Changes….    

 

Well they say a cruiser’s plans are made in Jello.  In the last few weeks we have certainly found this to be true.

 

We have been busy accomplishing tasks on the boat including getting the windlass rebuilt and working like new, rebedding some windows, painting the deck, putting an LED bulb in our anchor light, installing a new water accumulator tank and galley faucet (our leak is gone, YEAH), painting the inside of some of the lockers.  We have been enjoying all of our friends at North West Creek Marina.  Steve and Jenny came for a visit over Labor Day and we actually had a wonderful afternoon of sailing. But, it also seemed like every time we turned around we were spending more money.

 

When our youngest son, Brian, told us he no longer wanted to be in the Navy when he got out of college and was no longer in NROTC (which is what was paying for his education), it was time to evaluate our money situation.  We feel like we need to help Brian pay for his college expenses and we still want an arch and solar panels for Born to Cruise.  So after a couple of days of “what ifing” the only logical solution was to see how the job market looked.  We decided this on Friday night, Sept 7.

 

On Saturday, a quick internet search showed that contract positions were plentiful for those with Wayne’s talents.   Sunday was a rainy day, so Wayne polished up his resume.  By Monday morning, Sept 9, Wayne had applied for a few jobs.  By Monday afternoon Jake, a recruiter, called saying Wayne’s resume looked good, and they needed three references because he was a real good candidate for a position in Aiken, SC (near Augusta, GA).

 

Monday night Wayne called his three references to confirm it was ok to use them as references.  When he talked to his old boss at Progress Energy, Bhavesh, he agreed to be a reference.  But then he said that Wayne could come work for him.  Bhavesh had gotten approval that day to hire two contractors!  Wayne said to call him back when he knew more.  In the mean time Wayne emailed in his three references.

 

Tuesday Jake called back saying all the references spoke highly of Wayne and so Jake started talking numbers.  Bhavesh then called back with an “official job offer”, his numbers were a little low so he upped his offer.  Wayne said it sounded good.  Bhavesh asked if he could start MONDAY, Sept 17th!!!  Wayne said “sure why not”.

 

We finished up the immediate things that we were doing on the boat so we could leave for a week or two. We signed a year contract to keep the boat at North West Creek Marina so Born to Cruise would be safe as we became dirt dwellers for a while.  I made a reservation with an extended stay motel for a week, hoping we could find an apartment by then.

 

I packed up some food and anything in the refrigerator that would spoil.  We packed some clothes and were ready to go.  To add to the adventure, we first had to get our car.  When Jenny and Steve had visited over Labor Day, their car had broken down and no one was open to fix it on a holiday, so we let them take our car back to Charleston and we had Steve’s car.

 

So we left New Bern on Thursday morning, Sept 13th...

We met Jenny in Florence, SC, had lunch and got our car back.  We spent Thursday night with my parents. We sorted through the things we had in storage in their basement and pulled out things we had to take with us (Wayne's long pants) and set aside other things for my Dad to bring when we found an apartment.  It sure is nice to have Dads with  trucks!

 

Friday, after breakfast we headed to Cary. We looked at 5 different apartment complexes and found one we liked, behind Crossroads Shopping Center in Cary, that was available immediately, so we signed a lease.  I called Dad and ask if he could bring the stuff to us on Sunday that we had set aside.  He needed to rent a U-haul trailer to pull behind the truck, but if one was available he could be here around noon on Sunday.

 

We checked into the extended stay motel and told them our extended stay would now only be two nights.  I got the internet people lined up to come on Monday and washer and dryer delivery scheduled for Tuesday. 

 

Saturday we looked at a few cars and did not see anything we liked well enough to pay the price they were asking.  We went by Alltel and picked up a new phone for Wayne and extended the contract on our primary phone. Saturday afternoon Wayne's parents came.  The four of us had dinner with Brian and Almendra, who was headed to work, and the rest of us, Brian, Wayne's parents, Wayne and I went to the NCSU-Wofford football game.  NCSU won but they looked TERRIBLE.  It will be really sad when they play a team in their own division.  Wofford looked good but had 3 fumbles inside the 15 yard line that NCSU scored on, or Wofford would have won the game. Wayne's folks stayed with us that night. 

 

Sunday we took our stuff that Wayne's parents had brought from their attic and the stuff we had brought from the boat over to the apartment. We did not have anywhere to sit, so it was not any fun hanging out with us, so Wayne's parents headed home.  My Dad and brother, Stuart, showed up a little after noon.  We had lunch, unloaded the truck and U-haul and they were headed home by 2:30.  Almendra's birthday was the 7th, she is taking SCUBA through Peace College as a PE class, fun stuff, so we went to Down Under Dive Shop and she got her some dive gear as a birthday present.  Almendra's Mom wanted to sell her 1995 Dodge Caravan, so we went over to test drive it.  We bought it. It runs, the AC works, has new tires and was good deal.

 

Monday, Sept 17, Wayne went to work.  I worked on my resume.  My last boss, Connie, actually still had all of my stuff electronically.  I told her that I owe her lunch!!!!  So all I had to do was add my last job, my year sabbatical and a goal statement.  There was an ad for a job fair at a place just up the street.  I went and sat around for 30 minutes then they said the ad in the paper had the wrong working hours and we had to be available M-F 8am-9pm, no thank you.  It was a call center but was close so I would have considered it.  While running errands I found the reception on the new cell phone was CRAP.  I spent the afternoon waiting for the Road Runner guy to show up and looking for jobs. When Wayne got home we went to Alltel and exchanged the phone and updated our plan to more minutes and went out for Chinese. 

 

Tuesday, I waited for the washer/drier to show up and got the title and license for the van.  In between I filled out job applications online and made a couple of calls.  I seem to be over qualified for admin and that type of work and under qualified in the tech world.  Wayne will be working his old schedule with every other Friday off, so I would like to be on that schedule too.  If he does not work he does not get paid, so there won’t be much vacation time for the next 12 months or so.  The good news is after that we will be back on Born to Cruise with a much healthier cruising kitty and a new arch with solar panels and be off 7 days a week once again.  We are continuing to study Mexico, Belize and Guatemala for the 2008-2009 cruising season, so make your plans to join us!

 

This weekend we drove to Wayne’s parents and brought back a van full of stuff.  When we got home we picked up the futon that Almendra is loaning us.  I fixed dinner for the four of us.  After dinner, Almendra and I went to find some rugs and accent pillows.  I think we have been watching too much HGTV, but I must say it does tie everything together.

 

We will miss seeing everyone in the Bahamas this season, please enjoy it for us and keep in touch when you can. Wishing all of you fair winds and calm seas. 

 

Summer for cruisers is the time to make repairs, improve the boat, visit with friends and family and make plans for the future.

 

I am sad to say that Wayne’s Uncle David Poston died from lung cancer.  We traveled to Johnsonville, SC to attend the service and remember David with other friends and family.  We were happy that we had been able to see David the end of June.

 

We had a nice trip to Raleigh, Albemarle and Charlotte. We helped Brian and Almendra refinish a dresser.  It really looks good with its new finish.  Brian is working at a Cuban restaurant, so we enjoyed Cuban Sandwiches one day for lunch.  Almendra is managing Bullwinkles, we had a nice salad with Shrimp on it for lunch the day we went there.  We had a nice visit with Mom and Dad and of course took a few projects for Dad to help us with.  We also went to visit Gary, Jackie and Katie in Charlotte.  They have been “dirt dwellers” for just over a year now.  Gary is making beautiful furniture and Jackie has decorated the house and has been enjoying landscaping their yard.  Katie was happy to see us.  The kids next door come over and ask if Katie can come out and play.  Katie seems to be doing ok as a land dog but seems to miss all of the attention of her friends on the dock.

 

I have been attending the water aerobics classes at the pool 3 to 5 days a week.  Wayne is working out in the small work out room 3 days a week.  It has been hot and humid.  The air conditioning on the boat feels great!  We have put up our extra canvas awnings to create some manmade shade.  It helps.

 

Getting together with friends: The Wednesday night tradition of joining other boaters for Margaritas at the local Mexican restaurant has been revived.  This week there were 14 of us.  We had a nice evening with Jan and Ian from Jocks Lodge.  We first met them in St Augustine and met up again in the Bahamas.  Len and Bev helped us celebrate my birthday by joining us for a nice dinner out.  Mark and Sue from Patience and Paul and Barbara from Barbara’s Joy II were going to join us for a dinghy drift but with the 95 degree temperature we moved it inside and had a nice happy hour on the boat.  We had Dawn, the assistant dock master over for lunch one day.   It is fun talking with everyone about our adventures and hearing about what they have been doing.  We still have people we want to get together with Northwest Creek feels like we have come home.

 

We tested our dinghy.  It feels so big compared to the old one!  It is only 20 inches longer but that makes a big difference.

 

An update on our projects:

 

Wayne has spent a lot of time working on the windlass.  The first problem was the broken bolts.  Maxwell, who made our windlass, sold out to another company who no longer makes our model of windlass.  They also did not have the bolts we needed (the ones that hold the windlass to the deck).  Wayne found the closest bolt he could and modified the holes on the windlass and also the bolts.  It was successful,  the bolts worked!  He then found that the solenoid was not working.  We have ordered a new solenoid that will fit in the box.  Jocks Lodge gave us a solenoid that they could no longer use and we proved the windlass worked but we would have to get a new box to protect it from the water.  The new waterproof box costs more than a new solenoid.  We will keep the big one as a spare.

 

For my birthday present Wayne said I could order waterproof cockpit cushions.  We made a template and I have sent the specifications to have them made.

 

The water pump runs even when we are not running water, which means we have a water leak.  We determined the leak is in the faucet.  So we ordered a new faucet and Wayne is installing it today.  Keep your fingers crossed that this resolves the problem.

 

I have been slowly reorganizing the galley and salon lockers trying to find more efficient ways to store things.  It is a slow process, but I think things are improving.  I have also enjoyed reading quite a few good books.  I will finish Harry Potter this weekend.

 

We will go back to the Bahamas in January 2008, but next cruising season we are thinking about going to Mexico and Belize.  Would you like to join us ?.

07/08/07  Stono Marina to Graham Creek

 

We cast off Sunday morning from Stono Marina (St Johns Yacht Harbor) as planned.  The tides and currents were just right for us to leave at 9:30 to make it through Elliot Cut and request a 10:00 opening for the Wappoo Creek Bridge.  Several of our neighbors on the dock had helped us turn Born to Cruise (BTC) around on Saturday at slack tide, so leaving would be easier on Sunday.  Those same friends were there to see us off on Sunday and throw us the dock lines.  It was a little overcast with some drizzle but that helped keep it a little cooler.

 

It was great having BTC moving again.  The engines purred with their rebuilt injectors.  It was fun to cruise along the Battery where we had walked a couple weeks before.  We stopped for the night at Graham Creek.  We stayed at Graham Creek on the way south.  It was a good anchorage both times.

 

 

07/09/07 Graham Creek to Thouroughfare Creek

 

When Wayne was bringing the anchor up with the windlass this morning a bolt broke.  He did a temporary fix but this is not good.  This was our first morning using our deck wash down.  It was great!  The deck wash down is a pump that brings salt water to a hose on deck.  It is just like using a hose at your house but it has salt water so as the chain and anchor are brought up with mud on them it can be washed off.  We did not need it in the Bahamas with the pretty white sand.  Wayne got it working while we were in Charleston.  It sure came in handy with the black South Carolina mud that we brought up.  The old method is to use a bucket with a rope on it so you can dip the bucket in the water to fill it up.

 

It was an uneventful day on the water.  Very relaxing.  The currents were kind to us today thanks to some preplanning on Wayne’s part.

 

We anchored in Thoroughfare Creek.  Several friends had said this was one of their favorite anchorages.  As you go up the creek there is a hill that is sand covered that is a park where people bring their boats and play in the water.  You can anchor there but we continued up around the bend.  We anchored in the middle of the creek.  It was quiet after the ski boarders finished for the night.  There was less current here than in other SC anchorages, so we will stay here again.

 

7/10/07 Thoroughfare Creek to Calabash Creek

 

Pulling up the anchor this morning a second bolt broke on the windlass, we will not be able to use it until it is repaired.  We were thinking about stopping at Cape Look Out on the way to New Bern, but that will have to wait.

 

Today we were on the prettiest and the ugliest part of the waterway.  Both are in SC.  The ugliest section is what they call the “rock pile”. It is a fourteen mile long manmade channel that runs from just past Little River to Highway 501 in Myrtle Beach.  It is narrow and the sides are steep and rocky.  The prettiest part is along the Waccamaw River.  The trees are moss covered and wildlife is everywhere.  We saw an alligator (near red marker #50), lots of big turtles sunning themselves on logs, at least six nests with osprey and their babies, other osprey flying around, cormarants, gulls, and a few dolphin.

 

We stopped for fuel and water at a marina on the waterway.  It was an easy in and out which is always nice.  The rebuilt injectors have definitely improved our fuel mileage.

 

We have never anchored in Calabash Creek.  There is a lot of shoaling at the entrance, we saw 5’ and came in at midtide.  Wayne rigged the 55 pound Delta anchor on a rope with 20 feet of chain.  We like putting out 75 to 100 feet of chain when we anchor but pulling it up by hand, rope and a short chain would have to do.  There was a lot of traffic in Calabash Creek until dark, but then it was quiet.  There was also a lot of current but the anchor held well.  It was hot today.  I saw temps of 98 in the cabin.  We set up a wind scoop on the hatch window for the night.  With the fan and the wind scoop we slept ok.

 

7/11/07 Calabash Creek to Carolina Beach

 

Well, our timing was not so good today, we arrived at the pontoon bridge at Sunset Beach at 10:15 and it only opens on the hour.  We put the anchor down and Wayne pulled it up at 10:55.  But at 11:00 the bridge did not open.  When I asked why the bridge tender told us the tide was too low and he could not open until the tide had risen some, but he would open as soon as he could, even if it was not on the hour.  We reset the anchor prepared to wait for a long time.  At 12:30 the bridge tender announced on the VHF that the bridge would be opening soon so everyone could raise their anchors.  So Wayne went out and raised the anchor by hand for the 3^rd time that day.  It was another hot day with temperatures in the salon 97.

 

Our timing on the Cape Fear was almost perfect.  We rode the current and reached a new high speed of 10.2!!!   We arrived at Snow’s Cut around slack tide which is good. We anchored at Carolina Beach.  A thunderstorm came through just after dark.  We saw winds of 41 knots, but the anchor held firm.  The rain helped cool things off, thank goodness.

 

7/12/07  Carolina Beach to Mile Hammock

 

The storm from the previous night had caused the anchor to dig in, Wayne had a tough time pulling it up.  There was a lot of mud.  Wayne really appreciated the wash down pump. We had 3 bridges today and the timing on all of them was pretty good.  It was cooler today with salon temps only getting up to 88. 

 

For those of you who read about our travels south you know we spent two days at Mile Hammock because we were aground, we were careful to anchor in deep water today.  Actually the experience at Mile Hammock taught us two anchoring lessons 1) always circle your anchorage checking all depths and 2) know your tides. 

 

7/13/07 Mile Hammock to Cedar Creek

 

There was only one bridge today.  We enjoyed the sights along the Swansboro, Morehead City and Beaufort shores.  We decided to bypass the anchorage in Beaufort and go up Adams Creek all the way to Cedar Creek, which would leave us a 4 hour trip to New Bern on Saturday.    About a mile from Cedar Creek we had to pass a LONG barge being pulled and maneuvered by 3 tug boats.  It was a quarter mile long.  Just as we were beginning to pass a thunderstorm came through creating almost white out conditions.  We had to anchor while it was still raining but it had slowed to a drizzle.

 

7/14/07 Cedar Creek to North West Creek Marina

 

Today was an easy trip up the Neuse to North West Creek Marina (NWCM). There was no wind so we motored.  Getting back to NWCM was like coming home.  We are in a transient slip at the end of the A dock.  We will be here for 2 months.

 

When we walked up to the lounge area it took us 3 hours to get back to the boat because we were talking to so many people.  Len from Louie Louie came back to the boat with us and spent the rest of the afternoon.  We went to dinner with Len and Bev at Big Apple.  It was great catching up and seeing so many friends.

 

We enjoyed the trip up the waterway.  We found the water to be very shallow along the way and will plan to go through certain areas only at high tide.  North Carolina needs to do some dredging.

 

7/15/07 Catching up with friends

 

Today we spent catching up with friends and resting.   We took a 1 hour and 15 minute walk in the morning.  It felt good to be walking again.

 

7/16/07  Trip to Charleston to get the car      

 

Len picked us up at 7:00 and the 3 of us headed for Charleston to pick up the car.  We made good time.  We had a good lunch at Salty Mikes on the Charleston Waterfront, picked up the car and drove back.  We switched off drivers so everyone took turns.  Bev met us at Cerro Grande for dinner at 7:30.  So down to Charleston and back including lunch and gas stops in 12 ½ hours, not bad….but it was a long day.

 

7/17/07  NWCM

 

We walked an hour and 5 minutes then rested for the remainder of the morning.  Our afternoon was spent going to Walmart and West Marine.  Wayne also helped Len replace several fuses in his car.

 

7/18/07

 

We walked for an hour today.  Wayne took the windlass apart today and thinks he just needs to replace the broken bolts and it should be ok, which is great news.  I made granola.  We joined the recreation center in the parking lot of the marina.  They have an indoor and outdoor pool, a workout room, and a game room.  We enjoyed an afternoon dip in the pool.

 

7/19/07

 

I attended the morning water aerobics class while Wayne went to the workout room. Today was laundry day. Len came over and Wayne went up the mast to look at the anchor light and bring down the wind indicator.  We are going to put LED lights in the anchor light which will save lots of amp hours when we are at anchor, but we needed to know what brand of light it is.  The wind indicator was showing the wind speed but the wind direction was not working.  After taking it apart Wayne thinks it can be fixed.  Ed and Pat from Crystal Dawn stopped by for a visit.  The last time we saw them was in Marathon when they surprised us with an anniversary dinner in January.  Crystal Dawn has a new engine and is getting ready to spend next winter in the Bahamas.

 

Summary:  From the time we left NWCM  October 30, 2006 until we returned to NWCM on July 14, 2007 we put over 2900 miles under our keels. It is nice to be back at NWCM for a while and see all of our friends.  Our list of boat projects is longer than the time we have available to do them all. But we will get priority things done what we can of the rest and if we don’t get it done it can wait until we do have time.  To answer your question, yes we love cruising and living on the boat and we are both ready to go back to the Bahamas for our second season.

 

  

 

Another 2 weeks have flown by.  We have continued our walking program.  On the weekends the entrance gates are closed at the neighborhood we walk through.  Saturday, June 23^rd we decided to walk along the Battery and in the surrounding neighborhood.  There was a sailboat race in progress just off the Battery, a smaller class boat, there were over a 100 of them!  The neighborhood around the Battery is all old homes.  Most have been restored with gardens you can see through the fences.  We also walked in the two parks along the waterfront.  We stopped in a few of the shops and quickly found they are priced for the rich tourists who come to the area.  Sunday we went to the Cawcaw Interpretive Center and Park which is another of the Charleston County Parks.  The park is on an old rice plantation.  They have a butterfly garden, marsh land and woods, so there are many varieties of birds.  Wayne looked hard, but we never saw any alligators. They have guided bird walks twice a week.  We had a picnic lunch and took another short walk after lunch.

 

Our weekdays are spent walking, doing odd jobs around the boat, and shopping for food and parts to do the odd jobs.  We put the registration numbers on our “new dinghy” so it is now legal.  We had our last yoga class.  Yoga really helps stretch you out and makes you feel really good when you are done.  We hope to continue doing yoga with a DVD as our teacher.

 

We found a boat consignment shop in North Charleston on River Road.   They have furniture and boat stuff.  It is called Bargain Mart.  The owners are friendly and we found several things we needed.  One of the boat projects was to find a different way to haul up the dinghy.  The davits have a cable that gets tangled, so Wayne bought blocks and we now have block and tackles hung off of the davits to lift the dingy.  This new arrangement will also allow us to lift the dinghy with the motor on it.  Being able to lift the dinghy with the motor on it will be nice when we are in an anchorage and will be using the dinghy the next day.  When underway we store the motor on the back rail.

 

We had filed an extension for our 2006 taxes.  Wayne finished the form for the accountant and we mailed needed information.  The good news is we will get a refund, YEAH !!!

 

June 30^th we attended the 70^th  birthday party for Wayne’s Uncle Jerry.  Jerry is Wayne’s Dad’s youngest brother. It was a covered dish lunch with 50 in attendance.  There was enough food that we stayed and had supper too.

 

Sunday we joined the birthday boy and his wife Nancy, Aunt Virginia (Sis) and Wayne’s parents for breakfast.  After breakfast we drove from Charleston to Piedmont for a visit with Wayne’s parents.  Monnie and Papa (Leta & Paul) have a July 4^th  picnic every year.  When Steve was around 9 years old he wanted to make a rocket.  So he and Papa made a rocket and shot it off on July 4^th.  It has been a tradition ever since.  Whatever ‘kids’ are there for July 4^th make a rocket and there is a competition to see whose rocket will go the furthest.  This year Brian and Almendra and Harrison and his girlfriend, Stephanie all made rockets.  Brian’s rocket went the furthest and Harrison’s went the highest.  Almendra and Stephanie both had great rockets for their first time in the competition. Leta’s sister Betty and her family are a part of this July 4^th tradition.  So Betty and Harold, their daughter, Katie, her husband Chris and their daughter Kayla who turned 1 on June 30^th were all there.  Betty makes peanut butter ice cream and Leta made her fresh peach ice cream.  We started back on our diet July 5^th!!!  We headed back to Charleston after lunch on July 5^th.

 

We are getting ready to head north.  We have been to the grocery store several times to get provisions.  Today we took Jenny to lunch and then she took the car.  She will keep the car for us until we can come down and pick it up.  Steve will be coming back from Japan July 21^st so he will come by on his way south and pick us up so we can get the car.  It works out well.

 

So Sunday morning we are casting off.  The tides and currents are right for us to leave around 10:00 to make it through Elliot Cut and the Wappoo Creek Bridge with everything in our favor.  We are not in a hurry, so we will plan everything around favorable tides and currents as we make our way up the ICW.  While we are underway we will be updating our position report every day.  

 

Charleston has been a nice stop but Wayne and I are both excited to be getting underway.

 

 

The smart alternators are installed and working!  While in idle they are each putting in over 70 amps.  We are glad Wayne was able to do the install as it was a slow process.  This was our biggest project for the summer so we are happy it is complete.

 

We are still walking every day and going to Yoga on Tuesday morning.  We have one more Yoga session in our Beginners Class.  We both think we are more limber.  I have also been trying to get in extra sessions during the week using a DVD as my instructor.  Sunday we walked in the James Island County Park.  It is a really nice park with over 4 miles of bike/walking/jogging trails (we walked them all).  They also have a camp ground, water park, dog play area with pond access, shooting fountain area for the kids to run through the water, bike/kayak/paddle boat rentals, picnic tables and shelters.

 

We are really enjoying watching the birds and the wildlife on our walks.  This week with the high tides and the rain, the marshes were really wet.  We saw 9 white herons in the marsh.  We also have several green herons that hang around the dock.  They like to stand on our dock lines and look for little fish in the water.  The “land” between the dock and the parking lot is marsh with a mud base.  There are thousands of little crabs that are exposed when the tide is out.  There are bigger crabs too but they hide when the tide goes out.

 

Wednesday the 13^th after our walk and lunch we drove to Albemarle, NC to see Jill’s parents.  It is a 4 hour trip, and we arrived just in time for dinner.  Thursday, we had eye doctor and dentist appointments.  We were happy that we had no cavities and insurance covered our visits.

 

Friday, we drove over to Raleigh.  The original plan was to help Brian move.  After Brian checked out the apartments available in his price range, he decided he would stay where he was.  We took Brian and Almendra to lunch at Baja Burrito which is one of Jill’s favorite lunch places in Raleigh.  Almendra had to go to work.  Wayne and Brian were able to get Brian’s car started and looked at the leaking washing machine.  We were able to get the NC inspection sticker on our car to replace the one that was on the broken windshield and also get our new dinghy registered.  Brian got his car inspected while Wayne got the oil changed in our car.  It was a busy and very productive day.  The four of us went out for a nice dinner at Cody’s Chinese Bistro then Wayne and I drove back to Albemarle.

 

The last time we were in Albemarle I had given Dad dimensions for shelves I wanted built for our forward head.  He had them made and ready for me to paint.   They are just what I wanted and will be a much better use of the space.  For those of you who visited this year, you will we happy to know you will now have a place to put you toiletry bags.

 

While I was painting, Dad and Wayne worked on other wood working projects for the boat.  Wayne and I also repacked and sorted some of the boxes we had stored in the basement. We pulled out a few things for us and some for Brian and threw some things away.  There are a few less boxes now.

 

Saturday evening, we joined Mom and Dad for their monthly trivia game.

 

Sunday Brian drove to Albemarle to pick up the stuff we had pulled out for him and to join us for lunch.  My brother, Stuart, also came for lunch and brought fresh vegetables out of his garden.  He gave us cucumbers, squash, spring onions, radishes and a pepper.  Fresh veggies straight from the garden are always so good.  We drove back to Charleston Sunday afternoon.

 

The new shelves in the forward head fit well and are already full!  They hold more than I expected, which is great.  Wayne finished the alternators, added the center fielder and added labels to the wires.  Wayne also installed a new 12 volt socket in the galley.  Today we equalized the batteries.  Wayne can explain this to you if you are interested.  My understanding is that as we use the batteries and recharge them they get a build up on them, this process burns off that build up and helps them to last longer.  This also makes them work better with the Heart Interface.  This is also something we can check off the to-do list.

Another week has flown by, we cannot figure out where all the time goes!

 

It has been a HOT week in Charleston, the temperatures have been over 90 all week with heat indexes in the low 100’s !  We sure are glad we have air conditioning!  However with no insulation in the boat the AC can only do so much, so our inside temps are still above 80, but it feels ok because the humidity is reduced.

 

We have continued our walking program this week and try to go as early as possible in the morning, which seems to be about 9:00.  We alternate between two routes, one is 3 miles and other is about 3.25 miles, both take at least an hour.  We take water bottles but still come back hot. 

 

Wayne has been installing the new alternators.  He is making good progress.  While he has been doing his installation he also removed wires that were abandoned in place by the prior owners.  This included tracing the wires out to be sure they were no longer needed and labeling them as abandoned.  He did the starboard side first, the port engine does not seem to have as many extra wires, so it should be an easier install.  Our new “smart alternators” will charge the batteries while we are motoring.  To be sure the alternators work together Wayne is putting in a centerfielder which allows them to talk to each other.  He is connecting them to monitors so we can see how many amps they are adding to the batteries.  As you can tell Wayne is the expert on this and I am just explaining it as I understand it.  The bottom line is this will mean we do not have to run the diesel generator as much. YEAH! If you need more technical information you can talk to Wayne.

 

While Wayne has been doing all of this I have been trying to give our webpage a new look.   Since it has been so long since I have done much with it I am trying to relearn how to use the editor.  I have made some changes to the home page and will work on the other pages this week and try to add more pictures on Google.

 

The new alternators did not fit on the old brackets.  We spent several afternoons looking for new brackets, with no luck.  Thursday Wayne asked the guys in the office here at the marina if they knew of a place we could possibly have them made.  Reggie said he could try to bend them.  Reggie put them on the vice and bent them and it worked!  They fit!

 

A couple of years ago Wayne’s sister, Annie, gave us yoga mats and a great yoga book.  She loves yoga and thought it would be a good way to stay fit on the boat.  We had not done much with them.  We ran across an ad for an introduction to yoga class.  The price was reasonable and the studio is close by.  We signed up.  There is one class a week for 4 weeks on Tuesday morning.  Our first class was this week.  They start from the beginning with the very basics and build on it.  We both enjoyed the class.  I bought a DVD and have done another session this week.

 

In the afternoons we seem to go shopping for one thing or another.  We are getting spoiled by having everything so convenient to us here in Charleston.  Publix has become our favorite grocery store.  There is one Whole Food in the Charleston area, so we were able to restock on one of Wayne’s favorite snacks, banana chips.  We went to Harbor Freight this week and also found a local dealer that sells the sealant we need to rebed the windows.  There is a nice hardware store on James Island, it is not as quaint as Mitchells in New Bern, but carries the same hardware items.  It is really nice to be able to get reasonably priced boxes of stainless steel screws.

 

Thursday was Jenny’s birthday.  We took her out for a Mexican dinner.  I mentioned to the waiter that it was her birthday.  He and the other waiters sang “Feliz Cumplianos”, while we accompanied on maracas, tambourine and a wooden noise maker (not sure what it is called).  They also gave her a complimentary piece of flan.  We all enjoyed our meal and had a good time.

 

Steve came to Charleston again this weekend.  He and Jenny came over Saturday afternoon.  Wayne showed Steve how to add coolant to his car AC. We had a nice dinner of steamed shrimp, homemade crab soup, salad and strawberry short cake.  After dinner Steve and Jen took a ride in the kayaks.  There is a nice creek to kayak in, when it cools off some Wayne and I will try it. It was fun to spend some time with them.

 

Today I am doing my journal update and Wayne is finishing up the installation of the alternators.  The neighborhood we walk in is gated and they lock the gates on the weekend. We managed to get in yesterday but thought there would be less traffic today and we might not be so lucky, so we skipped our walk this morning. The City of Charleston has a lot of parks with walking trails.  We are going to go to one this afternoon and check it out.  It is a little cooler today and hopefully the trails will be shady.

5-21-07    - 5-26-07  Steve’s graduation          

Monday, the 21^st we made the long drive from Piedmont, SC to Fairfax, VA it was about 500 miles.  It was thankfully an uneventful trip.  Stan is changing jobs within the same “Company” and had taken two weeks off between his two positions.  He had prepared a nice meal for us including, one of my favorites, BBQ chicken on the grill.

 

Tuesday, the 22^nd was a busy day.  The schedule of events for graduation week included dress codes for each event.  Today we went to the family picnic.  The picnic was BBQ sandwiches, hot dogs, chips, cookies and drinks out on Hospital Point. After the picnic we watched the Blue Angels rehearsal from the bleachers near the track. After walking to the house we rested for a few minutes then changed to dresses for the ladies and coats and ties for the guys to attend the Superintendents Garden Party. Kris (Steve’s Mom) had rented a house just outside of gate one of the Academy.  We all used the house as a home base during the week. It was great to have a kitchen as well as a place to rest and change clothes.  Many people in Annapolis rent out their homes for the week of graduation.  The homeowners make a little money and it is really nice for families coming into town for the week of graduation events.

 

The Superintendents Garden Party is quite an affair.  (The brigade is divided and there are actually 3 Garden Parties held). The graduating midshipmen and their immediate family are invited. Steve’s immediate family included Jenny, Kris, Jill, Wayne and Wayne’s parents.  Everyone enters through the front door and follows a receiving line of officers through the parlor, Florida room, music room, formal dining room and then down stairs and out into the Garden. The Garden is a well manicured lawn that is nicely landscaped including lots of flowers and paths. They had an ice sculpture of 3 foot tall block letters spelling out “USNA 2007”. There were three tents set up with buffet lines, one Italian, one Mexican and one with Seafood.  They had wine, beer, soft drinks and water.  The famous USNA ice cream cart was also on hand.  There were chairs and tables under 3 tents and other groupings of chairs throughout the garden.  We enjoyed talking to Brian Maxfield,  (one of Steve’s roommates and a groomsman for the wedding) and his family and also Dean Miller and his wife. The Superintendent and his wife had a separate receiving line. We shook their hands as we were leaving.  Four of the Blue Angel Pilots came by so people could take their picture.

 

Wednesday, the 23^rd   Wayne’s parents stayed in Fairfax with Stan for the day.  Wayne and I drove over to Annapolis for the Blue Angels demonstration.  Brian and Almendra had driven up Tuesday night, so Steve’s group was still 7 members today.  For the Blue Angel Rehearsal Wayne and I had both taken lots of pictures, some just were pictures of the pretty blue sky because the planes were faster than we were, but we also had some good shots of the planes.

 

We walked over to Fawcett’s, a local boat supply store, and bought a new Waterway Guide.  Our old guide was a 2000 edition.  The guide is a listing of places boaters need to know about along the waterway including marinas, boat supply stores, businesses who work on boats etc.

 

I made tacos for everyone at the house for dinner.  Steve and Jenny enjoyed a dinner together and went out to one of their favorite places in town.  Tonight was the Graduation Ball.  Kris, Brian, Almendra, Jenny and Steve all went to the ball.  We stayed long enough to take pictures of everyone all dressed up, then we headed back to Fairfax.

 

Thursday, the 24^th.  The event for today was the Electrical Engineering Awards Reception.  Steve graduated with over a 3.0 average, so we are very pleased.  Several awards were given then Steve took us to see their senior project.  The class was divided into teams of 3.  Each team was to design an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Robot.  Each team was given a budget to come up with the best design.  This was the first year for this project. The designs developed this year will be refined next year and eventually the best design will be put into production.  These remote controlled robots will replace the soldier you see in the field with a hand held mine sweeper.  We arrived in town before the ceremony with enough time to stop by Bacons, which is a used boat stuff consignment shop.  We were pleased to find several items on our “to-be-purchased list”.

 

Friday, the 25^th. Graduation Day.  Stan and Diane joined us for Graduation Day so Steve and his family were now 11 strong.   Graduation takes place in Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.  The weather cooperated and gave us a beautiful cloudless sky with temperatures in the mid 80’s.  There are tickets for entry into the stadium but seats are on a first come basis. Kris, Brian, Almendra, and Jenny were already seated in the  stadium when we arrived at 7:30.  We joined them to await the 10:00 ceremony.  The band started playing around 9:00.  The midshipmen were all seated before the 10:04 Blue Angel fly over with 6 planes in formation.  Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense, the commencement speaker, gave a short inspirational speech.  Dean Miller proclaimed them graduated.  They were commissioned.  Then each of the over 1000 names were called and they walked across the stage to receive their diploma and be congratulated.  After a few other comments and the singing of the Blue and Gold, it was time for the hat toss.  Wayne got a great picture of the hat toss.  

 

After the hat toss the newly commissioned Navy Ensigns and Marine 2^nd Lieutenants were dismissed.   The next tradition is for the parents to put on the Ensigns shoulder boards and give them their new hat.  Kris and Wayne put on Steve’s new shoulder boards and Jenny gave him his new hat.  Brian who was in his summer white Navy ROTC uniform was the first to salute Steve.  Tradition is for the new officer to present the person who gives him his first salute a silver dollar.  Almendra, in her Army  uniform, gave Steve his second salute and was also presented with a silver dollar.

 

We went back to the house to have brunch and rest.  Then we all went to dinner at Chart House, which was a nice end to a great day.

 

Saturday, the 26^th we had a safe return drive to Piedmont, SC to Wayne’s parents home.

 

Sunday the 27^th we attended church and rested

 

Monday the 28^th Happy Memorial Day, we returned to Charleston, it was good to be home.  We spent a lazy afternoon and watched the 1^st Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

 

Tuesday, the 29^th  Wayne finished sanding the aft head wall and I put on the first coat of paint. We needed to stock up on fresh produce so we went to Walmart on our way we stopped by the marina office to let them know we will be here until after July 4th.  Our new center fielder (to control the new smart alternators) had been delivered to Jenny’s so we stopped by to pick that up. We also watched the 2^nd Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

Wednesday, the 30th We have not been getting enough exercise so today we started a walking program of at least an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening with a goal of 5 to 7 days a week.  There is a really nice neighborhood near the marina called Headquarters Island. Looking at all the nice homes makes the hour pass quickly.  After lunch we went to the matinee of the 3^rd Pirates of the Caribbean.  We still like the first one best.

 

Thursday, the 31^st  The Stono is a fast moving river.  When the water moves quickly which is like adding fertilizer to the  growth on the bottom of the boat.  We had a diver come in today and clean off the bottom of the boat, it will help the paint last longer.

Unfortunately on one of our trips down I 26 a rock hit our windshield.  Today they replaced the windshield.   Our new smart alternators had arrived so we stopped by Jenny’s to pick them up. (We appreciate Jenny letting us use her mailing address as our ship to address !)  We stopped by Sams.

 

Friday, June 1st – Happy Birthday to Harrison, our nephew and one of our favorite crew members!  I finished painting the aft head wall and it looks so much better.  To make painting & sanding easier, Wayne had taken down the ceiling and wall panel which included the overhead light, so today he put those back up.  Wayne picked up the Yanmar parts we had ordered, while I made fish curry.

 

Saturday, June 2^nd  - Steve drove to Charleston for the weekend.  Steve’s summer orders have changed several times.  The final result is he will be in Annapolis until June 23^rd when he leaves for Japan.  He will return from Japan the last week in July and have 31 days of leave.  After his leave is over he will do “home town recruiting” in Charleston until sub school starts on October 31^st.  He and Jenny are getting married October 27^th here in Charleston and will take a honeymoon in the spring when Steve gets a break. 

 

Steve and Jenny came over for an early lunch.  We had fish curry with rice and pepper sauce, salad and key lime pie.  We were also able to give Steve his graduation present. They had a busy day planned, we were glad they could spend some time with us.

 

After Steve and Jenny left Wayne put up the new shelf in the aft head.  The shelf is a place for us to store hats.  We have quite a hat collection.  We also watched the newest James Bond movie Casino Royale.  Tropical Storm Barry came through giving us winds over 30 and we are guessing about 5 inches of rain.  We discovered that rebedding the windows needs to move to a higher priority on the to-do list because many of them are leaking.

 

Sunday, June 3^rd  It is an overcast day with showers and wind gusts every now and then from Barry.  Wayne is installing the new alternators and I am writing this update to the journal.

 

5-11-07 to 5-18-07  “Home Improvement Week”

 

5-11-07   Dinner with Jenny and the midshipmen

 

While Wayne cleaned the back deck of  the boat and installed the new version of Quicken I made Lasagna, Keylime Pie and Caesar Salad.

 

Thursday Steve spent the day with his Mom, Happy Birthday Kris !  Friday he drove from Columbia to Albemarle to Jill’s parents to pick up the washer, drier, freezer and futon that were stored there and brought them back to Charleston.

 

Jill brought dinner and Wayne brought some extra muscle to help with the unloading.  Steve’s USNA roommates, Steve Arborgast and Brian Maxfield were there too.  They were in Charleston to bring things to put in storage and look for areas they may want to live in Charleston while they are in sub school.  Both of them will be groomsmen in Steve and Jenny’s wedding.  So the six of us had dinner and unloaded the appliances and futon. It was an enjoyable evening.  They are all looking forward to graduation and a busy summer before sub school starts the end of October.

 

5-12-07 to 5-17-07 Home Improvement

 

The carpet in the salon was not doing well.  We had a hard time keeping it clean and the traffic patterns were really starting to show.  We decided to put in vinyl flooring.  We decided our favorite was the vinyl that looks like hard wood floor planks.  We got samples from Lowes and chose a color.

 

Wayne spent this week cutting and placing vinyl floor planks. He did a great job.  The planks are rectangular and most of the edges in the salon are curved, so it involved a lot of custom cutting and fitting. We really like the end results and plan to do other floors in the boat later.  He also sanded and put 4 coats of Cetol on the exterior frame of the salon door.  

 

While he was working on floors and door frame I cleaned all the soot off of our old dinghy.  The bad injector had created a lot of oily smoke that really made a mess of the dinghy. 

 

When our boat was built veneer walls were attractive and very popular, so they put veneer walls in several areas of our boat.  As the years have gone by and windows have leaked and other water in the boat has gotten into the veneer it was showing signs of its age.  The walls in the heads next to the sink were both cracked and bulging.  I stripped 3 layers of veneer off of these two walls, sanded, and puttied where needed.  I have put on two coats of paint in the forward head and when we get back will do a little more sanding then put on two coats of paint in the aft head.  The forward head looks a lot better and I am sure the aft one will too when complete.

 

We did our work in the mornings and early afternoons.  Late afternoons we ran errands. Three evenings we spent with Jenny trying to stop a leak in the washing machine.  It is resolved. 

 

Friday afternoon we drove to   Rockville Marina on Wadmalaw Island and ordered some Yanmar Parts (mostly spares and oil filters).  We then took a scenic drive back and stopped to get some shrimp at a dock where the fishing boats come in. They sell seafood there as well as packing and shipping seafood.  We had the shrimp for dinner, they were great.

 

Good news!  We sold the old dinghy and motor for the price we wanted.  We sold it to Tony who works for Ross Marine. He was the first mechanic to look at our engines to try to determine our problem   We are glad Tony told us about Stono Marina, it is a good place to stay.   

 

We have decided to stay in Charleston until after July 4^th then head up to New Bern. 

 

5-19-07 and 5-20-07  Piedmont, SC,  Wayne’s parents home

 

On Saturday morning we drove to Piedmont, SC to Wayne’s parents, Leta and Paul.  Piedmont is near Greenville, SC.  We had not seen them since they rode on the boat with us from New Bern to Charleston in early November.  We had a nice afternoon catching up.  Their garden is already looking good. 

 

Sunday morning we attended the Spirit to Spirit Church Service and Sunday School.  Sunday afternoon we are taking it easy and packing for our trip to Annapolis.

 

****Plans for 5-21-07 to 5-27-07  Steve’s Graduation from USNA, Go Navy!

 

The plan is to leave Monday morning to drive to Stan and Diane’s in Fairfax, VA. (Stan is Wayne’s brother).  Leta, Paul, Wayne and I will be staying with Stan and Di for the week while we commute to Annapolis to attend Steve’s USNA graduation activities.  Graduation itself is on Friday morning, May 25^th.  We will probably drive back to Piedmont on Saturday.  I will tell you all about it after we get back.

 

Have a safe Memorial Day!

Subtropical storm Andrea formed off the coast.  We have seen wind gusts over 40.  Ross Marine was pretty exposed and the chop seemed bigger there.  At Stono River Marina we are on an inside dock and protected from the surf and chop.  We are glad to be tied to the dock as this storm is going through.  We have had some rain but not much.  It has just  been windy over 25 all of this week.

 

5-7-07    Ross Marine

 

We were tired after driving so much over the weekend, so it was a pretty lazy day.  We did go to the bank to get a certified check for our dinghy purchase. They did not have time to get the dinghy down today but said they would get it first thing in the morning. (For more info on the dinghy purchase see the Journal update  “4-30-07 to 5-2-07  Ross Marine and shopping in Charleston”).

 

We paid our bill at Ross Marine today.  Superior Diesel did a great job and Ross Marine was a good place to stay to get work done.  We would recommend both Ross Marine and Superior Diesel if you are in the Charleston area and need work done.  Ross Marine specializes in painting and everything we saw was well done.

 

5-8-09    Ross Marine to Stono River Marina (now known as St John’s Yacht Harbor)

 

They had our dinghy in the water by 8:30.  With the current that was at Ross Marine we knew we had to wait until slack tide to move over to Stono River Marina.  Slack tide is that time between high and low tide when the water is moving the least.  Slack tide was around 2:00, which is when it started to rain.  So we waited until 2:30 to head out..  With John helping with the lines, we had an easy out.  It was a slow trip over to Stono River Marina going against the current.  Shannon and others were waiting to help us tie up and we made docking look easy.

 

Everyone we have met here is really nice.  Within an hour of docking Phil gave Wayne a ride over to pick up the car.  This is a good location with easy access to Charleston just across the bridge.  Free internet also makes it nice.  We have paid to be here until the end of May.

 

5-9-07  Stono River Marina, Johns Island, SC just across the river from Charleston

 

Today was rainy and windy.  We decided to get some of our shopping tasks out of the way and have lunch out.  Wayne has been trimming my hair since we left North West Creek Marina.  I decided a professional trim was in order.  She must have thought I said cut because my hair is shorter than what I had wanted but it will grow.  We went to Boater’s World, Dollar Tree, Carnival Shoes, Sams and had a good Mexican lunch.

 

5-10-07 Stono River Marina

 

Subtropical Storm Andrea is still churning around.  It is windy with a few clouds.  We continue to watch the weather forecast for updates and hope it will just go out to sea.

This morning we did our laundry.  There are two washers and two driers.  It is only $1 to wash and 75 cents for 30 minutes of dryer time.  These are great prices.

 

Wayne took off the alternator on the starboard engine.  We have dumb alternators.  We are going to get smart ones. The difference is a smart alternator charges the house battery bank while it is moving the boat, dumb ones don’t.  They can then also serve as a back up to our diesel generator.  Because our engines are older they recommended that we send them an alternator so they can make our smart alternators the same size.  Wayne can give you all the technical info but this is as much as I need to know for now.

 

This afternoon we will send the alternator and go to the grocery store.  We seem to be doing too much shopping since we have gotten back to the US.

 

5-3-07    Injectors are in and working !!!

 

Brandon, from Superior Diesel, came Thursday morning with our rebuilt injectors.  He installed them and did some other tweaking.  Wayne changed the oil in the starboard engine, so we have fresh oil in both engines now. After lunch we went out for a sea trial to test the injectors.  The injectors worked great!  The current in the river here made it challenging to redock the boat.  Wayne had BTC in reverse and was still going forward and sideways.  He did a great job, but said it was the most stressful docking he has ever done.

 

It is time to think about moving the boat.  When considering marinas around Charleston you need to think about the tides and the current.  On our trip south we stayed at Cooper River Marina.  It is a clean marina but in addition to the tide and current has a lot of large ship traffic that causes a huge wake.  We had called several marinas around town and most were full or expensive.  We drove over to the Old Stono Marina.  The Stono Marina and Buzzards Roost Marina have been bought and will become St Johns Yacht.  The renovation is starting with Buzzards Roost, but Stono is still open.  Stono is not accepting transients but does offer a monthly rate.  They had a space for us.  This is not as close to our family in the area but they do offer wifi that Cooper River does not have.  We will move to Stono as soon as we get our dinghy.

 

The dinghy we are buying is currently on the deck of a large cabin cruiser that is in the yard on the hard.  It will require a crane to get the dinghy off the boat and down onto the ground.  We hope they will be able to do that on Monday.

 

5-4-07 to 5-6-07 Car Trip to New Bern

 

Born to Cruise was docked at North West Creek Marina (NWCM) for over 4 years. NWCM was having a 15^th birthday celebration picnic on Saturday, May 5^th, so we decided it was a good time for a visit.  We left Friday morning for the 6 hour drive to New Bern.  Our first stop was at the marina to pick up our tickets for the party.  It was really nice to see Bud and Dawn (dock master and assistant dock master).  We hope to be able to spend a month or so at NWCM this summer. 

 

Then we headed over to Len and Bev’s (Louie Louie).  They had invited us to stay with them for the weekend.  They have a nice home in Fairfield Harbor.  It was great to see them and catch up on what was going on.  We showed them our pictures and shared adventures of the Bahamas. 

 

Saturday was the picnic.  They had catered shrimp and fish for the picnic, it was a nice meal with two big birthday cakes.  We had fun talking to our many friends at the marina and look forward to seeing them again later this summer.

 

For Cinco de Mayo we had dinner at El Cerro Grande with Len and Bev.

 

After a leisurely breakfast on Sunday it was time to head back to Charleston.  It was an uneventful trip, which is good.  We stopped at a strawberry stand in McClellanville and bought a 2 quart bucket of fresh, sweet strawberries.  They were really good.

 

It is supposed to be really windy for the next few days. We may have to wait until the wind dies down to be able to get the dinghy and move to Stono.