Low Country

We liked being in Charleston so much that we spent an extra day there. The wind was howling for few days too, so there was no sense in leaving. Besides, being neighbors with George and Christina was too good an opportunity to pass up! They’d had a rough trip down from Morehead City too and I think we all needed a day to recover. 

Charleston garden

Nice Charleston digs for sale

Drinks at "Fast and French" on Broad Street

We caught up with friends Dave and Shelley who live on their boat Cadence in the same marina where we were. Dinner was on Saralane – everyone contributed food/drink and Shelley brought killer cupcakes from a shop in town. Yum. 

Time came to move on and George and Christina cast us off… we miss them already! 

George sent us a photo of our departure.... 

Yep… that’s me hanging off the side trying to grab a board from the dinghy that we’d stashed on deck (apparently not very securely) that fell off the boat as we left. There were a few startled seconds between hearing “splash!” and seeing what went overboard and then figuring out if/how to get it back on the boat. It’s not very dignified looking… but I did manage to grab the board and get it back on deck.

I’d had enough of the ocean for a while so we went back to the inland waterway and enjoyed the scenery. Over the next two days we traveled the South Edisto River, the Ashpoo River, the Coosaw River and finally the Beaufort River, which took us into Beaufort South Carolina. It was COLD!

Low country scenery

Low tide miscalculation

There were porpoises all over but at this point my porpoise photos are more like there’s-where-the-porpoise-was photos. I’ll have to work on my wildlife photography skills and in the meantime I’ll just point and yell “Look look look!! “ every time I see one. I’ve almost given Skip a heart attack a few times.

We’re having some typical boat issues; lights not working, etc that we sort of assume we’ll always have. Skip wrestled with the wiring for a bit and we now have a working stern light. However, now the switch marked “Spare” is really “Fuel Tank Level”.

 Our brother-in-law Dan has a childhood friend who lives in Beaufort and we were looking forward to meeting up with him and his wife. Harley and Lily have a beautiful home here and we thoroughly enjoyed an evening with them. This past summer they’d trekked across the country in an RV, going over 13,000 miles visiting state parks from coast to coast and we found a lot of similarities comparing our life in a tiny space on the water to their life in a tiny space on wheels.

Harley, Lily and Skip

Harley was kind enough to take us on our requisite West Marine run and filled us in on the location of the closest Piggly Wiggly. Piggly Wiggly – fondly referred to as The Pig – is a grocery chain in the south and if that’s not the best store name ever, for any kind of store, then I don’t know what is. The closest one to us was a small Pig (a Piglet?) and we walked there for a few supplies. Everywhere we walked the trees were draped with Spanish moss and I ended up with way too many photos of it. 

It’s a pretty little town and we poked around the shops and saw a few sights. 

Go on... invite the man!

We passed by a few horse drawn carriages and this handsome guy named Merlin was hitched up and ready to work. We chatted with the carriage driver who told us that Merlin just got back from Puerto Rico where he was one of four black horses to ‘act’ in the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean (Part 4?). He looked like a movie star and I’ll bet he was wishing he was still in Puerto Rico getting star treatment instead of here in this cold weather hauling tourists around.

Tonight was the holiday boat parade… and we had a front row seat. It was a bit too dark for photos but I did manage to catch one sailboat as they went by. 

By the way… Happy Hannukah to my family and to my sister-in-law Cindy, an honorary Jewess who loves lighting the candles. 

Tomorrow.... southward again.

Remembering friends

For the past few years Skip and I have been remembering two good friends who died in the days just following Thanksgiving. John Turner was Skip's long time friend and a friend to me for the few years I knew him. John and his wife Jan, who we still count among our close friends, were sailors whose schooner, Eastern Passage, was well known in Newport as well as up and down the inland waterway and into the Bahamas. Jan's shared remembrances of their adventures along the path we're now taking have been a continuing source of information, humor and enthusiasm for us. It's great to have Jan's insight on the places we're going and to hear stories about their experiences in their many years of sailing along this route. John and Jan's dinghy is now our dinghy and we've given this little boat our big-hearted friend's name "John H Turner" to honor the memory of John. It's traveled these waters many times and we're glad to have it come along with us.

The other friend we remember is Sara Jo Matthys, a close friend for many years. Sara was a uniquely creative person whose bright and generous spirit made her the center of a large circle of friends. We used to joke that Sara's creative mind left little room for every day activities, like driving. Our boat name "Saralane" was inspired by a ride on the highway with Sara one evening... not realizing that her lane had merged with the adjoining lane, Sara continued driving along on the shoulder of the highway. It was only after several "Sara, you're driving on the shoulder" comments from the rest of us in the car did she notice this. We dubbed the shoulder (or wherever else she decided was OK to drive) "the Sara lane" and this eventually came to mean the happy way Sara moved through her life. Head sometimes in the clouds, mind off on some creative tangent but with her friends always there to help keep her grounded. This year of sailing feels like that to us - we're off on a bit of a tangent and aren't exactly sure where we're going, but we're still connected to all that matters by our friends and family.

The good, the bad and the ugly... and the good.

Starting with the good: we got our new mainsail! (I couldn't get it in one shot... so you'll have to pretend it's one big sail and not two chopped in half pieces.)

Skip contacted a yacht broker in Oriental who was more than happy to help us out and have our sail drop shipped to his office. We left the mosquito infested anchorage and took the inland waterway to Oriental – passing Isabella on the way. Admiral Cunningham must have been down below curled up and warm and dry, unlike the rest of the crew who were cold and wet on deck.

 We arrived in Oriental Monday night, dropped the anchor and took the dinghy ashore to meet up with our new friend Dave, the broker. He and his wife had done some similar sailing years ago and he shared stories about their travels. He couldn’t have been nicer – offering us rides around town, information and even getting us in to a private marina to do laundry. We were pretty grimy and it’s not out of the question that he may have been hinting that we really ought to do some laundry. Just so happens that there’s a web cam perched on the roof of the marina – here’s a screen shot of us in the dinghy riding back to Saralane with clean clothes. Not only did we have clean clothes in the dinghy, we had a big old sack of oysters!

Saralane at anchor in Oriental

There was a shack across from the club where local fishing boats brought in shrimp and oysters every day. I must confess that we had oysters for dinner for three nights in a row. We intended to just have a few oysters and then have actual food for dinner, but that didn’t happen. We filled up on oysters and only had a little room left for cookies for dessert. It was only on Thanksgiving that we were forced to give up our oysters-for-dinner routine.

We met up with George and Christina aboard Sophie on Wednesday night in the South River where we were the only two boats in sight. 

Saralane in the South River

Thursday was all about cooking for Thanksgiving… the four of us split up the cooking and managed to turn out a pretty tasty dinner! ((We had to bring some oysters…) Our little boat oven is a little temperamental but has turned out some cookies, breads, and even a decent apple cranberry pie. Both Sophie and Saralane left the South River on Friday for Morehead City North Carolina.

Sophie setting sail

Sophie, tiny in the middle, with weather on the way

We passed the ‘kids’ who were headed across the way to Beaufort and found out later they'd been trying to contact us on the radio which we had switched off. We'll have to keep it on from now on. We had one final bridge to go under on the way into the harbor when a call came over the radio for us to please ‘stand down’ to let a 175’ vessel under tow make it’s way under the bridge. There was a big tug pushing from behind and a few little boats with flashing lights in front. And… see anything else in the photo? Anyone? Anyone…? A porpoise! Our first porpoise sighting - very cool. 

The big tug from Wilmington

 George and Christina and one of their two other crew, Francis, waited outside the bridge along with us.

If you're not reading your charts... this is your last chance to know the height of the bridge you're about to go under. By the time you get here it's probably too late. (Saralane needs 57 feet of clearance.)

After we came through the bridge we saw a few fishermen in a tug of war with a pelican over a fish they'd caught that the pelican was intent on eating. It looked like a standoff but we didn't wait around to see the outcome.

Here's one more big crane photo for my sister Leslie who gets a kick out of these... this was as we came around the corner into Morehead City.

For $10 a night, we tied up at the dock at the Sanitary Seafood Restaurant (is there an Unsanitary Seafood Restaurant?) and walked around checking out all the major league sport fishing vessels docked there. I didn’t have my camera with me unfortunately but these boats look like they’re just looking for a fight… big, mean, and fast. Skip did boat chores and I walked the two miles to the grocery store for a few things. The walk there was easier than the walk back and I found myself muttering at the happy people zipping by on bicycles. Note to self: do NOT buy five pound bags of flour if they’re going into the backpack for the hike back to the boat. Did I not realize this in the store?  

There was only room for three boats at the Sanitary Seafood dock (that name just cracks me up) so we invited a boat looking for dock space to raft with us. More kids! Swedes Martin and Johanna, along with George and Christina joined us for pizza on Saralane on Friday night and everyone made plans to leave early for the trip outside to Charleston the next day. We talked about the people we’d seen along the way, and Johanna mentioned a boat along the way whose crew they call ‘the kids’ Turns out it was the same ‘kids’ that Skip and I call ‘the kids’. Now we call Martin and Johanna the ‘Swedish kids’ and we’re just hoping that all these damn kids don’t call us the old fogies.


Here's a photo by guest photographer George....  The Swedish kids on the left, then me, Christina and Skip around the table in Saralane's salon. 

The bad: our autopilot still isn’t working properly. It works fine in easy conditions, when we don’t need it and not in nasty throw-up-over-the-side-shoot-me-if-this-doesn’t-end-soon weather when we do need it. (See: the ugly) A call to autopilot wizard Oliver is back on the to do list.

The ugly: the passage from Morehead City to Charleston, South Carolina. This trip made the Long Island Sound and the Jersey shore look comfy. It was rough, rough, rough. It wasn’t supposed to be as rough as it was – wind was from behind at 20 to 25 knots but the seas were short and the waves were close together which all made for a vicious side to side swing and front to back chop that added up to no good. We were sailing wing and wing with the genoa poled out opposite the main and had anticipated a comfortable passage. Skip clipped in and went up to the foredeck twice so we could jibe the boat in the middle of the night. Until then I felt confident that I could maneuver the boat to pick him up if he went over (not a likely event) but in the dead of night with the boat rocking wildly I wasn’t as sure. Even Skip said in his understated way “It was a violent motion”. I’ll second that. It was 33 nauseating hours of sailing that I hope not to repeat. On the upside, our sails came through intact!

The good: we’re in Charleston and we love it here! Dolphins swam around us in the channel and into Charleston Harbor making the rough trip fade away a little. We're tying up by Sophie for a few days and are looking forward to spending time enjoying Charleston. 


One note: I know people are having trouble putting up comments so I changed a setting for the format for comments - try again and let me know if they still don't post. Seems that signing up as a follower is problematic for some too and what I've read is that some browsers work better than others for this. I'm no computer guru, but hopefully the comments will be easier to work with now.

Long Weekend

Another lock, another bridge and another few hours of motoring and we were through the Dismal Swamp and into the Pasqoutank River. Cypress trees lined the banks, their trunks spreading down into the water.

And since I know you all loved the reflection photos... here's another one from the swamp. 

Just after noon on Saturday we arrived in Elizabeth City. We walked the two miles to the grocery store to do some shopping and someone from the store gave us a lift back to the wharf. Elizabeth City prides itself on being boater friendly going out of their way to make things accessible to passing sailors. The guy who drove us back to the boat was a local college kid who coaches the middle school wrestling team. (FYI: He's optimistic about the teams upcoming season.... their first match is Tuesday.)

Moon over Elizabeth City

The two boats that transited the swamp with us have tied up at the city dock for the night too. We made some friends and met up for dinner with the crew of one of the boats, Isabella. The crew is a mother and son who just last week wrapped up their land life (sold the house, cars and all belongings) and are off on a two year adventure with plans to spend time in Central America and transit the Panama Canal. Isabella is 27’ long, with no oven and no shower below. We feel spoiled on Saralane. A son/brother of this duo recently opened a restaurant in Charleston called “Graze” and if we’re able to get there when we’re in Charleston we’ll stop in with greetings for the chef/son/brother from the crew of Isabella. I forgot to mention the third crew member on Isabella.... Admiral Cunningham. He's a really, really small dog who thinks he's a really really big dog. 

The crew of the other boat, Illusion, is an enthusiastic young couple that we’ve come to refer to as ‘the kids’. Their boat is a project that’s not nearly as far along as Saralane and again we feel spoiled. We have some painting, carpentry and electrical work still to do, a cockpit table to build and a few other things – but otherwise we’re in pretty good shape. Everyone is heading in the same direction, at least for a while, so we’re sure meet up from time to time along the way.


Early Sunday we left Elizabeth City and made our way across the Albemarle Sound and into the Alligator River. It’s flat calm and I can’t resist a few photos…

There are a few boats anchored north of us, but we’re all alone at anchor in an 8’ deep spot just off the river…. I photograph the evening sky... 

...but only Skip sees Monday's sun rise. I’m working on becoming a morning person, but I’m not there yet.

Skip's sunrise photo!

Today's ride was uneventful with little wind and more opportunities for reflection pix. I think I'll call it "Channel Marker with Grill". Not to worry... I'm already getting tired of taking photos like this.

We're anchored all by our lonesome in a deep spot outside the Gale Creek channel. The minute we dropped the anchor we were swarmed by big skinny (hungry?!) mosquitos. Ack! We closed off the companionway with only a few of the hungry buggers getting in, and then realized that we'd neglected to turn on the propane that we'll need if we want to cook tonight. The propane is under the seats.... at the stern... outside... past the mosquitos. Bummer. 

Coordinates of the mosquito infested anchorage: 
35° 12.6 North
76° 35.5 West


The plan is to pick up our sail tomorrow in Oriental, then we'll start thinking about cooking for Thanksgiving!

Warnings & Welcomes

Today’s trip was one of contrasts. Early in the day the navy told us in no uncertain terms “KEEP OUT” but later on North Carolina said “COME ON IN!” 

We listened to both. We left the anchorage at Hospital Point early and started for the Dismal Swamp, which the woman at the visitor’s center assured was not the least bit dismal. We passed more industrial and navy waterfront; huge ships being built and countless cranes on standby for loading/unloading. 

A bored/friendly sailor waved from a container ship from some unknown country (we couldn’t identify the flag) and a Bahamian sailor was tending the flag on another vessel.

It’s hard to judge the size of this crane until you look at the zigzag of vertigo inducing steps going up to the tippy top. Yikes.

We turned the corner from the Elizabeth River into the Dismal Swamp around 8:30 and to the dismay of the drivers trying to get to work on time the bridge tender held up traffic a few extra minutes for us to get through. 

We locked through the Deep Creek Lock in mid-morning. It’s easier to see the water level difference looking at the boat behind us…. it was about 10 feet from the lower level to the upper level. Lock tender Rob, assisted by his trusty hound U-turn, got us through the lock, then jumped in his car and dashed to the draw bridge about half a mile further along and opened the bridge for us. He wished us all God speed and on we went.

Saralane leading the way out of the lock

The 28 mile stretch we did today was scenic as expected and we even had a few wildlife sightings…. a blue heron and a turtle! Ok… not all that exciting…. but how many of you saw a blue heron and a turtle today? And…we saw a BEAR. Really! But I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s the heron and the turtle.

I decided to forgo the usual ‘pretty autumn tree’ photos and instead am including this montage of ‘pretty autumn tree reflections in the water’ photos. The ripples were from the wake we created as we moved through the water.

Here’s North Carolina welcoming us! (On the other side of this sign it said “Welcome to Virginia”… we wondered if the two states argued about who had to take care of the sign.) 

It was a long lazy ride through the swamp and Renaissance man Skip took a break from the scenery to bake  bread from a dough he started yesterday.

We tied up along with the two boats we went through the lock with earlier in the day. Saralane is the boat on the far right of the photo. Skip got all fancy and turned us around to pull alongside. Whatever breeze there was had been coming from the north, so this will make our night more comfy if the wind picks up. (And we were too lazy to change the fenders from the starboard side to the port side… plus we’ll need them on the starboard side again tomorrow to go through another lock.)

So… the BEAR. We decided to go for a walk on the trails before it got dark… and we saw a BEAR. OK… it was dead… but it was still a bear. A few park rangers were clustered around the end of the bridge that took us over to the trails and we stopped to chat with them and see what all the activity was about. They were trying to figure out the best way to get this poor dead bear up out of the water and find out what had happened to it. The rangers were waiting for the local wildlife biologist to show up and tell them 1) what might have happened to the bear 2) how old the bear was 3) how the heck to get a big bear out of a ravine and dispose of it. 

They were still waiting when we crossed back over from our walk and when we asked what news there was about the bear… they said they’d been pondering a more important question. What were the words to Pattycake, Pattycake?! They’d gotten “Pattycake, pattycake baker’s man… bake me a cake as fast as you can” and it went downhill from there. So if anyone knows the rest of it… please let us know. We told the ranger we’d check in with her in the morning for an update.

One sort of scenic photo to end with. We saw these cool berries on our walk and have no idea what they are. They were really bright bold pinky purple-ish. Pretty! Looking at the wildflowers kept our minds off bears.... the live kind that might walk out of the woods and want to eat us.