Pictures from along the way

Oriental, NC
N 35 01.491 W 076 41.70

We're back at one of our favorite places, the public docks at Oriental. You may be able to see us on the web cam. We are the rightmost of two sailboats.

Above: Flowers in St. Mary's GA

Above: A warning sign in Beaufort, SC. It seems inappropriate to warn the cars, but not the boats.

Above: After three years, Dick finally figured out the most comfortable way to do the ICW. He rigged a sling to suspend a folding chair in the air in the stern above the tiller. From this perch he has a good view over the dodger to see where we're going and he can rest his feet on the tiller while steering. The only thing missing now is a rear view mirror. Oh life is good.

Above, you see the source of our great amusement yesterday when entering Beaufort Inlet. It looks like a warship but it isn't. According to the Coast Guard special broadcast, she is the tug McCormack and she is aground. Libby thought it was very uplifting to see that even big vessels, and warship-like vessels can run aground too.

According to my charts, there is no place near by that site with less than 51 feet of water at low tide. So how did she go aground? My theory is that the tug is not aground, but her cargo is. If you peer closely at the picture, you can see something behind her just barely protruding above the water. It could be a part of an oil platform that she was towing to see that ran aground. A worse possibility is that it is the bow of a barge that sunk while being towed. That would be a big mess to straighten out.

p.s. Last night, as we anchored in Adams Creek, across the river from Oriental, Libby looked back in the ships log. She said, "We anchored in this same place exactly one year ago to the day. Oh my. We are in a rut. Such a nice rut to be in.

At the Submarine Museum

Oriental, NC Public Dock
N 35 01.491 W 076 41.70

Below are a few pictures from the Submarine Museum in St. Mary's Georgia.

Above: Amazing. We have a clock identical to this one on board Tarwathie. It comes from a Russian nuclear submarine. Our clock is the one memento we have left from my father's gigantic collection of clocks. It hangs in our V-berth.

This telegram is probably one of the most tragic and frightening icons of the 20th century. Take the time to read it if you can. In today's world, soldiers still die but there are no telegrams. What do they do, send an email or a text message? That's too aweful to imagine.

What Was I Thinking

At Sea
N 34 32 W 076 48

Blogging is an interesting media. Sometimes it acts like a diary, capturing shifting opinions and feelings as they change day by day.

Two days ago, I blogged about skipping Beaufort and sailing right through to the Chesapeake this weekend. Ha!

Yesterday, I blogged about "relax, we'll get there." About the same time I wrote that, the winds started diminishing, and so did our speed. The forecast saying that the wind would pick up at night failed. By around 0300 this morning, our speed was down to one knot. I changed my mind. I said, "Relax, hell. I'm going to start the motor." We've been motoring ever since. I hate motoring at sea, but my (our) patience does have limits. All together, we sailed 156 miles and motored 60 miles on
this passage.

Oh well, we should make it to Oriental around sunset tonight, and we'll get a good sleep. Tomorrow, I'll check to see if the amateur theater in Oriental (which we love) has any performances scheduled.

Relax, We'll Get There

At Sea
N 33 46 W 077 43

It's slow going. We've had the spinnaker up all day, but there is so little wind that we often make only 2 knots of speed. On the other hand, it's sunny, it's warm, and the sea is calm, so it's very pleasant out here. We have until Sunday until the wind turns around, so we'll make it eventually.

Last night for about 5 hours the wind came up and we made very fast progress. The forecast calls for the same thing tonight. If so, then we ought to make it to Beaufort tomorrow (Saturday), if not perhaps the next day.

We had to motor for 4 hours to make sure that we crossed Frying Pan Shoals during daylight. If necessary, I'll use the motor again to make sure we don't arrive in Beaufort in the dark.

So, my watchword for today is sit back and relax. There's no hurry.

EZ Sailing

At Sea
N 32 42 W 079 41

We had a wonderful evening on Steamboat Creek last night. What a beatiful spot that is. We anchored near the shore, and we were treated to the sight of a family of bob whites sunning themselves in the grass. A bob white is a bird that mostly walks around on the ground. I'm not sure if they ever fly, but they mostly don't fly. Above us and the bob whites sat a big bald eagle. It was unclear whether the eagle was daydreaming of bob whites or of fish for dinner. For us though, we boiled those
fresh shrimp that we bought at B&B Seafood. They were delicious.

WE had no trouble exiting via the North Edisto River. There was a cluster of vacation homes right at the exact mouth of the river, but otherwise, the river banks and beaches were mostly wild and very pretty.

The winds have been very light. We only moved 25 miles north all day long since exiting the river. Hopefully, tonight or tomorrow the wind will freshen. Actually, this SE wind weather window will last for four days. We could bypass North Carolina entirely and head around Cape Hatteras to the Chesapeake. Hmmmm; we'll ponder that for a while.

It seems that we can't go anywhere now without meeting acquaintances. As we passed the Charleston channel this afternoon, I recognized the sailboat next to us as Mon Ami. A call on the radio confirmed it. Mon Ami must be a lot faster than Tarwathie because they left Beaufort 12 hours ago, whereas we left 36 hours ago. Anyhow, it is a fortunate coincidence. Mon Ami is also heading for Beaufort (the NC one).