July 2005

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Sunday July 3, 2005
We are in Vero Beach and have been here since Friday. My niece, Heather, and her husband, Jason, came to visit us for the day and it was a visit we had really been looking forward to. This is the niece that designed our website and, of course, we are incredibly grateful to her for all the time and effort she has put into it. She and her husband are starting their own company doing this and we wish them all the best. But since talking to them we know they will be successful because they are both such goal orientied people that anything they set out to do, they will achieve. We went to lunch on the dinghy and just relaxed a bit. We came back to the boat, had a beer, and Heather showed me lots of tricks on the computer. Jason picked Larry's brain about how everything worked. We enjoyed their visit and plan to meet up again in D.C.

Thursday July 6, 2005
We took off from Vero Beach headed for Fernandina Beach at 8 AM Wednesday. We figured with all the activity in the Gulf, it was time to make our way north. There was little or no wind which, of course, was not to our advantage, but we were able to get in the Gulf Stream and pick up a few knots. The trip was pretty uneventful (except we got both dogs to pee on the same towel, YEA!!!!) We got into Fernandina Beach at about 3 PM the next day. We are resting for a day or so and then heading back out offshore to Charlston S.C.

Fernandina Beach is a great little town. There are lots of tourists that walk down to the marina to look at the boats. We sat in the cockpit and felt like we were part of the cities attractions. People even asked if they could come aboard to see what "a real Yacht looked like down below." We told them to go to Fort Lauderdale!!! It was pretty comical for us but we do enjoy meeting people.

We are excited about getting on up the eastern coastline. Things are getting easier every day and Larry is always finding something to replace on the boat.

Got to get some sleep, tomorrow is going to be a long day.

Saturday July 9, 2005
We are in Charleston, SC. We figure we are not only 170 miles closer to the Chesapeake, but 170 miles further away from Dennis. Since he looks pretty nasty, we thought we better stay as far out of his way as possible. Our trip from Fernandina Beach to here was uneventful. We had plenty of wind and we were going with the waves, so we made great time!!! We may stay here a few days... who knows?

Tuesday July 12, 2005
We finally had sun today but with it came news of another storm brewing in the Atlantic. Thursday morning we are taking off. Larry's friend from work has a son who lives here in Charleston. Mait Dubois and his girlfriend, Monica, graciously offered to show us a little of Charleston and take us to dinner. We got to see a lot of the town that we would never have gotten to see by cab and had a great dinner at Coast. The dinner was wonderful and the company was even better. We bored them with cruising stories but they were very polite and listened intently. One more day here and offshore again! We are waiting to see what Emily does.

Sunday July 17, 2005
We went offshore again today and traveled about 80 miles, but now we are in North Carolina in a quaint little town called Southport. It took us 11 hours, we are tired as hell, but as we were approaching the marina where we decided to spend the night, we recognized a boat that we saw in Houma. It was Jean and Bob on Island Dreamer. We had met these people in Houma, LA, 2 months ago and we ran errands with them. They were so nice, we exchanged boat cards and since we were both going to the Chesapeake, we thought maybe we would meet up again. Well, we did!! After we cleaned up, we went to dinner and went looking for them. We found them at the Tiki bar having drinks. We joined them and their friends and swapped stories for a few hours. We plan to meet up again since we are traveling to just about all the same places in the coming months. It is a small world in the cruising community and we were happy to see these guys again. Our next stop is Wrightsville Beach.

Wednesday July 20, 2005
We got up at 5:30 today to get an early start. I thought my days of alarm clock setting were over. After staying in Wrightsville Beach last night, we are headed to Beaufort, NC today. We are going offshore, one of the last offshore trips for a while. It was a rolly one. I think Sydney was sort of sea sick but she pulled through like a trooper. We got into Beaufort at about 4:30 and Town Creek Marina seems to be a nice place.

Friday July 22, 2005
Larry ordered a boat part yesterday, it came in today and maybe tomorrow we will put it on. No rush, right? We really like this little Marina and the Sandbar restaurant here at the marina is to die for!!! They have a great little Tiki Bar where Larry and I have become regulars since our arrival. We even had the band over to the boat for a beer! This is a great little town. We are definitely making a stop here on our way back.

Monday July 25, 2005
All good things come to an end and we had to leave Beaufort today. We have decided to actually stay in the ICW (something we haven't done since we were in Alabama, really) We just thought that maybe taking on Cape Hatteras was not a fun thing to do since we didn't have to... and most all of the locals advised against it as well. We made it to Belhaven, about a 60 mile run, to a nice little anchorage. Our goal was to make it to Norfolk by August 1 and it looks like that won't be a problem.

Tuesday July 26, 2005
We unexpectedly had a 90 mile day instead of our planned 40 mile day. The marina where we were stopping only had 5 feet of water and since we draw 5 1/2-6... we were out of luck. We could have anchored but once again, this was a situation where there was nothing but swamp and marsh and NO doggie pee areas. So since it was 102 degrees and there was no wind to speak of, it was not a day that we would like to relive anytime soon. The next marina was 50 more miles and we were screwed. Oh well, we were that much closer to the Chesapeake. How is that for positive thinking? But something cool did happen to us today. As we were slowly making our way up the ICW, Larry saw something (big) swimming across the canal in front of the boat. He thought it was a wild pig. I thought it was a rat... but it was way too big for that. I got the binoculars and saw that it was a bear!!!!!!!!!!! We both screamed... get the camera!!! We got shots of him as he passed the boat and as he was crawling out of the water onto a log. He looked like Big Foot. It was really cool. We were accustomed to seeing all kinds of alligator, turtles, osprey and even eagles. But this was so cool, to see a wild bear right there in front of the boat.

Sunday July 31, 2005
Larry and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary today. Our anniversary is not until tomorrow, but we had access to a nice restaurant today so we had to improvise. We have met lots of really nice people at the Tidewater Marina where we are staying. We sat around last night and visited with lots of folks on the dock until the wee hours of the morning. (At least 11:00 pm) That is wee for us!!! We had a wonderful breakfast at Brutti's where we ordered omlettes that were bigger than our head. They were really good but we could have ordered one and shared... even with another couple! I think we are heading out tomorrow. We are getting ancy about getting to Annapolis.

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