Yep, another beautiful Sunday morning after a somewhat sleepless night.
There's a loss for words when trying to describe the feeling while looking out the salon window. Out there, the reality is the beginning of another beautiful day in Solomons' tranquil little harbor. Meanwhile, at home, in Jupiter, our house is being pounded and our friends, who have stayed put, are confronting Hurricane Irma that's bearing down on South Florida. (See live video of the effects of Irma here: NPBM)
Below, in the video that's streaming from a front window at home, as I write this, not much is happening. It looks just like last year's Hurricane Mathew that passed by without doing much damage.
Hope it stays that way.
Guilt is certainly not the descriptor that comes to mind, though anxiety is definitely in the mix. Conflicted doesn't seem to fit either.
Is there a word that combines fortunate and grateful? If so, that's it.
And then I turn and look out the salon window again —
Yes, anxious, fortunate, and grateful all apply. — God willing, we can add "Lucky" later.
Our thoughts are with everyone in the path of Irma. For those who stayed in Florida, please be safe. For those of us away, who have property in Florida — it's just stuff.
It's another one of those peaceful Sunday mornings (My favorite way to start a day) quiet, overcast, the view from the salon window is like an old photograph, and so far, other than a few geese, there's not a soul stirring around the harbor.
We're now tied up at Solomons Island, MD - Spring Cove Marina where we're spending a soggy Labor Day Weekend. Though the sun may make an appearance today, it's probably too little too late; a disappointment for those deserving a sunny respite from work. Especially for the marina operators; all prepped to handle the large crowd of boaters who for the most part have canceled reservations.
So far, we're enjoying the bay, we always do. I like motoring to all our favorite towns and marinas while mostly running in deep-ish water — comfortable cruising — unlike the attention demanding shallow windings of the ICW or the long runs offshore with only the occasional ship or pod of dolphin to break the monotony. Mel likes the local restaurants serving good Blue Crab and local fish... and the little shops. We both enjoy bumping into old acquaintances and making new ones, this seems to happen a lot on the Chesapeake.
Lady M, Marty and Amy, we've known them for years. Now 88, Marty and his girlfriend Amy have been running up and down the east coast longer than most of us have been able to spell BOAT. Marty is a wealth of knowledge and experience, he's our personal cruising guide. If we have doubts about an inlet or a marina, we call Marty. Been there done that, many times. Yes, we can get that same info from a publication or online, but Marty usually shares an amusing anecdote to augment his bits of wisdom. We always enjoy their company and we did for the few days at Atlantic Yacht Basin while repairing our lightning damage. (Which, by the way, seems all good)
Leaving AYB and heading out into the Chesapeake, we found the Bay to be a bit sloppy, but soon the tide changed direction and all settled down.
Around Thimble Shoals Light, we made way toward the York River, Gloucester Point, VA and York River Yacht Haven. We've done this many times so with the comfort of following former track lines, we effortlessly skirted the shoal and eased into the marina.
We were surprised to see Southern Star on the same T-head. Istaboa was briefly tied next to N-47 Southern Star while at Old Port Cove. Later we got together with Ted and Jenny and we've enjoyed their company several times since.
Nice folks.
YRYH gave us a great tie, out on a T-head with a killer view from our stern. Waking early every morning and having my coffee with the sun rising above Sarah Creek was always a pleasure and certainly worth the effort of getting out of bed.
While at YRYH we endured a tropical disturbance that could have been much worse. With wind constantly blowing hard, gusts to 40mph, and hard rain all day, we discovered a couple of good leaks. Nothing that we couldn't quickly stop, although they did require some creativity to overcome. Wind and rain found the tiny breaches, duct tape and a plastic bag stemmed the leaks. A proper fix was done the following dry day.
The next morning brought an end to bad weather and we started that day with sunny skies and pleasant temps. It's been a long time since we've experienced mid 70º temps, we're actually wearing pants. Nice.
So after a few days of weather, both good and bad, we untied and pulled out of York River.
We like YRYH; they've made many changes for the better and as we did a few years ago, we booked our slip there on a monthly. We'll be returning from time to time, making this our base on the Bay. It's a nicely tucked away marina that will make for a decent hiding hole in a blow. (we hope)
Now and for good reason, everyone's attention is on Hurricane Irma. Our intentions are to hang here for a few more days and take care of some biz. Then move on to Herrington Harbour and Annapolis, if we don't have to head back to York River to hide out.
We'd like to visit old friends over at St Micheal's and stop at a few more little port towns along the Eastern Shore before heading back — we'll see.
Damn, it seems every hurricane update brings even worse news for everyone on the East Coast. It's still early in development so no reason to start battening down the hatches yet - - time will tell.
Yes, we finally escaped the current at Morehead City Yacht Basin and
made a short day's run to River Dunes Marina in Oriental, NC — though not without incident. A storm
followed us almost all the way and finally caught up just before we pulled
into River Dunes. Running from inside a protected pilot house heavy rain is never a problem, however lightning is a different story. Waiting out the
blinding rain storm before easing into the skinny little creek that
leads to the marina, thunder and lightning soon became the issues to deal
with.
In all the years and all the miles of doing this, we've never had any problems with lightning; been in plenty of storms, but suffered nothing worse than the anxiety it brings.
Then - a loud bang, a flash, and we realized we'd been hit or almost anyway.
Sonar, chartplotter, and radar screens blinked then rebooted, I turned to head back out to the Neuse River and deeper water, then started working to bring back some electronics. Luckily, we've redundant nav systems on-board and our computer driven system was not affected. Charts and AIS were still running, but we had no depth info.
After a few minutes I had depth coming from sonar, but oddly enough no sonar screen - just the numbers. That was enough to get into the marina so we turned back to the entry point and headed in.
Things could have definitely been worse and we've heard many stories that were. We slowly motored into River Dunes basin and saw a beautiful marina where Rich, the harbormaster, stood waving at us from our dock.
The rain had stopped and the storm moved on. The rest of the night was quiet as I went about going through all the affected systems.
With all the redundancies aboard I was able to put together a working nav system and we pulled out the next morning, heading for Belhaven, NC and River Forest Marina.
Belhaven's another cool little town. The docks at River Forest are old, but the electricity is stable and the depths are good. The dockmaster's name is Henry Boyd III. He and a group of Belhaven citizens bought the marina out of bankruptcy. They're slowly rebuilding the docks, but the lovely old southern manor next door has already been brought back to mint condition. Henry and his crew are very proud of the project and love to talk about it. They also loaned us a golf cart and directions to town for dinner. Spoon River Art Works and Market is a fine restaurant. The local Black Drum was killer. The place was crowded.
That evening we went through another storm, but other than rolling us around for a few minutes there were no problems. We ended the day with a peaceful sunset
The next morning we made way to Coinjock, NC to spend the night. Coinjock is Coinjock. No, we didn't get the steak, but the soft shell craps were very good.
Then, AYB. We always stop here and throw a bit of money at James Taylor's crew. They do good work and this time we may need to take advantage of that.
All in all, as far as storm damage goes, we did okay.
Our main GPS was acting up, but after a reset it came back for the most part. It now shows us running at .05 knots while at the dock, but it's position seems to be okay. We have several ways to get GPS info so that doesn't stop the show.
One of our depth sounder transducers is dead.
Both Raymarine displays are blinky.
Ironically, the Sirius Weather Receiver was fried and has yet to return.
By far the most expensive damage is the KVH Satellite TV dish. It's toast.
I called our insurance company, and inquired about making a claim. They've since sent out a surveyor who thinks the damages are worse than I do. He explained how lightning causes crazy intermittent problems that usually show up at critical times. He's probably correct.
So, here we are, laying up at AYB, waiting to hear back from several folks.
There's good friends tied up just behind us and it has been nice catching up with them.
We've always liked it here. Always little projects to do and AYB has the essential supplies to get them done. The boats that come out of the lock can be interesting to see and the camaraderie amongst the boaters is always enjoyable
We're thinking The Chesapeake Bay will be our next leg, but news of Sea Nettles (Jelly Fish) may change that. The Bay full of Nettles is not uncommon this time of year. They clog sea strainers and stop air conditioning; not good in 90º heat .
And, as they so often are, our plans are still peculating.
After a nice couple of days in Georgetown, the weather settled and we continued our trip north.
Leaving Georgetown, SC was a trip. Inside the little harbor things were calm, a bit of current, but as soon as we made it into Winyah Bay the tidal surge grabbed us and slung Istaboa out to the ocean like a sling shot. At times I saw speeds of 13+ knots. (yes, speed is subjective)
Spitting us out into the Atlantic, that same tidal current propelled us toward Southport, NC at a good clip. Approaching Cape Fear, the day's destination, an incoming tide was pulling us into the inlet at almost 11 knots and we arrived at the marina earlier than expected.
Checked in and the boys walked, the seemingly scheduled afternoon thunderstorm arrived.
We were left with this big beautiful rainbow after the storm moved offshore. Fortunately, the brief, but torrential squall nicely cleaned the salt spray from the boat. (Bahamian Boat Wash) It seems the natural forces of the universe have been lining up and working in our favor for the last few days.
Yesterday morning, early out of Cape Fear Inlet, a strong tidal current pushed us out pass the long Frying Pan Shoals. Crossing at the Slue, a marked shortcut, we turned north and made way toward Beaufort Inlet and Morehead City, NC.
Arrival at the cut at around 5PM and making it into the Yacht Basin just before closing time, again, the tides were favorable. We rode the current all the way in. Then, like magic, it nearly slacked as we eased down the little canal that leads to the marina. Many know Morehead City Yacht Basin as a difficult marina to negotiate; however, on this day, it was a piece of cake.
Other than leaving the dock this morning, tides will not be a factor for a while. Running the ICW up to The Chesapeake, tidal range is minimal.
We've been quite lucky. Usually we find the current and wind on our nose which almost always makes for long miserable days. This trip, so far, it's been in our favor, all to our back.
Be that as it may, we know, tides turn, they always do.
We'll take what we get... as if we have a choice.
Adios,
8:30 update:
The tides did turn. At the present time, we're pressed up against the dock ... thrusters are no match for this current.
We'll be here for a few more hours and make this a short day.
Well, that didn't take long. Our intentions were to push out of Charleston with a heavy load of fuel and water and run all the way up to Beaufort Inlet. All the weather sites showed doable seas until Tuesday afternoon or later.
But, weather is as weather does, things changed. TS Gert became Hurricane Gert. Though the blow is not a threat to the coastline, the seas were getting crazy and they're predicted to become even more confused.
We looked at Southport as the next stop, but our timing was all wrong. We'd arrive in the dark.
Much closer was either Winyah Bay and Georgetown or Myrtle Beach.
We turned toward Georgetown.
We'd never been here though good things are often said about Georgetown.
Surprisingly, those good things were understated. What a cool little town.
We literally rolled into Winyah Bay Entrance with seas on our tail and made the fairly long run up to Georgetown. It's pretty far inland, 14 miles, but we found deep water all the way and it's carefully marked.
We've tied up at Harborwalk Marina where we found a nice long dock. From here it's a block walk into the quaint little downtown area that's neat as a pin. Even though it was Monday and many restaurants were closed, Alfresco Bistro was open; it's fare and service was truly fine. It's a funky little place, the hostess leads you through the kitchen to get to the main dining room, however it's the best dining experience we've had on this trip.
All of this makes Georgetown a good hang.
Georgetown is a very old, (1500s), and interesting little town. Back in the 1700s their cash crop was the color blue. Really. Indigo was the crop of choice, more so than rice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown,_South_Carolina
So, here we'll stay for another night. There's biz that's needing some attention and another day at rest won't be a waste. If the seas ease up tomorrow, we'll continue our run up to Beaufort Inlet, if not, it's the freakin' ICW for a while.
A small complication: There may not be a slip anywhere in the Carolinas this weekend. Eclipsemania has taken hold of the area and it's seems everyone want to see it from their boats. All slips are booked.
Yes, I know— it's been a long time since anything's been posted on this blog. We've been somewhat busy, but really, that's no reason. Usually it's photographs that inspire me to write something and I really haven't taken any photos that have roused me to open the blog and post.
We're always flattered and somewhat surprised when along the way a stranger speaks fondly of Istaboa and the blog we've done for more than a decade; I really don't know what to say when asked why I've not been writing much. That's happened several times on this trip.
Once again, it's a lazy Sunday morning, I've ingested a sufficient amount of caffeine, and gone through several days of unprocessed pics.
It seems we're always catching up, so ~~~~
Because it's August and we're just now heading north up the coast, this year's cruise has been somewhat different from those of the past. Hoping to avoid the packs of yachtistas at the marinas along the way, we waited till late May to leave for the islands. This strategy worked as we figured it would and most of our favorite marinas have had slips available without reservations.
Our last post was at the beginning of our run up the East Coast so I'll pick up there.
Leaving Old Port Cove we made a short run out in the ocean to Ft Pierce where we waited out an almost continuous line of thunderstorms. Storms have been the daily deciding factor for this whole trip.
After Ft Pierce, the seas had picked up so we ran the ICW all the way to Vero Beach. 15 miles.
Then out of nowhere Tropical Storm Emily popped up. We had just left Vero Beach Municipal Marina in the rain, (not realizing it was the outter bands of a tropical disturbance), and made way to Titusville.
Happily, TS Emily was a flop, just rain. We had a peaceful night at Titusville Marina streaming movies and fell asleep to the sound of raindrops falling on the boat. The next day we shoved off and motored to Daytona.
We stayed at Daytona Marina and Boatworks. We like this little marina with it's easy in, side tie docks, plenty of water, and there's a Charthouse restaurant onsite that's excellent. Happy Hour is great; small plates of gourmet appetizers, happy hour prices, and all just feet away from the boat.
Our next stop was Palm Coast Marina. A nice/quiet little marina where we always stop for a night and to buy fuel. Best prices in Florida, easy in and out.
The next day was a short run to St Augustine and Camachee Cove Marina. We pulled into Camachee Cove on a low/low tide and had to try several slips before we found one deep enough for us.
As you see from the above picture, storms are following us pretty much all the time, however we keep on running the ICW and manage to avoid most of them.
I hate the ICW - Mel likes it. After a day of negotiating the ICW, I'm exhausted. It's not just shallow water, actually it's not that shallow in Florida, it's the constant attention one must maintain to successfully make it to your next stop.
At last we to make it to Jacksonville and back out to the ocean. St Augustine to St Simons was the day's leg. No storms and relatively flat seas.
There's a reason they call this area, Golden Isles
Saint Simons/Brunswick is Mel's hometown and here she had family waiting. I took this time to do a little business and catch up with chores on the boat. Mel visited the farmers market and brought home a few pounds of Georgia shrimp and fresh vegetables.
Next stop: Hilton Head. We've never been into Hilton Head, always passing it by saying that someday we should stop and check it out. We'll, we did and it really is a nice place.
We choose Harbour Town Yacht Basin to tie up. It's a great marina, though last year's Hurricane did extensive damage that they are still working through. We took a few days off and explored the island a bit, though the storms were back in full force giving up only half days before running us back in the boat. Still, we liked the area and we'll be back.
After a few days we chose a time to run out Calibogue Sound with good tide and pointed north toward Charleston.
Another fairly easy run with calm seas ended where we are now. Charleston City Marina.
We couldn't have timed it better. We eased in and called the marina, they asked us to turn around in the basin and back down about 500 feet on the inside of the Megadock. Slack tide allowed this to happen without incident.
We've done a bit of sightseeing while here. Took a buggy ride through downtown to see all the historic sights, a young fellow narrated the tour, and did a nice job of it.
Of course, we passed by Ft Sumter on the way in.
As we entered Charleston Harbor, in my mind (as there often is), a song played over and over again. I've heard Randy Newman's Sail Away many times and always liked the melody and the hook, but I never really listened to it until I heard Etta James bring it home, as only Etta James can do.
On this day, the lyrics are painfully ironic:
In America you'll get food to eat
Won't have to run through the jungle
And scuff up your feet
You'll just sing about Jesus and drink wine all day
It's great to be an American
Ain't no lions or tigers ain't no mamba snake
Just the sweet watermelon and the buckwheat cake
Everybody is as happy as a man can be
Climb aboard little wog sail away with me
In America every man is free
To take care of his home and his family
You'll be as happy as a monkey in a monkey tree
You're all gonna be an American
Sail away sail away
We will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston Bay
Sail away-sail away
We will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston Bay
We'll be leaving soon, maybe tomorrow, depends on weather. We've realized that time aboard is good for us no matter where we are. We're still heading north, maybe the Chesapeake, maybe not. Point A and Point B is the same place to us and that would be Jupiter.
Over a cup of coffee on a peaceful Sunday morning I realized it's been a while since our last post. There hasn't been anything unusual to speak of, almost everything we did we've done before and written about it, but there are a few photos to share so I'll just write around them.
We're now back in the USA... nothing's changed here and we won't go into that. It is nice to be back; it always is. We sometimes complain, but there really is no place like home.
Our first stop was Ft Lauderdale.
Istaboa's been kind to us on this trip, however there were (as always) some minor fixes needing to be done and we can always count on Craig at Hogan Marine to knock 'em out quickly — so Bahia Mar was our first stop. We did a little technical work there at the marina and caught up with old friends — then to take advantage of flat seas, we eased north.
Now, temporally home at Old Port Cove and continuing on with those fixes: the cook range needs attention, this time of year the ACs can always stand a flush , and some technical stuff.
We've been experimenting with a new more powerful onboard cellular network and it's feasibility in the islands and offshore. Heading to Ft Lauderdale from Cat Cay we saw Verizon Wireless at about 15 miles out from the US coast and connected at 12. Not too bad. This same system hooked us up well at Great Harbour, Highbourne, Nassau, and Cat Cay where we enjoyed fast and relatively inexpensive internet most of the time. (It is Batelco)
This trip has been both interesting and entertaining. Compass, for
the most part, was peaceful little Compass, though while there we observed the most chaotic
4th of July we've ever experienced at any marina. It seems the marina
was double booked and all the boats showed up at the same time.
Needless
to say many unhappy folks, mostly mega-yachts, who thought
they had reservations, were turned away. Forced to anchor wherever,
the radio was buzzing with heated exchanges, expletives, then finally resignation as the long boats faded into a stunning Exuma
sunset... later the real fireworks started — Literally.
"Freedom", a very large yacht we've known for sometime eased in and tied up. As soon as they were secure the crew started unloading fireworks. That night, to the delight of those with a slip at the marina, a massive fireworks display took place.
The Real Stars of Compass Cay
Compass is like a third-world fishbowl. The haves, the havealots, and the havemores, all spend time together enjoying Compass's simple and primitive beauty. However, all that comes without any modern conveniences other than electricity and water; no restaurants, no store, no bars here, but if you ever wanted to swim with sharks...
Jamal Rolle
The locals from Black Point who help out at the marina are mostly affable fellows who have learned an attentive attitude accompanied by a smiling face is compensated handsomely. They treat us all the same; sports stars, movie stars, super models, and plain folks like us are all tourists to these guys.
The young man to the left is Jamal, son of Tucker Rolle. Everybody likes Jamal.
Our old friend, Tucker.
This man is not only a legend in the Exumas, he's known and loved by many all over the world. When the rich and powerful, famous and infamous come to the Exumas they make it a point to stop by Compass Cay to spend time with Tucker.
Tuck's a quiet reserved man who can be hard to get to know, though once he learns to trust you, all agree, he's a hell of a nice guy. His island is your island if you respect it. With that respect, you will become family.
Leaving Compass, we followed our tracks back to Highbourne. We stayed there for 3 or 4 days before moving on to Nassau.
Highbourne, a nice resort, is a good way to start the inevitable process of re-acclimating to civilization. It's a remote little island, although there is a little grocery, a restaurant, and a few killer beaches.
Next stop, Nassau with all the trappings of a large city. We like Nassau, in many ways it reminds us of Memphis.
I'll stop here for now, there's several more photos to post. So more later.
No, not done yet. We'll start heading north soon — not sure where that will take us — as far as we want.
Yes, we're still in the Exumas and, yep, life remains pretty good.
There are probably those who wonder how we maintain our sanity while hanging out static, tied up at Compass for weeks, even months. And we admit, sanity is subjective, but this thing we all do on boats is not exactly rational behavior. — is it? So we do what makes us happy at the moment.
And...
We've said it before. One must be conscious of what it is to be at Compass Cay. It's an acquired taste if you're lucky enough. We're down with that, we do feel fortunate to be here and we're always sad to leave. Those who have put in extended time here at Compass will understand.
This trip has had several unavoidable diversions, forcing us to redraw our cruising plans.
Future plans? Nothing is off the table yet - everything is back on - like rebooting, we're mulling over our intentions for the next few months with fresh eyes wide open.
But, while here we've been busy; island busy, anyway.
Good news for those who cruise this area. A whole new source of less expensive and relatively fast island communications has become available so we're puzzling over how to extend that out to the family island marinas.
In the meantime, the sky has offered up some spectacular vistas and island time has allowed me the opportunity to get out and use my camera.
Last night was such an occasion. The bugs made it an adventure, but I quickly snapped a few photos before seeking protection in the boat.
This week starts with an early flight back to Ft Lauderdale for a meeting with the new owners of the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. An exciting opportunity that's worth pursuing.
Next week, we may be forced to compile existing data and make a decision on when and where to head next. There's another island wanting our services so that's a factor. Another consideration: we've still got a hankering to do some cruising up the east coast.
As always, no decision will be made before it's time.
Happy Problems
Yes, as previously stated • Life's good
A little work, some play, island zen, and we end our days with scenes like these.
Who could complain?
And meanwhile Summer turns to fall Roses bloom and fade Life goes on
- You can measure it all By the difference that it made Mac McAnally
It's nice to be back; though there was a disturbing moment as we walked onto the boat hearing a highwater alarm. But, barring a faulty primary bilge pump, a quick look revealed all was well.
Backup?
Yeah, but still -
Our stay in Jupiter was longer than we had expected. After all that had happened there was a lot to be taken care of and high-speed internet / reliable cell phone service certainly made life more manageable.
Finally, after a week's stay, we caught a ride to Ft Lauderdale and hopped a little Watermakers plane back to Staniel Cay. Tucker had dispatched a small boat to pick us up and the last leg was a beautiful ride back to Compass and Istaboa.
Crew Istaboa - Happily boarding the Watermakers flight back to the Exumas
(Thanks to Norman, from Chicken Cay, for the pic)
So, literally, at the end of the day, we're back on the boat; a bit
tired, but happy to be home. For the first time in more than a week we've stopped to take a breath. Then an apt finale to a week that has only gradually improved — we look out to the west where another amazing Exuma sunset was painting a sky that would've made Maxfield
Parrish envious.
exhale...
It's going to take a couple of days to re-acclimate and the wind is puffing up a good blow — so we'll be here a while.
