Carolina Beach State Park

Carolina Beach State Park

Friday 30th April 2021

Having completed a bunch of boat jobs yesterday we decided to have a fun day today so we took the dinghy to the marina dock and walked out to Carolina Beach State Park. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the entrance and about 4 hours hiking around some of the trails. It turns out to be a really nice park with a lot of pine forests and some marshy areas. It also has two sides adjacent to the water – on the west side is the Cape Fear River and on the north is Snow’s cut. We came right by here on our way over from Southport.

It was a beautiful day, mostly sunny and quite warm. We a number of birds including brown headed nuthatches, a great crested flycatcher, an eastern Kingbird and red headed woodpeckers. It was actually amazing – prior to this year we have only ever seen two red headed woodpeckers, then we saw a couple on St Catherines Island in Georgia and today we saw about six of them! 

On our way back we stopped at Publix to buy a coupe of things, including some alternate sun-protective lip balm. You can get some decent ones, but we have run out and recently bought a Banana Boat product that was absolutely disgusting. We think it’s because it has a bunch of chemicals such as avobenzone in it that taste appalling and leave your mouth and throat feeling like you gargled waste engine oil. We got a couple of alternatives and we’ll see how they work out.

This morning we were delighted to find the dinghy as pumped up and solid as we had left her the night before. Thanks goodness! When we got back to the marina the starboard tube was half flat. We think it may have been bumping up against the dock or maybe squeezed by another boat. In our naïve optimism (stupidity) we had left the pump back on Cotinga so we had to motor back with one mostly flat tube. Conditions were really calm and we were relieved to make it back. This afternoon I once again pulled back the rub rail, removed the patch on the seam that is pulling apart and tried to fix it with a fresh patch, superglue for strength and 3M 4200 to seal it. I think this really worked … but I’m starting to believe that optimists are just losers!

We had a fancy dinner tonight! Fillets of "Sheepshead" (a delightful white fish) seasoned with paprika, garlic and basil and wrapped in phyllo pastry along with a little celery and carrots, then baked in the oven. We ate this with a sauce made with fresh cream, lime zest and juice and fresh basil. It was pretty good!

 Tomorrow we head over to Wrightsville Beach ready to go offshore  on Sunday and up to Beaufort, NC.

Mike

34 02.754 N, 77 53.382 W

A section of the pine forests at Carolina Beach State Park that has been deliberately burned to promote growth of grasses and control the amount of combustible underbrush

One of the marshy sections

The western edge of the park bordering the Cape Fear river

Nasty looking caterpillars - the shrubs on either side had been decimated

Lunch outside—again!

Lunch outside—again!

Thursday April 29, 2021

Yes we did.  We ate at the taco place where we knew we could sit out on the deck.  The highlight was definitely the Mahi Mahi taco.  Clearly not all fish tacos are created equal, that one was yummy.  The pulled pork taco that I chose as my other taco didn’t quite measure up. From what Mike said the carne asada taco wasn’t as good as the first one.  Perhaps if we’d consumed them in the other order....

Before we got to lunch, we did boat jobs.  We re-launched the dinghy and dropped the engine on it.  Mike emptied the diesel jerry cans into the main tank and then went by dingy to the marina to refill the cans.  A further trip was required to top up the forward tank and leave us with one partially full jerry can for future use.  The bad news was that the dinghy was still leaking air.  Mike attacked the leak with more super glue and some clear sealant material (who knows what that is?).  So far it looks encouraging so we are hoping for the best. 

After our over-indulgent lunch, we walked to the local Publix supermarket.  I might have imagined that we would buy little having just eaten so much.  However, once the purchases were in the backpacks, it seemed like a small mountain of stuff.  The return trip is never as enjoyable as the walk to the grocery store.  I was very glad to see the dinghy dock appear.

Later in the afternoon, we went for a walk on the beach.  The wind is blowing fairly strongly—at some points it felt like my legs were getting a sand blasting.  Mike tells me the wind is going to pick up more tonight.  I’ll have to hope that news of the NFL draft provides plenty of distraction from the whistling of the wind through the rigging.

Gloria

34 02.754 N, 77 53.382 W

Pilings on the beach - abstract (B&W negative)

Derelict pier at Carolina Beach

Colorful store / apartment on the corner by the public dinghy dock

Carolina Beach

Carolina Beach

Wednesday 28th April 2021

My guess is that you don’t want to hear about our dinghy any more than I want to talk about it. Let’s just say it’s not fixed – it’s better, but still leaking and I have now resorted to using superglue to try and glue down the rub-rail as a means of sealing the area. If you can’t buy a rigid inflatable then let’s try making one – a tube of superglue at a time.

We did go to shore today, rowing in to the dinghy dock that is only 100 yards from our mooring. This sounds easier than it was in practice because it’s been blowing pretty hard all day. From the dock we were able to walk directly over to the beach that is quite beautiful. We wandered south for a mile or so and then cut back to the road in search of restaurants. It seemed that we were really in a residential area and it turned out we completely missed the center of town whilst walking on the beach. Anyway we backtracked and had a fine lunch at the Havana Restaurant – sitting outside of course. Volcano shrimp as an appetizer and Mahi-Mahi fish tacos were the highlights (although not as good as those that Tasha and MacKenzie made us in Key West!). This afternoon has been very lazy, with the exception of the aforementioned dinghy work. 

Three fun facts before I go …

1. Did you know that Carolina Beach sits at mile 295 on the Atlantic ICW with Norfolk, VA at mile zero and Key West at mile 1243? It’s one hell of a long way to Key West from here! 

2. Yesterday we were motoring along when we saw a boat we know docked at a marina near Southport. “First Light” is from Newport, RI but we first met them in November in Belhaven, NC when Rod was with us and then were docked next to them In Vero Beach at Christmas. It was fun to spot them as we passed by – a bit like seeing someone you know in a service area as you drive down the motorway!

3. There are only 9 moorings here but tonight they are all full. I imagine boats are coming in to shelter as tomorrow it’s supposed to get even windier with the approaching cold front. In any event the moorings are a deal at $20 a night with excellent dinghy docks and shore access and you can book them on line through DockWa.

Mike

34 02.754 N, 77 53.382 W

I like the look of this taco joint ... maybe we'll go there tomorrow

A close up of their wall-art

On the entire outside wall of a building close by this excellent pice of wall-art

Forty-eight miles by 1:00pm

Forty-eight miles by 1:00pm

Tuesday April 27, 2021

At 5:40 this morning, I nearly turned over and went back to sleep.  Even knowing that we needed to take advantage of the early morning high tide didn’t seem to be motivating me.  The bunk was warm but the boat was cold.  I dragged myself upright and started to pull on layers of clothing.  We had coffee and then set off.  The sun peeped over the horizon shortly after we got underway.  Twelve miles from the spot where we had anchored lay the first of the challenging sections. Shallotte Inlet is notorious for shoals created by the strong currents.  We were hoping to arrive about an hour before high, using the extra depth to make a safe passage through this tricky area.  Ten miles further on, Lockwood’s Folly presents the same kind of challenge.  As these two inlets have high tide at very different times, the best we could hope for was to get through Lockwood’s with about half tide.  It worked out pretty smoothly (except for the early start).  By about 11:00am we were near Southport, NC. I should say that the section from Calabash Creek to Southport, despite some tricky parts, is quite scenic and much more enjoyable than yesterdays run through Myrtle Beach.

Despite the current in the Cape Fear River having turned to the ebb, we decided to carry on upstream to Snow’s Cut and onward to Carolina Beach.  Having travelled along the river before, we were aware of just how strongly the current could flow.  Fortunately, the current didn’t build up excessively before we reached Snow’s Cut.  The cut itself had some surprises for us!  We saw depths of 8.6 feet in a couple of spots.  According to our tide table we should have had 3 feet above mean low water.  It seems that dead low might not be a good time to transit Snow’s Cut. 

We turned right after the cut and entered Carolina Beach.  We had reserved a mooring, initially for two days.  Having seen the forecast, we extended that to four days.  Although we have stayed here before on our way south we had some really bad storms and so never explored ashore, hence we are excited to be here. We will wait out the next cold front (Friday) here and then move up to Wrightsville Beach. When the weather permits we will make the offshore passage to Beaufort.

Gloria

34 02.754 N, 77 53.382 W

If you’ve been reading the blog you know that I have tried at least three times to repair the leak in the starboard tube of our dinghy. Every time we try to fix the problem it seems to move to another spot. It’s like playing “whak-a-mole”. Yesterday we identified yet another location for the leak and started to suspect there is a more significant leak under the rub rail and the the released air then dissipates wherever it can find a gap between the rub-rail and the tube. We decided that we needed to get to the route of the problem and take off the rub rail and find the primary leak (I should have done this in the first place). Having cut the rail and peeled it back it was obvious that the real leak was some 3 feet away from where the air was seeping out. I managed to patch this area and reattach the rub rail (with difficulty). Initially it seems that the tube is now leaking worse than ever. I replaced the valve washer and made sure the rub rail wasn't pulling the repair patch off the tube. For the first time in weeks the tube feels hard after leaving it overnight ... but I'm not confident this repair will last!

Mike

Moonset from Calabash Creek

Heading out of Calabash Creek along the ICW towards the Shalotte Inlet

Seconds before sunrise in the ICW

Sunrise in the ICW

This is the first time we've seen anyone trawling the ICW !

The location of what we believe is the primary leak in the starboard tube of the dinghy (held open with chopsticks!). The rub rail is peeled back and you can also see one of the previous patch repairs in teh top left. (The dinghy is upside down on the foredeck of Cotinga)

With the opening glued shut and a new patch clamped over the top we hope that the dinghy is finally repaired. We realize that the Dumb Dog is on its last legs but we'd like it to see us through this season.

New Words

New Words

Monday 26th April 2021

The 2022 version of the Oxford English Dictionary will have a new verb “Myrtle”  … Mur.Tull. > To render ugly and distasteful what was previously attractive … “The barber cut my hair today but he completely myrtled it and now it looks terrible”. This new word is based on Myrtle Beach, or at least the Intra Coastal Waterway section of Myrtle Beach, which has to be one of the least attractive sections of this amazing 1200-mile passageway. In most places waterside property would be considered desirable, but in my mind not by the ICW in Myrtle Beach. It’s not that the properties built along its banks are old or falling apart, in fact quite the opposite, they are brand spanking new, probably cost a fortune and to me are just plain fugly. 

Whilst I’m on a rant let me introduce “Bridgehole”, another new word for consideration. This is a euphemism for a “screaming flaming incredible asshole”, such as a powerboat Captain who comes up close behind you, ignores your radio call to discuss how to pass safely and then overtakes you in super-shallow water (our depth gauge showed 8 feet) as you are lining up to pass through a swing bridge. That particular vessel didn’t even have a name painted on it so hailing “Bridgehole” on channel 16 might have been appropriate.

Despite my unseemly tirade we did actually have a good day. We carefully planned our route to arrive at Calabash Creek on a rising tide, a couple of hours past low, because the entrance is reported to have a 5 foot sand bar. When we came to pull up anchor at 11.30am we noticed a tiny problem. During the course of the night and reversing current our anchor trip line buoy got tangled up with our dinghy tow line so effectively we ended up stern anchored via the trip line! Just as well it didn’t blow hard last night. Thankfully it wasn’t too hard to untangle. Anyway, we made good progress along our route, managing to get through three bridge openings and the infamous “Rock Pile” without incident and then realized we were going to be a little early to Calabash Creek. So we travelled the last 3 miles with the engine at idle speed to allow more time for the tide to fill in. As it turns out, with + 2 feet of tide, we never saw less than 9 feet depth at the mouth of the creek. I suspect that the creek has probably been dredged since the review was written. Now we are safely anchored and looking forward to a quiet night and an early start.

Mike

33 52.348 N, 78 34.202 W

A stunning morning in the Oxbow lake off Enterprise Landing, Waccamaw River, SC

Spring in the Waccamaw River

Spring in the Waccamaw River

Sunday, April 25, 2021

The area around the Waccamaw River seems like a different place in the spring.  The “bald cypress” trees are in leaf, along with all the other trees of the river basin.  A very bright green water plant appears along the edges of the rivers and creeks in some areas.  This might be water lily or some other plant.  For reasons of depth we never get close enough to figure out what it really is.  When we were here last we noticed that there were many osprey nests but we didn’t see any osprey.  This too has changed.  It seems that most nests are occupied and the cheeping sound can be heard ringing out over the water

One other notable difference is the amount of boat traffic.  Admittedly it has been the weekend but the number of vessels zipping up and down the creeks and rivers has been shocking.  Certainly the amount of boating activity is quite different from our experience in the autumn.  Another aspect that is less perfect is a dramatic increase in the number of biting flies.  These seem to be deer flies or some cousin thereof.  Today while moving from Thoroughfare Creek to an oxbow near the Enterprise crossing (about 14 statute miles), the flies were so thick that we put the screen into the companionway.  We also brought the flyswatter into the cockpit.  If my hand-eye co-ordination were any good, the cockpit would have been black with fly corpses. 

Our plan is to move on tomorrow.  A hop of about 35 miles should get us to Calabash Creek just this side of the border with North Carolina.  We hope that it’s an uneventful trip, even if we do have to transit the infamous “rock pile”.  That is a narrow section of the ICW that appears to have been dug out and lined with large rocks.  It’s a bad place to meet a barge coming in the opposite direction! 

Gloria

33 39.949 N, 79 04.237 W

Anchored in an Oxbow Bend near Enterprise Landing, Waccamaw River, SC

It is possible to get you anchor trapped under sunken trees or other debris so it is recommended to use a "trip line" which is attached to the top the anchor and to a float (seen here in the photo)

Reflections in the still waters

Ripples passing through the anchorage

I hope this short video clip gives you a sense of how tranquil and beautiful this anchorage is

Thoroughfare Creek

Thoroughfare Creek

Saturday 24th April 2021

We woke to cloudy skies and no wind. I don’t mean little wind, but actually zero wind. I don’t know that I can ever recall our wind instruments showing 0.0 knots. The water around us was as a flat as a mirror at least until the fast fishing boats started racing through. Unfortunately our three attempts to stop the leak in the dinghy were not successful so we had to pump it up before rowing over to the sandy beach nearby. There is a really pleasant walk through the woods and it felt great to get off the boat and stretch our legs. However, the calm before the storm didn't last and by lunchtime it was raining and a little blowy. The forecast was for strong winds and thunderstorms, some of them severe, but as the afternoon has gone by the weather hasn’t deteriorated much so I’m hopeful this system will pass through without too much stress. 

The long overnight passages take their toll, even if you do manage to get some sleep.  Today we are both feeling pretty tired and have enjoyed just hanging out and resting. Once the weather improves we will continue up the Waccamaw River and follow the ICW over the next several days up to Wrightsville Beach. From there we will do a long day passage offshore to Beaufort, NC.

Mike

33 30.889 N, 79 08.640

Thoroughfare Creek in the calm before the storm. (Panorama of four 17mm wide angle shots, stitched together in Photoshop and converted to B&W)

Off shore passage and Rocket Launch

Off shore passage and Rocket Launch

Thursday April 22 – Friday April 23, 2021

We waited for afternoon to depart the marina at Skull Creek, partly because the strong winds following the cold front were forecast to die away by the afternoon.  The other reason to leave in the late afternoon was to be entering the inlet at Winyah Bay in daylight.  We untied from the dock at about 3:30 pm and got underway.  In a short while, the wind was gusting to 16kts (not exactly the 5 kts of the forecast!).  Those were the strongest winds we experienced on Thursday—they didn’t last long.  Although clear and bright it was also very cold and we had to start pulling on more layers of clothing.

The Port Royal inlet faces south with shoals on either side of the channel.  The first three hours of our trip were taking us in the wrong direction.  However, sometimes you’ve just got to work with the available geography. The confused sea state in the channel was making both of us glad that we had put on the scopolamine patches before setting off.

Once we were out of the inlet channel and on the desired course, the direction of the waves was less troubling—not so much rolling side to side.  Better but still causing difficulties when trying to move around below. It was soon dark, but the moon was up, casting some light. We had to add more layers of clothing.  I started to find it hard to bend my arms.  We took it in turns to be on watch.  The off-watch person tried to nap in the cockpit.  This required a sleeping bag, Brrr! By 5:30 am I could tell that the sky was getting light in the east.  

We reached the outer markers of the Winyah inlet around 9:30 am. Sadly the current was flowing out of the inlet making for very slow progress. We cranked up the engine but at some points we were only able to make about 3.5 knots over the ground. By noon, we were anchoring in the Western Channel off the inlet.  We had some lunch and a little rest while waiting for the current to switch.  At 2:30 pm we set off for Thoroughfare Creek, a beautiful tributary that runs into the Waccamaw River. All together I think we travelled about 140 nautical miles – 100 miles offshore and the remainder getting in and out of the shipping channels. We are pretty tired (with that jet-lag feeling). It’s just after “Boaters 10 pm” (7 o’clock for the non-boaters) and I’m ready to hit the rack. 

Gloria

During night passages Gloria and I switch off taking control of the boat whilst the other sleeps … or at least rests. We try and do 2 hours on-watch and 2 hours off. It was just the luck of the draw that I started a watch at 5.30 am whilst Gloria lay down in the cockpit. I got to experience one of the most amazing spectacles that I have ever seen. At 5.49 am SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket along with the Crew Dragon unit and 4 astronauts from Cape Canaveral. I looked up about two minutes later and just happened to have my camera ready in the cockpit. My camera tell me that the shots I took were between 5.52 am and 5.54 am. At first I had no idea what I was looking at and all sorts of ideas popped through my, including an alien invasion, but apparently on the previous watch Gloria heard a broadcast from the US Coast Guard announcing that there would be a rocket launch. I couldn’t see the rocket itself (even in the photos) but the vapor trails were enormous. I think that I may have also seen the 1st stage booster falling back to earth. It was very challenging to photograph because I needed to use long exposures (2-6 seconds) hand-held on a rolling boat. I was delighted that they came out as well as they did. This is the second rocket launch we have seen on this trip!

Mike

33 30.889 N, 79 08.640

The following shots are shown in the sequence in which they were taken ...

Gloria in the cockpit shortly after we cleared the Port Royal Inlet shipping channel and headed north-east

Sun setting behind the South Carolina shore. Photos rarely capture whether the sea is rough or not, but maybe from this you can tel it was still quite choppy after the high winds from the previous night.

Night life in the cockpit with Gloria resting on the bench with a sleeping bag to keep her warm. The auto-pilot steers the boat and the person on watch just has to keep an eye open for other vessels - most easily seen as AIS markers on the chart plotter or as radar blips or from navigation lights. AIS is brilliant because it shows you where the other boat is, how fast it's going and in what direction. It also gives you the boat name so you can call them directly on the VHF radio (~ 4 minute exposure, camera on tripod, lit by the moon)

Abstract taken at night in the cockpit using 17-35 mm lens , camera on a tripod and ~ 4 minute exposure constantly varying the focal length.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with Crew Dragon capsule and 4 astronauts headed for the International Space Station. The white smudge to the right of the main jets looked like a large flare and I suspect this is the first stage booster coming back to earth (17 mm lens, 6 second exposure, hand held taken at 5:51.48)

Rocket heading off into the sunrise (17 mm lens, 2 second exposure, hand held at 5:54.26)

Rocket off starboard bow (30mm lens, 1 second exposure, hand held at 5:54.48)

It was a fabulous sunrise and the se had settled down a lot since the previous evening

The colors just kept getting better!

Dodgy Dinghy

Dodgy Dinghy

Wednesday 21st April 2021

We were having breakfast when there was a loud knocking on the side of the boat. The harbormaster wanted us to move our dinghy off the dock because it was impeding access (a bit). Having successfully patched two leaks we were happy to re-launch the Dumb Dog and pump up the tubes to full pressure. Sadly by the afternoon it was clear that the leaks were not fixed and the starboard tube felt as squishy as before. Armed with a bucket of very soapy water and a hosepipe we did another round of leak hunting and after a lot of close inspection found a third and hopefully final leak. All three of these were behind the rub rail and weren’t really punctures so we suspect the Dumb Dog’s days may be numbered. We will try and repair this latest leak tomorrow morning when the dinghy is dry again.

We finished off all the remaining boat jobs we had on our list - re-fitting the knot meter and emptying and refreshing our water tanks (120 gallons). We had planned to leave today, but decided to postpone our departure until tomorrow afternoon to allow a strong cold front to pass through.  We weren’t too taken with the idea of beating directly into 20-knot winds.  We now plan to go out of Port Royal sound in the afternoon and sail overnight to the Winyah Bay inlet, a journey of about 130 miles. We had hoped to go further, either to the Cape Fear River or all the way to Beaufort, but there is more bad weather expected on Saturday and we want to be safely anchored before that arrives. 

We did manage to get out for a couple of birding trips today. This morning before breakfast we took a walk through the local neighborhood and golf course and saw quite a few birds. Then later this afternoon we took our bikes over to the Whooping Crane Pond conservation area. This turned out to be spectacularly beautiful. We did see some nice birds – pileated woodpecker, ruby throated hummingbird (first of the season) and Swainsons thrush, but the only new bird for our list was a Wood Duck. 

Dinner tonight was Sesame Chicken – a Martha Stewart recipe. Unfortunately we didn’t have any sesame seeds or sesame oil so to call our dish “Sesame Chicken” seems like a misnomer. However, it was really tasty and having eaten a “lovely big salad” for lunch we were starving and this totally hit the spot!

No blog tomorrow as we will be sailing if all goes well. 

Mike

32 14.742 N, 80 44.856 W

The boardwalk at Whooping Crane Pond Conservation area

Alligators, cotton mouth snakes, turtles, wood-ducks, wading birds, warblers, woodpeckers ... what's not to like!

A Walk in a Swamp

A Walk in a Swamp

Tuesday April 20, 2021

First thing this morning, Mike took the car to West Marine to get a dinghy repair kit and some engine oil.  Then he returned the car to the rental place and cycled back to the marina. The rest of the morning was spent doing boat jobs.  We put another patch on the dinghy—having found an additional leak.  We are both thinking that this doesn’t bode well for the Dumb Dog going forward.  She may be on her last leg—so to speak.  

I did more cleaning inside the boat.  Maybe it would be more correct to say that I worked on odor improvement.  I wiped over the hard surfaces with this marine deodorizer.  It has a powerful and pleasant smell.  In fact, Mike was on the dock working on the dinghy while I was “cleaning” inside.  He shouted out that he could smell the cleaner from outside!

In the later afternoon we went for a walk around this “gated community”.  We stumbled across a conservation area with a boardwalk.  Presumably this area is usually wet—a swamp I imagine.  Today the ground was mostly dry.  The lack of water didn’t seem to affect the bird population though.  We saw lots of birds in the trees there.  To our chagrin, there weren’t any new species to add to our bird list.  Still any time you see lots of bird life, it’s pretty fun.  A few less bugs might have added to our enjoyment!

On the way back to the boat, we stopped off at the Old Fort Pub.  We were able to sit on a deck overlooking the ICW to eat our dinner.  It was quite a fancy place, however, they did seat us despite our casual clothing (Can our boating duds even rise to the level of ‘casual’?). Mike ate bouillabaisse and I had the scallops in a mustard cream sauce with polenta and “haricot vert” (green beans to the rest of the world). It’s a long while since we’ve eaten dinner out.  The last time might have been Key West in February.  It was a treat!

Gloria 

32 14.742 N, 80 44.856 W

I realized just before we went on our walk that my camera battery was pretty much dead, so the following shots / video are all taken with my iPhone (Mike)

An excellent dinner at the Old Fort Pub - this southern low country version of bouillabaisse was excellent

The location was pretty cool as well ! What a great place to have dinner

A view of the outdoor patio at the Old Fort Pub

The beautiful Cedar Swamp that we visited this afternoon - a lot of birds and a enchanting atmosphere

It’s a Small World

It’s a Small World

Monday 19th April 2021

We had a really busy day. The divers from Coastal Diving arrived before 9am and cleaned the bottom of the boat. The zincs looked good and the “haloing” observed previously didn’t sound like it was any worse, but they did say that they noticed a lot of blisters on the paint whilst they were scraping. Having spent 28 days this past winter removing the old bottom paint and applying fresh barrier coat and anti-fouling I was far from delighted to hear this. My first thought was that I would need to re-strip the whole thing and do it again. On reflection I’m hoping that I may be able to tackle just the blistered areas. I have no idea what has gone wrong. I inspected a couple that I could see / feel near the water line and it appears that the first layer of anti-fouling (a hard bottom paint) has not adhered well to the barrier coat. Maybe I applied it too soon or too late … who knows. I’m pretty confident that this is not an osmosis issue, which would be more serious, but I won’t know the extent of the issue until we haul out in the late autumn. Needless to say this put a cloud over the rest of the day.

We still have the rental car until tomorrow so we did a major shopping trip and stocked up on food for the next 2 or 3 weeks and we also re-filled the propane on one of our tanks. Having squared away all the provisions it was time to turn our attention to the dinghy. We have a slow leak in one of the tubes and also need to re-fresh the anti-fouling paint. When we hauled the Dumb Dog up onto the dock and flipped it over we somewhat shocked to see how covered in barnacles the undersides were. I guess we left this job a little too long. We were able to scrape the bottom clean fairly easily and then started looking for the puncture. With the help of some soapy water we quickly identified where the leak was coming from and once the dinghy dried off we applied a patch and hopefully fixed it. The last job of the day was to paint some fresh anti-fouling paint on to the bottom of the dinghy. 

Whilst I was doing this I got chatting to another sailor from a 53 ft Island Packet docked nearby. He too had been down to the Dry Tortugas and when he said that his timing worked well because the ferry was out of service I said we must have been there at the same time. He asked me if I recalled the man being airlifted back to Key West after hurting his back and when I said  “yes” he replied “well that was me”! You may recall we wrote about this incident in our blog post on March 4th 2021 “The Dry Tortugas Adventures – Part 2 … “Things that cry ‘Help’ in the night”. 

http://ataleoftwochemists.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-dry-tortugas-adventures-part-2.html

What an incredible coincidence to bump into Gavin, the injured sailor behind this story. As we now understand it, Gavin had a pinched nerve in his back and when he stepped down off his boat onto his dinghy he stepped awkwardly, tore his hamstring and ended up in the water. He didn’t have his swim ladder down and could not climb back onto his boat, nor could he pull himself into his dinghy because of the back and hamstring issues. By the time we heard him calling for help and others arrived to provide assistance ha had been in the water for about 45 minutes. Once safely on land at Fort Jefferson the Park Service arranged for a helicopter to take him back to Key West, which arrived about 3 am. Gavin spent a few days recovering in Key West and then came back to Fort Jefferson once the ferry was back in service. He sailed back to Key West solo, but with other vessels keeping him company. It was great to meet up with him, see that he was well and hear the full story.

Mike

32 14.742 N, 80 44.856 W

Gavin on the dock at Skull Creek marina

Green Heron perched on a dock line at Skull Creek marina

Mission Accomplished

Mission Accomplished

Sunday April 18, 2021

On Friday, Mike cycled to the rent-a-car place and came back with a Nissan Maxima.  We finished our packing, had some lunch and hit the road.  The drive went fairly well, right around Jacksonville we were held up by heavy traffic.  Still we got to our friends’ place just before 5 pm.  We didn’t let the rain keep us from enjoying the hot tub and pool.  Lynn prepared a fantastic meal of salmon with a mustard crust, mashed potatoes and sauteed green beans.  Heavenly.

Saturday morning we had breakfast (fruits, granola and toast) and then set off for the vaccination site.  Everything went smoothly once again, we were back outside by 10:52.  We met Lynn and Lee at a state park near St. Augustine for a walk first through the woods and then through the marshes.  Mike took advantage of different models to get some variety into his photos—our friends, a spider, a snail and some flowers.

A second trip to the hot tub and pool completed the active portion of our day.  Mike and Lee collaborated on dinner, with assistance and advice from Lynn.  They produced some outstanding tostadas—so yummy. By evening both Mike and I were finding that our arms were sore.   Mike said he felt unwell but I didn’t really notice any other symptoms.  

This morning we set off northward in the rain.  As we got further north the rain eased up.  It was sunny and warm by the time we got back to the boat.  We started working on the boat jobs list right away.  Mike emptied the lazarette and washed it out (a smell reduction project).  I defrosted the freezer and cleaned it and the fridge.  I started on some cleaning of the boat interior but ran out of steam before making very much headway.  

I think we both find it a relief to have got the set vaccination.  It was so great to see our friends again. Now we are trying to figure out the next part of the northward trip. 

Gloria

32 14.742 N, 80 44.856 W

Lee and Lynn on the "Ancient Dunes" trail, Anastasia State Park, St Augustine

Tradescantia (Spider Wort)

Caterpillar

Spider

Snail

Woodstork

Little Blue Heron

For the Love of Birds

For the Love of Birds

Thursday 15th April 2021

“Get out of here … scram you bastards … f…off before I shoot you!” Are these the words of two people who love birds? How wonderful to hear the sound of bird song in the morning, except when it’s a bunch of grackles crapping on your boat. Just because “boat-tailed grackles” have a “boat” in their name doesn’t mean that they can use our boat as a toilet. Over the past few days in the marshes of Georgia and South Carolina we have seen these birds flying around the creeks from one bank to another and they love to land on our radar post, the bimini, the spreaders on the mast, the bow … you name it. They are quite vocal, not particularly scared of humans and they definitely make a mess, although to be fair, they are an order of magnitude better than cormorants. This morning saw both of us leaping out into the cockpit screaming obscenities and rattling halyards to try and scare them away. It worked to some extent, but also felt strangely therapeutic. 

We left the New River shortly before 9 am and completed the final fifteen miles to the marina in Skull Creek on Hilton Head Island. Getting Cotinga safely into the slip was a bit of an adventure with a lot of current and a stiff wind from the stern. But we had help with our lines from one of the marina staff and with a couple of attempts to get lined up squarely we managed to pull in without incident. This afternoon we have been cleaning the boat and catching up on laundry. This is our first night on a dock since leaving Key West in February.

Tomorrow we rent a car and head back to St Augustine, Florida to stay with our friends Lynn and Lee and to get our second Covid vaccination. We will post our next blog after we get back

Mike

32 14.742 N, 80 44.856 W

Skull Creek at low tide as seen from the marina looking north

Great Egret fishing in the marina

Great Egret - portrait

Grumpy!

Grumpy!

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

While my bed on the boat only has one side, I seem to have got out of the wrong side of it today.  We went for a walk on Daufuskie Island.  Once again we landed the dinghy at the public landing and set off on foot.  Today we walked along the main road (a paved road).  When we were in the vicinity of the Fire Station, Mike stopped to take some photos.  I was trying to ID a bird in the canopy above when a guy in a golf cart stopped to ask what I was seeing.  We got into a conversation about what could be seen on the island and where.  Mike wandered up just as this chap mentioned that there was a rookery near the beach that was one of our objectives on the walk.  Although his directions were a bit vague, I thought we would be able to find this place and see nesting wood storks, herons and egrets.  When we got to the beach, some miscommunication ensued. Mike said we should walk along the beach to the south to join the road we had walked on yesterday. I said I thought the tide was too high … what I meant was we would miss the rookery! I assumed that he was focused on his lunch and wanted to get to the other end of the island in the most expeditious manner.  I got a bit grumpy, Mike got a bit frustrated … all was resolved over an excellent lunch at Lucy Bell’s café.

Then after lunch and an expedition to look for wood ducks (failure), we returned to the boat.  The wind whipped up from the south and we were lying on a lee shore.  I couldn’t seem to settle down with our position and the wind that was gusting over 20 knots.  We decided to pull up the anchor and move more into the middle of the river. Now we both feel more comfortable, but I do think I should go to bed early and see if I can’t wake up in a better frame of mind tomorrow. 

Gloria

32 06.859 N, 80 54.439 W

Still waters at our anchorage on the New River, SC

Another beautiful road on Daufuskie Island

Palms and pines behind the beach on Daufuskie Island

Fried green tomatoes, barbecue pork bun and deviled crab with rice and collard greens - Lucy Bell's cafe

No wood ducks but we did see a few 'gators and turtles

Guinea fowl at the local community farm

Pink Flowers at the local community farm

Flag iris