Morehead City Yacht Basin

Can't Believe it's December!!!

It seems like only yesterday that Dwayne and I were leaving the Yacht Basin here for our first season of cruising.....If one were to sum up the whole trip... I'm not sure I could find the right words..I always say it was "every adjective you could think up" and then some...

People ask what was my favorite part, my favorite place... actually, it was all of it ... in different ways.... The trip down the ICW was beautiful.... especially when we found some warmer weather.... (always remember to take socks..we had to stop along the way to get some...) The crossing was not bad... I learned how to "secure" things properly after a few minutes of choppy waves.... I learned a lot last year... and still so much to learn...... Your first adventure out is such a learning process, or at least it was for me... Dwayne knows so much more.. I was never worried about our safety.. He was always in control.... We both learned how to "listen" to the SeaVeyor, all her normal sounds, and then the ones that made us look at each other and say"uh, what was that?? Dwayne knows her through and through.... she's his other soulmate.... I'm glad he loves her so.....

We got a handle on what things to provision and what we need/vs/ didn't need.. didn't use, etc..

We had her packed full before we crossed and still had a little room for more.. much to my disbelief!

Going back to favorites... after all said and done.. I guess I would say GeorgeTown, Exumas.... It had a little of everything to offer... Beautiful water, beaches, good provisioning, friendly/helpful people crusiers and locals , a good location for friends to fly down and join you... it was a good jump off spot for several of the out islands....

All the other islands/cays were great too.. on the way back, we couldn't believe we had gone so many miles and were back already in the States... it was really kind of sad.. it just sneaked up on us to quickly....

So, here we are, back at our starting point..We couldn't ask for a better Home Port... The Yacht Basin is wonderful.It's convenient and provides all the basics we need.... Have met lots of new folks crusing South. SeaVeyor needs a few repairs ( after our lightning hit). Will we go again??? Absolutely... When.. not sure. The first outing was a learning experience for me... I can't wait to prove to my Captain what I've learned and be the best first mate he'll ever have... Until then, we will continue to make repairs and get ready for the next adventure.. Several of the cruisers that we met have passed thru on their way South... We both yearn to go with them. Some are getting ready to jump off soon and head South. It's fun to keep in touch with all of them via emails and boat updates and their blog sites.....

More news at 11...... and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our friends.. new and old.

Dwayne, Linda, Patches and MonkeyButt( Black Cat jumped ship..with a friend!)

Carolina Beach to Ocracoke to Morehead City

We've come full circle... we are back at Morehead City Yacht Basin..HOME! After leaving Carolina Beach, which was really hard.. we left very good friends (Barry and Soula) and a very awesome marina ( Joyner Marina) and headed towards Ocracoke for a few weeks. Along the way, we stopped to anchor one nite in Swansboro.. caught a pic of a sailboat towing a SeaTow boat... how funny!! Next stop was Oriental and enjoyed a quiet evening there and next morning headed across the Pamlico to Ocracoke. The Pamlico can be very shallow in spots and the Captain was careful to keep us right on track. Ocracoke is one of my favorite places.. We anchored out in Silver Lake ( the harbor) . We were able to dinghy back and forth to shore and ride bikes to grocery stores,etc.We even took the dinghy out to clam a couple of days. Yummy!! The people in the village are very friendly and helpful, and we spent a lot of time at the local coffee shop to use their internet and got to know them on a first name basis..We also had a family of mallard ducks that took interest in our boat ( had nothing to do with me feeding them crackers) and they would stop by each day to say hi...They became so friendly they tried to come into the cockpit.. and Dwayne and MonkeyButt would have none of that!!!!!! We had wonderful weather with the exception of one nite.. Early in the evening I took a pic of a funnel cloud forming.. it went on out into the harbor and formed a small waterspout.. We went to bed thinking that we would just have a chance of a passing thunderstorm. Let me tell ya, it was one more BIG LIGHTNING STORM and had gusts up to 60 !! Dwayne and I both woke at the same time and realized that we moved a little bit. The SeaVeyor has a 73lb Rocna anchor that has never moved before.. this was a first.. The harbor has a very soft, muddy bottom. Dwayne actually started the engines and was prepared to move forward if needed. The storm rolled in around 2am and finally rolled out about 5 something...Once daylight arrived we moved SeaVeyor and anchored again. Several other sailboats had also moved during the storm, but no damage done and no one hit anything. Whew, what a nite that was. We also realized that morning that the SeaVeyor took a hit (lightning surge) and we had lost our generator, port alternator and the trace invertor. THANK YOU MOTHER NATURE!!!!!!!!!!!!! We said our goodbyes and headed back towards Morehead City/Beaufort.

We arrived Sunday afternoon and made our way to Taylors Creek only to find that it was packed with boats.. It was the Pirate Invasion weekend! So, we made our way back to Morehead City Yacht Basin and were greeted by the same smiling faces that we left back in November of last year. The Yacht Basin is an awesome marina with wonderful, friendly, and professional staff. It is kept maticulously clean and is a well protected, secure marina. At the docks you will see some of the area's finest Custom Carolina Sportfish boats. It is very convenient to town for shopping and dining.

As you know, "Earl" paid the Carolina Coast a visit. It is standard procedure for most marinas to have all boats leave the docks during named storms. We had to leave out Wednesday and headed up Adams Creek to Back Creek for the evening. We were on a waiting list to be hauled out by Jarrett Bay . When you are hauled out you are put on blocks or stands in their boatyard. However, we were not called. Thanks to some awesome friends, Cory of Triton Marine, his friends Doug and Rick, we were able to use a mooring ball (500lb) during the "expected" storm.Although it was shallow in Back Creek, it was no problem for the SeaVeyor. We draw 3 and a half feet. We did a temporary hook up to the mooring ball for Wednesday evening, just in case Jarrett Bay called Thursday am.. The call never came, so with the help of Rick and his skiff, Dwayne attached us with a stronger chain for the upcoming nite. The winds did pick up some, but nothing to shout about. We went thru safety drills , etc, during the day and tried to nap some in case we had to stay up during the event. We also had wonderful friends to keep us updated by phone of the storm's location and direction. As you know, we missed that bullet and Earl missed us. The next am (Friday) we released the SeaVeyor from the mooring ball. The wind had changed directions and was blowing the water out of the creek. Even though we have a shallow draft, we did not want to get stuck in the mud! We made it back to the MHC Yacht Basin by lunchtime and were pretty pooped! It took as much time to clean and put things back as much as the prepartions.. But all Good!! No complaints here.

Not sure what the fall/winter will hold..we may or may not put SeaVeyor on the hard for repairs,etc.. and stay at our cottage. Not sure what our next adventure will be or where.. The nice thing about this area is you have so much to offer.. Cape Lookout, Oriental, Ocracoke. We love it all.. and it's right in our backyard!

Dwayne has accepted a position at the Yacht Basin here as one of their brokers. He's a natural for it. I've taken part time jobs too, but still have time for my photography. IT'S ALL GOOD!

More news at 11....................

Carolina Beach June thru July

Wow, can't believe it's been over a month since we've posted on our blog... Where does time go??? We have been here since June 1st...Carolina Beach is the way beaches should be... You have Freeman park where people can still bring their cars/trucks/pets/tents, etc and have a blast.......... It's the All American Beach!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dwayne and I have been working on SeaVeyor..getting her ready for her next journey! Destination???? Yet to be determined...

For now, we are enjoying the company of the LeRay family.. Our very good friends!! Soula is determined to make me fat with her Feta cheese... Hmm... could be worse right?? We are having fun boating with them... seeing the parts of the islands that most people can't.. by a smaller "cat"... Barry builds these.. They are called Blade Runners.. they are custom boats made from welded plate aluminum with a twin hull (little cat!) and are awesome on the water... Barry has taken us to places that hardly any people can get to due to the shallow water.. Beautiful isolated beaches.. We also got to get very close to "Bird Island"and I was able to get lots of pics of the bird life.. Lots of little chics everywhere...The little pelican chics were so ugly they were cute!!!!!!!!!

We also took the BladeRunner down to the Wilmington waterfront to watch the 4th of July festivities...it had to be the best fireworks display that I had ever seen.. Awesome!!

Dwayne's sis and family spent a week on Bald Head for their vacation.. So, we decided to take the SeaVeyor down to the marina at Bald Head and spend a nite there to see them. Bald Head is about 14 miles down the Cape Fear River from Joyner Marina (where we are) Well, they don't call it the Cape "FEAR" for nothing...Our little trip down river started out OK, a little choppy, but it didn't take long for the current and the wind to produce some 5 foot short chop, with 3 second period. It didn't last too awful long, but was no FUN for a few minutes... Made it into the marina , docked, and the kids picked us up by golf cart..We had dinner and then toured the island by golf cart.. what a beautiful, pristine island..It's around 12,000 acres with only 2,000 that can be developed!! A photograhers dream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope you all have a safe and wonderful summer... Dwayne and Linda, and Monkey Butt!!

Beaufort/Morehead City North Carolina

As we made our way up the ICW from Swansboro, headed towards Morehead City, I realized it was the last leg of our journey back... Wow.. what a journey it has been...We arrived in Morehead around noon and docked at Morehead City Yacht Basin, where we started back in November... and greeted by the same sweet , dedicated staff there.. They are awesome and truly professionals!!! We had lots to do with little time to get the car back and get it tagged , etc.. Geez, I think it was more difficult to come back than to leave.. So much "stuff" to get done...Anyway, got the car and settled back in for the nite... Next day, errands galore again... Made it over to John and Deborah's for an awesome dinner... reflecting on our trip and what has been going on back here in the USA...The next morning we left the Yacht Basin and headed for Taylor's Creek, in front of Beaufort... Found a good spot and dropped anchor.. The town dinghy dock was just across from us, so that made it convenient to run to town and use the car, which we had parked just up from where we were anchored.... My good friend Michele and her daughter Caitlin joined us for hot dogs on the SeaVeyor.. We had a good time catching up!!! We, the girls, decided to go for a dinghy ride and try to get some pics of the horses, which were grazing just across from us on the creek bank... That was a blast... until I thought something was wrong with the dinghy motor.. so, we got paddles out and used them to get back to the SeaVeyor, it was going well until we hit the current.. Had Dwayne not thrown us a rope, we may have made it to Harker's Island by dusk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha.. duh me, it had slipped out of neutral when I was trying to crank it... LIVE AND LEARN.... BUT WE STILL HAD FUN AND LAUGHED ABOUT IT

When Michele and Caitlin left, Jim from S/V "Bees Knees" stopped by... We had met him on Cat Island down in the Bahamas... We keep seeing so many vessels that we saw as we cruised... Everyone coming back to ride out the upcoming hurricane season..

Monday and Tuesday, both rainy overcast days... Tuesday, I finally decided to do what was right and take cats to cottage...at least two of them...Patches and Black Cat... I know they will be happier, get more exercise, and be well looked after back at the cottage with Jack... It was hard, I cried that nite and the next day.... just hope they understood why I left them.... I have Monkey Butt still on board, he's young and I hope he learns to adjust.. he seemed to be the happiest of the three....

The next day was Dwayne's 50th birthday... It was raining... Mother Nature did not get the memo for a beautiful, sunshiny day... Later in the evening, Pat and Lorrie from GodSpeed came over to help celebrate D's birthday.. Pat did excellent ribs!! And Dwayne had his favoirte dessert.. Rasberry Cheesecake! We all crashed except for Dwayne, he ususally stays up late to read... He said several porpoises surrounded the boat and were having a blast feeding on bait fish.. said it was awesome to watch.. Hate I was asleep and missed it..........

We left out Friday for Cape Lookout bight and anchored there thru Sunday...The boys hoped to catch some Cobia but no luck.... Lorrie and I walked the beach and then clammed on Saturday afternoon.. That was fun and tasty too!!!!!!!!!! GodSpeed and Oh Canada came over to eat clams, wings, and munchies that evening.. and Jamie played music on his guitar.. Very fun evening..The next morning, Sunday, D and I got in the dinghy around 11am , I wanted to see if Lorrie wanted to walk a little on beach, found everyone on Oh Canada having an awesome looking Brunch!! Wish we had been invited.. it looked really good! Anyway, D dropped me off on beach and he fished for about an hour more.. still no luck.. So, we said our goodbyes and pulled anchor around 2pm and headed back to Taylors Creek... found our same spot... Sometime during the night we lost our refrigeration.NOT GOOD! Hopefully, it will be a motor replacement and not the compressor... So, all stuff had to come out of frig and go in the big Icy Tech cooler with lots of ice............Left freezor stuff alone ... We were hoping we could get everything down to Carolina Beach without losing any of it... Had to speed up all of our plans!

Michele, Lord love her, met me at DEMA (thanks DEMA!) and I dropped the car off in the back parking lot, instead of leaving it in downtown Beaufort.. then Michele drove me back to the dinghy dock....So, off we went.. stopping at Mile Hammock for the evening ( this was our first anchorage spot on the ICW on the way down!!)

Pulled anchor around 6:30am on Tuesday June 1st... left Mile Hammock and made our way into Carolina Beach in the POURING rain....Made it into Joyner Marina around noon or so.. The tide/current getting into the marina, the pouring rain all made for an interesting dockage.. But, Dwayne proved his skills yet again... Perfect dockage.. Whew.. but very tight!! Very nice marina with excellent staff also!! You can pull it up on the internet and see their home page... Wonderful place to be....

Barry and Soula, our good friends here, stopped by to welcome us and we took our frozen goods to their home, until we can repair our frig/freezer...they also loaned us their car to go back to Morehead City to retrieve ours... What wonderful friends we have... so, got the car, made our way back to Carolina Beach , had a great Boston Butt dinner with Barry and Soula..

It's time to settle in and make repairs, clean the SeaVeyor and maybe, just maybe relax a little??Seems like we have been on the go since November....

What's next??? We are not sure... Dwayne is planning on posting his thoughts on our entire trip... he's the technical person and wants to explain, in detail, what it takes to cruise... this should be interesting!!!!!!!!!!!! Stay tuned.. more news at 11 ................................

St.Augustine to Georgetown, SC

After leaving St.Augustine, we have been making our way North up the ICW... funny, it only took one day of travel in the ICW to turn the swim platforms a yellowish color.. needless to say , it's not the beautiful clear water of the Bahamas... but the ICW has her own beauty.. the birds, the porpoises and just the beauty of the shoreline with the marshes, etc... I missed seeing the Pelicans in the islands.. there were none..and very few porpoises ... but so many here... I'm loving it...

We had an issue with the generator and dropped anchor at Cumberland Island.. GodSpeed was still traveling with us.. so the boys worked on the SeaVeyor while Lorrie and I rowed over to the island to walk a little..the current was strong, so I'm sure it was a hoot to the boys and others in the anchorage to watch Lorrie and I try to get to and from the island!! ( thier motor was not on their dinghy at the time) Anyway, Lorrie and I made it and walked for about three hours.. Cumberland is a beautiful place, I had mentioned it in an earlier blog... We saw the ponys and the ruins, snakes, armadillos, and a flock of wild turkeys...Lorrie even climbed a tree....needless to say we were having fun (while the boys were working hard on the SV) Towards the end of our walk, my camera (Canon 5D) had a major issue.. the mirror detached! I was heartbroken.... but it can be fixed.. had to box it up and send back to Canon... this camera body has had this problem and they will stand behind it , thank goodness, and I should have it back by the time we reach Beaufort..

We made our way back to the boat and the boys had the problem solved and the part replaced... thank goodness for spare parts....

We pulled anchor and then made our way to St. Simons and stayed there for the evening... Along the way, we were under attack !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The attack of the Greenheads.. it was almost comical... we were swatting like mad .. and not even making a dent!! We passed a trawler that had an enclosed upper deck and Dwayne was trying to cut a deal to swap boats!! Ha!! they were laughing! The next day, we got smart.. sprayed each other down with bug spray and just let them fly around... that worked better... they have been with us the whole march to Georgetown, but not as bad as the first two days...

While at St.Simons, we got an appetizer from the restaurant at Golden Isles Marina.. SHRIMP. it was the first shrimp we had since we left Morehead back in November.. So good.. You could not find shrimp in the islands, unless it was a bag of farmraised ,frozen 30 count, nasty freezor burned shrimp.. you could get a 2lb bag for around $48.oo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We left out from St. Simons Island around 10am and caught up with GodSpeed , who had pulled anchor earlier, the tide was low and rising as we traveled thru Little Mud River.. another catamaran ahead of us was having problems and could not seem to get through this one spot.. they had turned around and were waiting to see what we would do... Dwayne took the SeaVeyor thru without any problems, but it was definitley skinny water.. the other catamaran followed our path and made it thru. and GodSpeed followed suit..... However, Pat and Lorrie on GodSpeed were not able to get thru another skinny spot in the Mud River and had to wait on the tide to rise... We turned around and came back to see if we could assist, but they opted to wait on the tide. . So , we continued on..While Pat and Lorrie were waiting on the tide to rise, another sailboat was approaching the skinny spot.. Pat tried to warn them by radio , but they did not respond.. He even waved at them with the radio in his hand, trying to get their attention... with no luck! Yep, they went aground!!! Pat thought they were French Canadians.. They came on the radio..(all wearing full Gill Offhore Suits ) and announced they were aground, but had a problem ..BUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Pat was rolling in the cockpit laughing at that statement.. obviously, the greenheads were a bigger issue than going aground! We dropped anchor in the Wahoo River around 4:30 and GodSpeed made it in around 6pm... We had a wonderful evening on the SeaVeyor.. steaks, potatoes, and salad.. (we ate inside the SeaVeyor--greenies still around) and planned our next leg of journey... our vessels were doing some weird dancing that nite in the current and wind, but all was OK..

The next day we made our way to Skull Creek, in the Hilton Head area, nice little anchorage. Had a pleasant evening.. the next morning we headed towards Beaufort, SC.. to dock at my favorite people in the whole wide world's dock.. TP and Susan.. got in a little after lunch and TP gave us their van and the tour of Beaufort again.. sent off my camera to Canon for repairs.. got a new shop vac.. and all was good!!!!!!!! Had a wonderful meal with them.. Next morning, we had breakfast with TP and Susan.. He makes the best baked eggs on the East Coast!! Got underway by10:30am.. and had a good day..made Wapoo Creek, just around the corner from the Charleston Mega dock, around 5:30pm... It was a very pretty spot , well protected from the ICW, not much room for multiple boats, but we were fine... The next morning we made our little trek to the Charleston Mega Dock . We worked all day on cleaning, inside and out, laundry etc... Darlene, Dwayne's sis, picked us up at the docks and we had a wonderful evening and meal with them...It was so good to see family and see how much Madison, our niece had grown into a lovely young lady... much like her Mom... She had played in two tennis matches and won them both!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was als0 my brothers' birthday, so enjoyed calling him and catching up.. he had just won a Best In Show for his 57 Chevy Truck in an antique car show!!!!!!!!!! All is Good!~

Ok, so from Charleston, we made our way to George Town, SC... Had a nice anchorage at the end of the town area.. had a restful nite.....

We pulled anchor around 8:30am and headed towards Little River/Calabash... Dwayne let me "drive" part of the way, and it was awesome,, although I think he stressed worse than I did.Ha!!!!!!!!!!! I gave the helm back to him , happily, and he made our way to Calabash... It was not the best of anchorages,, hard to find the right spot and the right holding...but we finally did. We dinghed in to the Calabash area to the restaurants.. When will we ever learn... We cook so much better ourselves.. needless to say , we were disappointed in the food.. should have just bought some fresh shrimp ( which we were craving ) Anyway, made it back to the SeaVeyor in less than an hour... we read some and crashed..

Next morning , we were off to Carolina Beach, to meet up with our dear friends Barry and Soula. Made good time and dropped anchor by 1:30pm.... Barry and Soula had already put their boat in to meet us, and we had a homecoming of sorts shortly there after!! After much needed showers, we dinghed in to shore and Soula picked us up to take us to their beautiful warm home! We had an outstanding meal of fresh Carolina Shrimp, Rib Eye Steaks, and some Shovel Nose Lobsters/aka Slipper Tails, her wonderful Tomatoe salad with Feta cheese( straight from her home land of Greece).... Whew... I'm still full!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We pulled anchor this am and made our way to Swansboro..... Morehead/Beaufort in our sights for tomorrow.............. Hopefully, my camera will be waiting on me there!!!

More news at 11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Green Turtle Cay to USA!

Wow... this one is hard to post.. We can't believe how fast the time has flown by....what a wonderful experience it has been...

We left Green Turtle Cay for our three day leg back to the states.. The voyage from GT to Great Sale was very nice.. not too much wind and not to rough... There was nothing on Great Sale, but a nice , protected stopping point to anchor on our first nite... We dropped anchor around 2pm and GodSpeed was right behind, and Paragon right behind them... We all jumped in and went swimming.. it felt so good!!! GodSpeed invited all over for Happy Hour and some fried Spanish Mackerel bites ( that he caught along the way, that day) We all talked about what we enjoyed the most and all of our adventures.. Very fun nite... The next leg was to Memory Rock area on the Little Bahama Banks... The wind picked up quite a bit and it was a choppy ride.. when we anchored, we knew we were in for a not so fun nite... The Banks are right on the edge of the ocean side and the depts drop off almost immediately.... We made it thru the nite, although , the sailing vessels had it a little bit rougher... everyone pulled anchor just at daybreak and off we went again.... still rough seas and wind, but not as bad as the prior day... We started seeing land about noon time.... Could not believe we were seeing the USA for the first time in 5 months.... We made it into Ft. Pierce inlet mid afternoon and anchored just off the Causeway Island area... God Speed made it in behind us.. Paragon made their way to Manatee Pocket to meet up with family.. We had burgers on SeaVeyor and we all crashed early... The next day we all shared a cab, along with some new friends from Canada on Knot Ha Gan, and made our way to the airport to check back in with customs... All went well and back to the marina for lunch, then walked to stores in the area.... made our way back to dinghy and back to our vessels... From FT Pierce we then traveled to Cocoa Beach and anchored out just as a storm was approaching.. Captain Dwayne immediately started scrubbing our decks in hope to get a good rinse from Mother Nature.. and yes, she obliged! God Speed was right behind and anchored just after the storm passed.... The next morning God Speed left at daylight and I captured a great sunrise pic of them.. It looked like one of their sails had skewered the sun!!

From Cocoa we made our way to Daytona and enjoyed another restful evening on board...

It is amazing how much wildlife and marine life that you see on the ICW.... that was the one thing that surprised me about the Bahamas... the areas we were in did not seem to have much of either.. I suppose that lack of fresh water is one reason for the lack of bird life and did not see many porpoises either.......maybe next time...

Since traveling up the ICW, we've seen manatees, porpoises, pelicans, cranes, ibis, ospreys, and even Mr. Toothy... alligator.. he was hanging out in the Haulover Canal Bridge area... Big Fella with big overbite!

We are in St. Augustine now and hope to shove off in the am and head towards Fernandino Beach and continue to make our way up ICW.....

It's funny going back and reading my journal on the way down the ICW.... we have learned so much ! St. Augustine is a beautiful city..it was founded back in 1565!!! Yesterday they had festivites at the fort, Castillo de San Marcos and a pirate ship was firing on them from our anchorage!! Very cool.... We dinghyed to shore last nite and had dinner at a great little restaurant, sat outside under a pergola that had jasmine all over it.. beautiful and the aroma was wonderful.. food wasn't too bad either!!

More news at 11.................