Frank is still on board – at the moment

Frank is still on board – at the moment

While we know others cleverly write a blog from the mouths of their pets, we will not attempt that trick.  Annie’s blog would put everyone to sleep – since she sleeps 22 of 24 hours simply adding variety by moving from one couch to another with the occasional trip to the food bowl or litter box below.  She does punctuate her moments of wakefulness with loud vocalizations in demand of ICE or a pat on the head – we are never sure since she vigorously hisses at most two legged creatures in her near vicinity.

Frank, on the other hand, would have adventures to relate.  Recently we are not sure if he has decided to abandon us – which would be dramatic since he is most attached to Big Steve – rarely letting the big guy out of his sight, and nightly he sleeps on Miss Julia’s head. For much of the previous two years he has made every cubby on the the boat his home but has not ventured to explore beyond our decks. Back in the Dismal Swamp however, he casually took a tour of the boat rafted off us – all while keeping an eye on the Big Steve who at the time was also visiting that boat. He did not seem at all concerned that our boat (or his boat?) had suddenly doubled in size.  We figure he could distinguish between boats and docks but now we have to keep a closer eye on him. This should have prevented his most recent adventure, but perhaps sleeplessness took a toll.    Taking advantage of a favorable forecast, we jumped out at Port Royal Sound for an overnight run to St Mary’s River hoping to make it up the St John’s River before a scheduled railroad bridge closure. The favorable weather report turned out to not be as favorable as originally forecast and the subsequent rock-and-roll is not Frank’s favorite time on the boat.  He has never been seasick like his human friends, but he does drip profusely and sticks even closer to Big Steve than usual.  So, he seems to have followed Steve out on the back deck to watch the moon rise and failed to get back in before the door closed.  When Julia returned to the pilot house for her shift, Frank was not around.  This filtered up to consciousness since she thought she heard a cat calling.  Now it is important to know that Frank’s usual sound is a small (rather unmanly) peep.  He might be thought to have no other calls unless it involves a trip to the vet.  So to hear a cat calling “meow” loudly, the last cat on our boat would be Frank – and the Princess was clearly zonked out per normal on the couch. A quick search of his usual spots confirmed that Frank did not seem to be inside and in spite of the rough water, wind and darkness, we began a look outside.  Frank immediately popped down from the fly bridge ladder and into the pilot house door. He had gone out the back door and only got back in maybe an hour later after a tour of the boat in the dark – ok moonlight – including the top level. We feel grateful that he is still on board. It does show that he has some good boating skills or at least balance even without claws to hang on in less than calm conditions. Hanging on to a fiberglass deck is a good trick which he seems to have mastered.  He did appear to be wishing to follow Steve off the boat when we stopped for a couple of hours in Fernandina Beach on their dock. Perhaps that nighttime adventure did convince him to abandon our boat home? For now he gets his favorite treat – some raw scrambled egg – as an enticement to stay.

Getting ahead and way behind

Time seems to slip away as we doddle down the ICW – or perhaps more accurately  BLOW along. We did enjoy a mini-break in New Bern, NC which is a pleasant 20+ mile detour off the main southerly route. Having heard many good things about this town where Pepsi Cola was invented, we took the opportunity to visit and enjoy some lovely late chilly October weather.  New Bern sits along the Neuse River at the junction with the Trent River so much of the old town has water views.  The “Grand” marina we visited was a short walk from the old main street where Steve enjoyed the historic Mitchell’s Hardware Store.  Although this store still sells hardware and is housed in a vintage building, it also stocks an extensive line of cooking and decorating items designed to entertain the female species while the male gets lost in the nuts and bolts.  We did both manage to while away a few hours in there before surfacing to have lunch with fellow cruisers, Larry and Jeanette, at the Morgan Tavern.  Those two knew all the deals and tricks so we picked their store of tips to enhance our stay and make plans for the next time. We also were treated to a tour of a beautifully maintained Pilgrim – a type of boat that we sought back in our boat hunting days.  Since only about 40 were made and they only infrequently come on the market, we moved on to Krogens.  The Pilgrim tour, however, just reinforced our attraction to this type of boat, and it was great to finally see one up close. (The one we had our eye on was sold before we could get down to see it!)

Although we enjoyed several long walks around the streets of this friendly town overflowing with historic buildings – some dating from the Revolutionary Era, we left a visit to the Tryon Palace and history museum for another day. (Have we really passed up a museum and historic buildings! - horrors)

The weather was perfect for outdoor exercise and Steve had urgent chores on the boat….. He has been integrating and enjoying the features his new toys.  Among them he now has a camera probe for remotely exploring underwater “issues” or behind the washer/dryer – sorry Arch – he should have bought one of these sooner.  We are also now broadcasting our AIS signal which lets other boats know we are out there.  Previously we only could receive a signal sent by others.  And, perhaps most important of all – we now have our own EPIRB – the magic device that sends a signal should we need emergency help – she is mounted at the top of the boat and activates automatically if the boat sinks!  (Needless to say we hope this little baby is never activated, but it is nice to know she is on board.)  All of this fun stuff is, of course, as Active Captain guru, Jeff Segal, says “For safety!” While all of it has a definite safety dimension, it also helps keep Mr Steve fully occupied.  Oh, yes, thanks to Tommy, Steve has also installed a magic box to control our horn and give the proper signals in foggy conditions – whether we are on the move or at anchor!  Testing that gem has not been popular with the cats, but otherwise it is working perfectly and the horn as well.

From New Bern we retraced our steps to rejoin the parade of boaters heading south on the ICW and made an overnight stop at Morehead City Yacht Basin.  We visited here on the way north, but stayed around the corner on the other side of town.  At the MCYB we found a nice courtesy van and sparkling clean restrooms with a helpful staff on hand to pull us in under very windy conditions.  We also found a great fuel price so added some diesel to the tanks while the price was attractive.  This is a town with all the shopping our little hearts could desire, but fortunately, other than a few fittings for the new toys, we left most of it behind. 

Our next stops were on the hook for a breezy night behind Camp Lejeune in Mile Hammock and then a chilly one off Motts Channel in Wrightsville beach before cruising into St James Plantation Marina – an upscale development a few miles south of Southport.  We” once again survived the “rock pile along the Grand Strand behind North Myrtle Beach to stop at the Barefoot Resort Marina and walked across the ICW to visit the BI-LO grocery store. Who would have thought a name like BI-LO would yield a fantastic grocery? This is our second visit here and it was well worth the walk.

Before reaching Charleston we had a couple of adventurous days – one very long with a quiet night in Winyah Bay and another couple shorter but full of shoals – mostly we hit the tides favorably, and only once had to plow through the mud.  Thankfully the tides along here run to 6+ feet or our 5 footer would never make it. So, a well-earned break is in order and Charleston awaits….