Mon June 8: Battened Down in New Bern

In which we prepare to leave - again...

We are both sad to leave, now that we are finally having fun.  But the last 4 years have taught us (me especially - it used to be like turning a battleship around to get me to do a new thing) to be flexible and I will get to weed the yard.  Um - hooray???

While Rick went to get the one-way rental car, I went off to get an iced chai latte to cheer myself up.  I'm been conducting an informal experiment to see which town makes the best chai - and so far the Bear City Fudge Company in New Bern is winning.  This city does love their bear icons, so I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that 'Bern' means 'bear'.  At some point we will get around to reading the towns history.  But, since we paid for two months rent at the marina, we have some time.

Rick was gobsmacked that I could go into a fudge shop and walk out without any fudge.  I say it's good to keep him guessing and remain a delightful mystery.  Also, I didn't have enough money for chai and fudge.  As I may have mentioned, apparently NO ONE in NC is wearing a mask, so we are being very careful.

We have the task of shutting down the boat to a smooth routine, but that doesn't make it any less work.  Pack up all clothes, linens, pillows and things that need repair.  Pack any open food, empty refrig and defrost.  Check all lines and fenders, close through-holes.

The drive is about 8 hours, but goes quickly as we listen to a riveting audio book - Frozen in Ice.  It's both WWII mystery and contemporary treasure hunt, so everyone is happy.

Aside from being overwhelmed by the weeds, the garden looks happy to see us.  The boys living in the house less so, as we may interrupt their routine.

Amazing crop of clover!!!

So pretty much everything is status quo on the Atlanta home front, except this has me heartbroken:

Where will I get puzzles???  You may not know this, but puzzles are now like Dutch Tulip Bulbs were in the 17th century.  NPR Marketplace reports that sales of puzzles are up 370 percent!

And so we bid you audieu, Gentle Readers (all 4 of you!).  More adventures to come..... later.

XO
M&R

Sun June 7: Town Creek Marina to New Bern Grand Marina, NC

In which we leave with our fingers crossed...

I bet there were some hangovers out there fishing for marlin today - or maybe, since it was the ladies competition today, 1/2 the fishing population was sleeping it off.

We went up the Adam's Creek on our way to New Bern.  The cartographers have a very different definition of 'creek' then we do - it was a good sized body of water.  Peaceful tho, with just the average middle class helicopter:

And the 24/7 dredging crew who keep us boaters afloat.  Bless you guys/gals:

Then we turned up the Neuse River, which made me super happy as it was FINALLY SOME PLACE WE HAVEN'T BEEN BEFORE!...  And Rick got on the phone to 'work' as I negotiated this HUGE expanse of water that was all only 5 feet deep.  It's incredible to me that there can be water almost as far as you can see, and you could stand up in all of it.  I negotiated a bridge opening and then the thought of me docking by myself made Rick nervous enough that he got off the phone.

New Bern opens its bridge for Blue Horizon

This might be the biggest marina we have been in - and we needed to get rid of the 'black water' (toilet stuff) before we docked at our slip.  I was super anxious, but game, and maneuvered around lots of boats and into a slip - which I haven't done before.  And I thought it went great! Backing out - not so much.  Bear in mind I've never backed up before...  But I didn't run into anything and I only had to gun it to avoid a couple of things, and I can't help it if Rick's blood pressure is really delicate.

I turned the wheel over to the seasoned old salt, who was a bit off his game on arriving at slip 34, but we got there in the end.  Here's the thing.  Blue Horizon has been in this marina before. And the last time it was here, Sept 2018, it experienced Hurricane Florence.  And I am a very superstitious person.  So I am torn between 'yikes, this combination of boat and New Bern was a bad before' and 'there is no way this boat will experience a hurricane in New Bern again'.  All one can do is hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.  Just like in life...

And here is something to distract you from that worry - we have now pumped out the black water tank and NOTHING can go in it, yet we have one more night on the boat.  You figure it out.  If you guessed that I am peeing in the shower (sink and shower drain right into the water).......

Sat June 6: Mile Hammock Anchorage to Town Creek Marina Beaufort NC

In which I discover how much time there is in the day...

Oh..My..God...
I really wanted to see the sun come up and that fabulous moon go down, but it was almost more than I could do to get up.  Rick wasn't even up, and I can't remember when, if ever, he has gotten up after me.  But you know - there is a pandemic, riots in the streets and a lunatic in the White house, so clearly hell has frozen over and it is perfectly natural I should be up at 5:40am...

Goodbye moon

Hello sun

I remember thinking 'this better be one damn fine sunrise'.  The only other being up was a tugboat - I didn't even want to think about what time the crew got up because it might have given me an aneurysm.

It is really quite amazing how much time is in the day, if you don't get up at 11am.  Partly I wanted to see the sunrise, but also Rick had read that Camp LeJeune sometimes closes the ICW at 8am if they are doing live-firing exercises, so we needed to get out of Dodge so as not to get stuck.

You may remember that we vowed never to be on the water at the weekend, as everyone else is out.  But we have to get to New Bern so we can rent a car and get to Atlanta.  Rick has to work, remember?  Here is how that conversation went - if I can digress just a bit:

Rick: We have to go back to Atlanta because I got a consulting job
Me: Huh ----- I manage to work from the boat....
Rick: I need really good internet
Me: Uh-huh
Rick: Also I need to make phone calls
Me: Uh-huh
Rick: And I need reliable power
Me: Uh-huh
Rick: ..................
Me: .....................



A N Y W A Y - everyone was out on the water.  At one point I counted over 50 boats around us.

Partly it's weekend boaters, and partly it's that all the big fishing boats are headed to Beaufort for the Big Rock Marlin fishing tournament.  It's not a good time to stop there, but we have a soft spot for Town Creek Marina because it was our very first marina once our training captains let us loose in the world.  It was a VERY different marina then when we were here last year.  The sleepy little marina was hopping, with all the good ol' boys and their amazing fishing equipment.  Some of the fishing boats are just monsters.

While the party boat in front of us CRANKED the country western music (they are just boys with boats instead of trucks) we enjoyed a lovely Zoom Bradley Reunion with the whole Bradley side of the family - it's good to get us all together.  My father was in the hospital this week so we relish any time we get with him.

Bradleys!  Just missing William, who showed up a fashionable hour late.

It was quite a party on the docks, and so far no one in NC has worn a mask.  We tried to avoid crowds, and took a walk through town.

When we got back the party boat was still in full swing, with it's disco lights on - the tiny fish didn't seem to mind:

What is the point of paying so much money to have disco lights under your boat?!

The Trump flags made me kind of nervous, but they could not have been more delightful and wanted us to join the party.  As you know, we are just the embodiment of party people, so we went to bed instead.

Requisite sunset - blah blah...

This is a notable sunset in that it happened in the East.  We were so confused.  In fact, part of the day we were cruising south east in order to go north.  Now I hate geography as much as math.

Fri June 5: Carolina Beach Mooring Ball to Mile Hammock Ancorage

In which the military are hands off...


Here is my favorite way to be awoken in the middle of the night:  the person next to you sits straight up in bed and yells RAIN and then you both LEAP from bed to close all the hatches before everything is soaked.  Then that same person falls back to sleep as though he has been hit over the head, while I lie awake practicing deep breathing to combat adrenaline poisoning.

It was, therefore, a  LITTLE hard to drag me out of bed at daylight.  But cruising away from the mooring ball a big turtle in front of us lifted his head and gave us the a look (that I interpreted to be a wink) and dove.  He look so much like the turtles from Finding Nemo that I was immediately quite cheered up, and spoke in an Australian accent the rest of the day (it makes sense if you have seen the movie). 

Coming up on the Wrightsville Bridge Rick decided to really let his hair down and go for it, even though it was a low bridge (our height 19.5, bridge tide height boarding reading 16).  As usual I crept forward while he stood at the back to see if we were going to lose our Bimini top.  Turns out we are much shorter when the radar mast is lower.  He was so chill it was like he had been replaced by a Jimmy buffet pod.

Rick had chosen Mile Hammock for our anchorage, hoping it would be a good open location from which to watch the Strawberry Moon rise. This anchorage is part of the large Camp LeJeune marine base.  It's best to anchor far away from the boat ramp, in case they are doing night time 'amphibious assault training'.  We saw none of that, but did hear distant munition explosions.  We did have to go through the usual Pythagorean Theorem to anchor, tho.  God, I hate maths.

We set up our chairs facing east and prepared to be awed.

How cute is the co-captain?!

Not being, either one of us, known for our patience - soon we were wiggly and frustrated that nothing was happening.  To pass the time we sang all the songs with the word 'moon' in them that we could think of.  Several we had sung to the kids when they were little.  Suddenly Rick did a double take because the moon was coming up over trees in an entirely different direction.  It is a little hard, out here in the winding ICW, to have a very accurate idea of the compass points. The Strawberry Moon did not disappoint - but, as with everything on our trip, pictures just do not do it justice...

I realize that it is completely improbable that every time there is an amazing sunrise/sunset there is a picturesque sailboat there - but I swear that is really the case and I am not photo-shopping them in:

I was so moved by the moon rise that I agreed to get up in the morning in time to see the sun rise.  Who AM I and WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME...

Thurs June 4: A Carolina Beach Interlude

In which we need to be flexible...

I think this boat has some of Rick's DNA because she also believes in perpetual motion.  I swear it was like being at the Atlanta Cyclorama.  The scenery went by slowly in one 120 degree arc and then back again.  ALL DAMN DAY.

In the morning we went to town (not like that, have you MET us?!) for a breakfast sandwich.  We appeared to be the only people in NC wearing masks.

Then we took a heroic walk to Ace Hardware for shirts (no really - it has great stuff.  I bought my first and only pair of flip flops there last year and I LOVE them), Publix, ABC store, Subway and the 7-11 for ice.  So we did our part of the local economy.  We fit in five stores in a couple of hours.  We are hard workers...

This afternoon brought news that we are going to need to be flexible.  Rick has accepted a short-term consulting gig.  Which means we are headed back to Atlanta for a couple of months.  We felt down right whiny about it, but quickly realized that's a first world problem and that we need to have an attitude of gratitude.  We will get to New Bern and store the boat for two months - and then decide what is next.  We will still be able to have water-based adventures Aug-Oct so we feel lucky about that.

Don't despair - I've got a couple more days to write about!

I love this house - no one needs a house this big, and you would need an elevator to age in place - but it's just lovely

Just a reminder - Claire was a mermaid before they were a thing

Oh dear - everyone is all in on the sea puns...  It's funnier if you say it out loud.

Last minute additional photo - the moon is almost full!

Moon Over Mi-Mooring Ball

Wed June 3: St James Marina to Carolina Beach Mooring Ball

In which we are longer jaded...

We had a windy night at St James, but still slept well.  I guess we were feeling so confident that we didn't look too closely at the wind, current and tide.  So that bit us in the ass right away.  Pretty quickly we were in the Cape Fear River and it was a S L O G.  We were into the wind but against the current, and, as an open inlet to the sea, there was a ferocious current.  Faithful readers will remember that current against wind = WAVES.  It felt like someone was yanking the wheel from side to side.  I had to turn the helm over to Rick because I couldn't hold the wheel steady.  Neither could he, but he was strong enough to keep fighting it.  We didn't have very far to go, but at 3.5 MPH it took us sometime to get to the turn off into the Carolina Beach area.  Again, we learned a good lesson.  Because we hadn't checked the tides closely, when we turned into the Carolina Beach Harbor we were at low tide.  Coming around the corner (enough with the lessons already) we didn't anticipate the wind (I say we, but actually I did say 'careful that the wind doesn't catch us' which good/bad turned out to be correct) and it pulled us right into the shallow part.  There was a bump and we looked at each other - it was an unmistakable bump.  And, at this point, I feel I have to blame loyal reader Rick who, just the other day, said 'if you haven't run into the dock or hit the bottom you haven't really been boating'.  I know he was just cheering me up after the Terrible Horrible Very Bad No-Good Awful Dock Experience of the other day...  But maybe he jinxed us - or I did by saying the word 'jaded' yesterday.  Well - best to get it over with...

Rick was lightening fast to stop the engine, then he used the bow thruster to bump over to deeper water and gentle nudged us off the bottom.  It was actually quite impressive.  I mean, we have talked through what to do if we ran aground, but all of that info vanished completely out of my mind when it really did happen. 

Anyway - we picked up the mooring ball like pros, in spite of the wind.  I got us right on top of the ball and then Rick did a credible impression of a professional calf roper getting us tied off in the 1 second we had. He even threw his hands in the air at the end, and I could practically see the boots, spurs, hat and cowboy belt buckle.

The plan for dinner was the burrito place we went to last time we were here, but you loyal readers will remember that the dingy motor was out of commission.  Rick's complex plan turned out to be of the 'leave it alone and it will fix itself' variety - and, by golly, that worked out for him.  Motor started right away and off we went. 

Check out how hard his cheek muscle is working - no wonder the boat started!

We had a nice takeout dinner on the top of the boat, and watched all the party people doing the opposite of social distancing...

The almost-full moon came up to bid us good night.

Tues June 2: Prince Creek Anchorage to St James Plantation Marina

In which we see the dragon fly effect...

We hesitated to leave Prince Creek.  It seemed like such a world apart from all the terrible things happening - peace and nature, calm water, a nice breeze.  Oh - but also Rick.  Who believes that a moving stone should keep moving so that no moss is gathered.  Or something like that.  The critical underlying philosophy being perpetual motion.  So off we went...

Another plug for our cute logo, courtesy of our friend Nick!

Back out in the main water the flooding event was still happening.  Yesterday we had been in wilderness area, but today we understood why we needed to give off no wake.  For some houses a wake would be the final straw:

We came through the 'Rock Pile' that gave us such fits last year, and couldn't understand what was so stressful about it.  I was playing Two Dots on my phone almost the whole time.  Are we jaded already?  I'm not going to say that out loud.  Or even think it...

On this trip sometimes we are awed by the big majesty of nature - but sometimes it is the smaller things that move us

Due to the flood we moved at lightening (for us) speed again - at one point we saw 13mph.  That's like the MainShip version of Mock 1.  We got to our designated anchorage spot, Calabash, too early, and decided to keep going (Rick decided that - I decided to take a nap and hope that would arrive somewhere by the time I woke up.  I had had ENOUGH sun).  Rick convinced St James Plantation Marina to make room for us on a face dock and we turned off the engine around 5pm.  That is a long-ass day.  Just sayin.

Of COURSE there was no 50 volt power.  OF COURSE their restaurant was closed.  On the plus side there were some cute boats names, so it's all good.

Once upon a Tide
Yacht-sea
ReelLife

Mon June 1: Leland Oil Company Dock to Prince Creek Ancorage

In which we are part of a 'high-water' event.

Our destination was closer than usual so we got up at a leisurely pace (thank you baby jesus) and walked over the to Carolina Seafood Market.  Since we were docked with a whole fleet of shrimp boats, we felt we needed to support the economy.  Once there it became apparent that we were hungry - besides shrimp we bought crab dip and crab cakes.  Later we wished we had bought the shrimp dip also!  Walking back through the little town of McClellanville we felt far away from the world.  But, based on the number of small water craft pulling into the area last night, we are near more than we think.

This live oak is so big it's a three-swing tree!

Most of our day was spent on the Waccamaw River, which turns out to be in flood stage - maybe due the tropical storm.  Excellent - Rick had a new thing to stress about, because we are getting way too confident.  For us this meant that we kept our RPMs low to avoid sending any more water via our wake into the flooded areas.  It also meant that, moving with the flood tide, we were FLYING!

Rick gets some planks in

I hope this won't be us

The 'speed' was very exciting and fun, until we got to the designated anchorage spot - which happened to be on one of the wider flooded creeks.  We took one look at the giant flowing body of water (it is usually a small creek) and got out the charts.  Just a little further on I found us a tiny little anchorage in a narrow channel where it was totally still and calm.  It was sort of like being in the jungle - and just gorgeous.  To keep us out of the channel, Rick took down the kayak and tied our stern to a tree.  The trees are pretty accessible since the water is at least 15 feet further inland than the tree line.  It was totally silent except for owls, frogs and a possible alligator cough.  Probably not that last, but I closed the door to the swim platform just in case.  I think Deb would have been super spooked the whole night!

It might be one of my favorite anchorages!

Rick ties us to a tree - I'm hoping the gator won't get him

Now he is 'relaxing'.  We have very different ideas of what that means

It's almost a full moon

The moon is also in the water