Still in Beaufort

We leave Beaufort tomorrow morning for Swansboro town docks. They will have a buffet dinner for us when we all arrive Sunday night. The weather has been great, it's in the high 70's near the ocean. We have been looking around the town and there was lots to see. Yesterday we went shopping at the Piggly Wiggly! I got a squeal of a deal on beer! The marina's are great, they usually have a courtesy car you can borrow for an hour or two for shopping or some have bikes you can borrow.

The Piggly Wiggly!

 

We also did a tour through a cemetery that is one of the oldest in North Carolina. A lot of solders from the civil war and also slaves are buried here.

 

 

 

 

Today we moved from the dock to an anchor just in front of the town. We needed more exercise so we went for a dinghy ride over to Carrot Island to walk around and look for the wild horses.Beaufort's Wild Horses of the Rachel Carson Reserve (part of the N.C. Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve)
     Like the wild Shackleford mustangs, Beaufort's wild horses can only be reached by boat, where they have free run of the main area of Rachel Carson Reserve, made up of Town Marsh, Carrot Island, Bird Shoal and Horse Island. Another part of the reserve called Middle Marshes is not accessible to the horses. The reserve acreage is not suitable for human habitation and has extremely little fresh water, which is mostly ground water the horses find by digging. Unlike North Carolina's other three groups of wild horses, the Beaufort horses' lineage is not isolated to the bloodlines of the Colonial Spanish Mustangs, though they surely carry some of that historic heritage. These horses are descended from stock kept on these islands in the 1940s by the Beaufort doctor who then owned the land. The original herd consisted of "Banker Ponies", like those on Ocracoke, along with some domestic breeds - mainly Quarter Horses. Though they are today considered "feral" horses, many of them plainly exhibit the characteristics of the wild Outer Banks horses descended from the spanish mustang stock that first arrived on these barrier islands as far back as the early 1500's. In fact, some of these horses carry the primitive markings of the most ancient of wild horse breeds and types



Tomorrow off to Swansboro

 

 

 

 

It's Warm Here!

We left Dowry Creek Marina in Belhaven early morning for a short motor to River Dunes Marina near Oriental N.C.

We got a little bit of sailing this day

On our way Wally the person leading us stopped at a shrimp dock and bought 32 pounds of fresh shrimp for a BBQ. $4.99 a pound

This is a beautiful marina, almost like a resort and we got a great deal. We stayed for three nights and loved it. $1.00 a foot, $36.00 a night!

 Pool and hot tubs

 Club house

 Provision store

Bean bag toss around the fire pit 

We were sad to leave this great marina but our next stop in Beaufort N.C. town docks is also a great small town. We arrived here today around 1pm and had a quick look around this afternoon. We are docked right on the main street so everything is right in front of us. We will be here for 2 nights and then we move on Saturday morning to Casper Marina in Swansboro N.C. I just want to remind everyone that the weather for the next week will be in the mid 70's.

 

Elizabeth City N.C. Is The City Of Hospitality!

We left Elizabeth City Friday morning in the fog, Elizabeth City is really a city of hospitality. I'm sure they gave us all of there flies and mosquitoes! Not much wind on Friday so it was a motor day across the Albemarle Sound and down the Alligator river.

We dropped anchor just before the entrance of the Alligator and Pungo River canal. We had to drop extra chain because of the big wind coming overnight and it did start around 8pm. Where we anchored I knew there wouldn't be a lot of waves so I was sure we would be alright. We woke up at 6am and the wind was blowing 20 knots. That's a good breeze but it was a beautiful sunrise.

 

The Alligator and Pungo River canal is a big ditch to connect the two rivers so we were very protected from the strong winds and waves. Here's a picture of Sam on Sweet Pea in the canal. She is doing this trip single hand! We also saw our first palm trees on the Canal today.

Sweet Pea

Alligator Pungo River Canal

Deer on the river bank

 

Monday morning we will leave for Oriental N.C. the River Dunes Marina. This will be one of the nicest marinas we will be at. We will make our way down the Pungo river into the Pamlico Sound. This can be a rough sail because the only land between us and the Atlantic are the outer Islands of North Carolina. I have looked ahead and the winds should be in our favor. Today is our second day in Belhaven so this is the day to do laundry and provision with food and water. Not to much time to look around. I'm trying to convince Laurie to do a few postings about how she is doing on this trip. Laurie is new to sailing and she also gets sea sick. Laurie loves to drive the boat and so far she has only felt a little queasy once. So I hope she will do a blog real soon and she can tell everyone how much she is learning and easy and fun this trip has been so far.

 

 

 



We Are Having Fun Now!

We are into our fourth day into our rally and we are having a great time. Today we are in Elizabeth City N.C. When we arrived the temperature was 92 degrees. We have a rest day today so we are touring the downtown. I was hoping to see Sheriff Andy Taylor and deputy Barney but I haven't seen them yet!

Here's some pictures coming down what they call the Virginia Cut.

Last night we all went for prim rib dinner. You could order 16 or 32 ounce. Good stuff!

So it's time again for "So Here's Interesting Tidbits" S.H.I.T. for short
And I have lots of SHIT today. It seems like I'm full of it!


The water here is a very strange color "Tannan" The water will make the side of your boat turn brown and here they call it the brown mustache. The water gets this color when the tannic acid and the tides combine. Tannins are released from decaying vegetation, roots, leaves, and mostly cypress and junipers. Incoming tides bring in clear salt water from the ocean and outgoing tides pull out the tannic acid water. The mix looks like the picture below.

Look at the color!

More Shit

This is another great small town. They called this the city of hospitality and for good reason.

Learn a lesson in hospitality from the legendary Rose Buddies.

Fred Fearing and Joe Kramer, the original Rose Buddies, put together their first impromptu meeting in 1983. It was a wine and cheese party for 17 visiting boaters, and it started an ongoing tradition that's become something of legend around the Harbor of Hospitality.

What's in a name, you ask? The Rose Buddies got their title from Joe Kramer, an avid rose Gardner, who clipped a rose from his garden for each of the visiting boaters at the original meeting. The name stuck, as did the tradition, which has grown over time by word of mouth.

Today, the Rose Buddies can be spotted by their shirts and mariners caps, often coasting along the docks in the Rose Buddy golf cart, stopping to greet and chat with incoming boaters. The Buddies are simply citizens of Elizabeth City, who are eager to share with visitors the perks of Elizabeth City and offer them a little of the city's famous hospitality.

It takes a great place to inspire a group like the Rose Buddies, enthusiasts who share both a passion for boating and a love of the Harbor of Hospitality.

Read more on the coastline of Elizabeth CIty, NC.

Today after we arrived we all went to the welcome center for free wine, beer, cheese, crackers, chips and chicken tenders. Of course all the girls received roses. What a great place.

More Shit

Elizabeth City is where the Wright Brothers came by train and then got onto a boat to go to Kitty Hawk to start doing test flights in 1907.

I did not know that!

Our First Day of Our Rally Was A Success.

All 21boats left Hampton this morning at 7:30 with the light of day. It was a lot of fun all leaving together in a long line. The channel was very busy with barge traffic and Navy traffic and many other boat making there way south to Florida.

We all crossed the bay and went by the Norfolk Navy ship yard and saw a lot of ships.

 

USS Comfort Hospital Ship

USS George Bush 

 

Going under bridges with all the group was like driving down the 401. Very busy!

 

We have stopped at a small town Great Bridge. Tomorrow we will be in Coinjock North Carolina.

                                   "So Here's Interesting Tidbits" S.H.I.T. for short!

 Great Bridge Virginia

The Battle of Great Bridge was fought December 9, 1775, in the area of Great Bridge, Virginia, early in the American Revolutionary War. The victory by Continental Army and militia forces led to the departure of Governor Lord Dunmore and any remaining vestiges of British power from the Colony of Virginia during the early days of the conflict.
Following increasing political and military tensions in early 1775, both Dunmore and rebellious Whig leaders recruited troops and engaged in a struggle for available military supplies. The struggle eventually focused on Norfolk, where Dunmore had taken refuge aboard a Royal Navy vessel. Dunmore's forces had fortified one side of a critical river crossing south of Norfolk at Great Bridge, while Whig forces had occupied the other side. In an attempt to break up the Whig gathering, Dunmore ordered an attack across the bridge, which was decisively repulsed. William Woodford, the Whig commander at the battle, described it as "a second Bunker's Hill affair".
Shortly thereafter, Norfolk, at the time a Tory center, was abandoned by Dunmore and the Tories, who fled to navy ships in the harbor. Whig-occupied Norfolk was destroyed on January 1, 1776 in an action begun by Dunmore and completed by Whig forces.

I did not know that!

Black Beard

If your interested in pirates Hampton is where the pirate Black Beard made his final journey but not by choice. Royal governor Spots Wood of Virginia sent LT. Maynard and the Royal Marines to capture Black Beard. They cornered him in Ocnacake which is on the outer banks of North Carolina. They beheaded him and brought the head back to the governor of Hampton.

 His head was displayed on the mouth of the Hampton River to warn pirates away. No further pirate raids where reported after that. As you head down the Inter Coastal Water Way you hear a lot about Black Beards raids in the ports of the Carolinas and Georgia. On June 1st, 50 thousand want a be pirates invade down town Hampton for the Black Beard festival.

 

I did not know that!

 

 

 





We are good to go!

We have made our way to Hampton Roads to meet up with the rally people and we will leave Monday morning 7 am. BUT it was a rough ride getting here. When we left St Michaels we sailed to the Solomon Islands on the west side of the Chesapeake just south of the Potomac River. Sailing around this area is like sailing around Georgian Bay, except Georgian Bay is rocky bottom and the Chesapeake is mud bottom. People spend years here and never stay in the same place twice. What a beautiful area. When we come back this way there's so many places we have to visit.

 What a beautiful spot and so quiet!

Friday we had to get to Hampton so our friends Jack and Diane (just like the song) had to get a sail fixed. So we made a long day to get there and it was another rough day on the bay. We had 20 knot winds and 5 foot waves. It was good to have the waves and wind behind us, but I had less than a half a tank of gas and so with the waves, it sloshed around the fuel tank and all the crud at the bottom of the tank was mixed up with the fuel and the engine stopped half way through the day. So we had to sail the rest of the day to Hampton in the following wind and waves. As we were ready to sail into the bay at Norfolk and Hampton there were some Navy ships sailing out so we had to wait for them to exit the channel first before we sailed through. You have to stay away 2000 yards. We called US Tow and they towed us in the rest of the way to our slip in the Blue Water Yacht Centre. So more work to be done on the boat. It never ends! I called west marine in Virginia Beach and had 2 fuel filters sent out to me on Saturday. I received the filters Saturday night. Saturday I changed the oil and Sunday changed the fuel filters and bleed the engine and we are ready to go on our rally.

Sunday morning I got up early to watch the sun come up with all my friends!







As we drove over to the fuel dock we passed a boat hat just arrived from Hawaii. This boat sailed here without any GPS , Sexton or any electronic devices, just the stars and the sun around Cape Horn South America. When we pass by them they noticed the name of our boat Mauna Kea. Being from Hawaii they recognized the name and gave of the Mauna Kea sign witch is holding your hands over your head with your thumbs and first fingers together. That was great they gave us the Mauna Kea sign.

 

 

Sunday night we had our rally meeting to find out where and when we are on the move.

So it's late and I will have some SHIT next time!

Yhea we are finally on our way!

Oh yes it's going to be 28 degrees Celsius this week!