Foggy Foggy Night

It's been a busy time heading ever southward. We had an uncommonly good offshore passage from Southport, NC to Fernandina Beach, Florida. Completely missed both South Carolina and Georgia. Both of those states have some beautiful coastal areas, but we had fallen well behind our pace required to get Sirius to Florida in time to return home for the holidays. The winds for the passage from NC to Florida ranged between NE to NW from 10 - 20 kts. Most of the trip was on a broad reach (nice) or directly downwind (not so nice, as this takes more attention to the helm to prevent an accidental gybe of the mainsail). Our autotiller ("Artie') (named for a love able, but cantankerous old lead dog we once had) is not too reliable on a downwind heading. Following seas ranged from 2 to 6 feet and Sirius tracked well on this heading without excessive rolling. The last day we had thick fog and really appreciated having radar. 

The fog continued for another day even after we were in inside waters in Florida. We left Fernandina slowly and with radar and GPS and only got in the clear after crossing the St Johns River. The St Johns is a major shipping channel and we had the eerie event of passing between two massive ships in the fog with fog horns blaring all around. They looked like huge islands in the river on radar. 

Since then, it's been five days of motoring south in the "ditch" as the ICW is affectionately called. Even so, the winds have held from the north and the jib adds a lot to both speed and fuel economy. 

Yesterday we arrived at Fort Pierce where we will be leaving Sirius for the next month while we return home for the holidays.  Nina's mom joined us yesterday and stayed aboard last night.

(She welcomed us to Florida by beating us at cards)

The journey down the coast has always been regarded by us as the "job" of getting the boat into position where the real islands trip begins. I am, however, always taken by surprise by the interesting and beautiful country of the eastern inner banks. A few areas are touristy and marred by condo developments, etc, but mostly you pass through unspoiled natural coastal areas where the people unselfconsciously go about living their lives. 

The tentative plan on returning to Sirius in mid January is to head across to the Abacos then down to Eluthera, Cat Island, and, perhaps San Salvadore where Christopher Columbus is thought to have first landed. We will then cross to the Exumas and head back north through the Land and Sea Park which we love for its protected reef Eco systems. 

As always, though, the forces of wind and sea and tide will have the last word. 

The ways of man are passing strange,

He buys his freedom and he counts the change,

Then he lets the wind his days arrange, 

And he calls the tide his master. 

Anyone know where those lyrics come from without Google?

Headed Out

We've got a good weather window for 4-6 days so are heading offshore for as long as the winds are reasonably cooperative. Possibly can make it to Florida. 

Sirius with a bone in her teeth leaving Southport. 

Last glimpse of the shore for awhile. 

We'll check in when cell service resumes. 

Happy Thanksgiving (belatedly)

Have had "no service" for nearly a week. Have to talk to AT&T. A local guy told us AT&T just doesn't care about the Alligator River / Pungo river area. Of course, based on the number of people we saw in that area he might be the only customer. 

After engine "repairs", we wound up anchored down in Broad Creek just before crossing Albermarle Sound. Spent the night successfully anchored in mud with the winds at 20 - 25 kts. In the am as wind increased to gusts of 35 kts we dragged anchor and grounded in mud. The combination of still partially holding anchor and the new resistance of resting on the bottom kept us from blowing further into shallower water. During a lull in the wind, we were able to power out of the mud and reset the anchor with no further incident other than black mud all over the decks from the anchor and chain. 

Thanksgiving day we crosses the sound in beautiful sunny weather then anchored early in the Alligator River for a Thanksgiving feast. I took Nina's "watch" crossing the sound while she prepared a traditional feast. (Not traditional on a sailing vessel, as the crew would have probably have traditionally dined on salt pork and hardtack, and maybe even would have been thankful for it.)

Haute cuisine aboard the good ship Sirius. 

Quilt that Nina has been working on for the Vee berth. Notice she made the bow pointing south. 

View of Sirius below decks for T'giving. Netting hanging in upper left. Contains apples, oranges, taters, onions, etc, and yes, Mesa, that is a dancing pole in the middle. Maybe in a future post a picture will be included of Poopah doing a pole dance. An exciting thought. 

Sirius running down the Alligator River-Pungo River canal. Big, zoomy yachts roar through here and cause large wakes that erode the banks and make trees such as these fall over for other boats to run into. 

This canal runs about 20 miles, connecting the 2 rivers. Haven't had a chance to look up it's history yet. 

The next day, we anchored in Campbell Creek, familiar territory now from when our previous Flicka was kept in NC. Twenty eight degrees that night and woke up to this: 

A heavy frost covering on our dodger window and decks like a scaring rink. Who'd have thought to bring an ice scraper on a trip to the Bahamas?  Lots of salt water available to slosh an rinse. 

A beautiful icy morning leaving the Campbell Creek anchorage. 

From CC, we made the 50 mile run to Morehead City and with a tolerable wind forcast in hand, continued on outside for an offshore run to Masonboro inlet thence inside to Southport, avoiding Frying Pan Shoal which sticks many miles out to sea. 

An off day today in Southport to get ready for a more extended offshore leg as far as the weather will allow, perhaps to St Mary's River inlet at the north end of Florida, though there are a number of bail-out points in between, Charleston, SC, Hilton Head, etc. 

Prior to leaving on a sailing trip, I always think that it'll be great to have so much time available to read, play music, take photos, etc, etc. The reality seems to be quite the opposite, with no time available to do these things. Boat maintenance, provisioning, planning movements around the tides and winds, standing watches underway, and other seemingly endless tasks, combined with a somewhat reduced efficiency when being tossed about by the waves, keep you continually busy. May it be ever thus. 

Thanksgiving day flow of consciousness list of things I am thankful for in no particular order of priority and certainly not comprehensive:

Sunrises/sunsets- different, but equally beautiful

The smell of freshly baking bread

Honesty-a rare thing

Sharing- some stuff is no fun alone

Health-the passing of years has shown that we can't take this for granted. We make the best choices that we know about or are capable of and then we take our chances. 

The smell of a puppy's breath

A really good Key Lime Pie

Dreams-not the kind that you wake up from, but the ones that haunt you

Dreams fulfilled-hooray

Dreams not fulfilled-still better to have dreamed

Kindness, kindness, kindness

Diet Pepsi with a squeeze of fresh lime-(embarrassing)

Music-what is it about music?

Grandkids-a magical mystery tour

Hope you all had a thankful Thanksgiving. We'll be in touch. I love you. 

Onward (and Backward)

We spent five days at Reg and Jetty's house doing some preparatory work on Sirius and provisioning for the trip ahead. A great time to get to know them better. Reg and I served together aboard the US Coast Guard Cutter Sweetbriar over 45 years ago, lost contact, and lived the larger part of a whole lifetime before reconnecting when I came across the previously linked article about the building of Rainbow. I can't say I recognized the "Old Man" who I saw in the photos, but there was no mistaking his passion for designing and building a sailing craft of that caliber. 

Nina got busy making memory foam pillow toppers for our V-berth on the boat. No pipe-frame / canvas berths for us. As I write this we are aboard Sirius in Great Bridge Virginia and she is stitching away on a Bimini type cover to keep the cabin cooler in the tropics. 

We got underway last Wed (11/19) with the weather forcast promising some favorable though very cold winds. The run to Deltaville was made halfway under sail and the last half using the iron Genoa as the wind had backed around to hit us on the nose. A layover day in Deltaville to get a couple of forgotten supplies and to allow the winds to become more favorable. Set sail Fri am with perfect westerlies of about 15 knots. Throughout  the day the direction held steady and speed gradually increased to 20 to 25 knots. Sirius stood up nicely under full sail to the increased wind speed and made a steady 6+ knots. We pulled in to the Elizabeth River at Norfolk, Va and tied up for the night in Portsmouth, Va. We decided to get turkey and all the other fixin's for Thanksgiving dinner as it appears that we will be in the middle of nowhere on T'giving day. 

Passing under a lift bridge leaving Norfolk. 

Next night we anchored in Blackwater Creek. A tight squeeze getting into that anchorage as Sirius draws 4 feet and our depth sounder recorded 4 feet depth on the way in. Such a peaceful spot though. 

Anchorage in Blackwater Creek. 

On the way we had to share a very narrow channel with a pretty large tug and barge. 

Here we were stopped and pulled over almost among the cypress stumps. 

Got up very early the next morning planning a long leg including crossing Albemarle Sound while the weather was favorable. Started the engine, made preparations and pulled the anchor at which point the engine quit. Diesel engines normally just keep on running and the silence in the early calm of the anchorage was...well, quiet. Seems that when a diesel quits it is usually something clogging the fuel system or air in the system which is effectively the same thing. I exhausted my limited bag of diesel mechanics tricks and eventually (with head hung appropriately low), called BoatUS for a tow. The last couple of years we have taken out towing insurance, but this is the first time to use it. The tow guy said that we have unlimited towing so he would tow us wherever we wanted to go. We suppressed telling him that Florida would be good and, instead decided on a marina 18 miles back the way we had come that had diesel repair service. 

At the repair place, the highly paid mechanic kept doing what I had already done, bleeding the air out of the system after which the engine would run for 5-10 minutes then die. Eventually after 5 hours of high pay, he discovered air leaking in at one of the screw-in plugs in the primary fuel filter. This seems to fix the problem so we'll be off again at first light in the morning. Next time I will try longer and harder to be the successful and highly paid mechanic. 

Preparations

Lots to do, but, Hey, preparing is part of the fun too.  We are eager to get settled aboard Sirius and to make it our home.  We recently sold our much loved Flicka and moved "up" to a big boat...Ha, from 20 feet on deck to 24 feet.  It really is amazing though, how much difference 4 feet makes.  We now have an enclosed head with a real sit-down toilet and holding tank, and galley with a gimbaled stove with oven.  No more having to tie pots onto the stove to keep them from flying about the cabin.  I now have standing headroom and really appreciate not having to bend my neck at odd angles to keep from bumping my head.  We will attach pictures later when we get to the boat.  For now we are still in Alaska and will be heading down to the boat on the Chesapeake Bay in 4 days.  Friends Reg and Jetty have kindly let us tie up to the dock at their house.  I am attaching a picture of Sirius at the dock.  Behind her you can see Reg's ship Rainbow.  Here is a link to a photo description of the building of this remarkable sailing vessel.  http://www.georgebuehler.com/Regsboat1.html

So why the blog title "Approaching the Horizon"?  This seems to be something that one really can't do, like going into the future.  No matter how quickly you rush into the future you always find yourself "right now."  Similarly, moving toward the horizon, we always end up "right here" with the horizon somewhere "over there."  For me, the hardest lesson to be learned traveling is to be "right here now."  So much the better to be able to learn this by being in ever new places.  Yikes!  Never mind.

I'll end for now with a favorite Robert Frost Poem:

The Sound of Trees

I wonder about the trees.
Why do we wish to bear
Forever the noise of these
More than another noise
So close to our dwelling place?
We suffer them by the day
Till we lose all measure of pace,
And fixity in our joys,
And acquire a listening air.
They are that that talks of going
But never gets away;
And that talks no less for knowing,
As it grows wiser and older,
That now it means to stay.
My feet tug at the floor
And my head sways to my shoulder
Sometimes when I watch trees sway,
From the window or the door.
I shall set forth for somewhere,
I shall make the reckless choice
Some day when they are in voice
And tossing so as to scare
The white clouds over them on.
I shall have less to say,
But I shall be gone.