One night and a crew change

 Land Ho!  After 26 hours of enduring almost the whole spectrum of sea conditions, we've finally got St. Simons Sound in sight. Looks like we're going to make it in with a bit of light. That's the Sidney Lanier Bridge in the first stage of sunset.
More on page 2.

Brunswick!

Couldn't get a slip at Southport so we just kept on running and have just hit the sea buoy at Brunswick. Radar was not happy, but he will be soon.
Good run... 335 miles nonstop. A bit rough at first but flattened out after a few hours.

More later.

Adios,

Istaboa

Too lumpy to go outside...

So we stayed in the ICW and are now underway to Southport, NC.
Talked to Captain Spooner yesterday afternoon. They had taken the outside route from Morehead to Charleston and got the shit beat out of them for 28 hours.
That made the skinny, curvy little ICW seem appealing.
Last night we stayed in Swansboro, NC at Casper's Marina. Pretty short on service but clean with a decent restaurant, The Ice House, within walking distance.
Predictions for calmer seas between Cape Fear and Brunswick seem to be good so tomorrow will be the long run in the Atlantic down to at least Brunswick. If it's good maybe further. We'll see.

Adios,

Istaboa

Back online... Sporadically.

We took off at first light from AYB and made way south down the ICW. We hadn't gotten far when my phone rang, it was the Dock Master from AYB calling about our bill. Seems he thought we had done a dine and dash on him and he was pretty upset. I reminded him of our conversation the day before that I was going to leave early, so he had better get me an invoice, but he remained a bit agitated. So after exchanging a few colorful expletives, I think I got my point across.  Show me an bill, if we agree, I will pay it.
We didn't agree so the story will continue later.

We passed by Coinjock Marina and Restaurant because we needed to make as much distance as possible.
The rest on page 2.

Alligator River Marina

Not much here so I'm sure it's an early night then an early morning.

But, Radar is very happy to have grass to walk on.

Adios,


Istaboa

This is interesting...

Fake Capsizing Boat Trolls the High Seas

Artist Julien Berthier created a boat, named Love Love, that looks like it’s sinking, but actually has a motor that allows it to be driven around, fully afloat. Check out inside for a picture of the boat out of the water.

Underway finally...

Capt. Will was nice enough to quickly drop everything and fly up to Virginia to help me get the boat back south.
We left AYB this morning at first light and we're not sure where we will stop for the night.
Mel's mom continues to improve so hopefully we can pick Mel up somewhere south, soon. The boat doesn't seem right without her presence and Radar is sure not a happy pup when she's not around.

Adios,

Istaboa

Happy Birthday

Captain Spooner and Cousin Dave... 

Both good folks... must be a good day 11-11. 

Next year will be better... 11-11-11

Happy Birthday.

Crew Isaboa

Things change...

The rumors of Mel's mom's demise may have been exaggerated. Today she seems much better. Maybe the good thoughts and prayers helped.

Thanks,

Istaboa

The last few days...

So we made it down the bay in a norther with an incoming tide which makes for a lumpy boat ride. This makes the bay stack up waves high, sharp, and fast.

But with that all behind us we made it to Atlantic Yacht Basin. 

Which is a very neat old boat yard/marina. Walking around I found lots of interesting things to take photographs of. 

Tomorrow we will pull the boat out of the water to do a small repair and finish up the Navigation Systems display. 

Then... we wait to make plans.

In our last post I mentioned Mel had to fly back to Memphis to take care of personal issues. I am sorry to say that Mel's mother is very ill and it appears she will not get better. Any good thoughts or prayers for Mel's Mom, Mel, and her family would be greatly appreciated. They are a very close family and this is a painful and difficult time for them all.

More pics of AYB inside