Day 10. April 17, 2019, Wed.

We had a peaceful if a bit chilly (55) night at Carolina Beach.  We got underway about 7am.  I went below to finish my morning sleep and woke up to lots of pitching and rolling.  I got up to find Lee had gone out in the ocean at Cape Fear River.  It was 10-15kts wind and almost on our nose.  He was trying to sail too close to the wind.  He had the motor running or we would have been making no headway.  I suggested he try tacking back and forth to get some wind in the sail and put out the main sail too.  That worked and made a much smoother ride but Lee was concerned it was taking us too far off the straight path to the Little River Inlet.  So after a couple more hours of pitching and rolling we took the sails in and just motored.  Unfortunately by that time the cat had gotten sea sick again and threw up.  Once we entered Little River Inlet I went below and washed dishes and started backing up things to take off the boat.

We left our truck in our driveway. But we live within walking distance of Cricket Cove marina so I suggested Lee drop me and the cat off at Cricket Cove where he planned to refuel and I would deposit the cat at home and bring the truck to Lightkeepers Marina so we could off load the boat.
I beat him to Lightkeepers Marina. We took one cart load of stuff off the boat home and while I sorted and put things away Lee went back to the boat to get more stuff and close the boat up.  We still have stuff to unload tomorrow but most of it is off now.  I am exhausted, can't speak for Lee.  The cranking on the wenches and pulling on the lines has my right shoulder sore, plus Kitty's constant meowing every few hours all night has left me sleep deprived.

Day 9 , April 16, 2019 Tuesday

We had a calm but cold night anchored near Camp Lejune at Mile Hammock Bay.  We shared it with 1 other boat. We got started before 8 in chilly but sunny weather.  There was lots of boat traffic today.  Looked like the light changed somewhere.  Got through 2 bridges, one just on time but the other we had to wait to get through.  We got to Carolina Beach before 3 and dropped anchor with 2 other boats.  It is calm and we expect it to stay that way.  All in all a pretty uneventful day.  I am out of cokes which is a minor catastrophe.  Be glad to get home tomorrow.

Day 8, April 15, Monday

Last night was a wild one.  The wind blew 20 to 33kts all night. Finally at 4 am in the morning the rain came.  It rained hard then things calmed down.  Kitty was upset by the howling sounds of the wind in the rigging.

We got off early as we knew today was going to be a long one.  I was out bringing up the anchor and rinsing off the chain as I took it up and noticed movement on the other sail boat that had been anchored when we came in Sunday evening. It was so run down and dirty Lee thought it was abandoned. But anyway I looked over and a buck naked man was coming up from below and headed to the stern where he squatted on a bucket.  I resumed my rinsing and raising of the anchor chain and when I looked back he was heading back below deck.  Interesting way to start the day.

The cat and I went back to sleep and Lee headed south.  Around noon I got up and took the helm while Lee ate and napped.   He likes it hot and hates the wind,  I like it cooler and do not mind the wind.  He had the front closed and it had dirt and salt spray dried on it and I could hardly see when I came upon a bridge which I was not expecting.  It was 4:25 and I called the bridge tender and he said it opened at 4:30 and I probably could not make it.  I said I would hurry and try.  I called for Lee to come up and roll the front panel up so I could see clearly and we actually got to the bridge as it was opening.  Good thing or it would have cost us a half hour.  We fought 20kt winds all day.  Part of the day the angle would have been good for sailing but the channel was so narrow it just was not doable.

We got to Mile Hammock Bay about 5:15 and there was only 1 other boat, large power boat, in the anchorage.  We dropped anchor and relaxed a while, and I fixed dinner.  It is supposed to be 40s tonight so we zipped everything shut and went below about dark.  We missed the cat and realized he must be up top.  To our surprise the had wiggled through an opening in the canvas and was out prowling the deck for the first time. He was looking over as if he was not sure if he wanted to jump ship of not.  Not wanting to fish a wet cat out of the water in the dark we called him back inside and below deck.  Winds about 10kt and looks like tomorrow will be a sunny day.

Day 7, April 14, Sunday

Today the boat show ran from 10am til 3pm.  The day saw some clouds and some sun. The crowd was fair until about 1 then started to dwindle.  I did some morning laundry and mostly stayed in the room.  Lee hung out around the boat. There was one interested couple that already sailed that were looking to up grade, but no one has made an offer.

We loaded the boat at 3 and were headed out by 3:15. Kitty knew something was up when we started carrying stuff out of the inn.  He hid under the queen size bed and we had a tough time getting ahold of him to get him out and on board. We left our water hose at the marina and forgot to refill out tanks before we left.  Hope we have enough fresh water to make it home.  It was pretty windy crossing the Neuse River to where we anchored. 20+kts the whole time.  The cat yowled and finally I could see he was about to be sea sick and took him into the cockpit where he threw up.  He had not experienced such turbulence before. Glad it was only an hour and a half trip.

The anchorage that had been so calm and peaceful on the trip up was now a rocking and rolling one. We bounced and the wind howled and it was anything but peaceful.  The weather said a storm front would pass during the night, with high winds and heavy rain so we knew what to expect.

Day 6, April 13, Saturday

Kitty settled in and was back to his normal charming self.  This was the only full day of the show and it was dreary all day, from about 2:30 on it rained pretty hard.  The morning crowd was much larger than yesterdays.  The broker thinks there may have been one couple that came on board, 40 minutes after the show was supposed to end, that were good prospects.  I didn't feel great so stayed in the room most of the day. Lee went over to the boat a time or two.  After the show he went to the tiki bar and had a drink with the broker and the Island Packet rep. then all 4 of us walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner, by this time the rain had slowed to a drizzle. Matt, our broker, came up to the room for a little bit after dinner.  Dufus the cat fell in love with Matt.  Who says cats are standoffish? Tomorrows show will be 10am to 3pm and it is going to be another dreary day. Depending on the weather, we may try to leave Sunday after the show ends.

Day 5, April 12, Friday

We slept like logs last night, both of us being exhausted.  The room at the Marina Inn has a balcony that looks out right over where Sea Turtles is tied up.  It has a small kitchenette and living room area with bath down stairs and 2 beds and 1/2bath upstairs. The cat had a ball running up and down the stairs for the first night.  He also thinks he is a coo-coo clock since he meowed every hour on the hour all night long.  He could not quite decide where he wanted to sleep either.  He will settle in but the first night in a strange place is an ordeal with him.

We got up and looked things over and realized that nothing was closer than 2 miles away that would have the few things we needed and forgot to pack.  Our broker was kind enough to run us to a grocery store to pick up some stuff.  There was a pastry shop across from the inn where we grabbed a danish for breakfast.

We did a little touch up cleaning on the boat ( as it is self dirtying.) Then went back to our room for a nap.  We could see the activity on the dock from our room and the line of flags the broker put up to our mast did get a lot of people to hesitate and look but it did not seem like many people actually boarded the boat.  2 couples came back at least twice. It only takes one, so we may get lucky and sell her.  The rep from Island Packet who is marketing the boat right beside us has been very helpful.  He only sells new but will point people interested in gently used boats that are IPs our way.

We skipped lunch and were walking to the restaurant that is with the marina to get dinner when we saw people setting up what looked like a buffet. We inquired at the restaurant what was going on and they told us they were setting up for the vendors.  That was us! We got free dinner. Good food too.   It was windy but sunny, not too hot not too cold, but tomorrow seems we will have some passing rain storms.

Day 4, April 11, Thursday

We didn’t get a log written for Thursday.  By the end of the day we were both too tired to even think about it.

We slept late because we needn’t be in a hurry to get on over to Oriental.  We started doing some of the cleaning.  The wind picked u some so we decided to go on and finish cleaning at the marina.  It was a short hop over and we were in the marina early.  The marina has fixed docks so it was hard tor us to get.tied up properly,  We are used to working with floating docks.  I have a definite dislike for fixed docks.  

We docked stern too.  Did I ever mention that sailboats do not like to go backwards.  Anyway we eventually got tied up and went about doing the rest of the cleaning.  Eventually Lynda decided that the boat would show better if it was in bow too so we turned around and retied.  

Lynda kept telling me that whatever I was doing was the wrong way.  I eventually strongly suggested that she go tp the motel room and commiserate with the cat while I cleaned the cockpit.  She eventually came back  and I went to the room while she finished the interior.  By the time she finished it was after time to go out for dinner so we had leftovers from the boat. All told, an edgy day.  

Day 3, April 10, Wednesday

Lynda is tired so it falls to me to write this evenings log.  It won’d be near as intereting as one the she wrote but . . . 

We had a long day planned today.  Sixty miles which is long for us.  We got a fairly early start except the anchor and chain came up with mucho mud. It took Lynda a half hour to raise the anchor while washing the mud off.  Didn’t want that on the deck that we spent two days cleaning for the boat show.  

The next bridge after the anchorage opened on the hour and there were five boats waiting to transit.  We still had 10 minutes to wait when a Coast Guard tug came through and the bridge opened immediately.  Seems commercial traffic gets priority.  The five boats strung out single file and three of the sailboats traveled together for a good part iof the day.  Eventually the lead boat’s engine overheated.  They pulled out of the channel and immediately went aground.  After a call to Tow Boat US they got towed into a marina.  

We spent a good part of the day transiting Bogue Sound.  The wind was blowing in the 20’s with gusts to 35 or so.  Created choppy waves the splashed over the bow.  The whole front half of the boat is now covered with salt crystals.  A job for tomorrow when we get into the marina where we have fresh water.

We passed through Morehead City which can be confusing if you haven’t been there before.  Luckly we have, so no problem.  On up the ICW for another 20 miles and to our planned anchorage.  We are in a creek that would accommodate 10-15 boats. Beautiful place and we are only sharing it with one other boat.  We had a great sunset.  That is one of the things I cherish about life on the boat.  

We will sleep in tomorrow, clean some on the boat and then on the the marina in Oriental.  We have reservations at the Inn there for three nights while the boat is being shown.  It should be fun checking out all the vendors displaying their wares. After the show we will start the 3 day track back to Little River.

Day 2, April 9, Tuesday

Got off at  7:30 uneventfully. There was a lot of black muck on the anchor chain. Even with the deck was it managed to bring lots of stinky muddy yuck on the freshly scrubbed deck.  Looks like we will be starting from sq one with the boat cleaning once we get to Oriental, NC.  We traveled about 44 miles today and stopped at Mile Hammock Bay near Camp Lejune. We are here with 5 boats.  Tomorrow should be a long day, 60+miles to the just short of the Nuese River.
Kitty did much better today.  He usually sleeps with me on his half of a king size bed, so finding space to get comfy in a 30" berth was not working out too well.  He must have come and tried 15 times, each time he woke me up meowing I should move over and give him more room.  Lots of luck with that. He did not cry and meow each time we swayed today and seemed to be much more relaxed that yesterday.  He may make a sailor cat after all. He ventured up into the cockpit once we dropped anchor and nosed around looking for a gap in the canvas large enough to get out of.  He did not succeed so opted for the highest point in the cockpit to survey his surroundings.
We had little off and on spits of rain but nothing big.  Maybe tomorrow we will get the rain that has been predicted.  Would help wash the deck if we got a good hard shower.

Day 1, April 8, 2019 Monday

Got gone before 10am.  All went well until we hit the current coming toward us and the wind at an angle that was not helpful for sailing. We slowed to a pitiful 2 1/2 its.   We put out the jib and got a little help but not much.  We arrived at Carolina Beach about 6:30 and I went out to drop the anchor.  The anchor windless would not drop the anchor.  We touched ground but not hard while we fought with the anchor chain.  It was rusty and seemed to be stuck in the gypsy.  After much fiddling and lots of rust dust we got the anchor chain loose.  We got off ground easily and made a circle and dropped anchor in about 8 to 10 ft of water.  We did not come as prepared as we usually do and now we are paying for it.
The kitty, who was a real trooper with the truck and travel trailer clearly is not a sailor cat.  He cried, meowed and generally fussed the whole day until he exhausted  himself and finally slept a while.  He would not come up to the cockpit and stayed huddled below complaining every time we encountered wake and the boat pitched or rolled.  I thought he would do better but I imagine this is his first and last boat trip.