Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Postings

I have decided to take some time off from the blog until next spring when sailing picks back up.....please check back in with us then....until then, we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year...and fair winds....

Friday, December 4, 2009

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Halloween Aquarium Visit

Bridget went to see a scary movie with her friend....so we had a guy's day out at the aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. The boys saw a diver in the large ocean exhibit, saw fish being fed, and we enjoyed the day before trick or treat...here's some of the pics...




Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Morning Dew

Stepped outside this morning to this view off the back of the boat....looking out towards the Neuse...

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Sunday, September 27, 2009

"Requesting Clearance Clarence"

This is a video I found of flying fish that'll give an idea of what they're like...the ones we saw didn't fly as far, because it wasn't as windy, but still would go between 30 and 50 feet!

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1349192/flying_fish/

Annapolis Post Office


Hey Mom, this is where I sent your post card from! You aughta see the inside, it's really cool!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Annapolis, MD - Oriental, NC On A Spindrift 43 Cutter

Sunday, September 22, 2009

Arriving in Annapolis with a lot of curiosity about this historic place proved to be warm and inviting. The streets and sidewalks are red brick, and the buildings look very old, and you can feel the old English touch in the decorative trimmings that adorn these beautiful buildings. There are black iron lamp posts with large hanging flower baskets, colorful flowers spilling out. More large baskets sitting on the outside edges of the sidewalks, with more flowers. The water comes right up to the edge of the sidewalks, and big pilings are capped off on the tops with sheet copper nailed with copper or bronze nails that look very old. Skipjacks, a few old smaller boats, and a number of boats of all types are docked everywhere, the city is pleasantly crowded with boats, moorings, and more boats.I cannot take credit for these photos, just wanted to add 2 to give an idea of what part of downtown looks like.
We provisioned the boat the night we arrived, and when I woke up in the morning and came out into the cockpit I had to take a picture of the boats on the river where “Dolphin Song” , our 43 foot Cutter known as a Spindrift was nestled in. The end of each street that runs to the waterfront (nearly every block) has public access seawalls that provide easy access into the city by dinghy. This is the photo of the mist on the water and I couldn’t help but think of that Van Morrison song, “Into The Mystic”.

After scrubbing the bottom of our dinghy, that had a significant amount of growth on the bottom, we came back to the boat and went over the weather, the amount of fuel and water we’d need, and took care of the last minute details. Just before leaving I asked Pat to snap a quick photo of Dave and I, and shortly afterwards we untied and headed up the river through the bascule bridge, and stopped at Annapolis City Marina to take on fuel and water. We untied and glided past “Ego Alley”, the Naval Academy, and the State Capitol building among many other beautiful sightings that dot this fabulous place. I have misplaced the memory stick for the camera, so I’m limited to only a handful of photos for the entire trip, the camera memory is all we have.

We headed out into the Chesapeake, passing crab pots, a group of small sailboats having what looked like a regatta, and several beautiful boats with colorful spinnakers inflated. Large cargo ships are anchored south of a very high bridge that spans the bay from one side to the other, (looks to be 3 or 4 miles long (maybe) and high enough for these enormous vessel to pass underneath heading up and down from Baltimore and some of the other cities higher in the bay. After a few hours I took a picture of one of the lighthouses as the sun was setting behind it.
The depths in the bay are frequently over 100 feet, unlike the 20 foot shallow of our “stomping grounds” in the Neuse River. Pat, Dave and I discussed who’d do what shift, where I was tasked with the 8-12pm. At approximately 11:40 (Pat and Dave asleep below) while passing a lighthouse similar to the one I had photographed earlier in the evening, the hydraulic steering failed to keep the boat on course. After several hours, we had a patch on the high pressure line and were headed to anchor on the west side of the bay.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

After breakfast and coffee we pulled up anchor and headed into Solomon’s Island where repairs were made on the steering. This gave us the opportunity to get a shower and properly dispose of some oil that Pat had onboard from an oil change done shortly before we had left Annapolis. We headed back out and down the bay in the afternoon, Dave snapped a photo of me on the bow,
and along the way we were passed on both sides by a number of different cargo vessels and tankers going both directions. Large tugs and fishing trawlers of all sizes were a common sight. Dave took the 8pm to 12 shift, Pat 12-4 and I did the morning shift. We crossed the North tunnel of Chesapeake bay bridge late in my shift where Pat woke and we drifted just outside and decided to go in to pick up more fuel, and check with Chris Parker for weather information.
After several hours of rest at the dock we headed out over the south tunnel of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge catching a shot of a Chinese container vessel passing to port just after our exit.

Several Naval vessels and Cargo ships lay just outside of the bay exit as well as others anchored way off in the distance out along the edges of the long shipping lane that reaches from Norfolk out into the Atlantic. Large Pilot boats speed in and out to drop captains off for departures, and help bring the boats in through the bridge lanes.
Cape Henry lighthouse (see photo) sits on the southern point of the bay overlooking all the activity in and out.

I took another picture of Dave and Pat after heading away from the Cape Henry for about an hour and a half
I took the 8-12 shift and noticed the waves seemed to pick up as the dark came over the ocean. The Orange lighting was seen from Norfolk through the majority of my shift till we were finally far enough from shore where the only visible light was the Currituck Lighthouse blinking in the distance. The stars and moon were beautiful, moon crescent and bright, and I could see the craters on the surface through Pat’s powerful binoculars. The boat is equipped with an independent GPS in the cockpit, and another laptop GPS at the Nav Station with a large screen mounted on the bulkhead in the salon, next to a radar unit (see photo). This unit has AIS receiver that provides information about the larger vessels, including the name of the vessel, it’s course if it’s under way, and what type of vessel it is. This proved to be a big asset the entire trip through the dark, especially when lighting against the lighting on land made it difficult to determine a vessels direction of travel.

Once my shift was over I found it difficult to get to sleep at first, because as the boat dropped from the crests of the larger waves into the troughs of water between I found myself lifting out of my berth almost suspended in air, and then the “G-force” of the boat lifting again would pressure everything into the mattress. I rolled up my coveralls and wedged them underneath me while tucking my body into the side of the hull and fell sound asleep until the next morning.


Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Poking my head out of the companionway and looking around as water seemed to fly by under a beautiful sunny blue sky was a welcoming sight. We spent a day together talking and enjoying the nice weather while working our way down the coast slowly getting further and further out to sea. The water was calm with 3 foot swells that were 30-50 feet apart. We tried fishing, dragging the hand line behind the boat, and found that the spoon was soon bit off the end of the line, no idea what took it, and no other fishing gear onboard. Enjoyed the beautiful water and sunshine and the distant shore as it went by throughout the day, talking with Pat and Dave, catching up on reading, and keeping an eye on the boats and ships that went by in the distance.

8-12 shift that night, slept well.

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Woke up to 3-5 foot swells, sunshine and dark blue water. No sight of land as we make way towards Hatteras. A few hours into the morning, talking with Pat and Dave over coffee and enjoying the warm sunny breeze and the salt air, we spotted a pod of whales off our starboard bow, tails slowly exiting the water creating the only white water visible. Pat said that they were not incredibly large whales. It was hard to tell how many there were through binoculars, but the sighting itself was very exciting. Just a few hours later, while Pat slept below, Dave and I were visited by a grouping of playful dolphins that darted from the bow of the boat, to just abaft the beam where they shot out of the tops of the crests made by our wake. The two that chose to play below the sprit of “Dolphin Song” were a dark gray (almost black) and had blotchy spots of off white. I leaned over the side of the pulpit and caught a photo of them (you can almost make out Dave and I in the reflection in the water)
They weren’t very large, and looked as if they exerted very little effort to keep up with our 5+ knot pace. After 5-10 minutes they peeled off and regrouped drifting away behind us. This would be the first of two visits at the bow by dolphins for the day.
The speed of the boat was maintaining almost 7 knots until we entered the Gulf Stream, where we lost nearly two knots at times. The water was exceptionally clear, providing visibility down to 40 feet. Large jellyfish could be seen at all kinds of different depths passing under the boat as we headed into the currents. Sea grass provides shade for small groupings of fish that hang out underneath. Flying fish shoot out of the water with a short hissing noise that resembles the sound a can of Coke makes when its opened. They glide just above the surface of the water often leaving a trail as they go, their tails seeming to support them while they frantically flap their “wings”. Sometimes the boat scares up schools of these flying fish, that fan out in front of the boat shooting out of the water and along the surface all at the same time. The schools I saw were of small flying fish, looked only 4 or 5 inches long. The larger flying fish, around 12 inches long or better, fly farther and seem to travel in twos. They sometimes launch off the crest of a wave and are able to travel to better height in the water. Pat says if the winds are higher, the fish travel higher out of the water. I’ve heard of people getting “smacked” in the head by these airborne oddities. Caught a picture of Diamond Shoals buoy that seemed to take forever to reach.
Seemed to take even longer to disappear into the distance behind us. By the evening we were in sight of Cape lookout blinking far in the distance. Dave took the 8-12 shift and I slept well after a day full of countering the rocking motion of the boat, grabbing each handrail along the way back and forth on the boat throughout the day, and feeling exhausted. It’s amazing how much energy is used when the boat is under that much motion.

Friday, September 25th, 2009
I woke up at 3am and came out from below to the Cape Lookout Lighthouse sweeping in the distant darkness off our Starboard beam. Pat had brought us around the shoal through the night, but we were still almost 3 hours from the Beaufort Inlet. We arrived in the port while a large crane was dredging the right side of the Turnaround Basin where two Container ships were tied up to the Morehead City Dock, side by side. We passed under the bridge and winded our way up Adams Creek for the next several hours while listening to music and cleaning up. We arrived in Whitaker Creek and tied up to the marina, and sat recapping the trip and talking about others that Pat and Dave had been on. The opportunity was a great learning experience for me, one I’m thankful to have taken part in. Pat captained the boat with fantastic presence and Dave and I always enjoy our time together, so the whole experience was a joy and an adventure. Special Thanks to Pat Carrington House for the opportunity!

The sunset the last night out, in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Cape Hatteras
"Red Sky At Night, Sailor's Delight"

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Special Delivery!

Sunday Morning at 9am I'll be sitting in the back of a rental car headed for Annapolis! Why? I get to crew with our neighbor (Dave) on a 42 foot Cutter for a 5 to 10 day skirt down to Oriental, NC..
Will post when I get back!!!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

3 Day Weekend In Bath

The boys had the opportunity to stay with Grandma and Papa in Raleigh, so we planned our first ever trip to Bath....a fantastic weekend had by all!

Narcilion (Joe and Cherie's boat) sailing into the sunset...on approach to Bath, NC...another great shot Bridget caught

We passed a Phosphate Mine going to Bath, looked like a Broadway Staged Cityscape from back in the old days...it was pretty!

Bridget caught this shot from the deck of Fidelis

Our electric fuel pump died as we were exiting the channel into Pamlico River Saturday night. With some spare tubing, some hose clamps and a Jerry Jug of fuel, we were able to get back home! Excellent Seamanship Joe!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Inside Potluck Humor

Click to enlarge may be the key to reading these captions....
Too much time on my hands...

Spinnaker's and Sandboxes

Here's some pictures Cherie took of the sandbox and Fidelis flying her spinnaker...




Yar! This be me matey Joe, and we sail far bureed treshyarr, lootin' the booty, pilagin' the plundarrr, and makin' way in me first maties (the boys) trusty vessel far land!!! Hoist up the skull and bones Joe, and give a hardy "LAND HO!" far the "sandbox" is comin' ta shorrre!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

New Plans and Spinnakers

We had initially planned on sailing to New Bern this weekend but decided because of wind direction forecasts, to head to South River instead. On the way back in from South River, we saw several fishing trawlers leaving out for their Sunday exit. I decided to take a picture of the Emily Brooke. We got the chance to fly our Spinnaker from Minnesott Beach to South River, and then from South River back home...pictures coming soon...

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Morning Wake Up Call

At 6:15 this morning I heard a short but sharp chirp every once in a while....very loud... when I peeped out the companionway, this is who was giving us our wake up call....don't know what it is....but he's ornery!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

A Ghost On The Beach

We decided to take a trip to the beach today, this little guy was hanging out near our little pad out there, so I caught a snapshot of him as he was scurrying across the sand....

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Kayaking The Back Rivers

After a 1/2 day of sanding and varnishing I thought I'd paddle down under the bridge and up into some of the small rivers...while there, I caught a few photos...


Monday, July 6, 2009

That Old Truck

A slow drive through this small fishing village gives you a brief view of what lies there....but to stop, get out, and take a walk helps to capture the lesser things. You can pass the waterfront where the fishing boats lie, where the smell of fresh fish and the mix of cooked restaurant food permeates the salt air, and small stores lazily find business through the weekday lulls. You can make a left at the end of that captivating road and you'll find a row of beautiful full bushes that overhang the sidewalk on the right and provide amazing smells of fresh flowers in the spring, and incredible shade from the bright afternoon sun. Not far up the road stand several beautiful houses, some of the most beautiful in town, before you arrive at the town park. One of these spectacular houses has an incredible old Ford pickup that rests on the red brick driveway....a brilliant yellow. This vehicle captures my eye each time I see it, and sounds as beautiful as it looks, on the chanced sighting of it purring gracefully down the road. I thought I'd try my luck at getting a good shot of that beautiful truck today... this is what I ended up with...

Peter Playing Sax

The video is very short...batteries ran out on the camera...and the lighting is poor, but it's a tidbit of the music that was played. This is Peter and I (with Bob on banjo, and Perry on a backpacker guitar...)

Peter and Gail Head To Australia

This picture was taken at Croakerfest. Peter and Gail headed back to Australia, after an event filled weekend.


We watched fireworks from the water on Independence Day rafted up with Perry and Susan and in the company of many friends...then we came back to the gazebo, did a little pickin' and grinnin' (Peter played sax for the first time with us) and we ate some great snacks.

This is a picture of the boys, who ran into their friend Blake (his father plays guitar for a band called the Soul Shakers, that played at the Croakerfest. Caught this shot right after they took their shots at putt putt.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Monday, June 29, 2009

Weekend At West Bay

We had some guests with us this weekend for a trip to West Bay. My friend Mark, his girlfriend Brandi (I hope I spelled that right) and little Sarah all came along for a two night sail that took us to anchor at Turnagain Bay the first evening and then on to West Bay the next. We were accompanied by Narsilion, Nirius, and a new boat named "Doc"..... I'll post more pictures throughout the next few days, but for now, I'd like to show off a fantastic catch, all caught with a handline, on the way back....(we caught 7 fish on the way to West Bay) and alot of assistance from Mark, and the whole crew! Made a fabulous supper on the grill when we arrived back home....

Friday, June 26, 2009

For Old Times Sake.....

My friend Chad Pope put some old photos out there from back when I was in the beloved Corps....




Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Today At Work

These two photos were taken while working on the dock today....had the moth not landed right next to a dollop of bird poo, it would have been a great shot....
it's a peaceful place out there....only the sound of birds and quite a frequent jumping mullet flying through the air with the greatest of "plop"