump and coolant lines, put new rubber bushings on and sealed the problem section with a little of the gasket material. Tested with engine out of gear, warm, at 1800 rpm with no leaks!! Current plan is to take off tomorrow morning while the tide is with us and head north to Ft. Pierce and anchor between the bridges by Taylor Creek and Harbortown Marina.

The wrong kind of exciting, N. Lake Worth to Jensen

2009-04-22T15:10:00.000-04:00

Beautiful clear skies today as we took off at 8am to run the gauntlet of bridges. We made most of the openings with smooth timing, only had to tread water for a half hour in front of one bridge. Passed by the Crossroads at the Port St. Lucie inlet and found 5' MLW just south of the crossroads in the middle of the channel. Fortunately the tide hadn't quite gone out all the way, so we still had a half a foot under our keel.

We got to pass through tony Jupiter, home to the Mega-rich and probably famous too, with some of the more incredible waterfront homes that Florida has to offer.

After passing the St. Lucie Inlet and having the outgoing tide switch the current to about 1.5 knots against us, the fun really got started! I noticed that the temperature had started to creep up on the engine temp gauge. Still in the green zone, but ominously creeping up. Backed off the throttle a little, which left us barely moving over the ground at about 2 knots against the current. We were in a really bad spot to be having problems (doesn't it always work out that way?!) Narrow, shallow channel, current sweeping us back towards the inlet, and every kind of runabout, jetski, and powerboats imaginable buzzing back and forth around us. Scanning the charts, we saw that about a mile ahead was a deep(8') area out of the channel where we could drop the anchor. Of course, that's a half hour away at our current speed and the temperature gauge is still moving upward, dangerously close to the red line. Within just a few moments we quickly realize that there's no way we'll make it. As the Aussies say, 'we were stuffed'. Nothing to do but drop the hook right in the middle of the channel, rest of the world be damned!

With blood in the water, it took the tow boats about 30 seconds to notice us having problems and come in to help. Not having tow insurance (might need to rethink that one) we politely waved them off and I went down to check the engine. As expected, the coolant reservoir was empty, so we cranked it back up and I added coolant with the engine running to hopefully not crack the block with cold water. With the engine temp dropping back down, we hurried and raised the anchor heading for the better spot. Made it under a fixed 65' bridge and up to the open spot. Temperature is ok at this point, but when I go back down to make a visual inspection of the engine, I see a steady stream of coolant running down the far side of the engine. Quickly, again, we slide out of the channel and drop the hook. N27 12.854 W80 11.687 After removing all of the access doors to the engine, I see what looks like the source of my leak, a bad coolant line connection. Rather than reliable traditional fittings and hose clamps, this marvel of Volvo engineering has solid steel lines that just get jammed in to the female fittings with just a rubber bushing and a prayer to seal it. Nothing I can do now until the engine cools, so tonight if possible, or tomorrow morning I start working on it. Really, really, feeling good about our decision not to cross the Gulf Stream until we get the engine better sorted. We motored 5 hours today, just long enough to have put us right smack in the middle of the Stream with an overheated engine......

Prepare for takeoff

2009-04-21T14:30:00.000-04:00

The plan now is to take off tomorrow morning and head North. We must first 'Run the Gauntlet' of drawbridges, 7 bridges in the first 15 miles. All of them opening at different times and intervals, with only a couple of them opening on demand. Slow going, with lots of spinning in circles and idling in the current. Not sure where we'll anchor tomorrow, we have plenty of choices and we'll see how things are going in the afternoon. We want to push on up to Port St. Lucie where we'll meet our good friends that we've hung out with for the last couple of months, say our goodbyes and farewells, and then continue north. We're eager to get North of St. Augustine, where we took off from in February, so we can stop backtracking and cover new ground.

Star walked to the nearby Publix today for ice, fresh meats, and a few other last minute preparations and then hauled them back in her handy-dandy rollerbag. (See photo). While she was shopping I stayed at the dinghy beach with Chief, and had an interesting conversation with Dan, who was ashore walking his yellow labs. He mentioned that he had a friend staying long term in the anchorage on a boat 'Julie Ann'. I said that "I've been staring at the boat, because I swear it looks just like the boat we were anchored next to in Luperon, Dominican Republic back in 1999."

He told me "That was the boat you were next to, he bought it in Luperon, and I helped him sail it back!"

Me, "So I'm not crazy!" At least, only a little crazy. Somehow I can't remember the name of someone I met a few hours ago, but I can remember the sweet lines of a nice sailboat that I saw 10 years ago.

So goodbye North Lake Worth, maybe we'll see you next fall......

Starting with a Sea Change

2009-04-19T11:54:00.001-04:00

If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write something worth reading or do things worth the writing. Benjamin Franklin

Perhaps a fitting start to our new blog will be the recent change in plans. We're floating here in North Lake Worth with our heads focused a hundred miles eastward, visions of crystal clear Bahamian water and mammoth grouper impaling themselves on my Foldspear, but our recalcitrant old Volvo engine doesn't want to cooperate. Felix is still relatively new to us, and while the engine runs fine in most respects except for the billowing white smoke, we've decided to follow the less intrepid but more prudent route and stick to coastal U.S. cruising before leaving the country. So, we now plan to aim the bow northward in a few days and start heading up to the Chesapeake for the summer. The route is not new to us, but many of the challenges will be. This will be my 4th trip along the Intracoastal Waterway, and Star's 2nd. The last time we traveled the ICW together was on our previous boat, Moria, in 1995. Back when the ICW was deeper and our keel a foot shallower, so this time we get to enjoy the added task of playing the 6-7' tides through the shallow spots of Georgia. Of course, lest this sound like I'm complaining, we have so many additional items in our toolbox this go 'round we should still have a fun and relaxing time. Computer, internet, a chartplotter at the helm(must remember not to stare at it too much!), refrigeration, solar panels, dinghy on davits, roller furling sails, and not to forget a much bigger boat with 8 more feet of waterline!
This well protected and large anchorage in North Lake Worth ( N 26 50.277 W80 03.286) is a sort of magical place for us. In the fall of '96 we had just returned from spending a summer in the Abacos over in the Bahamas and were lying in this same anchorage dead broke, cruising dreams withering, planning to look for jobs. Over the radio we heard our friends on Delfina, who we hadn't talked to in a year, calling someone on the radio. We had a great reunion, our friends loaned us the money to continue on down to the Turks and Caicos where we found work and repaid them, and we had a couple of weeks of great fun here preparing the boats for our continued adventure. Just like a song reminds you of a time in your past, looking around this anchorage at the condos reminds us of good friends.While we were here the replicas of Columbus's ships the Nina and Santa Maria came in and anchored, what a sight! Like a couple of anachronistic ghost ships sailing into the harbor. I never realized that the great Navigator of the Oceans carried a Caribe inflatable RIB on the back of his ship! :)