At Sea

Monday: On a beautiful morning we left Elizabeth City and motored toward the sunrise and into the Albermarle Sound. The wind picked up and Dave opted to put up the spinnaker. Within no time we were cruising along at 8+ knots. Then it happened....the spinnaker blew out ripping the sail in two. I can't believe it....it happened again. Those of you who have been reading our blog from the beginning may remember that in our first season we crossed the Albermarle Sound and the spinnaker burst - not only on the same sound but also in the same location on the sail. Ahhhh.... the Captain's frustrations were heard for miles.

But we persevere. So up went the main and genoa and we cruised the balance of the day. Certainly not at the 8+ knots we had been, but still a respectable speed. We ended the day with the hook down in the Pungo River (Mile 127.5).

Tuesday: Day two of the cruising adventure started with another gorgeous sunrise and another challenge. Today it would be Pamilco Sound and stiff northerly winds. The parade of boats began the journey and by the time we reached the sound there were sailboats everywhere. The southern migration was obviously in full swing. End day at Mile 187.

Wednesday: Day three was more of the same. Lots of boats. So many in fact that when we reached the anchorage at Mile Hammock Bay we feared we may not find a place to drop the hook. Fortunately we did and our friend Francie would later tell us that we were one of 29 boats in the small anchorage for the evening. Thank heavens Mother Nature decided to bless us with a quiet evening. (Mile 244.5)

Thursday: She got even. We woke to a dense fog the next morning. It delayed every one's start as we couldn't even see the boats anchored next to us let alone the ICW channel markers. Instead Dave and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and waited for the fog to lift. It did and the race to hoist anchors and be off was underway.

Yet Mother Nature wasn't done with her tricks. On this day she brought a fierce rain and cold wind that had Dave and I asking ourselves why we hadn't left a month sooner. Once we reached Wrightsville Beach most of the boaters chose to stop for the evening. Not wanting to experience another evening in a crowded anchorage, the Captain and I continued a few more miles finally dropping the hook around Mile 244.5.

Friday / Saturday: Isn't their a saying that boaters should never begin a journey on a Friday. Perhaps we should listen in the future. The day began sunny and breezy. We exited the Cape Fear inlet and found ourselves sailing along Atlantic waters. The wind was out of the west with an expected shift to the northwest later in the day. But as the afternoon progressed the westerly winds turn more southwest and we found ourselves either headed to the Bahamas or pointed straight into the wind to reach our Charleston destination. As the sun set storm clouds started to pop up and the winds picked up into the 20's with gusts to 30. The ride had become entirely too unpleasant.

Around 11pm making little headway into the wind we finally gave up Charleston as our destination and set course for the more northerly port of call, Georgetown, SC. Unfortunately, our bad luck would continue for as we reached the 17 mile long inlet the outgoing tide was in full force bringing Tropical Breeze to a 2.5 knot crawl with both engines humming. Seventeen miles at two and a half knots is a long way and we were exhausted once done. We dropped the hook and went down for some shut eye. The winds and tides still rallying around us.

The northerly wind shift finally came at 5:30 in the morning. The shift woke me up and I went out on deck. I watched for a while as the boat move with the winds and against the tide. It is always an interesting site to see these two forces battle against another. You never know which will win. Today wind won but in the midst of it all Tropical Breeze found a buoy marker and ran over the top of it. If you could imagine me in my sleepy state suddenly realizing that if I looked underneath the trampolines there was a yellow buoy marker flashing. Oh CRAP! I yelled for the Captain and was scared to death that we would never get ourselves out of the predicament without damage to the hulls. We somehow separated ourselves from the marker (it is all a blur) and were relieved when we realized the marker was encased in styrofoam hence no damage done. Close call!!

Wide awake now we anxiously waited for sunrise all the while keeping an eye on the nearby marker. We didn't want to hoist the anchor before the sun came up as we feared that the anchor chain may have gotten wrapped around the marker and we'd need the sunlight to maneuver our way through the mess. As twilight broke anxiety got the best of us and we began hoisting the anchor. We were happy to realize that the chain had not wrapped around the mark.

Adrenaline overcoming the lack of sleep we continued the journey down the ICW finally choosing the quiet and solitude of Dewees Creek with which to drop the hook. Sleep finally came. We rose to watch a beautiful sunset and could hardly believe that less that 24 hours before the calm that surrounded us now had been fury. (Mile 454.9)

The Admiral

11/1/ 2010 - 11/6/2010