Welcome to Bath

Position: N 35 28.552 W 076 48.973
Location: Bath, NC

It seems we've just broken our own already badly scored non-Khronicle-ing record. We started this one in mid-April and are just now getting around to sending it out. Sorry!!

As we were in no hurry to get to the Chesapeake before the end of April we decided to take a little side trip up the Pamlico River in North Carolina. Washington and Bath are two historical towns that we'd been wanting to see but somehow have managed to miss so far. It seems we've always been too busy or too much in a hurry passing through on our way north and south to take the time to go up there. So this time we decided to take a little detour off the Intra Coastal Waterway and do some sight seeing.

We arrived in Washington, NC on Saturday afternoon. The public waterfront was covered with tents! Turns out it was the last hurrah of a week-long bicycle fest (called “Bike NC”). There wasn't a whole lot going on as most of the festivities took place on Friday. But it was nice to see so many people in this small town and it was pretty cool watching the tents come down and the throngs melt away on Sunday.

Washington has several free docks, although the Rachels chose to anchor out, it being much quieter on the hook over the busy weekend. We had a really nice historical walking tour, a lovely chat with Visitor's Center lady and managed to recycle every bit of the copious amount of literature she provided us by returning it against her protests. Washington also has a nice, long boardwalk along the waterfront, great for boat and people watching.

Washington is bigger and we enjoyed wandering around, but we loved Bath, mostly (as always) because of the people we met. Bath is the oldest town in NC and, at it's biggest, had a population of around 350. According to a (new) local friend, the current population is 132. The state has kindly installed a dock there that is free for visitors to tie up to for 3 days, to encourage boaters to stop here and explore. Due to the size of the town everyone knows you are visiting and as we wandered around everyone we met said “Welcome to Bath”.

As you can imagine there isn't THAT much to do here. Our first day we went to the Visitors Center, which was closed, but true to form, we picked up a walking tour brochure and wandered around the streets checking out everything of historical significance. There are some great views of Bath Creek and the Pamlico River and lots of benches to sit on and enjoy said views.

The next day we found the visitors center open. There were 3 bus loads of school kids on a field trip, 6^th graders (age 11-12), with several demonstrations dotted around that we were encouraged to join in on. We saw sawing, rope making, toys, and quill pen demonstrations. The kids were having a lot of fun. We watched a film showing the history of the town and then wandered around again. Not sure of the order of what we did but we enjoyed personal tours (just us and the guide) of 2 of the historic houses for only $1 each per house – what a bargain!

There's a great little library with WiFi that was open every day we were there, surprising for such a small place. We went and hung out there one morning, as we had some internet business to take care of, and really enjoyed chatting with the librarians and other library patrons. Everyone was SO friendly. They made sure we didn't leave without giving us some paperback books (they were well aware that new reading material is very important to us cruisers).

Julie bought a birthday card but had to return to the boat to address it, not very forward thinking of her. At 6pm she realized we would be leaving the next day and it needed to be posted. Rather than walk the 45 minutes each way to the post office she tried to flag down a car to see if they would give her a ride. After almost getting run over and almost causing an accident she finally asked someone sitting on their porch if she could put it in their mailbox. “Of course, help yourself”, they said (not surprising since they'd witnessed her near-death experience with the traffic).

One afternoon we met and had a nice long chat with a nice woman out walking her dog. She had grown up in Bath and told us lots of stories about it and her childhood. The next day she came by the dock and invited us for cocktails at her house overlooking the river. During our visit she and her husband offered us the use of their spare vehicle for a day of sightseeing and to do any shopping we needed. Having already made plans to leave the next morning we gracefully (and gratefully) declined. But we were impressed. This offer served to underline the openness and generosity we found in these people in this small town “off the beaten path” in North Carolina. Needless to say, we'll be going back to Bath.

Be nice to each other and those around you,

Mark & Julie

Say Cheese!!

Position: N 30 46.005 W 081 28.307

Location: Cumberland Island, GA

We are often asked why we don't have more pictures on our blog. Perhaps we can help you understand....

We arrive in Cumberland Island, one of our favorite spots on the Eastern seaboard, in the late morning, looking forward to several days of walking the trails and enjoying the beaches.

Day 1: Off for a long walk with the camera and two of our friends, we dig for sharks teeth, walk through the forest and along the beaches. We see nothing outstanding worth photographing.

Day 2: Off for a walk alone. We forget to bring the camera so, of course, we see a big snake on the trail. Back at the visitors centre we meet the two friends we walked with yesterday. They take a picture of us on the patio and disappear for their own walk. Luckily they walk the same trail,  see the same snake, and get a good shot of it. “Want to trade pictures?”

Day 3: Off for a walk alone, this time making sure we have the camera. Right away we see some of the wild horses. Julie whips out the camera. However, it will only take ONE picture and then says the battery is dead. Sheesh. After that we see several deer, some wild turkeys gobbling and fanning their tails. That would have made some really good pictures.

Back to the boat and charge the camera battery.

Day 4: Off for a walk alone. We make sure not to forget the camera. Today we take the guided tour of the Dungeness mansion. We like to do these every time we visit Cumberland Island because we often get a different ranger with a different perspective and a different set of info. Today the ranger includes all of the crowd into her history of the island giving everyone a part to play and makes the history of the island come alive. Out comes the camera to take pictures. We notice it doesn't turn on. Yes, we have the camera but, no, we've forgotten to put the charged battery back in!! Doh. So suffice it to say the tour and following walk was lovely.

Day 5: With camera AND charged battery we take off walking up the main road. It's a dirt road that goes all the way from north to south, about 20 miles. After about 30 minutes we hear some rustling and a loud “SNORT” from the undergrowth right next to us. Julie climbs onto Mark and we see several wild pigs who are just as surprised as us, running around and looking at us. Then they all disappear into the forest. Of course it all happened so quickly and by the time Julie climbs back down to the ground it was too late to get the camera out.

So 5 good days of walking and exploring ends up producing only one (yes, one!) unremarkable picture of some wild horses. Unfortunately, this is not a rare occurrence for us. Sad, isn't it?  Thanks to the Internet we've been able to let you see what it might have been like if we'd had an operative camera with us....

At this time we'd like to express our appreciation to those of our friends who are willing to “trade” pictures with those of us who are a bit more photo challenged. You know who you are and we really, really appreciate it.

Cheese,

  

Mark & Julie

Wild & Wonderful

Position: N 28 40.160 W 079 59.932

Location: 30 miles east of Cape Canaveral, FL

The Gulf Stream is a strong ocean current. It rounds the west end of Cuba, follows the north Cuban coast then curves around Florida and heads north and then east across the Atlantic to Great Britain. It is wide and strong, sometimes moving at 4 knots or more, especially off the coast of Florida. We've talked about this before, but it bears repeating - the might of the Gulf Stream is not to be sneered at. On a good day we can be in the current making almost twice our normal speed. On a bad day if the wind shifts to the north and we have wind opposing current it can become a wild and crazy washing machine, swirling, twisting, and leaping. Or, to take aline from that old nursery rhyme, “When she was good she was very, very good, and when she was bad she was horrid!!”.

We had a good 3 day weather window to leave Miami and bypass the entire east coast of Florida to Cumberland Island, GA, one of our favorite stops. If the wind gods were in our favour we would have been able to complete the trip in about 48 hours. The forecast was for clear skies and east to southeast winds 10-15 knots for almost the entire trip – dream weather, for us.

Sunday morning we arose at 3:30am for one last weather check. Then we hauled anchor at 4am, as we wanted to get out of Miami at slack tide. There are 2 channels to get out of Miami, one is used by the cruise ships and the other is for everyone else. If there is no more than 1 cruise ship in the channel us lowly recreational plebs are allowed to traverse. Otherwise, for security reasons, we have to take the more southern channel.

As we headed toward the turning basin we saw only one cruise ship at the docks, so we decided to go ahead and go that way. It trims a bit of time and what the heck, since we could, why not? We got to the turning basin and the huge Norwegian Pearl was turning. Julie tried to call them on the radio to find out what their plans were but they didn't answer, so off we went around them and into the channel.

The ship finished turning around and we assumed it was heading out to sea so we slowed down and hugged the docks to let it go by us. But then it slowed down, too. What the heck? Then we noticed another big cruise ship coming into the channel from the ocean. Ooops!! Now there are two cruise ships in the channel – and we're no longer supposed to be in here.

The Norwegian Pearl called us on the radio and said they needed to get into their berth just ahead of our location. They asked if we could stop and let them pass around us. Of Course, we said, no problem. It would have helped if they'd answered our initial hail so we could have just headed straight out, but, oh, well. So we pulled way over to the side and had one huge ship passing us really close and the other passing him on the other side going in the other direction. At about 100 feet it was about as close as we ever want to be to one of these things. A very humbling experience.

When we finally got outside Miami harbor the waves were a little weird but after a few days of NE winds this was to be expected. We were not too worried, figuring that once we got out a couple of miles it would settle down. Well, not so much. The day was wild from beginning to end. There was just enough north in the wind to make the seas in the stream really rambunctious. Basically, we sat in the cockpit all day and got flung around with short choppy waves coming from all directions. Even Rachel just couldn't get into her usual groove. By 3pm we were just off the coast of Lake Worth when we decided we'd had enough and headed in to shore. We dropped the anchor south of Peanut Island, ate a scant meal, and went to bed exhausted.

Ever the optimists, we were up again at 6am the next morning, even though we were still really achy from our workout the day before. We checked the weather and checked the current wind at the offshore buoys and found it really was going to be E 10-15 today. Oh Joy!! We decided if we got outside and didn't like it we'd turn right around and come back in. We did not want another day like yesterday! We poked our noses out of the harbor. Hmm, no squirrely waves, no north in the wind. We just looked at each other nodded agreement. “Let's go for it”.

28 hours later we've had a lovely day. Reasonable winds, 2-3 ft seas, sun, no weird boat motion and...we're making just under 10 knots. We have a good 4 knots of current which means we can make the trip in just over half our originally planned time. Wonderful.

Most of the day we traveled north with a tug boat, named Sea Robin, with a long tow rope pulling a huge barge about a mile off to starboard. We thought it was weird as usually they blast past us. We figured he must have a really heavy load to be going only 10 knots in the Gulf Stream. Towards the end of the day he called us on the radio to see where we were going - he was going to Savannah, GA. He said “I've never had a sailboat travel at the same speed as me”. We laughed and thought “bet he doesn't ever tell his tug boat buddies about that!”

Feeling wonderful,

A few pictures from Miami/South Beach



49ers racing through the anchorage with Miami skyline in the background



Boca Chita lighthouse, Biscayne Bay

Interesting Art Deco hotels in South Beach

Julie's swearing - in

Just a quick note to let you know that Julie is now a US citizen, as of March 9, 2012. Her oath ceremony took place in Roanoke, Virginia. Daughter Charlotte and grandchildren Alex & Emma were in attendance.

Three Days Off

Position: N 25 47.344   W 080 09.419

Location: Miami, FL

When you live aboard a boat and are anchored somewhere warm and beautiful like southern Florida, it can be difficult to arrange some time off.  Every once in a while we just have to take a break from the hectic cycle of reading, relaxing in the sun, walking and shopping ashore, doing the occasional boat job, and almost nightly happy hours with friends.  It's a tough life and we've found the only way we can make time for some R&R is by being both patient and persistent. 

 
On Monday, with the wind predicted to be easterly and relatively light, we decided it was time.  It's only about 4 miles to the top of Biscayne Bay, so we headed down there to go sailing for a few days.  The warm weather, clear blue skies, and 9 – 15 knots on the beam all conspired to give us a beautiful sail down the bay.  Several other cruising sailboats and the Rolex Miami OCR regatta gave us lots to look at. 

The Miami OCR has “529 sailors from 41 countries on 354 boats competing in 10 Olympic classes and 3 Paralympic classes”.  We had to tack around a couple of the race courses (there were a lot of them out there) giving us the opportunity for some real close-up views of the action.  Very exciting and really, really cool.  Here's a link to more info about the regatta: http://rmocr.ussailing.org/

By 3pm we had dropped the anchor 2/3 of a mile east of Elliot Key, part of the Biscayne National Park system.  The wind had died down to almost nothing so the anchorage was comfortable even though we were so far out.  The day ended with a refreshing swim in the clear water and a romantic dinner in the cockpit watching the glorious sun setting with the tall buildings of Miami just peeking up over the horizon.



Rachel's waaaay out there



The second day (Tuesday) we were up and at 'em fairly early, taking the dinghy ashore to Elliot Key.  We love parks as the trails we usually find are a great way for us to get some much needed exercise.  The Elliot Key trails took us out to the ocean side and a lovely boardwalk, then back through the forest to the Bay side in a big circle.  We were the only visitors on the island the entire time we were there and saw many zebra longwing butterflies, dragonflies, lizards and a tiny snake.   There was some trash along the trail so we volunteered to go around again and pick it up as we went along.  The rangers really seemed to appreciate our help.

We got back to the boat in time for lunch then hauled anchor for another perfect sail back up the Bay.  We took turns reading and driving the boat, having another relaxing, sunny, and engine-less day.

Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park (wow that's a mouthful) is at the southern end of Key Biscayne.  There's a very protected basin named No Name Harbor where many sailors anchor while awaiting a weather window to the Bahamas.  We cruised slowly through the anchorage but decided it was a bit crowded for our taste.  So we dropped the hook just outside the harbor and enjoyed another perfect evening with a beautiful sunset.

We had a more leisurely morning on Wednesday, then dinghied ashore for more walking.  The state park has several trails and a big lighthouse so off we went exploring.  Unfortunately, the lighthouse was closed for tours but we wandered around the grounds and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  Apparently Key Biscayne was a major jumping off point for the Underground Railway during the civil war with escaped slaves making their way to the Bahamas.  We decided to come back again on a day when we CAN tour the lighthouse.

After lunch we sailed back up to Miami, once again dodging the races.  We got to see some close-up action with the 49er fleet.  These high performance boats have two crew, trapezes, lots of high-tech sail area, and are very exciting to watch.  Here's a link to a photo: http://www.sailing.org/images/galleries/10_MOCR_49er_Burling.jpg., better than any phote we would take!!  All that excitement made us even more glad that we were on vacation on Rachel, not racing, taking it easy, and letting them pass us. 

We're feeling rested and relaxed after our 3 days off, and are ready to dive back into laundry and boat jobs and more reading and …

Until next time...

Little Havana

 Position: N 25 47.344 W 080 09.419

Location: Miami, FL

A couple of days ago we purchased four day passes to the Miami transit system. Two for us and two for our friends Bob & Cheryl on “New Passage”. At $5 each, these passes are a bargain as they cover both transportation and entertainment in the form of bus and train rides around the area.

This morning we head over to Miami Beach and leave our dinghys locked to the wall of the canal. We get on a bus that takes us to the Omni Center. From there we hop the MetroMover (an elevated electric monorail train) to the Government Center. We then get another bus that takes us to Little Havana. We get off at 27^th Avenue and walk the 27 blocks down Calle Ocho (8^th Street) to 1^st Avenue.

Walking down Calle Ocho we are treated to the varied and wonderful smells of Cuban cooking and the rhythmic and melodic strains of Cuban music pouring out of the shops. Most of the signs are in Spanish, with the occasional English translation alongside. Electronics, grocery, and clothing stores, pawn shops, instant check cashing establishments, and myriad restaurants all conspire to remind us of our time in Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. Everyone speaks Spanish and some also speak English.

As we pass one shop, Julie notices some women's underpants with extra “bum padding” on display. We assume these are used the same way a padded bra is, except they make for a rounder, “perkier” bottom. Or perhaps they make long bus or train rides a bit more comfortable. Or perhaps they're for transvestites who desire a more “womanly” figure. Whatever their purpose, we are intrigued. Not intrigued enough to go inside and inquire or snap a photo, however, but intrigued, nonetheless. They become a topic of discussion for several blocks.

A short while later we find ourselves at the Maximo Gomez Park and Domino Club. The park consists of a covered pavilion containing many tables and chairs. Most tables are set up for dominos, but some are being used for chess, too. Lively games are taking place and there seem to be spectators at nearly every table. In retrospect, we wish we had asked if we could sit in on a game. Ah well there's always another day and another $5 bus ticket.

All the time we've been walking, we've been keeping an eye out for a reportedly fantastic restaurant we've heard about. We understand that it's inside a grocery store, is somewhere around 13^th Avenue, and one of the two or three words in the name starts with an “S”. Then we spot it right on the corner of Calle Ocho and 13^th Ave – “El Nuevo Siglo” (The New Century).

On entering, we find a comprehensive grocery store complete with butcher shop and bakery along the back wall, and a lunch counter with a few tables down one side. The smells coming from that side of the store are divine and we are inexorably drawn to the only empty table available. We look at the menu on the chalkboards and realize that, as the only gringos in here, we may be in over our heads. Then a very nice bilingual man appears with some menus in English and we get down to business. He describes each of the available dishes in delicious detail and we make agonizing decisions about which of these gems to try. He even brings over a sample of the “tasajo” for us all to test. Sublime. The orders are placed and we sit and chat amongst ourselves as our food is being prepared.

Julie and Mark split an order of “ternilla” ($7 - literally translated as “gristle”, but nothing like gristle in reality), a sort of beef pot roast w/ delicious gravy, and an order of “costilla puerco” ($6 - grilled pork ribs), also excellent. We also share yucca, fried plantains, bread, and black beans, and rice. These have got to be some of the best black beans we've ever had. Bob & Cheryl split an order of the “tasajo” ($10 – shredded marinated dried beef in a marvelous sauce) and an order of the “ternilla”. We all stuff ourselves full but not so full that we can't select a few awesome pastries to take home us from the bakery. As we roll out the door and continue our walk we all agree that this is some of the best Cuban food we've ever had.

Woohoo

We just heard from Julie's attorney that her citizenship application was approved.  We do not have any paperwork as yet but are thrilled and wanted to share.

Dancing with joy in Miami,

Chillin'

Position: N 27 09.212 W 080 11.715

Location: Manatee Pocket, FL

Hey! This waiting game is not as bad as we thought it might be! We've just spent 4 days anchored in Manatee Pocket, Port Salerno, near Stuart, Florida. There are a few other cruising boats here who we did not really know before. We've made new friends, had a dinghy raft-up happy hour, on New Years Eve, had friends over for dinner, and been to friends boats for dinner. We rigged Belle, our dinghy, to sail and spent 2 days sailing around the anchorage. There's an awesome little Mexican grocery, vegetable stand and restaurant close by..... and best of all we don't have to rush off to be anywhere.



Sailing our Trinka "Belle"



Julie's naturalization is still in limbo and we've resigned ourselves to be patient. We're still confident it will all work out fine, we just don't know when. That being the case, we've resigned ourselves to hanging around Florida for the time being. It's giving us the opportunity to explore places we usually rush by in our quest to get further South, and it's nice to not have a destination or an agenda. Sort of like being on island time w/o the islands....



The last cold front brought us temperatures in the low 40s and upper 30s – pretty darned cold for our thin blood! The story of our voyage south from the Chesapeake – hang out somewhere until it gets too cold, then move further South hoping to get warm again. We'll be heading out again as soon as it warms up enough to be out in the wind.

Chillin' and chilly

Merry Christmas

Location: Vero Beach, FL

For the last month we have been tootling around the north and central coast of Florida. We have enjoyed being more laid back and not feeling rushed. The weather for the most part has been great, shorts & T shirts, and sunny. This time of year lots of boats are heading south to the Bahamas and beyond and we've managed to catch up with many friends and get caught up on each others news. We've anchored in new places, Fort George, Fort Frederica, and some old places revisited, St. Augustine, the oldest city in the US, and Stuart. We've just generally dawdled, doing boat jobs and exploring along the way.

Julie applied for US citizenship back on June 1^st and we finally got her interview notification for December 22^nd in Fairfax, VA. This was what prompted the laid back dawdling. We wanted to leave the boat in Vero Beach and drive north for the interview, almost 1,000 miles each way. The good news was that we got to stop and visit family along the way.

Julie has been studying for the civics and history test and spent lots of time getting all the required paperwork together that she needed to take with her. Finally the day came she was all dressed up and ready. The interview lasted about an hour and a half and the fact that we were cruising on a boat didn't bode too well. The interviewer told Julie he would have to go over all the information she had given him and that she would be notified of the outcome by mail. No indication as to how long that would take. A bit frustrating but we're keeping a good attitude and thinking positive thoughts.

We're now back in Vero Beach for Christmas and deciding where to get next until we get 'the decision'

We hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year with family and loved ones. Today is our 10^th wedding anniversary, we couldn't ask for 10 better years than these.