Back in the 21st century

Apologies to our North Carolinian friends but the eastern part of the state is still in the cell phone dark ages.For the past week or so We able the access weather radar and tediously get email in and out but no pictures.

We are now about 30 miles south of Norfolk in the middle of the Dismal Swamp at the Virginia/NC line welcome center. The canal is spectacular. At some points less than 20yards wide with overhanging trees. You can see a bit of the canal behind the Joan and friend in the picture. We came up from Elizabeth City this morning following a 42' sailboat at a leisurely 5mph pace as he picked his way along in 6' of water with his boat drawing 5.5'.

We greatly enjoyed Elizabeth City. They have 14 free slips "managed" by a cast of volunteer characters right out of last century. The whole town is hospitable to boaters and one old gentleman meets and provides roses to the ladies and hosts and wine,beer and cheese party in the evening. The "old " theater has been converted into a "Dinner" theater where you are seated at tables where you order by phone and enjoy tasty offerings as the movie show begins.

Before EC we spent the night at a Alligator river marina far removed from any civilization. and before that a night at Belhaven NC doing our sightseeing via marina courtesy car. Took over 15 minutes to see it all.

Aaaand, before that we had a great two day stop at Oriental NC, the neatest little town we have seen thus far. Quite small (600 or so) and so far unsullied by developers Oriental has attracted many interesting adventurers, artists and just plain neat people. Reportedly 6 sailors who have circumnavigated live there.

Previous to Oriental was Morehead City. We had intended to visit Beaufort just across the bridge but economized but choosing a less expensive marina in MC with intentions to bike over the mile or so bridge. As luck would have it no sidewalk or bike lane so we were stuck in MC which placed well down our MFP list. In fact we had to create a deeper bottom.

Before that is too far back to remember.

Do you know where this is?

Neither did we! About as far off of the beaten track one can get but a delightful little town, Swansboro NC, just West of Beaufort NC our next stop.

It has been a great week as we continue to move from the boondocks into semi-civilization.
On Saturday early we found a quaint little broken down marina hidden behind a postage stamp sized island OFF of the ICW. the perfect and only place to hide from the gazillion jet skis and plastic wake makers.
Sunday we attended church at Socastee Baptist Church actually in south Myrtle Beach. Neat church with a fine young pastor. Monday we dropped into the marina at St James Plantation a mega development, four golf courses much like San Destin only bigger. Lovely marina in a man made basin off of the ICW. Tuesday saw us anchored at Wrightsville Beach a suburb of Wilmington, threatened all afternoon by kamikaze jets skis and fast boats. Wed we ducked into a marina at Surf City, bet you haven't heard of that either, on Top Sail Island to ride out an all afternoon thunderstorm. We were nicely snug and enjoyed walking in the rain through the 2X4 beach village. Wall to wall "Wings!" style stores. Today, Thursday, we are docked at Swansboro, a fishing village where most downtown homes date to the late 1700's. The weather front passage yesterday brought cool dry air and the run up this morning was blissful including a 20 or so cannon salute from the Marines at Camp LeJeune.

From the Admiral: At St. James Plantation and Wrightsville we did not even get off the boat as we were a bit "road weary". Coming through a pass about an hour out of Swansboro the depth sounder went from 12 feet to 3 in a heart beat. With bells ringing on every instrument, I want it noted in the log that the person at the helm did not loose her cool but acted in an orderly manner and ran aground ...... real easy. With the swift action of the Captain .... his pay scale ... we easily backed off with only one observer ... a sailboat on the stern who was advised of the situation. He had indeed witnessed the sudden stop and assumed the canal would be closed for hours while SeaTow was called to the rescue. Also a note for the log .... It is now two to one. Wonder who is ahead.

This mornings departure from Surf City was a bit shaky as the Admiral was to help head the boat out and get it turned. The instructions were to make a flying leap at the last moment. This is not a good picture. Larry ended up rescuing the Admiral from a certain morning swim. From now on we will work on another way to get the back end around.

North Carolina has a number of historical seaports that are about 40 miles or a 5 hour run apart... just right to fill up the day. Each day has been full of new sights and lots of fun.

Pictures from this week will have to wait for a faster cell, maybe tomorrow at Beaufort.

Hilton Head, Beaufort, Charleston and beyond

A quick week on the move. A great stop at Hilton Head where Kristy and Michael Gonzalez, our neighbors daughter and son-in-law, hosted us and loaned us their car to re provision.

We really enjoyed our time together. Then on to Beaufort and a rendezvous with the Pat and Stew Stewart who hauled our mail and a spare anchor up from Fort Walton, a great kindness. We went to church Sunday at another ancient Baptist Church full of "tradition". Unfortunately we got put in our age group for Sunday school. We had several nice visits with Pat and Stew and toured Pat's home town.

Then off to Charleston for lunch at Pogans Porch with our new boat friends Jason and Laura on Blue Blaze a 38' Babba sloop. Charleston is still a magnificent walking town and gets better with each passing visit. We were docked at the Maritime Center operated by the city right in the heart of town, rolly from passing wakes but most convenient to everything.

Thursday onward to Georgetown, gem from the past, 40 miles or so North. . The boat was doing fine but we "ran out of gas" so parked in a downtown marina for two days to recharge our batteries. We rode our bikes around town this afternoon enjoying the unspoiled beauty of the old houses many dating to the mid 1700's. The old homes invite you to sit a spell on the front porch and sip cool mint tea.

Tomorrow off to Myrtle Beach and North Carolina, the last state to cross before our destination, the Chesapeake Bay. We will post a few more pictures of these meanderings at picasaweb.google.com/lropka
when we get to a high speed cell area, hopefully in Myrtle Beach.

The good,the bad, the ugly

A week with a little bit of everything. After leaving St Augustine We spent the night anchored in the Fort George river visiting an old plantation. Awoke on Sat June 2 to be greeted T.S. Barry with 35+ wind and drenching rain. After an hour of worrying about the anchor holding we elected to make a run for Fernandina beach 3 hours to he north. Visibility was about 500 yards or less with lots of bends in the waterway to navigate. Joan steered and Larry worked the computer and Binocs. White knuckles glowing we arrived safely and tucked the boat into the remaining tight spot on the inside of a long face dock to securely wait out the blow. We attended Church Sunday at "THE First Baptist Church" (est. 18--something)and enjoyed it greatly. Monday we were off to Cumberland Island just north and walked around the ruins of the awesome mansions there. In its day would have put the pretenders in Palm Beach to shame. We continued running 6+hours per day up the waterway anchoring each night in comfortable side rivers. 8' tides and swift current make anchoring interesting and challenging but so far we have hade few problems.

Admiral admires approach to St Augustine

Looong day runs are about to end with St Augustine just around the next bend. We had a very nice overnight at the New Smyrna Beach City Marina, a very nice new marina, the night before last and then ran about 60 miles to St Augustine yesterday. Amazing how the countryside and stuff thereupon changes as we go along. Mansions to shacks. Yachts to kayaks and everything in between. A kaleidoscope of ever changing flora, fauna and human embellishments or perhaps detractions.
We spent today touring St Augustine, a really unique city with a most colorful history. A must do for those who have not been here. A uniquely American tale of a few great men with vision creating beauty and pleasure in a most improbable place. Also, of course, the site of the earliest efforts to colonize America. All in all a day well spent recharging our bodily batteries.

Tomorrow off to Amelia Island or there abouts en route to Savannah in 4-5 days. All to keep our boat insurance company from having a fit about us being south of 30 degrees in hurricane season.

A dozen cinnamon rolls

A bit delayed report on our stop at Melbourne last week. On Sunday we attended the Melbourne Baptist Church and were treated like long lost family. Joan made a call to see if they had bus service .... doesn't every 1st Baptist church. To our delight we were picked up close to the boat. After the service Bob and Betty Pisle (see picture) took us to lunch where we were treated to the best steak this side of the Mississippi ... maybe even the other side too.

Tony Kessinger, the Sunday School teacher and author has written a book titled "Come out of her my people: The encouragement and exhortation of the book of Revelation Chapters 1-3" He is a gifted teacher so know his book will be worth reading. Plan to start this week.

Monday morning Jack and Marge Salmela came by to see the boat and Marge took Joan to the grocery store to pick up all those heavy things that are hard to carry on bikes. She even got to JoAnn's Fabrics for some much needed velcro to finish off the mosquito netting (Fran where are you when I need you). Larry and Jack stayed aboard swaping tool stories ... exciting stuff.

We found a darling little breakfast spot and found it very handy each morning. It was the old railroad depot so had lots of history. All and all Melbourne was a super cinnamon roll. Melbourne really marked the beginning of our cruise as we transitioned from getting around Florida to stopping along the way to smell the roses or perhaps we should say "Cinnnamon rolls"

The object of Joan's affection

A glorious but still windy day in Melbourne. We lost the alternator belts yesterday morning due to inattention by the Captain and dropped into Melbourne Harbor to buy replacements. A charming little town and comfortable marina convinced us to just hole up here for the holiday weekend. This will avoid confronting the mega wake makers chasing around showing off their big diesels consuming gross quantities of $3+ a gallon fuel.
Joan took the opportunity to wash all day. She married me for my microwave but has changed her affection to the washer/dryer aboard. It receives much more endearing murmurings than the Captain.
We are finding the bicycles to be most useful and enjoyable. I rode all over town today. It was great fun and managed to pick up several needed items enroute.

A few more pictures at "Melbourne" at www.picasaweb.google.com/lropka