On the hard, again

On the hard, again   ...   Tuesday 7^th May 2013

What a day this has been! At seven this morning, Mike jumped out of bed and announced that he was going to shower.  This put a lot of pressure on me to do the same.  Reluctantly, I crawled out of bed and got my stuff together.  It was an okay shower, nothing special, still better than the garden sprayer, though.  When I got back to the boat, Mike was in the middle of cleaning the fridge and freezer.  The surfaces of the galley were covered in food items.  All this activity happened before my morning coffee. That’s just wrong.

At nine, Tim from the boat yard called to say they were ready to haul us out.  We scrambled around getting ready—stowing things that might fall over, getting lines on the port side of the boat.  Fortunately, the plan was for us to motor to the fuel dock and then be ‘walked’ into ‘the pit’.  This all went smoothly.  Then came the start of the hauling out.  We were still on the boat as they tightened up the straps.  I was starting to think we were taking the lift out with the boat.  Instead, Tim backed us up so we could jump off the stern.  Then they lifted the boat for real and pulled it out.  It was quiet impressive to watch. I found it almost hard to believe seeing the lift driving around the yard with my boat/home suspended by two slings.

Once Cotinga was up on the hard, Paul (from the boatyard) power washed the bottom.  Then he set the blocks under the keel and placed the stands.  When the travel-lift was out of the way, it was our turn to get to work.  Our task was to clean the white stripe at the water line.  Over the months this had gone from bright white to dingy white to a “café au lait” color.  The green slime present in some areas was just the finishing touch to create a truly disgusting look.  First Mike scrubbed the slime with a cleanser.  Then we applied what might be the most effective cleaning product I have ever seen.  It’s called “On and Off”.  This stuff is truly amazing.   Perhaps it’s the hydrochloric acid, maybe it’s the phosphoric acid, the oxalic acid or the combination, that chemist’s house of horrors is astonishing. This stuff will take care of your ICW moustache before you can say Jiminy Cricket.  I thought it was everything that you’d ever hoped your “Easy Off” oven cleaner would be (but wasn’t).  Photographic evidence attached!

I think the amazing progress on the water-line stripe sent Mike into a cleaning frenzy.  After we picked up the hire car, he cleaned the soot off the transom.  Then he got to work on clearing the barnacles off the propeller.   It was quite the afternoon.

The bottom painting should begin tomorrow.  Hopefully by Friday we will get the boat back in the water.  I’ll be glad.  It has only been about 12 hours since the boat came out of the water.  Already I’ve had enough of climbing up and down that ladder.  It’s a long step from the top of the ladder to the deck of the boat.  It seems even worse on the way down….  

Gloria

The other thing we did this afternoon was pick up a rental car. We plan to take the car up to Washington to meet my mum and sister off the plane from England and then tour some historical sites in Virginia and pennsylvania. A man from Enterprise picked us up at the marina and took us back to their office. Having completed the paperwork the lady who was helping us took us outside to inspect the car - not the full size sedan we had booked, but an "upgrade" to a bright red dodge Ram 1500 4x4 truck! My first thought, was "yes" we just might be able to fit my sisters luggage in the back of the truck (Ali has yet to demonstrate that she knows the meaning of traveling light ... but this time she says she's got it cracked!). My second thought was that my mum may not be able to get into the back seat and she's not going to like sitting in her wheel chair in the bed of the truck. Seriously, there was no cap on the truck and therefore nowhere to safely leave your luggage and my mum probably couldn't have gotten in to the front or back. So we told the lady it wasn't suitable and they gave us a Chrysler Seebring 300 instead - which is a very large and fancy sedan! (Ali, if you are reading this - the boot (trunk) is tiny!)

Mike

Backed in to "the pit"

Slings attached

Up she goes

A snails eye view

Paul power washing along the waterline

... and under the hull

The totally amazing "On and Off" - this stuff takes < 3 minutes contact to take the waterline from "cafe au lait" to bright white

Our 20" Max-Prop prior to cleaning

Boatyard abstracts - sanded down hull

Boatyard abstracts - boat stand and sanded hull

Boatyard abstracts - boat stand and sanded hull - 2

Boat Maintenance

Boat Maintenance …. Monday 6th May 2013

It's hard to write an exciting blog when it hasn't been a particularly exciting day! Basically we spent the whole day working through a list of jobs that we feel we need to get done before we leave the boat for a month. These included such classics as cleaning the aft holding tank ventilation pipes, repairing the sail cover and cleaning out a number of storage cupboards. Who said living aboard a boat was a glamorous experience? We did get to meet the dockside manager Mike Loch and marine shop manger Tim Nichols, both of whom were really nice and very helpful. In fact the Wilmington Marine Center does seem like a safe, friendly and pleasant place to leave the boat. The one disadvantage is that it's a few miles away from town and all it's facilities, but tomorrow we should be picking up a rental car so that should make us much more mobile. We did take a brief walk this afternoon, but the surrounding area wasn't too attractive - like an industrial park with a large sewage treatment plant as an added attraction! I have to say that none of this is evident from the marina. What we did detect this morning from the boat was the unmistakable smell of coffee being roasted, so on our walk we tried to find the coffee shop. It turned out that "Port City Java" does all it's roasting just up the road from the marina, but sadly there is no cafe. However, as we were peering in through the windows, a very nice gentleman did come out and gave us coupons for a complimentary drink when we do get to one of their shops. Well that's it for now. If all goes to plan we are due to be hauled out tomorrow morning. We'll keep you posted!

Mike

34 10.231 N, 77 57.020 W

The entrance channel to Wilmington Marine Center - this shot taken from the back of "Cotinga' on the dock during a thunderstorm this morning - it brightened up in the afternoon

Wilmington Marine Center

Wilmington Marine Center   ... Sunday 5 May 2013

Many grim predictions were made about the likely conditions on the Cape Fear River today.  The chap who worked on the dock suggested that with a northeast wind the sea state might be bad enough (if combined with an adverse current) to make it impossible to make headway up the river.  Someone else suggested that with all the fetch down the river, the waves might be 5 feet.  All this added a certain something to our discussion about the timing of our departure.

Thankfully, Mike studied the tide and current tables well.  We had only a little bit of adverse current upon entering the Cape Fear River.  The current soon gave way to slack. By the time we were nearing Wilmington, we had current helping us on our way.  We departed about noon and motor-sailed with the genoa.  We arrived at the marina just shortly after three pm. Not bad for a trip of twenty miles! The seas were probably less than two feet, although there was some spray resulting from the wind gusts.  We also got the obligatory rain-shower just to make sure the trip was complete.

First thing this morning we took advantage of the truly fantastic showers at the South Harbor Marina.  There was a glut of hot water—marvelous.  After breakfast we started on the dumb dog.  We pulled her out of the water and scrubbed the algae/slime off the underside.  Then a similar treatment was applied to the topside.  Much attention was paid to removing the sand from the inside of the dingy.  Then we deflated the dog and packed her away in her carrying case.  The whole thing was lashed onto the foredeck. That’s another thing crossed off the “preparations list”.

Having arrived at the marina we walked around the yard and found a couple at work on their boat.  Mike enquired about the proximity of the nearest café.  The answer was about seven miles.  Sounds like we will be cooking on the boat tonight.  We did get chatting to this couple—John and Jennifer.  Their boat is a catamaran and they are in middle of “repainting the engine rooms”.  Foolishly, I thought that sounded simple enough.  Not so.  They are removing, cleaning and painting both engines along with replacing all the hoses.  While the engines are out the engine-rooms are being cleaned, insulated (to reduced noise) and painted.  The scale of this task seems staggering.  We saw the before and after pictures of the first engine room.  It looks like the boat just rolled out of the factory shed.  The very idea that you would take the engine out of your boat yourself—wow!

The sun is out and I can see some blue sky.  Maybe it’s a little interlude between the bad weather systems.

Tug and Barge on the Cape Fear River

That horrible jolting feeing

That horrible jolting feeing   …   Saturday 4th April 2013

Well it wasn't the greatest nights sleep. The boat was creaking and groaning in the wind and current, and we couldn't help but worry about getting out of the shallow waters of Calabash Creek. We got up at 5.30 am, put on the coffee and prepared for an early departure to make use of the remaining tide. With our thermos cups full and daylight upon us we started the engine, raised the anchor and motored out of Calabash creek. Apparently it does make a difference if you go the correct side of the marker - we never saw less than 11ft on the depth sounder -  it couldn't have been easier. Not so our trip up the ICW. There are several notorious sections between the Calabash anchorage and our destination, Southport, NC. The first of these, Shalotte Inlet, went just fine, but as we approached Lockwood's Folly inlet we felt a lurch and jolt, and that sickening "WTF" feeling - we've run aground … again. We had just passed a channel marker and were well within the channel, but apparently not close enough to the middle. We seemed to have skipp over one sand bar and then stop on the next. We quickly slowed the engine and put it in neutral while we figured out our situation. The wind, which was blowing strongly from the north east, turned the bow towards the center of the channel, so we fired up the engine and motored off the bank with a great sense of relief. We then navigated across the inlet itself and then some other shallow sections further on. I have to say that by this point we were well and truly sick of the ICW and its shallow, stressful and poorly marked channel. We arrived at the South Harbor Village Marina around 11 am. The wind was gusting to 30 mph and it took the strong arms of the dock master and some fellow sailors to take our lines and keep us on the dock. To say that the weather these past few days has been less than ideal is an understatement - fleece and full foul weather gear including wooly hat in May and we're only in the ICW - you've got be kidding me! It was warmer when we passed through here in November. My mother in law was sitting outside in the sun today and she lives up in Maine! Anyway, after we arrived we did get a bunch of jobs done - pumped out both heads, filled diesel, filled water, changed oil and oil filter, cleaned below the cabin sole, washed out bilge and cleaned shower. After that we were exhausted and starving and headed to the local Italian restaurant for what turned out to be an excellent meal. Now we are back on the boat and looking forward to an early night  .. oops too late for that!

Mike

33 55.240 N, 78 03.661 W

Gloria at the helm, full foul weather gear - North Carolina in May

Fish, foul weather and skinny water

Fish, foul weather and skinny water   ...   Friday 3^rd May 2013

As we left our oxbow anchorage this morning, Mike said he thought it was a nicer day than yesterday.  Indeed the wind seemed lighter and the skies brighter.  Perhaps we angered the weather gods with our remarks.  As the day progressed the intensity of the wind continued to increase.  Then the rain started.  At first it was just drizzly showers, later we experienced serious rain.  At some points Mike had to take over steering as I could see almost nothing through my rain-spattered specs.  We passed one marina that was flying a gale warning flag.  “Not a nice weather”!

Our objective for today was to make about 35 miles of progress along the ICW and anchor in the Calabash Creek.  The description of the creek entry in the guidebook reads: “ at extreme low water the entrance bar carries about five feet.  Enter just north of the ICW red ‘2’ giving the creek’s red ‘2’ a wide berth….” Not exactly the kind of description to calm the nerves.  Mike had phoned the chap at Towboat US for some local knowledge.  He advised us to treat the ICW red ‘2’ as a green.  It’s amazing the number of interpretations one could put on such seemingly straightforward advice.  We took those words (along with the guidebook description) to mean that we should pass between the island and ICW red ‘2’.  Although we were at the mid point of the tide we saw 6.6 feet on the depth sounder.  Once anchored inside the creek we asked ourselves if “treat it as a green” might mean to leave it on our port side.  It’s perplexing as going north on the ICW one has red on the port side all the time…. depending on whether the marker is viewed as on the ICW or on the creek the significance is reversed. We shall try to be up and away by 6 am tomorrow to ensure more depth at the creek entrance … and we’re going to pass the marker on the other side!

After a marvelous lunch of meatloaf sandwiches and apple crumble, we decided to try fishing.  We still had some squid in the freezer, the rod was already set up for bottom fishing.  Mike cast the bait over.  Then the phone rang—tomorrow’s marina phoning back.  While on the phone, Mike spotted the fishing rod taking off.  He lunged up the companionway and just managed to grab the end of the rod before it disappeared over the side of the boat.  I started to reel in while Mike talked to the chap at the marina.  The rod was bent into a horseshoe shape.  Once the call was complete, Mike took over the fishing.  What we had hooked was a stingray.  We brought it aboard and flipped it onto its back.  Then with gloves and boots on, Mike managed to get the hook out using the pliers and we put the fish back. A second cast led to a second (smaller) stingray.  While we did fish a little longer, I think our enthusiasm for fishing had abated (poor pun) – you can’t eat rays!

Gloria

33 52.491 N, 78 34.306 W

Motoring the Myrtle Beach section of the ICW in the rain

A short trip up the Waccamaw

A short trip up the Waccamaw   …   Thursday 2nd May 2013

We weren't in a rush to leave Thoroughfare Creek this morning as we only had about 15 miles to go and would have more favorable current in the afternoon. So we hung out on the boat this morning, read our books and had a great Skype telephone call with Tasha. She's having a great time in South Africa ad we are really excited about the prospect of going to see her in June. After a fine lunch of tuna melt sandwiches we decided to make tracks. We were a little unnerved to see one of the two boats that anchored close to us last night was actually aground, so we were careful to stick to the center of the creek. Once we rejoined the Waccamaw river itself it was immediately obvious that we had been in a very sheltered location up the creek. The wind was blowing really hard … and you guessed it, right on the nose. We are actually very glad that we chose to stay inside the ICW for this section rather than head out along the coast. There are gale warnings in place until the weekend and depending which forecast you believe seas of up to 10 feet. No thanks. It took us close to three hours to reach our destination. We suspect that our boat has become slower as we have accumulated an extra coat of slime and weed. Hauling out, cleaning the hull and refreshing the anti-fouling paint in Wilmington should fix that. Right now we are anchored just inside a small oxbow lake off the Waccamaw river. It's very peaceful and we have an osprey nest about 100ft from the boat. Today we were very excited to see some swallow tailed kites in addition to the osprey that are so numerous in this area. We have a real treat in store - Gloria has just made a pan of her amazing meatloaf, which we will eat with sweet potatoes and broccoli, and we also have an apple crisp for dessert. The boat is smelling fantastic at the minute … and it's not every day that I could say that!

Mike

33 39.884 N, 79 04.289 W

Waccamaw river

Enjoying the Waccamaw River

Enjoying the Waccamaw River   ...   Wednesday 1 May 2013

The Waccamaw River was one of the areas that we thought was beautiful as we made our way south.  At that time with so many more miles to reach Vero Beach we didn’t make time to explore the Waccamaw.  Now on the way back we plan to spend a couple days in this area to see more.  We left Georgetown this morning at low tide. The timing was recommended by our guidebook as a way for a slow boat to have favorable tide all the way up the river.  Something went awry for we had adverse current all the way to Thoroughfare Creek where we are anchored.  I should have known better, that Skipper Bob was a power-boater.  This was probably his idea of a good prank to play on sailors.

The Waccamaw is wide and lined with Cypress Trees.  Behind the Cypress there appear to be miles of marsh.  Much of this area was cultivated with rice in the past.  I find myself wondering what it might have been like before the influence of agriculture.  Maybe it was one great big cypress swamp.  Today’s little corner of the Waccamaw is Thoroughfare Creek.  The guidebook suggests anchoring near a large sandbank.  This we did and were pleased to see an alligator lying on the sandbank.  You can imagine that our photographer was keen to get onto that sandbank.  Mr. Alligator seemed to hear us approaching and swam off.  We had to resort to a little walk on shore to trick him into returning.  A small number of photos were obtained before he took off again.  We also took a little dinghy ride further up the creek to have a look around.

It seemed like we had this peaceful place all to ourselves.  Then about fifteen minutes ago two more sailboats turned up and anchored.  Shortly thereafter, a powerboat came by towing a water skier.  Based on the number of submerged branches and stumps that I’ve seen, water skiing in this area wouldn’t be my choice.

Gloria

33 30.876 N, 79 08.648 W

Live Oaks and Spanish Moss - Thoroughfare Creek, Waccamaw River

Our first and only Alligator of the trip so far

Cotinga at Dusk - Thoroughfare Creek, Waccamaw River   (With the tide, current and breeze all in alignment the boat is hanging nicely on the anchor. Three hours previously the anchor as marked by teh buoy and trip line was 20 feet behind the stern!)