June/July Update :Big Rock,Wind Horse, and Anastasia

Wow.. it's mid summer already!! Big Rock has come and gone. This year's tournament only had a couple days of good fishing weather.. The high winds made for some interesting trips for the Sportfish boats...On the first day Flybuoy landed a 499.3 lb Blue Marlin. If it hd been 500lbs, they would have won $225,000 for the first 500lb blue marlin caught in the tournament. Bummer for them. However, their fish proved by the end of the tournament to be the largest and the winning fish of the tournament. The boat and crew were from Charleston, S.C. A local boat , Inspiration, owned by Casey Wagner, placed second. Everyone was happy that Casey caught a winning fish also. The Lady's Day part of the tournament is in honor of his late wife Kelly. That made it special for them!! Two other marlins were caught and brought in, but none made the official weight limit and were disqualified. So, here's to next year. Last week we had a visit from a very well known cruising vessel that has circumnavigated the globe on several occasions. Her name is Wind Horse. She is an 83foot solid aluminum vessel, owned, designed, and Captained by Steve and Linda Dashew. They were both very gracious and gave me a tour of the vessel. Wow.. what an honor.. Dwayne also was given a tour after pumping them 3,250 gallons of fuel for their next adventure. I believe it will be the higher latitudes of Nova Scotia. Mr. Dashew is also a very wonderful and accomplished photographer. I was able to view lots of his beautiful images..Linda and I were able to talk about lots of topics for an hour or so. I gave her a lift to the local grocery store to provision, etc. What a delightful time I had. Dwayne got a chance to talk with Steve during the fueling of Wind Horse. It would well worth your time to visit their website... Setsail.com and read of their many accompishments and watch their awesome videos! And thanks to Corey at Triton Marine for referring the Dashews to the Yacht Basin.... OK now it's the 4th of July Week....We had a wonderful visit from our good friends on the S/V Anastasia. They were anchored in Taylor' Creek for a few days and then came over to the Yacht Basin . Dwayne had to work on the 4th all day, so we decided to all meet at our other good friends, Robin and Debbie's and just grill out. After a scrumptious meal of steaks and all sorts of fresh summer veggies, we came back to the SeaVeyor and sat up on her bow and watched Morehead City's fireworks..... A great time was had by all!! Max and Jenn left out this morning for Oriental, N.C. She "HAS" to make the fresh market there on Saturday! Oriental is a favorite of their's.. and then on to Ocracoke and then on to the Chesapeake in Virginia. They have decided to put Anastasia up for sale and spend a few years as CLODS ( for you land lubbers, that stands for Cruisers Living on Dirt!!) On another note, thanks to Libby on S/V Tarawaithe, I am getting better and better with my basket making.. I think I have made about 18 in total and just "SOLD" my first ones today!! Thanks to Libby!! Also, of note, Jenn and I traded baskets while they were here. Jenn makes gorgeous baskets out of palm frawns.... Both the pineneedles and the frawns make really good and functional baskets!!! I included a pic of Patches, lying in my needle basket.. She loves my pine needles! I also included a pic of a puffer fish that was hanging out in the reeds that had washed up due to the wind, at the bow of SeaVeyor. That's all for now, hope everyone is surviving the heat wave that is affecting us all. More news at 11 ..Dwayne, Linda, Patches and MonkeyButt

The Lady Anglers of Big Rock

Big Rock started officially on the 8th of June. The Ladies portion of the tournament was on this past Saturday June 9th. Seventy boats participated in this years ladies event! The purse was around $42,000 and it raised over $18,000 for the Raab Center for Cancer treatment here in Morehead City. It has all types of categories that gives each boat points for their catch or release. In the ladies event, ALL billfish are released!! This year the boat, ISLANDER , captured the big prize! to read the whole story, just go to this link. thebigrock.com and click on the lady anglers. See ya next week!!!

All Settled In and Here Comes Big Rock

SeaVeyor is now nestled into her original slip at the Yacht Basin... We have a view of the basin and the marshes just beyond.. what a great way to enjoy a morning cup of coffee. We feel that the Yacht Basin is one of the best on the East Coast, and it's home! One of the many things that we enjoy here is the Sportfish community. The guys that have their boats here are awesome! You can just feel the excitement in the air when they come into the dock. Big Rock is just in two weeks. It is a Gulfstream fishing tradition on the East Coast that truly has no equal. It is called the "SuperBowl" of Blue Marlin tournament fishing. Morehead City Yacht Basin was one of the original sites that was home to the tournament. Just within the last seven years, six Captains from the Yacht Basin have won the tournament.

It all started back in 1957 with the Morehead City Fabulous Fishermen's Club. They normally got together for coffee in the mornings and would talk of "tales" of the big fish, Blue Marlin , that sailors had seen off of the North Carolina coast. They put together a plan for a tournament with a cash prize of a couple hundred dollars. This was just what the sleepy little port needed for it's fishing fleet. It's 1957...all summer long no Blue Marlin were caught, but finally in September, the Mary Z radioed in that she was coming in with a Blue Marlin catch!! The Captain was Bill Olsen and the angler was Jimmy Croy.. It was a 143 lb blue marlin. When the Mary Z arrived in port, a small crowd gathered to meet her and a parade followed with a little red wagon filled with their prize of silver dollars.. The tournament is named after the Big Rock out in the gulf stream, about 46 miles out. It is a combination of ledges,peaks, and plateaus that covers an area of 8-10 miles and about 1 mile wide. It is home for various bait fish that attract the bigger Blue Marlins. This tournament is not just about the prize money, but also giving to community charities. Big Rock has given over 2 million dollars to different charities. Although I don't like to see the big fish killed, very few are brought in and most are catch and release. Having won the 2008 Lady Anglers of Big Rock, ( always catch and release) I have a huge respect for what these guys do and how well they do it. As I stated before, it's not just about the prize money, but a tradition that started long ago and just gets better every year. Just seeing all of the beautiful sportfish boats, all lined up and ready to go, and then all coming back into the inlet each afternoon is such a sight to see!! Of note, in 2007 we took our center console Pursuit out and sat

just outside the channel at the inlet. Dwayne strapped me into the fighting stand on the bow and I took pictures of these beautiful boats coming in one at a time..And, yep, I got green once we got back to shore.. too much time looking through the camera viewfinder.. Ha!!!! One of the few times I've ever gotten seasick. This years Big Rock starts on June 8th and I can't wait !! If you want to read more about the Big Rock tournament go to www.thebigrock.com/history . Most of my historical facts was taken from this site.. I will update more once the tournament starts...Good luck to all the fishermen/and lady fishermen! Note: the images are from the 2008 tournament

Charleston to Morehead City Yacht Basin... HOME

After leaving our anchorage at Wapoo Creek we crossed the Charleston Harbor.. Not too bad, not too much traffic...Our travel weather was not too bad to start.. Little wind,overcast and some light rain off and on.. Relieved my Captain for an hour or so and took the helm.. Dwayne took over when we were closer to Georgetown.. We had been outrunning storms all day and it looked like one was about to catch up with us while crossing Winyah Bay.. Just before we entered the Georgetown Harbor, I noticed something funny looking in the water..turned out to be a dead alligator floating belly up.. YUCK.... We made our way into the harbor and found our favorite anchorage spot all the way at the end of town... the storm hit just as we dropped anchor, but did not last long.. ( I attached before and after pics) We had a great evening . Next day off to Little River, SC. We have a little anchorage there that is just around the corner from Calabash,NC. We travel the Waccawmaw River (part of the ICW). I call it Osprey Ally. This time ,although, there were more than birds flying around. Horse Flies!!!!!!!! Those pesky critters are no fun! The weather report called for storms in our area.. It seemed to be all around us.. Had a little wind and rain but nothing bad.. Our sunset had beautiful cloud formations...
On to Carolina Beach. Here we spent several days with our dear friends Barry and Soula. But first, the journey to CB was not without incident.. We were just about to cross near the mouth of the Shallote,NC inlet when our port engine alarm went off. We knew we were going to have to switch over to the main fuel tanks at some time that day, but did not expect to have to do this in the mouth of the inlet. With me at the helm, Dwayne in the engine compartments, a nutcase in an express boat decided to pass us at a high rate of speed within two foot of us and two foot of a channel marker.. Needless to say, I have more grey hair.. but all went well. Got the tanks switched on each engine and back to normal..Just before getting to our destination lies the mighty Cape Fear River... my favorite body of water. This time she was good to us and not to bad to cross.. whew.. with Snow's Cut in our sights we were just around the corner from the Carolina Beach Basin. For the next few days we spent time with Barry and Soula catching up on each others lives, etc. We had great times, great food , use of a boat and car.. what more could a cruiser ask for.. uh, one more thing.. PINE NEEDLES... Soula and Barry have a yard full of Carolina Long Leaf needle pine trees.. I was in heaven.. ( you ask why?? I just started learning to make baskets!)
After saying goodbye to Barry and Soula, we made our way without incident to Mile Hammock Bay, our last anchorage for this trip... It is just around the corner from Camp Lejuene.. Most of the time this is a quiet protected anchorage. Sometimes, though, our "boys" are practicing maneuvers with their planes and choppers... It can be noisy. Well, that was the case on Thursday afternoon until about midnite.. But you know, that's OK, that's the sound of our FREEDOM.. and we did not mind!
The next morning we pulled the anchor and headed for home.. Morehead City Yacht Basin.. We made it in by mid afternoon, got the SeaVeyor all settled into her slip, showered and made it over to Floyd's .. our favorite restaurant for much missed flash fried oysters..!!!!
It is very bittersweet to be back.. I'm glad we are and had a great time..it went so quickly.I definitely feel like I learned so much more this time and we worked very well together. That's one thing about cruising.. you NEVER stop learning.We came back with all of our fingers,toes, etc... even Patches is still with us.. She is now 19 and seems to enjoy her boat life.. MonkeyButt is still adjusting, but he'll come around.. So with all that being said... safe travels to you all..cruisers and the ones that travel by land..
More news later..The SeaVeyor Crew.... Dwayne,Linda, Patches and MonkeyButt

Still Marching North

After dropping off Robin and Debbie, we headed towards Cumberland Island, Georgia. It is one of my favorite spots... After settling in, we had a visit from fellow cruisers we met in Marathon, Dennis and Suzi on S/V Thate Wata. They are also marching north towards home in New Bern, N.C.
We took the dinghy ashore the next morning a walked to the ocean side of the island. Everything about the island is beautiful.. The live oaks and all of the palms, the wildlife and the old ruins are awesome.. Some of the trees are probably 100s of years old. I tried to find a pine tree to collect some needles for my new hobby, but was not successful...
The next morning we pulled anchor and made a stop at Jekyll Island to top off fuel.. Well, guess who spotted some pine trees??? The dock hands thought I was nuts, but I got a bag full. One of the dock office guys came out and wanted me to go over to his home and rake his yard..Ha!!! So, off we went with fuel,food and pine needles!
Our next anchorage was a beautiful little spot just behind Doboy Island, just off the ICW..had a peaceful evening there too.
With all the porpoises in the waters, one would think they would be easy to photograph. They are so quick to pop their heads out and then dive back, you almost have to have your camera in your hand pointed at the water 24-7 and have it on rapid sequence mode to get a glimpse of them! Finally got a OK shot of one following us on our stern.. He peaked at me for a nano second and then back under he went.
Our next anchorage was a little offshoot of the ICW, Herb River, just south of Thunderbolt. Very nice,protected and quiet. The next morning we headed to Beaufort,SC and arrived around 3:30 to TP and Susan's dock. When traveling north or south we always stop here and tie off to his sailboat.. TP and Susan are wonderful friends.. After taking a quick ride to town and getting a few provisions (thanks to TP) we had a great dinner and conversation with our good friends. All is Good!!
The only negative about Beaufort is the NO-SEE-UMS... Pesky little creatures!!
After leaving Beaufort, we made it just south of Charleston in a small anchorage called Wapoo Creek. Had a little storm pass thur last nite and are calling for more today.. We hope to get across the Charleston Harbor before the next storm arrives..
On to Georgetown, SC today... More news at 11.................
P.S. Of note: South Carolina Boaters can be just as bad as South Florida boaters, just not as many of them! Ha!!!

Heading North

The old saying of "my, how the time does fly", is so true....I can't believe we are already heading north again... We left Marathon on March 1st and left lots of good memories, new friends, and fun times. The cruisers in Boot Key Harbor were friendly, helpful and knowledgeable, and fun to get together with. January and February went by so fast. I miss listening to the morning Cruiser's net, feeding my "pet" seagull, the early morning peacefulness of the harbor... Dwayne loved listening and participating in the evening net.. where, if one listened, the older and seasoned cruisers shared their knowledge and experiences, good and bad.. We did not care for Marathon at first, but it kind of grows on ya and is a great place for dealing with boat repairs, etc.
Before leaving we got together with our friends on SeaSalt,Rocking B, and The Great Escape... SeaSalt and Rocking B were making plans for their crossing to the Bahamas and Great Escape stayed in Marathon awhile longer. They plan on heading north soon to to the Great Loop.
After leaving Marathon, we made our way to Channel 5, just south of Islamorada and found a good anchorage. Had a little company for awhile... Mr. Barracuda! Huge one, 4-5 ft. long and quite fat! My toes did not go in the water! The next day we set out again on the outside route to Key Largo. Still had beam seas, but not to bad.
We had a fun time finding Dale and Sandy's dock... This was a beautiful community of homes on canals and I think we took SeaVeyor in all of them trying to find Dale and Sandy's 57 Nordhavan. These were not wide canals and we got several "looks" from the local residents when Dwayne had to turn her around! After spotting Snow White, Dale and Sandy's boat ( and of course it was in the second canal down..ha!) we were able to dock the SeaVeyor on a 300' dock ( 180' available for us to use). Our intentions were to only be there a day or so to visit with Dale and Sandy, but Mother Nature rules, and due to the high winds, we were there for a week!! We had gracious hosts and a good time.. We also caught up with cruising buddies on GodSpeed, Pat and Lorrie. They were anchored not far from us in Tarpin Basin ( inside route) These canals were also visited by sharks!! Our first nite there, after having dinner with Dale and Sandy, the boys went shark fish'n! They caught a reef shark and then another one.Of course , it was catch and release.... quickly!!Of note, Patches loved being docked there and went walkabout every chance she had. There were iguana lizards everywhere! Some probably big enough to eat her!!! The winds were crazy for several days, but finally got to head out. We made our way on the outside (beam seas again) up to Angelfish Cut. Once thru this, we were in Biscayne Bay.. and much calmer waters.
We made Miami , Pelican Harbor Marina by 5pm. Called the local pizza place and had pizza delivered to SeaVeyor... YUMMY...
The rest of the evening was spent getting ready for our guests that were flying down the next morning..
By coincidence, we met a couple back in Morehead City just prior to our leaving. We were held up an extra day due to weather. Robin and Debbie had seen the SeaVeyor at the Yacht Basin and wanted to know more about her and our cruising. We ended up having dinner with them and another couple the nite before we left Morehead. They were looking at different Catamarans for future purchase and were interested in what it took to actually "cruise".
We had hoped to meet up again with them at the Miami Boat show, but weather, schedules, just did not permit. Dwayne invited them to make a week long leg of our trip, from Florida to Georgia, to get a feel what it's like. Not a vacation, but a hands on move up the coast of Florida, averaging about 60 + miles per day... The week flew by way too fast. Robin and Debbie are naturals and were great cruisers. They participated in all aspects of cruising life... SeaVeyor had developed a shaft seal leak and Robin and Debbie jumped right on it( and it was the first morning of their arrival) The repair was made with SeaVeyor sitting in the water...What a crew, what a first day!!! We provisioned that afternoon for the upcoming week and left out the next morning. We had gorgeous weather with one little episode of rain the first evening... Our anchorages were Lantana, Ft. Pierce, Dragon Point, New Smyrna Beach, Fort Mantanzas ,and on to Beach Marine in Jacksonville. Due to time restraints, Robin and Debbie had to leave us there and head back to North Carolina by car.... We have definitely made new friends, they are Keepers.. and that's what cruising is all about!!