Not All Those Who Wander are Lost.......

Catchy title.... I borrowed it from Diana and Ross aboard the One White Tree. Their boat name comes from the Lord of the Rings. They are on a Sailing Catamaran and are "wandering" as we are... It is a yearning to be out here, on the water and on the move and seeing things you normally would not get a chance to see.. We love it for the freedom and adventure, and meeting like minded people. It's not always easy, especially when you break one of your rules.....DO NOT TRAVEL ON THE ICW IN SOUTH FLORIDA ON A HOLIDAY OR WEEKEND... I will never understand why someone would like to try and go under a bridge with a 23'beam boat ( they are usually 8-11'beam )the current is wild, etc etc... I thought one little boat was going to go under the SeaVeyor!!! As stated, Never a Dull Moment!!
It has been extremely windy since we left Jacksonville.. The ICW is very choppy.. We anchored in a lovely spot in the Melborne area.. Once the anchor was down, Dwayne spotted a raccoon on a home's porch.. After he left, several peacocks came by.. Lots of birds and porpoises too... Closeby was Pelican Island, the first national wildlife refuge . It was set aside for pelicans and other birds by President Roosevelt..One of our anchorages was at Fort Matanzas.. Not much left of the fort which was an early Spanish outpost... This is where we heard the hooty owl..Finally spotted him atop a flag pole ..Had to keep Patches inside.. was afraid he might swoop down and have her for supper!!
We are getting ready to leave the Lake Worth area and head towards Miami.. More news at 11................

Things you see along the ICW....

It's not just your daily destination, it's what you see along the way...There's lots of porpoises ( until you point your camera at them and they dive back under!)lots of coastal birds, and lots of shrimpers and cool looking boats... And of course the people in the little go fast boats that zoom by you and then just STOP in front of you!
.#*#**&^%$@ Go figure... and then the ones that want to beat you to the bridges to go thru first.. never mind that you are trying to get a 23' beam boat thru the rushing current.. Ah, never a dull moment!!
We made our way from Jekyll Island to Cumberland Island and were planning on hiking on Sunday, but woke up to millions of little knats/ no-see-ums and decided to travel on and hit Cumberland on the way back! So, we pushed on to Jacksonville...stopped at Beach Marine .. We spent two or more hours cleaning the SeaVeyor... she needed it!! We will be underway shortly.. Dwayne is picking up spare parts for the generator this morning and then off we go... I think it was 80 degrees here yesterday... ah, the sunshine state....

FINALLY

After making the decision to shove off again and head south for the winter, November FINALLY rolled around... Dwayne and I finished our jobs in Morehead and said our goodbyes to coworkers and bosses. Our plan was to shove off on Friday Nov.4th, just behind our friends on Great Escape and Rocking B... However, we were delayed by a front that came in with high winds.. The yacht basin had two foot rollers in it for several days..It delayed our shove off, but also allowed us to have dinner with some new friends Robin,Deb, Mike and Karen.. We talked boats and TALL TALES all evening and enjoyed an awesome dinner.. Shove off was Sunday morning November 6th.. Still windy.. Arrived in Carolina Beach around 4pm..
After anchoring, Soula and Barry picked us up in their Bladerunner and we had another awesome dinner of BBQ at their home.. When we are in Carolina Beach, Barry always lets us use his Bladerunner as a tender.. Doesn't get any better.
And then there is Mr. Murphy (you know, Murphy's Law) First day at anchor in Carolina Beach we lost the head pump... hmmm.. not a way to start this voyage... Dwayne changed it out.. I think that made number 6 ! My captain is not happy with the Head Hunter company... These are $1200 pumps ( at least the last 4 have been under warranty)
Tuesday Nov. 8th.. borrowed Soula's car and made trip back to Morehead for the dinghy motor that was being repaired and to do a few more last minute errands, etc.. Also picked up Barry's Cape Fear Cat (boat) that was at the yacht basin.. Made it back to Carolina Beach around 8:30 pm.. Next morning Barry and Soula came by SeaVeyor and dropped off 20lbs of 12count greentail shrimp for the freezer.. YUMMY....Anchor up at 10:30 and off we go..
Our first anchorage was Calabash Creek in Little River, S.C. the next day we made Georgetown,SC and ran into Cruisers we met in the Bahamas in 2010 Billy and Linda from the Bonnie Christine.. had sundowners with them and caught up with news...
Friday Nov. 11th... anchor up at 8:30 and Dwayne realized we had lost yet another pump.. words just don't describe what we think about this company's pumps!!!!!!!!!!!!
We made Charleston and docked at the Mega Dock.. all the way at the end.. again..I think it's like 4 city blocks to the main office and facilities!! Great exercise!
We met Dwayne's family at the Farmer's Market and had lunch and shopped at the Straw market... We borrowed Danny's car and made another grocery and West Marine run... then back to their home for a pre Thanksgiving dinner.. Darlene made a Tur-duc-in.. It's the turkey stuffed with duck, chicken and sausage.. and all the side fixins.. It was great.. The next morning we went back to Danny and Darlene's for yet another awesome meal.. before shoving off... It was great to see the kids.. especially little Connor, who is three, and has the brains of a 16 year old!!!!!!!!!
After replacing the head pump, number 7, we shoved off and made South Edisto River for anchorage..This anchorage was huge.... lots of room.. we had a sailboat come in behind us (Canadian) and they anchored 50 ft. from us... GO FIGURE!!!!! The sunset was beautiful and the morning sunrise too.... lots of birds and porpoises!!
We got underway and headed to Beaufort,SC... We were just outside of Beaufort, with Dr. Harden and Susan's house in sight, and we lost radio and the voltage dropped...
Never a dull moment... Made it to TP's dock and tied up next to his sailboat... Had a great evening with them and then back to the boat and slept well. Next morning, I got up early and made my way thru their beautiful yard, lots of natural grasses, a waterfall, etc... But... did not count on the sprinkler system coming on... I still think TP was watching for me and turned it on!!! Ha... had two showers that morning!! Susan ran me into town for a few errands and then back to the boat.. The fog was lifting so we got underway around noon....
The fog may have been lifting in Beaufort, but when we were halfway into the Port Royal Sound it became pea soup.. you could only see about 50-100 foot in front of us.. That was not fun..that made your cheeks tight.. and not your upper ones!! Ha!! The fog broke and we headed pass Hilton Head Island.. made anchor in the New River , along with several others that were tired of the fog... one of the vessels there was an aluminum catamaran (power) that looked like a little battleship.. come to find out, she was also a Crowther design, and built in Nova Scotia...( we saw her two years ago on our first journey, and have been wanting to catch up with her again)
Wednesday Nov. 16th... anchor up, Dwayne spoke briefly with the Captain on the Dyad, the aluminum power cat and hope to see them along the way.. We had a good day and made Wahoo River for our next anchorage.. All was well until Dwayne decided to adjust the chain on the anchor.. The winch went into a free fall, with the risk of losing 400 foot of chain... After reversing it...it finally tripped the circuit breaker and stopped, but Dwayne cut the wires to be safe.. He thinks it is the brain box...as I stated before, NEVER A DULL MOMENT...
Thursday Nov.17th.... Dwayne had to manually pull up 125ft of the chain, took about 15-20minutes... so, underway around 8:45 am.. Made our way to Jekyll Island , docked at the Jekyll Harbor Marina and called West Marine for parts and they were nice enough to deliver the celanoid part for the windlass . Also, a retired Navy Electrician,Lester, that we met two years ago in Brunswick,came by the boat and he and Dwayne had a good chat...
New News!! Dwayne and I are embracing this lifestyle and have come up with our wish list for the future.. As you know, boats are a compromise..Mamma wants a room of her own, an office, room for a set of puppies, and Daddy wants a Pilothouse and room for a workshop..So, with that being said, we have found a vessel that will meet our needs. She is substantially bigger than the SeaVeyor and she is long enough to carry a 20' Bladerunner on deck, as our tender...... So, the SeaVeyor is on the market!!! If anyone is interested, just email Dwayne.. seaveyor1@gmail.com
We are taking a break today (after repairs) and are going to see Jekyll Island.. Can't wait... More news at 11.....