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
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