velcro beach

well we've been just chugging along day after day after day with lots of sunshine but no wind to take advantage of cause it is either not there or directly on the nose so we haven't gone out into the ocean but we're sticking with the icw. we haven't heard any of our friends on the radio for a while and assumed they'd all jumped off for the bahamas since there are some good places along here to do that. but guess what we came into vero beach today and they are all here! they say they've been having so much fun and are so comfortable here that nobody has left yet. so big party tonight and breakfast with the gang in the morning and then we'll move along since we're already “behind schedule”. all that means is that we didn't get to spend thanksgiving with big dummy's aunt and cousin in port charolette. but we did have turkey. b.d. opened a tin of turkey breast and split a bunch of pickles and dumped all that between a couple of slices of bread and then scooped some of the turkey into my dish. delish.

here's some news for all you cats who are shoveling snow and ice this week – down here there are biting insects and flying cockroaches. so don't complain too much. i don't know what these little bugs are but they look like tiny flying ants and they must have some secret way of communicating with each other because they get all over your body when you aren't noticing and then biteA you all at the same time so you think you are going crazy or having a manapause hotflash or something. nasty little critters. and last night big dummy had some kind of bug zipping around inside his sleeping bag man that little baby could move. finally he turned on the light and grabbed it and threw it out the hatch. but it didn't bite anyway. somehow it got all the way down around his feet. big dummy was mad at me for not catching it before it invaded his most holy of holy places – his sleeping bag. hey i try nobodies purrfect.

here's some other news for all you amateur ornithologists – you know who you are. remember when it wasn't that long ago that seeing an osprey was like a really big deal? well now they are all over the place down here. its like they are taking over. and they aren't shy in fact we got so close to one today that we could see the eyes on the fish he was eating. osprey's are so cool they play with their food. really. when they swoop down and catch a fish they fly around and juggle that fish between their toes until they get the head turned into the wind. i guess that makes it easier to fly. then they eat it after they find a place to land. also today we saw a cormorant that swallowed a giant fish right in front of us while we were moving and then his belly was so full he couldn't take off so he just splashed along on top of the water until he was out of our way. stupid bird. but that fish did look pretty good though. i would have at least chewed it a little though.

well i hope everybody had a bodacious thanksgiving with lots of fish to eat and stuff. time to close up all the ports so the bugs don't eat us and then get some sleep.

purrs and kisses

peace

kitty

first mate s/v JoHee

do dolphins eat cats?

big dummy tells me i'm just being chicken but today when i was looking over the side to see what was making all that noise down there suddenly a dolphin popped up right under my chin and tried to suck me down his blow-hole. i'm not kidding. and it happened two more times before i got scared and went below to wait out the attack. big dummy just sang them a song and said they were cute. they were so close i think they were rubbing against the barnacles on the bottom. so dangerous! i wonder if they know how to make those ieds i keep hearing about on the radio.

another dangerous thing. last night while i was keeping night watch and we were anchored in yet another isolated location far far away from any humanity and where the stars shine from horizon to horizon i heard a panther scream! whoa! made the hair stand right up on my tail i tell you.....

anywho all is well with us. we're stopped in st. augustine at the moment but we'll get going as soon as we get done with showers, e-mail, banking, fueling, supplies, and etc.

purrs and kisses to all my fans and to everybody else i hope a dolphin vacuums you up...

peace
kitty
first mate s/v JoHee

savannah!

november 10 wednesday

one word describes south carolina. slow. the birds (egrets, bald eagles, herons) flap their wings slowly while we slowly wind our way through swamps and marshes and the sun slowly creeps across the empty southern sky. dolphins slowly surface around the boat and the cormorants take their time deciding whether or not to take flight as we pass them perched on a buoy. even the biting insects seem to be undecided when they first land. spanish moss sways slowly in a gentle breeze and the alligators are so slow they can't be seen at all – but i can smell them. word has it they eat cats. i'd like to seem them try – why there wouldn't be enough left to make a pair of shoes when i finished shredding – and i wouldn't be slow about it!

well one thing finally did happen fast today. see big dummy was trying to follow the instructions of the deck hands at the charleston harbor marina (where we are stopped for the night) and they wanted him to dock in this little corner that had no room to maneuver and a swift current pushing the boat toward the dead end and a huge sport fishing boat. b.d. realized it wouldn't be easy and actually made a 360 once just before it was too late and made a second try with the bow tucked in closer. but the current was too swift and caught the stern and suddenly we were slammed t-bone against the bow of that big fishing boat with our rigging tangled in his bow pulpit and the current pushing the keel so that we were pinned under there at about a 20 degree angle. it was a very ugly sight and some very ugly words were being uttered. eventually b.d. realized it wasn't such a hot idea to follow the instructions of the goofballs at the marina. i think it was just after one of them said if it makes you feel any better that boat gets hit all the time. anywho b.d. called his insurance company and they sent out a boat to pull us off the bow of that other boat and get us situated. fortunately it didn't cost us anything and it doesn't seem there was any damage to either boat to speak of so b.d. went ashore and had a bottle of cold beer and a low country pulled pork sandwich and watched a fantastic sunset over charleston. there are lots of dolphins here and they swim around the boat and the docks and blow their noses at us and sometimes even stick their heads out of the water to look at us. cool.

now we're going to get some sleep and get the heck out of dodge before anything else happens. g'night all. keep purring and kissing on each other.

peace

kitty

first mate s/v JoHee

november 13 saturday

we made it to savannah! we are tied up at big dummy's friend's dock and will be here a couple of days eating hot meals, taking hot showers, provisioning, and doing laundry etc. i met a couple of dogs to play with here. they are mastifs so they slobber all over me but i won't let them get on the boat so they can't make a mess down here.

peace

kitty

first mate s/v JoHee

bashing about in the gulf stream

friday november 5 cape fear no' cal ina

well we started out with fine weather yesterday (leaving camp lejunne) but the radio voice said one hundred percent chance of rain and about noon it hit about two hundred percent to make up for the dry morning. i stayed below but b.d. put on his lobster man suit and hung tough till we got to wrightsville beach where of course it stopped raining as soon as we dropped the anchor. we ran into scott and kitty (the “other kitty”) of the Tamure while we were there and they told b.d. about a wonderful mexican restaurant so of course he left me alone on the boat and rowed ashore to check it out. then he slept and slept and slept and this morning when he finally got up all the other boats we had been traveling with were already gone. what a lazy bum.

so we didn't make much progress today. we're in southport anchored in the tiny harbor and will stay at least tonight while b.d. works out a course for getting us to savannah maybe in one stretch depending on the weather. at least the sun is shining today and we did have a little fun this morning while b.d. was fueling at a dock in wrightsville. see b.d. thought he'd be smart and tether me to the boat so i couldn't wander off while he was looking the other way but i jumped off the boat anyway. just couldn't go very far cause of that dang tether. when i jumped back on the boat i got that thing wrapped around a stanchion and next thing i knew i only had about six inches of tether to work with. as you can imagine that didn't set well with me so i wiggled and squirmed and ducked and pulled and guess what i found out i can actually get out of that harness! woohoo! but i was so tired by then i just went below decks instead of wandering off on the dock. that was enough excitement for one day.

one observation today. the further south we get the more hot exchanges we hear among the crews of the other boats we see. funny how weeks and weeks of intracoastal waterway navigation can put a damper on relationships of husbands and wives, kids and parents, buddies, etc. but i gotta tell you me and b.d. are still tight and very happy with each other. he might be dumb as a box of rocks but at least he's always my best friend and he never ever calls me names or shouts at me even when i walk on his face in the middle of the night or wake him with my exercise routine at four a.m. even when i'm hiding under a deck he just figures it must be time to do the laundry and take a shower until i get done clearing out all the dustbunnies and cobwebs under there. he's a pretty nice skipper. think i'll keep him.

purrs and kisses

peace

kitty

first mate s/v JoHee

sunday november 7

no good sail goes unpunished and every sailor knows that when a strong wind blows against a strong current the result is massive, confused seas. well b.d. had this wonderful idea that we could take advantage of a weather window yesterday and sail from cape fear to savannah and at first that was a lovely idea. all morning long we had nice wind and big fat rolling seas and blue blue sunshine with the occasional fair weather cloud. then afternoon came and we had to pay for that morning ride. in fact it got so rough that we decided to change course to wherever the nearest shelter was (although we were tempted for a moment to just follow the wind all the way to the bahamas until we took into consideration a certain thomas who is hanging down around that area. b.d. got busy on the chart plotter and wouldn't you know, as usual is the case at a time like this, the nearest shelter was thirty miles away and nearly upwind. so he bowsed the jib, the staysail, and put a double reef in the main and started up the iron jenny. the next ten hours was hell. b.d. was seasick in spite of the behind-the-ear patch he wears for occasions such as this. i must admit he's really developing his vomiting skills. he used to say he would rather cut off an arm than throw up and if he did get nauseous he would be completely incapacitated til it was over. but no such luxury when survival of self, boat, and crew is at stake.

well no need to linger on that crazy trip. you've heard it all before except that this time it was like all the other times rolled up into one – except that it wasn't raining. the first time we took a breaker right over the boat b.d. was surprised by how warm the water was. then it dawned on him that we had wandered into the gulf stream and that explained the wild conditions given the strong north wind we were trying to ride down to georgia.

so today we're resting and drying out at this little hole called emmetts inlet. sleeping and sleeping and thinking of that line in an old sailor song “a man must be blind to make up his mind to go to sea once more.” b.d. swears never again. yeah. right.

purrs and kisses

peace

kitty

first mate s/v JoHee

november 1 monday

hooboy there is never a dull minute living with big dummy. let me tell you about today. see we were quite enjoying being anchored at silver lake which is the town on ocracoke island especially after that fiasco getting into the harbor but this morning b.d. called a predawn crew meeting. never good news at one of those. like when he says not to worry lass everything is under control. that means time to worry. anywho at this meeting he announces that there is bad weather coming and we have a choice of either staying in this harbor all week or making a run for it. i don't like the sound of “make a run for it”. sounds kinda like “lets give it the old college try.” in other words odds are against us but lets be stupid and risk our lives anyway. damn the torpedoes full speed ahead and all that rot.

he asks my opinion as first mate of course and i say heck no lets just stay right here all week and let that weather move on past. but what he heard was “meow” and he says “righeeoh then its unanimous. we'll have a light breakfast, secure all loose gear and weigh anchor at first light. don't worry it won't be all that rough” but i knew he was lying because he was sticking one of those round band-aids behind his ear and putting on his slicker jacket (but not his slicker pants for which mistake he paid dearly as you will read in a moment.)

to be fair he did warn me that the first couple of hours we'd be bashing to windward but then we'd make a turn downwind and have a sleigh ride across pamlico sound.

we bashed all right. all that gear we secured came unsecured when a couple of things broke that were holding them in place and bottles of water, the bicycle, the short-wave radio, books, tools, etc. etc. chased me around the cabin for the entire day! b.d. was busy hand steering so we wouldn't get sideways to one of those giant waves so he was too busy to come down and help me any. finally we made the turn downwind and b.d. decided to let the autohelm take over for a while. he hooked it up and turned with his back to the sea and bent over to make some adjustments. about that time a sarah palin wave came breaking over the stern right into the cockpit. sailors call this getting “pooped”. now remember b.d. didn't have on his rubber overalls so most of that wave ended up in his back pants pockets. i guess we can say he got pooped in his pants. ha! that was sooooo funny!

but the fun didn't end there. somewhere along the way the dinghy got flipped over again and it was fun watching him deal with that. if he did that every day he would have muscles like charles atlas.

but he saved the best for last. you can try this at home. before you go to bed at night check the oil in your car. then instead of putting the dipstick back into the dipstick hole just jam it in between a couple of linkages so it feels like it is in the right place. then in the morning start the engine and run it hard all day or until the low oil pressure idiot light comes on and the warning alarm says BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!

then open the hood and see what a pretty mess you've made. again to be fair i have to admit the dipstick hole on the JoHee's engine is nearly impossible to see no matter where you stick your head. it has to be handled by feel. still i gotta tell you that little hole can spray out a lot of oil in eight or nine hours of motoring. and it covers every single inch of every single item in that engine compartment – engine, walls, storage bins, hoses, pumps, filters, switches, wires, spare parts.......everything. well at least the oil helps prevent rust. b.d. says he's just gonna let it stay there but don't tell uncle pierre. he always kept the engine so clean and shiny he would be sick if he could see this mess.

anyway we did have a very fast crossing of pamlico sound arriving at oriental north carolina (i wonder if there is an occidental south carolina) by lunch time so we kept moving and now we're anchored alongside the icw somewhere north of morehead city. i'm just going to sit on the cabin top and smell the birds while b.d. makes an attempt to clean up the messes......

toodles

kitty

first mate

s/v JoHee