Florida!

Melbourne, FL

Just a quick update. We'll put together something more interesting when we have time. We're busy bumbling down the waterway (ICW) here in FL. It was a big achievement to arrive in St. Augustine after a 24hr sail from Hilton Head Island a few days back. Since then, we've kept up the pace and are now in Melbourne, FL.

Today, we saw about six manatees, many dolphins, dozen's of different sea birds (ospreys, pelicans, herons, etc.). It was quite a wildlife experience. We'll share more about it soon. We're resting up here in Melbourne for a few days and visiting with Beth's family.

Tracker Woes

After sending the Inreach tracker back for testing, they told me they couldn't find anything wrong. After getting it sent back to me and reinstalling, it promptly quit tracking while we were on the ocean headed to St. Augustine. The only thing that seems to work properly is that if you have gone to the link and you clicked on the little triangle thingy that represents the boat, then you'll be presented with a dialog that has a "locate" on it. If you click on that link, you will get the device to tell you where we really are - even if it has forgotten to track us. This is a lame situation, but nothing I can do about it right now. Here's the link if you want to try it.

Back to the Beginning

Yesterday, we passed through Little River, SC, and came full circle.  Nearly two years ago, we bought Dreamcatcher here and set off a chain of events that led to this moment.  Since I was a kid, I nurtured the fantasy of sailing around the world and, although he came to sailing late, Ken embraced the sailing life whole-heartedly.  We married each other knowing full well that sailing would always be a part of our lives together.  When we moved to Connecticut in 2006, our rather loose plan was to enroll Jeanette in New England School of Montessori and cast off for an extended cruise when she completed the program.  By the time NESM expanded from K-4 to K-6, my faculty position at University of Bridgeport had morphed into an administrative appointment and our timing became a bit more nebulous.  I felt a sense of responsibility for the college and wanted to be there long enough to see my own vision for the school take hold.  In the meantime, we were regular attendees at the Newport Boat Show, researching the pros and cons of monohulls and catamarans, primarily Lagoons.  While there was a certain appeal to all that SPACE (!), my bias going into it was that real sailors sailed monohulls and that catamarans were simply RVs with sails.  The only catamaran that was compelling to me was the Seawind and that was well out of our price range.  Then, at the 2011 boat show, I happened to see two cats side by side.  Next to the hulking Lagoon, the Leopard beside it looked positively sleek.  If I had to live on a cat, this was definitely the way to go. 

Leopards - sleek and fast.

While “going cruising” had been our plan for a long time, when Ken began looking for the boat in 2011, I thought that it was too early.  His justifications were sound – get to know the boat, work out the kinks, etc. – but I was worried that once we had the boat, the dream stage would quickly move into the reality stage, and I wasn’t sure I was ready for that.  For months, once or twice a week, he would send me an e-mail with “Honey, I found our boat!” in the subject line.  Needless to say, all but one of those were dead ends but, to Ken’s credit, he really got a good sense of the market and what to look for in a used boat.  When we flew into Charleston, SC in December 2011, Ken was all but sold on the notion that Dreamcatcher was the boat we’d been looking for.  Only two years old, she had not been heavily used, featured all of the options and upgrades you could possibly want, and was in excellent condition.  (Note: In boat terms, this is all relative, because ALL boats require constant attention, work, and upkeep.)  We showed up at the dock bright and early to look her over.  The owner was part Cherokee and shared that all of his boats had Native American names; his last boat was a sloop called Brother Wind.  The boat surveyor soon joined us and we cast off to go for a spin.  The brisk temperatures provided a good opportunity to try out the heater, which worked quite well.  While Ken took the helm, I checked things out belowdecks.  Jeanette stretched out in the saloon and, with her arms opened wide across the back of the settee, looked at me and asked “When can we sell the house?”  Thankfully, the survey came back clean because by the time we said good-bye to Dreamcatcher that evening, we were already thinking of her as “our boat.” 

Our first glimpse of our new boat.

Jeanette checks out the deck space.

Already feeling at home!

Ken takes the helm for the first time.

In the two years since, I’ve made peace with owning a catamaran.  I know there’s another monohull in our future but, for now, our cruising vessel has proven swift and steady.  As we traverse the shoal-shifting waters of the Carolinas, I am grateful for the shallow draft beneath us.  The northerly winds give Dreamcatcher a chance to show off her speed downwind, and the stability of her two hulls have even allowed me to bake while underway.  I look around and see everything I need, right here.  Finally, I am at home. 

The Dismal Swamp and things beyond

Where in the world is Dream Catcher?

NOTE: for those of you trying to track us on the map, I had to send my tracker to the shop - which is in Maine (or somewhere). That should explain the mystery of why our boat suddenly popped about a thousand miles from where it was.

November 1st: Roanoke

It's been 13 days since we were in Portsmouth/Norfolk, VA and wondering where our boat went. We're now in Roanoke, NC sitting out a bit of a blow in a well protected anchorage off the town dock. We're busy planning our next couple weeks - which is about the most planning we've done so far in our 7 weeks on the boat. 

If you're wondering where we've been since our last post, here is a short catalog. 

October 10-26: Portsmouth, VA

There are plenty of museums and places to visit in this area. We filled up on nautical museums before heading over to Jamestown with a rental car. That was an all-day experience and we learned much about the first colony in America (yes, it was before Plymouth - but Plymouth had a better press agent on board their ship). It's a really huge "living" museum with people dressed up according to the times and full of answers to our many questions. There are three main sites - an indian village, the three ships that brought the colonists, and the recreated settlement. Along with a very large inside museum, it was a full day. I hope Jeanette is actually learning a lot because these outings are her equivalent of a school day.

Jamestown and one of the ships from jolly 'ol England

Now, these are some big guns!

October 27-28th: Dismal Swamp Canal

We headed into the "Dismal Swamp Canal" from Portsmouth. George Washington and others formed a private company to dig the canal in order to drain the swamp, log the trees and create settlements. The canal itself is kind of boring as it is dead straight motoring through a narrow pathway (about 60'-120'), dodging the odd tree stump for about 6 hours. The really interesting part of it is the wildlife you might see (bald eagles, turtles, egrets, bears) and the most southern portion which really looks like a Jurassic swamp - untouched by mankind. The lower portion is twisty and windy with odd tree formations sticking out of the water. I could easily imagine Native Americans in canoes paddling through these waters wondering what the crazy white man is doing digging a big hole in the ground. With little wind, and water brown with tannins from the trees, the water perfectly mirrored the wilderness all around us. A light dusting of some small green plant that swirled in spiraled patterns as boats passed by made it all quite magical.

Anchorage for the night while we waited for the lock to open in the morning

"Open Sesame" was the magic word

Mirror images

The color of the water, which explains the "mirror" effect...
 

My favorite part of the swamp

"Mom, let go of the wheel now, you're having too much fun"

More swamp

I want one of these in my front yard

October 29th: Roanoke Island, crossing the Albenarne Sound

Unlike the last time we crossed this Sound (when we were headed North last year), we were served up a sunny day, with a mild breeze behind us. Memories of fighting our way across in 35 kts of wind on our nose are still very near to me. I've also never seen so many crab pots in one place (though I haven't been to Maine). Because the sound is pretty shallow (8'-16') there are plenty of places crabs hang out and it seems a crab trap is placed in all the local crab hangouts. We motor sailed most of it as the winds were so light, but it was the first time the sails had come out in 3 weeks! 

October 30-Nov 1: Roanoke Is./Kitty Hawk

We debated long and hard about going into Roanoke because of the predicted storm. There weren't a lot of options if we got caught there and the wind wasn't from a protected direction. We gambled and we're now cashing in our winnings. Roanoke is a beautiful little island with friendly people and another living museum depicting the "lost colony" of Roanoke. Roanoke came before Jamestown, but we don't tend to hear much about it since the colonists all disappeared within a year - leaving only the word "Croatan" cut into a post (the local indian tribe). No one is sure what happened, but the settlement was abandoned. It's been brought back to life via actors playing various roles. I found it interesting talking to an "Scottish" blacksmith who had a working forge and created an old fashioned nail for Jeanette. 

Roanoke with DC anchored nearby (properly anchored this time...)

Halloween with the girls

J is the "undead" at the aquarium

Roanoke settlement - Indian HQ: windows hadn't been invented yet

Indian totems

Since we were just 30m from Kitty Hawk, we rented a car and drove over to the famous site. It's hard to believe that a couple of bicycle repair guys decided to fool around and invent an airplane. What's fascinating is how much hard science they had to do to succeed. They built a small wind tunnel to do the basic science that was missing in 1900. By 1903, they had solved three big problems: propulsion, control, and lift. While we were walking down their "runway" we saw a big tilt-rotor Navy plane come flying over and rotated their rotors as they buzzed us at 500'. They were simply saluting Orville and Wilbur as they circled and flew off. What would the Wright brothers have made of such a strange aircraft that looks so bulky and heavy and that could rotate it's wings and engines? What a difference 100 years makes!

November 2:  Roanoke Is./Pamlico Sound

Although the forecast was for rain and no wind, we decided to cross the Sound while the weather was calm.  It turned out to be a good decision, as the wind picked up from the north that night and was blowing 20+ by morning.  We anchored in Douglas Bay and were quickly joined by the hoards of blood-thirsty mosquitoes that also plagued us last year.  I must remember to make note of that in our cruising guide!  I didn't expect them so late in the season, and under such cool conditions, but they are hardy little suckers and I killed a dozen before bed.  

November 3:  Douglas Bay/Pamlico Sound

What the heck is it?

After a boisterous sail in a jumbled sea in Pamlico Sound (inside Cape Hatteras), we've reached a little anchorage off the ICW (the inland waterway/freeway for boats). We now know what it feels like to be inside a washing machine set to "high agitate". When you have 20 kts of wind blowing across a shallow body of water, you wind up with very short, poorly organized, steep chop that is very difficult to ride comfortably. With the chop roughly on our beam, we found the motion pretty nauseating. A cat like ours has two hulls and depending on the period and height of the chop, it can cause rapid pitching and rolling of the boat. A monohull wouldn't feel it quite as much as they carry around a car's worth of lead to keep them upright. We don't have that to help us be stable, so we have to find the right angle to minimize the agitation while still trying to get where we have to go. As the day wore on and our angle to the wind and sea shifted aft, we were finally able to move about the boat without bracing ourselves at every step.  The ICW was a welcome relief - even with the massive powerboats kicking up huge wakes as they passed.  We spent a quiet night in Cedar Creek with barely a ripple of disturbance.  

November 4:  Cedar Creek to Morehead City, NC via ICW

It is still blowing like stink today and, fortunately for us, the wind is behind us.  We had planned to head into Beaufort  and wander about the town, but the anchorages were very full.  Instead, we motored over to nearby Morehead City and grabbed a spot at the yacht basin.  Freshly showered and laundered, we spent two nights dockside while waiting for the wind and seas to abate. 

November 6:  Morehead City, NC to Masonboro, NC

In spite of our best intentions for a 6am start, the weather buoys were showing big winds (30 kts) persisting on the outside.  We delayed our departure by going out for an early-morning breakfast and then decided to leave after all.  It's now mid-day and we are on our way to Masonboro Inlet.  Surfing down 5' swells with 20 kts of wind on our aft quarter, we are making 8 kts over the ground and enjoying the ride. The day is blustery and unsettled and the weather is expected to deteriorate through the end of the week.  By then we hope to be in Charleston.